The Giuli Tre are one of those happy thoughts, which are at once inimitably original and universally intelligible. At second hand it would be comparatively nothing, however well done. Nobody can take it up; but every body can feel it. To poetical readers it will come with a peculiar grace, from their sympathy with the natural unmonied faculties of poets in general, and the straits to which they render them liable. Those indeed who love pleasure pushed to a verge of pain, will not fail to discover the kind of fascination which such a subject might well have for too many authors. Casti himself has touched upon this point of attraction; and for our parts, we feel it so sensibly, that like himself we shall proceed to grasp it at once, and see how well we can turn our fears to better purpose. We shall notice all the principal sonnets that struck us throughout the work, partly that we may give as much account of it as possible, and partly because the jest is concerned in shewing to what a length it is carried. It may be as well to mention, that the single instead of double rhymes which the poet uses, and which render the measure exactly similar to that of the translation, have a ludicrous effect to an Italian ear.

In his third sonnet, the poet requests fables and dreams to keep their distance :

Lungi o favole, o sogni, or voi da me,

Or che la Musa mia tessendo va

La vera istoria delli Giuli Tre.

Ye dreams and fables, keep aloof, I pray,
While this my Muse keeps spinning, as she goes,
The genuine history of the Giuli Tre.

Sonnet 5.-He complains that after having an ardent desire of renown, and of singing about arms and warriors, he is compelled to exchange those heroic commodities for Giuli Tre.

Son. 8.-His Creditor, he says, ought not to be astonished at his always returning the same answer to his demand for the Giuli Tre, because if a man who plays the organ or the hautboy were always to touch the same notes, the same sounds would always issue forth.

SONNET 10.

Ben cento volte ho replicato a te
Questa istessa infallibil verità,

Che a conto mio, da certo tempo in quà,

La razza de' quattrini si perdè.

Tu non ostante vieni intorno a me

Con insoffribile importunità,

E per quei maledetti Giuli Tre

Mi perseguiti senza carità.

Forse in disperazion ridur mi vuo',

Ond' io m'appichi, e vuoi vedermi in giù
Pender col laccio al collo? Oh questo no.
Risolverommi a non pagarti più,

E in guisa tal te disperar farò,
E vo' puittosto che ti appichi tu.

I've said for ever, and again I say,
And it's a truth as plain as truth can be,
That from a certain period to this day,
Pence are a family quite extinct with me.
And yet you still pursue me, and waylay,
With your insufferable importunity,

P

And for those dd infernal Giuli Tre
Haunt me without remorse or decency.

Perhaps you think that you'll torment me so,
You'll make me hang myself? You wish to say
You saw me sus. per coll.-No, Giuli, no.
The fact is, I'll determine not to pay;
And drive you, Giuli, to a state so low,
That
you shall hang yourself, and I be gay.

Son. 11.-He says, that if he is in the company of beautiful girls, who delight to be talking with him, or if he picks out some solitary and quiet spot to take his walk in, wherever he is, in short, morning or evening, he cannot wean his memory from the Giuli Tre. The image of his Creditor comes before him, and haunts him worse than Asmodeus or Beelzebub.

Son. 12.-Any one who wishes to meet with the Creditor, is advised to find where the poet is, for he'll be certain to see him there, the Creditor having no other thought or occupation than the business of the Giuli Tre.

Son. 13.-The poet does not know whether there is a plurality of worlds, whether the moon is inhabited, &c. He is inclined to doubt whether there can be a people who had not Adam for their father. But if there is, he longs to go up there and live among them. Nevertheless, he fears it would be of no avail, as his Creditor would get Father Daniel to show him the way, and come after him.*

*Father Daniel is author of a work entitled Travels through the World of Des Cartes.

SONNET 15.

Importuno il tafan così non è

Nella stagion che son più caldi i dì,
Importuno il moscon non è così,

Come importuno è il creditor con me.
Che se fresca dal ciel pioggia cadè,
Ogni moscone, ogni tafan sparì,
Ma non giammai varia stagion fin qui
Tormi d' intorno il creditor potè.

E forse come o per la gravità,
Ovvero per centripeta virtù,
O per attrazione, o per chi sa,
Tendon di sua natura i corpi in giù,
Così
per natural tua proprietà

A me tendi, o Crisofilo, anche tu.

Never did beetle hum so teazingly

About one's ears, in walking, when it's hot;
Never did fly return so to one spot,
As comes my teazing Creditor on me.
Let it but rain, for instance, and you'll see
The flies and beetles vanish like a shot;
But never comes the time,-the day is not,-
In which this vermin here will let me be.

Perhaps as bodies tend invariably

Tow'rds other bodies by some force divine,—

Attraction, gravity, or centripathy,

(God knows; I'm little vers'd in your right line)

So by some natural horrid property

This pretty satellite tends tow'rds me and mine.

Son. 16.-Tormented by the Tre Giuli as Orestes was by the Furies, he speculates, like him, upon seeking repose in some other country.

Son. 17. The poet, while he is bidding adieu to his dear friends, brought to that bitter pass by the "fatal debit of the Giuli Tre," is accosted by his Creditor, who says he'll go with him. He therefore gives up his project in despair.

Son. 19. The poet is suddenly intoxicated with joy. His Creditor is going out of town. Now he sees him put his boots and spurs on!-Now he mounts on horseback !— Now his horse is in motion!-He has gone, and the poet feels like a mariner when the storm has cleared away.

Son. 20. Since the Creditor has gone, the poet says he walks about with delight all over the city; just as the mouse, when the cat's gone, passes from place to place with a certain ardent daring. He hopes that he has gone towards the coast, and that the Turks will carry him into slavery. Not that he wishes him ill: on the contrary, he wishes to God they would make him a Vizier or Mufti, so that he might never see him again.

Son. 21. An apostrophe to the elements, entreating them to behave in their kindest manner, in order to facilitate the Creditor's voyage. On the other hand, the voyage being finished, he trusts they will be extremely furious, so as to hinder him, like Noah's crow, from ever returning.

Son. 22. He feels like a city no longer besieged.

Son. 23.-A letter by the post! It is from the Creditor, who tells him to get ready the Giuli Tre, as he shall be in town by Sunday, or by Monday at farthest. "Poffareddio!" exclaims the poet," the fellow has found out a way of tormenting me at a distance; and though I do not give him the Tre Giuli, squeezes the amount out of me in this way!"