CHAPTER X.[1831-33.]

It is one of Rochefoucauld’s maxims, that “in order to establish a great reputation, it is not enough for one to possess great qualities, he must also economize them.” If Mezzofanti had desired to act upon this prudent principle, he could not possibly have chosen a worse position than Rome.

From the very moment of his arrival there, his gift of language was daily, and almost hourly, exposed to an ordeal at once more varied and more severe than it would have encountered in any other city in the world. Without taking into account the many eminent linguists, native and foreign, for whom Rome has ever been celebrated; without reckoning the varying periodical influx of sight-seers, from every country in Europe, who are attracted to that city by the unrivalled splendour of her sacred ceremonial, and the more constant, though less noisy, stream of pilgrims from the remotest lands, who are drawn by duty, by devotion, or by ecclesiastical affairs, to the greatcentre of Catholic unity;—the permanent population of the Eternal City will be found to comprise a variety of races and tongues, such as would be sought in vain in any other region of the earth. From a very early period, the pious liberality, sometimes of the popes, sometimes of the natives of the various countries themselves, began to found colleges for the education, under the very shadow of the chair of Peter, of at least a select few among the clergy of each people; and, notwithstanding the confiscations of later times, there are few among the more prominent nationalities which do not even still possess in Rome, either a special national establishment, or, at least, a special foundation for national purposes in some of the many general establishments of the city. In like manner, most of the great religious orders, both of the East and of the West, possess separate houses for each of the countries in which they are established; and few, even of the most superficial visitors of Rome, can have failed to observe, among the animated groups which throng the Pincian Hill or the Strada Pia, at the approach of the Ave Maria, the striking variety of picturesque costumes by which these national orders are distinguished. Each, again, of the several rites in communion with the Holy See—the Greek, the Syrian, the Coptic, the Armenian—has, for the most part, an archbishop or bishop resident at Rome, to afford information or counsel on affairs connected with its national usages, and to take a part in all the solemn ceremonials, as a living witness of the universality of the Church.

But before all, and more than all, is the great Urban College—the college of the Propaganda—which unites in itself all the nationalities already described, together with many others of which no type is found elsewhere in Europe. Every variety of language and dialect throughout the wide range of western Christendom;—every eastern form of speech

From silken Samarcand to cedared Lebanon;

many of the half explored languages of the northern and southern continents of America; and more than one of the rude jargons of north and north-eastern Africa, may be found habitually domiciled within its walls. In the year 1837, when Dr. Wap, a Dutch traveller, who has written well and learnedly on Rome, visited the establishment, the hundred and fourteen students who appeared upon its register, comprised no less than forty-one distinct nationalities.[440]

Amid the vast variety of speech with which he was thus brought habitually into contact, Mezzofanti, even if he had desired to “economize” his reputed gifts, could not possibly have done so without provoking a suspicion of their questionableness, or at least of their superficial character. Nor, on the other hand, would he have ventured to expose the undeniable reputation which he had already established, although upon a provincial theatre, to the ordeal which awaited him in the great centre of languages, living or dead, had he not been supported by the consciousnessof the reality of his attainments, as well as attracted by the very prospect of increased facilities for pursuing and extending the researches which had been the business and the enjoyment of his life. At all events, we shall see that from the first moment of his establishment in Rome, so far from having “economized” his extraordinary faculty of language, he was most assiduous, and in truth prodigal, in its exercise.

Immediately on his arrival he was appointed canon of the church of Santa Maria Maggiore. This, however, was but an earnest of the intentions of the Pope, who, from the first, destined him for the highest honours of the Roman Church. It is clear, nevertheless, from his correspondence, that his affections still clung to his beloved Bologna. On occasion of his first new year in his new residence, he received many letters from his old friends, conveying to him the ordinary new year’s greetings. From his reply to one of these letters which was addressed to him by a friend, Signor Michele Ferrucci, professor of Eloquence in the university, we may gather how warm and cordial were the attachments which he had left behind.

