|j||ll,|i''|!(;|.i|i^i.;i:ll ill:;, :■;■.■: :/". 'I ; ^,,.i..,,..>„./.-,|-«.»J^M -^U^ IIV, ' ""^ The original of tiiis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924026375570 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time THE MACMILLAN COMPANY mW YORK ■ BOSTON ■ CHICAGO • DALLAS ATI^NTA • SAN FRANCISCO MACMILLAN & CO., Lihitsd LONDON • BOMBAY • CALCUTTA HBLBOUHNS THE MACMILLAN CO. OF CANADA, Lin. TOKOHTO CARLO GOLDONI Portrait by G. B. Piazzetta in the Correr Museum, Venice JOSEPH SPENCER KENNARD GOLDONI AND THE VENICE OF HIS TIME Hftia gotfc THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 1920 jill rights reserved Copyright, 1920, By the MACMILLAN COMPANY Set up and printed. Published April, 1920. NoTiDooti Qre0s J. 8. Cuahiog Co. — Berwick dc Smith Co, Norwood, Mass., U.S.A. I I 'J J/i U t,\ '1 TO MY MOTHER CONTENTS Chronologicai. Summary of Carlo Goldoni's Life . . ix Bibliography si GoiDONi's Plays xv CHAPTER I I II. First Part of Goldoni's Life, 1707 to 1732 . . 43 in. Life of Goldoni, 1732 to 1747 . . . - 85 IV. Goldoni's Life from 1747 to 1753 . . . . 130 V. Goldoni's Life from 1753 to 1760 . . . .162 VI. The End of Goldoni's Life 20a vn. The Plays (i 734-1 749) 246 Vin. The Plays (1749-1750) 293 IX. The Plays (1750-1751) 338 X. The Plays (1751-1754) 380 XI. The Plays (1754-1760) 422 Xn. The Plays .... .... 468 Xni. Conclusion 497 Index ... 521 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Carlo Goldoni Frontispiece TACIHG PAGE Court of Goldoni's House in Venice, the Palazzo " Centanni " . 107 The Piazzetta of San Marco and the Island of San Giorgio in the Time of Goldoni 3 19 CHRONOLOGICAL SUMMARY OF CARLO GOLDONI'S LIFE Carlo Alessio Goldoni, his grandfather, dies in Venice, 1703. Goldoni bom in Venice, February 25, 1707. Enters Jesuit college at Perugia, 1719. Studies philosophy in Rimini, under Candini, 1720. Runs away from Rimini with company of actors, 1721. Lives with his family in Chioggia, and accompanies his father on his medical visits, 1721 and 1722. Studies law with his uncle Indric, in Venice, 1722. Admitted to the Ghislieri College in Pavia, 1723. Expelled from college for a libellous writing, 1725. Studies law in Modena, 1726. Appointed clerk in the criminal chancellery of Chioggia, 1727. Appointed to a similar position at Feltre, 1729. Leaves Feltre (1730), and is with his fatJier when he dies at Bagnacavallo, 1731- Receives degree of Doctor of Law at Padua, 1732. Mother leaves Venice for Modena, 1732. Admitted to the Venetian bar, 1732. Bums his tragedy Amalasunta at Milan, after it is refused, 1733. Appointed secretary to the Venetian minister at Milan, 1733. Goes with the Venetian minister to Crema when the French and Sardinians attack Milan, 1733. Dismissed from his diplomatic position, and leaves Crema, 1 734. Imer engages him to write plays for the San Samuele Theatre at Venice, 1734- Has love affair with an actress, who deceives him, 1735. Goes to Genoa, and meets and marries Nicoletta Connio, with whom he returns to Venice, 1736. Appointed Genoese consul in Venice, 1740. From which position he resigns in 1744. Practises law in Pisa, 1744. Writes a play for the Medebach players who are visiting Leghorn, 1745. Agrees to write plays for Medebach, of Sant' Angelo Theatre, Venice, 1747. Returns to Venice, 1748. At close of his second season at Sant' Angelo Theatre he announces that the next year he will present sixteen plays, 1750. Contract with Medebach expires, 1753. Signs contract with Vendramin brothers^ proprietors of San Luca Theatre, Venice, 1753. His mother dies, 1754. Signs a second contract with Francesco Vendramin, whose brother Antonio has died, 1756. X Chronological Summary of Carlo Goldoni's Life Visits Parma and is appointed court poet with an annual pension of 3000 Parmesan lire, 1756. Invited to write plays for the Tordinona Theatre at Rome, 1758. Leaves Rome and, after three months in Bologna, returns to Venice, 1759. Correspondence with the Italian Theatre in Paris, 1759. Offered a two years' engagement at the Italian Theatre in Paris, and accepts same, 1761. Signs a final contract with Vendramin, 1762. With the play Una delle tdlime sere di Carnevak says farewell to Venice and leaves for Paris, 1762. // Figlio d'Arlecchino perduto e ritrovato is a failure when performed at Fon- tainebleau, 1762. Appointed to teach Italian to Madame Adelaide, and is given an apartment at the palace at Versailles, 1765. Receives from the French court an annual pension of 4000 livres, 1769. His play Le Bourru Bienfaisanl performed at Paris is a great success, 1771. Teaches Italian to the sister of the king, who is engaged to marry the Prince of Piedmont, 177s. Visits Voltaire in Paris, 1778. Settles in Paris, the Italian Theatre there is closed, 1780. Plans a magazine, writes plays, and tries various ways of making a living, but is troubled with partial blindness and poor health, 1781-1792. Dies in Paris at age of eighty-six, February 6, 1793. BIBLIOGRAPHY A GoLDONi bibliography of one thousand titles would still be incomplete. In Italian alone there have been printed more than thirty editions of Gol- doni's plays, besides a much larger number of "Collections" and reprints of single plays, and the number is constantly increasing. Numerous collec- tions of his letters, and also single letters, have been printed. Very many of his plays have been translated into English and omer languages. Gol- doni's Memoirs have been translated from French into EngUsh by John Black, 2 vols., and published in London, 1814. The same, abridged, with an essay by W. D. Howells, was published in Boston, 1877. In the notes at the foot of pages 386 and 441 of the text will be found reference to more extensive bibhographies, lists of his works and correspondence, and of translations of the same. The three following collections of Goldoni's letters include his most important correspondence: Ciampi, Ignazio. Lettere di Carlo Goldoni al Marchese Alhergati, special- mente da Parigi. In II Pirata. Turin, 1862-63-64. Spinelli, A. & A. Lettere di Carlo Goldoni e di Girolamo Medehach al Conte Giuseppe Arconati-Visconti. Milan, 1882. Urbani De Gheltof, G. M. Lettere di Carlo Goldoni, etc. Venice, 1880. From the many editions of Goldoni's plays the following are selected as most useful to students : 1750. Giuseppe Bettinelli. Venice. I7S3-SS- Paperini Successors. 10 vols. Authors' edition. Florence. 1788-95- Antonia Zatta e figU. 44 vols. Authorised edition. Venice. 1827. Complete Collection. s° vols. (30 for the plays, 3 for the Memoirs, and 17 for the librettos). Prato. 1907 et seq. Complete collection of the works of Goldoni, brought out under the supervision of the municipality of Venice, in commemoration of the second centennial of his birth. In this the Pasquali edition has been faithfully reprinted with all the original engravings, frontispieces, etc., and this is without question the preferable edition for consultation by students of Goldoni's plays. All books referred to in the present volume, as well as a few others which should be consulted by any serious student of Goldoni, are included in the following : AdemoUo, A. Intorno al tealro drammatico italiano dal 1550 in poi. Nuova Antologia, 1881. II Carnevale di Roma nei secoli XVII e XVIII. Rome, 1883. Una FamigUa di comici italiani nel secolo decimotavo. Florence, 1885. Algarotti, F. Lettere inedite, Opere. Vols. XVII and XVIII. Venice, 1794. xii Bibliography Ancona, A. d'. Origini del tealro italiano. 2 vols. Turin, 1891. Mantiale della letteralura italiana. (With Orazio Bacci.) 6 vols. Florence, 1904- 1908. Una Macchietta Goldoniana. In Carlo Goldoni. Venice, 1883. Baccini, Giuseppe. G. B. Fagiuoli, poeta faceto fiorentino. Firenze, 1886. Bartoli, Francesco. Scenari inedili della commedia deU'arte. Firenze, Sanson!, 1880. Notizie istoriche de'comici italiani che fiorirono intorno M'anno MDL fino a'giorni presenti. 2 vols. Padua, 1782. Baschet, Armand. Les Commldiens italiens d la cour de France sous Charles IX, Henri III, Henri IV et Louis XIII. Paris, 1882. Belgrano, L. T. II Matrimonio and II Consolato di C. G. In his Imbrevia- ture di Giovanni Scriba. Genoa, 1882. Black, John. Translation from the French of Goldoni's Memoirs. 2 vols. London, 1814. Same, abridged, with essay by W. D. Howells. Boston, 1877. Boighi, Cario. Memorie sulla vita di Carlo Goldoni. Modena, 1859. Brocchi, Virgilio. Carlo Goldoni a Venezia nel secolo XVIII. Bologna, 1907. Brognoligo, G. Nel Teatro di C. G.; II Cavaliere e la Dama; Le Femmine puntigliose; La guerra. Naples, 1907. Brosses, Le President des. Lettres familiires icrites d'ltalie en 173^ et 1740. 2 vols. Fourth edition. Paris, 1885. Campardon, E. Les Comidiens du Roi de la Troupe Italienne pendant les deux dernier s siicles. 2 vols. Paris, 1880. Caprin, Giulio. La Commedia deU'arte al principio del secolo XVIII. Rivista teatrala italiana. Naples, 1905. C. G., la sua vita, le sue opere. Con introduzione di Guido Mazzoni. Milan, 1907. Carducci. / Corifei della Canzonetta nel secolo XVI. VoL XVIII in Antologia di Critica Letterari Modema. Carrer, Luigi. Saggi su la vita c su le opere di C. G. 3 vols. Venice, 1824. Casanova de Seingalt, J. Mlmoires icrites par lui-mime. Nouvelle 6dition collationn£e sur I'Mition originale de Leipsick. 8 vols. Paris, no date. Castelnuovo, A. Una Dama Veneziano del secolo XVIII. Nuovo An- tologia, Jan., 1882. Chatfield-Taylor, H. C. Goldoni. New York, 1913. Cian, V. Due aneddoti, due etd nella storia e nella vitc di Pisa. Miscellanea di erudizione. Vol. I. Pisa, 1905. L'ltalianitd di C. G. L'Esule sommo. Numero unico de Dante Alighieri. Cpmitato di Senigallia, 1907. Diderot, D. De la poisie dramatique {,1758). Gamier. Paris, 1875. Grimm, Le Baron de. Correspondance littiraire, etc. (1753-1790). 16 vols. Paris. Guilbert, P. J. Notice . . . sur Mme. Socage. Rouen, 1807. Lazzari, A. // Padre di G. Rivista d'ltalia. Rome, 1907. C. G. in Romagna. Ateneo veneto. Venice, 1908. Lee, Vernon. Studies of the Eighteenth Century in Italy. London, 1881. Second edition with new preface, ibid., 1906. Lohner, E. Von. C. G. e le sue Memorie. Frammenti. Archivio veneto. Vols. XXIII and XXIV. Venice, 1882. Malamani, Vittorio. Carlo Goldoni. Nuova Rivista, Nos. $0-3. Turin 1882. Nuovi appunti e curiositd goldoniane. Venice, 1887. II Sette- cento a Venezia. Turin, 1891-92. Bibliography xiii Mantovani, Dino. C. G. e il teatro di San Luca a Venezia, Carieggio inedito (1755-65). Milano, 1884. Marchesi, G. B. / Romanze dell'abate Chiari. Bergamo, 1900. Masi, Ernesto. La Vita e le opere di C. G. Bologna, 1880. La Vila, i tempi, gli amid di Francesco Albergati. Bologna, 1878. Modena a Carlo'Goldoni nel secondo centenario delta sua nascita. Publica- zione a cura del Municipio e della cassa di risparmio. Modena, 1907. Molifire. Cf. M. A. D. Regnier's collection, Les Grands Bcrivains de la France, "Moliire." Molmenti, P. G. C. G. Studio critico-biografico. Second edition. Venice, 1880. La Storia di Venezia nella vita privata dalle origini alia caduta della republica. Fifth edition, profusely illustrated. Vol. I, La Grandezza; Vol. II, Lo Splendore; Vol. Ill, II Decadimento. Bergamo, 1910. Muratori. Annali d'ltalia. Vol. VII. Venice, 1848. Musatti, Cesare. Goldoni in scena. Venice, 1S93. Spunti di dialetto veneziano nei " Rusteghi" di C. G. Venice, 1910. Neri, Achille. Carlo Goldoni. Pavia, 1907. Bibliografa goldoniana. Giom. degli eruditi e curiosi. Vol. III. Padua, 1883. Ortolani, Giuseppe. Della Vita e dell'arte di C. G. Venice, 1907. Parfaict, Freres. Histoire de I'ancien thedtre italien depuis son origine en France jusqu'd sa supression en I'annee i6gy. Suivie des exlraits on canevas des meilleurs pieces italiennes qui n'ont jamais He imprimecs. Paris, 1767. Rabany, Charles. C. G. Le thedtre et la vie en Italie au XV I He siecle. Paris, 1896. Rasi, Luigi. / Comici italiani, Biografia, Bibliografia, Iconografia. Flor- ence, Vol. I, 1897; Vol. II, 1905. Raynaud, Maurice. Les Medicins du temps de Moliere. Paris, 1862. Regnier, A. D. Les Grands Ecrivains de la France, "Moliere." Riccoboni, L. Histoire de I'ancien thedtre italien, etc. 2 vols. Paris, 1730- 31- Saint-Didier. L'ltalie vue par les Frantais. Librairie des Annales. Paris, Saint-Evremond. De la Comidie Ilalienne. Paris, 1777. Saintsbury, George. Short History of English Literature. London, 1908. Sanctis, Francesco di. Storia della letteratura italiana. Scala, Flaminio. II Teatro delle favole rappresentative, etc. Venice, 16 11. Collection of 50 scenarios. Sommi-Picenardi, G. Un rivale del Goldoni, etc. Milan, 1902. Spinelli, A. Goldoni a Modena. Ermanno von Lohner edition. A. G. SpineUi. Modena, 1893. Bibliografia goldoniana, etc. Milan, 1884. Stendhal. La vie de Metastasio. Tammaso, Niccold. Storia civile della Lelteraria. Turin, 1872. Tipaldo, G. di. Biografia degli Italiani illustri. Venice, 1837. Toldo, P. Se il Diderot abbia imitato il Goldoni. Giom. stor., etc. Vol. XXVJ. 1895. Vaumorifere, de. Lettres sur toutes sortes de sujets. Paris, 1714. [For reference to lists of Goldoni's plays see notes at foot of pages 386 and 44I-] GOLDONI'S PLAYS In all Goldoni composed nearly three hundred plays, inter- ludes, books for operas, cantatas, and miscellanea; besides many "compHments," mainly in verse, for his patrons. Many of the plays so catalogued as separate plays are in fact duplicates, being played under one title in Paris and being sent to Vendramin with another title, for performance in Venice. Goldoni's spelling of the titles of his plays in his letters, his memoirs, and the pubhshed plays is not uniform, and this variation has at times been followed in this book. In the present Ust are included all the plays mentioned by Goldoni in his Memoirs as well as such others as it seemed desirable to record. Unless otherwise noted, all these plays are comedies. In some cases the dates are approximate, as Goldoni is himself frequently inaccurate. Adulatore, L', 1750, three masks. Amalasunta, tragedy, burned. Amante de se stesso, L', see L'Egoista. Amante militare, L', 1751, three masks. Amanti in locanda, see La Locandiera. Amor patemo, L', 1763 (L'Amore patemo), two masks, for both Paris and Venice. Amori di Arlecchino e di Camilla, Gli, see Amori di Zelinda e Lindoro, Gli. Amori di Zelinda e Lindoro, Gli, 1764 (Gli amore di Arlec* chino e di Camilla, 1763), improvised comedy. Amore patemo, see Amor patemo. Apatista, L', 1758, verse, five acts. Avare fastueux, L', 1776, prose in French, performed at Fontainebleau, a failure. xvi Goldoni's Plays Avaro, L', 1756, one act. Avaro geloso, L', 1753 (II geloso avaro), Goldoni's first play at Sant' Angelo Theatre, two masks. Awenture della villeggiatura, Le, 1761. Awenturiere onorato, L', 1751. Awocato veneziano, L', 1750, one mask. Banca Rotta, La, 1741 (II Mercante Fallito ; La Bancarotta), four masks. Baruffe Chiozzote, Le, 1761. Belisario, 1734, tragedy (Belisarius). Bella Selvaggia, La, 1758, in verse. Birba, La, 1735, interlude, three acts. Bisticci domestici, I, 1752 (I Puntigli domestici), four masks. Bona mugier, La, see La Buona Moglie. Bottega del caffe, La, see H Caffe. Bourru bienfaisant, 1771 (II burbero beneficio), prose in French, performed at Comedie Franfaise, 1771. Bugiardo, II, 1750, four masks. Buona famiglia. La, 1755. Buona figlia, La, 1754 (?) (Buona figliuola), one of three works composed by ordeY of the Duke of Parma. Buona Madre, La, 1759. Buona Moglie, La, 1749 (La Bona mugier), three masks. Buono e cattivo genio, 11, 1768, performed in Venice but not in Paris. Burbero beneficio, II, see Bourru bienfaisant. Caffe, n, 1750 (La bottega del caffe ; H Maldicente alia bottega dd cafffe). Cameriera brillante. La, 1753, three masks. Campiello, H, 1756, in free verse. Casa nuova, La, 1760 (La casa nova). Cavalier giocondo, II, society comedy in verse. Cavalie?re di buon gusto, II, 1750 (L'Uomo di gusto), four masks. Goldoni's Plays xvii Cavaliere di spirito, 1757 (L'Uomo di spirito), verse, five acts. Cavaliere e la Dama o i Cicisbei, II, 1749, three masks. Cento e quattro accident! in una notte, see La Notte critica. Contrattempo, II, see L'Imprudente. Convitato nuovo, II, 1736 (Don Giovanni tenorio), blank verse, five acts. Cortesan vecchio, II, 1754, see II Vecchio bizzarro. Cortesan venezian, II, subtitle of L'Uomo'di mondo. Curioso accidente, Un, 1757 (?). Dahnatina, La, 1758, tragi-comedy, in verse, five acts. Dama prudente, La, see La Moglie prudente. Dama sola, La, 1757 (La Donna sola), verse, five acts. Don Giovanni tenorio, see II Convitato nuovo. Donna bizzarra, La, see La Moglie capricciosa. Donna di garbo. La, 1743, two masks. Donna di govemo, La, 1758, five acts. Doima di maneggio, La, 1757. Donna di spirito, La, 1757. Doima di testa debole. La (L'Uomo sincere), two masks. Donna forte. La, 1759 (La Sposa fidele), verse, five acts. Donna prudente, La, see La Moglie prudente. Donna sola, La, see La Dama sola. Donna stravagante, La, 1756, verse. Donna vendicativa, La, 1753, one mask. Donna volubile, La, 1751, three masks. Donne curiose, Le, 1753 (the last of his contract with Medebach), three masks. Donne di casa soa, Le, 1755, five acts. Donne gelose, Le, 1752, one mask. Donne puntigliose, Le, 1750 (Le Femmine puntigliose; I Pimtigli delle donne), three masks. Due gemelli veSneziani, I, 1748, three masks. Due pantaloni, I, see Mercanti. xviii Goldoni's Plays Egoista, L', 1756 (L'Amante de se stesso), comedy in verse, five acts. Enrico re di Sicilia, 1737 (Henry III of Sicily), tragedy. Erede fortunata, L', 1750, one mask. Famiglia dell'antiquario, La, 1750 (La Suocera e la Nuora), four masks. Femmine puntigliose, Le, see Le Donne puntigliose. Festino, H, 1754, verse, five acts, one of three works composed by order of the Duke of Parma. Feudatorio, II, 1752. Figlia obbediente, La, 1752, three masks. Figlio d'Arlecchino, perduto e ritrovato, H, 1746 (?), improvised comedy. Filosofo inglese, H, 1754, verse, five acts. Finta malata, La, 1751 (Finta ammalata, Lo Speciale o sia la Finta ammalata), one mask. Frappatore, II, see Tonino bella-grazia. Gelosia di'Arlecchino, La, see La gelosia di Lindoro. Gelosia di Lindoro, La, 1764 (La Gelosia di'Arlecchino, Paris, 1763), improvised comedy. Geloso avaro, II, see L'Avaro geloso. Genio buono e il genio cattivo, II, 1768, two masks, five acts. Giuocatore, II, 1750, three masks. Gondoliere veneziano, H, 1733, Milan, musical interlude, for the "Anonymous," Goldoni's first comedy performed in public. Griselda, 1735, tragedy, three acts. Guerra, La, 1761. Impostore, L', 1754, four masks. Impressario di Smime, L', 1757 (Impressario delle Smime). Imprudente, L', 1753 (II Contrattempo), two masks. Incognita, L', 1751 (L'Incognita persequitata), three masks. Incognita persequitata, L', see L'Incognita. Goldoni's Plays xix I^nnamorati, GK, 1759 (Gl'Innamorati). Inquietudini di Camilla, Le, 1763 (Le InquietudinidiZelmda), improvised comedy. Ircana in Ispahan, 1756, tragi-comedy, verse, five acts. Ircana in Julfa, 1755, tragi-comedy, verse. Locandiera, La, 1753 (Gli Amanti in locanda), comedy in three acts, without masks. L'Uomo Prudente, see Uomo Prudente. Madre amorosa. La, 1754, three masks. Malcontenti, I, 1755. Maldicente alia bottega del cafte, see II CaSh. Massare, Le, 1655 (^^ Massere), verse, five acts. Massere, Le, see Le Massare. Matrimonio per concorso, D, 1763. Medico olandese, II, 1756, five acts. Mercante fallito, H, see La Banca Rotta. Mercanti, I, 1752 (I Due pantaloni). Moglie amorosa. La, see La Moglie di buon sense. Moglie capricciosa. La, 1758 (La donna bizzarra), verse, five acts. Moglie di buon senso, La, 1752 (La Moglie saggia; La Moglie amorosa), three masks. MogUe prudente. La, 1751 (La Donna prudente), 1754. Moglie saggia. La, see La Moglie di buon senso. Moliere (II Moliere), 1751. Momolo cortesan, see L'Uomo di mondo. Momolo sulla Brenta, see H Prodigo. Morbinose, Le, 1759, in verse, five acts. Morbinosi, I, 1758, in verse, five acts. Notte critica, La, 1740 (Cento e quattro accidenti in una notte), improvised comedy. XX Goldoni's Plays Padre di famiglia, II, 1749, three masks. Padre per amore, II, 1757, verse, five acts. Padre rivale del figlio, H, see H Teatro Comico. Pamela, 1750 (Pamela nubile; Pamela putta). Pamela maritata, 1759, sequel to Pamela nubile. Pamela nubile, see Pamela. Pamela putta, see Pamela. Peruviana, La, 1754, verse, five acts. Pettegolezzi, I, 1751 (I Pettegolezzi della donne), two masks. Pettegolezzi deUa donne, I, see Pettegolezzi. Poeta fanatico, U, 1750 (I Poeti), verse and prose, two masks. Poeti, I, see II Poeta fanatico. Prodigo, II, 1739 (Momolo sulla Brenta), three masks. PuntigU delle donne, I, see Le Donne puntigKose. PuntigU domestici, I, see I Bisticci domestici. Pupilla, La, 1734, interlude. Pupilla, La, 1757, verse, five acts. Putta onorata. La, 1749, three masks. Raggiratore, II, 1756. Ricco insidiato, H, 1758, verse, five acts. Rinaldo di Montalbano, 1736, tragi-comedy. Ritomo dalla villeggiatura, II, 1761. Rosmonda, 1735, tragedy. Rusteghi, I, 1760. Scozzese, La, 1761, five acts. Serva amorosa. La, 1752, three masks. Serva Riconoscente, La, see L'Amore patemo. Servatore di due padroni, U, see Servo di due padronL Servo di due padroni, 1745 (II servatore di due padroni), four masks. Sior Todero Brontolon, see Todaro. Smanie della villeggiatura, Le, 1761. Speciale o sia la Finta ammalata, Lo, see La Finta malata. Goldoni's Plays xxi Spirito di contradizione, Lo, 1758, verse, five acts. Sposa fidele, La, see La Donna forte. Sposa persiana, La, 1753, tragi-comedy, five acts. Sposa sagace. La, 1758, in verse, five acts. Suocera e la Nuora, La, see La Famiglia dell'antiquario. Tasso, Torquato, II, see II Torquato Tasso. Teatro Comico, II, 1750 (H Padre rivale del figlio), four masks. Terenzio, 1754 (H Terenzio), verse, five acts. Todaro, 1761 (Sior Todero Brontolon ; II Vecchio fastidioso). Tonino bella-grazia, 1748 (U Frappatore), two masks. Torquato Tasso, 1755 (II Torquato Tasso), verse, five acts. Trentadue disgrazie d'Arlecchino, Le, 1740, improvised comedy. Tutore, II, 1753, three masks. Una dell'ultime sere di Camevale, 1762, last comedy given in Venice before Goldoni's departure for Paris. Uomo di gusto, L', see H Cavaliere di buon gusto. Uomo di mondo, L', 1738 (Momolo cortesan), three masks. Uomo di spirito, L', see 11 Cavaliere di spirito. Uomo prudente, L', 1748, three masks, written in Pisa. Vecchio bizzarro, II, 1754 (II Cortesan vecchio), three masks. Vecchio fastidioso, H, see Todaro. Vedova scaltra. La, 1748, three masks. Vedova di spirito, La, see La Vedova spiritosa. Vedova spiritosa. La, 1757 (La Vedova di spirito), verse, five acts, afterwards in prose, three acts. Ventaglio, II, 1763, the play of Goldoni's most frequently per- formed in English. Vero Amico, H, 1750. Viaggiatori ridicoli, I, work composed by order of the Duke of Parma. Villeggiatura, La, 1755. Goldoni and the Venice of His Time CHAPTER I Italian comedy before Goldoni — Italian comedy was result of intentional imitation — was a continuation of Roman comedy — religious drama — "Classical comedy" a hybrid contradiction — Ariosto first Italian writer of Classical comedy — Machiavelli's Mandragola a masterpiece — it is deeper than a satire, presents a social thesis — Aretino's plays are light comedy — Florentine writers who influenced Goldoni — Florentine Academy — Grazzini, Gelli, and Cecchi — the popular comedy, or La commedia dell'arte — Beolco, il Ruzzante, an initiator of improvised comedy — dialect in popular comedy — century of Arcadia produced few good comedies — Andreini as author-actor-manager — Neapolitan comedy an imitation of Spanish — Florentine popular comedy — seventeenth century supreme period of commedia dell'arte — vulgarity characterised improvised comedy — Goldoni's poor judgment of other writers — Fagiuoli, Gigli, Nelli depict Florentine life — other contemporaries of Goldoni are unimportant. THE importance of Goldoni's reform of .the Italian comedy can be computed only by comparing it with what the ItaHan comedy had achieved before his time and by considering what others had previously tried to accomplish on similar lines and with hke purpose. Goldoni is, as he claimed to be, a reformer and an innovator. Few men originate anything, but many share in the never- ending evolution by continuing the task of their pre- cursors. Goldoni did this. 2 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time When Goldoni undertook to reform the Italian comedy, he imprudently asserted "de bonnes comedies il n'y en avoit point," but in fact his greatest difi&culty was to select from much accumulated material those elements from which might be created that complex, puzzUng, interesting thing — a comedy ; to combine simple form, direct purpose, appropriate means in the measure required at his time and in Italy. That some of his works have sufficiently fulfilled his program as still to command a world-wide audience is the result of his genius rather than of his avowed purpose of reform. To appreciate this purpose, and to measure this achievement, something must be said of Goldoni's precursors — not a complete review of the early Italian comedy, but just a glimpse at the history and progress of this particular branch of literature. No attempt will be made to analyse his tragedies, though Goldoni wrote several, or that species of drama which developed iiito the modern opera ; because Goldoni is only great in the older and nobler form of literary composition, the comedy. The court circles of Rome, Venice, Ferrara, and Naples were neither less refined nor less self-conscious than those of Versailles and Whitehall, and it would seem natural that they would be equally prompt to mirror their own vices, foibles, manners, and customs on the stage. Yet the Italian comedy sprang late into life, and was mainly a product of imitation — imitation avowed, and stated as a fimdamental principle by the writers of classical plays; imitation also, and almost Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 3 as faithfully practised by the authors of popular plays. It was indeed a continuation rather than an imitation of the different sorts of plays composed and performed by the Romans, which were certainly performed, in Italy, even during the darkest Middle Ages. The Italian gift of acting, mimicking, improvising, singing, must have found expression, in some form. There must have been a continuation, through the centuries, of the different forms of Latin comedy. Fabulae, Protestatae, Togatae, Tabernarias, Atel- lamse, Planipedes, and other sorts of mimes and pantomimes may have been acted in Mediaeval Italy as frequently as the various sorts of religious perform- ance, favoured by the clergy, or as often as the improvisation of long tales under the name of gliom- meri; or the playful jousts of extempore contrasti. Such performances are still popular in Italy. What this tendency and gift might have produced if allowed to develop in harmony with the gradual evolution of the people, we cannot know, as there is no certainty what more regular form of art might have developed out of the religious ceremonies and rep- resentations, if they had continued their regular per- formances under the guidance of the Church.^ There is no telling, because the Renaissance movement came sweeping over Italy, destroying some things, transforming many others. In so far as it was a re- vival of antiquity the Renaissance widened the abyss ' It is only in Umbria, tlie land of flagellanii and laudl, that religious drama developed into importance, and it is there that a certain sort of 4 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time between literature and life, — an abyss fatal to comedy. Other literary forms may stand aloof from everyday actual life, but in comedy the elements of composition and also the means of performance must be directly borrowed from life. Both the actors and the audience are part of that society which is represented, part of that imaginary world evoked on the stage. Yet the spirit of the Renaissance so infatuated Italian minds that comedy was reshaped on that single principle, imitation — imitation of the Latin comedy, which in its turn was imitation of the Greek comedy. Renaissance thus created this hybrid contradiction in terms, a classical comedy. Comedy is essentially occasional, contingent, dependent on the changing circumstances of time and surroundings ; yet this absurdity had its short-hved days of glory, which could never outlive the peculiar circumstances which gave it birth. Only authors steeped in classic tradition, only princely patrons infatuated with admiration for antiq- uity, only the over-refined scholars and courtiers of the pageantry is even now performed on different annual feasts. In Florence such performances, though originally meant to be religious, soon assumed a worldly character. G. Caprin, in his Life of Goldoni, thus resumes the situation: "The religious drama was at its turning point, just taking a regular form when it found the way foreclosed by the classical conception of literature at the time of the Renaissance supportedby the favour of scholars, and an aesthetic directly derived from antiquity. A conciliation was attempted, and promised success when Poliziano gave his Orfeo, a genuine expression of pagan ideal blending with the construction of a religious drama. The combination was not continued then, nor ever afterward. Religious representations similar to those which were performed during the Middle Ages are still performed in villages." Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 5 Italian courts, could have found pleasure in the perform- ance first of Latin plays and then in translations of them. Yet these enlightened patrons vied in the splendour and magnificence of the embellishments with which they supplemented these performances, — ■ halls whose decoration was directed by Baldassare Peruzzi, Bernini, and even Raphael ; music and gorgeous allegorical ballets ; authors that were famous in the republic of letters. Ludovico Ariosto^ stands first on the list of Italian writers of classical comedies. His Cassaria and his Suppositi opened the lists. His own voice dictated the precepts that were to govern the stage for more than a century. The letter of his contemporary, Baldassare da Castiglione, the author of II Cortegiano, describes those first representations at the court of Ferrara. What wonders were achieved when magnificence and erudition combined to produce courtly spectacles. The author himself, when a second versified perform- 1 Ludovico Ariosto, son to Niccolo, was born in 1474. He entered the service of Cardinal Ippolito d'Este, bishop o£ Ferrara, in 1503. He rendered many important diplomatic and other services to his patron, besides praising d'Este in his immortal poem; but he was not adequately rewarded. He declined attending the cardinal in Hungary, and was dismissed. Alfonso d'Este then employed him in many ways and finally made him governor of Garfagnana. Toward 1526 Ariosto moved to his own house, which he adorned with the well-known verse, " Parva sed apla mihi." There he peacefully ended his active life, comforted by the constant devotion of the woman he loved, Alessandra Benucci, the widow of Tito Strozzi. Of all Ariosto's writings we mention only his plays : La Cassaria, performed in 1508; / Suppositi, 1509, first at the Court of Ferrara and soon afterwards in Rome before Pope Leone X in a theatre decorated by Raffaello; II Negromante, dated 1520; La Lena, 1528. The play Cli Studenti he left unfinished. 6 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time ance of his play was enacted, stepped out of the curtain to explain in a prologue the intents and pur- poses that directed him. He boasts of having imitated his Latin models as closely as he could; he states that one must not merely borrow the subject from classic models and imitate the classic style of writing but also follow submissively the antique pattern. Customs, manners, characters, the construction of the play, everything must be imitated from the Latins, "just as these had imitated their Greek precursors." But Ariosto, the most imaginative of Italian poets, could not strictly apply this strange conception of art. Even he introduced vital elements of contem- porary actuality into his classical imitations. Though he imitated Plautus and Terence, though his stage characters and incidents were approved by his masters, he could not help introducing some satire, some supple- mentary colour, that were his very own. Thus even while Ariosto adopts the plot entirely turning on the intrigues of the lesser characters, even while he sub- mits to the limitation of a single scene for all the acts — and that one a street, — so as to contrive separate entrances and exits through different house doors for each personage, even whUe he adopts the usual denoue- ment by the recognition or imexpected return of one person that was either supposed long dead or con- cealed under a different name, yet he introduces such traits of satire as this one, aimed at overbearing men in ofl&ce. Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 7 (Cassaria, act iv, sc. 2) "If we were to go now and see the Bassa, we would lose our pains ; we would find him eager for his supper ; or playing at cards or dice ; unless, tired with his day's work, he wished to enjoy his rest. Do I not know the ways of those in com- mand? When they are most alone and most idle, they pretend that they are most busy; they set a servant at their door with orders to admit none but gamblers, harlots, rufi&ans of all sorts, and to keep off aU honest people and worthy citizens." Thus satire finds its way into the dialogue, and por- traits are delineated in caricatural lines, under the antique pattern. For instance the play of Negromante (sorcerer) is evidently designed to represent the pedantic astrologer speculating on the credulity and super- stitions of Ariosto's time "just as all the Great." Ariosto's other novelty is the metrical form. For Ariosto after writing his first plays in prose afterward translated them into poetry, and he versified his later ones. The special form of metre adopted is a delight to the ear with its easy flow and brisk harmony, fit for recitation. Ariosto's contemporary and imitator was Bernardo Dovizi,^ Cardinal Bibbiena. His Calandria has the 1 Bernardo Dovizi was bom in Bibbiena, in the year 1470. He sided with the Medici and was attached to Giovanni, son of Lorenzo, whom he followed into exile, under the pontificate of Giulio II. He afterward succeeded in making his patron Pope imder the name of Leone X. On several occasions he was papal legate and was made cardinal of Bibbiena and Secretary of State. His portrait painted by RaffaeUo is almost as well known as the Pope's. Baldassare da Castiglione introduces him in his Cortegiano (see 8 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time faults and few of the beauties of Ariosto's plays. It is considered one of the most licentious plays ever written. Yet it was performed at the Vatican before a splendid audience of princes, prelates, and Pope Leo X himself. The ribald equivocations, the shocking jokes which offend the delicacy of modem critics, were enjoyed by these scholarly cardinals. They keenly appreciated the imitation of Plautus' Casina and a repetition of their favourite MencBchmi, made more piquant by the difference of sex between the twins, and for the same reason, as in Shakespeare's similar imbroglios, the feminine r61es being performed by boys. Fortimately for ItaUan comedy, even in this initial stage of its existence, a masterpiece was produced to remain as a model for future ages. Voltaire proclaimed MachiaveUi's Mandragola worth "all the plays of Aristophanes." Although Goldoni speaks rather dis- paragingly of this play, he certainly learned from it. Comparison between MachiaveUi ^ and Goldoni is not II Cortegiano de B.D.C. riveduto da Giuseppe Rigutini, Firenze, Barbera, 1889) as the paragon of good manners and courtesy. He died in Rome, 1519. His letter to Lodovico Canossa describes the representation of the Calandria at the court of Urbino (quoted by D'Ancona and Bacci, Manuals delta lelteratura italiana, op. cit., vol. ii, page 391 and following). ' Niccold MachiaveUi (1469-1527), born in Florence, was the son of Bartolommea de Nelli and of Bernardo MachiaveUi, a lawyer. Little is known about his early education. His earliest writing is dated 1497. The following year he was secretary to the second cancdleria of the Florentine Republic and soon afterward secretary to the Dieci della Pace e Liberia. He retained this place untU 1512, when the Medici were reinstated in Florence and he was exiled. Charged with complicity in the Boscoli and Capponi plot, 1513, he was imprisoned and tortured. He then retired to a Uttle place in the country near San Casciano. There he wrote his Mandragola. Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 9 possible. It is only in this comedy of MachiaveUi's, the pastime of an idle hour in his busy Ufe, his diversion in a time of exile and disappointment, that they chance to meet on the same field. When a thinker who has probed the depths of human conscience, when a statesman who seems to have in- vestigated all the problems of his age, and foretold many problems of future ages, undertook to write so simple a thing as a comedy, he was sure to carry some of his deeper insight and clearer observation in this work. In the narrow mould which Ariosto had fixed, in the small compass that was then allowed to comedy, Machiavelli has drawn a number of Hving characters. He has painted an amazing picture of the vices that disgraced his times, and of the ignorance and supersti- tions he hated. Like Goldoni, he only introduces indispensable inno- vations, but he retains such external forms and restric- tions as do not interfere with the real significance of his work. Neither does he multiply his characters, nor does he change those traits which suit his purpose yet respect the estabUshed custom. There is no shift- ing of scenes, the plot is simple, there are the usual personages. A foolish husband, an impudent lover, a He recovered favour with the Medici. For Cardinal Giulio — afterward Pope Clemente VII — he wrote the Annals of Florence. At the fall of his patrons he was denied the place of secretary which he claimed. He died in poverty, 1527, and was buried in Santa Croce. We do not attempt to mention his activity as a statesman and a writer of the most famous book on statesmanship. lo Goldoni and the Venice of His Time bigoted old woman, and a prudent young one, an intrigant, and a friar: from this receipt he mixes and then unravels the simplest of intrigues. But all these classical, cold, dry elements throb with life by the im- ponderable spark that marks the masterpieces of genius. Truth shines through all that is conventional, and a far-reaching moral lesson under the licentiousness which custom then tolerated and, lacking which, the lesson would probably never have found listeners. The plot is familiar, CaUimaco, a student in Paris, has heard the praise of Madonna Lucrezia, Maestro Nicia's wife, and he comes ranting with that sort of passionate desire, which was so often mistaken in the Middle Ages for love, saying that if his desire cannot be gratified he will "do something terrible," stab himself on the lady's doorstep, or drown in the Amo, for a woman he has never yet seen. Ligurio, the fawn- ing, intrigant, like the slave of the antique plays, serves his young master and deceives the old one. Ligurio's shrewdness, hypocrisy, his glib tongue, his proper manners, make him a cinquecento Florentine, well qualified to persuade the pedantic sot Nicia. Friar Timoteo is a party to the intrigue, and between the three, with the unconscious connivance of Lucrezia's mother, they persuade Nicia that if he wishes to have children he must induce Lucrezia to drink of a certain beverage concocted out of the juice of the mandragola (mandrake), for his special benefit, by the learned physician, Callimaco of course. This sort of thing was just what any Florentine of his time might have Goldoni and the Venice of His Time ii believed, or made his fellow believe. Machiavelli added to the popular superstition a more amusing trait. Nicia is told that the portentous effect of the beverage wiU make it mortally dangerous to — to — let us say kiss, Madonna Lucrezia immediately after she has taken it. Someone has to do the — the — kissing and be offered as a victim. A street boy may thus be sacrificed in order to secure the posterity of a most honourable citizen. Indeed, explains Callimaco, who expects to play under an appropriate disguise the part of the street boy, indeed the greatest pirinces and even the King of France have resorted to this artifice so that their family should not end with their own Uves. Nicia is easily persuaded, because his foolish pate is crammed with abstruse reading, and his confidence in his own wisdom is swelled in proportion. " Un sot savant est plus sot qu'un sot ignorant," truly says Moliere. The difl&culty is to convince Lucrezia, who is genu- inely pure and not a bit foolish. Indeed this character of a real woman is one of the best innovations in MachiaveUi's play. She is wearied and worried by her mother's and her confessor's arguments ; torn between the scruples of her natural honesty and instinctive common sense, and the reUgious principles instilled by education and example. Her common sense is not proof against the sophisms of Friar Timoteo; her fiKal respect compels obedience to what her mother tells her to be her duty. Indeed laughter at the comical plot and witty repartee dies out as the 12 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time dire consequences of such a tormenting struggle is better understood. What moral misery was thus prepared for innocent hearts ! The friar's character is completely and studiously delineated. How he argues to persuade the woman that "this thing which she is asked to do is no capital sin, but just as bad as eating meat on a Wednesday ; it can be laved by a sprinkling of holy water." His ready tongue supplies the clever sophisms which she cannot answer. "Why does she trouble about the means; the aim is everything. Is not her aim to fill a seat in Paradise ? " And so on, until he, Timoteo, changes his tactics and uses the deceitful art of unctuous tenderness : " Go, my daughter, and I wiU in the mean- time say the orison to Archangel Raphael, that he may watch over thee." Let her make haste, since night is drawing near. These were indeed deadly thrusts aimed at the whole priestly brotherhood, nothing like the attenuated strokes and noisy, but harmless, flourish which the creator of Frere Jean des Entommeures aimed at his brethren. Yet is MachiaveUi's play something even deeper than a satire of his times, and of the peculiar vice of religious hypocrisy ; there is a social thesis, which anyone may discover if he but reads, and this thesis wiU also be foimd in Goldoni. The great statesman and the modest plajwright meet in this simple conception of social progress. fSince the cause of much evildoing is due to the relaxation of family ties, the best means to Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 13 oppose the decadence of society is to expose and con- demn all that tends to relax these ties."^ The best ideal is the family group made whole and strong again. Let the perverting friar be held up to the pillory of ridicule ; let the infatuated, bigoted mother be shown in her real colours, the slave of an unscrupulous clergy; let the husband be denounced for his failure to fill his r61e of guide and protector. Machiavelh developed this thesis, made it even more clear in another play, la Clizia, and further explained it in a song that was added, as an interlude, for both the comedies, and in which the purity of simple life is simg in accents of real poetry, though the metrical form is not equal to his marvellous prose style. Narrower views and less noble aspirations are found in Aretino's plays.-^ His plays were only his pass time ; ' Pietro Aretino, so called from his birthplace, Arezzo, was the illegitimate son of a cobbler. He studied painting and letters in Perugia. He obtained favour and notoriety from having been wounded in a quarrel. Giovanni della Bande Nere was his friend, and Aretino gave him a devoted attach- ment in return. Aretino lived and throve "on the sweat of his pen." For him and others who could write on almost any topic with equal fluency and inflated eloquence the term of poligrafo was invented. Pietro Aretino is the first journalist — in the worst meaning of the word. He fawned and flattered, bit and threatened. His pen was always busy for the highest bidder. He served Francois I before siding with Charles V. He corresponded with almost every important personage of his time, discovering some most amiable qualities to redeem his many faults. Grasping for money and favour, he is also generous in giving to the women he loves and the daughters they bore him. He encouraged art and artists, his taste was good, although he often writes in the over-ornate style which announces il secento. Besides many other writings Aretino composed Orazia, a tragedy which Pierre ComeUle imitated in his Horace, and five other plays. He died in 1556- 14 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time his hfe's work was court intrigue and advancing his fortune. And because these plays were merely com- posed to amuse his hearers, they are important to our study ; they give us a first sample of that light comedy which the Renaissance men liked to hear, and which Goldoni has imitated. Cardinal Bibbiena is another author whose comedy owes little to its slight plot, yet provides matter of amusement to the audience by presenting a number of unfinished sketches, which being but loosely bound to the general plot have no real significance. His style has the originality of the man himself. It is emphatic and swollen with adornment, figures, and bombast peculiar to the writer, who used his pen as a double- edged sword, to prick or to stab. Bibbiena's viewpoint of life is realistic and con- temptuous of the lower classes that he selects to picture, and paints very black. With him the intrigues and the characters are of the basest. Like him, a court poet and a courtier, was Lorenzino de' Medici,^ conspicuous in the history of his country for his murder of Alessandro de' Medici, his cousin and boon companion of debauch. His Aridosia, one ' Lorenzo, son of Pier Francesco de' Medici, better known as Lorenzino — the Lorenzaccio of Alfred de Musset's play — was born in 1514 and brought up by his mother, n6e Soderini. He murdered his cousin Alessandro in Janu- ary, I S3 7- This crime has been variously viewed. For some Lorenzo is a hero who delivered his country from a tyrant; others thmk him an ambitious fool. Sem Benelli's play, la Maschera di Bruto, presents the interesting enigma, without attempting to solve its mystery. The last act gives an accurate and striking representation of Lorenzo's death in Venice, 1540, by the daggers of Cosimo de' Medici's followers. Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 15 of the many imitations of the Aulularia, attributed to Plautus, may have provided a model to Goldoni's Avaro. But the character was so often used by writers of prose fiction and of plays that there is no telling how much Goldoni is a debtor of Lorenzino. Indeed the miserly old man and the foolish pedant were the two favourite laughingstocks of the age. Goldoni dropped almost entirely the pedant, and this is why we omit Giordano Bruno's comedy II Candelaio. And many others are omitted either because they are little known to fame, or because of their slight influence on Goldoni. A more complete study of the comic theatre during this, otherwise, glorious century would reveal its poverty of invention and its subservience to classicism, keeping the regular comedy within very narrow bounds and facilitating the composition of works that only reproduced familiar models, and did not attempt any- thing like novelty. The splendour which presided at the staging of ballets and interludes, the imagination which brightened allegorical spectacles, afifording opportunity to aU sorts of decorators, musicians, and artists, left the comedy untouched in the poverty of its single scene, in the representation of none but humble folks. The wonder is that, thus shackled, the Italian comedy prospered and that so many able writers composed new plays, or adapted old ones. We shall attempt to trace the transformation of the classical comedy as it was understood and practised 1 6 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time by the wealthy and educated class of citizens in Venice and in Florence. Other Italian centres produced many interesting works ; but they were unknown to Goldoni, and, moreover, they did not greatly influence the tradi- tions that combined to form his genius, the double tradition of classical and improvised comedy. When Goldoni penned that imprudent sentence, "de bonnes comedies, il n'y en avoit pas, " he either confessed an unpardonable ignorance or denied the source of his own inspiration. How could he say that there were no good comedies, when in the archives of the craft, in the memory of actors and theatregoers, the Florentine plays of the cinquecento must have been preserved, at least in incomplete form, if not in their entire text ? These were not composed for the great in power and wealth ; but for the great in learning and wit. They were conceived by writers of the great middle class, which for this reason they could understand and faithfully represent; they were classical in a certain measure, because those who wrote them, and many of those who listened, were steeped in the knowledge of fine letters, but stiU they were comedies of the bourgeoisie. Three writers may be selected : Francesco d'Ambra,^ Giovan Maria Cecchi, and Giambattista Gelli. They have traits in common with Goldoni just as their time had traits common to the seventeenth and eighteenth ' Francesco d'Ambra, contemporary, friend, and fellow Umido, wrote several plays in verse, remarkable for a superfluity of intrigue, mistakes, and errors. His Italian, however, is elegant. Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 17 century Venice. They enjoyed, as Goldoni did not enjoy, the advantage of companionship and mutual encouragement. L'Accademia degh Umidi (the damp), which, later, became the Florentine Academy, was then delightfully free from pedantic presumption. It was like a club, where people expected to j&nd superior amusement. Let every man of good company and wit pay homage to the promoter Giovanni Mazzuoli, detto lo Stradino (or lo Strascino) who led the way that so many have followed. Francesco d'Ambra composed, and probably shared in the performance of, unpresuming plays that were given at this Accademia. He imitated the Latin classics, but he padded his imitations with many jokes and accumulated incidents, borrowing from several old plays to make up a single new one. Grazzini,^ the most illustrious of the Umidi, under his name of "Lasca" in homage to the name of the club, is the author of many world-famous novelle. ' Anton Francesco Grazzini — il Lasca — is a fine representative of the Florentine citizen. He championed Italian letters versus Latin and Greek literature. He endeavoured to persuade his fellow-citizens that Dante and Petrarca were greater than Homer and Virgil. He admired and imitated Francesco Bemi's rime bernesche. In November, 1540, with some boon companions he founded the Accademia degli Umidi, at first as a modest club for the purpose of pleasant meetings in the house of Giovaimi Mazzuoli, one of the members. Things went on well for some time ; about 1547 the easy-going club turned into a ponderous academy entitled Accademia Florentina. Then Lasca turned the arrows of his ready wit against its affectations, purism, and airs of authority. Lasca wrote many small plays. These plays, printed much later, are inferior to Lasca's novelle, his greatest title to fame being the elegance and purity of bis Italian. 1 8 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time He was also a man of sound critical taste, which he showed both in practice and in delivering such good advice as this : " Since nowadays people that were thought dead do not suddenly reappear, since no one now goes to market selling or purchasing slaves and no one dares publicly to bargain and barter for pretty yoimg women as the Roman panders did, it is time we should not represent Roman manners and ways but our own." Such teachings he delivered, as the fashion then was, in the prologues of his plays, prologues that then did duty for much that now goes into critical essays and reviews directing public opinion and promoting profit- able discussion. Did not Goldoni attempt to do the same two centuries later? Grazzini, who knew no Greek and only as much Latin as was required for exerting his profession of farmacista, did not entirely reject the classical model; he borrowed from ancient plays and from classical reminiscences, but he opened a new path by setting largely on the stage the materials of his own and of other writers' novelle. He mixed up the Decameron and Plautus in true Italian spirit to bind up the past with the present, passing on to the coming ages the inheritance of older centuries. Giambattista Gelli,^ with even greater talent for 1 Giambattista Gelli, 1498-1563, was a scholar and a philosopher. Such qualities were sufladently appreciated then to open for him even the doors of the celebrated "Orti Oricellari." His greatest ambition was realised when he was appointed to "read Dante." His La Circe and / Capricci del Bottaiol sum the ideas of his time, borrowing largely from the ancients yet adding that originality which is the character of humanism. His play la Sporta is in some parts so good that it was believed Gelli had Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 19 the comic art, and with much erudition, pursued the same system. Though he was so learned that he could continue — after Boccaccio — to explain the Divina Commedia and although he could pen a series of much admired philosophical dialogues, Gelli always followed his trade of shoemaker. He too remained faithful to classical tradition, as is shown in his Sporta (small basket) by the choice of the principal character, Ghirigoro, the tjrpical miser, and by some incidents of the plot ; but that he could walk with his own legs he showed by the management and construction of many episodes. Moliere and Goldoni both are indebted to this Florentine cobbler who produced one more picture of dissolute old age baffled and exposed by youth. It would be interesting, if it were relevant, to discover how much of this ItaUan comedy was imported into England. The borrowing from the Italian tales by Ben Jonson, Marlowe, and Shakespeare has been often investigated ; how much they directly pilfered from Italian plays is less known. We come nearer to Goldoni and his reform when we exhume from the dusty past that second branch of comedy which, starting into life almost at the same date and almost in the same places as the classical comedy, developed on parallel lines the popular comedy, or to give it its Italian name, La commedia discovered fragments of a play on this subject by Machiavelli. Another play I'Errore lacks originality. About his Ghirigoro, the miser, some- thing more will be said when comparing it to Goldoni's. 20 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time dell' arte. Because it is so perfectly appropriate to the spirit and the ability of Italians, it is almost certain that it existed in some form even in the dark ages. Just as the French Fatrassies sotties and other forms of "farces" were probably performed as often as the "Mysteres and Miracles" and other religious rep- resentations, it is also most probable that the two sorts of spectacles were at times certainly intermingled, and they were performed alternately, by the same players, and only in the sixteenth century was the distinction clearly recognised. And even that dis- tinction was then rather formal than essential, since the line was only drawn later and not exactly where the contemporaries of Ariosto and the first commedianti delVarte would have drawn it. All over Italy and especially in Naples, actors, profes- sional or amateur, some of the latter amongst the highest born and the most powerful, performed or improvised frottole, pantomimes, and similar spectacles. We disregard the Neapolitan theatre since Goldoni ignored it, or only knew it through the traditions delVarte. In Florence, the most enlightened ItaUan city, the distinction was sooner realised and found its clearest definition. Giovan Maria Cecchi,^ the author 1 Giovan Maria Cecchi, 1518-1587, boasted that he had never lost sight of his dear "campanile." A genuine Florentine, he was a notary with a taste for intellectual pleasure, without aspiring to the name of Letterato. His plays, twenty-one in number, are more classical than Lasca's, yet they never lose touch with every-day life, and often reproduce plots and characters from the popular novelle. His most admired play, I'Assiuolo, is sometimes com- pared to MachiaveUi's Mandragolo, though it lacks the depth and meaning Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 21 of several plays, some of which almost wholly answer to his independent program, says in doggerel verse : "The farsa is a new thing, which stands between the tragedy and the comedy, avoiding thus the difficulties of both. Since it admits both great men and princes — which the comedy cannot do — and since, like an inn or a hospital, it shelters people of all sorts : villains and coimtry louts — which the tragedy is not allowed to do — it can range over aU sort of subjects : merry or sad, worldly or religious, poHte or vulgar. It can locate its scene in any place, the village common or the church door; and when a day is not sufficient it can expand to three or four." This declaration of the freedom of the comedy from cramping rules of construction takes added importance from being issued in Florence by one who was a scholar, in the presence of the Signoria, whose patronage ex- tended to every form of art. About the same time almost the same ideas were expressed in Venice, 1588, by Jason de Noves, who pompously explained how comedy was required to be the reproduction by imitation of a complete action, of adequate importance. The characters introduced should belong to the middle class. The story was to begin sadly and terminate happily. Similar regulations were often repeated with the characteristic injunc- tion that comedy should be "proper," that is to say, should be so arranged as to offer a moralising teaching. of its model. Cecchi is an interesting guide to the ways and manners of his time and city, his gallery of personages being very extensive. 22 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time From the very first the intention was to adopt the ancient motto castigat ridendo, but there was endless divergence in the practice. It was the accepted idea that three or more acts of triumphant wickedness were amply compensated by a few last scenes of repentance or punishment. Pierre Larivey, the Frenchified Italian who trans- lated and popularised many Italian plays in France, thus sums up the ideas of his models : " Comedy being the mirror of our Ufe, the old may learn in it how to avoid doing things that are ridiculous in the aged ; the young must learn in it how to behave themselves in lovemaking; the ladies how to keep their modesty; the parents how to regulate their family a£fairs. If other pleasures are only meant for the young, this one is good for teaching, amusing, directing the old, the yoimg, and everyone." A Venetian author of // Giusto Solegno added with more realistic intent "that it was good for servants to see how the mischief they make is punished, and the maids are well warned, by example, of the horrid diseases they run the risk of taking when they mis- behave themselves." With these honourable purposes in view, one finds among the first actors, or authors, of improvised comedy most devout and God-fearing people. One of the first whose name is known, and whose works have been recorded, is Angelo Beolco, the impersonator of a bucoHc, rustic character il Ruzzante and consequently known as il Ruzzante. He has been traced back to Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 23 Venice, and more exactly to the palaces of the Foscari in the year 1520, performing a play of his invention a la villanella with the collaboration of a company of players, aU, like him, coming from Padova. He was applauded, he was called back to Venice in the follow- ing years, and at last he was permitted to perform his "Pastoral" at the very same court of Ferrara that had so lately seen the first blossoming of classical comedy. Here was a pathetic plot enwreathed in many funny episodes, and here was also one of the most charac- teristic traits of the improvised comedy, the use of dialect. Even here some distant echo of Plautus's Rudens or Asinaria reminds us that we are still in the age of revived humanism. The elements of realism, however, are predominant. The personages speak their own native parlance, and they express in undisguised roughness and vulgarity their rustic feelings. Thus " Fiore," the heroine of la Fiorina, is not the simpering damsel of classical plays, but the country girl who, courted by two swains, shows preference for one of them; -but when the other succeeds in carrying her away she neither mopes nor reproaches, but accepts the situation and settles down as a good wife with the husband who has conquered her. Beolco was not only the manager and author, but also one of the actors of this first among the compagnia dell' arte: he impersonated the character of a country- man almost as boisterous as the "capitan Matamore," as sly as "Arlecchino," and with some traits of simple- 24 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time minded "Brighella." He was specially qualified to represent country folk as he lived a part of every year on the lands he owned near Padova. Some of his plays have been preserved and those Dialoghi in Lingua Rustica which have been lately analysed afford matter for interesting study. In order to sjonpathise with and understand the Italian people and their Uterature we must realise how important is this question of dialects. It is the index of the infinite diversity of race, temper, degree of civilisation, manners, and customs that is the charm — as it has been the weakness — of the whole nation. No literary representation of the people should ignore these differences ; no writer can reproduce the graphic expression of feelings and ,thoughts, imless he trans- lates them in the style appropriate to the part of the country he has in mind to interpret. This rule holds good even to this day ; after almost a century of political union, after five centuries of literary com- munion. It is valid for every sort of fiction ; but particularly for the comedy. Hence the great success lately obtained by the Venetian, Sicilian, and Roman dialect actors is not due to a mere fad, to a passing mode; it is the natural and logical consequence of a condition of things which, though now largely removed, has left its effect and which, especially for the scenic art, must be taken in consideration. From this early awakening of a popular form of comedy spoken in the local vernacular the different dialects inevitably forced their entrance into the Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 25 written plays, as well as into those that were improvised by the actor. Even when the authors did not, as they often did, characterise with this distinctive trait their personages, the actors impersonating them were likely to add those traits of manners, those peculiar sayings, proverbs, or idioms which came glibly to their lips, because they were those that best expressed their own ideas and most appealed to their audiences. The actor thus blended his own personality with the r61e he played and between them they gave a complete type that was soon perfected by the additions and improve- ments of other actors, taking up the personage and continuing the tradition. The contemporary appearance of dialects, and of popular fixed types — some of them wearing a mask and others not — representatives of different cities or prov- inces, emphasises this character of regionalism which is the most accentuated trait of the Italian comedy. This analysis wiU only attempt to trace back to their probable origin the characters and masks of Goldoni's plays, and not the many others which he has discarded. In the endeavour to catch the very first glimpse of the comedy as a picture of real life, we simply point out that the first direct imitation of life admitted the regional differences of character and language. Not only Beolco and his disciples, but aU succeeding writers who wanted to be popular used dialects. Indeed those who wrote "ItaUan," in the Florentine manner of speaking, used a language that was the dialect of a cer- tain part of Tuscany. There is a difference of style and 26 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time of accent between the country folk and the citizens ; the characters that represented Sienese or Lucchese people did not speak just the same Tuscan as those of Florence. Such nice distinctions show how the classical comedy was turning into the popular comedy ; how instead of borrowing all their materials, copying their dialogues, and imitating their plots from the ancient Latins, the playwrights were beginning to look about them for models ; how they were urged on and directed by their interpreters, and finally how the two professions became so mixed together that it is difficult to decide which was the more important. Angelo Beolco directed as a manager and acted in the plays he composed. He could also deliver a speech, as he did twice in Padua when he was asked to welcome the cardinals Cornaro on their elevation to the Holy See. His speech was divided into the five parts required by the rules of eloquence, each of the several points demanding some practical and necessary relief from some form of opposition. All these traits wiU be found reproduced in Goldoni, Ruzzante's worthy heir. Andrea Calmo, 1510-1571, with more education than Beolco, acquired a freer speech and a more definite consciousness of his aim. He disregards classical models and bravely tells the audience — in a prologue to his Santuzza — that if they do not approve of his method they are welcome to rise and depart. But he wUl not condescend to repeat the usually banal im- probabiHties, neither the sudden return of long-dead personages nor the recovery of children lost and Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 27 stolen, because he means to represent the times as they are, and not the stupidities which were popular in past agesj Such examples influenced pubhc opinion and even those pedantic writers who might have drifted back into classicism. Thus Lorenzo il Magnifico wrote in vernacular Florentine his Nencia da Barberino, thus Francesco Berni composed his Catrina, and Giordano Bnmo his Candelaio in a style that resembled the popular comedy, even while the deeper thoughts of the writer were expressed under the simplicity of the dialogue. Nor was the glory of the Italian comedy and comedians, during this sixteenth century, confined to their own country. The French court first learned to admire them when Catherine de' Medici called the compagnia dei Gelosi to adorn the festivities celebrating the union of the Medicis with the reigning house of France; but the French poets and writers had ex- pressed already or were soon to express their admiration for the witty, graceful artists who, according to Du BeUay's well-known sonnet, could charm and amuse. The seventeenth century is considered a time of decadence in Italian letters and arts. Certes it was a century of luxury and h3^ocrisy, of foreign oppression and degradation, which was made worse by the reli- gious persecution following the Council of Trent. Yet it was also the century in which Galileo Galilei initiated the revival of science, and a new impulse was given to plastic arts by Bernini. The century of English euphuism, of Spanish 28 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time Gongorism, of French style pricieux, of Italian "Arcadia" was not fruitful of good comedies. The tendencies of the time inclined away from extravagant conventionalism and toward pastoral poems and plays. Classical comedy lost favour. With the possible excep- tion of the Neapolitans, Giambattista Porta and Francesco d'lsa, there is no name of the first, rank. More interesting as a precursor of Goldoni is Giam- battista Andreini, author of that religious poem Adamo, which Milton must have had in mind when he wrote his Paradise Lost. Giambattista Andreini, though not the earliest, is one of the most complete specimens of the author- actor-manager man of letters that Goldoni, to a degree, impersonated in himself. The son of two famous players, Francesco Andreini famous in France and Italy as the "Capitan Spaventa di VaW inferno" and the exquisite Isabella in whose honour so much ink dripped from the pens of poets, in whose honour a medal was coined, Giambattista inherited talent for the stage, and was also carefully educated. His career as an actor is registered in the annals of his time; his serious writings are merely used as land- marks for the learned who deal in comparisons; his comedies are forgotten, else they would be condemned as the most Ucentious that were ever acted. Yet in his Ufetime they were enjoyed by the same persons who admired the piety and spiritual elevation of his religious poems. The contrast, then, between the two entirely different styles was not offensive, Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 29 indeed was not surprising. The pen which traced the choiring songs of angels bearing heavenward the purified soul of Maddalena. also wrote the lascivious and prurient pleasantries which the author himself spoke on the stage or taught his comrades to speak. Which was the real Giambattista ? Probably both, so strange and complex a thing is a human personality. Goldoni mentions Andreini's comedy / due Lelli simili, one more repetition of the Mensechmi, that were seldom left out of sight. But he certainly knew many more of Giambattista's works either in their original text or in the adaptations which the comedians gave of them. Another name mentioned by Goldoni is Cicognini, probably the elder, who left but few works, and those of contested authorship. Cicognini, or whoever wrote those disputed comedies, imitated the Spanish plays. On Spanish imitation, and on the caricature of Spaniards, the Italian comedy grew and prospered in Naples. It is interesting to notice how some of the ancient characters were reshaped and transformed. The Miles Gloriosus for instance turns into the Capitan, the Matamore, and the many other impersonations of bombastic heroism and poltroonery. This character, one of the favourites with cosmopolitan audiences, can be traced in its many ramifications, just as the spagnolised comedy may be seen spreading from Naples to France and England; but the little that Goldoni did borrow he transformed, because neither his own genius nor the Venetian conditions in any way 30 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time resembled the spirit of the Neapolitan Spanish comedy. Of greater importance is the Florentine. There the conditions of life and manners favoured the develop- ment of popular comedy, both in its almost literary form of written dialogues and in its more original form of improvisation. The written comedies which have survived are, however, in the style of the impro- vised ones — slovenly in style, loose in plot, and char- acterised by the use and the abuse of dialects. Michelangelo Buonarroti — il Giovine — nephew to the great sculptor, produced a medley under the name of Fiera, in which long and cumbersome picture crowd the masks, types, costumes, and disguises then popular in Florence and which the immortal drawings of CaUot have fixed on paper. Five days — or five plays — each one divided into five acts, Buonarroti composed in order to give a place to all the persons he wanted to strut on the stage just to say a word, play a prank, and give way for others. If one could by an effort of imagination, or by the patient study of texts and engravings, reconstrue this medley, one would have an idea of that ample material carried far and wide by the commedianti deW arte,^ which Goldoni was to reshape into artistic form. ' The commedia ddl'ark has many difierent origins. It would be interest- ing to trace it back to the pastorale and to the bucoliche ridiculing the manners of country people and the sentimentality of heroic poems. This hybrid was taken up by the Sienese Accademia de Rozzi, wherein it took a sort of literary regularity. This academy was founded in 1531 with the intent of providing amusement for holidays. The members met to read Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 31 Also if one could read in its original text the comedy of Virgilio Verucci, one would have an idea of the num- ber of dialects admitted on the stage. If not quite the five hundred collected in one volume, reproducing one of Boccaccio's short tales, the ItaUan dialects used by Vir- giUo Verucci in one play amoimted to ten, and in other plays varied from four or five to six. Goldoni adopted but a small part of this superabundant material. If the seventeenth century lacked regular comedies, it saw the greatest glories of the commedia deU'arte. How this peculiar art or profession was exerted deserves mention. Even before Beolco and Calmo, it had been the privilege or the ability of some one actor to take the lead of a small troupe of players and with them to wander from city to city performing all varieties of plays, in aU sorts of manners, according to the cir- cumstances, their capacities, and the opportunities ofiEered. The best of these troupes soon found their way to France, where they prospered. The company was generally composed of ten persons, poets and to perform plays. From this popular pastoral two different sorts of compositions branched out : the poem, such as Tasso's Aminta and the comedy, which blended into the commedia deU'arte and thus lost its char- acter. The first commediante deU'arte recorded is Francesco Cherea, a prot6g6 of Leone X, but very little is known about him and his performances. There were commedianti deU'arte in Mantova in 1566. For all the commedianti see the Dizionario dei Comici Italiani di Luigi Rasi, an accurate study which includes the many older works on the sub' ject. For the origins of Italian comedy see Alessandro d'Ancona, Origini del Teatro Italiano, Loescher. For collection of canvases, besides the often mentioned works of Alessandro d'Ancona, see AdoUo Bartoli, Scenari inediii ddla commedia deU'arte, Firenze, Sansoni, 1880; also Benedetto Croce, Una nuova raccolta di scenari in Giomale Storico xxix. 32 Goldoni and the Venice of His "rime I just as the troupe Medebac was in Goldoni's own time. I Ten characters were considered sufficient for the representation of Ufe. These ten characters are well known. Of course they extended to more, as the same actor would at times take a role that was akin to his own. There were the characters serieux, as Goldoni calls them, and those burlesque.. The mask was not always the badge of greater vulgarity. Two old men, Pantalone and il Dottore; two young men, Lelio and Leandro ; two Zannis (servants), Arlecchino and BrigheUa ; three women, the duegna, the amorosa, and the servetta, a capitano or some other additional character made up the number. Each actor was so completely identified with his r61e that he was known by its name. Such an identifi- cation was the cause of a greater ability in pla3dng it, and of a more dangerous tendency to adapt it to one's own character. Thus if we were to trace back the transformation of each one of these types, we should have to find out, not how any particular author at any distinct moment had imagined it, but how, as it passed from one to another player, the figure, the cloth- ing, the mode of address, the general outline, and the supplementary traits were modified. At the first appearance of a character, or the branching out of a new diversity from an old one, we generally find a famous actor, an artist that gave the intonation and fixed some of the elementary traits. Thus in France, Ganassa created the type of Ganache. Thus Tabarin and Scaramouche are characters which originated in Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 33 the Italian actors whose names have thus found im- mortaHty. In Italy some typical cases might be quoted : thus for instance Salvator Rosa,^ being displeased with his countrjonen's lukewarm approval of his pictures, resorted to the trick of disguising as Coviello and selling horoscopes, telling fortunes, playing an infinite number of lazzi in the crowded streets of Naples. Such was the success of this Coviello that the artist himself developed it into two personages, " Coviello Formica and Coviello Patacca, " which, both, have remained in the repertory of Neapolitan masks. The four masks and the other characters adopted by Goldoni wiU be fuUy discussed in the analysis of Goldoni plays. Although the commedia deWarte started on the plan of a larger independence, it soon fell into a narrow channel, and was confined by rules even more cramp- ing than the classic models. During this entire cen- tury, though prosperity and favour attended the pro- fession, there was little real progress. Though some of the comedians possessed ability and some talent, they lacked invention. Their practice was almost uniform from one company to another. ' Salvator Rosa, 1616-1673, is so much better known for his painting that his other talents are forgotten. The history of his life reads like a novel, with its episodes of bloody quarrelling, and plottings in Rome and in his native Naples. As an amateur actor and the creator of that peculiar character of the blustering capitano he was most successful, his own sunny disposition, his rebellious spirit, and his artistic taste giving to such amuse- ment a larger sense. As much might be said of the several creations of Bemin. See Jacques Calot, La Fiera dell'Impruneta and / Balli de Stessania, for the largest collection of Italian customs ever drawn. 34 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time An outline of plot, either composed by one of them, or selected out of the stock of such documents as the troupe possessed or from a classic play, was nailed on to a poster behind the scenes and first spiegato, that is, explained and developed by the chief actor or director, in order to fix the distribution of parts, the length and importance of episodes, the general outline, and the proportions of the play. It is easy to imagine the amount of discus- sion and quarrelling at such rehearsals. One can picture the unwillingness of the lazy player to under- take his share of the work, and the boisterous claims of the ambitious star who wanted to do more than his share and outshine his comrades. When the general line was thus settled, each player turned to his own private stock of material, in order to prepare for improvisation. Each one possessed a zibaldone, a sort of memorandum book containing the long-winded speeches, or the short sallies, that suited his habitual character, strange collections of sayings, proverbs, snatches of song, quotations from all sorts of books, that were handed down from one actor to another, always amplified with newly collected material. Some of the tricks of the so-called lazzi were learned by imitation and repetition. These were perhaps the best index of the degree of vulgarity and ribaldry that was tolerated and applauded by the audience. The actor who catered for plaudits, and was trained to translate his audience's wishes, drifted into coarseness and worse, because the people who filled the house or circled round the raised boards demanded such season- Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 35 ing.^ ,This absolute dependence of the improvised comedy on the favour of the public resulted in much vulgar gesture and gross speech ; but during the palmy days of the late sixteenth and early seventeenth cen- turies it had urged the actors to perfect their art, and to keep faithful to reality. The number of plots that were used is not known, almost every Italian collection possessing a different selection. Different at least in titles, it very often happened that the same plot with very few changes appeared under several titles. Then also a play well known in its original classical text was cut down to a sketch, or a play developed out of a sketch. Goldoni himself sometimes resorted to such arrangements. And if he, the reformer, could not avoid this practice, one may imagine how it was imscrupulously applied by others before him. One of the most interesting of these collections and one of the oldest was published by Flaminio Scala under the title of Teatro delle Favole Rappresentative (fifty canvases) as far back as 161 1, this Scala being then in Paris with his company of players. Another noteworthy collection is due to the care of AdoHo Bartoli, who gives only twenty-four plots but much information as to the players. Carlo Gozzi ' A. Ademollo, Intorno al teatro drammatico italiano dal iS5o in poi, Nuova Antologia, Marzo, 1881, says that in Venice the noblemen crowding tjie house incited the actors to the most ribald jokes and speeches, even when they were in company of their wives and daughters. The Venetian laws were severe against these exhibitions ; decrees were issued against the immorality of plays, apparently with little effect. 36 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time speaks of no less than three hundred of these plots, but his authority is doubtful. Lelio Riccoboni must be mentioned both for that which he endeavoured to accomplish and for that which he has written about the Italian comedy. His His- toire du Theatre Italien gives a definition of the lazzi. The word means a knot and has the same origin as the Spanish lasso. We call lazzi the b)^lay which Arlec- chino or the other masks perform during a scene, which they interrupt by feigned terrors or other pranks having nothing to do with the matter in hand, to which one is always obliged to return. These tricks, invented freely by Italian actors, are called lazzi. No one better than poor Riccoboni — the Lelio who vainly tried to direct public taste toward regular comedy — knew how these practical jokes lowered Italian comedy in the esteem of critics ; yet none better learned, at his own cost, how they were acclaimed by the paying public. Like Goldoni, Riccoboni expected Paris to appreciate his reforming purposes, and like Goldoni, he found that bad taste and an accredited tra- dition of looseness weighing on the Italian comedy were against him. Like Goldoni, he learned that the art which almost entirely relied on communion with the audience could not develop its best qualities in a foreign land. Goldoni knew little and cared less about his contem- poraries, the plajwrights of early 1700. The few appreciations in his Memoirs — and the blundering opinions he records about later French plays — show that Goldoni was unable to judge of the relative merit Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 37 of other writers. Yet something was achieved, some- thing attempted in his neighbourhood which was worth notice. In Florence were Fagiuoli, Nelli, and Gigli. A court poet, a skilled courtier, was Fagiuoli,^ yet with an uncommon turn for satire and sarcasm. Indeed there was not a hon mot, not an amusing anecdote, not a spirited repartee, that tradition did not attribute to him for more than a century after his death. How this reputation for professional wit could out- live the performance of his plays is strange. He rehearsed the worn plots showing the familiar characters of the ancient play — the old man and his senile in- fatuation, the noisy, swaggering captain, the familiar foolish lovers. Instead of employing the masks he introduced Florentine servants and other low people; he made them talk their nonsense in the highly flavoured Florentine dialect, and thus earned the title of originality. Just one of his characters, Vanesio in the Sigisbeo Sconsolato, deserves mention as a first sketch of the Cavalier servente, a mere daub that, however, suggests none of the delicate etching and amusing caricature Goldoni made of the personage. Jacopo Nelli ^ might have been utterly forgotten but for the success his little opera la Serva Padrona obtained in virtue of Pergolese's music. His many '■ Giovanni Battista Fagiuoli, 1660-1742, has written nothing half so amusing as the jokes that were attributed to him, — Giuseppe Baccini, G. B. Fagiuoli, poeta faceto fiorentino, Firenze, 1886. 2 Jacopo Nelli, 1676-1770, a satirist and a playwright of slight impor- tance. He wrote for drawing-rooms and academies, indulged in personal satire and caricature in his capitoU and the plays he composed for amateurs and school boys. 38 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time other plays represent the dissolute, flimsy Florentine society of his time, with just one note that is almost original — the caricature of henpecked husbands and hectoring wives. Women characters in the older plays were seldom ridiculed ; they were either pathetic or pert, victims of plots or objects of worship, but as a rule dimly delineated on the worn-out pattern of classic repertory. Now with the decline of social life, with the decadence of every manly activity which is the characteristic trait of this unfortimate period, woman received a social importance and an authority which she did not owe to any development of her own qualities, but to the lowering of the other sex. Fagiuoli has a character of a hypocritical priide, which, though drawn with slight talent, is interesting as a symptom of the coming time. NeUi's plays are even in their titles indicative of a tendency {Serva Padrona, la Moglie in CcUzoni). With greater talent, and more conscious aim, Gero- lamo Gigli ^ entered the Usts of comic playwriting. 1 Gerolamo Gigli, born in Siena, 1660, died in Rome, 1722, fearlessly exposed one of the evils that Goldoni did not discuss — the convent as a per- petual threat for disobedient girls. II Don PUone, act iii, sc. 13, is entirely of his invention, an addition to the stage which even Moli6re could not surpass. "Marianna. If a girl has to be shut up for her entire life, let her at least first enjoy some pleasure for three or four months. Let her see something of the world, and share in some of its amusements. Valerio. If you want me to sleep quiet to-night, you must go into the convent at once. Mar. I see, that you may rest quiet to-night, I will have to live in torment aU my life." Then both her brother and Valerio plead with her and sing the praise of Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 39 In a city and a time wholly ruled by clerical hjrpocrisy, this scholar challenged the Jesuit rulers, and ridiculed their influence. Gerolamo Gigli was one of the unfortunate people who cannot endure that which they esteem wrong. In more heroic times he might have been a glorious champion, or a lamented martyr for the sake of some bright ideal; in Tuscany and in the seventeenth century he was only a quarrelsome linguistic, an in- temperate pamphleteer, an imprudent playwright, who paid for all his attempts at rebellion. He quarrelled with the Florentine Accademia della Crusca, because he wrote a very learned and witty Vocabulario Cateri- niano and other tracts to show that his native dialect of Siena should be preferred to the Florentine. His book was burnt on the pubUc Piazza for such heretical opinions. He indeed ran the risk of being burnt him- self or at least spoiled of all his goods for the two plays he dared to write and to perform. The first one, // Don Pilone, is a translation of Tar- tuffe, with some additions in the form of interludes and ballets, and made more pointedly offensive by the author himself appearing in the principal character so trimmed and painted as to look like a portrait of a weU-known and much-disliked Jesuit. The second play is the SorelUna di Don Pilone in which Goldoni won a little sprig of laurel when he performed in his that convent. "The rule is not very strict. . . . The convent is very wealthy. . . . Among other advantages the nuns are never made to fast. .... ;Apd they can go out and please themselves twice a month." 