who have successively obtained the mastery of the country. The Gallic (Celtic) and the Roman elements have in the course of time become the principal ingredients of Italian nationality, but few traces of the character of the aboriginal population being now discernible. In upper Italy the Germanic element has contributed its share toward the formation of Italian nationality. Even the name of Lombardy is derived from that of a German tribe. In southern Italy and Sicily the Arab element enters into the mixture of national characteristics. A common language is the principal bond of union of the Italian people, or, it would be more correct to say, of the educated classes; for only the written language is the same in all parts of Italy, while the vernacular of the common people consists of various dialects, almost as dissimilar as different tongues. It is only in a portion of Tuscany that the Italian language is spoken in its purity. In this respect Italy stands in a position similar to that of Germany. The unity of Italian like that of German nationality has, since the downfall of the Roman empire, never existed, and it is not until the present century that the idea of an Italy united politically has, at least among the educated classes, gone far to conquer the provincial and local jealousies and animosities through which Italy has for a long series of centuries become an easy prey to foreign conquerors. The Italian has generally a fine exterior. He is rather slim than stout, but strong and agile. A dark complexion, an expressive countenance, sparkling eyes, black hair, and a grave gait combine to render the physique of the Italian characteristic and prepossessing. A great proportion of the inhabitants retain many of the characteristics of the Roman conquerors of the world. The decline of the Italian military greatness was followed by eminence in letters. Italy was long the foremost nation of Europe in literature, art, and science, and has given birth to some of the greatest men of modern times. The prevailing system of agriculture, the peasants being obliged to pay one half of their gross income to the landlords, and the minute sub-division of the soil, exert a depressing effect upon the condition of the lower classes. Education has been long in a backward state, but the improved system recently introduced into Sardinia is beginning to attract the attention of the other Italian states. There are numerous high schools, academies, lyceums, and universities, and the last enjoyed during the middle ages a world-wide reputation, though they are now eclipsed by some of the German seats of learning. The universities of Italy are those of Bologna, Pavia, Salerno, Naples, Padua, Rome, Perugia, Pisa, Sienna, Turin, Parma, Florence, Catania, Cagliari, Genoa, and Modena. Immense literary treasures are stored in public libraries. The principal libraries are the Vatican and the Minerva library at Rome; the Borbonica and the Brancacciana at Naples; the university library at Bologna; the Ambrosian at Milan; the library of St. Mark at Venice; the royal library at Turin;

and the libraries at Brescia, Ferrara, and Parma. Literary and scientific societies have been numerous in Italy ever since the 14th century, but only a few of them have retained their vitality. Among them the accademia della crusca at Florence, the royal institute at Milan, and the academy of sciences at Turin, are the most prominent. Museums, cabinets of art, and picture galleries are found almost everywhere in Italy, rendering it the Mecca of artists. Observatories exist in Bologna, Padua, Milan, Florence, and Palermo. The number of charitable institutions of various kinds is enormous. The Roman Catholic religion is almost exclusively professed, all others being barely tolerated except in Sardinia, where freedom of religion is guarantied by the constitution. The number of the clergy is remarkably large, the lowest estimate being 500,000.-The industry and commerce of Italy have fallen from the high state which they obtained during the middle ages, when the republics of upper Italy were the commercial centres of the continent, and held the same position which during the 17th century was held by the Netherlands, and since the 18th century has been held by Great Britain. Genoa and Leghorn, however, still retain an important influence in the shipping business of the world, and several branches of manufacture are in a flourishing state, such as those of silk, glass, earthenware, straw goods, artificial flowers, and maccaroni. The kingdom of Sardinia has a far greater length of railroads than all the rest of Italy. The aggregate length in the continental portion of Sardinia in 1856 was over 430 m., while Tuscany had only 146, Naples 36, and the Papal States 15. Since then, Lombardy having been annexed to Sardinia and several new roads having been constructed, the aggregate length of the Sardinian railroads is over 800 m. The shipping of Italy is large in the number of vessels, but small in tonnage. The following figures are given by O. Hübner (1859):

