law for a short time at Verona, and wrote his first long poem, ‘Arnaldo,’ published in 1842, which was very favorably received.  When six years later the new Venetian republic came into being, Aleardi was sent to represent its interests at Paris.  The speedy overthrow of the new State brought the young ambassador home again, and for the next ten years he worked for Italian unity and freedom.  He was twice imprisoned, at Mantua in 1852, and again in 1859 at Verona, where he died April 17th, 1878.

Like most of the Italian poets of this century, Aleardi found his chief inspiration in the exciting events that marked the struggle of Italy for independence, and his best work antedated the peace of Villafranca.  His first serious effort was ‘Le Prime Storie’ (The Primal Histories), written in 1845.  In this he traces the story of the human race from the creation through the Scriptural, classical, and feudal periods down to the present century, and closes with foreshadowings of a peaceful and happy future.  It is picturesque, full of lofty imagery and brilliant descriptive passages.

‘Una Ora della mia Giovinezza’ (An Hour of My Youth:  1858) recounts many of his youthful trials and disappointments as a patriot.  Like the ‘Primal Histories,’ this poem is largely contemplative and philosophical, and shines by the same splendid diction and luxurious imagery; but it is less wide-reaching in its interests and more specific in its appeal to his own countrymen.  And from this time onward the patriotic qualities in Aleardi’s poetry predominate, and his themes become more and more exclusively Italian.  The ‘Monte Circello’ sings the glories and events of the Italian land and history, and successfully presents many facts of science in poetic form, while the singer passionately laments the present condition of Italy.  In ’Le Citta Italiane Marinore e Commercianti’ (The Marine and Commercial Cities of Italy) the story of the rise, flourishing, and fall of Venice, Florence, Pisa, and Genoa is recounted.  His other noteworthy poems are ’Rafaello e la Fornarina,’ ‘Le Tre Fiume’ (The Three Rivers), ‘Le Tre Fanciulle’ (The Three Maidens:  1858), ‘I Sette Soldati’ (The Seven Soldiers:  1859), and ‘Canto Politico’ (Political Songs:  1862).

A slender volume of five hundred pages contains all that Aleardi has written.  Yet he is one of the chief minor Italian poets of this century, because of his loftiness of purpose and felicity of expression, his tenderness of feeling, and his deep sympathies with his struggling country.

“He has,” observes Howells in his ‘Modern Italian Poets,’ “in greater degree than any other Italian poet of this, or perhaps of any age, those merits which our English taste of this time demands,—­quickness of feeling and brilliancy of expression.  He lacks simplicity of idea, and his style is an opal which takes all lights and hues, rather than the crystal which lets the daylight colorlessly through.  He is distinguished no less by the themes