sonnets is an easier achievement than the production of enduring fiction, it is not surprising to find that, whereas Fanny Burney was six-and-twenty when Evelina' appeared, Eleonora's compositions were being handed about in manuscript when she was sixteen.

Outward resemblance there is none between the shy, shrinking Fanny, whose fame no mortal foresaw, and the daughter of the South, with her swift advance to maturity and her finely-wrought intelligence, in whom the fire of youth burned with exceeding brightness, of whom we catch delightful glimpses in the letters of contemporary travellers and, more astonishing still, in the verses and compliments addressed to her by her every-day associates. Amidst companions neither dull nor halting in speech, she was singled out for her mental attainments, her overflowing vivacity and her felicity of expression; and, withal, her learning was worn So lightly, her brilliance was so spontaneous, that no one was aggrieved, no one jealous. Here is her portrait painted by herself,' writes one enthusiast, as he encloses a sonnet of Eleonora's in a letter to a friend. Unfortunately, this portrait has disappeared.

Not for their intrinsic excellence, but just because of their authorship, do we prize the meagre handful of Eleonora's poems which have escaped destruction. Even the most juvenile evince unusual knowledge of poetic form and easy command of word and phrase, together with all the wealth of classical analogy and allusion pre-eminently associated with the School of Metastasio, the Italian Laureate of the Court of Vienna. Seldom does he rise to any great poetic height but he is assuredly a very prince of improvvisatori. Fanny Burney studies Italian in order to read the works of Metastasio, her father's personal friend. Eleonora Fonseca, craving some more authoritative verdict than that of her admiring kinsfolk and acquaintance, gathers up her most cherished productions and sends them off to Metastasio, albeit with a letter more calculated to disarm than invite criticism. His reply left her with no further misgiving as to being on the right track.

One of the first poems on which Metastasio was invited to pass judgment was 'Il Tempio della Gloria, an epithalamium celebrating the marriage of Ferdinand

The m

IV of Naples and Marie-Caroline of Austria in 1768. It secured for its author a special welcome at Court; and thenceforward no birth, journey, or other event in the royal circle failed to evoke its appropriate tribute of ode or sonnet. With 'La Nascita di Orfeo,' a cantata in honour of the birth of the eldest son of Ferdinand and Caroline in 1775, Eleonora reveals complete mastery of all the niceties of Metastasian craftsmanship. immediate popularity of these compositions is the surest proof that they showed no trace of original genius. A few lines and descriptive passages might be cited as evidence of the writer's possession of 'a thin vein of true poetry,' but, in the main, they simply illustrate the conventional adulation of royal personages under mythological names.

Less inspiring subjects for a minstrel's lay than Ferdinand and Caroline can hardly be imagined. Untutored, undisciplined, left to his own devices, the young King had consorted with idle aristocrats for the slaughtering of preserved game, and with coarse-minded fishermen and boatmen in the pursuit of other sports, growing up uncouth of speech, depraved in taste, goodnatured, and not wanting in natural shrewdness, but inconceivably lazy, ignorant, and superstitious. Thus he was at a disadvantage as compared with the ambitious daughter of Maria Theresa, to whom he was married when he was nineteen and she fifteen. Her first attempts to play a political part were promptly suppressed by her father-in-law. Though the latter had become Charles III of Spain, he continued to control the policy of the Two Sicilies by making his able minister, Tanucci, the responsible functionary at Naples. Marie-Caroline's endeavour to obtain primary consideration for Austrian interests was naturally resented at Madrid. She was on safer ground when, in imitation of the reigning Hapsburgs and other benevolent despots, she proceeded to show favour to eminent representatives of science, art, and literature.

The

The years immediately following her marriage are associated with the institution or extension of libraries, museums, and schools of art, and with the founding of new chairs in the University of Naples. Amongst the professors of those days were men of European renown, such

as Mario Pagano, who wrote and lectured on criminal jurisprudence; Pasquale Baffi, the professor of Greek; and the outstanding authority on medical science, who at the age of twenty-one had become professor of botany, Domenico Cirillo. These men and certain of their fellow-workers constituted the nucleus of a small but growing element in the life of the community, which stood for efficiency and social reform. With this element Eleonora Fonseca came to be closely identified. Not as a mere adjunct to classics but for their own enthralling interest, she had studied mathematics and natural science. There are contemporary references to her grasp of physics, astronomy, and botany. Her love of botany was probably due to intercourse with Cirillo, the friend of Linnæus, the friend and correspondent also of the foremost scientific and literary men in England and France. Far-travelled, everywhere welcome, a member of the Royal Society of London and of many another learned body, detesting the sordid atmosphere of the Neapolitan Court, yet accepting the office of royal physician as a

means of launching his schemes of medical reform, Cirillo might pass for a Renaissance scholar strayed out of his own epoch.