that title, which was eagerly coveted for a long series of centuries by the rulers of Germany, was merely a pretext for territorial conquests in Italy. When, in 843, the empire of Charlemagne was divided among his grandsons, the Italian provinces fell to the share of Lothaire, but the rule of the Carlovingians lasted scarcely for a generation. During a period of anarchy and civil war Guido of Spoleto, Berengarius of Friuli, Hugh of Provence, Berengarius of Ivrea, and Lothaire, son of Hugh, successively obtained an uncertain mastership. Lothaire having been poisoned in 950 by Berengarius, his widow Adelaide appealed to Otho I., king of Germany, who married her, conquered Lombardy (951), and in another campaign obtained the imperial crown. In lower Italy, the duchy of Benevento, and the republics of Naples, Gaeta, and Amalfi, though undisturbed by the strifes in the northern and central divisions of the peninsula, had for a long time to contend against the Saracens, who had conquered Sicily in 817, and invaded lower Italy during the latter half of the 9th century. Their attacks having at last been definitely repulsed, lower Italy once more returned under Byzantine rule, and remained so for nearly a century more, while the greater portion of Italy was held in subjection by Germany. For 50 years the German dominion was comparatively undisturbed. From the year 1000 the hatred of the Italians against the foreign rulers, diligently fostered by the clergy, manifested itself in frequent local insurrections and civil wars; but during the 11th century the German kings succeeded, on the whole, in maintaining their authority. During that time, in lower Italy, the Byzantine rule was gradually overturned by the Normans, who conquered Apulia and Calabria on the continent, and in 1070 the islands of Sicily and Malta from the Arabs. This new kingdom, consolidated by Robert Guiscard (1057-'85) and Roger (1085-1114), became a strong point of support for the popes in their contests with the German kings. Their power increased so rapidly that the successor of the mightiest of all the German rulers over Italy (Henry III.) was compelled to submit himself to Gregory VII. in the most ignominious manner (1077). A new element then began to appear in the political development of upper Italy. The Lombard kingdom gradually resolved itself into several prosperous municipalities, some of which became in the course of continuous feuds powerful commonwealths, able to contend successfully even against the mighty Swabian (Hohenstaufen) dynasty of Germany. Milan, Venice, Pisa, and Genoa became the centres of the movement for national independence. Milan formed the league of the Lombard municipalities, which, allied with the popes, opposed the exertions of the Hohenstaufen to erect Italy into a hereditary kingdom for their own dynasty. The national party assumed the name of the Guelphs (from the Bavarian dynasty of the Welfs, the most powerful opponents of the imperial rule in Germany), while the partisans of the emperors

were known under the name of Ghibellines (a corrupt form of Waiblingen, the original seat of the Swabian or Hohenstaufen dynasty). Along continued struggle ended in the victory of the Guelphs, the emperor Frederic I. having been compelled to recognize the independence of the cities belonging to the league. As an offset to these reverses he obtained the kingdom of the Two Sicilies by the marriage of his son with the daughter of the last Norman king. When, by internal dissensions and bloody civil wars, the power of the free cities in upper Italy seemed to be exhausted, Frederic II. made another effort to obtain complete mastery, but his successes were only temporary (1248), and the German dynasty was completely overthrown in upper Italy (1254), while the kingdom of the Two Sicilies was wrested from them by Charles of Anjou. In the mean time municipal liberty in the free cities of upper and central Italy had been gradually subverted by petty dynasties, and the second half of the 13th century witnessed a long series of fierce party struggles, the old designations of Guelphs and Ghibellines being kept up, the former by the aristocratic, the latter by the popular or democratic party. The aristocracy was defeated in Venice, Genoa, and in Florence, whence all noblemen were banished (1282); but soon after the victorious popular party was torn into several hostile factions, and, though still able to frustrate the efforts of the German emperor Henry VII., who attempted to regain the dominion of Italy (1312), they succumbed in the different states to petty tyrants. Thus Pisa fell under the rule of Uguccione della Faggiula (1314), and Lucca under that of Castruccio Castracani (1316); Padua became a principality under the Carrara dynasty (1318), Alessandria, Tortona, and Cremona under the Viscontis, Mantua under the Gonzagas (1328), and Ferrara under the Estes. The Polenta family ruled in Ravenna, the Scala family in Verona, the Peysoli family in Bologna (1335). Genoa expelled the leading families of the Guelph and Ghibelline parties, and elected its first doge, Simone Boccanegra (1339). In Rome the democratic party, led by Cola di Rienzi, was successful for a brief time (1347). Beside all the miseries engendered by these feuds and dissensions, armies of robbers, consisting of discharged soldiers, plundered the country, a terrible famine (1347) decimated the population, and a plague, the most horrible of which we have any account, mowed down full two thirds of the inhabitants of the peninsula. Yet in the midst of these inflictions, science, literature, and the fine arts flourished as they had never done before, and the very plague which made Italy a vast cemetery furnished the dark background on which Boccaccio drew the light fantastical pictures of his Decamerone. In lower Italy, Charles of Anjou, having lost the island of Sicily by a popular outbreak (the Sicilian vespers, March 30, 1282), consolidated his dynasty in Naples, and the country enjoyed comparative tranquillity. In 1382 Queen Joanna was dethroned and assassin

