Gold on i

(Published first in the Pall Mall Gazette , Dec. 8th, 1883; then in the Browning Society’s Papers .) Carlo Gold on i (1707-93) was the most illustrious of the Italian comedy-writers, and the real founder of modern Italian comedy. He had a pension from the French King Louis XVI., which he lost at the Revolution, and he was reduced to the extremest misery. A monument was erected to him at Venice in 1883, and Browning wrote for the album of the Gold on i monument the following lines:— “Gold on i,—good, gay, sunniest of souls,— Gla ing half Venice in that verse of thine.— What though it just reflect the shade and shine Of common life, nor render, as it rolls, Grandeur and gloom? Sufficient for thy shoals Was Carnival: Parini’s depths enshrine Secrets unsuited to that opaline Surface of things which laughs along thy scrolls. There throng the People: how they come and go, Lisp the soft language, flaunt the bright garb,—see,— On Piazza, Calle, under Portico And over Bridge! Dear king of Comedy, Be honoured! Thou that didst love Venice so— Venice, and we who love her, all love thee! ( Venice , Nov. 27th, 1883 .)