PARINI, Giuseppe (1729-1799), Italian poet, was born in the district of Bosisio in the Milanese, on the 22d of May 1729. His parents, who possessed a small farm on the shore of Lake Pusiano, sent him to Milan, where he studied under the Barnabites in the Academy Arcimboldi, maintaining himself latterly by copying manuscripts. In 1752 he published at Lugano, under the pseudonym of Ripano Eupilino, a small volume of sciolto verse which secured his election to the Accademia dei Transformati at Milan and to that of the Arcadi at Rome. Encouraged yet further by his success in two controversies with Alessandro Bandiera and Onofrio Branda, he proceeded to utilize in the composition of the satire, Il Mattino, the knowledge of aristocratic life which he had gained as tutor in the Borromei and Serbelloni families. The poem, which was published in 1763, and which marked a distinct advance in Italian blank verse, consisted of ironical instructions to a young nobleman as to the best method of spending his mornings. It at once established Parini’s popularity and influence, and two years later a continuation of the same theme was published under the title of II Mezzogiorno. The Austrian plenipotentiary, Count Firmian, who had favoured the publication of the poems, interested himself in procuring the poet’s advancement, appointing him, in the first place, editor of the Gazette, and in 1769, in despite of the Jesuits, to a specially created chair of belles lettres in the Palatine School. His subsequent lectures as professor of rhetoric in the Gymnasium di Brera are still of value, and as occupant of the chair of fine arts he was frequently consulted by the artists of the day in matters of taste and design. On the French occupation of Milan he was appointed magistrate by Napoleon and ...