40 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time beardless age the part of the pseudo-sister to Don PUone. If by his first play he won the terrible enmity of the clerical, by the second one he kindled the wrath of his own middle-aged wife, whose avarice and bigotry he had but too faithfully exhibited. Nor does he spare himself, for the plot is but an anecdote of his own conjugal life where he does not appear to great advan- tage. With all this it is little wonder if Gerolamo Gigli was deprived of his catedra at the Sienese Univer- sity, spoiled of his wealth, and driven out of the state by offended foes and vindictive dignitaries. It is significant that he found shelter and rest in Rome after doing public penance in Florence. Gigli's plays are worth stud3dng for their own sake, and also as showing one of the principal traits — which Goldoni more fully developed. Gigh is not satisfied with the clear, neat outline ; he adds little touches that sometimes blur, sometimes perfect the drawing. Com- pare his translation of Moliere's play with the original and note the differences. Where the French poet gives but one masterful dash, Gigli lingers in tiny arabesques. For instance, the first appearance of Tartufe with that single masterful trait, his turning toward the scene to tell his servant, "Laurent, serrez ma here avec ma discipline, "... which becomes in Gigli's play, — "Piloncino, mind thou dost carefuUy wash the blood from my horsehair shirt, and remember thou must add two nail points to my discipline. Take good care, if the maid come in to tidy the bed, thou must not raise Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 41 thy eyes. Conceal the kneeling chair behind my bed. If anyone come for me thou mayst tell them that I went to the prisons delle Stinche with alms for the poor prisoners, and that I afterward wiU go to take a piece of cloth to that shameless hussy, that she may lengthen her petticoat." This minute exactness, which Thackeray and some other English writers of fiction carried to perfection, is adequate for stage effect. Goldoni used it, but not always with success. Other contemporaries of Goldoni are hardly worth mentioning either for their own sake or for the influ- ence they may have exerted on him. Luisa Bergalli's attempt at a realistic play II Poeta may have shown Goldoni the danger of two minute and. depressing pictures of poverty. Scipione Maffei's Ceremonie taught him, as he says, a good lesson of moderation in the way of reform. The lavish praise which Goldoni gives to Scipione Maffei seems to contradict om- assertion. To read certain prefaces, letters, and passages in the Memoirs, it seems that Maffei, justly famous for his tragedy Merope, is also a precursor, a star of magnitude in the field of comedy. In fact his two plays Le Ceremonie and il Raguet are now forgotten. About Chiari and Carlo Gozzi moreissaidinGoldoni's life and in the analysis of plays. Their influence was harmful : Chiari's, because his intense competition goaded Goldoni to distracting efforts; Carlo Gozzi's because, with more talent, he tended to waylay Italian comedy out of its course. His anticipated romanticism, 42 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time his unruly imagination, were so utterly unlike Goldoni's well-balanced mind that they could never understand one another. Their lines diverged from the first. While Gozzi conquered immediate approval abroad and found in Goethe an admirer, and the imported school of Italian romanticism celebrate him as precursor, Goldoni's more durable glory was to gather the threads of the past, both the golden thread of classical comedy and the homespun of improvised plays, so as to mix them and prepare the woof for modem comedy. A woof so finely built, so well fitted for its purpose that it still holds and promises to hold good not only in serious comedy of customs and characters, such as they are understood actually, and apart from the elements of foreign importation, but it is the basis of a splendid revival of regional comedy, a revival which the social and political conditions of the nation happily encourage, a revival which is in the spirit of Goldoni's plan; taking in full consideration the variations to be found in different parts of Italy without losing con- tact with the glorious traditions of the past. It is dangerous to prophesy in such uncertain and threatening times ; still, if anything can be discernible, it is that Italian comedy wUl, on recovering with the whole world from the actual malady, return to the way pointed out by Goldoni — the way that comes from the past and goes toward a brighter future. CHAPTER II FIRST PART OF GOLDONl'S LIFE, 1707-1732 Material from which to construct a history of Goldoni's life and works — reasons why his autobiography is not sincere — Goldoni had nothing to conceal — is a typical Venetian citizen of his time — importance of the middle class in Venice — the Venetian merchant petted and protected — Venetian amusements shared by all the people — Venice well governed and orderly — Venetian religion a ceremonial and without faith — Goldoni family citizens of Modena — Carlo Alessio, Goldoni's grandfather, settles in Venice — his hospitality and extravagance — Goldoni born in Venice in 1707 — ^his father Giidio, a physician, mother of good family — Goldoni's estimate of his father and mother — Giampaolo, his brother, born in 1712 — Carlo mother's pet — happy home life — at" eleven he composes his first comedy — obedience and "manners" Italian ideal of education — • schools were clerical — Carlo goes to school In Perugia — '■ acts female r6le in Gigli's play, Sorellina di Don Pilone — his family leaves Perugia for Chioggia 1720 — he leaves Rimini for Chioggia with theatrical troupe — enters Ghisleri College at Pavia 1722 — is expelled — his travels — his relations with women inside and outside theatre — immorality of Venetian convents — Goldoni studies law at Modena — enters Chancellery of Chioggia — father dies — admitted to Venetian Bar 1732 — is not successful as lawyer. IN the two volumes of his Memoirs, in the prefaces to his plays, ia many short poems, and in a few letters, Goldoni has provided much material from which to construct a history of his life and works. This fragmentary material, however, affords only a reticent portrayal of his character. Why did a man of Goldoni's expansive nature, having nothing to con- ceal, no reason to screen or disguise himself, leave an incomplete account of his life and a purposely blurred and distorted picture of the events and persons that 43 44 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time were a part of it? A general and a personal reason account for this inaccuracy. Goldoni belonged to a society that worshipped decorum, that blindly obeyed the code of politeness, that abolished the last remnant of sincerity, and that stifled all self-revelation and real feeling. A t37pical Venetian of his time, he reverenced propriety; he could not, even if he tried, frankly reveal his whole mind, either about himself or about others. Violent expostulation, a display of his real feelings, would have seemed to him undignified. Also, he was a playwright, which means that he had learned the art of making up a personage, and had caught the knack of presenting it under the best light in the best pose. He knew what stage optics require — shortening of lines, contrast of col- ours — to set a personage in appropriate relief. He knew how a player should paint his face, what brilliant clothes he should wear, how he should exaggerate his gesture and force his voice, how omit details and emphasise his intonation, so as to pro- duce the desired effect on the audience. The multiple demands of the footlights have no better interpreter than Goldoni. When he writes about himself he instinctively ap- plies the technique of his art. Seeing himself on the world stage as an actor, he says only that which fits with the general outline and colouring of the personage, such as it is in his mind, such as he wants people to see it. And because he is very clever, because he has Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 45 mastered all the secrets of his profession, he succeeds in his performance. His autobiography is not a por- trait, then, but an interpretation. He sees himself under an artificial aspect, and he paints himself ac- cording to a special method which may be called truth, adapted to suit a fixed plan. The portrait has lost in absolute sincerity, but it has gained in power and reKef . The elements composing it are all true to life ; it is the artistic arrangement, the general outline, the disposition of Ughts and shades, the choice of attitude, that give it a special character. Not that Goldoni ever aimed at exalting his own personality. He is delightfully free from petty am- bition. Unlike every other writer of Memoirs of his time, he neither attacks other people nor defends himself. He merely puts himself upon the stage in the same manner and with the same technique which he used for depicting so many others. This instinctive preoccupation appears not only in the Prefaces and the Memoirs, but even in the Letters that were never meant for publication. The Prefaces were written currenti calamo, in order to supply some explanation to the volume containing plays already performed. »He afterward used them as memoranda for the painful compilation of the two volumes, in French, of his Memoirs, published by subscription in his old age. No wonder, then, if the anecdotical ma- terial when compared with reality appears inaccurate, and evidently coloured to suit his readers, and to supply padding for his book. There is the same mental at- 46 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time titude, the same unconscious pose in the letters he wrote to his friends and patrons. The character of himself which Goldoni has thus composed is singularly attractive. It beams with smiles, glows with spontaneous carelessness; it pos- sesses the charm of persisting youth and unruffled cheerfulness which has won the sympathy of readers for almost two centuries. Yet the genuine Goldoni, when stripped of the thin veil of semi-confessions and more or less inaccurate anecdotes, appears even more lovable and more honour- able, in its prosaic simpUcity. His gain in human reality exceeds his loss in artificial grace ; though less debonaire he is more manly. His individuality ac- quires greater consistency, yet he remains the repre- sentative of a class and of an epoch. He is the typical Venetian citizen in the first half of the eighteenth century. A simple bourgeois he is by birth, and a bourgeois he remains through all the vicissitudes of his life, in close communion with the middle class of which he writes with loving comprehension. Notwithstanding many travels and a long exile, he remains at heart and in spirit Venetian. An ignored world, this Venetian middle class. A httle world which foreign travellers disdained, which contemporary Italians disregarded, but which modern critics eagerly investigate, searching for the origin of that, otherwise, unaccountable revival of the nation and its civilisation. Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 47 The splendour and the magnificence of Venice were solidly grounded on the extensive trade of a great body of merchants, pioneers of commerce abroad, pur- veyors of costly goods at home. The autocratic rule of the State as well as traditional reverence for the patrician caste, confined the middle class within the rank long since assigned to them, even while none of their activities, their spirited enterprises, lacked en- couragement. No European nation has more forcibly conserved the class distinction, none has more con- stantly upheld an aristocratic government; yet in no other European nation were relations between the different classes more cordial or the sense of social sohdarity more pronoimced. Only superficial or prejudiced foreign visitors, mis- understanding the magniloquent spagnolism of certain complimentary formulas, have interpreted as servihty that which was only an exaggeration of pohteness, an inveterate inclination to ceremonious rites. For centuries, the Venetian merchant, giving sup- port, providing wealth for the State, had acquired consciousness of his own power and importance; it was not certainly in the eighteenth century, when the oldest and largest patrician estates were threatened with ruin, when the Senate made money by offering for sale titles and honours, tiU then reserved to birth and rank, it was not then, certainly, that the merchant would surrender any of his well-earned pride. The pioneers who carried the winged lion of Saint Mark to the distant shores of the Adriatic, to the farther 48 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time coasts of the East, begot generations of proud de- scendants whom the Senate honoured and, in the first twilight of decadence, even cajoled and flattered in many ways. Almost every week saw some new decree issued for the protection of trade, for the defence of Venetian rights of commerce, for the safety of ships, or the increase of customs taxes, in the vain hope of averting foreign competition and political decline; but also with the immediate purpose of pleasing the commercial class. The senatorial government, in its dotage, was anxious to bestow a maximmn of order, comfort, and support on its subjects. Every branch of public service, edu- cation, assistance, justice, amusement was masterfully ordained in Venice ; yet the rulers were constantly re- forming, perfecting things. Pompeo Molmenti's erudite and patient recon- struction of Venetian Life and Customs provides ex- haustive information on the matter. The number and the accuracy of regulations, the frequent correction and revision of decrees, testify to the good wiU of that government which romanticism has painted so omi- nously black. If wisdom and good government could save a nation from the decadence and oppression to which geographical conditions and foreign competition fatally doomed her, Venice would have prospered under the government of an illuminated patriciate, for the greater benefit of the whole people. Impending ruin could not be averted by the fore- sight of any Council. It was not possible for the Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 49 Venetian Senate to save the commonwealth. Unable to grapple with the distant causes of decay the Venetian Senate fought against the symptoms of the incurable disease. Nor did they perceive the hidden danger of dissolution then threatening almost every European government. Their policy was to ensure public peace by granting privileges, by encouraging every class and especially the industrious middle class. Thus protected and petted the Venetian merchant, as blind as his rulers, basked in the sunlight of favour, and rejoiced in the many advantages offered by a rule so paternal yet so indulgent. Trade, indeed, was slackening; but banking was increasingly re- mimerative, while magistrates condoned usury, that last resource of an aristocracy in distress which up- held many a patrician house. The Church, the Law, the Civil Service offered brilliant opportunities which universal favouritism en- couraged, promising success to all who knew how to push their way. Schools of commerce and navigation, public lectures on almost every branch of learning, lent a false appearance of modernity and enHghtened responsibility to the government. In fact it was not so. It was simply the continuance of ancient and adequate laws; it was the nation's evolution, as yet untrammelled by foreign interference; it was the nornial growth of all the civic virtues fostered by peace and prosperity; it was the development of a sense of solidarity promoted by a good government careful of every class of citizens. 50 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time There were other capitals in Europe which rivalled Venice in magnificence, but no other city in the world equalled it in gaiety. In other cities pleasure was the privilege of a few; in Whitehall or at Versailles the courtiers alone enjoyed the prerogative of gaiety and dissipation ; in Venice aU the people were included in the perpetual round of public festivities. Everyone could claim a place in the sunshine of State ceremonies, everyone could hold a r61e in the grand pageantry, and everyone contributing to the general effect par- took both of the actor's and of the spectator's enjoy- ment. It was an endless chain which linked, into a con- sistent whole, this multifarious crowd. The patrician in his scarlet robe who filled the principal place was, in the eyes of many, a reliable protector, or patron under whose wing they expected to find a refuge, in case of need, with whose help they hoped to make their way in the career of public emplo)anent. It was a perpetual exchange between the merchants and their noble-born patrons. The former needed pro- tection, the latter needed votes for election to public ofl&ces, and ready money to support the splendour of their position. On public occasions, in the days of pomp and pleasure, they spontaneously joined in perfect concord. Visitors who at that time noted the undisturbed order presiding over crowded meetings, "not more than three officers being on duty"; the unanimity of feelings that "transformed the assembled crowd into one Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 51 family," did not realise that the fundamental cause of this cordiality was the bond of reciprocal assistance and equality in the pursuit of pleasure — the only equality which, at the time, was claimed by the people. In Venice, the middle class enjoyed, if possible, a\ \ larger share of amusements than the nobility. If the patricians held the first places in public solemnities, they were merely spectators in a larger number of fes- tivities, celebrated by the humbler classes of citizens — regattas and fairs, processions and dances. If a few doors were closed to the plebeian in his own garb, even those opened wide before him when he wore a mask and a tabarro.^ As good coffee was sipped in popular bottdghe, as good wine was drunk in the malvasie, as good jokes cracked, as hearty fun enjoyed, in the campiello as in the palazzi. Venice was bountifully provided with luxuries unknown to other cities, — easy communications, weU-lit streets, hygienic conditions, and police regulations which gave to this Mecca of pleasure-seekers a security and a charm recognised by all visitors. The special charm of Venetian life was its habitual mirth. Such a happy disposition of the mind was both cause and effect of the customs. Venetians were cheerful because they were well governed; and their government was good because the national temper was so happily inclined. All contemporaries, every document, every tradition, and Goldoni, most distinctly confirm this fact. An atmosphere of peace and serenity pervaded the ' Tabarro, cloak, domino. 52 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time quiet corner of tormented Europe where Goldoni was born. People lived there in the contentment due to equipoise between aspirations and possibilities. That was the unique and fugitive moment in which a nation's ideals fitted exactly with the material conditions of life. It can never come but once in the life of a nation, and the Venetians were then enjoying it. They en- sured their peace of mind by obeying blindly, and never indulging in speculations. A narrow and strict code of morals, stringent regu- lations for all social and family relations, rules of propriety established on the rock of tradition, refine- ment of manners, elaborated through centuries of politeness and courtesy, all combined to form this at- mosphere of quiet which the Church carefully for- bore to trouble by any uncalled-for rigor. In Venice the Church vied in leniency with public opinion, moulding her code of laws on the same pattern of numerous, precise rules for ceremonial worship and almost unlimited indulgence in regard to faith. Just as social life ran smoothly along the lines of .many petty duties and exact rules of etiquette, leading strings for timid worldlings, so the religious life of Venetians was ruled by an infinity of external practices, adapted to every private or public occasion, forming a com- fortably padded pillow for timorous consciences and piously inclined souls. For the average middle-class man or woman who blindly followed both the rules of worldly etiquette, sanctified by tradition, and the religious observance. Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 53 dictated by complacent clergy, what greater source of satisfaction, what greater promoter of quiet, than this persuasion of duty accomplished in the total ab- sence of disquieting doubts ? Conscience, cradled in a bed of formalism, ignored the torment of questioning articles of faith; ignored the sting of controversy, the bitterness of doubt; moreover, in every occurrence, in family or business relations, in social meetings as in private transactions, a formidary of polite prescriptions was always there, handed down by generations of honoured forefathers, ripened into perfection by uninterrupted appliance. The people who accepted these two guides, and obeyed the minutely detailed imvarying rules of civil and religious conduct, without ever trying to brush aside their ordinances of etiquette and custom that involved their whole life, were, in a measure, a nation of overgrown children. Some of the puerile grace of childhood outlived in the sweetness of manner, in the soft, lisping dialect, in the constant mirth, which characterised the Venetian middle class in early 1700, when Carlo Goldoni's birth enriched it with the ad- dition of a new member. The patronymic name being spelled Guldoni in some ancient registers, has suggested an improbable, distant Teutonic origin, but not the slightest alien ethnical trait can be found in Goldoni's figure or face ; not the faintest shade of foreign character can be dis- covered in his psychology; he incarnated a purely Venetian spirit in a typically Italian body. 54 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time The Goldoni family was settled in Modena, enjoying an ofl&cial and comfortable position, when our author's grandfather, Carlo Alessio (or Alessandro) decided to transfer himself to Venice, attracted there by an in- stinctive affinity. No man bom and bred in the laguna was ever more Venetian in temper, taste, spirit, and character than this Modenese. The bigotry, the deadly seriousness of his native Modena jarred with Carlo Alessio's sunny nature and extravagant tendencies. Venice offered a more fitting theatre for his aptitudes, more congenial conditions for the expansion of his natural gifts. His ambition, guided by tact, served by grace of manner and savoir vivre, his sociable and artistic inclinations, carried him through a prosperous career of pubUc charges, and landed him safe in a second marriage and useful connections, so that he was able to lead a life of brilliancy and pleasure until his persistent good luck brought him to a timely death at the moment when the effects of his extravagance threatened his position. His office in the court of "Dei Savi del Commercio" ^ was no sinecure. To this special court of justice re- sorted aU doubtful cases between foreign merchants. A delicate and most important jurisdiction, in the international mart which Venice then was. The Greek, the Turk, the Oriental, the Jew, aU relied on obtaining fair judgment from the people whose rallyiag cry was "Pane in Piazza, Giustizia a Palazzo" (Bread in the market and justice in the palace). • Five Commercial Sages, originally instituted to supervise commerce. Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 55 It must be inferred that Carlo Alessio Goldoni honourably fulfilled the duties of his office, since he remained in charge imtil his death, yet, according to his grandson's narrative, he found sufficient leisure for squandering his money, living according to the standard of the times, when the pursuit of pleasure was the supreme ideal of Venetians. Carlo Alessio's notion of hospitality included a large house and dinner parties, in his city dwelling in Ca Cent anni as well as in his villa on the banks of the SUe. To keep up appearances, to remain on parade, to uphold one's rank and decorum, such was the supreme ambition of every. Venetian. However large or small the" world, the set, the coterie he belonged to, the object was the same, and, for its sake, Venetians endured everything. They curtailed even necessary expenses, restrained their natural inclinations, checked their passions and desires, disciplined themselves by a self-denial that, turned to a higher purpose, would have been heroism. Vanity did duty for sterner qualities and smothered more dangerous vices. Foreigners, like the semi-anonymous author of VEspion Chinois, noted this mania without suspecting that some proportion of good was mixed with the evil effects of vanity. A constant preoccupation about other people's opinion, an unflagging desire of ap- proval, are not always incentives to wrong-doing; occasionally they prevent or restrain it. Goldoni, himself inclined to this social tendency, dwells with complacency on these acts of his grand- S6 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time father. "He was a fine gentleman, but he lacked economy. He was fond of pleasure and adopted the manners of Venice." He further teUs how the viUa on the SUe was always crowded by visitors "from every part of the country" ; how the greater lords of the neighbourhood were jealous of the splendid en- tertainments given at this princely viUa, and how they endeavoured to drive Carlo Alessio out of the place, and how he managed to undermine their plans, by obtaining further grants and further authority from the Duke of Carrara, his patron and landlord. Goldoni carefuUy mentions that his grandfather used to have theatrical performances by "the best artists of the time." He further adds that he was born during this time of gaiety and extravagance, hence that he was bound to be inclined toward gaiety and extravagance. "Could I help liking the theatre? Could I help being gay?" The picture is pretty. As a preface to a first volume of plays it was an amusing scene ; in his Memoirs he makes it an interesting first chapter, but — it is only a fib, a first lapse into that preconceived plan which the writer means to keep up aU through his Memoirs. He strikes, even from the first pages, the note of gaiety and carelessness and the predestination to the theatre which he persuades himself, and would persuade his readers, to have been there from the first. Carlo Goldoni was not bom in the splendid dwelling of his spendthrift grandfather; he came into this world four years after this joUy ancestor had left it. Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 57 The official death certificate of Carlo Alessio dated 1703, the baptismal certificate of Carlo dated 1707, destroy the pretty scaffolding, and betray the hereditary megalomania transmitted from grandfather to grand- son. Did Goldoni mistake for early reminiscences that which he heard from family stories, or did he embellish his narrative with purely literary intent ? Anyhow, the death of Carlo Alessio did mark a change in the tide of family affairs. Under the pa- triarchal system which ruled Venetian families the sudden disappearance of the chief generally heralded much unexpected havoc. Carlo Alessio had sadly neglected to provide for his son Giulio's future career, the boy's upbringing having been entirely entrusted to a stepmother. His education consisted of the usual smattering of classics that led to nothing in particular. Giulio Goldoni was poorly prepared to fight life's battle. His father, exerting the authority of the paterfamilias, disposed of his son; or, according to the adopted term, gli diede uno stato (lui donna un etat) by choosing a wife for him. Margherita Salvioni possessed the virtues and merits which would please a father-in-law. It is not evident that she possessed the charms that would ensure the love and the fidelity of a young husband; to Carlo Alessio that was a superfluity. Margherita Salvioni came of a good family, distantly related to the Gol- donis she brought a comfortable dot, secured in- fluential connections, was pious, modest, and thrifty. What more could a father-in-law require ? 58 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time The very youthful bridegroom — Giulio was twenty at his father's death — was probably not asked for his opinion, else he might have objected to a wife who was seven years his senior, who was lame, and who, instead of sharing his own sociable disposition, pre- ferred church-going, convent-visiting, and clerical friends. Giulio did not succeed his father in the oflSce of notary or secretary at the Coxmcil of Commerce. "A Greek more clever got the place," says Goldoni. "My father did not like to dwell on painful thoughts; he decided to start on a trip to Rome as a diversion." Here Goldoni alters facts and wrongs his father. Giulio Goldoni did not leave immediately for Rome. He first went to Modena, and did his utmost to realise the remainder of his patrimonial estate and settle other financial matters. Then when he found it neces- sary to make his own destiny he went to Rome, and started on a course of medical studies. When Goldoni writes, " My father left home for a few months and remained away four years," he throws discredit on that which was a wise and manly resolution. These must have been four years of hard study, since Giulio Goldoni obtained his medical doctorate and won the esteem of famous Doctor Lancisi, the physician of Pope Clement XI, who favoured him. with his patronage. Inasmuch as, like many another Venetian husband, Doctor Goldoni might, without offending pubUc opinion, have lived quietly at home on his wife's income, but preferred instead the manlier Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 59 and more difficult way of earning his own living by pursuing a course that was neither smooth nor common, his son might have introduced Doctor Giulio with an interpretation of his departure better responding to its aims and motives. "My father was, perhaps, a good doctor; he cer- tainly was a very amiable man of the world. To the pleasant ways of his countrymen he joined the refine- ment of the polite circles wherein he always moved." If he did not always cure his patients of their real illness, he never failed to cure them of imaginary ones. Doctor Giulio wisely forbore to undertake difficult cases; he was neither quack nor humbug. He pos- sessed tact and great power of pleasing. Neither parasite nor toady, a gifted conversationalist, he con- ciliated favour without being a dependent. No gambler but a fair player, useful for organising the customary card tables, but even more indispensable for the staging of theatricals, he possessed that common sense and understanding of things and men which smoothed his own way and helped him to direct wisely his son's affairs. It was clever of him to move from one city to another when he reahsed that the first bloom of his fame was fading. Whenever a colleague attacked him, whenever a powerful patron showed signs of weariness. Doctor Giulio lifted his tent, and in some new environment again began the cycle — a warm welcome at some great man's house, a pleasant season of professional and social work, then another timely departure. 6o Goldoni and the Venice of His Time What capacity Giulio Goldoni might have developed for the education of his son was lessened by these frequent absences. Then Doctor Goldoni lacked the prestige, the self-assertion which strengthened the authority of his own father, who was sure he was al- ways right and permitted neither opposition nor con- tradiction; while Giulio was in advance of his time, allowing his wife or his son to discuss his commands. Gn the whole he proved a good father, according to unambitious standards. He promoted his son's inter- ests, got him out of scrapes, obtained for him the patronage of powerful men, delivered appropriate lectures about the ways of the world and the peril of imprudence, and he also set him an example of self- respect, of honesty, and of amiability. Goldoni has better loved and better understood his mother. "My mother gave me birth almost without suffering, and always loved me the better for that." A somewhat puerile explanation to account for a life- long aflSnity of temperament, a communion of souls. Behind the veil of tenderness which haloes Goldoni's picture of his mother, Margherita Salvioni appears fairly representative of her time and of her class. She was the submissive stay-at-home wife who ignored her husband's wanderings, forbore from recriminating, and was ever willing to assist in rebuilding the family nest, in order to welcome back its prodigal master. Rather pretty, though her complexion was dark, graceful in spite of her lameness, she possessed the tact and common sense, the easy flow of talk, the Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 6i prompt repartee typical of Venetian women. With- out ever asserting herself, she managed to have her way in most things. The same narrow piety which encouraged the visits of clerical friends, and devoted her leisure hours to visiting the convent parlatorios, also prejudiced her against her second son Giampaolo for his refusal to take holy orders. Giampaolo, the undesired offspring of hard times, the latecomer whose boisterous nature jarred with her own prudish notions, contrasted with Carlino's pretty manners, with his father's refinement, was first sent out to nurse in the country ; afterward to a school of friars, as a preparation for monastic life. Giampaolo developed a rebel disposition, a spirit of adventure that foimd, later, its vent in a military career, and caused much trouble to himself and to his family. That tenderness and care which she stinted to her second son, Margherita Goldoni lavished on her first bom, on her Carlino. She was proud of his pre- cocious wit, and rejoiced in his gentle disposition which welcomed her fondling and petting. On her husband's departure, Signora Goldoni kept house with her maiden sister on their small joint incomes. "She had only me to care for ; she wished to bring me up under her eyes. I was a quiet, good-tempered boy ; when only four years old I could write and read. I learned my catechism by heart, and I was given a tutor." Thus while Giampaolo in exile grew up a stranger to his own mother, Carlino, "le bijou de lafamille, " was 62 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time brought up in his mother's lap, nestled in more comfort and tenderness than ever he could have enjoyed in the crowded, sumptuous villa or city palace of more prosperous days. To this great and rare boon of a happy childhood, Goldoni owes the great and rare privilege of a sunny nature, of that moral and physical health, that perfect balance of mind and body, ripening in self-confidence and cheerful courage. Home life was delightftilly quiet and pleasant between the two ladies, who stinted their own expenses in order to provide largely for the little darling's education. A quiet but not a lonely home. Signora Goldoni being a thorough Venetian admitted many friends to her conversazioni. Of course the child was made much of by visitors, who wished to please the mistress of the house ; of course Venetian politeness praised his progress. Goldoni dwells on this first childish success; he inaccurately records a comedy composed by him, at some imcertain date, but not, certainly, at the unripe age of eight as he says. More probably at eleven, the age suggested by his biographers. He makes a pretty picture of the admiring group centring roimd his own childish person ; a nurse being the first confidant, his aunt laughing, his tutor wisely pronouncing that the composition showed more wit than the age of the writer justified. Then in comes a godfather, " richer in money than in learning, " who pre- tends that he cannot be persuaded of the boy's author- ship ; whereupon the tutor grows angry and the quarrel Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 63 is warming up when a third personage — he is an abbot — comes in and settles the question. An areopagus of three, a magistrate, a tutor, and an abbot, disputing over the first paper Goldoni darkened with penman- ship, his mother sitting with a smile of exultation and listening to the discussion. Is it not a pretty picture of Venetian customs? It was a happy idea to use this subject for the engraving prefacing the first volume of plays. We hope it was true. Such a system of education threatened to turn the boy into that absurdity, a youthful prodigy, when his father sent for him. Nothing is more significant of a nation's degree of civilisation than its ideal of education. In 1700, in the Italy morselled into many States, still more divided by different traditions, tendencies, customs, and even languages, a few common traits remained as tokens of past unity, as links for future reunion. Among the strongest and most persistent of these links was the ideal of education, the plan of studies. From child- hood to the tardy emancipation of youth, from the grammar school to the university degree, the line was unbroken. The keystone of this system was obedience. His parents first, his teachers afterward, his confessor always, were expected to guide the boy's every step. This was not an abstract theory, but a fairly working social and familiar system. The child was to imitate the example of the other members of the family in their allegiance to the chief of the household. Nat- 64 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time urally, especially in Venice, this allegiance was often infringed in practice, but appearances were safe, at least as far as the child could see them. Children were kept out of the way, not for lack of love, but because there was little time for the privacy of home life. Habits of inveterate dissimulation, of exaggerated politeness, tinged with a mannerism that checked the free expansion of a child's spirits, kept him in great respect of his elders. The dogma of familial hierarchy was still inflexible, for the child. Beyond this lesson of obedience the child was taught "manners," how to behave himself, how to speak and move about with elegance and grace according to the infinite rules of deportment. The lesson began at home where, in every word, gesture, and look, he saw the same desire of pleasing, the same constant endeavour to avoid disagreements and make everything smooth for one's self and for others. This standard of gentiUty was adopted by every class of citizens. All professed, and taught to the growing generations, the supreme virtue of old-fashioned gentilezza, untrans- latable word or tmtranslatable idea, comprising much more than mere poUteness and elegance, of a poUte- ness that stretches even to the unspoken feeling; of modesty which appUes to every word and look; a tact for smoothing angles, for restraining impertinence and mahce ; a determination never to annoy one's fellow-creatures, and to amuse them, whenever op- portiinity offered. Children were taught to practise this gentilezza long Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 65 before they could reaUse its general purport or resent its hmitations. In consideration of other people's feelings, they were drilled to disguise every annoyance under a smile ; they were instructed to speak no word, to make no movement, but those which could give pleasure to onlookers. Such an education paved the way to very agreeable social intercourse. To Carlino Goldoni these teachings were imparted with the added sweetness of some extra petting, and much maternal devotion. Like other Venetian ladies — perhaps even more than others — Signora Goldoni visited at the grates of convents. When Carlino attended her in this round of visits, he enjoyed an early opportvinity for perfect- ing his manners, in these substitutes, and rivals, of drawing-rooms, amid the crowd of visitors, the prattle of pretty girls, whilst sweet-meats were handed roxmd and music was performed. There he was taught the elegance of manners, the refinement of conversational wit, which enabled him, later, to visit at the grandest houses, to attend princely and royal courts, and always appear perfectly at ease. So far and not farther, did the r6le of parents go in the education of their offspring. In aristocratic families, boys were entrusted to a tutor, generally an abbot, whose task it was to prepare them for school, by teaching them the first rudiments of Latin, whose situation in the household was something between the cavalier servente and the lackey. Goldoni, like most boys of his social standing, was 66 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time provided with tutors who taught him arithmetic, catechism, and Latin. Sooner or later every boy went to school, clerical schools generally, the Church hav- ing almost monopolised the so-caUed "humanities," and controlling the imiversities. Under their direction, the classical curriculum narrowed to little more than the trivium and quadrivium of earlier ages, but, on the other hand, it gained in consistency and unity. Cen- turies of civilisation, of unbroken peace, of religious formalism, of but half-concealed scepticism and dissi- pation created a special atmosphere in the Venetian society; centviries of classical training and undis- cussed empirism created the moral and intellectual atmosphere of the Venetian schools, as indeed of most Italian schools. The strength of their system was chiefly due to its narrowness, to its exclusiveness, which smothered all contradiction. Moreover there was no break of con- tinuity of the several stages of education. From the first stammering of Latin verbs to the ceremonious granting of vmiversity degrees, all was directed by the same spirit. What value such a course of studies had in the development of intellect, in the formation of character, it is not necessary to consider in Goldoni's case, since his schooling was intermittent and he was such an indifferent pupil. It is worth noting, in the much divided Italy of his time, that he could pass from one city to another, from one school to another, without any perplexing break, without finding any sudden change of direction. Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 67 When he was eight years old, according to his Memoirs, or eleven, according to late biographers, Carlino was sent to school. He teUs us that the play composed by him and sent to his father suggested to Doctor Giulio this extraordinary reflection: "Reckoning on arithmetical principles, he said that if nine years gave four carats of wit, eighteen years must give twelve, and so on in arithmetical progression, until a fine degree of perfection." It is more likely that Doctor Goldoni being then in Perugia the medical adviser, or favoured protege, of the Baglionis and the Antinoris — two of the greatest famiUes of the city — he wanted his son to have a share in the advantages of his situation, and to get some better schooling than he could get at home. Carlino left home gaily, voyaged pleasantly to Rimini, then journeyed to Perugia, and finally entered- the school directed by Dominican friars. His first year at school was such as might be ex- pected from a boy brought up by women and over- indulgent teachers. The youthful prodigy who boasted about the play he had written was chagrined that his comrades did their Latin exercises much better. In- troduced as a pupil ripe for the higher form, he hardly managed to keep in the lower form. Instead of ad- miring him, as his teachers at home used to do, his comrades laughed at him. The school register for this year confirms this imlucky start, and also gives further evidence of Goldoni's method of adapting truth, when he tells his own history. These records show that, at the end of the year, Goldoni was not 68 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time promoted to the higher form, but that, with three other boys out of threescore, he was kept in the lower form. Yet in a preface first, and afterward in his Memoirs, he tells this pretty story, which is consistent with Goldoni's character. In the Memoirs he writes : "The end of the year was fast coming; we expected the Latin exercise which is called 'of promotion,' as it decides the passage to the upper form or retention in the lower form. I foresaw that the latter misfor- tune was likely to befall me. The day comes, the Regent dictates, the pupils write; everyone does his very best. I summon all my forces, I set before my mind's eye my ambition, my honour, my parents' wishes. I notice that my comrades are slyly eyeing me and laughing, facit indignati versum. I am pricked by shame and wrath; I read the theme, 1 feel my head cooling, my hand is steady, my memory in full ac- tivity. I am the first to finish the translation and to seal my paper. I give it to the Regent and depart well satisfied with myself." The translation was all right, and the author of it complimented and promoted. But it all happened one year later. Goldoni accomplished the feat which, at every future crisis of his career, he is able to repeat. At every decisive moment, whenever his pride or his ambition is roused, his sense of obligation is stirred or his anger kindled, Goldoni thus responds. Under the lash of his wiU he accomplished greater things on other occasions. It is typical of him that he does not Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 69 anticipate the crisis, nor realise the importance of the effort ; he merely rejoices at its accomplishment. In Goldoni's time holidays were long and frequent. Doctor Giulio made the most of them, in order to pro- vide his son with short excursions, entertainments, which fill many pages of his Memoirs, after providing many pages of prefaces for his editors — with pretty anecdotes of doubtful authenticity, but undoubted attraction. These anecdotes are valuable for the in- formation they furnish about the manners and customs of the time, but are not reliable information about the boy's doings. As a reward for some promotion at school, Doctor Goldoni treated his son to that amusement par ex- cellence of his time and nation — -amateur theatricals. A powerful patron of his wanted coaxing, and Doctor Giulio, turning into a stage manager, set up the per- formance of Gerolamo Gigli's Sorellina di don Pilone. His contempt of bigotry was evidenced in the choice of this play, the most daring attack then made against clericalism. It is most characteristic of the inefficiency of the Church's regulations that while, in Perugia, women were not allowed to act in the theatre, yet this anticlerical comedy was permitted, under the protec- tion of the Baglioni escutcheon. Carlino was then a handsome boy and remained so until marred by the smallpox. In the female r61e of la Sorellina, he won a success not entirely due, as he claims, to his acting. He was also applauded when he delivered a prologue in verse probably written by Baglioni's aristocratic 70 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time pen, so stuffed with the hjrperboles and antitheses then popular that the remembrance of it amused him ever after. On this occasion his father declared that he did not lack imderstanding, but would never be a good actor. Margherita Goldoni, for her son's sake, endured the rough weather of Perugia, so different from the mild Venetian climate, and the uncouth manners of the Perugians, so different from her Venetian friends. "She suffered and grew so iU that we feared for her life ; but still she overcame pain and danger, as long as she thought that it was good for me to stay in this city and finish my studies." When Carlino finished his course, and as at the same time the Baglioni- Antinori patronage declined, the whole family left Perugia. The original plan was to leave Carlino in Rimini, in care of Dominican teachers, for his class of "phi- losophy," while his parents returned to Venice. But when the ship stopped at Chiozza, and the doctor dis- covered there some useful and willing patrons, they landed and settled there for some years. Doctor Giulio started a fair practice in the island, then far more prosperous than it is now. Goldoni was seldom happy away from Venice. He was decidedly unhappy in dull Rimini, where his first experience was an attack of smallpox severe enough to disfigure his face for Kfe. Goldoni's stay in Rimini was brief. His good luck provided him with a double mcentive to leave, first a teacher more than usually Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 71 dull, who could not conquer Goldoni's distaste for ab- stract logic and pedantic philosophy ; then, as an ad- ditional motive for leaving, the pleasant temptation of a whole bevy of actresses. Rimini being only indirectly imder the rule of Rome, women were allowed to appear on the stage ; the Riminise were spared the impleasant spectacle of closely shaven men impersonating feminine characters. When Goldoni went behind the scenes at the theatre, he was welcomed by the actresses who, as it happened, were all Venetians and boimd, after a short stay in Rimini, for Chioggia. It was the opening of a new world to Goldoni, his first introduction to a class of people, to a manner of life, which answered so