(Charles John Maria), an eminent Italian writer, was born at Revel, in the principality of Piedmont, in the year 1731. Having studied at Saluzzo, he was about to enter into the order of the Grand Augustines at Ceva, at the age of fifteen, when one of his uncles appointed him to a benefice. He accordingly assumed the ecclesiastical habit, and remained two years at Saluzzo, when he learnt a little divinity, and acquired a knowledge of the French language, through the medium of a Swiss officer. In 1748, he obtained an exhibition, which enabled him to prosecute his studies at the provincial college in the University of Turin. Some time afterwards he took orders, and in 1753 was appointed Professor of Humanity at Pignerol. In consequence, however, of a quarrel with the Jesuits, he was obliged to quit Pignerol and the royal schools, and was sent to the schools of an inferior order. In 1756, on taking his degree of Doctor in Theology at the Palatine Schools of Milan, he printed his first work: a Theological Tract. After this he was restored to the Royal Schools, and was appointed extraordinary Professor of Humanity and Rhetoric at the Superior College of Turin. Six months afterwards he had the offer of the situation of an ordinary Professor at Chambery, which he refused. About this time he projected, but did not execute, a work on the literary history of Piedmont. His discourse On the vicissitudes of Literature, which was printed in 1760, attracted a considerable degree of attention, and drew upon him the vengeance of Voltaire, who attacked him in his Homme aux quarante ecus, published in 1767. The publication of the first volume of his great work, On the Revolutions of Italy, obtained for him the Professorship of Rhetoric in the Superior College of Turin; and twelve months afterwards, on the publication of the second volume, he was preferred to the chair of Italian Eloquence, and of the Greek Language at the University. The third volume, which was published in 1771, was still more favourably received than the preceding; while, at the same time, it tended to augment the number, and to increase the virulence of his enemies. The misfortune, however, which he now experienced, was partly occasioned by his own indiscretion. A manuscript, containing some obnoxious opinions, which he had entrusted to Cambiagi at Florence, having been published by authority of the Tuscan Censors, but without that of the Censors of Turin, Denina was pronounced to be guilty of an infraction of the Piedmontese laws, and punished with great severity. His book was suppressed, and he was compelled to pay the costs. He was then banished to Vercelli, and afterwards received orders to retire to his native province. Denina's friend, the Abbot Costa D'Arignon, undertook his defence, and procured the restoration of a part of his annual pensions, with permission to return to Turin.

In 1782 he repaired to Berlin, having, before his departure, received the honorary title of Librarian to the King of Sardinia. On his arrival at Berlin, Frederick II. appointed him a member of the Royal Academy; but he never became a favourite of that prince. He continued to reside in Germany for many years, where he occupied himself with literary pursuits, and published a variety of works. Being at Mentz, in 1804, he was noticed by Napoleon Buonaparte, who, in the month of October of that year, appointed him his Librarian. Denina accordingly went to Paris, where he continued to reside until his death, on the 5th of December 1813.

Denina is esteemed one of the most distinguished of the later Italian authors. The work upon which his reputation is principally founded is his History of the Revolutions of Italy, of which an improved edition was published at Turin in 1782, in five volumes 4to. In this work the facts are related with accuracy, and the narrative exhibits considerable talents for history. Some able critics in the Italian language have remarked, that there is a great differ- ence between the style of this work, and that of the other writings of the same author; and Denina acknowledged that he had submitted his history to the review of his friend the Abbot Costa d'Arignan (afterwards Cardinal and Archbishop of Turin), who made a good many judicious corrections.

