Art. 1. 1. Histoire Littéraire d'Italie, par P. L. Ginguené,
Membre de l'Institut de France, &c. 2. De la Littérature du Midi de l'Europe, par J. C. L. Simonde
de Sismondi, &c. Paris, 1813. We , WF
E have placed together the titles of two works which, though
every way deserving of distinct commemoration, are yet so nearly allied by their subjects, that it would in some measure be an injury to both to consider them separately. In their origin and design this affinity is further remarkable. The first was undertaken in 1802, for the Atheneum at Paris, as the commencement of a series which should embrace the whole range of modern literary history. The extent of this plan may be estimated from that of the portion before us; which in six volumes, distributed into two parts, comprehends the annals of Italian literature, to the end of the sixteenth century. Its history during the seventeenth and eighteenth, is to be the subject of a third division. It is not surprising that the vastness of the original plan excluded, by de. grees, all hope of its accomplishment; and that the author abandoned to others the remainder of a task, undertaken in favour of that nation with wbich he is best acquainted, and which, perhaps, is the object of his warmest affection.'
Of M. Sismondi's work, two volumes only are yet before us. They are the substance of public lectures, delivered by him at Geneva, and comprise the sketches, rather than the details, of the literary history of the Arabs, the Provençaux, the writers in the
Langue Romane,' and the Italians. In two more we are to be conducted through Spain and Portugal. This author, like the former, had proposed to himself a plan of much greater magnitude tban he has since found it convenient to execute. It extended, he says, to the whole of Europe, and indeed, if we understand him rightly, it is not to be considered even now as absolutely abandoned. The name of M. Sismondi has long ranked very high in our estimation, and being taught not to expect any immediate continuation of his work on the Italian Republics, we were not a little gratified to find that his attention had
A.