I admire the dexterity of the plot, and the liberality of the opinions.
I admit that it is impossible to turn to a page which does not contain something that deserves to be remembered; but it is at least six times as long as it ought to be.

And the garrulous feebleness of the style is a still greater fault than the length of the work.
It may be thought that I have gone too far in attributing these evils to the influence of the works and the fame of Petrarch.

It cannot, however, be doubted that they have arisen, in a great measure, from a neglect of the style of Dante.

This is not more proved by the decline of Italian poetry than by its resuscitation.

After the lapse of four hundred and fifty years, there appeared a man capable of appreciating and imitating the father of Tuscan literature--Vittorio Alfieri.