he never neglected literature, but went on writing in the intervals of
serious affairs. Self-taught, well-nigh devoid of systematic culture in
history, philosophy, and language, but gifted with a sincere admiration
for the best Italian authors, with an active fancy and a natural bias
for burlesque humour, he formed that peculiar manner, at once prolix and
forcible, effective and slovenly, which distinguishes his published
works. Unequal in style, incorrect in diction, incapable of giving
perfect form or polish to his compositions, he nevertheless posed as a
purist and threw himself with passion as a conservative into the
literary polemics of his day. The Accademia Granellesca, founded at the
close of this period, recognised in him its stoutest champion and most
quarrelsome fore-fighter. I have mentioned the year 1756 as the date
which opens the third period in Gozzi's life. It marks the publication
of his _Tartana degli Influssi_ and the return of Sacchi's company to
Venice. This period terminates in 1781, and includes all that was most
memorable in his career--the quarrel with Goldoni and Chiari, the
alliance with Sacchi, the composition of the _Fiabe_ and twenty-three
plays on Spanish subjects, the liaison with Teodora Ricci, and the
episode of Gratarol. Gozzi was past sixty when Sacchi's company broke
up, and Gratarol's misfortunes threw a gloomy light upon his past
theatrical career. The fourth period of seventeen years is distinguished
by little literary activity. Yet we owe to it the _Memorie Inutili_,
which were professedly written as an answer to Gratarol's _Narrazione
Apologetica_. Partly composed in 1780, but suppressed by order of the
Government, they did not see the light until the year 1797-98, when
Gozzi completed the work and sent it in a hurry to the press. Meanwhile
the Republic of S. Mark had fallen, never to rise again. In the midst of
this political earthquake, Gozzi retained his old aristocratic
principles intact, though he bowed to custom and used the shibboleths of
the French Revolution, as he confesses, with conscious cynicism.[85] The
period of old age was passed in comparative solitude, cheered, however,
by the friendly relations which he maintained with the surviving
members of his family. The cycle of his dramatic works was closed; and
after 1782 he had the mortification of seeing his _Fiabe_ neglected,
while Goldoni's star reascended the firmament of popularity and fame.
Indeed, the _Fiabe_