Rome, January 4, 1852.“The new-year greetings which, for so many years, I used to receive from you in person, were always most grateful to me, because I knew them to be the genuine expression of your affection for me. In like manner the kind wishes conveyed in your letter are no less acceptable, since they show me that separation has not diminished your regard. I shall always retain a lively sense of it; and wherever I may be, it shall be my endeavourto give proofs by my conduct that I am not insensible to it. Let one of these be the assurance of my most zealous exertions to secure for you the change of position which you are seeking, from the chair of eloquence to that of assistant professor of archæology. I think it advisable that means should be taken to make known here the wishes of the professor himself, the Canonico Schiassi; and it is indispensable that the measure should not only originate with his eminence the arch-chancellor, but should have his most earnest support. So far as I am concerned, I shall leave nothing undone that may tend to further your wishes.I was deeply affected in reading your wife’s sonnets on the death of her sister and her father. May God grant that, this great affliction past, a heart so full of tenderness as hers, may meet nothing in life but joy and consolation in the continued prosperity of her dear family! Present my respects to her, and make my compliments to my old associates in the library. I never for a single day forget that happy spot, and I seldom cease to speak of it.If there be any matter in which I can be of use to you, I beg of you not to spare me.”

Rome, January 4, 1852.

“The new-year greetings which, for so many years, I used to receive from you in person, were always most grateful to me, because I knew them to be the genuine expression of your affection for me. In like manner the kind wishes conveyed in your letter are no less acceptable, since they show me that separation has not diminished your regard. I shall always retain a lively sense of it; and wherever I may be, it shall be my endeavourto give proofs by my conduct that I am not insensible to it. Let one of these be the assurance of my most zealous exertions to secure for you the change of position which you are seeking, from the chair of eloquence to that of assistant professor of archæology. I think it advisable that means should be taken to make known here the wishes of the professor himself, the Canonico Schiassi; and it is indispensable that the measure should not only originate with his eminence the arch-chancellor, but should have his most earnest support. So far as I am concerned, I shall leave nothing undone that may tend to further your wishes.

I was deeply affected in reading your wife’s sonnets on the death of her sister and her father. May God grant that, this great affliction past, a heart so full of tenderness as hers, may meet nothing in life but joy and consolation in the continued prosperity of her dear family! Present my respects to her, and make my compliments to my old associates in the library. I never for a single day forget that happy spot, and I seldom cease to speak of it.

If there be any matter in which I can be of use to you, I beg of you not to spare me.”

One of Mezzofanti’s first impulses on his being established in Rome, was to turn to account, as a means of extending his store of languages, the manifold advantages of his new position. On a careful survey of the rich and varied resources supplied by the foreign ecclesiastical establishments of Rome, and especially by the great treasure-house of the Propaganda, he found that there was one language, and that a language to which he had long and anxiously looked forward—the Chinese—which was, as yet, entirely unrepresented; the native students destined for the mission of China, being at that time exclusively educated in the Chinese College at Naples. Ithappened most opportunely that at this time Monsignor de Bossi, (afterwards administrator Apostolic of Nankin), was about to visit that institution, and proposed to Mezzofanti to accompany him;—a proposal which, as filling up agreeably the interval of rest which he enjoyed before entering upon the routine of the duties which awaited him, he gladly accepted.

The Chinese College of Naples was founded in 1725, by the celebrated Father Matthew Ripa,[441]with the permission of the reigning Pope Benedict XIII, and was formally approved by a bull of Clement XIII, April 5, 1732.[442]In the earlier and more favoured days of the Chinese mission, although it was chiefly supplied by European clergy, yet the missionaries freely opened, not alone elementary schools, but seminaries for the training of native catechists who assisted in the work of the mission, even within the precincts of the Imperial City. But the unhappy divisions among the missionaries upon the well-known question, as to the lawfulness of the so-called “Chinese ceremonies;” and the severe enactments which followed the final and decisive condemnation of these ceremonies by Clement XI., not only cut off all hope of this domestic supply of catechists, but effectually excluded all European missionaries from the Chinese Empire. The only hope, therefore, of sustaining the mission was to provide a supply of nativeclergy, who might pass unnoticed among the population, or who would at least possess one chance of security against detection, which the very appearance of a foreigner would preclude. With this view, Father Ripa brought together at Pekin a small number of youths, whom he hoped to train up under a native master, engaged by him for the purpose. A short experience of this plan, however, convinced him, not merely of its danger, but even of its absolute impracticability; and he saw that the only hope of success for such an institution would be, not only to place the establishment beyond the reach of persecution from the Chinese authorities, but, (as the great Pope Innocent III. had contemplated a college at Paris for native Greek youths),[443]even to withdraw the candidates altogether for a time from the contagion of domestic influences and domestic associations. Himself a Neapolitan, (having been born at Eboli, in the kingdom of Naples,) Ripa’s thoughts naturally turned to his own country for the means of accomplishing his design; and, after numberless difficulties, he succeeding in transferring to his native city, under the name of “the Holy Family of Jesus Christ,” the institution which he had projected at Pekin. It consists of two branches, the college, and the congregation. The latter is an association of priests and lay brothers, (not bound, however, by religious vows), very similar in its constitution to the Oratory of St. Philip Neri. The object of their association is the care and direction of the College.

