GOLDONI
g;ji
GOLDWELL
Ooldoni, Carlo, dramatist; b. at Venice, 25 Feb.,
1707; d. at Paris, 6 Jan., 1793. Goldoni is especially
notable for the reform which he wrought in the Italian
theatre by substituting for the drama of improvisation
(commedia dell' arte) a fully elaborated character
play inspired by the works of Moliere, and yet replete
with a realism due to his own keen observation of con-
temporary life in Italy. The story of his life has been
told with much detail in the autobiographical "Me-
moires", which he wrote in French in 1787. This
work is important also for the account which it gives
of the vicissitudes attending his attempts to improve
the dramatic repertory of his day, and of his eventual
success despite the opposition of t'hiari and Gozzi.
Born in \'enice, he accompanied his father in his peregrinations to various Italian cities, among them Perugia and Rimini, where he practised as a physician. The boy was intended at first for his father's profes- sion, but he early intlicated his real tastes by running away from Rimini with a theatrical troupe. Later we find him at \enice studjang law, and ere long he is seen occupying at t'hioggia the post of assistant to the registrar or clerk of the criminal court. By this time he had begun the composition of plays. He finally took his degree in law and settled in Venice, practising as an advocate and continuing his literary work. But he did not remain at rest long. Associated with the diplomatic service for brief periods, he sojourned in Milan and in Genoa, and then for one reason or an- other shifted his domicile hither and thither in North- ern Italy, making his longest stay in Pisa, where for five years he devoted himself to legal pursuits. In 1746 he received the appointment of dramatic poet to the theatre S. .\ngelo at Venice, and in the following year betook himself to his native city. In his new position he wrote many comedies which were per- formed successfully, and in 17.52 he accepted a similar appointment to the Venetian theatre of San Luca, for which he provided additional pieces. All the while warfare was being waged against him by the partisans of the inartistic "Commedia dell' arte", and finally, although he had gained the day, he determined from sheer weariness to accept the offer made him in 1761 of the place of poet to the Theatre Italien at Paris. Honourable though his post was, he never felt really happy in it, and when the time of his contract was fin- ished, he meditated an instant return to his native land. This purpose he did not carry out, for an ap- pointment as Italian tutor to the daughters of Louis XV induced him to remain in France. A pension was assigned to him, and it was paid to him regularly up to the year 1792. He died the next year on the day be- fore that on which, at the recommendation of Joseph Ch^nier, the Convention restored his pension.
During his residence in the French capital, Goldoni produced two important comedies in French, the " Bourru bienfaisant" (which he himself translated into Italian), and the ".\vare fastueux". Goldoni's dramatic pieces are about ^50 in number. They fall readily into three groups: those written entirely in the Venetian dialect, of which there are about eleven; those written partly in dialect, which form the largest part; and those written wholly in pure Italian, of which some are in prose and some in Martellian verse. The earlier among them, the tragedies, tragi-comedies and melodramas are almost negligible; his fame rests on the comedies picturing the customs of his time. Notable among these are " La locandiera ", " LTn curi- oso accidente", "II Bugiardo", "Pamela", "La bot- tega di caffe", "I Rusteghi", and "II Burbero bene- fico " (the Italian form of the play performed at Paris in 1771). These and a few others still live on the Italian stage. His "Lettere", published in a collec- tion at Bologna in 1880, contain interesting matter which adds to the information conveyed in the "M6- moires ". The plavs are given in the two Venice editions —1788-95 in 44 vols., and 1817-22 in 46 vols.
Lee, The Eighteenth Century in Italy; Howells, Preface to <T.
Blank's translation of the Mcmoires ; Lohner, Carlo Goldoni e le
sue Memorie in Archivio Veneto. XXII-XXIV; Rabany, De
Goldonio italirtF scena correclore (Paris, 1893); Mabtini, Carlo
Goldoni in La Vita italiana nel Settecento (Milan, 1896).
J. D. M. Ford.
Goldwell, Thom.'is, Bishop of St. Asaph, the last survivor of the ancient hierarchy of England ; b. prob- ably at the family manor of Goldwell, in the parish of Great Chart, near Ashford, Kent, between 1501 and 1515; d. in Rome, 3 April, 1585. He was a mem- ber of a Kentish family of ancient lineage, long .seated at Goldwell; and was educated at All Souls College, Oxford, where he graduated M..\. in 1531, and B.D. in 1534. While at Oxford he attained more eminence in mathematics, astronomy, and kindred sciences, than in divinity or the humanities, a point wortli remem- bering in view of his future career. He stood out firmly against the innovations in religion brought about by Henry VIII. At an early date he became intinuite with Reginald, afterwards Cardinal, Pole, a friendship which proved to be a lasting one, and which had consideraljle influence on Goldwell's subsequent career. Soon after 1535, when the king had begun his drastic measures of ecclesiastical spoliation. Gold- well became Pole's chaplain and joined him in exile, being included in the same .\ct of Attainder "for cast- ing off his duty to the King, and submitting to the Bishop of Rome". He reached Rome in 1538, and shortly afterwards he was appointed camerarius of the English Hospital of the Holy Trinity. In 1547 he be- came a novice in the Theatine House of St. Paul, at Naples. On the death of Paul III, Pole, now a cardi- nal, asked and obtained permission for Goldwell to ac- company him to Rome, and thus he was present at the long conclave of 1.549-50 in the capacity of Pole's per- sonal attendant. After the election of Julius III, Goldwell returned to Naples, and made his profession as a' Theatine. In 1553, while Edward VI was still reigning, an Act of General Pardon was passed, from which Goldwell had the signal honour of being spe- cially excepted by name, along with Pole and some others. On the accession of Mary I there came an all too brief spell of prosperity for English Catholics. Pole, now papal legate, returned to England with Goldwell in his train, and the latter was soon nomi- nated to the See of St. .\saph in North Wales (1555). While still only liishop-designate, he was sent to Rome (2 July, 1555) to make a report on the state of religion in England to Paul IV.
While at Rome, on this occasion, he was probably consecrated bishop; and he returned to England at the end of the year. In 1556 he assisted at the consecra- tion of Pole to the .\rchbishopric of Canterbury. He was then for some time actively engaged in the affairs of his Diocese of St. .-Vsaph. He issued numerous in- junctions to his clergj-, prohibiting married priests from saying Mass, and forbade the use of churches as poor-schools. He revived the pilgrimages to the miraculous well of St. Winefride, at Flolywell, and ob- tained from the pope a renewal of the indulgences for pilgrims to that shrine. He also examined the heretic John Philpot, which fact is chronicled in no friendly way by Foxe (" .\cts and Monuments ", ed. Townsend, VII, 620). It was about this time proposed, though without his knowledge or consent, to make him am- bassador to the court of Rome, and to translate him to the See of Oxford; letters of credence to Paul IV had been actually made out; and on 5 Nov., 1558, he re- ceived the custody of the temporalities of the See of Oxford, Thomas Wood having received that of St. .\saph four days previously. But the death of Queen Mary on 17 November terminated all these arrange- ments. Just at this juncture Goldwell was at the deathlied of Cardinal Pole, to whom he gave the last sacraments.
The accession of Elizabeth was, of course, the signal
