GOLDONI (Charles), was born at Venice in the year 1707. He gave early indications of his humorous character, as well as his invincible propensity to those studies which have rendered his name immortal. His father, perceiving that the darling amusement of his son was dramatic performances, had a small theatre erected in his own house, in which Goldoni, while yet an infant, amused himself with three or four of his companions, by acting comedies. Before he was sent to school, his genius prompted him to become an author. In the seventh and eighth years of his age, ere he had scarcely learned to read correctly, all his time was devoted to the perusing comic writers, among whom was Cicognini, a Florentine, little known in the dramatic commonwealth. After having well studied these, he ventured to sketch out the plan of a comedy, which needed more than one eye-witness of the greatest probity to verify its being the production of a child.
After having finished his grammatical studies at Venice, and his rhetorical studies at the Jesuit's college in Perugia, he was sent to a boarding-school at Rimini, to study philosophy. The impulse of nature, however, superseded with him the study of Aristotle's works, so much in vogue in those times. He frequented the theatres with uncommon curiosity; and passing gradually
gradually from the pit to the stage, entered into a familiar acquaintance with the actors. When the season of comic performances was over, and the actors were to remove to Chiozza, young Goldoni made his escape in their company. This was the first fault he committed, which, according to his own confession, drew a great many others after it. His father had intended him to be a physician, like himself: the young man, however, was wholly averse to the study. He proposed afterwards to make him an advocate, and sent him to be a practitioner in Modena. An horrid ceremony of ecclesiastical jurisdiction, at which he was present, inspired him with a melancholy turn, and he determined to become a capuchin.
His father, perceiving the whimsical, inconstant humour of his son, feigned to second this proposal, and promised to go and present him to the guardian of the capuchins in Venice, in the hope that after some stay in that extensive and merry city, his melancholy fit would cease. The scheme succeeded; for the young man, indulging in all the fashionable dissipation of the place, was cured of his foolish resolution. It was however necessary for him to be settled in some employment; and he was prevailed upon by his mother, after the death of his father, to exercise the profession of a lawyer in Venice. By a sudden reverse of fortune he was compelled to quit at once both the bar and Venice. He then went to Milan, where he was employed by the resident of Venice in the capacity of secretary; where becoming acquainted with the manager of the theatre, he wrote a farce, entitled, Il Gondoliere Veneziano, the Venetian Gondolier; which was the first comic production of his that was performed and printed. Some time after, Goldoni broke with the Venetian resident, and removed to Verona.
There was in this place, at that time, the company of comedians of the theatre of St Samuel of Venice, and among them the famous actor Cosali, an old acquaintance of Goldoni, who introduced him to the manager. He began therefore to work for the theatre, and became insensibly united to the company, for which he composed several pieces. Having removed along with them to Genoa, he was for the first time seized with an ardent passion for a lady, who soon afterwards became his wife. He returned with the company to Venice, where he displayed, for the first time, the powers of his genius, and executed his plan of reforming the Italian stage. He wrote the Momolo, Courtisan, the Squanderer, and other pieces, which obtained universal admiration.
Feeling a strong inclination to reside some time in Tuscany, he repaired to Florence and Pisa, where he wrote The Footman of Two Masters, and The Son of Harlequin lost and found again. He returned to Venice, and set about executing more and more his favourite scheme of reform. He was now attached to the theatre of St Angelo, and employed himself in writing both for the company and for his own purposes. The constant toils he underwent in these engagements impaired his health. He wrote, in the course of twelve months, sixteen new comedies, besides forty-two pieces for the theatre; among these many are considered as the best of his productions. The first edition of his works was published in 1753, in 10 vols. 8vo. As he wrote afterwards a great num-
ber of new pieces for the theatre of St Luca, a separate edition of these was published, under the title of The New Comic Theatre; among these was the Terence, called by the author his favourite, and judged to be the master-piece of his works. He made another journey to Parma, on the invitation of Duke Philip, and from thence he passed to Rome. He had composed 59 other pieces so late as the year 1761, five of which were designed for the particular use of Marque Alberghi Capacelli, and consequently adapted to the theatre of a private company. Here ends the literary life of Goldoni in Italy.