The College, on the other hand, is designed for thepurpose of educating and preparing for the priesthood, or at least for the office of catechist, natives of China, Cochin China, Pegu, Tonquin, and the Indian Peninsula. They are maintained free of all cost, and are conducted to Europe and back to their native country at the charge of the congregation; merely binding themselves to devote their lives, either as priests or as catechists, to the duties of their native mission, under the direction and jurisdiction of the sacred congregation of the Propaganda. Since the time of the withdrawal of the European missionaries from China, the mission has relied mainly upon this admirable institution; and even still its members continue to deserve well of the Church. The priest, Francis Tien, whose cruel sufferings for the faith are detailed by Mgr. Rizzolati in a letter published in the Annals of the Propagation of the Faith, July 1846, was a pupil of this college. So likewise is the excellent and zealous priest, Thomas Pian, who recently volunteered his services to the Propaganda as a missionary to the Chinese immigrants in California.

At the time of Mezzofanti’s visit, March 23, 1832, the superior of the college of the Congregation was Father John Borgia, the last direct representative of the noble family of that name. He received the great linguist with the utmost cordiality; and during the entire time of his sojourn, the students and superiors vied with each other in their attentions to their distinguished guest. From the moment of his arrival he had thrown himself with all his characteristic energy into the study of the language; and notwithstandingits proverbial difficulty, and its even to him entirely novel character, he succeeded in an incredibly short time in mastering all the essential principles of its rudimental structure. Most unfortunately, however, before he had time to pursue his advantage, his strength gave way under this excessive application, and he was seized with a violent fever,[444]by which his life was for some time seriously endangered. The fever was attended by delirium, the effect of which, according to several writers[445]who relate the circumstance, was to confuse his recollection of the several languages which he had acquired, and to convert his speech into a laughable jumble of them all. This, however, although an amusing traveller’s story, is but a traveller’s story after all. Mezzofanti himself told Cardinal Wiseman that the effect of his illness was not merely to confuse, but tosuspend his memory altogether. He completely forgot all his languages. His mind appeared to return to its first uneducated condition of thought, and whatever he chanced to express in the course of his delirium was spoken in simple Italian, as though he had never passed outside of its limits.

He was so debilitated by this illness, that immediately upon his convalescence it became necessary for him to return to Rome without attempting to resume his Chinese studies. Most opportunely, however, for his wishes, the authorities of the Propaganda some years afterwards transferred to Rome, as we shall see, a certain number of these Chinese students, with the view of enabling them to complete with greater advantage in the great missionary college the studies which they had commenced in what might almost be called a domestic institution. With their friendly assistance Mezzofanti completed what had been so inauspiciously interrupted by his illness.[446]

The fatigues of the homeward journey brought on a renewal of the fever; and for some weeks after his return to Rome, (from which he had been absent about two months,) he suffered considerably from its effects. Happily, however, it left no permanent trace in his constitution, and the autumn of 1832 found him engaged once more with all his usual energy in his favourite pursuit. The intention of the Pope in inviting him to Rome, had been to place him at the head of the Vatican Library, as successor of the celebrated Monsignor Angelo Mai, then First Keeper of that collection, who was about to be transferred to the Secretaryship of the Propaganda. The arrangements connected with this change of offices, however,were not yet completed, and Mezzofanti availed himself industriously of this interval of comparative leisure which the delay placed at his disposal. His position at Rome brought him into contact with several languages of which he had never before met any living representative; and many of those which he had hitherto had but rare and casual opportunities of speaking or hearing spoken were now placed within his reach as languages of daily and habitual use. In the Maronite convent of Sant’ Antonio he had ancient and modern Syriac, with its various modifications, at his command. For Armenian, Persian, and Turkish, the two learned Mechitarist communities of San Giuseppe and Sant’ Antonio supplied abundant and willing masters. One of these, the eminent linguist Padre Aucher, whose English-Armenian Grammar Lord Byron more than once commemorates as their joint production,[447]was himself master of no less than twelve languages. To the Ruthenian priests of S. Maria in Navicella, he could refer for more than one of the Sclavonic languages. The Greek college of St. Athanasius, owing to the late troubles in Greece, was then untenanted, but there were several Greek students in the Propaganda, awaiting its re-opening, which took place in 1837. The celebrated Persian scholar, Sebastiani, had just recently returned to Rome. Signor Drach, a learned Hebrew convert, was Librarian of the Propaganda; and a venerable Egyptian priest, Don Georgio Alabada, suppliedan opportunity of practice in the ancient Coptic, as well as in the Arabic dialect of modern Egypt.