For the irksomeness of his attendance on royalty, he may have found compensation in closer acquaintance with the little group of thoughtful, studious men and women of aristocratic birth, who formed the connecting link between the Court and the University. Their familiarity with current French literature, especially the writings of Rousseau and the Encyclopædists, was impelling them to take disquieting views of the social conditions in their own country. For the time being, this tendency escaped adverse comment. Pride in the position of her sister, Marie-Antoinette-the only person for whom she felt any strong affection-was one reason why it suited Marie-Caroline to encourage French literature and French fashions; but she was chiefly moved by her determination to counteract the influence of Spain. She never forgave an opponent, and was merely biding her time to be avenged on Charles III for thwarting her political ambition. In 1777, she dealt a severe blow to her adopted country by compassing the downfall of Tanucci. Two years later, her ascendancy over her easy-going husband

enabled her to instal, as Minister of Marine, the astute political adventurer, Sir John Acton.

as fo

These same two years mark the turning-point, notam only in the history of the reign, but also in the life of Eleonora Fonseca. In 1777, at the age of twenty-five, she was married to an officer in the Neapolitan army, Pasquale Tria de Solis. Beyond the facts that he was f her equal in rank and her senior by fifteen years, we have no positive information concerning him. There is no outside testimony as to the happiness or otherwise fe of the union. Yet the true poetic note is struck, and all conventional phraseology discarded, in the sequence of five sonnets, in which Eleonora pours out her grief for the death of her infant son in 1779. No other child came to take the place of the little lad who had evoked this passion of motherhood. Casting about for some new centre of interest, hard study seemed the likeliest means of keeping at bay the haunting sense of sorrow that threatened to overwhelm her. Thus she came to be more and more attracted to the University circle, to become more and more affected, albeit at first unconsciously, by its liberalising atmosphere.

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Few and brief are the references to her life during the ensuing period of fourteen years, in the course of which her intellectual powers attained their full maturity. With the breaking of the spell of Metastasio, the poets of the Roman Empire resumed their sway. To Eleonora, as to Dante, Virgil became in very truth 'master and guide.' When her father procured a patent of nobility in the country of his adoption, she became a Neapolitan citizen. But Virgil claimed her for the wider world of Italy, set his seal on her outlook on nature, and communicated to her his own sense of the grandeur and sanctity of the human race. Penetrated by the spirit of Virgil, Eleonora found in the study of economics and political history not only fresh channels of thought, but also possibilities of service and an outlet for patriotism. Count Joseph Gorani, a sojourner in Naples between 1786 and 1788, comments on one of her vanished prose works, a dissertation on the project of establishing a national bank. Again, when Ferdinand IV abolished the humiliating custom of paying tribute for his kingdom as a fief of the Papal

See and was fiercely attacked in consequence, his supporters found their most convincing arguments in Eleonora's translation of Caravita's Latin History of the Pontificate in the Two Sicilies.' This was published in 1790 with a dedication to Ferdinand. The preface and copious notes bear witness to exceptionally wide reading on the part of the translator.

While 1790 was still a new year, she was fêted at Court and awarded a State pension. It was the last time that Ferdinand and his consort figured as patrons of learning and literature. Horrified at the course of events in Paris, they contemplated a journey to Vienna to devise in concert with the Queen's brother, the Emperor Leopold II, some means of overthrowing the Revolutionary Government of France. In good hope of the ultimate success of his efforts, they at length recrossed the boundary between Austria and Italy. All might have gone well but for an unfortunate break of journey in Rome, which enabled the travellers to hold supplementary consultations with the aunts of the French King and other titled emigrants.

and terror.

of woe sent Marie-Caroline home in a frenzy of wrath She was persuaded that only stern repression could save the Neapolitan branch of the Bourbons from the experiences of the royal family of France.

A more

enlightened despot might have perceived that the elements of a successful revolution were utterly lacking in Naples. At one end of the social scale there was indeed a progressive group, more intent on Rousseau's 'Émile' than his 'Social Contract,' and sanguine about schemes of education and legal and economic reform. At the other extreme were the toilers of the sea and the hosts of the Lazzaroni, who toiled not at all, since begging and enforced exactions supplied their every need. King of the Lazzaroni' was a fitting name for Ferdinand, who understood their speech and had no illusions as to their amenability to social uplift. He might perchance have bridged the gulf between the populace and the apostles of progress, had he not been disqualified for playing any effective part by want of education and of training in the duties and responsibilities of kingship. So it fell out that the course of events was determined by the sinister influence of Vol. 285.-No. 467.

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