I have mentioned names almost at random, passing over (not through forgetfulness, but because space compels me) many writers to whom I owe weighty obligations. The notes and references in these volumes will, I trust, contain acknowledgment sufficient to atone for omissions in this place.
Not a few of these distinguished men hold professorial appointments; and it is clear that they are forming students in the great Italian cities, to continue and complete their labors. Very much remains to be explored in the field of Italian literary history. The future promises a harvest of discovery scarcely less rich than that of the last half-century. On many moot points we can at present express but partial or provisional judgments. The historian of the Renaissance must feel that his work, when soundest, may be doomed to be superseded, and when freshest, will ere long seem antiquated. So rapid is the intellectual movement now taking place in Italy.
In conclusion, it remains for me to add that certain passages in Chapter II. have been reproduced from an article by me in the _Quarterly Review_, while some translations from Poliziano and Boiardo, together with portions of the critical remarks upon those poets, were first published, a few years since, in the _Fortnightly Review_. From the _Fortnightly Review_, again, I have extracted the translation of ten sonnets by Folgore da San Gemignano.
In quoting from Italian writers, in the course of this literary history, I have found it best to follow no uniform plan; but, as each occasion demanded, I have given the Italian text, or else an English version, or in some cases both the original and a translation. To explain the motives for my decision in every particular, would involve too much expenditure of space. I may, however, add that the verse-translations in these volumes are all from my pen, and have been made at various times for the special purpose of this work.
The period from 1300 to 1530--Its Division into Three Sub-Periods--Tardy Development of the Italian Language--Latin and Roman Memories--Political Struggles and Legal Studies--Conditions of Latin Culture in Italy during the Middle Ages--Want of National Legends--The Literatures of Langue d'Oc and Langue d'Oïl cultivated by Italians--Franco-Italian Hybrid--Provençal Lyrics--French Chansons de Geste--Carolingian and Arthurian Romances--Formation of Italian Dialects--Sicilian School of Court Poets--Frederick II.--Problem of the _Lingua Aulica_--Forms of Poetry and Meters fixed--General Character of the Sicilian Style--Rustic Latin and Modern Italian--Superiority of Tuscan--The _De Eloquio_--Plebeian Literature--Moral Works in Rhyme--Emergence of Prose in the Thirteenth Century--Political Songs--Popular Lyrics--Religious Hymns--Process of Tuscanization--Transference of the Literary Center from Sicily to Tuscany--Guittone of Arezzo--Bolognese School--Guido Guinicelli--King Enzio's Envoy to Tuscany--Florentine Companies of Pleasure--Folgore de San Gemignano--The Guelf City 1