He was of noble origin, and acceded, at the age of 14, to large hereditary estates. His passions were strong, ardent, and irregular: his education was neglected. He travelled much,--rapidly and impatiently, like a man fleeing from himself, or seeking, without finding, objects to satisfy the capacity of a mind, large but unstored. He was first drawn with passion to literature by Plutarch’s Lives; and his first tragedy, “Cleopatra,” was acted at Turin in 1775, when he was 26 years old. Thenceforward he was devoted to the study of his art. The subjects of his tragedies, which follow the simplicity of the Greek model, are chiefly from ancient mythology, or history. They are distinguished by intense absorption of the poet in his dramatic action and persons, by the austere exclusion from the plot of everything accidental or inoperative to the main purpose and catastrophe, and by the rejection of all accessory ornament from his sedulously laboured style. In his hands the flowing and languishing Italian speech becomes abrupt, concentrated, darted, fiery; harsh, often, until it is dilated into harmony by the swelling and emphatic intonations of the actual theatre. He raised at once the prostrate Italian tragedy to the rank of an art, and to a competition with the nations. He was a passionate lover of horses, licentious in his attachments, and an ardent partisan of liberty. [Alfieri was buried in Santa Croce. Canova, commissioned by the Countess of Albany, sculptured his tomb and the medallion of him which is upon it. This bust is by Domenica Manera, and no doubt is a good likeness, having been executed under Canova’s eye.] 181. ALESSANDRO GAVAZZI. _Monk and Orator._ [Born at Bologna, in Italy, 1809. Still living.] At the age of 16, entered the religious order of St. Barnabas. Subsequently appointed Professor of Rhetoric at Naples. Upon the accession of Pope Pius IX. to the pontifical chair, Gavazzi warmly upheld the liberal policy then announced by the head of the Catholic Church. He was the “Peter the Hermit” of the crusade in Lombardy against Austria in 1848: and shared the dangers of the troops, whom he animated by his eloquence. Upon the entry of the French under Oudinot into Rome, Gavazzi quitted Italy with the patriots. He has since lived in London, where his extraordinary political discourses have created a marked impression upon his listeners. His oratory is adapted to large masses, his memoir is extraordinary, and his manner exceedingly picturesque and striking. He is not a scholar, and his patriotism is not of the kind that suffers by defeat. Gavazzi makes a good income as a popular preacher. Mazzini lives upon a crust. [This bust is by Piericcini.] SCIENTIFIC MEN AND WRITERS. 182. CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. _The Discoverer of the New World._ [Born at Genoa, 1436. Died at Valladolid, in Spain, 1506. Aged 70.]