exactly to his own disposition that in spite of his disenchantment it always appealed to him. And how prettily he tells of his experience. His landing at Chioggia is almost as amusing as the trip on board the boat. His mother's welcome was what he expected, but his father, Doctor Giulio, who now saw aU his plans for his son imperilled by a bit of imprudence, was disappointed. Goldoni charmingly describes the interview between father and son. Despite the gaiety of the picture, it is evident that the Goldonis were displeased with their boy. By the favour of a patrician namesake. Marquis Goldoni Vidoni Aymi, then Governor of Pavia, Doctor Giulio next obtained his son's admission to the very exclusive Papal College of Ghisleri, a high favour coveted by 72 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time young men of good families, as an excellent opening into an official career. According to the Italian university plan, a yoxing man could, while staying at the CoUegio Ghisleri, attend any course of lessons he preferred. Goldoni intended to become a doctor of medicine. As a prepara- tion for these studies, as a pimishment for his escapade, or perhaps in hopes to keep him out of mischief, Doctor Giulio decided that he should begin a sort of medical apprenticeship. It was a singular idea. Carlino was to accompany his father on the daily round of visits, in order to learn the manners and language of a doctor, with a view to facilitating his knowledge of technical terms. This premature exposure to dangers and temptations beyond his age nearly resulted in dis- agreeable consequences, fortunately averted through the vigilance of his mother, who discovered the per- ilous intrigue prepared by a disreputable mother and daughter. Goldoni showed no disposition for the career of a physician. His s3Tnpathetic nature could not endure the spectacle of either bodily or mental suffering. The comedians had gone; Chioggia (Chiozza) of- fered no amusements. His attendance on his father's calls was irksome, he lost his habitual high spirits ; that was more thaii enough to secure his mother's help, and to obtain from easy-going Doctor Giulio a radical change of plan. Without giving up his place at Ghislieri College, Carlino was inscribed for the study of law, so as to become an avvocato. In the meanwhile Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 73 he would stay in Venice in a sort of apprenticeship. Signora Goldoni remembered that her imcle, Parlo Indric, was a lawyer. Thus Carlino spent a few hours daily in the "studio" of a Procuratore, and many more hours in discovering Venice. Venice, the city of his heart, the abode of pleasure, the centre of intellectual life, answered to his deepest desires. Long, weary years later, as he describes these first impressions of Venice, La Serenissima, his awkward French becomes eloquent through retrospec- tive emotion. It was love at first sight, and a lifelong passion. He never quitted Venice without a pang, he always returned to her with the exultation of a lover returning to his mistress. In later years this affection for Venice often reveals itself in imguarded moments. Goldoni at college affords an amusing insight into contemporary student life. He was transformed into a little abbot — tonsure, little collar, certificates, and permissions by clerical authorities, which did not bind the students to the Church, but was enforced by the articles of the college, founded by Pope Ghisleri. This priestly garb was little more than a masquerade. Its adoption shows the persistence of formalism, and religious indifference. On finding that Carlino was younger than the age of admittance, his father accomplished a miracle; Carlino went to bed only sixteen years old and he rose next morning full eighteen. Luxury and no restraint were the college customs. Students came and went 74 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time almost as they pleased, provided they went out and returned in pairs. They parted company at the first street turning and went their ways, sometimes to the halls of learning, more often to fashionable resorts and social gatherings, and frequently to gambling houses and other undesirable places. When they came in too late at night, or singly, they paid hush money to a porter, who made more than a minister of state's salary out of these illegitimate profits. College regulations also protected the students. The costly and gorgeous sovrana (cloak) worn by them, the stola fixed on their left shoulder and bearing in gold embroidery the keys of Saint Peter, which was the Ghisleri escutcheon, enforced respect for the spruce abbots who took advantage of their privileged position and behaved "like officers in a garrison." They visited the very best and the very worst resorts ; they flirted, gambled, and fought duels; but they also cultivated the arts of a gentlemanly education. They practised fencing, music, painting, as well as games of cards and dice. Goldoni's amiable manners received here a polish, even while license and bad example got him into some scrapes. First he was entrapped into a disgraceful expedition. On being discovered he committed the unpardonable mistake of betraying the names of his accomplices, thus ensuring for himself enemies. These decoyed him into a compromising situation which resulted in his banishment from college, which is thus recorded in the archives of the establishment, at the Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 75 date 1726 : " Propter satiricam poesimfuit evictus." He now relinquished his legal studies, but resumed them, first in Udine, under the celebrated Morelli, then again in Modena, and finally in Padua, where he secured his degree. Goldoni travelled much. In 1726 travelling was not the monotonous affair it has since become, but required exertion and courage, because of banditti and the many other dangers of the road. Post chaise and stage coaches were liable to get overturned or to stop at inconvenient places, inns were crowded or scantily stocked with food. The traveller who could make himself useful and agreeable to his companions, who was cheerful and good-tempered, could find much pleasure in a journey, and Goldoni not only possessed all these requisites, but also knew how charmingly to describe his adventures and perhaps sometimes to invent them. Whenever Goldoni was asked to write a preface or a poem, he fetched from his memory or his imagination some anecdote, he turned it into a pleasant little pic- ture, a lively scene wherein he managed to play a role, and, since he was not on oath and harmed no one, he spoke just that proportion of truth which his sense of art required. These spontaneous pictures are charm- ing sketches. If they are not absolutely true, they are perhaps even more interesting as imaginative crea- tions and elaborations. His first leaving home, his first ride along the hilly roads from Rimini to Perugia, his first experience with 76 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time a horse, was a startling experience for any Venetian boy, who could have seen little more than the bronze horses of St. Mark. A trip in burchiello, the long flat boat enthusiastically described by President des Brosses, makes a pretty picture of customs. He de- scribes the luxurious and comfortable barge with its carved wood furniture, its padded couches, its many windows and sculptures, and the deUghtful company. As the barge containing, besides our Goldoni, the Venetian ambassador's secretary and other persons of his household, glides along the Po, it is a perpetual roxmd of concerts, dances, suppers that marks its passage. Everyone on board plays on some instru- ment or sings ; and Goldoni's, the young poet's, share is to chronicle all these adventures day by day in rhyme. He gives scant information about the places he visits, he has no eye, no sympathy, for that which is not Venetian. His account of a trip in Carinzia and in Friuli, as in later times his descriptions of Paris, is superficial. Outside of his Venetian world, he even loses his facility for reading a character, and in- terpreting ways and manners, but that which appeals to him he describes delightfully. Naturally during these trips he has many love affairs, which he tells with a reticence that bears evidence to his good taste, be- sides discovering his consideration for the only woman he ever really loved — his wife, who was his secretary and amanuensis in writing his Memoirs. In his relations with women Goldoni is of his time and of his class. Fine letters and arts and social Ufe Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 77 made a throne for woman, and paid her homage. She was the incensed idol, extolled in verse and prose, saluted with compUment and flattery, her power was exerted in intrigues, and her occult influence felt in public as in private affairs; yet woman was denied the simplest and most natural of rights. The right of fair play was reserved to the stronger and ruder sex. To abuse her innocence or to make dishonourable profit out of her weakness was a petty sin that did not discredit a man. Goldoni, always a devoted son and a kind husband, a model of honesty in his dealings with men, is, accord- ing to his own accoimt, not above suspicion of levity in his behaviour with women. If the stories he tells about himself are not exactly true, they are con- sistent with what he thought to be becoming and creditable. His flirtations with actresses are of little consequence. Goldoni was at first a toy in their pretty hands, and when he became an important person, the man who could give a r61e, he in turn toyed with their petty vanities and rivalries. His adventures outside the theatre are more char- acteristic. One of the most typical is to be found in the first part of his Memoirs. He was staying in Udine — reading for the law — when he noticed a pretty girl; he followed her to church, obtained the favour of some sly glances, and was further encouraged by the offer of the young lady's maid to carry messages and presents. He wrote love letters, he sent presents, at night he sighed under a closed window and was 78 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time rewarded by a glimpse of a little head half concealed in a cap, and a merry laugh, half smothered by the closing of a casement. His pride in his conquest is, however, soon crushed ; he discovers that the chamber- maid, and not the lady, has got both presents and love letters. Goldoni has excuse for being angry, but his manner of revenge is not creditable. Goldoni's excuse for thus using the women of his time is that they were usually worthy of little regard. Without adopting a Casanova's standard of feminine virtue, in Venice, and especially in Venetian convents, one must recognise that those women who, since they had adopted the religious vows of seclusion and chastity and had solemnly promised to direct and protect young girls, should have set an example of modesty, never- theless lacked even common honesty. President des Brosses talks much about their musical skill and their pretty costume. Goldoni supplies an anecdote that is a revelation of the influence of nuns. In Chioggia (Chiozza) he frequently visited a con- vent in which the parlatorio was probably one of the most lively resorts of the town. Goldoni saw there a yoxmg pensionnaire and fell in love. The Mother Abbess smiled on this courtship ; she promised to manage things for the best. A little while later Goldoni perceives a change, the yoimg lady cannot be seen. He complains to the "Mother," likely the real mother, and he gets the most extraordinary answer. The world-wise abbess says that the guardian has decided himself to marry the young lady; but "as Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 79 a young wife is likely to shorten the days of an aged husband you will soon have a rich widow who has only been a wife in name — trust me to keep watch over her, I give you my word of honour." Never was "word of honour" more extraordinary. It is terribly significant, the more so as Goldoni is not an anti- clerical. Never in his plays, rarely in the Memoirs, does he describe clericals. The friar he met on board the boat that brought him home, after his eviction from the Collegio Ghisleri, is one of the few. If loyalty to his own training by clericals had not prevented him, he could have described much and most interestingly. Possibly fear of the censor restrained him. There is only one episode in his life in which a re- ligious terror played an important part. It betrays a strange spiritual condition. His father had sent him to Modena, to pursue those endless studies, also with the intent of recovering certain rights of Modenese citizenship which the Goldonis never entirely re- linquished. Goldoni was apprenticed to a lawyer, il notaio Zavarisi, who assisted him in the reestablish- ment of his family in Modena in their ancient position. A recent edict, issued by the Duke of Modena, raised the tax which absentees were made to pay. Goldoni by taking his abode in Modena could have obtained exemption from this tax. Strangely enough. Doctor Goldoni, though a thorough Venetian, was also a citizen of Modena, and managed to retain a double citizenship, almost a double nationality, so that his 8o Goldoni and the Venice of His Time son might have the choice. Goldbni, Uke his father, always paid the Modenese tax on absentees and ren- dered some sort of verbal homage to the Duke of Modena; but to stay in that dull and bigoted city was beyond even the power of his filial obedience. Yet he went there and entered the legal ofl&ce of his relative and friend, Zavarisi. But he also got into a nest of bigots. Bastia, the captain of the boat that carried him to Modena, ordered all on board to say their beads before going to bed, and to sing litanies every day. In Modena Goldoni lodged with this Bastia, and was persuaded to join in the psahn-singing and church-going, and seemed for a time imder deep religious impression, when a shocking event drove him out of Modena. On the public Piazza, surrounded by all the im- pressive array of such terrible spectacles, he saw a man ^ in the pillory cross-examined and tortured by a priest and his acolytes. The degradation, the humilia- tion, and the pain endured by the man, who was only guilty of indiscreet speech, so shocked Goldoni that he fled in terror. He could neither think nor talk of anything else. He trembled for his own salvation, fell into morbid depression, and spoke of entering a convent, to expiate his sins and to avoid temptation. Prudent Doctor GiuUo, far from opposing this re- ligious frenzy, promised to consider the matter, and invited his son to Venice, in order that the religious authorities there might be informed of his plans. The ■ Von Lohner supposes this man to have been Gio. Battista Vicini the poet. Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 8i wind that blew on the shores of Venice, on the sunny Piazzetta, on the Campiello, soon blew away Goldoni's vocation for the cloister, and even that thin veneer of mysticism adopted by contagion in Modena. He was twenty in 1727, and as a return to Modena was out of the question, Doctor Giulio resolved that it was time for his son to secure "an honourable and remunerative place that should cost nothing. ' ' Through his influence, Goldoni was appointed "Aggiunto del Coadgiutore, dipendente dalla Cancelleria Criminale." It was the lowest place in the magistracy, but a pleasant situation. Board and lodging at the governor's house, besides dinner parties, concerts, and plays were in- cluded, but no salary was attached to the position. Goldoni records with pride how he toiled at his desk, how zealously he fulfilled his ofl&cial duties. His business being to examine the suspected culprits, he fuUy realised that it is the examiner's duty to reconcile the demands of justice with the pity due to the of- fender, but he says not one word of how in order to accomplish this examination he was forced to apply torture. But the engraving which adorns the first page of the volume shows Goldoni at his desk, and m front of him a man whose hands are tied behind his back to the rope that hangs from the ceiling. In the backgroxmd the assistant is seen standing by the torture wheel. In a private letter Goldoni confesses that "at first it was painful to interrogate a man just re- leased from the rope" ; but in time he grew accustomed to the thing. When Goldoni's immediate superior. 82 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time the chancellor, was transferred to Feltre he offered to take Goldoni with him as Coadgiutore. More work and more responsibility, but also more honour. In contrast with the dark pictures of Venetian jus- tice, so often presented, one should read Goldoni's account of his expedition to a village where some crime was to be investigated. A party of twelve persons walking gaily along shaded roads and flowered paths, in the low, fruitful country, stopping at hospitable convents or village inns, drinking milk at cosy farms, singing blithely as they marched through village streets, and rehearsing comedies and even tragedies wherever they could raise anything like a stage. Goldoni's career was once more arrested by cir- cumstances beyond his control. His father. Doctor Giulio, seemed to have settled permanently in the quiet little city of Bagnocavallo, when he suddenly fell ill, and died peacefully in the arms of his wife and son. Goldoni dried his own. and his mother's tears, and accompanied her back to Venice. During the journey, Signora Goldoni entreated him to give up his actual career, complete his legal studies, and obtain the title of avvocato in Venice. The magic title of Venetian lawyer answered to the ambition of middle-class parents, it bridged the distance between them and aristocracy, it also promised financial advantages. The promising magistrate was once more transformed into a student preparing for his final examination in the Venetian university of Padua. Things were so cleverly managed that the usual long course of study Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 83 was shortened into a few months' coaching. The chapters describing his preparation and his passage through his examination form a series of Goldonian sketches imparalleled in his plays. A great deal of amusement and even more sotmd information may be got from this truthful picture. It contains several portraits. First Signor Radi, a teacher who coached the pupils supposed to be study- ing in Padua, where they put in an appearance, four times a year, just to obtain the required certificates. Though he had plenty of pupils Signor Radi's irre- sistible propensity for gambling kept him in perpetual poverty, his own pupils winning from him at cards the price of their lessons. Indeed on the very eve of his examination, Goldoni was persuaded to spend most of the day and the whole night gambling. When called to put on the robe and cap, Goldoni rose from his cards and proceeded straight to the haU, where the areopagus of professors sat in judgment. In order to gain admittance to the bar, Goldoni should have practised two years in the office of a barrister, yet as early as March, 1732, Goldoni was presented at the Palazzo. This presentation is a land- mark in his life, the crowning of his youthful am- bition, the conquest of a title he held in the greatest honovir. As he fulfilled the rites of the ceremonial, standing between two colleagues at the foot of the Giants' Stair, bowing so low and so often that his ample wig was tossed about like a lion's mane, we may be sure that in his elation he had forgotten the theatre. 84 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time Immediately after this solemn introduction to his new dignity he was offered the opportunity of seeing quite the opposite aspect of his profession. A woman, all dimples and smiles, with flashing jewellery and in gay dress, approached him one day, and after compli- menting him on his appearance offered her influence to faciUtate his first steps. She was bom and bred in the palace, she said, her father having made his living by Hstening at doors, and carrying the first news of the magistrate's decision to the parties. She followed the same practice ; and, knowing everyone and known by everybody, she could bring customers to lawyers who wanted them. Goldoni smiled, and dismissed the woman. Of the many quaUties required for the successful barrister he possessed the two rarest and most difiicult to attain, charm and entire honesty. For the less brilliant part of an awocato's work, the preparation of briefs, he was also gifted, as he showed a few years later in Pisa. Yet his d6but in Venice was not suc- cessful. Few persons foxmd their way to his office, and those who came did not pay him for his advice. Far from providing for his mother, he was supported by her, getting into debt. He tells a vague story of an intrigue and broken marriage, which reads like a scenario for improvised comedy; he gives several reasons to account for his sudden departure, and slips, as lightly as he can, over the only true one, which is also the most honourable. CHAPTER III LIFE OI' GOLDONI, 1 73 2 TO 1 747 Goldoni leaves Venice 1732 — his extravagant habits — becomes a play- wright and goes to Milan — burns Amalasunta after its refusal 1733 — enters Venetian diplomatic service in Milan — sees battle between Sards and Austrians — intrigue with an adventuress — influence of the charlatan Bonaf ede Vitali on Goldoni — Casali orders a play — Goldoni meets the Imer troupe in Verona — his play Belisario is accepted and he is engaged as playrmght for Grimani's theatre in Venice 1734 — in love with actress "la Passalaqua" — meets and marries Nicoletta Connio of Genoa — attack of smallpox on honeymoon — his comedians are his models as well as his interpreters — from them he learned much — becomes Genoese Consul in Venice 1740 — consulship comes to sudden end 1743 — Goldoni's wanderings over Italy — visits Florence — begins practice of law in Pisa — praises Perfetti's extempore poetry 1744 — admitted to Pisan colony of Arcadia — engages to write a play for actor Darbes — meets Medebach troupe. IT was a fateful moment for Goldoni when by one decision he relinquished his career as a lawyer and also left Venice. And in spite of his affectation of indifference in his account of this decisive moment he was conscious of its gravity, yet courageous and hopeful for the future. There is no hint of the bitter dis- appointment which was to follow. Evidently he would not have left Venice, his mother, and his position at the bar if the prospect in Milan had not been at- tractive. Goldoni disguises his real motive because he shares, 8s 86 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time with the writers of his time, the foolish idea that the poet is disgracing himself and his art when he wishes to make his living out of his work. He will not confess that he conceived the idea of writing a tragedy, and of having it performed in Milan, the moment when it was suggested to him. Zeno,^ Metastasio,^ and other poets had made money in Vienna, and now even ' Apostolo Zeno, 1668-1730, has an honourable place among historians and scholars. He was a precursor of Muratori, pioneer investigator and inter- pretator of documents ; he was also a collectionneur. To Goldoni he most opportunely gave that which Goldoni calls "des corrections muettes.'' The anecdote is to be found in Mem. i, ch. xli. Goldoni wrote a lyrical tragedy bearing the title "Gustavo Wasa" and carried it to Zeno "lately returned from Vienna,'' where "Metastasio remained as his successor.'' "I found tJiis worthy scholar (Zeno) in his studio ; he welcomed me politely, listened to the reading of my play without uttering a word. . . After finishing I asked his opinion. 'It is good,' said he, 'for the fair of la Senza.'" Goldoni understood that the manuscript was pronounced only good for popular festivities. Zeno wrote about sixty dramas and twenty oratorios, all now forgotten, though they exerted a powerful influence on the evolution of the Italian theatre. He founded the "Giomale de. Letterati d'ltalia," which lasted from 1710 to 1718. ' Pietro Metastasio, 1698-1782 : His great fame influenced Goldoni's career. Like Goldoni he was bom in the petite bourgeoisie, like Goldoni he read for the law and held ofiice, and was admitted into Arcadia. "Artino Corasio " : His fame was European until fashion turned and ridiculed his sentimental compositions; but now the pathos and metrical form of his lyrical dramas, the sweet cadence of his shorter poems, are again admired. (See Vernon Lee's, E. Masi's, and O. Tommasini's studies.) Goldoni says in his Memoirs, part i, chap, xxi, "The operas of Metastasio were then performed everywhere, even without any music" ; and in another chapter (xli) he extravagantly praises his work. To Metastasio Goldoni rever- ently dedicated his play, obtaining in return this handsome acknowledgment : "... your friendship is such a gift that it is accepted with joy at what- ever title it is offered." For an analysis of Metastasio's works see Stendhal, La Vie de Metastasio. Carducci has also praised Metastasio. / Corifei delta Canzonetta net Secolo XVI, vol. xviii, in Antologia di Critica Letterari Moderna. Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 87 Pariati ^ and other writers, whom posterity has for- gotten, were achieving fame and fortune by produc- ing dramma lirico and dramma musicale. Goldoni felt that he could do at least as well, and he needed the money. All his mother's tenderness could not disguise that he was draining her scanty income ; all his affection for her could not restrain him from extravagant habits and gambling. He resolved to turn a new leaf. His decision did him credit. Yet in his Memoirs he dis- guises both the earnestness of his purpose and the reasons for it. To account for his departure he tells a probably fictitious little story of a foolish love entangle- ment, a breach of promise. To obtain his mother's consent he may have given some such reason; and with her, "toutes mes raisons etoient bonnes." ^ Signora Goldoni was not only a fond mother, she was a Venetian bourgeoise, hence ready to recognise the right of the man in the family to have his ^ Pietro Pariati, a native of Reggio, driven from his native city by the persecution of Rinaldo d'Este, came to Venice in 1699, thence to Vienna, where he was the only court poet until Zeno joined him. 'Mem., part i, chap, xxvi: "I lacked the means for settling and keeping house. ... I explained matters to my mother; she realised with overflowing eyes that some energetic measure was required to save me from ruin (allusion to an almost incredible story of entanglement). She mortgaged her estate in order to pay my debts in Venice. I transferred to her my estate in Modena for her wants and I resolved to leave. . . . After my most flattering debut at the Palace (of Justice) in the midst of my success at the bar, I leave my country, my relatives, my paramours, my expectations, my position ; I leave and only stop at Padua. The first step was over, the others cost me nothing, thanks to my happy disposition, with the excep- tion of my mother I forgot everything." 88 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time will. After obejdng her father-in-law, she submitted to her husband, and now she accepted the rule of her eldest son. Goldoni was ready to answer every ob- jection. He allowed her to pay off some small debts, and he stopped any possible remonstrance by telling her how he had, previously, for her sake, given up his position at Feltre, and by promising her an ample share of the profit he was sure to make. Goldoni was elated with great expectations and ambitions, which took form and direction during the weary hours when waiting for the clients who did not come. During the pleasant hours spent in the Venetian coffee houses, round the tables of tresset, where the news of the world and theatrical gossip were ciurrent, he could feel the pressure of growing debts and of his mother's anxiety, all tending to show the empty value of the proud title avvocato. He will not hve at his mother's expense, yet as long as he stays in Venice he must gamble and spend more than he can afford. While he was in Collegio Ghisleri and during his ap- prenticeship at the Chancellery, Goldoni fell into habits of extravagance which in Venice it was espe- cially difficult to reform. It was easier to sever all past associations and tear himself away. Afterwards he says and perhaps believes that his dramatic vocation was always imperative, but the fact is he turned to playwriting at the moment when his prospects were darkest and playwriting was yielding glory and gold for others. Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 89 Venice was a hive of Uterary gossip. In the ridotto, the book shops, and the botteghe Goldoni heard much talk about the latest theatrical performances. He was certain that he could accomplish what so many others were doing. He ignored difficulties; his superficial stage technique was to him no obstacle. He writes facile rh3T3ies, he can stage amateur performances and arrange the play to the taste of the audience, he has been behind the scenes, and chatted with actors and made love to a servetta and perhaps a primadonna, he is always welcome; why should he not write plays? Besides, he carries with him the manuscript of a tragedy — or drama — that, if turned into an opera, he is sure to sell to some Milanese theatre manager. The choice of Milan for a d6but was ambitious, but not imwise. The city was munificent, an important centre of business, its theatregoers less fastidious than Venetians; furthermore Goldoni was provided with credentials. The Venetian Resident Minister was on his Ust, and there were others, a superintendent of the theatres, a celebrated ballet dancer, and of course churchmen. Goldoni took all precautions. So off he went,^ but not straight to Milan. There were visits to pay along the road, more letters of introduction to obtain, and more approval of his tragedy, ,the manuscript being always at hand for a reading, if only a hstener could be discovered. With ' For date of departure see preface to vol. x, Pasquali Edition. "After eight months of my reception," May 20, 1732. Hence toward the end of the same year. 90 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time Parmenione Trissino' the stay was long enough to' admit of some discouraging criticism, which Goldoni perhaps interpreted as the effect of jealousy, Trissino being better known for his illustrious name than for his own literary productions. Goldoni did not succeed at first, probably his work was not such as the ruling taste then required. He lacked the practical knowledge, the technique which he afterward acquired. Hence his disappointment at failure was bitter. With much humour and less of his habitual benevolence, Goldoni describes the reading of his tragedy. Caffariello, the celebrated soprano, stands up and modulates in his silvery voice the title Amalasunta, and pronounces it long and unmusical, whilst another "soprano," a wizened little monkey, sings out "de sa voix de chat" that the dramatis persona are too many. Signora Grossatesta, the mistress of the house, Coimt Prata, the most influential and the only learned person in the room, both try to obtain silence, and the reader begins. He is ill at ease, he feels the hostility of his hearers and loses heart. Somehow he gets to the end and is saluted by a shower of adverse criticisms. Count Prata speaks as a theatre manager and warns Goldoni that each one of the principal r61es must be given an appropriate number of airs, a just propor- tion of duets, that the secondary rdles must be re- stricted in their opportunities, the arie di bravura must come close after the pathetic andante, and so on. ' See note on Parmenione Trissino. Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 91 All the petty devices and contrivances which then fettered the steps of the opera are mentioned. Goldoni, crushed by the failure of his cherished plan, maddened by the buzzing of such nonsense, rushed in despair to his own room and flung the manuscript into the fire. He had left Venice without thought of return ; he could not now fall back on his mother, nor coidd he remain in Milan without funds. He sat staring into the blaze which his manuscript lighted, the prospect was as gloomy as possible ; yet when nothing remained but a little heap of ashes he thought out a plan. With morning came courage and, a true Venetian, he turned for help to his coxmtryman. Senator Bartolini, the Venetian Resident, appreciated pluck, and knew a good story when told him. He laughed at Goldoni's mishap, enjoyed his unaffected ways, perceived his sterling qualities, and immediately offered him the place of private secretary, which was little more than an usher, a sort of confidential attend- ant. But as this provided Goldoni with board and lodging, also with small wages, he was perforce satis- fied. It is difficult to determine from Goldoni's account the character of his diplomatic service in this Venetian Embassy. The contemporary presence in Milan of two representatives of the Serenissima, with slight difference in their title, each directed to keep the Senate informed of the doings of the other, besides keeping in touch with the Milanese State, explains how Senator Bartolini found it useful to have two private 92 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time secretaries/ the official one and the non-official, Goldoni. Goldoni's incomplete account of events is unsatis- factory. His dates are wrong; his records of the movements of troops, sieges, or other incidents of the war then in progress are inaccurate. Goldoni was not interested in his work, except in so far as it afforded him a living. Even when promoted to a more responsi- ble position, his heart was not in his task. He had no gift for diplomacy and was not interested in the succes- sion of wars that left Venice untouched; like most Italians of his times he was only a spectator in the fight. He witnessed a battle,^ either in 1733 or in 1734, be- tween the Sards and the Austrians near Parma; his curiosity took him to the city walls and he objects to the smoke which clouded the "rare spectacle he would otherwise have enjoyed"! Goldoni's slight French ' The Memoirs record : "This Minister was not the only one in charge. Another man was sent from Venice at the same time, in the same city, a Sena- tor bearing the title of Provveditore Straordinario ; both vying in efforts for getting information and for sending to the Senate the surest and latest news (Mem., part i, chap. xxi). The Minister took advantage of this opportunity for dismissing his Secretary whom he dislilied and entrusting me with this commission . . . (Memoirs, part i, chap. xxxi). We got every day some ten or twelve letters and sometimes even twenty. ... It was my duty to read them, to make extracts, and out of them to compose an official despatch, grounded on the intelligence that seemed most reliable. . . ." Goldoni records with satisfaction that in these occupations he acquired much knowledge "diplomatic and political," knowledge which he found most useful later for his consulship. 2 The war alluded to was fought by Carlo Emanuele of Sardinia (the title then of the House of Savoy, allied to Louis XIV of France) against Emperor Charles VI. See Muratori, Annali d'ltalia, vii, page 379. Venice, 1848. Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 93 hardly excuses here the verb jouir. He languidly de- scribes the battlefield, as he visited it on the day after the combat. He is disgusted with the heap of naked bodies, and there are limbs and skuUs scattered about ; but he . complacently records how tons of lime were scattered over this offensive display to prevent infection. He describes with more warmth his mission "en qualite d'espion honorable, " which seems to mean a sort of attache, to the camp of the Allies, and was invited to partake in the pleasures of an armistice. These haK-hearted occupations were not sufficient to occupy Goldoni's restlessness. He was sure to get into scrapes, when he searched for congenial diversions. Dissipation in Milan was more dangerous than in Venice, and Goldoni's footing less secure. Cards were the principal danger.^ This was not the sort of play practised in Venetian drawing-rooms, in the intervals of conversation, but real gambling, in very mixed company. Goldoni was incurable, though more than once decoyed and cheated. He also narrates in his Memoirs ^ an intrigue with an '■ For card playing in Venice, see analysis of II Giuocatore. Several anec- dotes in the Memoirs make amusing pictures of customs, yet they should be accepted with caution. Goldoni first told them to amuse his readers in various prefaces, then selected them to pad his volumes of Memoirs. See for instance part i, chap, xxi, a narrative of journey from Feltre to Bagnaca- vallo (page 128, original text). *The story of this entanglement with "a young and pretty Venetian" fills many pages of the Memoirs, chaps, xxx, xxxiii, xxxiv, but seems not to have deeply affected Goldoni's heart, though possibly the signora is in some degree responsible for his dismissal. Any other such incident might have caused the same result. Goldoni wanted only an excuse. 94 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time adventuress, attended by a most disreputable uncle or protector, which cost him trouble and money, and was finally the cause of his release from his diplomatic bondage. His story, unsupported by documentary evidence, reads like an invention to explain his depar- ture from Milan, which many other causes must have prepared. He relates that. Senator Bartolini having ordered him to copy an important secret diplomatic document, he made his copy, locked it in his desk, and went out to supper with his lady-love and a party of gay companions. He remained at the card table, or otherwise, all night, and on returning home in the morning he found that the angry and suspicious Senator had been sending repeatedly to his rooms, asking for the secret document and the copy. Goldoni was reprimanded, lost his temper, was threatened with pxmishment, and fled for refuge to the archbishop's palace. Bartolini recognised that his secretary was guilty of nothing worse than dissipation ; Goldoni was satisfied, but he insisted on leaving.^ ' " On coming home, I met one of the Resident's servants. They had been asking for me everywhere. The Resident had been up since five in the morning, having sent for me. He had been told that I had been out all night. He was very angry. I run to my room, take both the folios, and bring them to the Minister. He receives me ungraciously. He even sus- pects me of having shown the King of Sardinia's Manifesto to the Prov- veditore Straordinario of the Venetian Republic. This charge offends me, and grieves me. I lose my temper — a most unusual weakness in me. The Minister threatens to have me apprehended. I hurry out of the place. I go straight to seek asyliun with the Bishop of the city. The Bishop takes my part, and offers to make my peace with the Resident. I thank him, but I had made up my mind. I only wanted to be justified and to depart " (Memoirs, I, chap.'xxxii). Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 95 Investigations made by Goldonians fail to identify the secret document, cause of this incident. Probably Goldoni invented this anecdote, as a picturesque con- clusion of his diplomatic experience, rather than confess his determination to try once more his fortxme as a playwright. Even in the first months of his stay in Milan, Goldoni met a person that was to exert much influence on his evolution. Bonafede Vitali ^ was a representative of old times, yet was he also a precursor of the new order ; he links up past traditions with modem methods of advertisement. He was a scholar and had obtained degrees and diplomas from Canterbury, Palermo, and Catania universities. An able physician, he had cured Marshal Schomberg and other great men and had conquered a violent epidemic in Parma. A traveller, too, who had visited almost every country of Europe, and spoke almost every European language. Just then, Bonafede VitaU was exerting in Milan, with great profit and honour, the difficult profession of a charlatan. Famous imder the name of I'Anonimo, he attracted immense crowds roimd the raised plat- form where he .stood, attended by several masked assistants, and was ready to answer any question that was put to him on any subject, ready to sell pills and • "His name was Bonafede Vitali, from the city of Parma; he went under the name of the Anonsrm. He belonged to a good family" {Memoirs, part i, chap. xxix). For B. Vit. see in "Numero Unico, Carlo Goldoni" a paper by A. D'Ancona, "Una Macchietta Goldoniana" (Venice, 1883), also "Biografia degli Italiani illustri di E. di Tipaldo, Venezia," 1837, pp. 292-299. 96 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time liniments for any disease. Men of learning and reputation did not disd'ain to probe his cyclopedian knowledge or to enlarge their own. Goldoni asserts that to every paper sent up to him Vitali gave an answer and as often as not disserted at length on the topic started, whether in literature, science, history, or mathematics. This man, whom Goldoni admired for his learning, was also stage manager and director of an itinerant troupe of comedians. Imitating a time-honoured practice, Bonafede Vitali advertised the sale of his drugs by having the four masks of the "commedia deU'arte" on parade with him on the platform, assist- ing him in handing down boxes and phials, and catching the soldi thrown into the same kerchiefs. The lazzi and pranks of the masks filled the intervals of his learned speeches and attracted a crowd of spectators and customers. In the evening, the same comedians performed short plays by the light "of white wax candles." The luxury of white wax added a finishing touch to the prestige of the spectacle. This was indeed a revival of the oldest forms of comedy, a return to methods that were fundamental ; it brought artists into close contact with their audience, which was not merely a reminiscence of the past but an indication for the future. Did Goldoni realise all that Bonafede Vitali's system represented? Not entirely, and not clearly, though he certainly learned something. He saw with his own eyes the good effects of an able and illuminated di- Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 97 rection inspiring the actors to higher efforts; he realised also that comedy, though different, was not inferior to tragedy, and he may have felt encouraged to pursue a course that Bonafede Vitali did not disdain. Goldoni, being so attracted by his new friend, offered to assist him in securing the theatre for a season. He was rewarded with a front box at the spectacle and also with the favour of free admittance behind the scenes. VitaU asked him to write a short intermezzo, which was performed with some success in this year 1733. The comedians with whom Goldoni mixed were among the best of the time ; Casali played the r6le of amoroso, Rubini was the Pantalone. They encouraged him with several proposals, and Casali asked for a tragi- comedy, and offered to pay for it.^ On leaving Milan, Goldoni, after some wandering, finally aUghted in the Arena of Verona,^ just when CasaU was stepping out from the curtain to deliver a speech to the audience. Was it a providential ac- ' For Casali, Rubini, and indeed for every actor mentioned see Luigi Rasi, op. cit. In preface to vol. xiii of Pasquali's edition, Goldoni says that Casali "was an honourable gentleman, endowed with great cleverness and professional ability, a fine figure and face, a pleasant voice and beautiful pronunciation." 