equal to the talk of communicating a certain and compleat idea of his character, adventures, and writings. Of this he feems to have been perfuaded, which has engaged him to publish thefe Memoirs of his life. He was born at Venice in 1707, and is confequently at prefent in his eighty-firft year. While he remained in Italy, his life was fubject to great viciffitudes. We find him, year after year, changing the place of his abode, harraffed and illrequited, but never to be driven from his tafte for dramatic compofition. In the number of his adventures are fome that would have made a figure in the Roman comique of Scarron: he is, however a little too prolix in the detail of his college exploits. What we are much indebted to him for, are the accounts we have of certain events of public importance, fuch as the battle of Parma in 1733, at which he was prefent. The firft part of his Memoirs comprehends an abridgment of his life from his birth to the reformation of the theatre in Italy, of which he was the principal author. The fecond part contains the history of all his plays, the fecret circumftances that furnished him with the fubject of them, their various fuccefs, the fquabbles that attended their reprefentation, &c. But the greater part is taken up with an analysis of each particular piece. The author has even tranflated three or four entire scenes; and it is to be wifhed that he had tranflated more of the principal ones in his best pieces, for the benefit of those who are not in poffeffion of his Theatre, or who are not verfed in the Italian language. The third and laft part is taken up with what has happened to the author fince his establishment in France, where he is now fixed. There he has found repofe, tranquillity, and independence; and he repays them with every teftimony of gratitude and attachment. The Moliere of Italy, has this in common with the Moliere of France, that both, after having compleated their ftudies, difappointed the views of their parents, and, drawn afide by irrefiftible inclination, affociated themselves with comedians, and, for a while led an ambulatory life. But Goldoni followed the troop only in quality of author. He was born of a refpectable family, and was educated with great care: he firft ftudied medicine, then jurifprudence, and was admitted to the profeffion of the law at Venice, which he exercifed there for fome time, but quitted that city to avoid a marriage that would have ruined him. From this time he renounced Cujas and Bartholus for Plautus and Terence; and his genius for comedy began to fhew itfelf. He was foon applied to by various companies, and the fuccefs of his pieces on almost all the theatres of Italy, quickly procured him a very brilliant reputation. His comedy of the Fils d'Arlequin perdu et retrouvé made the Italian company at Paris anxiously wifh to perfuade Goldoni to come to France, that by his pieces they might re-establish the finking fame of their theatre. They accordingly made the propofal to him, which he willingly accepted, and he is now fettled at Paris for the remainder of his life. Thefe Memoirs are written in a very fprightly style; they are full of pleafing fallies, and curious anecdotes, related with much fpirit and vivacity. We are at once ftrack with the air of fimplicity, the unaffected gaiety, and the appearance of truth and good na ture that run through the whole work. The adventures related in the two firft volumes are certainly not very im、 portant thefe contain accounts of his youthful follies, and quarrels with his family, of his imprudent behaviour, and of the diftrefs it involved him in. They inform us of his amours with the nymphs of the theatre, of their infidelities to him, and of his fquabbles with the comedians; they likewife contain an account of his journies and rainbles over the different cities of Italy, Italy, with a few words, and but a few, on the manners and cuftoms of the people; extracts from his pieces, and the circumstances that fuggefted the idea of them, with their good or ill fuccefs. Thefe trifles are exceedingly fet off, however, by a very sprightly, ingenious, and agreeable manner of relating them. We every where difcover the dramatic poet, fupremely mafter of the art of dialogue, and who has the talent of making an exquifite fcene out of nothing. But what perhaps does moft honour to Goldoni is, that the whole hiftory of his life difplays an excellent heart, an upright and honeft mind, with a gentle difpofition devoid of rancour or envy. It exhibits an amiable philofopher, but little fufceptible of the violent paffions; who can bear with the weaknesses of fome, and who can fupport the wickednefs, the