In the German College were to be found not only all the principal tongues of the Austrian Empire, German, Magyar, Czechish and Polish, but many of its more obscure languages—Romanic, Wallachian, Servian, and many minor varieties of German, Rhetian, (the dialect of the Graubünden, or Grisons) Dutch, Flemish, and Frisian. In reference to some of these languages, I have been able to avail myself of the recollections of more than one student of this noble institution, as witness of Mezzofanti’s extraordinary proficiency.

He was on terms of the closest intimacy with the Abbé Lacroix, of the French church of St. Lewis, since known as the editor of theSystema Theologicumof Leibnitz. The Rector of the English College, Dr. (now Cardinal) Wiseman, even then a distinguished orientalist, and professor of oriental languages in the Roman university, and the Rector of the Irish College, the present Archbishop of Dublin, were his especial friends. In both these establishments, he was a welcome and not unfrequent visitant.

The several embassies, also, afforded another, though of course less familiar school. He often met M. Bunsen, the Minister Resident of Prussia; he was frequently the guest of the Marquis de Lavradio, the Portuguese ambassador, and Don Manuel de Barras, whose letter attesting the purity and perfection of Mezzofanti’s Castilian, is now before me, was an attaché of the Spanish Embassy.

The Propaganda, however, itself a perfect microcosmof language, was his principal, as well as his favourite school. For his simple and lively disposition, the society of the young had always possessed a special charm; and to his very latest hour of health, he continued to find his favourite relaxation among the youths of this most interesting institution. In summer, he commonly spent an hour, in winter an hour and a half, in the Propaganda, partly in the library, partly among the students, among whom he held the place alternately of master and of pupil;—and, what is still more curious, he occasionally appeared in both capacities, first learning a language from the lips of a student, and then in his turn instructing his teacher in the grammatical forms and constitution of the very language he had taught him!

Independently, indeed, of study altogether, the Propaganda was for years his favourite place of resort, and there was no place where his playful and ingenuous character was more pleasingly displayed. He mixed among the pupils as one of themselves, with all the ease of an equal, and without a shade of that laborious condescension which often makes the affability of superiors an actual penance to those whom they desire to render happy. While the cheerfulness of his conversation was often tempered by grave advice or tender exhortation, it was commonly lively and even playful, and frequently ran into an amusing exhibition which those who witnessed never could forget. In the free and familiar intercourse which he encouraged and maintained, there sometimes arose sportive trials of skill, in which the great amusementof his young friends consisted in endeavouring to puzzle him by a confusion of languages, and to provoke him into answering in a language different from that in which he was addressed. The idea of these trials (which reminded one of the old-fashioned game of “cross-question,”) appears to have originated in a good-humoured surprise, which the Pope Gregory XVI. played off on Mezzofanti soon after his arrival in Rome. The linguist, however, was equal to the emergency. Like the good knight, Sir Tristram, he proved

“Most master of himself, and least encumbered,When over-matched, entangled, and outnumbered.”

“Most master of himself, and least encumbered,

When over-matched, entangled, and outnumbered.”

“One day,” says M. Manavit, “Gregory XVI. provided an agreeable surprise for the polyglot prelate, and a rare treat for himself, in an improvised conversation in various tongues—a regular linguistic tournament. Among the mazy alleys of the Vatican gardens, behind one of the massive walls of verdure which form its peculiar glory, the Pope placed a certain number of the Propaganda students in ambuscade. When the time came for his ordinary walk, he invited Mezzofanti to accompany him; and, as they were proceeding gravely and solemnly, on a sudden, at a given signal, these youths grouped themselves for a moment on their knees before his Holiness, and then, quickly rising, addressed themselves to Mezzofanti, each in his own tongue, with such an abundance of words and such a volubility of tone, that, in the jargon of dialects, it was almost impossible to hear, much less to understand them. But Mezzofanti didnot shrink from the conflict. With the promptness and address which were peculiar to him, he took them up singly, and replied to each in his own language, with such spirit and elegance as to amaze them all.”