ated. The usurper, Charles III., shared her fate in 1386, and her grandson maintained himself for 28 years. Toward the latter half of the 14th and during the 15th century 5 principal states arose above the wild turmoil of the preceding period, viz.: Naples, the Papal States, Florence, Milan, and Venice; while the smaller states gradually dwindled down to utter insignificance. From Milan the Visconti dynasty threatened all the neighboring princes, and gradually subjected Lombardy to their rule. Having become extinct in 1447, they were succeeded by the Sforza dynasty. In Florence, the Medici family rose by their wealth and prudence to monarchical power. Venice, under a strong oligarchical government, conquered Padua, Verona, Vicenza (1405), and a portion of Dalmatia (1426), established colonial governments in the Grecian archipelago and on the shores of the Black sea, and remained victorious in many struggles with the Turks and with Naples. Its former powerful rival, Genoa, had, after an almost continuous feud of 130 years (1250-1380), been compelled to acknowledge the superior power of Venice. After the end of the 15th century Italy became the theatre of the rivalry of the Spanish-Austrian dynasty and the French. The struggle was opened in 1497 by the attempt of Charles VIII. of France to conquer Naples. After many vicissitudes of war, the successes which France had obtained in Italy were finally annihilated by the battle of Pavia in 1525. From that time Italy enjoyed comparative peace for over 150 years, during which period its territorial and political relations became more and more consolidated. In Florence the Medici obtained hereditary monarchical power; the principality of Montferra fell to the Gonzagas of Mantua (1536); Parma and Piacenza to the Farnese family, descendants of Pope Paul III.; Milan and Naples were secured to Spain by the emperor Charles V. (1553); in the extreme N. W. portion of Italy the ducal house of Savoy obtained Piedmont. Venice, whose resources had been greatly diminished by the discovery of the passage around the cape of Good Hope, lost the island of Candia in 1669, but conquered a large portion of the Grecian peninsula in 1684. New troubles and changes were caused by the wars of France under Louis XIV. Savoy and Piedmont were held by France for 21 years, from 1675 to 1696. In 1706 Austria conquered Milan, Mantua, and Montferrat, and ceded the last to Piedmont. By the peace of Utrecht Austria obtained Sardinia and Naples, but exchanged the former for Sicily, which had been given to Piedmont. The Farnese family having become extinct, Parma and Piacenza were given to the Spanish prince Charles in 1731, but fell to Austria in 1738, when Charles was transferred to the throne of Naples. In Tuscany the Medici family became extinct in 1737, and was succeeded by Francis Stephen of Lorraine, husband of the Austrian empress Maria Theresa. Parma and Piacenza were conquered by the Spanish prince Philip, and were con

ferred upon him as a hereditary duchy by the peace of Aix la Chapelle (1748). Thus about the middle of the 18th century a large portion of Italy had lost its independence, being subject to the dynasties of Lorraine, Bourbon, and Savoy. The republics of Genoa and Venice were mere shadows of what they had been in former times. The political and social life of the country settled deeper and deeper into the slough of apathy and moral degradation, over which the flames kindled by the French revolution cast a lurid glare. In 1792 a French army invaded Savoy, which, after several campaigns, was annexed to France (1796). In 1797 Bonaparte erected Milan, Mantua, a portion of Parma, and Modena into the Cisalpine republic; Genoa was transformed into the Ligurian republic, and the Papal States into the Roman republic (1798). Naples, hav ing sided with Austria, was invaded by the French, the king Ferdinand IV. expelled, and his kingdom formed into the Parthenopean republic (1799). During Bonaparte's campaign in Egypt the allied Austrians and Russians reconquered upper Italy, and the British, Russians, and Turks lower Italy; but in a brief campaign Bonaparte restored the French supremacy (1800). By the peace of Luneville the duke of Parma obtained Tuscany under the designation of the Etrurian kingdom; Lombardy and Parma fell to France, and Venice to Austria. In 1802 the Cisalpine was changed into the Italian republic, under the presidency of Bonaparte, and in 1805 into the Italian kingdom, administered by Napoleon's stepson Eugene Beauharnais. Guastalla was annexed to the new kingdom, and Piombino and Lucca were given in fief to Napo leon's sister, Elisa Bacciochi. By the peace of Presburg Venice, Istria, and Dalmatia were added to the Italian kingdom, the area of which then comprised 35,400 square miles, with a population of 5,657,000. In the following year Guastalla, the Ligurian republic, Parma, and Piacenza were completely annexed to France, while Naples was once more made a kingdom for Joseph Bonaparte, who was succeeded by Murat in 1808. In that year the Etrurian kingdom and the Papal States were added to France, but Istria and Dalmatia were separated from Italy and united to the new Illyrian kingdom, while a portion of the Tyrol was added to Italy. The last effort of Austria to crush the French in Italy having been frustrated in a 5 days' battle (April 19-23, 1809), the supremacy of Napoleon in Italy remained undisturbed until his power had been broken by the Russian campaign and the successful rising of Germany. Murat of Naples made common cause with Austria (Jan. 11, 1814), and the French army was expelled from Italy (April 23, 1814). Murat, who was to have been confirmed in the possession of Naples for the support lent to the enemies of his benefactor, was dethroned by a counter-revolutionary movement, and in an attempt to reconquer his kingdom died by sentence of a court martial. Under the new territorial arrangements of the congress of Vienna, the