nication with a stranger who was utterly ignorant of every language except his own, and eventuallj"^ to mas- ter that language sufficiently for all the purposes of con- versation. He has left an account of his mode of study during these years, which is not a little curious and in- teresting, " The hotel-keepers," he says, " were in the habit of notifying me of the arrival of all strangers at Bologna ; and I never hesitated, when anything was to be learned thereby, to call upon them, to interrogate them, to make notes of their communications, and to take lessons in the pronunciation of their several languages. There were a few learned Jesuits too, and several Span- iards, Portuguese, and jMexicansresidingin Bologna, from whom I received valuable assistance, both in their own and in the learned languages. I made it a rule to learn every strange grammar, and to apply myself to every new dictionary that came within my reach. I was constantly filling my head with nevr words. When- ever a stranger, whether of high or low degree, passed through Bologna, I tried to turn the visit to account, either for the purpose of perfecting my pronunciation, or of learning the familiar words and turns of expres- sion. Nor did all this cost me so much trouble ; for, in addition to an excellent memory, God had gifted me with remarkable flexibility of the organs of speech." In the year 1812 Mezzofanti was appointed assistant libra- rian of the university ; in 1814 he was reinstated in his professorship ; and in 1815 he became chief libra- rian. From this period, especially after the restoration of peace, his reputation rapidly extended. Every ^-isitor of Bologna related fresh marvels regarding his prodigi- ous attainments. Tourists from every nation, whether of Europe or of the East, united in representing him as perfect, each one in his own language. Lord Byrore, about 1820, pronounced him " a walking polyglot, a monster of languages, and a Briareus of parts of speech." M. Molbech, a Danish traveller of the year 1820, reports the number of his languages at " more than thirty," and testifies to his speaking Danish "with almost entire correctness." French, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian, Greek, and Turkish travellers concur in the same re- port, not only with regard to their own, but also to many other languages. During all these years— exce:i)t a short visit to Pisa, Leghorn, Florence, and Rome— he had resided altogether at Bologna, though invited, with many flattering offers, to transfer his residence to Paris, to Vienna, to Florence, and to Rome. At length, hav- ing gone to Rome as a member of the deputation sent by the Bolognese to offer their submission to pope Greg- ory XVI, after the revolution in 1831, he was induced by the pontiff to settle permanently in Rome, and to. accept a prebend in the Church of St. Mary Major, which was soon after exchanged for a canonry in St. Peter's, and, on the promotion of the celebrated Angelo ]\Iai, then keeper of the Vatican Library, to the secretarj'- ship of the Propaganda, Mezzofanti was appointed to succeed him in the important charge of the Vatican. He held this office till 1838, in which year, conjointly with Mai, he was elevated to the cardinalate. His res- idence in a great centre of languages, such as Rome, and especially the facilities of intercourse with the va- rious races represented in the College of the Propagan- da, gave a new impulse to Mezzofanti's linguistic stud- ies. The reports of his visitors at Rome are still more marvellous than those cf the Bolognese period. Au eminent German scholar, Herr Gcirres, who had much intercourse with him in the year 1841, writes thus: "He is familiar with all the European languages; and bv this I mean not only the ancient classical tongues and the modern ones of the first class — such as the Greek and Latin, or the Italian, French, German, Span- ish, Portuguese, and English — his knowledge extends also to thelanguages of the second class, viz., the Dutch, Danish, and Swedish ; to the whole Sclavonic family —Russian, Polish, Bohemian, or Czechish ; to the Ser- vian, the Hungarian, the Turkish; and even those of the third and fourth classes— the Irish, the Welsh, the
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Wallachian, the Albanian, the Bulgarian, and the Illyr- ] member of many ecclesiastical congregations in Rome, ian. The liomani of the Alps and the Lettish are not ' but he never held any olHce of state. He died on the unknown to him; nay, he has made himself acquainted j 15th of jM arch, 1849, and was buried in the Church of with Lappish, lie is master of the laiiguages which | St. Onofrio, beside the grave of Torquato Tasso. His fall within the Indo-( iernianic family — the Sanscrit and personal character was gentle, humble, modest, humane, Persian, the Kurdish, tlio (ieorgiaii, the Armenian; he j and he was a sincere and devout man. is familiar with all tlio members of the Shemitic family | It is difficult to determine with accuracy the number — the Hebrew, the Arabic, the Syriac, the Samaritan, j of languages known by jSIezzofanti, and still more so to the Chaldee, the Sabaic — nay, even with the Chinese, j ascertain how many of these he spoke, and with what