The world: historical and actual . r-ed his virtues, butdisregarded his po-litical advice. Hissuccessor is a manof much ability,but thus far he haseffected nothing to make his name him it can be said, that he strenuously clings tothe old ways and ideas; but he gradually accepts,apparently in good faith, the inevitable and com-plete loss of temporal power. No dynasty in Europehas such a hold upon its j^eople as the Italian, andail thought of restoring the papal temporality maywell be dismissed. The government of Italy is a constitutional mon-archy, ?with a senate appointed for lif
The world: historical and actual . r-ed his virtues, butdisregarded his po-litical advice. Hissuccessor is a manof much ability,but thus far he haseffected nothing to make his name him it can be said, that he strenuously clings tothe old ways and ideas; but he gradually accepts,apparently in good faith, the inevitable and com-plete loss of temporal power. No dynasty in Europehas such a hold upon its j^eople as the Italian, andail thought of restoring the papal temporality maywell be dismissed. The government of Italy is a constitutional mon-archy, ?with a senate appointed for life, and a cham-ber of. 508 deputies elected by popular suffrage. Thepress is free and the people contented. The nationaldebt is large, but the country is, on the whole, pros-perous. The educational system is good. The rail-roads and canals afford sufficient facilities for trans-portation. The present population is not far fromthirty millions. The great industries are silk culture,vnue making, and the production cf works of art. |. View of Rome, showing the Castle of St Angelo and St. Peters. Italy can boast a splendid literature, and an in-comparable art. The chief of its authors is Dante,whose poetic representation of the Komish view ofthe future life is an immortal work. Under theguidance of Virgil he explored hell and purgatory,and then the spirit of Ins lost love, Beatrice, led himthrough Paradise. Dante ranks witli Goethe, andsecond only to the incomparable Shakspeare. Hisworks have been translated into all tongues, and arethe delight of a peculiarly wide circle of familiar name is Tasso. He was veryhighly esteemed in his day, but wiser after-judg-ment placed him in the lower rank of genius. Boccac-cio, whose taleswould be rejectedby a modern pub-lisher as indecent,occupies a consj>ic-uous place on ac-count of the two otherItalian authors justnamed, he was oneof the pioneers ofmodern literature,and isdeserving ofgreat credit fordoing so well
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectworldhistory, bookyea