envy, the ingratitude and treachery of others, as infirmities and diseases incident to their nature. Tho' often counteracted in his views, often perfecuted by men, and deceived by the women, he never grows peevish and complains. When talking of his misfortunes, he affects no peculiar eloquence or energy: very different in this refpect from fome of our modern writers, who would have loft half their reputation if they had wanted injuftice to deplore, enemies to combat, or ca lumnies to refute. Thus far in general of the plan and execution of this work; we fhall now be more particular, and prefent our readers with forie fpecimens of it. Goldoni fometimes takes occafion to make us acquainted with the peculiar cuftoms of his country. One of thefe is called the Sibyllone, a very fingular literary amufement. Thy Sibyllone, or great Sibyl, is a child of ten or twelve years of age, who is placed in an elevated chair. Any perfon of the company propofes a question to him, and the child immediately anfwers at random in a fingle word. This word, which is the oracle of the Sibyl, coming from the mouth of a child, and pronounced without confideration or reflection, is generally devoid of common fenfe; but on one fide of the tribunal arifes an academician, who is to maintain that the child has anfwered with propriety, and for this purpofe he fets himself to explain and interpret the oracle. "To fhew the reader, fays M. Goldoni, the boldness and verfatility of an Italian imagination, I fhall here relate a queftion, the anfwer, and its interpretation, of which I was a witness. "The querift, who was a stranger like myself, intreated the Sibyll to have the goodness to tell him how it happens that women have the talent of plea fing more generally and more eafily than men? The Sibyll, as the whole refponfe, pronounced the word ftraw, and the interpreter immediately getting up, and addreffing himself to the author of the question, maintained that the oracle could neither have been more decifive nor more fatisfactory. "This learned academician, who was an Abbé of about forty years of age, big and fat, with a fonorous and agreeable tone of voice, spoke for three quarters of an hour. He first gave an analyfis of the plants that are remarkable for levity, and proved that straw furpaffes every other in fragility: from ftraw he paffed to women; he ran over with as much volubility as accuracy, a kind of anatomical defcription of the human body. He investigated the fource of tears in both fexes. He fhewed the delicacy of the fibres in the one, and their rigidity and refiftance in the other. He then conclu ded, by paying a very flattering compliment to the ladies who were prefent, and attributed the prerogatives of fenfibility to fuperior delicacy; but he spoke not a word, fays Goldoni, of tears at command. "I confefs, that this man aftonished me. It is impoffible to employ more ingenuity, more erudition, more pre cifion in the difcuflon of a fubje&tin ladies are not lefs fond of change which did not admit of them." and variety than thofe of France. Tailors and milliners, and traffickers in modes, take advantage of this tafte; and if France does not furnish fashions in fufficient variety, there are workpeople at Venice who have fancy enough to invent changes of drefs for Thefe Memoirs likewife contain fome pleafant anecdotes agreeably told. Among the reft is the account of a wifit which Goldoni had the honour of making to the Pope, to whom he was introduced, by special grace, in his own chamber. "This Venetian Pontiff, whom I had the honour of knowing in his epifcopal city of Padua, and whofe exaltation had been celebrated by my mufe, gave me the most gracious res ception. He difcourfed me for three quarters of an hour, on the fubject of his nephews and nieces, and was charmed with the news which I had it in my power to give him of them. "His Holiness at length rung the little bell that stood on his table; this was a fignal for my departure. As I withdrew I made abundance of reverences and acknowledgments; but the holy father feemed to be unfatisfied; he agitated his feet and hands, he cough ed, he looked at me, but faid nothing. What ftupidity had feized me! Enchanted, and wholly engroffed with the honour that 'was done me, I had forgot to kifs the venerable feet of the fucceffor of St Peter. At laft, how ever, I recovered from my distraction, and proftrated myself before him. The gracious Clement XIII.loaded me with benedictions; and I took my leave, mortified with my own forgetfulnefs, and chahed with his condefcenfion." The author informs us of a circumstance which fhews us that the rage for French fashions is as