Let us conclude these notices with one of the Stornelli which is non-political, but which I think we won't find the less agreeable for that reason. I like it because it says a pretty thing or two very daintily, and is interfused with a certain arch and playful spirit which is not so common but we ought to be glad to recognize it. If you are good as you are fair, indeed, Keep to yourself those sweet eyes, I implore! A little flame burns under either lid That might in old age kindle youth once more: I am like a hermit in his cavern hid, But can I look on you and not adore? Fair, if you do not mean my misery Those lovely eyes lift upward to the sky; I shall believe you some saint shrined above, And may adore you if I may not love; I shall believe you some bright soul in bliss, And may look on you and not look amiss. I have already noted the more obvious merits of the Stornelli, and I need not greatly insist upon them. Their defects are equally plain; one sees that their simplicity all but ceases to be a virtue at times, and that at times their feeling is too much intellectualized. Yet for all this we must recognize their excellence, and the skill as well as the truth of the poet. It is very notable with what directness he expresses his thought, and with what discretion he leaves it when expressed. The form is always most graceful, and the success with which dramatic, picturesque, and didactic qualities are blent, for a sole effect, in the brief compass of the poems, is not too highly praised in the epithet of novelty. Nothing is lost for the sake of attitude; the actor is absent from the most dramatic touches, the painter is not visible in lines which are each a picture, the teacher does not appear for the purpose of enforcing the moral. It is not the grandest poetry, but is true feeling, admirable art. GIOVANNI PRATI I