2 Goldini in his Memoirs (see part i, chap, xxxiv) mentions that the an- cient Arena, "a Roman monument, whether of the Trajan or Domitian times one cannot teU," was still so well preserved that it was used as a theatre just as it was "in the first time of its building.'' This statement is not accurate. The arena was reduced to smaller proportions and more practical use by the erection in its midst of a raised platform, wooden wings, etc. An engraving of this Veronese theatre ftiay be seen in the re- production of vol. xii of Pasquali's edition, or in the splendid new edition of Venice. A description of such arrangements is in the well-informed volumes of L. Rasi, "I Comici Italiani," op. cit., I, 590. pS Goldoni and the Venice of His Time cident, as the Memoirs relate ? Or was it the result of some previous arrangement, this meeting with Casali, and Goldoni's introduction to the whole troupe, then xmder the direction of Imer,^ and in the pay of His Excellency Grimani ? ^ His description of the scene should be read in full. Of course he had the manuscript of a tragi-comedy in his pocket, the Belisario Casah had suggested. Of course, he was willing to read it, and his host was eager to hear it. Casali seized the manuscript and claimed it as his property. Imer was almost as eager to make another oflfer, and Goldoni was even more eager to be engaged. This Belisario holds a small place in the history of ^ Imer, see Memoirs, part i, chap. xxiv. Goldoni represents Imer as an artist who could conquer nature. He was successful both as a manager of this Grimani troupe and as actor and singer. " With ^ his short, thick neck, his small eyes and tumed-up nose, he was ridiculous in serious parts . . . ." Imer "knowing no music could sing well enough; he learned his part by heart, caught the intonation and time, and made up for his lack of knowledge and of voice by his ability in counterfeiting, by the funny style of his dress and his impersonation of characters" (Preface to vol. xiii, ed. Pasquali). * One Grimani Gian Pietro was Doge of Venice from 1741 to 1751, viz., the decisive moment when Venice by adopting the policy of neutrality lost the chance of asserting her rights in the wars of succession of Austria after the death of Maria Theresa. .Goldoni's Grimani was Michele, a patrician and a Senator, the owner of two theatres, San Moise and San Giovanni Grisostomo. Goldoni says in his Memoirs, part i, chap, xxxiv: "Sr. Grimani was the most polite man of the world ; he had none of that haughtiness which wrongs the great and humbles the poor. By birth illustrious, by his talents esteemed, he only wanted to beloved; his kindness captivated every heart." It was said that Goldoni represented him in II Prodigo under the character of easy-going, imprudent Momolo, Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 99 Goldoni's plays, but in the evolution of his personality this admittance within the circle of professionals, this first engagement as an author are decisive. Goldoni has finally fovmd the profession which satisfies his dearest wishes ; he can reconcile his desire of financial independence with his thirst for amusement. He mixes with people he hkes, and who like him. His Excellency Grimani, the owner of the San Samuele theatre, was not an exacting employer. Goldoni says that he was delightfully free from the supercilious hauteur "which lowers the great and humiliates the humble" ; he further immortalizes the kindness of this debonaire (// Prodigo) patrician by taking him as a model for his Momolo sulla Brenta. How gladly Goldoni followed the actors to Venice! How gladly he began work for them ! He accepts any job that is offered, even the cobbling of other author's plays. He makes a fimny little anecdote out of his collaboration with a red-haired abbot, the musician Vivaldi, and their rearrangement of an opera by Pariati and Zeno. He proudly records that at this moment he was writing tragedy, comedy, and opera. He is in Venice ; though he does not Uve under the same roof, he sees his mother frequently. If there had been some mis- understanding or disappointment when he left Venice for Milan, it was fuUy explained, and Goldoni con- quered once more that place in the family which a real Venetian bourgeois held dearer than public ofl&ce. Relatives such as the highly honourable Paolo Indric loo Goldoni and the Venice of His Time were probably shocked at Goldoni's sudden exit from Venice, and more offended when they heard of his engagement with the comedians. Signora Goldoni did, not want her darling son to remain under a cloud, so she arranged a little dinner party for his home-coming ; a gathering of all the wiseacres and prosperous members of their family. Then it was Goldoni's turn to win back their favour by the amusing tales of his ad- ventures. He confesses that he added to and trans- formed the stories he had already told to his mother, so that the dear lady, with tears of joy and pride, will ask the hero for explanation; she laughs, she weeps, she exclaims: "You little rogue, this thing you never told me!" More than enough to conquer the diflE- dence of relatives, who smiled on the prodigal son and his mother.^ Also he enjoys his life with the comedians. Ac- tresses exert on him an attraction which is not alto- gether sensual. Even his fragmentary account reveals that his artistic sense is so closely inwrought with his affections that he can hardly tell whether he is in love with the woman, or with the interpreter of his creation. Goldoni is no slave of passion, though he enjoys the fluttering of Cupid's wings. He is fast cooling down • For this influence bf 'relatives over Goldoni's career, and indeed over that of every other man in Venice, in the eighteenth century, see the whole of Goldoni's works and pictures of customs ; in Gaspare Gozzi's essays, in Nievo's novel, in every document of the time. For Goldoni's family see the notes by Ehrman von LShner: Modena, etc., op. cit., also an essay by Lazzari in "Rivista d'ltalia," Roma, Feb., 1Q07: "II Padre di Goldoni." Also "Fogli Sparsi del Goldoni" by A. G. Spinelli. , Goldoni and the Venice of His Time loi into an amiable man who has a kind word for every- body, a pretty compliment for every woman, who winks at petty contrivances, and listens to confi- dences, but longs for a quiet marriage and a peaceful _home. He was ripe for marriage, his only fear being to fall the prey of one unworthy to be his mother's companion. He does not conceive marrying as a personal affair, that was not the standard of his time ; he thinks of marrying, in order to settle down in happy and re- spectable obscurity. He is ripe for this crisis because he has fortunately escaped several dangers. The stories he told his mother on first coming home were not so improper that they could not be printed, with a few omissions and corrections. His sentimental apprenticeship was over; he could look back with amusement on passed perilsiJ In Feltre, when he was there in the quality of a magis- trate with the prospect of advancement and the halo of social glory, Goldoni had loved a young lady of good family. He noticed, however j that the little thing was fragile. He learned that her sister had faded away after her first baby, and he feared a sickly wife. Then the girl, "whom I loved with all my heart," had disliked the theatre; worse stiU, she was jealous, and wept when Goldoni played his r61e and received the compli- ' Some of Goldoni's biographers have recorded all the love passages he relates in his Memoirs. Believing that they were mostly invented or exaggerated, we omit them from this interpretation of his character and life. They are amusing pictures, complementary scenes of comedy, and as such we give a few of them elsewhere. I02 ■ Goldoni and the Venice of His Time ^ ments due to his management of amateur performance. A few tears, a parting sigh, a tender reminiscence, and then away toward other experiences. In MUan an adventuress could still beguile him into forgetting or neglecting his duty. Henceforth he allows no woman to interfere with his work. Rather he manages to find practical advantage in his love afifairs. He is fond of actresses, and he has such necessity of pleasing them that he falls in love with several among them. Generally with the younger one who takes the part of the servetta. His attachment to Madame Ferramont is tjrpical. Goldoni wrote several f61es for the lady, and thus ex- cited the jealousy of the other actresses ; then the poor woman suddenly dies in childbirth. Goldoni is much affected, but finds unexpected comfort in mingling his tears with those of the lady's husband. The same situation is repeated, later, after the death of another actress, Signora Baccherini, but then be it noted it is Goldoni's wife who sjonpathises with and comforts her husband in his bereavement. The only actress who for a time mastered his senses and his imagination is "la Passalacqua, " ^ whom he ' La Passalacqua — Elisabetta Moreri d'Affisio. Bartoli in his "Notizie istoriche de Comici Italiani," op. cit., i, 1-2, says that she could sing in Operas and in Intermezzi; that she could perform the favourite dance "deUa Bandiera" and also fence with wonderful skUl. Goldoni says that in the troupe she was entrusted with parts as a singer and with others as a "soubrette." He further saysthaX" savoix Stoitfausse, sa maniire monotone," her manners ungraceful yet with all that ... a gondola and some coquetry enslaved him at least for a short time. Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 103 pilloried in a satirical episode of his play Don Juan, and afterwards exposed to the readers of his Memoirs in a lengthy anecdote. The episode is characteristically Venetian. Not precisely good looking, with green eyes, a full-de- veloped figure, and a complexion which required a good deal of making up, Goldoni tells how he only meant to pay a visit to the lady, who was older than she wished to appear, and shrewder than he suspected ; and how she persuaded him to step into a gondola, in order to enjoy the beautiful evening. Praise of the gondola has been sung ere now by poets and lovers, its gliding movement, its soothing complicity, the softness of its cushioned seats under the sheltering felze, all this and more have lovers appreciated in every time ; and Goldoni was neither the first nor the last young man seduced by the combined allurements of a coquette and a row along the laguna by moonlight. Only a few days later Goldoni learns that the lady is pla3dng him false with Vitalba, the young actor who impersonates lovers on and off the stage. Goldoni keeps out of the way in proud disdain, until the lady sends for him, plays the grand scene of despair and remorse, without forgetting the dagger aimed at her breast, in the correct attitude for such moments of passion. Goldoni is no monster of cruelty, he cannot witness such despair, he rushes to her couch, bends his knee, swears, kisses, forgives, or is forgiven "et nous voila comme auparavant." Which means that he plays for some days longer the role of the greenhorn whom I04 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time his mistress betrays, openly, with the comrade who knows all the tricks of the pretty play. Goldoni turned the tables once more. He introduced a pastoral episode in the play that he was then staging, and thus forced the Signora Passalacqua and Vitalba to represent, in the presence of a well-informed audi- ence, just the adventure of which they were the heroes. The profit, in the end, was all Goldoni's. Besides recalling the episode to aU the gossips and scandal- mongers, who dehghted in such anecdotes of theatrical people, this translation on to the scenic stage of a real event was excellent practice for the future realistic plaj^wright. His style changes, and the flippant intonation of other stories melts in a more dehcate mood of mingled sentiment and reticent emotion, when Goldoni teUs of his first meeting with Nicoletta Coimio,^ and how he soon succeeded in becoming her husband. No dramatic incidents, no complications, the course of peaceful, honest love tending to marriage, and pro- ceeding by prudent steps toward the happy ending. ' Nicoletta Maria was the daughter of Agostmo Connio, a Genoese notary, or attorney. She was the eldest of five children. Besides the short but always grateful and aflEectionate allusions contained in the Memoirs and Letters Goldoni paid homage to his beloved wife in the preface to vol. XV, ed. Pasquali, dated 1761, though probably written later — a detailed narrative of his first accquaintance with Nicoletta, their discreet love- making and marriage. As soon as Goldoni recovered from the smallpox they left for Venice, which they reach on the ninth of October, "landing at Santa Mater Domini at a house over the bridge of this name which my mother had fitted for us and where she and my aunt were already expecting us. Our welcome was hearty ; the affection and peace, the perfect harmony which reigned between these three women, was an example.'' Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 105 It reads like the sketch of one of his plays ; and, like them, it is pervaded by a homely spirit. Goldoni had gone to Geneva with the Imer troupe, and he had seen Signor Connio, a banker of no great means, but of very good reputation. From the window of the lodgings he occupies he observed, behind the opposite casement, a girl just pretty enough to please his eye and elicit from him a tender salute. She curtsies and with- draws, never to reappear again at the yvindow. Such a demure behaviour must have charmed the young man, if only as a change from facile amours. It encouraged him to make his proposals, according to the fashion of the time, to the young lady's father. A whole month for prudent investigations, and finally the wedding. He could not have chosen better. The Connios were a good Genoese family, well known and well connected. Although Nicoletta did not bring him a dot, she secured for him the support of a solidly estab- lished father and brothers-in-law. Personally she was a most desirable wife — not the brilliant and flippant Venetian, but the steady and devoted stay-at-home, industrious Genoese, who could put up with scanty means, and yet, when the occasion called for some dis- play, she could hold her own place without clumsiness or presumption in a subdued way that exactly filled Goldoni's requirements and his taste. Her patience and devotion all through their long life was a comfort and a prop for the husband who realised her value, and requited in tenderness and regard his debt of love. io6 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time Goldoni spent the honeymoon in a high fever and a serious attack of smallpox. Nicoletta nursed him through it, and fortunately did not take the infection. Goldoni thanks her for this, as for the constant affection and devotion she lavished on him all through their lives. In an epistle ^ to Signor Connio, which prefaces one of his plays — several years later — Goldoni praises Nicoletta. " She knows exactly when I want to be left alone, and when I want to be spoken to. Over- work and worry often make me cross and moody ; she then bears with me, takes no notice, yet as soon as I recover my temper she is ready to meet me half way, with some amusing bit of news, some talk so as to sweep clean away all my vexation. We are the best of company to one another, just as we were in the first days of our marriage. I always discuss with her my plans, and ask for her advice about my plays, because I trust her to give me excellent suggestions and previsions." With even more tenderness and gratitude, in his old age Goldoni pays homage to the "woman who has been my comfort in every moment." How few wives of celebrated men have earned such testimonials ! Yet Goldoni was not a perfectly faithful husband ; the customs of his time, and especially his profession, condoned unfaithfulness. Yet after every departure * This letter to Agostino Connio is the dedication of La Donna Sola, first printed in the "Nuovo Teatro" etc., in Venice, in 1758, but which, like every other preface or dedication, can be read in the classical edition of Goldoni's plays lately edited in Venice, op. cit. COURT OF GOLDONI'S HOUSE IN VENICE, THE PALAZZO " CENTANNI " Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 107 Goldoni retui?ied to his dear Nicoletta, whom he set far above all other women. She was prudent enough to ignore these things, and wise enough to avoid com- plaining. On his part, Goldoni spared her feelings by every possible means. Nicoletta was also a model daughter-in-law. The young pair settled in Venice, in October, 1736, in the modest house which Margherita Goldoni and her maiden sister already occupied.^ Nicoletta's highest praise is that she managed to live in perfect peace with both. Goldoni enjoyed the rare privilege of having a quiet home, enlivened by the presen ce o f three ._wQmen who "were ~rivals in'Their zeal for his comfort . It is difficult to exaggerate the beneficial effect of such an environment. When we see Goldoni so serenely im- pervious to the stings of calumny, to the arrows of bitter pamphleteers, so easily appeased after his short crises of wrath, so forgiving, let us remember that the font of his enviable equaKty of humour, the secret of his unflagging spirits, is not only within his happy nature and healthy temperament, but also in that inexhaustible spring of joy and courage,^ a happy home. 1 Goldoni with his wife, mother, and aunt, Maria Salvioni, settled in a house belonging to one Degna, in Salizzada (Salizzada, a corruption of selciato, a street paved with flags, not cobbled with smaller stones), San Lio, where he lived until the year 1740. ' Goldoni is very reticent about his private affairs. He scarcely mentions his peaceful home life. His Memoirs are merely the painstaking rehearsal of incidents written for the public eye, omitting those deeper feelings he holds sacred. When WiUiam D. Howells, in his clever introduction to Gol- doni's Memoirs, speaks of "fulness and frankness" he does not seem to have IC58 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time In such pleasant conditions, Goldoni made his debut in Venice. His first comedy, in Venice, was warmly received, and his success was justified. Goldoni warmly praises his first interpreters; it is a debt of honour to those who have taught him the rudiments of their art. By living with his comedians "as a painter lives with his models" he learned many a useful lesson. These models are not automatons; under his eyes each acts his own r61e. They gossip and dispute and narrate their personal experience, and the quietly smiling author listens and notes every word, every look, and draws their portraits. After taking them for models he used them as in- terpreters. He mentions Golinetti, the Pantalone, whose expressive physiognomy, he thinks, it is a pity to conceal under the traditional mask. Having noted the grace and elegance of his manners, he decided to employ him in the representation of a character that would be for the greatest part an imitation of the man himself. On this lucky hint, Momolo Cortesan was imagined and brought out. Another time Goldoni noticed that another Pantalone, Darbes, presented the useful singularity of changing completely his voice, manners, expression, and looks from one moment to another. At times a cheerful, spirited cavalier, at others a clumsy, moody fellow. Goldoni found the way to making it profitable. The old, old theme rightly interpreted the prindpaJ character of this work. All the pretty story-teUing, if sifted and weighed, gives but a minimum of information and just the smallest amount of real "confession" such a composition can sdeld. Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 109 of twins, on the stage, could be thus rejuvenated and made as attractive as a novelty. This method is typical of Goldoni's talent. In tem- perament, as well as by education, Goldoni was inclined to accept guidance. He adapts external influences to his wants. Players trained to the diilScult art of improvised comedy were apt to consider themselves as collaborating with the author, and even as leading in the partnership. Goldoni profited by their ex- perience, and later on he was strong enough to check their presumption and enforce his own method, when he outgrew this first period of preparation. ' We try, further in this study, to analyse what influence the "commedia dtU'arte" exerted on Goldoni's conception of his art ; the advantage he derived from the comedians is almost as great. Some of them were mere istrioni, only able to secure popular favour by using indelicate tricks and jokes, some merely repeated their roles, according to the rules of tradition; but there were others who were not satisfied with repeating hackneyed speeches out of their zibaldone, or content exactly to reproduce the tra- ditional personage ; they wanted to stamp their imper- sonation of the old mask, or personage, with some origi- nal traits ; they wanted to astonish their more learned hearers by classic quotations from poets and philoso- phers, and, in their improvisation, to interweave their borrowings so aptly as to form a mosaic work of art. Many possessed talent, and some were of superior merit. Every man, says Goldoni, has a character of his no Goldoni and the Venice of His Time own ; if only the author gives him. the opportunity of representing a fictitious character, in complete analogy with his natural one, success is sure to follow. As a general statement this principle is open to discussion; in Goldoni's case it facilitated the reciprocal influence of the author on his interpreters, and it directed the formation of his own talent. Goldoni is an observer rather than a psychologist, he sees his personage from the outside; conceives, in parallel lines, the creation and the impersonation; the abstract personality is identified with the living one that acts and speaks and moves before him. At every step of Goldoni's career the motive of each iiew inspiration can be traced back to the actor, or the actress, who was first to suggest and then to represent a character. Goldoni was thus slowly but surely advancing as a playTvriter. His name was just beginning to be well known to theatregoers, when, for reasons which he does not mention, he asked for, or accepted, the title and duties of "Genoese Consul in Venice."^ Doubtless the appointment was due to the influence of the Connios, but there is no evidence whether Goldoni submitted to this honour or sought it. 1 See Belgrano, "II Matrimonio e il Consolato di C. Goldoni," in Imbre- viature di Giovanni Scriba, Genova, 1882. Memoirs, part i, ehap. xliii, "Wlen the consulate of Genoa at Venice was offered to me, I accepted with gratitude and respect, without enquiring about the emoluments of the office." Which sounds un'ikely. A few lines lower, Goldoni writes, " I in- creased my domestic establishment, my table, and my retinue . . . ." Of course he was expected to meet Ministers and other official personages but it was not customary to entertain them privately. There were even laws forbidding officials visiting at the houses of foreign ambassadors. Goldoni and the Venice of His Time iii It seems a contradiction to his often repeated assertion that the theatre was his unique attraction} and his vocation at all times irresistible, to find him giving up his prospects and turning to so different an occupation. In fact he was not absolutely obliged to discontinue writing for the stage, but besides a lack of time, the representative of "la Serenissima Repub- blica di Genova" commissioned to transact all sorts of affairs with the other "Serenissima" of Venice coidd not continue to live on familiar terms with actors and actresses in the easy-going fashion Goldoni had adopted ever since his marriage. He probably expected the place to be remunerative and also a stepping stone to stiU higher official pro- motion. Else Signor Connio would not have pro- posed, and Goldoni never accepted, this charge. Still less would he have enlarged his establishment and his expenses, in proportion to these expectations. Gol- doni's is a complex nature. He may have enter- tained the vanity of the middle classes for social dis- tinction, and succumbed to the temptation of donning a court dress, and having a handle to his name. Whatever his hopes and aims, he certainly performed with zeal and appHcation all the duties his position involved. His foreign biographers have overlooked the documentary evidence which reveals Goldoni under this aspect. Out of Goldoni's oflScial despatches to the Genoese authorities it has been easy to trace the salient points of this career. He unravelled several affairs of importance, to the satisfaction of all parties 112 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time concerned, and displayed courage, skill, and actiAdty that will appear unexpected in him, if we were to judge him exclusively from his Memoirs. Thus, for instance, in August, 1741, the consul of Genoa is able to obtain for the benefit of a Genoese skipper redress for an abuse of prerogative. "I found out that a decree of the Senate settles that whenever the captain of a Venetian ship has been licensed by the magistrate of cinque savi to load at a certain embankment, no foreign ship is allowed to come near this embankment until the Venetian has finished his loading, for which a whole month is granted. . . . Now the Venetian skippers, even when they were not ready for loading, used to get their license and thus stop the foreigners' loading." Against this ancient abuse a Genoese, Padron Leonardo CaflfareUi, appealed "with tears" to his consul. Goldoni, remembering that he could don a barrister's robe, assiuned the office of attorney for his party with such success that the case was decided in his favour, the abuse was redressed, and the privilege recalled. Instances of Goldoni's kindness appear at every step of his career. Sometimes it is a miserable convict, formerly a priest, whom the Coimcil of Ten would pardon, after twenty-two years of imprisormient, if only he could manage to pay the expenses of his trial, amounting to four hundred ducats. The consul does not possess this sum, but he begs for it and hopes, "with Divine assistance," to set the poor man at liberty. Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 113 Another time it is the extreme severity of a sentence issued against two Genoese tramps, guilty of no greater sin than begging on the road, and sentenced by a zealous magistrate of Monfalcone in the Friul to eighteen months' imprisonment. Goldoni "declares that the sentence is inhuman, exceeding the bounds of justice; hence he has appealed to the Venetian tri- bunal and expects to see the magistrate and the chancellor condemned and the poor devils set at Uberty." More important and more complicated was the case of murder of Suzanne Dubic by her lover, Rene la Fere. The murderer, haAdng taken refuge in the port of Genoa on board a Venetian ship, was apprehended with the consent of the Venetian consul, and carried before the Genoese magistrate. But the Venetian commonwealth was sensitive} and the Genoese did not care to give offence, so Goldoni conciliated the suscep- tibilities of both the Serenissime and saw that, with- out encroaching on the rights of the one, the other could try and eventually condemn the subject of the other. Goldoni is pleased with himself, and points out that it is due to his zeal that the affair did not drag on for months, but was despatched in a few days. From December, 1740, to March, 1743, Goldoni held this place of consul. An unfortunate scrape brought this diplomatic career to a sudden end. About this abrupt close of an episode that seemed so promise- ful, Goldoni intentionally makes a mess of dates 114 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time and of motives. He talks of having discovered after three years — rather two and a half — that there was no fixed salary annexed to his charge. It is hard to believe that he did not enquire first, and so suddenly reahsed that he must give it up. There is also a story about some jewels that were pawned by his order, and then distrained by the broker, thus placing Goldoni in the difficult position of either pa3Tng for the larceny or of incurring the charge of complicity. The story, as he tells it, is incredible, and its conse- quences remain unexplained; the real significance of the event and its importance in Goldoni's life have been the object of patient researches that throw some light on that which really happened, and some more interesting light on Goldoni's character. Giampaolo, the scapegoat of the family, has a large share of responsibil'ty in this affair. Giampaolo was then at home, which means living at his mother's and brother's house, after leaving the army, his casual profession. Now Goldoni, sitting quietly in his study, was startled one day by the sudden appearance of his brother, "rather red in the face, rather too bright in his looks," certainly more noisy and rude than either mother or elder son desired. Giampaolo has made a friend in a few minutes, round a table and several bottles of wine, and wants to introduce this friend to his brother. Goldoni listens to the man's story and he keeps him to dinner. Goldoni notes the green eyes, the pale face, the courtly ways that belie his Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 115 assumed character of a captain, native of Ragusa, and on a recruiting tour.^ The green-eyed visitor makes a dazzling proposal; he is commissioned by a State, which remains un- named, to raise a corps of soldiers, he has letters of credit and other papers which he shows, bearing a royal signature. He allures Goldoni with the title in partibus of "Auditeur General" of the corps; he promises Giampaolo a high rank. Thereupon he is invited to stay with the Goldonis and partake of their hospitality. Merchants of the city are persuaded to provide goods, officers enlist, Goldoni advances six thousand ducats, on the security of a bill which a firm of Venetian bankers have not yet honoured because the usual confirmation of credit by letter has not come. The day after Goldoni's payment, the captain vanishes. The several dupes he has made in Venice come clamouring at Goldoni's door. Certainly the trick played on him was exasperating. Goldoni had ' The personage of the amenturiero is not found in Goldoni's plays, but here in these Memoirs (chapter xliv) is a prose portrait worth reading: "This man had more the appearance of a courtier than a soldier. He was sleek, sweet spoken, extremely polite ; his complexion was pale, his face thin, his nose aquiline, and his eyes small, round, and greenish. He was very courteous and paid great attention to the ladies, holding grave dis- course with the aged ones and saying pretty trifles to the young ones. And with all that never losing a good morsel at meals. We took coffee at table and my brother put me in mind of every bottle of liquor there was in the house for the sake of his friend. . . ." Coffee was never taken round the table, still less was wine called for after dinner in respectable Venetian houses. Goldoni notes this infraction to common use as giving a more special colouring to this unusual visitor. ii6 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time every motive to be angry, but why does he run away post haste with his wife and brother ? On the shortest notice, just two days for packing, they make their departure, and never stop xmtil they get clear out of the Venetian State.^ It has been sug- gested, and almost proved, that the impostor was really the agent of a foreign nation, the Two SiciUes. It seems probable that these levies of troops were sometimes effected with the connivance of some Venetian authority, and only pimished when dis- covered in good time. It seemed preferable, often, to hush the scandal so as not to get the Government entangled. Pimishment was likely to come suddenly and secretly, leaving out the bigger fish, but surely catching the smaller fry. Goldoni considered himself as belonging to the category of the smaller offenders, and he saw the advantage of getting quickly out of reach. When he felt safe in Bologna, he wrote a comedy L'Impostore, which is the accoimt he wanted people to believe ; he avoided dangerous explanations. For once he found that it was safe to appear a fool, and he played his r61e to perfection. Goldoni may have been so advised, or he may have realised that his position was a dangerous one ; he remained away for more than two years, imder the most futile pretexts. ' Bates get terribly mixed in Goldoni's Memoirs. The date, July, 1743, is the most probable, because on the sixteenth of this month Goldoni was in Rimini signing in the register of the curia vescovUe the baptismal act of Margherita Bonaldi, the offspring of "Colombina, a fresh and attractive brunette, who was the soubrette of the troupe ... it was my fate.'' Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 117 It appears also that he resigned his consulship at this time. Goldoni prudently refrains from explain- ing his real motives. He hastened to Rimini on hear- ing that the Duke of Modena was there "spending the winter at the Spanish camp." Now why did he want so eagerly to join the Duke of Modena, if it were not that he meant to appeal, in his quality of a Modenese subject, to the protection of his sovereign? He admits that an audience was asked and granted ; he admits that something was asked and denied. Some- thing about the Modenese Ducal Bank and the pay- ment of some shares he held. Why? The Goldonis' fimds in Modena and the management of their affairs were entrusted to their friend and relative, Signor Zavarisi, a notary, who could have arranged things without troubling the Duke. Certainly this special condition of the Goldonis, this double nationality, was an advantage, since they each and all through Ufe paid for it the tax imposed on absentees in order to enjoy this privilege. Probably at this critical moment he sought protection from his presumptive sovereign.^ This matter has Uttle other importance except as showing Goldoni's method of telling his own history, with all the reticence and mingling of fact and fiction that he deems fitting and proper. Having adopted this version of a whole affair in the preface of his plays, he did not care later, when he was safe from danger in Paris, to correct his first statement. Yet to leave ' About Groldoni's affairs in Modena see the volume edited by the Mode- nese municipality, " Goldoni a Modena," op. cit. ii8 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time Venice on such a short notice, to break all the ties of affection and friendship, the pleasant habits of social intercourse, and to wander away, with no definite aim, no clear prospect, must have been then a heart-breaking experience. Little wonder, indeed, if Goldoni's health gave way under all the worries then attending all travel, and all the misery and apprehension that certainly embittered this one. The elasticity of his resourceful nature and naturally sanguine disposition helped him to recover his balance. He soon shook himself free of Giampaolo's undesirable company and "endeavoured" — as he says — "to forget past evils and think of a brighter future." Here begins in the Memoirs a long series of anecdotes detailing Goldoni's wanderings across those regions of Italy then disquieted by wars fought by foreigners, for aims that were of no interest to a Venetian. A considerable amount of pleasant reading, of amusing anecdotes, that provide almost no reliable information as to events related, almost no insight into Goldoni's real conditions.^ Just as in Bologna he tried to ' Many pretty little stories of adventures are to be found in the Memoirs, referring to these wanderings with Nicoletta. One of the prettiest {Memoirs, part i, chap, xlvi) is placed in the neighbourhood of Cattolica, where the Austrians had entered and seized the luggage of our travellers. "The loss was irreparable for me ; my wife and myself were very well provided with clothes, we had three trunks, two portmanteaux and boxes and bandboxes and now we were left without a shirt." Goldoni undertakes to go and recover his goods. He does not see why Austrians should not be as willing to assist him as Spaniards. He finds a vetturale, obtains a passport, and starts with his wife who is quite willing to follow him — " the situation of a woman who loses all at once — her jewels, dresses, and everything belonging to her — may be easily imagined." Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 119 assume an attitude, to make fun of his own simphcity, in the comedy Ulmpostore, so in his Memoirs he now describes his travels. Whether he went to the Spanish camp in Rimini to meet a troupe of players, as he suggests, or whether he hastened there to throw himself at the Duke of Modena's feet, he foimd a cheering welcome. Span- iards were eminently qualified to appreciate Italian plays and players. They were as lavish of their praise as of their money ; they could bend their knees to kiss a lady's hand and were glib in their compli- "I ordered the driver to stop while we alighted for a moment, but the rascal turned the horses immediately, set off at a gallop toward Pesaro, leaving us in the middle of the highway, without any resource nor any hope to find any. Not a living soul was to be seen. Not a peasant in the fields, not a single inhabitant in the houses, every one feared the approach of the two armies and kept well out of their way. My wife was weeping. I looked to heaven and felt inspired." They walk on some time and come to a stream. "There was a small wooden bridge across it, but the planks were broken. The stream seemed rather too deep to be forded by my wife, still I would not be disconcerted. I stooped down, bid her put both her arms round my neck. I rose smiling, crossed over the stream with inexpressible joy, and said to myself, 'Omnia bona mea mecum porto.' My feet and legs were wet but I did not care. ..." Another stream, another ford, and a long walk for untrained Venetians. At last they come in sight of the sea, an old friend of theirs, and a fisher- man's boat. "A second circumstance was not less agreeable. A branch of a tree attached to a cottage announced the possibility of getting some refreshment; we procured milk, new-laid eggs, etc." A branch suspended over a doorstep is even to-day the sign for an osteria all over Italy. Hence the proverb "buon vino non ha bisogno di f rosea" — good wine does not require a branch — meaning that when a. place is furnished with good wine the neighbours do not require to be told where it is. The Memoirs tell at length how Goldoni and his wife met with a kind welcome at the Austrian camp. There he stayed and did some work. I20 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time ments, and as ready for suppers, dances, and parties as Goldoni, or any other Venetian could wish. But a few months later, in the same Rimini, Goldoni will be the paid entertainer and play~wright of the Austrians ; and contrasting them to his former hosts, the Spaniards, he notes that they did not bend their knees to the ladies, that they were noisier and ruder in their love-making and in their pleasures, but withal just as acceptable to Goldoni's imrufHed national feehngs. Nicoletta did not enjoy this sort of life. She never cared for social entertainments, and objected to Ger- man manners. She may also have objected to her husband's preference for a pretty actress, Bonaldi, a former flame of his, whom he foimd in Rimini, and employed in the roles of servetta. Goldoni, protesting that he was a most loving husband and that he shared with his wife all his pleasures, records that the only house wherein she would not accompany him was this one. "She did not prevent my going, but she did not like the lady." A wise woman was Nicoletta. She knew where to draw a line, even while she allowed her wanton Carlo as much liberty as was good for them both. When the Austrians left Rimini, more than a year had elapsed since his flight from Venice, yet Goldoni hesitated to go back. If he longed for his home and for his mother's company, he did not care to recall attention to himself tmtil the unlucky recruiting affair was forgotten by the Inquisitor. Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 121 "I wished to see Tuscany ; I longed to visit Florence and Siena, and also to dwell some length of time in these cities, in order to improve my style of language, by a greater familiarity with the pure Italian spoken by the Florentines and the Sienese." Both a wish and a necessity, with Goldoni, as indeed with other writers of his own coimtry, not excepting Manzoni. Yet if the need is proved by Goldoni's clumsy Italian, the wish is not so evident. The Goldonis visited several Tuscan cities ; ^ they made acquaintances here, and they were welcomed and entertained at several places, and finally settled down in Pisa. The Memoirs contain very little interesting informa- tion about this trip in Tuscany. Goldoni has no eye for the beauties of scenery and scarcely notices the social conditions of the people. There is no description of places or persons, no accoimt of literary movements, as eAddently none fixed his attention, with the single exception of Perfetti's extempore poetry. Some aflfinity of temperament, or simply Goldoni's admiration for extensive and varied knowledge, must accoimt for his enthusiastic praise of a performance that, by other critics, was considered merely a clever trick. Goldoni thus recommends to immortality "le Chevalier Perfetti — one of those poets who can improvise poetry, and who are only to be found in ' For Goldoni in Florence see AdemoUo, Gorilla Olimpica, Florence, 1887, which contains anecdotes about Arcadians and literati in Florence at the end of Settecento. President des Brosses, "Lettres FamiliSres," Paris, 1885, vol. i. For Goldoni in Pisan Arcadia see V. Cian in "Miscellanea di erudizione," Pisa, 1915, fsc. 2. 122 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time Italy. He was so far above any other, and he added so much science, elegance, and facility to his versifi- cation that he should be entitled to the honoiir of a crowning in the Capitol, honour which was granted to no one after Petrarch." Goldoni was invited on the day of Assumption to hear the poet improvising in the haU of the Intronati — the Sienese Academy. "Perfetti was sitting on a sort of a chair ; one of the Members of the Academy addressed him, and as he could not stray far from the subject that solemnised the day chosen by the Academy for this gathering, he proposed the argument : The Angels rejoicing at the approach of the Virgin's im- maculate body." Goldoni does not draw the obvious deduction that the poet was expecting such a theme to be proposed on this appointed day; but he further extols Perfetti by setting him above "Petrarch, Milton, Rousseau" (meaning, of course, Jean Baptiste) and even above Pindar himself! This extravagant praise, testifying to Goldoni's impulsive, warm-hearted nature, is also evidence of his scanty book learning, of his wretched critical sense, else he could never have mistaken such bombast for eloquence. President des Brosses, after listening to one of these extempore recitals, gave some praise to the poet's talent, but limited it by adding "Fom5 de^ez croire vraiment qu'il y a Id dessous beaucoup plus de mots que de choses." Posterity has ratified this judgment by ignoring altogether the man Goldoni compared to Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 123 Pindar and Milton! Goldoni's excuse being that he could read neither. A few lines about Florence and a few more for Volterra, a short description of the catacombs, or rather of the impression caused by a visit to these subterranean crypts, and then half a page for Pisa. He says that he did not mean to stop here longer than a few days, but on learning that he could, by resuming his former profession of lawyer and by opening a legal "studio," provide for his wants, he settled doAwn in Pisa and practised law there about three years. One more txmiing, one more tacking and shifting round of his sails that plainly contradicts his repeated statement of irresistible attraction toward the theatre, if the circumstance that bade him keep weU away from Venice is overlooked. A vocation for the theatre was imdoubtedly latent in Goldoni's brain and in his heart, but he also and for not utterly dissimilar motives inclined toward the barrister's profession. The craving for immediate success and popular applause found much the same satisfaction in both callings ; the gifts that fitted him for the one also equipped him for the other calling; both offered opportimities for a display of the ready wit, easy flow of language, promptness of repartee that were his natural qualities, and for the subtle interpretation of character and facts, the acute observation of men and events, that were so thoroughly Goldonian. If we were to study Goldoni as a writer of Italian prose, and were comparing him to his contemporaries, 124 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time it might be worth the trouble to quote some fragments of his oratorial style, preserved by one of his Pisan admirers, but since we are merely concerned with Goldoni, the author of comedies, the flowery images and bombastic phrasing may be omitted. It was the sort of thing that was expected from a barrister, the sort of language that appealed to the Magistrates. Goldoni used it until he discovered a more suitable and personal style of address, and his growing mastery of his art helped him to discern when it was time to change. His Memoirs contain the accoiuit of several lawsuits on which he was engaged while in Pisa. Goldoni's literary preparation was rather advanced than hindered by his legal career. A short and honour- able career it proved to be, profitable in many ways. It assisted in the evolution of Goldoni's mind by giving opportunity for seeing some of the sterner aspects of life, and further by bringing him into close contact with men of letters, scholars, and even dilettanti, of whom there were many then in Pisa. The greater benefit to Goldoni's literary improvement came through his admission into the Pisan colony of Arcadia. The question is too complex and involves too much that is irrelevant in Goldoni's case here to discuss the merits of Arcadia. It is enough to record that it aimed very high, even while the means adopted appeared ludicrously puerile, and that it produced some good results, even though it did not fulfil the am- bitious program first proclaimed in Rome. In Goldoni's case, initiation to its ceremonies led Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 125 to much practical advantage by introducing him to persons that could appreciate and encourage him and direct his choice of models. Thus, if Arcadia did not realise the larger purpose of abolishing triviality, or fighting against classicism, if it could not create any new ideal of art and literature, still it helped to pro- mote the idea of Italian imity by establishing a spiritual bond, linking together many small intellectual groups within cities that, but for their Arcadian colony, would have been almost ignorant of the existence of one another. Of such filmy threads was slowly woven the great ideal chain into which was finally reunited, under one flag, the long severed members of the Italian nation. It was, as he says, quite by chance that Goldoni happened to walk through an open gate into a beautiful garden, wherein the shepherds of Arcadia were holding their assembly. The sight of several coaches in waiting attracted him, his fondness for society urged him on toward the group of listeners, his taste for improvised poetry kept him on the spot. If surprised, he was not unprepared. A sonnet composed on some former occasion he instantly adapted, and delivered as an improvisation. Goldoni was already a master in this facile art which his contemporaries held in great esteem. His improvisation, or the adaptation of his " sonnet, was probably as good as anything produced in the Fegeian colony, wherein he was soon admitted with the usual formalities and more than the usual compliments. He was given the name of Polisseno 126 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time Fegeio, duly registered in a diploma; he was also given a charter "investing him with the Fegeian lands." He playfully explains that "We are rich, as you can see, my dear reader ; we the Shepherds of Arcadia ; we own lands in Greece ; we water them with the sweat of our brows, and we reap laurel boughs; the Turks sow wheat, and grow vines on them and laugh at our titles and our songs." Goldoni, too, laughed at his title and made light of the Arcadian diploma afterward, but at the time he was proud enough and glad enough of getting them; for some time afterwards he liked to inscribe both his Arcadian name and qualification on the title-page of his printed works, and on the tickets of the several theatres that produced his plays. What is even more probant of Goldoni's indebtedness to Arcadia is the trace left in his style by the peculiar aesthetics of the Academy. Not merely in his lighter compositions — sonnets, capitoli, and other occasional pieces — can we see the flowered images and ultra-refined sen- timentalism of Arcadia, but also in many scenes of his comedies, where they jar discordantly with the general realistic and unconventional intonation. Neither the charms of Arcadian meetings, nor the society of literati, nor even the profits and reasonable expectations of his career at the Pisan bar could entirely satisfy Goldoni's desires. Venice and the theatre were ever present to his mind ; the temptation could be restrained for a time, it was not stifled. It blazed forth irresistibly when Sacchi — the great Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 127 Sacchi — asked for a play, anticipating payment, in the thorough matter-of-fact way that ignores refusal, and suggested the argument with the authority his established fame entitled him to. What else could Goldoni do than comply? What else than compose play or scenario and realise that this indeed was pleasure in work, or work in pleasure, for him? Then when Sacchi wrote back teUing of his great success in the farcical comedy wherein he had im- personated Brighella, servant of two masters at the same time, and asking for another play in which he meant to appear in a serious character and appeal by pathetic situations to the audience's feelings, what else could Goldoni do than take up an old play of his and rearrange it for Sacchi? Goldoni resisted some time the temptation. The two plays written for Sacchi did not immediately bring a change. He plodded over his briefs, and pored over his codes; but his heart was not in his work, and, for a man of Goldoni's temper, this sort of thing was unbearable. He tried to persuade himself first, and then his readers, that some sort of wrong was done to him when he was denied promotion after the death of a colleague invested with many charges, Goldoni recording on almost the same page that "he had briefs in all the courts of the town, clients in every rank of society, noblemen of the first nobility, citizens of wealth, merchants of large credit, curates, friars, even big farmers, and also one of his brethren who, being im- plicated in a difl&cult criminal prosecution, chose me 128 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time for his advocate" ; it seems that he might have over- looked the real or presumed wrong. What information he may have received from Venice, and what encourage- ment to prompt his return, he does not record. As fate would have it, Nicoletta was not at hand when the irresistible temptation walked into Goldoni's room under the burly, pleasant figure of an actor, Darbes. Nicoletta was away, on a visit to her people in Genoa, a visit which had been first planned by both, but event- ually given up by Goldoni on the plea of finishing his play for Sacchi. Would Goldoni have listened to her advice if, being near him at the time, she had pleaded against the folly of giving up the honourable career of the law for the more venturesome profession of playwriting and stage managing? There is no telling. Nicoletta was so prudent and sensible that she might have guessed the uselessness of opposition. The woman who possessed tact enough to know "when it was better to speak and when it was better to stand by in silence" could not stake the peace of her household against the formidable enemy of a poetical vocation attended with all the allurements of behind-the-scene life to back it. With what evident relish Goldoni details the visit of Darbes, "a man nearly six feet taU and broad in pro- portion, crossing the room with a cane in his hand and a round hat." How playfully he notes aU the funny gestures and tricks of the artist, all the comic posture and bombastic talk that sounded in his ear like the hunter's horn to the eager hounds. Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 129 "He laid hold of my snufE box while we were talking, took snuflf from it, slipped into it several ducats, shut it again, then threw it down on the table with one of those gestures that are meant to betray an action even when they pretend to disguise it." And then his first introduction to the Medebach troupe. How fuU of youthful gaiety, with unspoken hopes ! Was it only the prospect of working for a stage manager that thus elated Goldoni's heart? Was it not also the sense of freedom coming upon him with some tidings from Venice and showing him that the path was open for him, that his adventure was for- gotten, biuried imder the dust of police archives, and that he could at last return to Venice, to his mother, to his actors and actresses, to the joys and pleasures of that Venetian life, the equivalent of which he had found nowhere else in Italy, and was never to find elsewhere? CHAPTER IV GOLDONl'S LIFE FROM 1 747 TO 1 753 Contract with Medebach, 1749 — becomes professional playwright — to compose and stage eight new plays each year, and attend all rehearsals — Medebach troupe a family, a clan — Goldoni's method was imitation of , the actor that was to impersonate the character — his relations with women — with Theodora Medebach — his first plays had little success — pamphleteer attacks Medebach troupe — Pietro Chiari rival of Goldoni — his character — a plagiarist — Goldoni seeks affection of common people — Chiari-Goldoni quarrel causes commotion — • censorship established by government — Goldoni promises to write sixteen plays for next season — magnitude of task — BettineUi in Venice and Paperini in Florence rival publishers of his plays — signs agreement with Vendramin, which was several times modified 1753 — San Luca theatre too large for his plays — character of Vendramin — money difficulties — Goldoni's mother dies 1754 — his interest in a young man nicknamed Goldon- cino. A VERBAL agreement, soon followed by a regular contract, a short period of probation, ending in a profitable xmderstanding with Medebach, brought Goldoni back to Venice and to a fresh start on the stage of the Sant' Angelo Theatre. Real business was beginning under promising circumstances. The Sant' Angelo Theatre was small enough to allow of the delicate effects Goldoni intended to produce, but large enough to admit a sufficient number of spectators to make it pay. The small apartment Goldoni rented for himself, his wife, and his mother was near by in Calle San Giovanni. 13° Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 131 Goldoni took his place in the Venetian world as a professional plajrwriter. His purpose was to satisfy his employer, to ensure good profits to his actor col- laborators, and to direct them toward a higher standard of their art. His mind had not yet formulated a com- plete plan of reform, although he says that from the very beginning of his career he meditated "blending the comic and pathetic elements in such proportions as to make his plays similar to the classic ones but far more interesting." The exact nature of Goldoni's contract with Mede- bach is not known, but his duties were certainly heavy and varied. Besides the tremendous labor of compos- ing and staging eight new plays every year and the adaptation of several old ones, he also wrote "oc- casional" pieces of poetry, compliments for the open- ing or closing of the theatrical seasons, sonnets to be delivered at the end of performances, and also super- vised the acting, which means attendance at all re- hearsals, which was required to correct thejaad habits of the players due to improvisation, and to the stage tricks then commonly practised. There were sallies and repartees, gambols and lazzi, a sort of stock in trade, which were in some cases handed down through generations of players, and in others, having been created by one of them, seemed peculiarly his property. While Goldoni probably never intended to deprive either the public or the actors of this cus- tomary stock-in-trade of Venetian theatres, still he earnestly proposed to modify the coarseness and 132 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time triviality of such pranks, and he tried hard to substitute a more aesthetic and deUcate sort of fvm. There was also difficulty in teaching actors to ap- pear without the mask which tradition had fixed to some of their r61es. They were to learn how to make their features express the feelings and emotions which heretofore they had indicated by forced attitudes and violent gesticulation. To achieve this task perfect understanding and mutual reliance between the actors and author were essential. It was necessary that Goldoni should proceed with great tact and discern- ment and his interpreters display unusual skill and docility. For having so usefully collaborated in Goldoni's first success and exerted such an influence on the form- ing of his first manner, the Medebach troupe demands special consideration. Medebach himself, though he afterward behaved meanly, was at first a capable and intelligent manager. He spurred Goldoni's ambition, and stimulated his activity by keeping him to the letter of their agreement, and also by his sympathy with his intentions of theatrical reform. The Medebach troupe did not differ essentially from more famous ones. Indeed this company exhibited the character- istic traits of the craft. This was a family rather than a partnership. It was a clan under an autocratic chief. Gaspare Raffi, like a patriarch, assisted by his wise and prudent wife, Signora Lucia, had guided the troupe through the thorny uphill path from rope dancing Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 133 and itinerant performances at village fairs on im- provised stages to the comparative dignity and more remunerative arrangements of regular acting, in the pay of His Excellency Condulmer at the Venetian theatre of Sant' Angelo. The troupe was increased in number and in importance. Theodora RaflS, who formerly charmed humble audiences with her rope dancing, now successfully impersonated the favourite character, Rosaura. Married to Medebach, she transferred to him her rights to rule over the tribe, when the elder Raffi died. Maddalena RafE her aunt, the spirited servetta, annexed Brighella Marliani when she married him. He remained in the com- pany, even during the long and unjustified flight of his wife. Around this nucleus of relatives, bound both by common interest and the ties of affection, other ele- ments gathered, forming a compact whole which tended to clear and definite aims. And because they were forced to adjust their individualities to the require- ments of a common plan they not only increased their own individual value but increased even more the value of the company as a whole. This common effort, which required both comprehension and im- plicit trust in their leader, the members of the Medebach troupe earnestly attempted and largely achieved. The importance to Goldoni of this intelligent and willing support can be realised only by remembering how very near in spirit and in time they aU were — author and players — to the improvised comedy ; 134 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time and how very sensitive and easily swayed by external circumstances Goldoni always was and especially so in his earlier career. Goldoni's method, amply recorded in his Memoirs, of imagining a character or modifying an old one, by a close imitation of the actor that was to impersonate it on the stage, was an application of the spirit and tradition of the Commedia dell'arte. He sees his per- sonage, and listens to his talk ia the person of the player) — just as the player used to remodel any classical or historical character, according to his own capacity and means, to his own figure and physiognomy. Hence Goldoni and his actors made collaboration possible; and progress was generally constant. Gol- doni's tact, his kindness, his quiet manners, and a modesty that tempered his authority, all helped to re- duce friction. There were many changes in the Medebach troupe before the end of Goldoni's contract. CoUalto suc- ceeded Darbes in the r61e of Pantalone and two clever actresses died; Signora Marliani came back in time to rouse Theodora Medebach's jealousy, but the im- portance of his actor collaborators grew less with each passing day, with each new step Goldoni was taking.^ '/Z Teatro Comico is a representation of the troupe Medebach, each personage being composed in imitation of the actor who impersonated it, Medebach, plajring Orazio, utters those principles which he was then helping to enforce. In the preface to this play (see ediz. compl., op. cit., vol. i, p. 142) Goldoni says: "In a decisive moment of his career, the author found in him (Medebach) the most effective support of his ideals." Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 135 Though Goldoni's Memoirs are often otherwise in- accurate they always record every debt of gratitude he owes to anyone. Many passages describe the in- fluence exerted by his first interpreters, praising their talents, insisting on the value of their advice, and how he imitated their pecuharities. Indeed he only omits mention of their occasional mean tricks. The whole Medebach troupe influenced Goldoni and were in- fluenced by him, but naturally the greater reciprocal influence was due to the women of the company. In regard to Goldoni's relations with women it would require extraordinary credulity to accept as the whole truth the account in the Memoirs. There are so many instances of Goldoni's delicacy and reticence, that in his Memoirs he must be credited with having told only that which the Venetian standard of propriety ad- mitted of telling without scandal. To assume that his "friendships" were really quite so simple and superficial as he makes them would be to ignore both Goldoni's Placida is Theodora Medebach, whom Goldoni praises for her prudent, honest customs, for her delicacy and feelings, while he laments her premature death (in 1761) when only thirty-seven. Beatrice is Caterina Landi, who the following year left and was replaced by Maddalena Raffi MarUani, Theodora Medebach's rival. Tonino was Antonio Matteucci (or Matteuzzi), known in art under the name of Collalto. Goldoni was pleased with him up to the time when he tried to appropriate the authorship of the play / Due Gemelli Veneziani on the plea that he improvised the principal r61e. Brighella was Anselmo Marliani, and a great favourite with the public for his acting and also for his singing; in several rdles written for him a song is introduced. When his wife returned to the troupe after seven years' absence he (see Goldoni's Memoirs) explained matters as "a juvenile error." More about her will be said d propos of Mirandolina. 136 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time great susceptibility to feminine charms and the Venetian morahty of his times. Theodora Medebach, whom Goldoni "esteemed beyond all other actresses," whose graceful manners, pretty face, and sweet voice con- quered even the sceptic and fastidious Venetian audience, did everything possible to ensure the success of his plays. Even if she did not realise the nature of her affection for him, even if she disguised it from herself and from her family, her grief at being sup- planted by another woman in interpreting the plays of the youthful and attractive author was certainly deep enough to cause a serious illness which was quickly cured when she perceived she had a fighting chance against her rival and might reconquer the first place in Goldoni's favour. This first place she secured through untiring ap- plication, and the most submissive and comprehensive translation of Goldoni's intentions. As one reads the plays it is easy to see how the stage character of Rosaura grows in dignified simplicity, in refinement, from one to another of the impersonations composed for Theodora Medebach and — knowing as we do Goldoni's methods — in imitation of her own sweet self. She was aware of her share of merit in these successive creations, she was aware of Goldoni's dependence upon her, and the natural pride, of any woman in such a situation was increased by that special pride that exists behind the footlights. She was the primadonna, she was the giver of glory, and then suddenly because it pleased her Aunt Marliani to come between her and the man Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 137 she worshipped and served, was she to be set aside and left to play second fiddle? Of course Signora Medebach could not see with Goldoni's eyes the possibilities of the servetta r61e. Nor could she judge critically of matters so bitterly dose to her own heart. She only saw the tokens of favour, the opportunities offered to that coquettish Marhani flirt, whose reputation had nothing to lose after the easily granted forgiveness of her husband. Goldoni did not wantonly trifle with the feelings of the two women. He strove to conciliate and to make a comedy of that which he refused to consider as a possible tragedy. He may have really tried to hold the balance straight and reconcile his duty of gratitude to the one, and his interest in the other, with the stronger demand of his artistic methods, which re- quired the fuller development of the second role. But aU these sentimental complications developed later; on Goldoni's first admission to the oflicial title of playwright of the troupe, the smooth waters of col- laboration were unruffled. The first plays given by Goldoni in Venice were not much noticed. Tonino Bella-grazia, II Cortesan, and L'Uomo Prudente had indifferent success. Goldoni felt "that he had no rivals to fight, but only some prejudices to conquer." When Darbes in his impersonation of two Venetian twins obtained a personal success, Goldoni confessed it was due rather to the acting than to any merit of the play. The Memoirs mention the "unparalleled 138 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time ability of Pantalone," and also the satisfaction of Medebach, "who felt sure that his enterprise was going to pay," and he modestly adds, "I got my share of this satisfaction on being applauded and congratu- lated a great deal more than I expected to be." The plaudits of the audience roused the attention of critics. "During the Christmas holidays some idlers . . . sent forth a pamphlet against the author and his comedians." That was the beginning of the nerve- destroying strife. This pamphlet — whether printed or handed round in manuscript as the fashion was — at- tacked "my country rather than my work." Parts of the plays were even praised, whUe other parts were pro- nounced "too true and too pungeiit for exhibition in Venice." The whole was seasoned with a certain amount of discernment, says Goldoni, and some compliments, but the pamphleteer violently attacked the whole Medebach troupe, calling them rope dancers and haladins. Against this sort of thing chivalrous Goldoni at the time protested fiercely and years after filled a good page of his Memoirs with a vindication of these honest actors' merits. Better than by con- tinuing a war of pamphlets, Goldoni supported his players by providing them with good plays. Goldoni does not name his foes. In the intimate literary sets of Venice, no one was ignorant of whence the blow came. Either of the two great patrons, two theatre owners, their Excellencies Grimani and Ven- dramin, could easily find some literary hack to do the dirty business of reviling the plebeian lawyer and his Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 139 acolytes, who presumed to compete with them. More- over, certain men of letters may have joined in the quarrel from honest disapproval of the new style. He could not fight either Vendramin or Grimani. Grimani had already proved" a kind patron, Vendramin was likely to become an employer, both were too im- portant to be directly attacked. Thus there was a luU in the brooding storm and Goldoni worked on, his sjonpathy for his own actors growing with every effort he made to imderstand and interpret their simple souls. Thus he produced one of his most powerful representations of Venetian customs. La Putta Onorata, in the attempt to destroy an infamous, now forgotten, play of Chiari's. By this time the champion whom Goldoni could challenge was conspicuous. Senator Grimani had dis- covered him in Modena, and brought him out under his protection and in his pay. Abbot Pietro Chiari became the official rival of Goldoni, when he was given, at the theatre of San Samuele, just the same sort of position that Goldoni held at the Sant Angelo. He now possesses a certain sort of immortality as Goldoni's , rival. But for this competition his name would have been forgotten by posterity. Pietro Chiari, bom in Brescia in 1711, was first a pupU, then a teacher, in the Jesuit schools. He after- ward became a secretary to Cardinal Lante deUa Rovere, and a shepherd of Arcadia under the name of Egerindo Criptonide. From his untiring pen dripped innumerable occasional poems, translations, adapta- I40 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time tions, and many works which were most evident plagiarisms. He possessed a special aptitude for fawning on the powerful and an ability for making the most of every favour, however obtained. He came to Venice, provided with such letters of introduction as were then equivalent of letters of credit. Grimani, bent on crushing the Goldoni- Medebach partnership, hired him and gave him the support of the great Sacchi's acting. Chiari's ex- tensive reading, his knowledge of several languages, justified him in the eyes of his partisans in assuming the attitude of scholar and critic, passing judgment on Goldoni's plays. Around Chiari clustered aU the anti-Goldonians, who, however, were not all Chiarists. There were those who lived on or around the many other theatres of Venice, there were the clients and prot6g6s of the patricians who owned these theatres, and then, also, there was the swarm of buzzing, stinging literati. In this Italian Settecento, a sort of freemasonry was then knitting together all those who could wield a pen, all those who could boast of some classical edu- cation. Italy has seldom wandered so far from the path of classicism, yet seldom have men of letters mouthed so much about the classics, extolled more blindly the beauties of Greek and Latin authors, and more violently discussed the aesthetic principles of the ancients. Of course under this noxious blossoming of weeds a splendid harvest of good grain was ripen- ing. Alfieri, Parini, Beccaria were soon to appear Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 141 and, by directing Italian literature along lines ap- propriate to the Italian genius and in accordance with the glorious past, prepared the way for an even more brilliant future. But just then, especially in Venice, neither Saverio BettineUi breaking a lance against Dante, nor Gaspare Gozzi starting in defence, nor Giuseppe Baretti pro- claiming the superiority of English culture, nor Denina advising to drop Italian and adopt French for daily use, nor Cesarotti and his erroneous philology, knew exactly where they were leading their readers. Un- able to appreciate originality, imable to differentiate between pedantism and erudition, these men of letters indiscriminately praised each other, or clustered into groups to discourage outsiders. Frequently these groups formed into "academies," clubs designed to keep out literary intruders. Chiari, superficial, but with extensive reading and with that self-sufficiency and smattering of letters which the Jesuits imparted to their pupils, was just the sort of man these societies were sure to adopt and support. His intellectual shallowness easily adapted itself to those demands of fashion, to the vagaries of public taste that, in every age and coimtry, have suc- ceeded on the stage. He could borrow from every source, though he could not assimilate; he could plagiarise imblushingly with this incredible explana- tion, "I am no plagiarist, I am a merchant who takes goods from aU hands." His translation of Pope's Essay on Man, other translations from the Latin, 142 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time dazzled the pseudo-scholars of Venice. When the Milanese group of scholars, centring round the brothers Verri — il Caffe — discussed hini seriously, simply publishing some of the most foohsh things selected from his voluminous work, his reputation crumbled. But in 1747-48, when Chiari, the author of letters on every subject, was standing as the champion of conservatism and orthodoxy in letters against a nameless young lawyer in the pay of a theatrical troupe, who did not side with him? Those who wallowed in cyclopedian knowledge hailed him as a glorious recruit, those whose supreme pleasure was to stand as umpires, watching the jousts at the playhouses, the ceaseless tattle of drawing- rooms, those who considered the coffee houses and casini as the only battle field, those who longed for the excite- ment of literary polemics, this whole little world of letters in Venice was attracted toward Chiari. Goldoni fought the battle almost single-handed. Almost, because his actors stood by him at first and almost from the first the public of the pit was faithful. Chiari made a great mistake when he slandered the Venetian girls in a play Le Pute di Castello, a mistake which Goldoni turned to advantage in a succession of masterpieces, pictures of the lower classes, and Chiari at the same time alienated the favour of a very large part of the audience. "Everything was bad in this play," says Goldoni, "character, plot, dialogue, every- thing was dangerous ; yet it was a national play, it amused the audience, it filled the house and people laughed at nasty jokes." Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 143 By comedie nationale Goldoni understood comedies of Venetian customs, especially the customs of the lower classes, of the people he best liked, best sym- pathised with. Chiari's attempt, moreover, pointed out to Goldoni the pleasure of observing and represent- ing these humble friends, without failing in his moral obligation of fiUing Medebach's pocket, and ensuring opportunities for the whole staff of players. In so far as such delicate flowers of purely Venetian growth can be translated into another language, we will try to show what "delightful plays Goldoni created out of this treas- ure house, the life and thought, the joys and sorrows of the humble. Chiari's play offended the groimdlings — whom Goldoni particularly tried to please; Putta Onorata, which interpretates all that is best and most honourable in the common people, won for him their affection. He rejoiced heartily when he was cheered by the boisterous clapping of hands and other noisy signs of approval, which he rightly interpreted as a sign of their preference "for comedy instead of farce, for decency instead of grossness." Goldoni's foes charged him with flattering the rabble. His having obtained for the gondoliers, in waiting at the theatre doors, the right of free admittance within the house, was interpreted as a mean trick, a sort of bribery, even as the delineation of a most interesting character of gondolier — Menego Cainello — was blamed by those who could not understand the genuine love he bore to his own people, his solidly rooted democracy. 144 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time The real battle was fought on the occasion of a second reprise of Goldoni's Vedova Scaltra. The play was merely meant to aflford a pretty actress the oppor- tunity of appearing in different characters, the only difference between this and former plays of the same sort being that the actress in Goldoni's play not only changed her clothes and the arrangement of her hair, but exhibited a difference of manners, from one scene to the other, as she flirted with three different men. Goldoni composed it when still entirely under the in- fluence of players, and in accordance with the standard of the commedia dell'arte. It was very well received by the audience for three nights. Then the posters of the San Samuele annoimced a new play by Chiari, La Scuola delle Vedova, and Goldoni was told that this was a criticism of his own work. Dorming the ample cloak, the white vizor, and the three-cornered hat that made a real disguise, he went to the San Samuele and listened to Chiari's play, only to find out that it was an imitation of his own interspersed with irrelevant impertinence. Angered by the performance and by the applause from the public, "which was not my public" as he says, he went home decided to show fight, for it "would be cowardice not to stop the torrent threatening his destruction." With more vitriol than he ever felt before, he at one sitting wrote the Prologo Apologetico, a short dialogue that contained a weU-aimed attack on his adversary, sent his pamphlet directly to the printer, and arranged for its immediate distribution about town. Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 145 Having been challenged, he answered with a body- blow. In the parody of his play were some words that could be construed into an offence to foreigners, the popular nickname of panimhruo (something equivalent to milksop) used in reference to an English personage, and knowing how solicitous the Venetian government was not to offend their foreign guests, he made the most of this sally. Goldoni was amply satisfied by the decree of the Tribunal delta Bestemmia instituting a theatrical censorship. He interpreted this decree as an approval of his retort and he rejoiced at this tightening of legal control. The quarrel Chiari-Goldoni caused much com- motion. His adversaries retaliated with bitterness and mahce. The swarm of Hterary gossips clustered, as in two intrenched camps, within the two book shops ; they gathered into coffee houses, thence spread in drawing-rooms and along the "Liston," carrying about copies of sonnets, epigrams, canzoni, which now fill many shelves in the archives of Museo Correr and other private collections. Very few of these are signed ; none can be safely assigned to Goldoni's pen. When, some time later, he was attacked with more violence and more talent by Carlo Gozzi, Goldoni disdained to fight. Some commentators have hinted at a moral cowardice which closed his mouth. It seems more in accord with his general character to imagine him placidly unconcerned when personally at- tacked, though warmed into a short-lived anger by 146 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time offences directed at his humble colleagues, and easily- forgiving, when the storm blew away. His motives were serious and honourable; he would not risk a conflict that might ruin his employer. Goldoni lacks audacity, but he possesses much of that enduring patience, unselfish consideration of other people's rights, which are a rare form of courage. The Letters-Prefaces written at this time, though printed at a later date, are reticent ; yet they indicate Goldoni's attitude. Many such expressions as: "My friends wanted me ... I was eager to satisfy the Pantalone ... or the Arlecchino . . . the first ac- tress wished . . . the second expected ..." show that his actions were controlled by his affections for his friends the players of the Medebach Company and the interests of his employer. Goldoni's reaction against the literary polemic raging around his name was practi- cal and dignified. He created better plays. He threw down his gauntlet, under the form of an official engage- ment to produce twice as many plays as he was bound to give by his contract, the promise of composing sixteen new comedies in a twelvemonth. The Sant Angelo was losing some of its credit, the players losing some of their spirit, the paying public — those at least who rented the boxes for the season — were deserting. Goldoni set his back to the waU and faced the worst. It was an ancient tradition in the ItaUan comedy that at the end of the night's performance an actor, or sometimes an actress, should step out of the curtain and announce the play they intended to perform on the Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 147 following night. When the audience grunted dis- approval a change could be proposed; when the audience was peculiarly well satisfied with the evening's performance, they would cry "This one" (Questa). When the curtain closed on the last scene of the last play in the season, and the players were expected to take their leave for a time and start on a tour through other cities, it was customary for the actor or actress to deliver a "compliment," expressing thanks for what- ever encouragement had been given, and promises of doing better next time the troupe would have the honour of reappearing before these enlightened judges and kind protectors. When Theodora Medebach stood up alone in front of the closed curtain impersonating in her graceful figure, in her appealing looks, and soft, musical voice all the delicate refinement of a dawning art, the hush that feU on the house was pregnant with the electricity of momentous events. For one short, telling instant the silence was broken only by the melodious voice, delivering its simple argument annomicing the joint purposes of author and interpreters ; then the audience began to realise the ivll meaning of this unusual leave- taking; they measured the greatness of the attempt, admired the courage which could devise it. A hearty cheer went through the theatre, a promise of support. The following year at the same date, the same cheers, the same plaudits, by probably the same persons, hailed the accomplishment of the rash promise. And thus the Goldonian party enlarged and spread. 148 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time It is a characteristic note of the time that on the memorable evening when the crowd cheered so heart- ily "some people were frightened and talked of a rebellion" when the box occupied by Goldoni was stormed by enthusiasts, and he was carried away in triumph into the sumptuous halls of the Ridotto where the whole procession rushed. Goldoni says that he was kept out of his bed and his well-earned rest longer than he cared for, and made to listen to more com- pliments than he wanted to hear. One of Goldoni's foreign biographers has attempted to calculate the magnitude of Goldoni's task by adding up the pages or newspaper columns and even the number of words he wrote ! This commercial estima- tion gives an inadequate idea of the intellectual effort, of the inventive power, and of the appHcation required to accomplish this feat. Other critics have searched contemporary annals and Goldoni's correspondence to discover how much of this work is entirely original and how much was prepared beforehand. Useless and irrelevant speculations! Goldoni wasted more nerve power and health than any author ever squan- dered in similar undertakings, and he got very Uttle moral and less financial advantage out of it. His extraordinary workiag power was taxed to its utmost. The sixteen plays finally became seventeen, and there were also several lighter compositions, operas, and the usual demand for occasional poetry. All this Goldoni achieved without utterly breaking from those social habits that were considered as an obligation Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 149 and from other habits of his own liking. No great talker, but an amused listener, Goldoni could not miss the daily gathering rovind a coffee table, inside a farndcia, or a bookseller's shop, nor could he get to the end of a day without some game of cards. He could sit at his desk writing for hours, then rise fresh and good-tempered and join the conversation of friends, or face the paltry annoyances of a rehearsal. Evidently Goldoni expected to gain something more than his fixed salary when he produced double the fixed amount of work. Medebach saw things differently. He pocketed the large profits due to Goldoni's tour de force, but he gave Goldoni not one soldo above the salary fixed by contract. Goldoni, too proud or too wise to beg for what he deemed his due, was justly disappointed. Not extravagant or avaricious, but fond of that display which was then understood as lending dignity, with a taste for costly furniture and artistic trinkets, with a fondness for candy and good eating, and a weakness for cards, Goldoni felt the misery of enforced thrift. The terms accepted at first, in the eagerness to get back to Venice and play- writing, proved insufficient for his daily needs. To supply the deficiency Goldoni composed or adapted works for musicians. He hoped that an edition of his plays might bring him enough to balance his budget. Arrangements were made with the Vene- tian editor, BettineUi. But Medebach interfered, pre- tending that the printed sale of the plays would preju- dice the interests of the theatre. Goldoni submitted 150 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time to this claim, and consented to issue only one volume of four plays a year. By so doing he recognised Mede- bach's right to limit this production, and thus com- promised his position. It seems that a lawyer should have better measured the possible consequences of his acts, and not allowed that the man who paid only for the performance of his plays should also be entitled to regulate the publishing of the same plays. Thus when, at the end of their mutual engagement, Goldoni declared to Medebach that he would not re- new it, he was to a degree prepared for the trick Medebach and B ettinelh had jointly arranged. ' ' B etti- nelli having already edited the first two volumes of my plays, I went to his shop with the manuscript for the third volume. My astonishment was great when I heard this phlegmatic man declaring in his coldest manner that he could not accept from me the original text of my plays since he got them from Medebach's hands and since he was continuing the edition by order of this comedian. On recovering from my surprise, striving to smother my anger, I told him: 'My dear friend, mind what you are about ; you are not wealthy, you are the father of several children, do not run use- less risks, do not force me to ruin you.' " Considering that copyright was subject to the most arbitrary decisions, it is not certain that Goldoni — as he asserts — was sure to win a lawsuit against the pubUsher and his late partner, whom he had in some manner already recognised as having the right to print his plays. Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 151 Goldoni acted according to his own subtle rather than impulsive nature ; he did not attempt a lawsuit which he knew might mean going from one tribunal to another and losing precious time. He did not oppose the Bettinelli edition, but he announced another edition with corrections and variations. He went straight to Florence, obtained the neces- sary permission from the Grand Duke — who then happened to be also the Emperor of Austria — secured a contract with the Florentine publisher, Paperini, and eagerly pushed the printing of his plays and ex- planatory prefaces. Thus whilst Medebach continued to issue the other volumes of the Bettinelli edition, the Paperini volumes made their regular appearance. Goldoni protested vehemently in a "Manifesto" that the Venetian edition was prejudicial to his work, since the plays should not be printed just as he had given them to the players; they needed corrections in every case and sometimes an almost complete rewriting, and it was even more unfair to have them tampered with by any one else. Considering the terrible haste in which some of them were composed "when he gave forth one act at a time to the stage copyist," and got somehow to the end without having under his eye the beginning, no one could doubt that these corrections were needed. Indeed the comparison of texts shows that Goldoni cor- rected with the greatest care. Many changes and many cuttings prove how the author tried to better his work. The strangest feature, and the most tj^pical, of this 152 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time affair is the manner in which the Florentine edition was introduced into Venice. "I had five hundred subscribers in Venice, and the introduction of my edition was forbidden in the States of the Common- wealth; this proscription of my works in my own country may seem surprising, but it was business. Bettinelli had secured some patrons to support his exclusive rights, and the union of booksellers stood by him, because this was a 'foreign edition. '" The word "foreign" sounds strange as applied to Florence by a Venetian. "As soon as one of my volumes came from the press, five hundred volumes were sent to Venice, somewhere on the banks of the Po ; they were deposited in a safe place, thence a society of noblemen passed them in contraband and introduced them within the capital, where they were distributed openly. The government did not interfere in this affair, considering it more ludicrous than interesting." The laws and regulations against contraband were stringent because of growing slackness of trade and the danger of foreign competition, yet the pleasure of getting the better of custom houses brought about an alliance of noblemen and boatmen on the river and gondoliers on the laguna. It is remarkable that it was Goldoni who joined these strange partners in an illegal enterprise. Evidently, though he had foes and rivals among writers and actors, he also had friends in every class. Even before the end of his engagement with Mede- Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 153 bach Goldoni provided himself with another employer. He could not risk remaining without pay and depriv- ing his wife and mother of their small comforts. The brothers Vendramin, of the most authentic patriciate, were owners and managers of the theatre San Luca, now Teatro Goldoni. With them Goldoni signed a first agreement, which was several times modified. The texts of these successive contracts have been preserved. They state exactly the number of ducats promised, the amount of work to be done, the conditions and the rewards.^ ' Carlo Goldoni e il teatro di San Luca a Venezia, Carleggio inedito (i7SS~i76s)i i^o" prefazione e note, di Dino Maniovani, Milano, 1884. Fratelli Treves, p. ^. First contract February 15, i7S2) Venice, between his Excellency Antonio Vendramin and Doctor Carlo Goldoni, thirty-one pages. Second contract October 14, 1756, between His Excellency Francesco Vendramin and Goldoni. Third contract March 2, 1762. The second and third contracts were signed by Francesco Vendramin after the death of his brother Antonio. These contracts are given in full. We only offer a few extracts. First contract was amended by, the second, which allowed : 1. C. Goldoni was to give no less than six plays a year, viz. : two in the cities of terra firma during the tour the troupe made before the Venetian season of autumn ; a third one in Venice before Saint Martin's day ; three others within the month of January. . . . Goldoni could if he liked give two more, but he was never to pass the number of eight a year (the year beginning after the end of Carnival). 2. Goldoni was forbidden to write or compose plays that might be per- formed in Venice less than three years after they had been performed at the San Luca. 3. Goldoni was to provide all the occasional poems, leave-taking, thanks, introductions, etc. 4. Contract to be continued for ten years — tUl February, 1767, and even then neither party could be released if both were not agreed. 5. Vendramin would pay one hundred ducats for each play. 154 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time To understand properly what these conditions really meant for Goldoni it is necessary not only to fix the valuation of money and the cost of living, but to understand how clumsily his intentions were supported, how his sensitive nature was wounded. His optimism and high esteem for the patriciate made him very confident of success. He was glad to get out of Medebach's grip, glad to do business with a nobleman, glad to move from a small theatre to a larger one. His letters at this date are overflowing with bright expectation. But the larger house was unfavourable to the de- velopment of his planned reform. The players had no common purpose, and were not bound together by relationship or long-standing friendship; more- 6. When Goldoni has performed all that he is expected to do, Vendramin of his free will condescends to give two hundred ducats to be paid in two portions, one in December, the other in the spring. The second contract was not annulled by the third, which stipulated that whenever Goldoni returned to Venice he was bound to resume all the obligations of the second contract, which means that he was bound to drudge on for as many years as remained to fulfil the ten years of the stipu- lation, and to remain further bound by the elastic term : "until both parties were agreed" for his release. For every play that Goldoni would send from Paris one hundred ducats were stipulated ; the maximum number of nine a year was fixed. There were minute stipulations about the plays, performed in Paris and those sent to Venice, Vendramin insisting on their being entirely different. So they were on the title page and in some details, but as a matter of fact there are many resemblances between the comedies given at Paris and afterward at Venice or vice versa. In those last miserable years of Groldoni's career, the unbearable strictness of terms, the smallness of remuneration, the utter uselessness of these restrictions, more than account for Goldoni's breach of a contract that caused such irreparable havoc in his career. How appropriate the axiom summum jus, summum injuria. Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 155 over that intimacy, that trust and mutual reliance which had graced the first enthusiastic partnership were wanting. The buoyancy of youth and inex- perience, the docility of the debutant playwright, as well as the good wiU of hopeful interpreters, were also wanting. Then instead of Medebach, a clever, enter- prising actor whose mind was open to new ideas, whose authority over the rest of the company was undis- puted, Goldoni now dealt with an irritable, elderly gentleman who seldom realised the significance of novelties, and exerted no authority over the actors he employed. Goldoni soon felt the iron hand under the velvet glove of his Excellency Francesco Vendramin who, after the death of Antonio, remained sole owner of the San Luca Theatre. Several letters exchanged between them, published by Professor Dino Manto- vani, prove the bondage, the exasperating limitations Goldoni endured.^ To what extent did they influ- 'Even from the first letter of this collection, dated August, 1755, Goldoni complains to his Excellency of Gandini's desertion and continues (p. 8) " . . . let me only have my hands free (to recruit players) and we may do better with fewer persons; if only they are obedient instead of being so beastly" (bestie di ial natura). In a P.S. {op. cit., p. 69) : "Medebach has neither in Mantova nor in Milan performed any new play, and there is no telling whether he has any one in readiness. He may have some ; but we too will have enough to com- pete with him, and even to crush him. Let Chiari come to Venice or keep ■ away as he pleases ; I don't care. Last year I was quite sure that he would win the victory; this year I flatter myself of just the contrary.'' Goldoni has many pretty ways of acknowledging the grumbling remarks which Vendramin sent him. "I often tell you that I can make any change in the rdles as you please — the man who makes a watch knows how to mend it." Occasionally he is stung to answer with resentment (,p. 129, op. cit.) : iS6 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time ence Goldoni's decision to seek release in an exile to Paris? A t3rpical Venetian character, representative of his caste and of his time, is Francesco Vendramin, as he is revealed in this correspondence. A patrician who insisted on both the privileges and the duties of his rank, yet mindful of his own iaterest irrespective of injury to others. His biographers have condensed the history of his life into three dates — birth, marriage, and death. He happened to be just one link in the chain of a family once great. Goldoni soon discovered that he was to wrangle single-handed with the whims and deficiencies of players; that he would receive no support from his employer. The unfitness of the theatre for Goldonian plays, the unpreparedness of the players for Goldoni's methods, were obstacles that could not be overcome. Moreover Goldoni, by his own interpretation of duty toward Vendramin and the actors, was forced to write plays that would rival Chiari's plays, full of the pathos and the exotism which was the momentary fad. With his usual facility of adaptation he gave the sort of things that his actors could perform, plays which al- lowed of scenic display and the striking effects of tragedy, just the plays he had condemned with that curt word, Romanzi I Romanzi ! applied to Chiari's. Precious time and energy were thus wasted on plays " Your Excellency says thS.t money is for me the most important point. For God's sake do not entertain such an opinion of me ! ' I am a poor man, but a most honourable one ! " Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 157 that are now utterly forgotten — La Sposa Persiana, Ircana, and a few others. In time the players were taught better things. Goldoni never found them so docile and eager to im- prove as the Medebach staff; he did not win their entire devotion, yet he coaxed and scolded, forced them to learn and to adopt some of his ideas. But it was a sore trial to be always struggling against either their caprices or the blundering of their common employer. Goldoni's greatest difficulty was to obtain from Vendramin the money required for the staging of new plays and that minimum of support which he abso- lutely needed to guide the actors. As one reads the letters, the contrast between the personality of the two men is extraordinary. Goldoni, considerate, respectful, the slave of his duty, but care- less of details, devoted to his art, and eagerly striving toward a reform that he now clearly conceives, forced to plead for the smallest favour and to beg for trifling changes, worse stUl, constrained by circumstances to beg for some advance pa3anent and even for a loan of money. On the other hand the elderly patrician who wiU only adopt some improvement when persuaded that he likes it. He has a sense of honour and would not rob his dependents, but he will squeeze out of them as much profit as he can. When he does not create difficulties he aggravates those which the rivalries of actors, the strictness of censors, are constantly pro- voking. Thus when Goldoni has sketched a caricature of Chiari in the personage of Grisolgo, and the magis- iS8 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time trates interfere for fear of complications, Vendramin does not support his poet but insists on a correction. Again when Goldoni proposes an elaborate spectacular performance on which he builds some rosy hopes, Vendramin pleads that the staging is likely to be ex- pensive. Again, when the censors find fault with one of Goldoni's plays. La Sposa Sagace, wherein a noble- man is represented as plotting adultery, Goldoni is forced to change the title of his play, the social position of his characters, and turn the wronged wife into a faithful fiancee. Goldoni supplicates for money, the more pressingly for having opened his house and his heart to Giampaolo, the prodigal brother, and to his two motherless children ; he wants money because his health is failing, because his aged mother, "having lived enough to see her long- lost" and probably half -forgotten second born, must be comforted and petted; also he wants money be- cause he is open-handed and fond of nice clothes and jewellery. Vendramin does not understand Goldoni's wants ; he insists on the strict observance of his con- tract. Yet he will not allow Goldoni to leave him. Vendramin's letters are pompous and stiff, like the brocade out of which his patrician robes were made. In some of the letters there is an assumption of superior morality, a supercilious impertinence, a mistrust that must have been irritating to one so essentially honest as Goldoni. Goldoni writes with irrepressible chagrin : "Now indeed the question of money is the most im- portant for me. I have my brother here with me; Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 159 I must pay the debts he left in Modena ; I must pro- vide him with clothes and find some sort of employment for him. I have no money; to-day I borrowed six sequins." In one of his minor poems he explains that he was the bread-winner for eight persons. At some unfixed date, probably 1754, his mother died, and at some also imstated moment his brother made his exit, but stiU his burden was heavy, considering that it must be met out of the minimum of six hundred ducats for six new plays a year, or the maximum of eight hundred for eight plays, with an imfixed surplus offered as a free gift when it pleased his excellency. We have already said that Vendramin took no pains to make matters easy with the comedians. It was the author's imassisted tact and the players' appreciation of his talent that gradually smoothed the way to pleasant relations. The difiicxilty of Goldoni's position is very well shown in his management of the Gandini pair, where it was necessary for him to reconcile the arrogance of an elderly leading lady, backed by a bullying husband, and the claims of his art. It is absurd to assert his amorous infatuation for a younger and more clever actress, la Bresciani. Goldoni never allowed personal motives to intrude. He composed adequate r61es for this actress and she contributed to the success of his plays by her exquisite performance. Another affair brought more pain and did not end so well. His natural kindness, or perhaps some private motive, made Goldoni anxious to secure employment for a yoimg man, Giovanni Simoni, nicknamed i6o Goldoni and the Venice of His Time "Goldoncino", whom he sometime kept as his secretary and who wanted to become an actor. Repeatedly Goldoni entreated Vendramin to admit the young man into the company of the San Luca, just give him a chance, just try him as a second or a third role. Ven- dramin was not to be moved. Goldoni appealed to his feelings "as a Christian and as a nobleman." His Excellency does not see why "either as a gentleman or as a Christian" he should relinquish one iota of his obstinacy or run the risk of some small expense for his poet or for the young man whom he brutally desig- nates by the name figliuolo} Thus through the letters it is possible to note a crescendo of irritation ; and alas ! a growing desire to shake oflf his fetters. The intonation remains defer- ential, but the spirit is of rebelhon.^ ' Goldoni to Fr. Vendramin, March lo, r7S9 (p. 95, D. M.) : "Their (the players) having excluded the young man I recommended so warmly is clear evidence of their scanty love and esteem. ... I am, as a Christian and as a gentleman, under the obligation of providing for that young man ; . . . Your Excellency is a gentleman, your Excellency has some affection for me, your Excellency will remember that which you have promised." Fr. Vendramin to C. Groldoni, March 15, 1759, Venice (p. 98, D. M.) : " That you are in duty bound to provide for that young man, I do not see that it concerns my theatre. ... Of my affection for you, you may judge by all that you can remember; because I am a gentleman I am sure that I never failed," etc. (but Goldoni's prot6g6 was not accepted). ' Goldoni to Vendramin, March 17, 1759 (p. loi, following D. M.) : Goldoni explains that he has been made offers for Rome and Naples but that he hesitates to accept them. "My hesitation is not the effect of in- decision or caprice, not greed of gain or ill will against any one, and still less do I overlook your interest and my engagement toward your Excellency with the players and the public of Venice whom 1 love and respect, but from a moral persuasion that your Excellency would gladly set me free. This persuasion being grounded on the unsatisfactory snubs of the players and Goldoni and the Venice of His Time i6i (allow me to say so) on the facility with which your Excellency has let them humiliate me on the question of the young man I protected. All this put together induces me to believe that for a whole year I might be left quiet. One year's vacation does not alter the contract 'for ten years' when both parties were agreed on this point." Goldoni is forced to give up his projected tour in Naples. But the sore point is stUl the young man. "This young man is not related to me, but I have promised to provide for him and I must keep my promise. He would be the first actor accepted on my recommendation. He could never be so bad as to prejudice the troupe in the r6le of third Amoroso. ... It is God's will that I should be so humbled. Yet everyone knows that I have tried in every occasion to repay the wrong made to me by acts of kindness; and so will I ever do." CHAPTER V GOLDONl'S LIFE FROM 1 7 $3 TO 1760 Goldoni's fondness for the groundlings — cares only for popular applause of those in the pit — description of Venetian theatres — Goldoni the guest of several patricians — also friend of several men of letters — he accepts patronage but not servitude — friendship with Arconati Visconti, Stefano Sciugliaga, Gaspare Gozzi, and Fr. Albergati — how Goldoni was paid by his patrons — play II Cortesan Vecchio a failure — visits court of Parma and is granted pension — goes to Rome — interview with Pope Clement XIII — his plays a failure in Rome — physical contrast between Goldoni and Gozzi — Gozzi's life and character — Gozzi founds academy of "Granelleschi" — attacks Goldoni in a disgusting poem — payment for literary work considered undignified — reasons for Goldoni's going to Paris — character of the ThiSire Italien in Paris — Vendramin permits Goldoni to leave Venice 1762 — he stops at Bologna, Parma, and Genoa and thence on to Paris. BRAVE-HEARTED Goldoni has his vulnerable point — his fondness for his pubUc, for the Vene- tian audience, and especially for the groundlings. MaUgnant criticism, worries of stage management he faces bravely and forgets to record, but a misunder- standing with his fickle audience he resents bitterly and remembers years later. When he fawns, when he turns out of his way, and forgets the principles of his intended reform, it is because he wishes the approval of these judges. Goldoni did not depend on public favour for his earnings. Both with Medebach and with Vendramin 163 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 163 his contract fixed the price of the plays irrespective of their success. Goldoni's craving for applause is not mercenary. It is stronger than pride, stronger even than self-respect ; and many times it has led him astray, but fortxmately it has more often guided him aright. Goldoni cares little for Chiari's rivalry and the even more bitter attacks of Carlo Gozzi, but he wiU do al- most anything to keep the only prize he cares for — popular applause. No cynic, no boaster, he wants his friends to really know him in the Weryday^^relations of business and entertainment. Thus he tells stories of his doings, anecdotes of intercourse with players, but nothing absolutely con- fidential. He does not desire intimacy, but he is eager to secure many friends. Thus he gives II Teatro Comico, which he calls "a dialogued treatise of comic art," in order to acquaint the general public with his intentions; thus he gives the Avvocato Veniziano to remind his audience that he is a barrister and is proud of his profession; thus in L'Avventuriere Onorato he relates many anecdotes — true or slightly arranged — which he attributes to himself. His letters to Betti- nelli, written as prefaces to the volumes of his plays, have the same character of attenuated autobiography ; they aU aim to establish a friendly imderstanding between himself and his readers. The eighteenth century yielded many such "con- fessions, " even in Italy, although Itahans are less than any other people inclined to such exhibitions. Casa- 164 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time nova tells all and more than all the truth about his life, but there are many Italians who, like Gaspare Gozzi and Goldoni, only reveal that which any one could know about them; or like Carlo Gozzi, only mention such fragments of their personal history as relate to some particular fact. Goldoni, too, has a clear aim in view, as he writes to his friends, or in the unpremeditated style of his prefaces, or when he uses the actors as his mouthpiece to address the audience. A Venetian audience, then, had a physiognomy of its own. A Venetian crowd was different from any other. Centuries of close commimion with artists that translated the Venetian spirit into every form of beauty had especially prepared the people to judge that most complex art — a comedy. There was no better judge of theatrical performance than the pubhc of a city that contained sixteen theatres at a time when London had only six and Paris ten, no better judge than the coimtrymen of the best actors in the world. Also, for centuries the Venetians had been flattered and pampered somewhat on the plan of ancient Rome, their favour courted not in the "forum" but in the "circenses." Instinctively Goldoni relies on the judgment of this Venetian audience. Not on the people who sit in their tiny boxes, for the sake of seeing and being seen, paying or receiving visits, discussing the latest scandal and weaving the everlasting tissue of flirtations and amours. Little clapping of hands or demand for encores came Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 165 from the boxes, too engrossed in their everlasting con- versazione. Even music could not enforce silence for anything except the favourite tune or the elaborate cadenza. The audience which Goldoni calls "my public" were those who sat or stood in the pit. It was, and is still, the habit for even fashionable men to stop in the pit either on their way from one box to the other, or simply for the sake of a quiet hearing. Gaspare Gozzi complained of the practice of the aristocracy spitting from the boxes on the heads of those who were tmder- neath in the pit. The fact is almost incredible. The groimdlings gave most of the applause when they were satisfied, and certainly the whole of hissing when they disapproved. Goldoni knew that the judgment passed on a play by this part of the public was without appeal. He always feared them. The plays he thought his best he gave first in Venice, then in other cities ; those about which he had misgivings, he preferred trying first somewhere else. Descriptions of Venetian theatres are found in every i book of travel.^ As a rule foreigners moralise about j the apparent intimacy reigning in the boxes ; Italians \ 1 De Vaumoriere: Lettres sur toutes sortes de sujets, Paris, 1714, for a description of theatres in Venice. "The boxes on the second tiers are generally preferred and specially those in front. . . . Many persons rent boxes for the whole time of carnival ; they have them painted and hung with tapestries inside, which is not a small adornment. The pit has this comfortable arrangement : it is almost wholly fiUed with seats, folding chairs and armchairs, which allow of resting one's shoulders and arms without troubling one's neighbour." Under the enlightened direction of Luigi Rasi, an ex-actor, a writer, and a 1 66 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time know better. A box is neither worse nor better than a drawing-room, open to a flow of callers, eventually tinned into a sort of club by the setting of card tables. The often-quoted story of curtains drawn to close the box from the public is imtrue as far as Venice is con- cerned. Witnesses tell how people crowded quietly into the pit that was thriftily held almost in the dark, just a few candles to prevent stumbling. The first- comers occupied the seats of rough wood. Later in the night payment for these seats was collected by an official coming roimd ; the price differed according to the theatre and the season, but averaged about ten cents. Even in this semi-darkness no violent incidents occurred, though there was often considerable noise. Just before the rise of the curtain, lamps were lighted illuminating the stage but leaving the house almost dark. Inside the boxes chandeUers of white wax candles were Hghted by the owners, adding to the brilliancy of the whole. When Goldoni passed from the small Sant' Angelo to the larger San Luca, he had to win back the favour of "his public," part of which remained faithful to Medebach and his troupe, now performing the plays that Chiari wrote, in close imitation of his rival. teacher, some very interesting reconstructions are being attempted of Gol- donian and pre-Goldonian comedies. The Venetian masks and personages are represented in their historical costumes, the improvised rdles imitated, every detail carefully preserved. Gaspare Gozzi's Gazzeita Veneta contains many papers concerning the Venetian theatres. It should be remembered that Gaspare Gozzi was for several years in partnership with his wife, Luisa Bergalli, acting manager of the Sant Angelo. Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 167 Chiari was better read, his mind was padded with books. Goldoni in his attempt to follow him forced his original genius to travel the pathways that suited a literary- hack. Omit, therefore, consideration of the exotic comedies Goldoni composed in this first engagement at the San Luca. The whole world was then pervaded with a fad for exotism. From Robinson Crusoe down to Montesquieu's Lettres Persanes, a few good works supported much rubbish. With Diderot's Voyage de Bougainville and many others it was simply a pretext for satirising their own coimtry and developing their own social thesis. In Venice, where there was so much positive knowledge of distant lands obtained di- rectly from foreign merchants and visitors, the fad came through Hterary contagion ; it inspired the fantastic travels of Seriman and popularised translations and adaptations only mentioned because of the time Goldoni lost in composing the trUogy of Ircana. Its success, however, reconciled Goldoni to his favourite supporters and by bringing forth the actress, Signora Bresciani, smoothed over difficulties with the whole troupe.^ 1 Giuseppe Ortolani, Delia Vita e delle Opere di C. Goldoni, op. cit., quotes as most likely to have been read by Goldoni two books that may have provided him with notions about distant countries. Lettere Critiche Giocose deU'aimocato Giuseppe Antonio Costantini. And also Viaggi di Enrico Wanton alle terre incognite di Australia e a paise delle scimie, dell abbate conte Zaccaria Seriman ■■ — an imitation rather than a translation of Swift's. Among exotic books tending to satirise the society wherein the writer was then living, a place should be given to Marmontel's Incas. Goldoni also doubtless read it. 1 68 Goldoni and the Vemce of His Time Unfortiinately Goldoni's literary production was unduly influenced by external circumstances, an in- fluence which seldom develops originality. He relied too much on the opinion of others. He grew in his own esteem as he grew in the esteem of his feUow- citizens, and became better satisfied with himself and with his own work. The aristocratic Venetian spirit did not permit Goldoni to move in patrician circles on a footing of intimacy. It was not difficult for each one to find his right place. Goldoni accepts the patronage of the patrician, since he is able to pay for every favour they may grant. Sometimes Goldoni gave more than he owed ; the tarnished glory of many an ancient house- hold, by the ornate style of his dedications, he gilded anew. Yet these patrons failed him in the hour of his need ; they did not prevent his departure for Paris, as they might so easily have done. In the full simshine of popular favour, in the time of active production, Goldoni was the guest of several patricians — the Loredan, Mocenigo, Falier, Tiepolo, and others belonging to the "Libro d'Oro" or to the even more select rank of the "Apostles." Nor was his circle of patrons limited to Venice ; Marquis Albergati Capacelli, senator of Bologna, Marquis Arconati Visconti of Milan, and even several noblemen of Frioul and Carinthia, acquired honour by showing him favour and, in a few cases, a benevolence very much like friendship. Men of letters presently began to realise his value. Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 169 Parmenione Trissino,^ after criticising severely Gol- doni's first unlucky Amalasunta, afterward accepted dedications and wrote letters of encouragement and approval; Abbot Giam Battista Vicini,^ deserting Chiari's party, championed Goldoni; Abbot Frugoni, an authority in Arcadian literature, quarrelled for personal and amorous motives, but was afterward reconciled; dignitaries of the Church, Cardinals Rezzonico and Lambertini, who both became Popes, and many grandes dames justified Goldoni's good opinion of his own value. Unlike every other Italian poet of his time, Goldoni ^The Trissino famous in the history of Italian literature lived in the sixteenth century, 1478-1550. His tragedy Sophonishe was immensely admired. Pope Leo X made him his Ambassador and Emperor Maximilian gave him the Toson d'Oro. Goldoni's friend, Parmenione Trissino, was only the author of some inferior plays, and a gentleman whose principal merit is the sound advice he gave to Goldoni, who thus records it in Prefazione al tomo XI delle commedie: ediz Pasquali, "Thus as we talked, passing from one topic to another (at the time of Goldoni's escape to Milan) I mentioned my tragedy Amalasunta. He (Count Parmenione Trissino) bade me read it ; he praised it very coldly, and suggested that I would do better by turning to comedy. I promised that I would some time turn to it; but in the meanwhile Amalasunta flattered my pride." To Parmenione Trissino Goldoni dedicated his Giuocatore. 2 Giam Battista Vicini, whom Von Lonner suspects of being the abbot whom Goldoni saw on the pillory of Modena, was first a partisan of Chiari's but later a supporter of Goldoni. Bom in Modena in 1709, he died there, 1782. He is said by Tiraboschi {BiUioteca Modenese, vol. vi p. 384) "to have held with honour his place of poet laureate at this court. He might have aimed at higher place amongst poets if his diligence in cultivating his talent had equalled his natural disposition." Though he wrote some of the poetical epistles collected by Chiari in Modena with a view of discrediting Goldoni and his plays, we find several letters of Goldoni's addressed to him, plays dedicated and some light poetry signed by Vicin, in the polemic battles. 170 Goldoni and the Venice of ffis Time never accepted that attenuated form of slavery, attachment to one great house or party. He woidd not tolerate the collar of servitude, even though dis- guised under the title of secretary, or the euphemism of confidential agent. Casanova's Memoirs and Bal- larini's Letters reveal how easily this patronage could be obtained, and what enormous advantages it carried.^ ' A very long chapter could be made out of the different salons where Goldoni visited. Some names are well known to readers of Vernon Lee and De Brousse. We mention here only the most important ones. First in importance for the r61e she played in Gaspare Gozzi's life and for the share attributed to her in the unhappy Carlo Gozzi-Grattarol affair is Caterina Dolfin Tron. Born of a noble but impoverished family, married to a Tiepolo, Marco Antonio, the marriage was registered in the Libro d'Oro but not the divorce. Tiepolo was not a good husband and his neg- lected wife did not submit to such treatment. With wit and poetical talent, after publication of her poems she attracted many suitors and selected Andrea Tron. They were married in 1771. Two years later Tron was elected Procuratore di San Marco. His power was so great that he was known all over Venice by the nickname of el paron. It is said that he spent sixty thousand lire for feasts on his accession to his charge. Emperor Joseph U was his guest, foreigners of fame and Italians of birth begged for admission, poets sang the praise of the lady, and pamphleteers penned satires and lampoons. Barbard openly praised Caterina. Carlo Gozzi dedicated to her his Marfisa Bizarra Arcadia. Her salon might have rivalled the most famous Parisian salons if Venice had not just then lost her splendour and intellectual value. Barbard confirms the reputation of speculative freedom of ideas admitted in the entourage by these lines : "Da strissimi studiosi Citevimo Russd Da Strissimi ingegnosi Dicevimo bomd." which freely translated means, "we quoted Rousseau and forged homd (bons mots) without losing our characteristic manners (remaining lus- trissimi)." When Carlo Gozzi ridiculed Grattarol, who held a State charge, in a play caricaturing him, Caterina Tron was asked to stop the scandal, but she refused and even encouraged the player who made up his face so Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 171 Such a yoke, once accepted, was a Ufe insurance, a protection against all foes, and brought the certainty of daily bread. Goldoni's tact and ability could easily have won for him such a position. Yet his foreign biographers, judging of his character by some cere- monious compliments and flattering expressions, mere formalities then in common use, have pictured him as an obsequious courtier. In many instances, Goldoni, by appealing to his high-bom patrons, might have avoided some un- pleasantries or pimished his foes. To mention one such occasion, in the year 1752 Goldoni was so much in favour with the Loredans and the Gradenigos that he was invited to the banquet celebrating the alliance of these two semi-royal families by the marriage of two direct descendants of the Queen of Cyprus, Caterina Comaro. Evidently such personages were able and willing to protect the poet admitted to their table, from whom they accepted the dedication of plays, from whom they demanded a poem on every important event of their houses, yet the swarm of pamphleteers buzzing roimd Goldoni's ears were left undisturbed simpty be- cause he did not care to ask protection against them. as to perfectly imitate the unfortunate Grattarol, an art practised in Venice to perfection; and Grattarol could sit for an entire evening listening to the laughter and abuse addressed to an almost perfect counterpart of himself. After Andrea Tron's death his widow retired to private life, rejoicing in the triumph of those philosophical ideas which she had expressed as freely in Venice as anyone did then in Paris. (For more about Caterina Dolfin Tron see in Ntiova Antologia, Jime, 1882, Castelnuovo, Una Dama Vene- ziana del Secolo XVIII ; Pompeo Molmenti, Epistolari Veneziani del Secolo XVIII; Ernesto Masi, Studi Letterai, etc.) 172 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time One of his earhest and most constant friendships was with Arconati Visconti. At every turning point of Goldoni's career we find him writing to this great nobleman. Sometimes it is just a short note testifying to his perfect reUance on his reader's sympathy ; some- times it is an exposition of plans, and in some rare instance it is a short outburst of iU humour caused by "the perpetual worries of his career. In the preface to one of his plays, La Putta Onorata, Goldoni pays homage to his friend and patron's lordly hospitahty by describing the princely residence of Castellazzo, where the Arconati Visconti maintained the magnificent traditions of Lombard munificence. This description is t3^ical of the writer's incapacity to appreciate the natural beauty of landscape and enjoy the healthy pleasure of open-air exercise ; but it is also interesting as a picture of that characteristic feature of Italian life, la villeggiatura. Goldoni has little to say about the park, rich with game and grand old trees ; he is full of admiration for the gardens adorned with plants "so cleverly cropped and fashioned that they give architectural beauty to the grounds." He isalso impressed by the presenceof tamed wild animals roaming freely about, or kept in cages. But, for him, the most wonderful place is the library with its many volumes and its annexed lobby for ex- perimental astronomy. At this time Newton's works were the fad, and ladies prattled about science, and Arconati Visconti lectured to his guests about la mscanique philosophique. Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 173 This sort of castle life varied in the different parts ^ of Italy. It imitated city life and customs, was stamped with the ceremonious formalism of the time, but differed in different districts. From his early boy- hood Goldoni was always a welcome guest in such places. He knew how to make himself useful and agreeable. At Count Widiman's ^ coimtry seat of Bagnoli, the mania for private theatricals was carried so far that Goldoni's best praise to the master of the house is to represent him as a good pupil of Sacchi's, an excellent Arlecchino. Goldoni directed the amateur performances, manip- | ulated the scenarios, or wrote the r61es. He presided at rehearsals. The ladies made much of him, and in- sisted on his taking a part. He complied, but with little success ; the ladies made fun of him, and he retorted by setting up a fair, in which he represented . four different characters and set the audience in roars ' Locovico Widiman was a patrician and also a count of the empire. (See Memoirs, chapter xxvi, second part and also in Componimenti diversi.) The poem in ottave, II Pellegrino, composed in 1763-64 to solemnise the en- trance into a convent of Vittoria, daughter of Widiman, is a long praise of the family, and contains descriptions of Bagnoli, Count Widiman's country seat near Padua. "Twice every year, in gleeful company of ladies and cavaliers and goodly friends, in cool autumn, and in summer season — he (Widiman) enjoys and bids others with him enjoy blissful days," etc. In the second part of the poem written after the patrician's death Goldoni has accents of genuine emotion when he tells "Oh quali grazie" about a present received. Further on Goldoni says: "But the greater profit, the more priceless advantage, — was ever for me his voice, his advice — can- didly I opened to him my heart ... he did not speak much, but from his lips poured forth pearls and lilies. His saying was clear and strong, dic- tated only by sincere friendship, and a heart of justice. . . ." 174 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time of laughter by his impersonations of a moimtebank, a trickster, a street singer, and a stage manager. It was a splendid imitation of all these characters as they could be seen any day on the Piazzetta, a sample of that naturalism which Goldoni alone possessed. More- over he managed to ridicule in his improvised speeches the persons who had laughed at him. The list of Goldoni's friends covers almost every class, every shade of opinion. On the lowest social round was Giacomo Casanova, whose mother was one of Goldoni's first interpreters. It is a question whether this friendship began in some Freemason Lodge. Anyhow Casanova was charged with belonging to the secret society, and imprisoned just at the outset of the Goldoni-Chiari quarrel, and he had been heard to promise un cargo de legncs (a volley of blows) to the presuming abbot. Many years later Casanova slan- dered Goldoni in an interview with Voltaire, dis- covering thus the essential incompatibility which made friendship impossible between them. A far better man remained faithful to Goldoni even after a prolonged absence, Stefano Sciugliaga^ in Garbugliesi, on whose sympathy and support Goldoni 'Stefano Sciugliaga in Garbugliesi {Memoirs, chapter xxvii). Both Sciugliaga's and Gaspare Gozzi's names are to be found side by side with Goldoni's in occasional poems celebrating some event of the same patrician households. Very few letters to Sciugliaga are found in Goldoni's correspondence. It is regrettable, since Sciugliaga was a confidential friend, and also because even as late as 1780 ... we know that he kept pleading his cause in Venice, acting as intermediary between Goldoni and Vendramin. Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 175 could always rely. A man of importance holding a diplomatic ofl&ce in Milan, who could also write a defence of his friend when the opportunity demanded. Gaspare Gozzi,^ the most justly famous, is also the most constant and active of Goldoni's friends. With great tact he avoided the polemics between Goldoni and his own brother Carlo, even while he at every opportimity praised and encouraged Goldoni. Be- tween his mind and Goldoni's there was a spiritual relationship that proved stronger than family affection ' Gaspare Gozzi came of a very ancient family of foreign — Ragusean — ■ origin, descending, however, from a branch that settled in Venice, in 1592, and was in the course of centuries allied to the Tiepolo, Comaro, Morosini, and other Venetian patricians. Gaspare was the eldest of nine children. His mother, nee Tiepolo, represented the worst tj^pe of Venetian gentildonna, extravagant, domineering, spiteful, quarrelsome, yet unable to manage either her financial affairs or to bring up decently her many children. Gozzi's wife was Luigia or Luisa Bergalli, a poetess, in Arcadia "Irminda Partenide," who was almost as great a trial as her mother-in-law. After 1758, impoverished Gozzi started writing and translating as a means of liv- ing and paying off debts. In 1777 his health broke down from overwork and he attempted suicide. Caterina Dolfin Tron came to his assistance and made life easier for him. Gaspare's second wife, Giovanna Genet, out- lived him. He died in Padua in December, 1786. Gaspare Gozzi's Difesa di Dante is the best known of his writings. It was the ralljfing cry of the defenders of classicism against Saverio Bettinelli's Lettere di Virgilio. Besides an enormous amount of other writings there were his literary reviews : La Gazzetta Veneta, in one hundred and three numbers, February, 1760, January, 1761 ; L'Osservatore, one hundred and four numbers, February, 1761, January, 1762. They did not pay. Yet they are a precious font of information and are still interesting reading. See about G. Gozzi : Tom- maseo, Firenze, Le Monnier, three vols. E. Masi : Sul Teatro Italiano de Secolo XVIII Fierenze, Sansoni, 1891. G. Zanella: G. Addison e Gaspare Gozzi in Parallelii Leiterarii, Verona, 1884, and of course the Manuali of D'Ancona e Bacci, and of Mestica, the Storia delta Letter atur a Italiana, edited by Vallardi, which are standard works, often quoted. 176 Gk)ldom and the Venice of His Time or literary polemic. From the high position which Gozzi's literary review held in the world of letters, his support and approval, even if mildly expressed, was an enormous encouragement. When Goldoni wished Voltaire's praise of him to be made known, Gozzi printed in his Review Voltaire's verse and Goldoni's translation and answer ; when Goldoni left for Paris, Gozzi assumed the heavy task of revising and correcting the Pasquali edition of his friend's plays. A characteristic figure of aristocratic epicurism and Uterary dilettantism was Goldoni's friend Albergati ^ Capacelh, of ancient Bolognese family, a man of importance, honoured by many, flattered and incensed by many more. Common gossip discussed his magnifi- cent establishment in Bologna, and his famous viUa of Zola, writers and critics mentioned his authorship ' About Fr. Albergati see : La vita, i tempi e gli amid di Francesco Alber- gati, di Ernesto Masi, Bologna, 1888. A clever book which outlines the un- important figure of the noble marquis, senator of Bologna, chambdlan to his Majesty the King of Poland, the host of Cardinal Lambertini, the correspon- dent of Voltaire, etc., most fitly by leaving him in the shadow and grouping around him more interesting personages. Of his several love affairs only one need be recorded. Elisabetta Caminer Turra was that exception, in her time a woman of letters who was not a dilettante but who really wanted to earn some money. She began by writing contributions to a literary review, L'Europa Letteraria, that succeeded the Giornale dei Letterati of Zeno and the Gazzetta of G. Gozzi. She afterward translated French plays, Beaumarchais', Saurin's, and Goldoni's Bourru Bienfaisant. Her romance with Albergati lasted long enough to endow the petite bourgeoise with the manners, the tact, the conversational ability that years later in Vicenza, when she had married a Doctor Turra, permitted Elisabetta Caminer to become the centre of a literary salon. Something like a salon on the plan of Mesdames du Deffand et Geoffrin in Paris or Isabella Albrizzi and Giustina Renier in Venice. See E. Caminer, Teatro, in four vols., edited Colombani. Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 177 and performance of plays. A regular correspondent with Voltaire, an entertainer of Cardinal Lambertini and many other great men, he provided endless argu- ment for moralists and magistrates by the multiplicity and scandal of his love affairs, that sometimes ended in marriage and — once at least — ended in suicide ; yet he would be forgotten nowadays but for the part he played in Goldoni's affairs. Albergati's relations with Goldoni are worth serious study, as they show many different aspects of con- temporary life. The marquis and senator was so sorely affected with the stage craze that he eagerly sought from Goldoni not only the manuscript of new plays, but as much good advice and direction as pos- sible. Suggestions that certainly were not lost by the receiver. Even more interesting would it be to follow through Goldoni's letters the reflection of Albergati's jealousy of the compliments Goldoni paid to the Contessina, the lady who for some time reigned in Albergati's heart and over his household. Yet Goldoni's relations to Albergati remained friendly even to the last and Albergati is almost the only Italian subscriber to the Parisian Memoirs, a notable instance of fidelity in one who had proved himself fickle to three wives and many mistresses. Two other of Goldoni's early and faithful friends were the brothers Cornet,^ in whose quiet and hospitable ' In a letter to Gabriel Comet, April 20, 1759, Goldoni, lamenting his friend's absence from Venice, exclaims: "I wish you may be coming back in time to see my new plays. I wish it most earnestly because when you are 178 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time house, in Venice, Goldoni caught a first glimpse of French politeness and gentle manners. The letters that have been saved out of a correspondence that evidently was intimate and active make it doubly regrettable that so many have been lost. They are more free from reticence than any other of Goldoni's. Some of Goldoni's most important statements about his plans or about his intentions are derived from these epistles. There is a confidential intimacy that in- dicates a certainty of being imderstood and approved. To Gabriel Comet, Goldoni entrusted the care of some delicate family affairs when he left Venice. It is easy to reconstruct Goldoni's position in the intellectual sets of his time. The simplicity and straightforwardness of his nature attracted those spirits who inclined toward the simple beauty of realism in art, of common honesty in daily life. Thus Pietro Longhi vies with Piazzetta in repeatedly reproducing the features of the poet, which Marco Pitteri found pleasure in engraving, and others in moulding in medals. It is difficult to know what sort of support Goldoni accepted from his friends and patrons. Honest pay for honest work was not by any means the standard of the time. Judging by his expressions of gratitude one might think that he received more than he gave ; not here I miss one of my best friends, one who is a' champion of my fame. ... In your absence I rejoice in the affection of your family to whom I beg to be commended, entreating you to remember often even from afar he^ who swears to be forever your friend and servant. Goldo." Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 179 judging by results one must rather think that he got very little for the great pains he always took for satis- fying every demand of poetical homage. Either he was too proud or else too indolent to ask for protection against slanderers and pamphleteers, though his rivals and detractors were certainly bitter in their attacks. [_JIis Memoirs tell of one episode which was probably not the only one he could remember. It was in the first year of his engagement at the San Luca, when, not reahsing the obstacles to a reform of the old comedy, Goldoni attempted a bold novelty. The idea was so true to Ufe that one wonders why it so startled and shocked the Venetian audience, Goldoni chose for the central figure of his play, the lover, a man no longer young. It is a foible of southern nations and an axiom of the stage that the part of amoroso should always be performed by a very yoimg and handsome actor. Prejudice against middle-aged stage characters had the sanction of tradition through every classical im- itation; it had gained in intensity and vulgarity through the comm^dia delVarte. Goldoni, who studied out of two books, "the world and the stage," who had already elevated the mask of BrigheUa and the character of Colombina, attempted now to present the gentleman of wit and pleasant manners whose hair was turning to grey while his heart remained youthful.