prevalent in Italy as in the other countries of Eu rope. "At the beginning of every feafon, there is exhibited at Venice, fays he, in a street named La Mercerie, a female figure in high drefs, called the Doll of France; this is the model by which the women are to drefs themfelves during that season, and any extravagance is elegant, provided it be authorifed by this original. The VeneVOL. VII. No 41. the Doll." Comedy in Italy, though its conceptions were truly dramatic, employed characters and customs by no means natural: this made the man of tafte, who looks for eception at the theatre, and who, without truth, admits no illufion, to be fevere and eten unjust in his judgment of the Italian stage. Thefe characters were called the four marks of the Italian comedy. Perhaps the reader will not be difpleased to hear Goldoni's own account of the origin, employment, and effects of these four masks. "The stage, which has always been a favourite amufement with polifhed nations, flared the fate of the arts and fciences, and was buried in the ruins of the empire and in the fall of letters. "The germ of comedy, tho' buried, did not, however, perifn in the fruitful bofom of the Italians. Thofe who first endeavoured to revive it, as they could not find, in an age of ignorance, authors of ability to furnith them with plays, had the boldness of themfelves to compofe plans, to dif tribute them into acts and scenes, and to fill them up, extempore, with the difcourfe, the thoughts, and the pleafantries that had been agreed upon among themfelves. "Those who could read (and these were neither the great nor the rich) found that, in the comedies of Plautus and Terence, there were always fathers who were made dupes, fons who were disipated and debauched, daughters in love, fervants who were knaves, and maids who took bribes: and as they travelled over the different provinces of Italy, they drew the characY y ters ters of their fathers at Venice and Bologna, of their fervants at Bergamo, of their lovers, their love-fick maids and waiting-women, in the ftates of Rome and of Tufcany. "In proof of this, we must not expect written authorities, for we are talking of a period when no body wrote. But my affertion is proved by this, that Pantaloon was always a Venetian, the Doctor was always a Bolognefe, the Brighella and the Harlequin always of Bergamo. From these places, therefore, the players drew the characters of thofe perfonages that are called the four mafks of the Italian comedy. "What I have just now afferted is not altogether niy own fuppofition; for I am in poffeffion of a manufcript of the fifteenth century, in good prefervation and bound in parchment, which contains one hundred and twenty fubjects, or sketches of Italian pieces, called Comedies of Art; in these the principal perfonages are Pantaloon, a Venetian merchant; the Doctor, a lawyer of Bologna; Brighella and Harlequin, two fervants of Bergamo; the one a cunning knave, the other à clown. Their antiquity, and the long poffeffion they kept of the Italian ftage, are proofs of their origin." M. Goldoni afterwards fhews that the model of Pantaloon the merchant was taken at Venice, because that city then carried on the richest and most extenfive commerce in Italy, and his theatrical dress is exactly that of thofe times. The Lawyer was made a Bolognefe on account of the univerfity then eftablished at Bologna. His cofturhe is the ancient drefs of the Univerfity and of the Bolognefe bar. A tradition, univerfally received in Italy, informs us, that the mafk with which his forehead and nofe are covered took its rife from a wine mark on the face of a celebrated lawyer of that time. Laftly, Brighella and Harlequin were taken from the Bergamefe, be 4 caufe the firft was reprefented as exceedingly artful and cunning, while the other was extremely ftupid and a fimpleton: thefe two extremes, fays M. Goldoni, being to be found only among the people at Bergamo. The coftume of Harlequin reprefents the dress of a poor wretch who gathers whatever he can find to patch his cloaths, without regarding the colour or the stuff: and the hare's tail which adorns his cap is to this day commonly worn by the peasants at Bergamo. The mafk not only annihilated all expreflion of the pafions and affections of the perfon, but the neceflity of cafting in the fame mould four of the principal characters in every comedy, reftrained the fancy of the poet, which ought to be employed in exhibiting on the ftage every turning and winding of the human heart, and in expofing all the follies of civilized life. M. Goldoni, being endowed with a true taste and native genius for the drama, being confeious of his