Through the channel of the French Ambassador in Venice, he had received a letter from Mr Zenuzzi, the first actor in the Italian theatre at Paris, containing a proposal for an engagement of two years in that city. He accordingly repaired to Paris, where he found a select and numerous company of excellent performers in the Italian theatre. They were, however, chargeable with the same faults which he had corrected in Italy; and the French supported, and even applauded in the Italians, what they would have reprobated on their own stage. Goldoni wished to extend even to that country his plan of reformation, without considering the extreme difficulty of the undertaking. Scurrilities and jests, which are ever accompanied by actions, gestures, and motions, are the same in all countries, and almost perfectly understood even in a foreign tongue; while the beauties of sentiment and dialogue, and other things which lead to the understanding of characters and intrigues, require a familiar acquaintance with the tongue of the writer.
The first attempt of Goldoni towards his wished-for reform, was the piece called The Father for Love; and its bad success was a sufficient warning to him to desist from his undertaking. He continued, during the remainder of his engagement, to produce pieces agreeable to the general taste, and published twenty-four comedies; among which The Love of Zelinda and Lindor is reputed the best.
The term of two years being expired, Goldoni was preparing to return to Italy, when a lady, reader to the dauphiness, mother to the late king, introduced him at court, in the capacity of Italian master to the princesses, aunts to the king. He did not live in the court, but resorted there at each summons, in a post-chaise sent to him for the purpose. These journeys were the cause of a disorder in the eyes, which afflicted him the rest of his life; for being accustomed to read while in the chaise, he lost his sight on a sudden, and in spite of the most potent remedies, he could never afterwards recover it entirely. For about six months lodgings were provided him in the chateau of Versailles. The death, however, of the dauphin, changed the face of affairs. Goldoni lost his lodgings, and only, at the end of three years, received a bounty of 1000 livres in a gold box, and the grant of a pension of four thousand livres a-year. This settlement would not have been sufficient for him, if he had not gained, by other means, farther sums. He wrote now and then comedies for the theatres of Italy and Portugal; and, during these occupations, was desirous to shew to the French that he merited a high rank among their dramatic writers. For this purpose, he neglected nothing which could be of use to render himself master of the French language.
Goldoni. He heard, spoke, and conversed so much in it, that, in his 62d year, he ventured to write a comedy in French, and to have it represented in the court theatre, on the occasion of the marriage of the king.
This piece was the Bourru Bienfaisant; and it met with so great success, that the author received a bounty of 150 louis from the king, another gratification from the performers, and considerable sums from the booksellers who published it. He published, soon after, another comedy in French, called L'Avaré Falsueur. After the death of Louis XV. Goldoni was appointed Italian teacher to the Princess Clotilde, the present princess of Piedmont; and after her marriage he attended the late unfortunate Princess Elizabeth in the same capacity.
The approach of old age obliged him to quit Versailles, and to live in Paris, the air of which, less sharp, was better adapted to his constitution. The last work of Goldoni was The Volponi, written after his retirement from court; from which time he bade a lasting adieu to writing. Unfortunately for him, he lived to see his pensions cut off at the revolution, like others, and he spent his last days in poverty and distress. He died in 1792, at a crisis when, according to the expression of a deputy in the Convention, the French nation was ready to repay him every debt of gratitude.
Goldoni is on a par with the greatest comic poets of modern times, with regard to dramatic talents, and is thought superior to them all with regard to the fertility of his genius. His works were printed at Leghorn in 1788-91, in 31 vols. 8vo. He has been generally called the Moliere of Italy; and Voltaire, in one of his letters to Marquis Alberghi, styles him The Painter of Nature. Goldoni is one of those authors whose writings will be relished in the most remote countries, and by the latest posterity.