346
NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 s. vn. OCT. so, 1020.
1660.
Mar. 15, Thursday. I went to Chelsey where my Neice Bixwell was married by Dr. Warmistry from thence wee went to Twicknam to S r T. Peytons where the mariage was celebrated for a "'Weeke.
May 13, Sunday. I went aboard the Centurion with the five Lords Commissioners that went to 'fetch the king (my lord of Warwicke not going because he had the goute) which were my Ld of Oxforde, Middlesex, Barkeley, Brookes and Hereforde and vpon tuesday wee landed at Skiueling.
May 22, Tuesday. I left the Hague and went with Mr. Cholmely to see Holland and Flandres.
May 23, Wednesday. The King left the Hague to goe for England and went on board at Skiueling.
June 12, Tuesday. I landed at Dover. 1661.
Mar. to June [Ifcur to Paris]. 1663.
Oct. 20, Tuesday. I came from Chicksands to Xondon with my Brother and my C. George Fitz -geoffry. 1664.
Oct. 25, Tuesday. I returned to Towne [from 'Chicksands] with my brother, my brother Temple and sister, and my Lady Gifforde. 1665.
May 20. I went out of Towne to Easton because of the Plague.
Nov. 7. I came from Easton to Chicksands.
G. C. MOORE SMITH.
Sheffield.
(To be continued.)
ITALIAN LITERARY CRITICISM IN
THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY.
FRANCESCO MONTANI DI PESARO.
III.
'ONE sentence in the essay reminds one irresistibly of Carlyle : " Writing follows the laws of dress, they should conform and in a certain measure tone down to the needs of the times in which they are written." It is impossible to establish rules in literary creation, and no writers can ever possess sufficient authority to be used as infallible models. " Who are those authors we should follow, so irrefutable, so infallible, that even while we listen gravely to their written law, we have no need of a law so much more valuable, not written a certain judgment depending on reflection, on changes in time, religion, countries, habits, taste." Absolute independence, absolute freedom must be granted to the poet, for the act of creation is spontaneous, intuitive, and cannot be con- trolled by reasoning or subdued to intention. Expression and creation are identical : per- ception is immediate and spontaneously
excited : it is impossible to realize an im-
pression without thought and the knowledge
of thought must be expression itself even
if not written. Expression, perception,
thought have no time interval : they occur
instantaneously. One cannot isolate any
one of them in reality but only perhaps in
theory. It is quite evident that Montani
had in mind a definite theory of literary
creation and expression, not different in
fundamentals from our modern aesthetic.
"There are immutable, eternal laws....
but only so few as to be counted by the
nose." He desires to gain a deeper know-
ledge of the artistic impulse not necessarily
on a psychological examination, but rather
on an intuitive ; hence, a rigorous fidelity
to intrinsic standards and a rejection of
extrinsic. Montani cannot conceive beauty
as outside of expression, outside of life :
there is no place in literary appreciation for
super-imposed ideals. The artistic impulse
comes through the centuries and develops
in its course towards realization of the
ideal : a great power underlies all literary
creation, something which gives it truth and
strength and, although divided into many
species, into diverse manifestations, remains
harmonious in itself. Montani defines that
unity of inspiration, of artistic intuition,
which alone makes real expression possible,
w*hich transforms what would otherwise be
jugglery with artificial formulae, artificial
ornaments, into living art. The identity
of spirit and expression envelops poetry
with a flavour which belongs to one per-
sonality and poetry, being the reflection of
that personality, discloses new conceptions,
new beauties, new rays of light. Novelty,
new things, new gleams form that original
energy which always pulses through the
work of genius : true utterance must be
always new, for the spirit lives a life apart,
alone, no two spirits resemble each other
and the utterance of one spirit must be a
new thing to any other spirit. Novelty
means intensity, spiritual truth, the direct
expression of a spiritual need, and without
such inner intensity the act of creation
becomes impossible. The receptive mind
seeks eagerly for those manifestations and
when it finds them, cherishes them, not as
an addition to a repertory whence they can
be taken at pleasure to fulfil some literary
intention, but as a new inspiration to the
creative faculty itself fuel to an inner
flame which takes into itself all external
things, all acquired things and uses percepr
tion, sensual and mental, to intensify its