powers, and poffeffing a thorough knowledge of his art and of the human heart, refufed to fubmit to a fyftem as humiliating to genius as repugnant to rea fon, and he ventured to introduce a reformation equally difficult and laudable. As he meant to reprefent only fuch fentiments as are natural, he did not think it neceffary that they should be concealed under an artificial countenance; and, as each of his perfonages had a peculiar character, lie meant alfo that each fhould have his natural phyfiognomy. It may easily be fuppofed that the fervum pecus of Horace would inftantly rife up against him. When prejudices are deeply rooted, the happieft innovation has always the air of a kind of profanation. The amateurs protected the mafks, but the reformer anfwered his detractors only by producing excellent comedies both for fentiment and plot; the pleasure he afforded his countrymen was the only art he employed; and at laft the fuccefs of his works established that of of his fyftem, which is now generally ceive compliments. I did not conadopted by all the Italian poets. ceive how a man could tacitly fay to the audience, here I am, Gentlemen, give me your applaufe. It is certainly very extraordinary to fee a stranger at the age of fifty-three arriving in France, but fuperficially acquainted with the language of the country, and venturing, in the fpace of nine years, to compofe a piece for the first theatre of the nation. This, however, Goldoni performed, and the French tate happily coinciding with his particular genius, he produced his comedy of the Burru Bienfaisant, which may be confidered as his mafter-piece, and it is still acted with the greatest approbation. It will not perhaps be unentertaining to hear the author's own account of what paffed at its firft reprefentation. "I was concealed, fays he, behind the fcenes, in a place where I could fee nothing, but where I could litten to the actors, and hear the applaufe of the audience. I walked backwards and forwards during the whole time of the reprefentation, quickening my pace when the fituations were bufy and required vivacity; and treading foftly and flowly at the feenes of intereft or of paflion. I felt myfelf content with the performance of the actors, and echoed the plaudits of the fpectators. "After having fupported, for a few feconds, a fituation to me the most fingular and moft irkfome, I retired; and as I went towards the carriage that was waiting for me, I found numbers of people that had affembled to fee me. I knew no body, but fol, lowed my guide and entered the car riage, where I found my wife and my nephew already feated. The fuccefs of my piece made them weep for joy, while the hiftory of my apparition on the flage made them almost burft with laughing." After the fuccefs of the Bourru Bienfaifant, M Goldoni, as he fays, repofed for fome time under his laurels: but yielding at last to the folicitations of his friends, and his own felf-love, he cafts about for a new cha racter, and lights on the Avare Fa frueux, an original perfectly in nature, and of whom fociety affords numberlefs examples. The piece was deftined for the theatre of Fontainebleau; but, on account of the indif pofition of M. Preville, it could not be performed till the eve of the king's departure from that place. The Avare Faftueux was coldly received; and the author, without appealing from the judgment of the court to the tribunal of the public, immediately withdrew his comedy. In these Memoirs he gives an ample account of it, with fome of its beft fcenes; and as, from thefe, we must be convinced that the piece had great merit, perhaps it owed its fall to circumftances, or to indifferent acting. In general, characters, fuch as that of the vare Fatueux, formed of two contending paffons, are not ftriking or forcible enough for the multitude; it requires a very intimate acquaintance with the human heart to perceive the delicate fhades and nice difcriminations that enter the picture of fuch a character. Y y 2 "When the piece was finished, I heard a clapping of hands and fhouts that continually increased. M. Dauberval at laft came to me; this was the gentleman who was to conduct me to Fontainebleau. I imagined he was about to fet off, and wanted me. No fuch thing. Come along, fays he, Monfieur, you must be fhewn.Shewn! to whom?--To the audience, who are calling for you.-No, no, my friend, let us inftantly depart, I cannot support—But now appear M. le Kain and M. Brizard, who take me by the arm, and drag me on the flage. "I have feen authors fupport fuch a ceremony with courage. I was not accustomed to it. In Italy authors are not called upon the stage to re Continuation |