GROSSI, Tommaso (1791-1853), Lombard poet and novelist, was born at Bellano, on the Lake of Como, January 20, 1791. He took his degree in law at Pavia in 1810, and proceeded thence to Milan to exercise his profession; but the Austrian Government, suspecting the young barrister’s loyalty, interfered with his prospects, and thus it happened that Grossi was a simple notary all his life. That the suspicion was well grounded he soon showed by writing in the Milanese dialect the battle poem La Pmneide, in which he described with vivid colours the tragical death of Prina, chief treasurer during the empire, whom the people of Milan, instigated by Austrian agitators, had torn to pieces and dragged through the streets of the town (1814). The poem, being anonymous, was first attributed to the celebrated Porta, but Grossi of his own accord acknowledged himself the author. In 1816 he published other two poems, written likewise in Milanese —The Golden Kain (La Pioggia d’Oro) and The Fugitive (La Fuggitiva). These compositions secured him the friendship of Porta and Manzoni, and the three poets came to form a sort of romantic literary triumvirate. Grossi took advantage of the popularity of his Milanese poems to try Italian verse, into which he sought to introduce the moving realism which had given such satisfaction in his earliest compositions; and in this he was entirely successful with his poem lldegonda (1814). He next set about writing an epic poem, entitled The Lombards in the First Crusade, a work of which Manzoni makes honourable mention in his Betrothed. This composition, which was published by subscription (1826), attained a success that has not been equalled by that of any other Italian poem within the century. The example of Manzoni, who had meanwhile published The ...