the name applied to those who exercise the faculty of declaiming in verse upon any subject whatever without previous preparation. In no country has it been practised so extensively as in Italy, where it was introduced by the provençal bards in the twelfth century. The first eminent improvisatore was Serafino d'Aquila, who was born A.D. 1466, and died A.D. 1500. He was followed and surpassed by many of his countrymen. In the beginning of the sixteenth century, the learned Greek refugees introduced into Italy their Symposia, and these entertainments were in great favour with Leo X. After his death, the native language of the Italians was adopted in place of Latin, in which the improvisatori had previously declaimed. Perhaps the most successful of the class since then was Peretti, who was born at Sienna 1680, and died at Rome 1747. He gained the laurel crown which had been awarded only to Petrarch and Tasso. The recitation of the improvisatori was often accompanied by music. The extemporaneous verses uttered on one single occasion amounted to hundreds, and even to thousands of lines. Whole tragedies were produced—the subjects being chosen by the spectators. The most celebrated improvisatrice was Corilla of Pistoia, but the printed works of this class of versifiers never rise above mediocrity.