are, and who persuaded Henry
Steffens, the Norwegian philosopher, to try his hand at purely literary
productions. Together with Schlegel he was the greatest German exponent of
the works of Shakespeare.

[Sidenote: Reaction in Italy]

In Italy, likewise, severe measures of reaction were inflicted on the
people of the governments of Austria, Naples and some of the petty
principalities. In Tuscany, the reading of the Bible was prohibited. In
February, a revolt at Milan, instigated by Mazzini, was ruthlessly put
down. A few months later a revolutionary plot was revealed at Rome. Some
hundred and fifty conspirators were thrown into prison. As heretofore,
Garibaldi figured in these movements. In Sardinia alone, under the
enlightened Ministry of Count Cavour, the liberal movement for united Italy
was encouraged. The Pope's hostile attitude was resented by the passage of
anti-clerical measures in Sardinia. Thus at first ecclesiastical
jurisdiction was abolished, and later bills were proposed for the
suppression of convents and for the ultimate withdrawal of all State
support from the clergy.

[Sidenote: Tommaso Grossi]

In October, while the conspiracy trials were still in full prosecution at
Milan, Tommaso Grossi, the Italian romantic poet, died in that city. Grossi
was born at Belland, on Lake Como, in 1791, and at an early age won
distinction by a patriotic satire against Austrian rule in northern Italy.
In 1817 he published "La Fuggitiva," a love story of the French wars, which
found great favor. Inspired by his intercourse with Manzoni, a few years
later he wrote "Ildegonda," a romantic poem treating of the times of
chivalry and cloister life. This poem won a great success. Less happy was
his attempt to rival Tasso with an epic poem in fifteen cantos on the
Crusades. Among his prose tales, the most lasting in interest are the
historical novel "Marco Visconti" and the idyl "Ulrico e Lida." Of his
lyric songs, "La Rondiella" achieved the greatest popularity.

[Sidenote: Gustave Courbet]

Gustave Courbet, the French originator of realism in painting, the author
of "Le Beau c'est le Laid," the man who claimed that all search for the
beautiful or ideality in art was a gross error, this year exhibited his
"Women Bathing," and again created a stir on the exhibition of his "Funeral
at Ornans" and his "Drunken Peasants at Flagny." This early exponent of
realism in its most radical form, despite his taste for vulgar types,
sh