_Nunc postquam manes defunctus Valla petivit, Non audet Pluto verba latina loqui. Jupiter hunc coeli dignatus honore fuisset, Censorem lingua sed timet esse suae._ Raphael Maffei, surnamed Volaterranus, the compiler of the _Commentarii urbani_ (1506), a huge encyclopaedia published in thirty-eight books, composed the following witty stanza on the death of Valla:-- _Tandem Valla silet solitus qui parcere nulli est Si quaeris quid agat? nunc quoque mordet humum._ Our list of Italian satirists closes with Ferrante Pallavicino, a witty Canon, born at Plaisance in 1618, who ventured to write satirical poems on the famous nepotist, Pope Urban VIII., and all his family, the Barberini. Some of his poems were entitled _Il corriero sualigiato, Il divortio celeste, La baccinata_, which were published in a collection of his complete works at Venice in 1655. His selected works were published at Geneva in 1660. He made a playful allusion to the Barberini on the title-page of his work, where there appeared a crucifix surrounded by burning thorns and bees, with the verse of the Psalmist _Circumdederunt me sicut apes, et exarserunt sicut ignis in spinis_, alluding to the bees which that family bear on their arms. Pallavicino lived in safety for some time at Venice, braving the anger of his enemies. Unfortunately he wished to retire to France, and during his journey passed through the territory of the Pope. He was accompanied by a Frenchman, one Charles Morfu, who pretended great friendship for him, admired his works, and scoffed at the Barberini with jests as keen as the Canon's own satires. But the Frenchman betrayed him to his foes, and poor Pallavicino paid the penalty of his rashness by a cruel death in the Papal Palace at Avignon at the early age of twenty-nine years. His strictures on Urban and his family were well deserved. The Pope heaped riches and favours on his relations. He made three of his nephews cardinals, and the fourth was appointed General of the Papal troops. So odious did the family make themselves by their exactions that on the death of Urban they were forced to leave Rome and take refuge in France. Pallavicino had certainly fitting subjects for his satirical verses. François Gacon, a French poet and satirist of the eighteenth century, suffered imprisonment on account of his poems, entitled _Le Poëte sans fard, ou Discours satyriques sur toutes sortes de sujets_ (Paris, 2 vols., in-12). His satire was very biting and not a little scurrilous, and was famous for the quantity rather than the quality of his poetical effusions. We give the following example of his skill, in which he discourses upon the different effects which age produces on wine and women:-- "Une beauté, quand elle avance en âge, A ses amans inspire du dégoût; Mais, pour le vin, il a cet avantage, Plus il vieillit, plus il flatte le goût."