The following is a list of his other works. *De Studio Theologica et norma fidei*, 1758, 8vo. *Discorso sopra le vicende della letteratura*, 1760, 12mo, which was reprinted, with additions, at Glasgow, in 1763, and has since gone through several editions. *Lettera di N. Daniel Caro* (the anagram of Carlo Denina), *sopra il dovere de' ministri evangelici di predicare colle istruzioni, e coll' esempio l'osservanza delle leggi civili, e specialmente in riguardo agli imposti*, Lucca, 1762, 8vo. *Saggio sopra la letteratura Italiana, con alcuni altri opuscoli*, Lucca, 1762. This work is a supplement to the first edition of his *Revolutions of Literature*. *Delle Lodi di Carlo Emmanuel III. re di Savoia*, 1771, 4to and 8vo. *Panegirico primo alla Maesta di Vittorio Amedeo III.* Turin, 1773, 4to and 8vo. *Panegirico secondo alla Maesta di Vittorio Amedeo III.*, 1775, 4to and 8vo, with notes. In 1777, he composed a third panegyric on the same prince. *Biblioteca, o l'arte di comporre libri*, Turin, 1776, 8vo. *Dell' impiego delle persone*, Florence, 1777. This was the work which gave so much offence, and occasioned the persecution of the author. It was reprinted at Turin, 1803, in 2 vols., small 8vo. *Storia politica e letteraria della Grecia*, Turin, 1781-82, 4 vols. 8vo. Reprinted at Venice, 1783. *Elogio storico di Mercurino di Gattinara*, Turin, 1782, 8vo. *Elogio del Cardinal Guada Bichieri*, 1782, 8vo. *Discours au Roi de Prusse sur les progres des arts*, 1781, 12mo. *Viaggio Germanico, primo quaderno delle lettere Brandenburghesi*, Berlin, 1785, 8vo. A second series of these letters afterwards appeared. *La Sibilla Teutonica*, Berlin, 1786. Reprinted in the fourth volume of the *Revolutions of Literature*. *Reponse à la question : Que doit on à l'Espagne?* Berlin, 1786. This tract was translated into Spanish, and was also printed at the end of the later editions of the *Vicende*. *Lettres Critiques*, a supplement to the preceding, 1786, 8vo. *Apologie de Frederic II. sur la preference que la Roi parut donner à la Litterature Francaise*, Dessau, 1787, 8vo. *Discours sur les Progres de la Litterature dans le nord de l'Allemagne*, Berlin, 1788. *Essai sur la Vie et le Regne de Frederic II.* Berlin, 1788, 8vo. *La Prusse Litteraire sous Frederic II.* &c. Berlin, 1790-91, 3 vols. 8vo. This work may be considered as a supplement to the life of Frederic. *Guide Litteraire*, 1790-91, 8vo. *The Russiad*; a poem, 1799. It was translated into French by M. André, in 1809, under the title of *Pierre le Grand*. *The History of Piedmont, and of the other States of the King of Sardinia*; translated into German by M. Frederic Strass, from the Italian manuscript of Denina, Berlin, 1800-1803, 3 vols. 8vo. In this history, the narrative is brought down to the recovery of Turin, under the reign of Victor Amadeus II. *Revoluzionidella Germania*, Florence, 1804, 8 vols. 8vo. *La Clef des Langues, ou Observations sur l'origine et la Formation de princip. Langues qu'on parle et qu'on écrit en Europe*, Berlin, 1804, 3 vols. 8vo. *Tableau Historique, Statistique, et Morale de la haute Italie*, &c. Paris, 1805, 8vo. *Essais sur les traces anciennes du caractère des Italiens modernes*, &c. 1807, 8vo. *Discorso istorico sopra l'origine della gerarchia e de' concordati fra la podestà Ecclesiastica e la Secolare*, 1808, 8vo. This work was afterwards suppressed. In the *Mélanges de Philosophie, d'Histoire, de Morale, et de Litterature*, No. 49, there is a long and severe article upon the *Discorso Istorico*. *Istoria della Italia occidentale*, 1809, 6 vols. 8vo. Besides these works Denina wrote some other tracts, which were inserted in various journals.

There is a biographical account of Denina in the *Magasin Encyclopédique* for January 1814, by M. Barbier. See also the *Biog. Universelle*.