^ The San Luca company ' // Vecchio Bizarro, performed under the title of II Cortesan Vecchio, was violently hissed. Goldoni, dedicating it to his Excellency Bonfadini, Cover- natore of Chiozza (Chioggia) in 1727-28, when Goldoni was Coadjutore, and i8o. Goldoni and the Venice of His Time was just then enriched by the excellent actor Rubini, whom Goldoni knew well and pronoimced to be one of the most amiable men he ever met. The play com- posed for Rubini, on the plan that served so weU of adapting the r61e to the actor that was to enact it, is a jewel of characterisation and an exquisite picture of customs; yet it failed. Whether, as Goldoni says, Rubini was not at his best, nervous at appearing with- out a mask, or whether the novelty was too great an anticipation of pubUc taste, the failure was complete. The disapproval was so violent that Goldoni left the theatre in a distress and exasperation which demanded solitude. Where could any man be so perfectly alone as in the midst of a crowd under the shelter of a mask ? Where could he expect to learn the real causes of such a startling failure as in the very centre of Venetian life, in the Ridotto ? ^ ever afterward, as in Milan, a generous patron of Goldoni's, acknowledged this failure "non cadde^o precipitd del pako " — a parody of Tasso's line in Gerusakmme Liberata: "non scese no precipitd di sella" (it did not fall; it tumbled.down). ' For his experience at the Ridotto on that evening see in preface of // Contraitempo (1754) : "This Ridotto is an ample place wherein among many wise persons, meeting for their decent amusement, a number of idle, sour men are allowed to crowd in. Having covered with a mask their faces, they persuade themselves that their voices too are disguised and will not be known when they speak. They thus confide their own affairs to people who do not care to know anything about them ; and besides their own they even discuss other people's affairs, adding freely invented stories, or jokes which they suppose to be very witty. They pass sentence on a man, and do not know that he may be standing behind their back." // Caffe, published in Milan by the brothers Verri and their friends, con- tains many praises of Goldoni's plays and a bitter word battle with Baretti, "II caro Barretti," whom Goldoni scorned to answer. Goldoni and the Venice of His Time i8i There under the impenetrable disguise of an ample tabarro, a white vizor, and the three-cornered hat that went with this dress, Goldoni lingered long enough to hear the talk of those who came in, as usual, after the end of the play. So severe were the opinions he heard that years afterward he remembered the tone of the voice, the very words spoken. A man who spoke through his nose, the noble bom, low-souled pamphleteer Zorzi, declared "that Goldoni was finished, that he had emptied his bag and could do nothing more." Goldoni went home in' a rage. He dismissed even the sweet company of Nicoletta. He vented his anger in the only way that he conceived adequate : he com^posed and versified a play in which all the absurd criticisms spoken at the Ridotto were ridiculed and repeated by the comic characters. Goldoni sketched the character of Grisolgo in the Malcontenti, and though he consented to the cutting out of the r61e to please the censors, he did not destroy the manu- script and probably read it to some friends. If ever Goldoni's equanimity was shaken by Chiari's attacks there was balm for his spirit in the growing favour shown to him by the great. A bour- geois by birth and education, a democrat by natural instinct, Goldoni was too much of his time and too much of a Venetian not to appreciate the magic of princely or royal acknowledgment. In Parma and from a prince of the Bourbon family he got a first draught of this intoxicating nectar. Du Tillot, the 1 82 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time great minister of this petty State, thought that it would add lustre to the glory of a grandson of le Roi Soleil to encourage poets and artists. Goldoni, having already written some books for operas and other poems for that court, was invited to Parma and to the Ver- sailles of the State, the ducal residence of Colomo. There he was granted the official title of "Poet of the Court," which implied a small pension. Voltaire, forgetting how he used to fawn and flatter the royal mistress of Louis XV and how he trimmed and shifted to earn the title of chambellan of Frederic II, made sarcastic reference to Goldoni's acceptance of this chain. Favours that came unasked, that did not require any real diminutio capitis, he accepted with the courteous thanks, the long sweeping bow, that were part of the Venetian etiquette, and he did not omit the ornate phrasing and incense burning that politeness then demanded. The three thousand Parmesan lire did not seriously enlarge Goldoni's budget, but his stay at this minia- ture French court greatly influenced his future. By his own confession he did not understand French at the time. Yet he was attracted by the French manners, the gay magnificence, the talk, and even the theatrical performances of the French court of Parma. Some of the persons he met there, like Signor Duni, the musician, spoke a good deal about Parisian life and opportunities. Goldoni dreamed of larger gains and more repose, as contrasted with the worries of his actual situation with Vendramin. After his Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 183 visit to Parma there was a growing interest in French persons. Goldoni enjoys the homely gather- ings in the residence of Madame Cornet, his friend's mother. Two years later he is enthusiastic about the esprit and Parisian amiabUity of Madame du Socage, whose drawing-room was a French intellectual resort. This time, which was the brightest for his literary production, the most fruitful of masterpieces, and which shows him possessing a full mastery of his art, might have been the happiest and most productive if, instead of a tattling, shrewish employer like Vendramin, Goldoni had served an enlightened and generous patron, and received financial advantages corresponding to public favour. From the disconnected account of the Memoirs, from other information gleaned by his biographers, one discovers Goldoni making the most of professional opportunities for quitting Venice. He eagerly accepted an invitation to visit Rome, and probably hoped to prolong his stay there. With the elevation of one of their family to the throne of Saint Peter, the Venetian Rezzonicos were spreading their influence over Rome. A Count Rez- zonico encouraged a direct invitation to Goldoni from the manager of the Tordinona Theatre. Vendramin was silenced for a time by the shadow of such a patron- age. He did not forbid Goldoni's going, but grumbled in his letters almost from the first. Goldoni's stay in Rome was made very pleasant by the favour of the Rezzonicos, by Cardinal Porto Carrero, and other great personages. Even the Pope 184 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time found pleasure in his Venetian chat. The account of his papal audience is typical of Venetian manners, contrasting with the solemn etiquette of the court. Goldoni was well known to the Pope ; they had met in the palaces of Venice and Padua. Goldoni had even composed a poem celebrating the elevation to the Roman throne of this pope, Clement XIII.^ Naturally the audience lasted longer than customary for such ceremonies, as the two Venetians exchanged gossip and information. They may for a moment have for- gotten where they were ; Goldoni certainly did. " His Holiness touched the bell on his table : it was for me the signal of departure. As I moved away I performed many bows and signs of reverence and gratitude ; but still the Holy Father did not seem satisfied. He moved his feet, his arms; he coughed; he glanced at me significantly but said nothing." At last Goldoni understands ! He was forgetting to kiss the papal foot ! He kneels down, pays the ritual homage to a much bejewelled slipper, and makes his exit. Though he was by this time fifty-two, Goldoni has no real appreciation of Rome. Just a few lines of admiring prose about Saint Peter's and he passes to a pretty sketch of the family he lived with, a married ' Interview with Pope Clement XIII (Memoirs, chap, xxxvii, part ii). Goldoni was bearer of letters from the Minister of Parma for Cardinal Porto Carrero, Spanish Ambassador; of a letter from Prince Rezzonico to his brother, both nephews of the reigning Pope. He lodged with Abbot Petro Poloni, whom he has very pleasantly described in his Memoirs, Chap, xxxvii, part ii. With him besides Nicoletta was the young man, Giovanni Simoni, nicknamed Goldoncino, whom he was so eager to provide for. (See extracts of Letters.) Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 185 abbot who is proud of such a famous guest; then he gives his experience with the Roman actors. This Roman experience should have enlightened Goldoni as to the impossibility of transplanting his plays into an alien atmosphere and to the difficulty of having them interpreted properly by actors differ- ently trained. The Neapolitan actors who made such a disgusting muddle of his Vedova Spiritosa should have been a warning against their brethren of "la Comedie Italienne." Think of a Neapolitan Pulci- nella impersonating nimble-footed, nimbler-tongued Arlecchino ! Think of a close-shaven Roman lout impersonating the witty, coquettish Venetian widow ! The shock for Goldoni and also for his patrician pro- tector was great. They should have remembered that women were not allowed on the stage of Roman theatres; and certainly they should have known the sort of fim expected from Neapolitan comici. Goldoni did not remonstrate. From the first Pulci- nella impertinently declared " that everyone has his own notions of art; these are ours." With the docility and good will that were predominant qualities of his nature, Goldoni did his best for the Roman manager and actors by selecting from operas and popular songs some representations that, bringing no honour to him, filled the house at night. It was a sin against his own art thus to lose his precious time and energies, but he was resolved that ill-mannered, clownish Pulcinella and the other actors should not be losers, if he could help it. The more aristocratic theatre of Capranica took up 1 86 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time Goldoni's plays and provided him with a certain suc- cess, a compensation which cheered his spirits just then wotmded by Vendramin's refusal to admit his protege, Simoni, on trial, and encouraged him so far as to make plans for a trip to Naples. Here, however, Vendramiti interfered and forbade this tour, although Goldoni pleaded that an interruption of even one year — part in Rome and part in Naples — could in no wise alter the terms of the contract binding him to the San Luca. When Goldoni, reluctantly obeying Vendramin's orders, retraced his steps toward Venice, he knew what was in store for him. He lingered in Pisa and other cities bidding farewell "unconsciously," as he says, to this Italian country that he did not "then think of leaving." Goldoni did not fly from the spectacle of his rival's success, but before the combined misery of insult on one hand and of wrangling incompre- hension on the other. Personal antagonism between Count Carlo Gozzi and Awocato Goldoni was as complete and unavoid- able as racial, social, personal differences and contrasts could make it. Carlo Gozzi is so completely the antithesis of Carlo Goldoni that between them they cover most of the characteristic traits of their time and country, the one having that which the other lacks. Goldoni is the representative of the middle class and the forerunner of a more democratic and national spirit, Gozzi is an embodiment of that which was pass- ing. He is the representative of aristocratic prejudice, of Venetian separatism. Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 187 Contrast between Goldoni and Gozzi was noticeable even in their appearance. Gozzi tall, gaunt, loosely- built, his hard features unrelieved by any shadow of kindness, the sourness of his expression growing with age until it became the darksome, strained stare of incipient mania, a slovenliness of attire that later degenerated in antiquated singularity — the exact opposite of Goldoni's figure, face, and manners; The sixth of a family of eleven, Carlo spent his childhood in a dilapidated castle under the misgovernment of his vain patrician mother, nee Tiepolo, and the mismanagement of iU-paid servants. The miracle is that his elder brother Gaspare escaped the worst influence of this education. It may be that things went from bad to worse and that the younger children were even less cared for than their elders. Also that family discord gained in bitterness in proportion with increasing poverty, Countess Gozzi insisting on her birthright to direct. Yet she was even more inclined to extravagance, gambling, and display than the average Venetian gentlewoman. Of her many children she took no care, providing the traits of Gaspare's picture of a young nobleman entrusted to the care of servants, "as were the puppies," initiated to the most imdesirable aspects of life by the gossip in the servants' quarters and afterward guided to the most disreputable haunts by these same teachers. Worse still, Countess Gozzi, by her extreme partiality, provoked the quarrels and litigation of her children. They were a curious brood of talented, mad people, 1 88 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time these Gozzi — an hospital of poets, as one of them has said. Like every Venetian of the time they could "indite" poetry or improvise scenes of comedy; they could perform their own compositions and amuse even grown-up people with their acting. That the habitual amusement of these children was composing plays and masquerades is a sign of the time; that they were allowed to parody their neighbours and the guests, and that without reproof they should have made their own parents and the family quarrels the object of their clownish performances is significant. From this disrespectful childhood they passed on to so many entangled lawsuits that the residue of a once prosperous estate dribbled away. Gaspare found comparative peace and self-respect in hard toil ; Carlo never recovered a healthy mental balance. After spending some years as an official in the colonies (or, as they were called, "stati di terra firma") in Dalmatia, he returned to Venice a confirmed grumbler. Thus while Goldoni developed in pleasant social intercourse, in naturally sweet disposition, Gozzi grew more bilious and iU-tempered. Thus while Goldoni made friends everj^nrhere and had many small love affairs that caused no greater harm than a few tears, or some regretful sighs, Gozzi's stem maturity only exploded in a passion and a jealousy for an actress 'that drove his rival Grattarol away from Venice a ruined and discredited diplomat. Thus while Goldoni scribbled autobiographic prefaces filled with pleasant anecdotes, or in his serene poverty and old Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 189 age retraced the history of his life in fragments of amusing memories, Gozzi only wrote with some malig- nant aim in view. When he wrote his Memoirs he merely aimed at explaining his share of responsibility in the Grattarol afifair. It is a long pamphlet, fuU of venom and falsehood. His old age was further embittered by the change in public affairs. Count Carlo Gozzi lived to sign his own name "citoyen C. Gozzi"; he lived long enough to protest, even on his death-bed, even in his last wiU, against the new notions of a philosophy that was destroying the old order of things. This was bitterest pain for a man of Gozzi's violent and stubborn con- servatism, the last act of the gloomy tragedy of his life. Carlo Gozzi possessed sufficient book learning to champion correctness, purity, Italianism, against the novelty of Goldoni's reform. His title of count some- what excused his supercilious contempt; his small means allowed him the petty satisfaction of taimting the poet who was obliged to live by his pen. While in Dalmatia he was snubbed by his superiors. Gozzi resented this hximiliation. He took no interest in the natives. On coming home after seven years, he dis- covered that between his mother and sister-in-law the ruin of the family was almost complete. He set about quarrelling and litigating. As a diversion he joined his brother Gaspare and a party of literati in founding the academy ingloriously known under the untranslatable name of "Granelleschi." This academy would have been as completely ignored iQo Goldoni and the Venice of His Time by posterity as all such mushroom growths deserved to be but for the scandal of Gozzi's attacks on Goldoni. A group of idlers with some pretensions of scholarship who presumed to fight for the purity of the Italian idiom by insisting on servile imitation of Tuscan trecen- tists. Unlike other such attempts which, in imitation of Arcadia and the Tuscan Crusca, aimed at delicacy and refinement, these Granelleschi affected the utmost grossness of feelings and expressions. The principal activity of this society, besides some foolish ceremonies at their meetings, was the pubUcation of a sort of literary review, "Atti dell'Academia dei Granelleschi," issued at the "Libreria Colombani." Carlo Gozzi wrote for this review a number of pam- phlets against both Chiari and Goldoni. At first he had supported Chiari, and indeed pitted him against Goldoni, but he soon realised that the pedantic abbot was a useless ally. Coarse and unscrupulous Gozzi was, but not dull. A mock heroical poem. La Marfisa Bizarra, though it chiefly owes its celebrity to its insults against Goldoni and Chiari, "Marco e Matteo del plan di San Michele," as they are nicknamed by "Dodon della Mazza" in imitation of Ariosto, possesses some rudeness, force, and imagination. Two years later, in 1750, Gozzi gave out an almanach. La Tartana degli Influssi, for the year 1749, in which Goldoni and Chiari were caricatured, presented as two mountebanks fighting with wooden swords, then, after having amused the onlookers for a while, dividing the Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 191 profits of their performance. Gozzi's conservatism and his caste prejudice embittered the quarrel. In his eyes Chiari was an unworthy priest who could pen a profane comedy after celebrating mass, and Goldoni was an impertinent scribbler who dared observe the degradation and represent the foUy of the aristocracy. In his eyes both these writers were also degraded by accepting money for their literary work. For a noble- bom dilettante this was a desecration. The poem // Teatro Comico alVOsteria del Pellegrino, entirely devoted to crushing Goldoni, was the most disgustingly personal of aU his pamphlets. First Goldoni is represented as a three-headed monster speaking by turns with each one of his three mouths. This is a parody of the several sorts of, plays Goldoni was then producing: the sentimental, the romantic, and the popular comedies. There is some wit and a real comprehension of the aims and objects of the reformer. But the satire becomes disgusting when it proceeds to show Goldoni, "il Teatro Comico," enticed within the drinking house "il Pellegrino," drunk, made a laughingstock, and finally driven to a desperate appeal. The burlesque of that appeal is unparalleled in Italian satire. Goldoni is pictured unbuttoning his culotte and discovering a fourth mouth in the middle of his belly; out of this mouth is uttered a whining entreaty, explaining that whatever the three other mouths have been attempting to do had no other object but fiUing this one. Now, not only in Gozzi's opinion, but according to a 192 Gtoldoni and the Venice of His Time generally admitted notion, and even in Goldoni's eyes, the fact of selling the produce of one's brains was con- sidered undignified. In order to depreciate Goldoni's work, Carlo Gozzi, when he was forty-two, wrote the first of his fiahe. He tauntingly said that people went in crowds to see Sacchi, Tabarin, Goldoni, or a dancing bear and that they would be sure to come to see his plays. At worst, he added, the author who writes these fiabe gives them as a present. Certainly the production of these plays of Gozzi, that were the antithesis of his own and which tended to overthrow all his plans of reform, caused more grief to Goldoni than he would ever confess ^ ; yet the critics and biographers who have charged Gozzi with the entire responsibility for Goldoni's expatriation go too far. How far this rivalry influenced Goldoni's decision it is not easy to decide. Goldoni could shrug his shoulders at Gozzi's insults when, in the same family, in the same aristocratic circles, there were champions to defend his fame; when from the "oracle of ' For all this matter see Modena a C. Goldoni, op. cit. In Goldoni's Letters or Memoirs very little is to be found of these polemics. In a letter to Arconati Visconti, April 5, 1755, accompanying a short poem by Padre Roberti, Goldoni says : "It is not a small honour for me that a Jesuit writes about a play, and benignantly praises its author. He does not follow the style of the Modenese in their Epistles in Martelliani; nor does he set me above great authors as they haye done for their versifier" (Chiari). (Two of these Modenese letters came from the pen of G. B. Vicini; they were addressed to Chiari and bore the title in the printed edition, La commedia deU'arte e la Maschera, and were outrageously bitter against Goldoni, yet Goldoni forgave them and never mentioned Vicini's name otherwise than with respectful admiration.) Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 193 Nations " ^ came the verdict that proclaimed him a great poet and the painter of Nature. Goldoni was not so unconscious of his own value as to run away at the first shifting of the wind in public favour. In addition to Carlo Gozzi's persecution, niggardly Vendramin ^ must bear his full share of responsibility in 1 The expression "L'oracolo delle genti" is to be found in Goldoni's answer to Voltaire's well-known lines. En tout pays on se pique De molester les talens : De Goldoni les critiques Combattent ses partisans. On ne savait i quel titre On doit juger ses toits; Dans ce procfes on a pris La Nature pour arbitre. Aux critiques, aux rivaux La Nature a dit, sans feinte, Tout auteur a ses dSfauts, Mais ce Goldoni m'a peinte. Gaspare Gozzi printed both in his Gaszetk Veneta, No. 45, July, 1760. ' From Letters: Dino Mantovani, G. e il Teatro S. Luca, op. cit. Vendramin to Goldoni, August, 1759 (page 13s): "... Thus for the disposition of things before or in the performance of plays, I must tell you that it would be weU if you were in Verona, because they (the players) com- plain of you from a distance when they think that they have a right to do so. But with me they complain viva wee, charging me with all their grievances. ... I have been made to undergo laments, discussions, tears, and all that which I have not thought fit to tell you, wishing to spare you a share of my annoyances. . . ." In the same letter Vendramin objects to sending the one hundred ducats. A few days later (page 141) Goldoni writes : "Now indeed the question of money has become the most important one since on every other point we are agreed. I have got my brother here with all the debts he has made in Modena for his living, I must provide him with clothes, and find for him some sort of employment. I am without cash, to-day I borrowed six sequins. Your Excellency has some kindness for me and may reach further 194 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time driving Goldoni from Venice and Italy. The stolidity of the government in refusing him a place or a pension must also be taken into account, and also racial instincts, the tastes, the social habits of Goldoni help to explain how the desire for change finally became irresistible. The Memoirs become at this vital point not only incomplete but even misleading, and fail to give a true revelation of the growth of discontent and the dawn of new prospects. Contradiction between the Memoirs and the Letters is more than inaccuracy; it is too constant and too significant not to suggest a purpose. He naturally wishes to conceal his disappointment in his countrjrmen from the knowledge of his foreign readers and his tendency to forgive and forget un- pleasant experiences made this even easier. Goldoni wiU not depreciate his own value and make himseK cheap by recognising defeat. with your hand than your steward could with his foot" (meaning that Vendramin could write a cheque as easily as send round a servant) . On Becember 4th (page 145) Goldoni was exasperated past all endurance, and from Bologna he asked to be released from his contract. "With all due respect and humility let me tell Your Excellency that I understand clearly that you are annoyed with me, anyhow your players are tired. With the same submissiveness that made me accept the honour of serving you, I am ready to accept the release which it may please you to grant me, or which I may be forced to take after this year." From Vendramin to Sig. Fontana, segretario dell' Ambasciata Veneta d Paris, on receiving some information about Goldoni's intentions of going to Paris, his Excellency insinuates that "C. Goldoni, a comic poet who now serves and must for five years more serve in my theatre, as according to con- tract which I here enclose, is said to be taking steps for going to Paris," and he entreats Sig. Fontana to serve him with the utmost discretion and secrecy. Why if the contracts were binding does he^ not say so? Why does he condescend to Goldoni's departure if he could prevent it? Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 195 That he came to this decision slowly is inferred from the account of his doings up to this momentous date of 1 761. From the first allurements of the court in Parma, from the first glimpse there of the munificence and amiability of a French sovereign, contrasted with the disappointment at the San Luca theatre, the players' maUce and incapacity, the manager's super- cilious ways and niggardly support, we can see how the thought of quitting Venice gradually took form in Goldoni's mind. Even far back in a letter to Cornet, Goldoni expressed a wish to accompany his friend to Paris ; and in all his correspondence with Albergati there is the infatuation that Paris promised both profit and honour, comfort and pleasure. Goldoni's notions about French customs were slight, his ignorance of the language almost com- plete, his ignorance of the French spirit profound. But Paris was a change, it was release from unprofitable, unpleasant duty, and also it was escape from malignant satire and rude rivalry. One of Goldoni's most undisguised contradictions is between his often-quoted letter to Albergati and the corresponding passage in the Memoirs. To the friendly patron who supported his plans Goldoni writes : "Oh, what good news will this letter bring you ! Goldoni is going to Paris ! He will, so please God, leave in Lent of next year ; he wiU pay you homage in Bologna, then pass through Ginevra so as to embrace Mr. de Voltaire." This double promise of visits is significant. Goldoni's first thanks go to those who aided his plan 196 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time of release. "You will say what are you going to Paris for ? I have been two years in correspondence with the Theatre Italien, to go and take the management, that is to say, to have my works there performed according to the taste of the people. There were difficulties on the side of the French players that are partners in the troupe (the Italian troupe). But now everything is settled. . . ." Thus there had been discussion of terms, difficulties raised and settled, trial plays performed to probe pubUc opinion, terms fixed, 'f Messieurs les gentilshommes de la Chambre have written to the Venetian Ambassador. My salary will be six thousand francs a year, and the thing is settled for two years ; my travel expenses to be refunded. . . ." How different aU this reads from the Memoirs; from the story of an almost casual visit to the French Am- bassador and to the surprise of receiving from him a letter, ". . .a letter just received among other official despatches from his court. . . . The letter was written by Signor Zanuzzi, the actor . . . who introduced my play // Figlio di'Arlecchino perduto e ritrovato. ..." Then, adds Goldoni, the French Ambassador offers his good offices to overcome any difficulty that could arise with the Venetian Government and mentions that the Due d'Aumont is very eager to have him in Paris. Even if the sad sequel of events did not contradict this statement of the case, the account thus offered could hardly be accepted. Two years, planning and discussing, invitations and encouragement coming from Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 197 the many Italian friends of Goldoni that were already in Paris, seem a more likely version of the truth, or at least of that comparative truth which alone can be discovered. LeKo Riccoboni, Favart, Duni, the father and sisters Veronese, and many more who in some manner were attached to the theatre and friendly to Goldoni, may have been active in forwarding a plan that promised to be profitable to the Italian Theatre in Paris. A further indication of lengthy pourparlers may be gathered out of Vendramin's letter to Signor Fontana asking for information and insinuating that the thing should be stopped "prudently." Did Goldoni then contemplate remaining in Paris longer than two years? In his letter to Albergati he writes: "If I gain some praise, I may remain on better terms; if I do not, I will have to come back to Italy; having gained no further advantage than enriching my imagination by the novelties I may have seen, and having given to my edition an impulse that alone would justify my undertaking the travel. . . ." Goldoni's arrangements were just those that his habitual prudence and kindness would make for the greater advantage of everyone concerned. Besides Nicoletta he proposed to take Antonio his nephew with him, trusting to provide some employment for him in France. Petronilla, Giampaolo's daughter, Goldoni sent to the safe protection of a convent, further pro- viding her with the guardianship of a steadier man 198 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time than her own father.^ Though Giampaolo was not to be trusted with the management of his own children, yet his brother did not leave him unprovided; some reHcs of the Modenese estate were transferred to him, so that he might end his Kfe in respectable comfort. Friends were at hand, willing to do their best for Goldoni in his absence. Cornet would supervise some affairs, Gaspare Gozzi would attend to the pubKcation of plays, Stefano Sciugliaga was ready to interpose with all the authority due to his position between Goldoni and Vendramin. How and by what arguments Vendramin was per- suaded to grant those terms which admitted of Goldoni's departure, Goldoni does not say, and no letter of either party has been found. The Memoirs say that Goldoni obtained "with some pains" (avec un peu de peine) this permission. For all we know of Goldoni's euphemisms this may mean a long and exasperating wrangle, as it certainly meant the bugbear of a hard yoke awaiting him in Venice, if ever he came back.^ Leave-taking from his beloved Venetian audience was quite another thing.^ Even while he was preparing ' Giampaolo's children : Petronilla Margherita was bom in 1 749 and Anton Francesco Paolo Mariano about 1750. Petronilla married in 1781 and at that time it appears that her father was dead. 2 For text of contract see D. Mantovani's Goldoni, e il Teairo, op. cit. The arrangements imported that Goldoni interrupted, did not break, his engage- ment of ten consecutive years with Vendramin. Also that he should send every year some new play. This agreement was signed in March, 1 762. ' Anzoletto's adieu in Una delle uUime sere di Carnovale (act iii, sc. 13) is often quoted. "That I could forget this country 1 This my beloved native land I Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 199 for departure, even while he seemed to be deserting them, Goldoni's heart craved sympathy. He could refrain from complainiag, he could disguise dis- appointment, he could not permit any misunder- standing between the people of Venice and himself. The play which he composed uniquely with that aim in view is the cry of a soul appealing to other souls, the pleading of a man forced to break away from home and associations and desirous of having his motives understood. It has a force, a pathos that no other of Gk)ldoni's works possesses. If tragedy ever flapped her black wings above Goldoni's heart, it was at this turning point of his career.^ According to promise, Goldoni and his party halted first in Bologna. There his health broke down. Malice interpreted this prolonged stay in Bologna in many ways. He condescends to explain, in his Memoirs, that if he also composed an opera comica he Forget my patrons, my good friends ! This is not the first time I have gone away, and wherever I have been I have always carried the name of Venice engraved on my heart. I have always remembered the favour, the kind- ness I received; I have always longed to return, and whenever I did come back it was with the greatest joy. Every comparison I have been able to make has shown me my country more beautiful, more magnificent, more worthy of respect; whenever I came back I discovered new beauty; so will it be this time, too, it God grants I come back. I confess and I swear on my honour that I leave with a broken heart, and that no attraction, no pleasure, no fortune I may meet, will compensate the grief of being away from those I love. Do not deprive me of your afEection, my dear friends ; may Heaven bless you : I say so with all my heart." ' Goldoni left Venice April 15, 1762. The Gazzetta Veneta, May 22, gives the strange particular that Goldoni was told just at that moment that one Signor Teodoro was already performing the office of playwright in his place at the San Luca. 200 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time did not stay on purpose. Zola was a delightful abode, the hospitality of casa Albergati proverbial. What wonder if Goldoni lingered on his visit? A visit to Parma was imperative.^ Goldoni was pensioned by this French petty sovereign and must not only take oflScial leave from his royal patron, but also obtain letters and commendations for the French court. Something in the Venetian customs predisposed Goldoni to become a courtier and to rely on the favour of princes. In Parma, on his first visit, Goldoni, having caught a glimpse of French manners and of French actors, was eager now to practise his French there. "I speak much and blunder along unblushingly ; people understand me or at least they never ask me to repeat my words ; and I enjoy wonderfully the fine conversations, 'a la faqon frangaise. ' My wife, poor thing, is not quite so well pleased ; she does not under- stand one word of French, yet it is good for her to train her ear to their talk and also to fall into then- ways and offer her cheek for 'se laisser embrasser.' " Thus Goldoni to his friend Gabriel Cornet.^ Evi- ' Goldoni himself in a letter to Gabriel Comet — Parma, July, 1762, (see Lettere di C. G. di E. Mad, op.cit., page 164) thus describes their party. "... My nephew is enjoying himself fuUy. He stutters some French, but I am afraid he wiU have a weakness for the mesdemoiselles" (sic). "O the worthy son of such a great father! Tonino (the servant boy) wiU find it hard to learn French, when he thinks that he has understood, he brings water when one has asked for wine. He is eager to serve, his excessive good will makes him frantic. He is like one possessed. Yesterday he dropped two cups of chocolate on my bed. . . ." ' Goldoni to Gabriel Comet, Let. di Gol., E. Masi, op. cit., p. 163, Parma, July, 1762. "What a fine life I What a delightful trip ! . . . I have been already Goldoni and the Venice of His "nme 201 dently the courtesies and encouragement they lavished on him, in Parma, and at the royal residence of Colorno, have elated Goldoni. He is lodged grandly, at the palazzo Rezzonico, in the absence of its masters; a household of servants are at his orders, and from the reigning duke he receives promises of patronage for the royal court "de mon grand' per e." More favours, more promises, Goldoni receives in Corte Maggiore from the Landgrave of Darmstadt and the Princess Dowager of Parma and then onward toward Genoa so as to bid farewell to the Connios ; onward then through French cities, along French roads, toward that Paris where he was expected by a company of second-hand comedians in a theatre of less than second rank. ten days in Parma ; only one day have I been able to diner chez moi. I have seen the court in Parma ; and now in half an hour's time will see them again in Colomo to take my leave. ... I am staying in the house of Signer Conte Rezzonico, who is for the moment in Milan, having left his orders to his gardener that I should be lodged and provided for. What a splendid house ! What a fine garden ! This is indeed a pleasant way of travel- ling. ..." CHAPTER VI THE END OF GOLDONl'S LIFE After his departure from Italy his Memoirs are especially inaccurate — reasons for this — Italian comedy in Paris had greatly degenerated — French plays and French actors admitted to the Italian theatre — Figlio d'Arlecchino played before court at Fontainebleau — a failure — Goldoni rents apartment in "Rue de Richelieu" — his judgments of Parisians are superficial — his friendships not profitable — did not make headway in the Paris salon — he aims at royal favour — is a natural courtier — his visit to Diderot and to Rousseau — he fails to understand the French — his play II VentagUo a success — Les Amours d'Arlequin et de Camille a great success — is appointed teacher of Italian for Prin- cess Adelaide — eyesight injured — • is lodged at court at Versailles — Nicoletta not happy at court — perpetual difficulties with Vendramin — receives a pension — Italian theatre in Paris comes to an end 1781 — his Bourru Bienfaisant a great success — fight against poverty — nurses Nicoletta through illness — his niece Petronilla marries — longing for Venice — stops writing when eighty years old — dies at age of eighty-six, February 6, 1 793 — in politics was a conservative democrat — La Con~ vention granted his widow a pension — she did not long outlive him. THOUGH Goldoni's Memoirs from beginning to end are frequently inaccurate as to facts, and are never a sincerely confidential account of their author's feelings and sensations, they do give us a picturesque and in the main a correct idea of his Hfe, if we allow for his histrionic viewpoint. But from the moment his narrative reaches his departure from Italy for Paris until the end of his narrative, Goldoni seems almost to have been intentionally in- accurate. Several possible reasons may account for this apparent insincerity. Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 203 Goldoni's memory was poor. We have noted many errors, and there are many more in his narrative. His dates are seldom right, sometimes he forgets to mention some of his own plays, often misspells names of persons or places familiar to him. These mistakes, frequent in his youth, increased with old age, semi- blindness, and a heavy heart. Goldoni was almost eighty years old when he undertook to fulfil his engage- ment toward subscribers to his Memoirs, knowing that a certain amount of manuscript must be sent in to the printer daily, and he was in financial and mental dis- tress. So long as he could fashion his narrative from material accumulated in his prefaces and his other published anecdotes, his work was easy. Without correcting or improving, he took everything as it was in the Italian and turned it into his colourless French. But when this Italian material was exhausted, he tried padding. Sometimes he analyses his works, some- times he describes Paris and its monuments, sometimes he drifts into long enumerations of "friends," though some were scarcely acquaintances, sometimes he de- scribes books and plays, but above all he gossips about pompous trifles of court life. Not certainly in the style of a Pepys, or a Saint-Simon, who could make trifles interesting, but in the timid style of one who needs favour, and cannot afford to be quite sincere. Things began to go wrong even before he reached Paris. At Lyons ^ he received a letter from Zanuzzi • From Lyons Goldoni writes August, 1762, to his friend Gabriel Comet, — Leltcre editeda, E. Masi, op. cU., page 168: "To tell the truth, after 204 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time sa37ing that the comic opera had been united to the Italian comedy and the Italians reduced to the rank of accessories. Goldoni, who had not sufi&ciently understood the conditions of the TheS,tre Italien at Paris, failed even now to reaUse what this imion with "I'Opera Comique" was likely to mean. He knew that public taste was tending to music rather than spoken comedy and also to spectacular performances. The tendency answered to the spirit of the times, to that same spirit which in Venice ad- vantaged Carlo Gozzi's fiahe over his own plays. Moreover he knew that the Italian comedy had been fast declining. Ever since Lelio Riccoboni,^ answer- ing the Prince Regent's invitation, had valiantly en- deavoured to galvanise it, la Comedie Italienne Uved a poor and indecorous life, holding on by expedients which brought no real glory and only a small financial return. Riccoboni attempted to direct public taste by giving classical pieces, Scipione Maffei's Merope Marseilles and after Aix, which is a pretty city, all the rest of Provence and the Dauphinais disgusted me sorely for the ugly and dirty towns one meets there. On reaching Lyons I breathed and felt comforted, and I now begin to appreciate France. The city is very fine, well situated. ... I have thought it wise not to stop at Geneva, where I first intended to go, as I did not want to appear impertinent or to take advantage of the great love and anxiety they show for me." ' Madame Riccoboni, widow of Francesco Riccoboni, under the pseudonym of Laboras de MfeiSre, published several novels. Goldoni praises them in terms that seem unjustified. The last days of his life were employed in the translation of one of these novels, Histoire de Miss Jenny. She imitated Fielding in a novel AmSlie and presumed to give a sequel to Marivaux's Marianne (see Ademollo, Una FamigUa di Comici Ilaliani nelSecolo XVIII, Firenze, 1885). Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 205 in 1 716 with free entrance, and Ariosto's Scolastica a few months later. Yet with all his ability and with a good repertoire of plays he failed and was reduced to repeating stock plays, and to courting public favour by allowing full liberty to his players in the way of lazzi and clownish tricks. His successors did worse. They admitted French plays and French artists and pro- duced heterogeneous comedies of the so-called genre forain, and they catered to the growing taste of their audience for grivoiseries by intermingling dances, and songs with their plays. At the end of Carnival season in 1739, in a compli- mento, Signora Riccoboni says, " Sifflez plutot, messieurs, mats revenez nous voir, " a program that should have disgusted Goldoni from attempting to collaborate with such artists. The troupe drifted lower stiU under the direction of " le sieur Br^court," who made his Pierrot — an addition to the ItaHan staff of masks — an- noimce to the audience that "il recevra des acteurs a tous prix — mais il veut que surtout les femmes soient jolies," closing this significant speech with this boniment, "il permet les amants et les tracasseries." We can only guess how much of this Goldoni knew. That his half-forgotten play, // Figlio d'Arlecchino perduto e ritrovato, arranged by Zanuzzi, had met with some success was not in itself a serious encouragement. From plays of that sort Goldoni tried to wean the Italian public. Against this unaesthetic conception of comic art he fought vehemently in his critical pref- aces. He knew also that his Pettegolezzi delta Donne 2o6 Goldoni and the Venice of His Time in a French adaptation by Riccoboni was favourably re- ceived, an adaptation so different from the original that it should have discouraged him, by showing how the taste of the Parisian public differed from the Venetian. His reasons for leaving Venice must have been great, if such slender encouragement from Paris influenced his decision. Optimism, however, or the dignified reticence of the man who hides his fears, dictates the playful narrative of his travel both in his letters and in his Memoirs. "I even imagined that my country- men would consider their honour at stake, would emulate their new French comrades, and I supposed them perfectly able to sustain the competition." He travelled leisurely, saying, "If the Parisians are fiery and impatient, I am too phlegmatic to trouble about them," stopping at Bologna to write an opera- buffa, stopping at Parma to take his leave from his princely patron, avoiding Ferney, since he was now courting favour from kings and princes and did not boast of the exiled Voltaire's friendship. Across France he progressed with more speed, failing to ob- serve and describe the unfamiliar country and strange manners of life. In his earlier days, when wandering through Italy, he noted typical individuals, dialogues, and other traits and customs, which he afterward described. But now in travelling through France he neither describes a landscape, a city, or a monument, not even the Roman ruins of Aix. But he contrasts French and Italian custom-house officials, and indulges in a little etjmiological dispute with his nephew. Goldoni and the Venice of His Time 207 His first walks in Paris were enthusiastic. Madame du Socage describes him as so enchante with everything in Paris that he hked even the noise of its streets. He certainly liked Signora Riccoboni,^ who, having retired from the stage, provided him with information about the actors ; and he also liked Camilla Veronese ^ who was to interpret his pilays and win for herself — and partly for him — the favour of Parisian audiences. Even the ItaUan actors ^ did not then disappoint him. He would not be discouraged, though he noticed that on the days of opera comique with the French actors the house was crowded but that the Italian actors failed to attract people. He hopefully discussed plans with his comedians, and only realised his danger when • Also, and for everything about Italian comedy in Paris, see E. Cam- pardon, Lcs Comediins du Roi de la Troupe Italienne, Paris, 1880 (vol. i, p. 38, for Goldoni). * About Camilla Veronese, Grimm in Correspondance GinSrale, op. cit., vol. V, Janvier, 1764, says : "Si vous voulez savoir quels sont les meiUeurs acteurs de Paris, je ne vous nommerai ni Lekain, ni Mile Clairon, mais je vous enverrai voir Camilla et I'acteur qui joue d'ordinairement Pantalon et qui fait dans cette piece le r61e d'un honnete homme." ' For the Italian players of the eighteenth century in Paris see Saint- Evremond, De la Comedie Italienne, 1677 : "Pour les grimaces, les posture, les mouvements, pour I'agilite, la disposition, pour les changements d'un visage qui se d6monte comme il lui plait je ne sais s'Us ne sont pas prfifSrables aux mimes et aux pantomimes des anciens . . . et ce serait un go