velli's historical and political works deserve to be studied both for matter and manner. He was one of the greatest minds that Italy has ever produced; he was a plain-spoken man, one of the last of the old school of Florentine writers, before courtly flattery and foreign servility had corrupted the Italian style. Boccaccio is of course unfit for young people on the score of morality. We ought to say something of dictionaries and vocabularies. We have recommended a short grammar, but we do not recommend a pocket dictionary. The latter is only useful to travellers, and for such Graglia's English and Italian is the best. But let the student at home provide at once a good dictionary, such as Alberti's Italian and French, of the late editions of Bassano or Milan, 2 vols. 4to. The great dictionary of Bologna, just completed, in 7 vols. 4to., is too bulky and expensive for common use. It is, however, the fullest dictionary of the Italian language existing, and ought to have a place in every Italian library. It contains, besides all the words of the dictionary of La Crusca, the additions supplied by Monti in his Proposta, and by others, and all the technical words of arts, trades, and professions, with which the Italian language has been enriched for a century past. It also contains at the end a copious vocabulary of Christian and other names of persons, and another of geographical and historical names, both substantive and adjective. For those who wish to study particular works relative to arts or sciences, there are technical vocabularies, such as Dizionario Botanico di Gallizioli, 4 vols. 4to. Firenze, 1809-12. Dizionario ragionato di Commercio e Giurisprudenza marittima, di Baldasseroni, 4 vols. 4to. Livorno, 1813. Dizionario Militare Italiano di Grassi, 2 vols. 8vo. Torino, 1817. Vocabolario di Marina, di Stratico, 3 vols. 4to. Milan, 1813. Dizionario delle Belle Arti del Disegno, 2 vols. 8vo. Bassano, 1797. Dizionario do Veterinaria di Bonsi, 5 vols. 1794. Dizionario Etimologico di tutti i Vocaboli usati nelle Scienze, Arti, e Mestiere, che traggono origine dal Greco, compilato da Bonavilla, e continuato dal Professore Marchi, 3 vols. 8vo. Milano, 1820. Dizionario Etimologico Scientifico, 3 vols. 16mo. Verona, 1820 (the first volume contains the words used in metaphysics, jurisprudence, and literature; the second, those belonging to the natural sciences, mathematics, and geography; the third, the historical and mythological words). Also a Dictionary of Medical and Surgical Words by Pasta, Brescia, 1769, and Verona, 1806, and the Rimario or Dictionary of Rhymes, by Rosasco, 4to. Padova, 1763. The great affinity between the Italian and Latin languages, especially in all that concerns etymology, the derivative words, verbal nouns, the inflexions, &c., renders the grammars and dictionaries common to both of great service to the student. Soave's Grammatica delle due Lingue Italiana e Latina, Milano, 1820, which has been adopted by the gymnasia of Lombardy, can be justly recommended.* From Soave's Grammar the Abåte Bianchi has made a smaller one only for Italians, called Grammatica ragionata della Lingua Italiana, Brescia, 1829, with many additions. We have found more sound remarks in this two shilling little book, es * We cannot say as much of Soave's Novelle,—a book we have seen used in this country, the style of which is far from correct. We should always advise reading the old writers in preference. pecially concerning the derivatives, the prefixes, and affixes, and the government of nouns and verbs, than in most of the other Italian grammars put together. We will transcribe here, as a philological curiosity, illustrative of the great etymological affinity between Italian and Latin, the following lines, quoted by Gamba, and addressed to Venice by a citizen of that republic before its fall, and which read equally in both languages. It is of course a constrained composition, and serves merely to show the possibility of the thing : Te saluto, alma Dea, Dea generosa, Tu benigna; tu salva, ama, conserva. There is also the following well-known invocation to the Virgin Mary, the lines of which, besides the words being in both languages, retain the poetical measure in both :- In mare irato, in subita procella, The English scholar will find out in studying Italian, that the syntax of the latter approaches that of the English more than the French does, and that many Italian works can be better translated into English than into French, and vice versa, from the English into Italian. Professor Rossetti, of the King's College, justly observes, that between the French and the Italian there is a mere etymological affinity; while between the Italian and the English there is the more important analogy, that of construction; and that while the French student can easily understand the meaning of most Italian words, the English will, with greater facility, seize the meaning of Italian sentences and periods. There is also a greater sympathy between the literature of the two latter countries; both have distinct languages for prose and for poetry; the same roundness of periods prevails in both; both are capable of a great variety of phraseology, and the English comes much nearer to the Italian than the French in its susceptibility of inversion. We would therefore advise English pupils to study Italian by means of their own language in preference to adopting the medium of the French, which, in many cases, will prove to them a hinderance rather than a help. 374 ON LEARNING SINGING. BY MR. BARWELL. (From the Quarterly Journal of Education, No. XVIII.) SINGING is an acquirement which perhaps gives more general pleasure than any other accomplishment, since it affords gratification even to those who are ignorant of the art, and does not, like instrumental music, require a practical audience in order to be appreciated, nor, like painting, a particular education in order to perceive its beauties. The love of sweet sounds seems a part of our nature; and these, when connected with poetry, address themselves to the understanding and to the sensibility, as well as to the ear. Music, and vocal music especially, forms a valuable addition to domestic enjoyments, and as a female accomplishment deserves cultivation upon this ground, as well as upon the principle that women should possess as many rational resources as possible both for their own happiness and that of those who look to them for solace and amusement. While we urge the expediency, and in some sort the necessity, of acquiring the art of singing, we must allow, that it already often engrosses a large portion of female education, to the exclusion of many more important attainments; and we regret to add, that, after much application of time and labour, the result is frequently either entire failure, or at least partial disappointment--for which we account in the following manner. Singing is properly regarded as a part of female edu |