In addition to these increased opportunities of exercise, he also derived much assistance, in the more obscure and uncommon department of his peculiar studies, from the libraries of Rome, and especially from that of the Propaganda. The early elementary books, grammars, vocabularies, catechisms, &c., prepared for the use of missionaries in the remote missions, have for the most part been printed at the Propaganda press: and the library of that institution contains in manuscript similar elementary treatises in languages for the study of which no printed materials existed at that time. To all these, of course, the great linguist enjoyed the freest access; and it can hardly be doubted that, during the first year of his residence in Rome, he did more to enlarge his stock of words, and to perfect his facility and fluency in conversation, than perhaps in any previous year of his life.

Immediately upon Mgr. Mai’s appointment to the Secretaryship of the Propaganda, May 15th, 1833, Mezzofanti was installed asPrimo Custode, First Keeper of the Vatican Library; and about the same time he was appointed to a Canonry in St. Peter’s. In the midst of the warm congratulations which he received from all sides, it was not without considerable distrust of his own powers, that he entered upon the office of Librarian, as the successor of a scholar so eminent as Angelo Mai.

“It is no ordinary distinction,” he wrote to his friend Cav. Pezzana, “to be called to succeed Mgr. Mai in the care of the Vatican Library,—a post which has derived new brilliancy from the brilliant qualities of its latest occupant: nor can I overcome my apprehension lest the honour which I may gain by my first few hours of office may decline, when it comes to be seen how great is the difference between this distinguished man and his successor. This fear, I confess, is a drawback upon my joy at this happy event; but at the same time, I trust it will also stimulate me to make every effort that the lustre of a position in itself so honourable, may not be tarnished in my person. I have only to wish that your congratulation, coming as it does from a kindly feeling, may be an earnest of the successful exercise of the diligence I am determined to use in my new career, which is all the more grateful and honourable to me, as it furnishes more frequent occasions of corresponding with you.”

There is another of his letters of the same period, which to many perhaps will appear trivial, but which points in a still more amiable light, not alone his unaffected piety and humility, but the homely simplicity of his disposition, and the affection with which he cherished all the domestic relations. It is addressed to his cousin, Antonia, who has already been mentioned in a former part of this Memoir, but who, for some years before Mezzofanti’s leaving Bologna, had been afflicted with blindness. On the occasion of his appointment, this lady employed the pen of a common friend, Signora Galli, of Bologna, to convey her congratulations to Mezzofanti. It would seem, moreover, that she had intended on the same occasion to make him a present, which Mezzofanti, out of consideration for her limited means, had thought it expedient to decline.

“Bologna, December 14, 1833.My most esteemed cousin,Accept, in return for all your kind congratulations and good wishes, my most sincere prayer that God may bestow upon you all the choicest blessings of the approaching festival. There isonepresent which it is in your power to make me, and one which is especially suitable to a person so entirely devoted to God as you are: it is to offer up the holy communion for me on one of the coming festivals. I, upon my part, will offer the Holy Sacrifice for you on the feast of St. John; and on the same day I will make a special memento of your good parish priest, the abate Landrino, who once, upon the same day, showed me a kindness which I shall never forget. Pray remember me to him, and also to dear Signora Galli, in whom, as your secretary, you have found an admirable exponent of your affectionate sentiments, for which I am deeply grateful to you both. My nephews unite in best wishes for your health and happiness. Make the best report from me at home, and believe me always, your most affectionate cousin,Joseph Mezzofanti.”

“Bologna, December 14, 1833.

My most esteemed cousin,

Accept, in return for all your kind congratulations and good wishes, my most sincere prayer that God may bestow upon you all the choicest blessings of the approaching festival. There isonepresent which it is in your power to make me, and one which is especially suitable to a person so entirely devoted to God as you are: it is to offer up the holy communion for me on one of the coming festivals. I, upon my part, will offer the Holy Sacrifice for you on the feast of St. John; and on the same day I will make a special memento of your good parish priest, the abate Landrino, who once, upon the same day, showed me a kindness which I shall never forget. Pray remember me to him, and also to dear Signora Galli, in whom, as your secretary, you have found an admirable exponent of your affectionate sentiments, for which I am deeply grateful to you both. My nephews unite in best wishes for your health and happiness. Make the best report from me at home, and believe me always, your most affectionate cousin,

Joseph Mezzofanti.”

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