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In fcap. 8vo., tastefully printed, 3s. 6d. post free. THE ROMANCE OF MATHEMATICS. Being the Original Researches of a Lady Professor at Girtham College. By P. HAMPSON, M.A., Oriel College, Oxford. "The book throughont shows traces of keen insight and intelligence, and is no mean contribution to political literature."—Liverpool Albion. In crown 8vo., cloth, price 2s. 6d. post free. UNCLE HERMAN. By EMILE ERHARD. Translated from the German by M. TYSON. "A favourable specimen of German humour . . . laughter-provoking from first to last."--Morning Post. LONDON: ELLIOT STOCK, 62, PATERNOSTER ROW, E.C. HE Adamo of Giovanni Soranzo is a small quarto, printed at Bergamo by Comin Ventura in the year 1606. Its title is, I duoi primi libri dell' Adamo di Giovanni Soranzo, and it is dedicated by the printer, not the author, "al molto Mag. Sig. Lorenzo Agasi," whom he addresses as "mio colendissimo Signore." From the title it may be inferred that the author intended to continue the subject in other books or divisions; but if so, the design was not carried out: no more was published than is contained in this small thin quarto. It seems probable that, as he did not dedicate the book, he may have died before the publication of it, leaving his design of a larger poem unfulfilled. The book is now exceedingly rare. Brunet gives a slight account of it, but he does not appear to have seen a copy. He does not write as if he had any personal knowledge of it; but he says that it is "très rare." I have never seen any other copy than the one which is in my possession, nor have I met with any other in any sale-catalogue that has come into my hands.* The book is not found in the library of the British Museum. It is illustrated by five wood-cuts, which are fair examples of art, as it was practised at the beginning of the seventeenth century. In the first, the fallen angels are being driven down from heaven by their victorious foes; one, probably representing St. Michael the Archangel, has transfixed his fallen adversary with a huge spear, and others, with bow and scimitar, are pursuing the discomfited host. In the second, with the grotesque realism of the time, God, who appears as an aged king, crowned and radiated, is approaching Adam, who lies sleeping under a tree; and in the third he is seen in the act of forming Eve, who has only yet attained to an infantine growth. Adam and Eve appear, in the fourth, naked on each side of a large tree, round whose stem the serpent is coiled; and in the fifth the sorrowful pair, with aprons of fig-leaves, are being driven from the Garden of Eden, an avenging angel pursuing them with a flaming sword. An attempt has been made lately to prove that the Paradise Lost owed much to the Lucifer of Vondel, the Dutch poet, but it has not been proved that Milton knew the Dutch language, or that he ever travelled in Holland. The In the copy before us there is a pencil-note, in which it is stated that there was a copy in the Sunderland sale, and that it was sold for £8 10s. AUGUST, 1886. 8 coincidences of thought and expression which are found in the two books only show that Vondel and Milton may aptly be compared with each other for poetical genius, and that having taken up the same theme, they formed many parallel lines of thought and expression. But we know that Milton was skilled in the use of the Italian language. We know also that he went to Italy in 1637, after the death of his mother, and that he did not return until the year 1639. He might therefore have read the Adamo when travelling in Italy, and it is highly probable, from a comparison of the two works, that he had read it. In saying this, we do not design any disparagement of Milton's genius. Many students of Shakespeare have endeavoured to find out the sources from which he drew the story, or ground-work, of each of his dramas, without intending to diminish his immortal fame as a dramatist. All that can be ascribed to such discoveries is, that they offered or suggested a course which the genius of the poet might adopt. That which gives form and life to the mere material must be in the poet himself. The Adamo of Soranzo occupies the same ground as the Paradise Lost. It begins with a rebellion in heaven, and describes the defeat of the fallen angels, their meeting in council with Satan as their chief, his departure to our earth that he might tempt our first parents, his success in that attempt, and their bitter grief when they learn the results of their disobedience. It ends, as the Paradise Lost, with the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise, and their sorrowful departure to other scenes. But Milton was far superior to Soranzo in the creative power of his imagination, in the fulness of his learning, and in the force and grandeur of his style. The Adamo does not seem to have been at any time a popular book. It is very little known, even in Italy, and there is no record of any other issue than that of 1606. But Milton's work may be said to have taken the world by storm, though the political party with which he was connected was not then in the ascendant; or at least it may be said that it soon gained the reputation of being one of the greatest poems that the world has ever known. In the judgment of Dr. Johnson, "when considered with respect to design, it may claim the first place; and with respect to performance, the second among the productions of the human mind." The Adamo is written in a kind of rhyme which resembles the form adopted in Spenser's Faerie Queene. Each book is preceded by an introduction which gives a summary of its contents, and is called, as in Milton's work, an argument. The first is as follows: I lividi occhi torce Pluto al Cielo, L'opprimi si, che ne vien pazzo e stolto. TRANSLATION. Pluto (Satan) turns his livid eyes to Heaven, And beholds the man (Adam) surrounded with delights. He calls a council; thence he departs, and a veil Of air he weaves; of a serpent he assumes the form. He tempts the lady and conquers; and heavy the apple Here it may be observed that Satan summons a council, as in Paradise Lost: Of sovran power, with awful ceremony, And trumpets' sound, throughout the host proclaim A solemn council, forthwith to be held At Pandemoniun.-Book i. And when he looks upon the happy condition of our first parents, he exclaims: O Hell! what do mine eyes with grief behold! Into our room of bliss, thus high advanced, The opening lines of each poem are very much alike. In each, the fall of our first parents is asserted as the central fact of the poem, and an invocation is made, on account of the greatness of the attempt, in the one to the Heavenly Fathers, and in the other to the Heavenly Muse: L' Innocenza perduta, e Adamo io canto, La penna, che gl' antichi falli accoglie, Sieve a le tempie mie pregiate Allori. TRANSLATION. Of the lost innocence and of Adam I sing, Troubles, passions, torments and griefs. Heavenly Fathers, if so much dares and presumes My pen, which treats of ancient defaults, Pardon me, and only in your wanderings Weave round my temples the desired laurels. MILTON. Of Man's first disobedience, and the fruit Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste Sing, heavenly Muse! that on the secret top That shepherd who first taught the chosen seed, Invoke Thy aid to my adventurous song. |