geniuses of every country in that age, when papal authority was at its height, employed themselves in satirizing the church. We have already seen the liberty that was taken in this respect, by the authors of the Fabliaux. In England, about 1350, the corruptions of the clergy, and the absurdities of superstition, couched, it is true, under a thick veil of allegorical invention, were ridiculed with much spirit and humour in the visions of Piers Plowman, while the Sompnour's tale in Chaucer openly exposed the tricks and extortions of the mendicant friars. At first sight it may appear, that the freedom of Boccaccio was more extraordinary than that of the Trouveurs, Chaucer, or Longland, as he wrote so near the usual seat of church authority; but it must be recollected, that when Boccaccio attacks the abuses of Rome, it is not properly the church that he vilifies, as the pontifical throne had been transferred from Italy to Avignon, half a century previous to the composition of the Decameron. The former capital is spoken of in similar terms by the gravest writers who were contemporary with Boccaccio. Thus Petrarch terms it, "Gia Roma, or Babilonia falsa e ria." The whole city was excommunicated in 1327, and, according to all the authors of the period, presented a terrible scene of vice and confusion. Hence the frequent attacks by Boccaccio on Rome, so far from being considered as marks of disrespect, may be regarded as proofs of his zeal for the church, or at least for the schism to which he belonged. Besides, at that period no inquisition existed, and authors were not accused of heresy for defaming the monks. The church, too, was aware that the novelists wrote merely for the sake of pleasantry, and without any desire of reformation :---" Ce n'est point," says Mad. de Staël, " sous un point de vue philosophique, qu' ils attaquent les abus de la religion: ils n'ont pas comme quelques-uns de nos ecrivains, le but de reformer les defauts dont ils plaisantent; ce qu'ils veulent seulement c'est s'amuser d'autant plus que le sujet est plus serieux. C'est la ruse des enfans envers leur pedagogues; ils leur obeissent à condition qu'il leur soit permis de s'en moquer." Yet still, had printing been invented in that age, and had Boccaccio published the Decameron on his personal responsibility, his boldness would be totally inexplicable: But, it will be remarked, that the Decameron could only be privately circulated, that it was not published for a hundred years after the death of the author, and though the office of an editor might be sufficiently perilous, he would not, even if discovered, have undergone the severity of punishment which would perhaps have been inflicted on the author. The Italian novelist has been highly extolled for the beautiful and appropriate manner in which he has introduced his stories, which are so much in unison with the gaiety of the scenes by which the narrators are surrounded. In the beginning of the first day he informs us, that, in the year 1348, Florence was visited by a plague, of the ef fects of which he gives an admirable description, imitated from Thucydides. During its continu ance, seven young ladies accidentally met in the church of St Mary. At the suggestion of Pampinea, the eldest of their number, they resolved on leaving the city which was thus terribly afflicted. Having joined to their company three young men, who were their admirers, and who entered the chapel during their deliberation, they retired to a villa two miles distant from Florence. A description of the beauty of the grounds, of the splendour of the habitation, and of the delightful employment of the guests, forms an agreeable contrast to the picture of misery and disease that had been previously presented. The mode of passing the time seems in general to have been this:-When the sun was pretty high, a repast was served up, which appears to have corresponded to our breakfast, only it consisted chiefly of confections and wine. After this, some went to sleep, while others amused themselves in various ways. About midday they all assembled round a delightful fountain, where a sovereign being elected to preside over this entertainment, each related a tale. The party consisting of ten, and ten days of the fortnight during which this life continued, being partly occupied with story-telling, the number of tales amounts to a hundred; the work itself has received the name of the Decameron. A short while after the novels of the day were related, the company partook of a supper, or late dinner, and the evening concluded with songs and music. Boccaccio was the first of the Italians who gave a dramatic form to this species of composition. In this respect the Decameron has a manifest advantage over the Cento Novelle Antiche, and, in the simplicity of the frame, is superior to the eastern fables, which, in this respect, Boccaccio appears to have imitated. Compared with those compositions which want this dramatic embellishment, it has something of the advantage which a regular comedy possesses over unconnected scenes. Hence the more natural and defined the plan-the more the characters are diversified, and the more the tales are suited to the characters, the more conspicuous will be the skill of the writer, and his work will approach the nearer to perfection. It has been objected to the plan of Boccaccio, that it is not natural that his company should be devoted to merriment, when they had just interred their nearest relations, or abandoned them in the jaws of the pestilence, and when they themselves were not secure from the distemper, since it is represented as ra ging in the country with almost equal violence as in the city. But, in fact, it is in such circumstances the people are most disposed for amusement; amid general calamities every thing is lost but individual care; it is then, "Vivamus, mea Lesbia," &c., and even the expectation of death only urges to the speediness of enjoyment : |