Samuel David Luzzatto was born at Trieste, in Austria, in August, 1800. He belonged to an old Italian Jewish family, several members of which occupied conspicuous places in the annals of Jewish history and scholarship. The most noted among them were Moses Hayim Luzzatto (1707–40), the well-known author of two delightful Hebrew dramas, entitled _La-Yesharim Téhilla_ and _Migdal Oz_, and Ephraïm Luzzatto, who (in 1768) published in London a collection of charming little Hebrew poems and songs^[154-1], which is spoken of in eulogistic terms by Franz Delitzsch, in his _Geschichte der_ _jüdischen Poesie_. Samuel D. Luzzatto received his early education at the excellent Jewish Free School of his native town, where he studied Biblical and Talmudical subjects, general science, and ancient and modern languages. On leaving school, Luzzatto chose literature as his future calling, and with that purpose in view he applied himself with the utmost zeal to the study of the Italian language and literature, which he in later years knew almost to perfection. At the age of nineteen he became, by mere chance, known throughout the whole of Italy as a talented writer of Italian verses. It so happened that the then Austrian Crown Prince, who subsequently became Emperor of Austria, paid a flying visit to Trieste, and that the leaders of the local Jewish community commissioned young Luzzatto to write an Italian sonnet in commemoration of the royal visit. The Prince expressed his appreciation of its excellence by causing it to be published in several leading papers of the country.