DOLCE, Ludovico, or Luigi (1508-1568 or 1569), one of the most laborious and multifarious writers of Italy in the 16th century, was a native of Venice, and belonged to a’family of honourable tradition but decadent fortune. He received a good education, aud early undertook the task of maintaining himself by his pen. His life, even more destitute of outward events than such a life usually is, may be briefly summed up in one word—he wrote. Translations from Greek and Latin, epics, satires, histories, plays, and treatises on language and art followed each other in rapid succession, till the whole number amounted to upwards of 70 works. In his own day his industry was rewarded by no small amount of fame; but he is now mainly memorable as the author of Marianna, a tragedy from the life of Herod, which was recast in French by Tristan and by Voltaire, and still keeps a place on the stage. Four licentious comedies, Il Ragazzo (1541), Il Capitano (1545), Il Marito (1560), Il Russiano (1560), and seven of Seneca’s tragedies complete the list of his dramatic efforts. In one epic—to translate the title-page—“he has marvellously reduced into ottava rima and united into one narrative the stories of the Iliad and the AEneid;” in another he devotes 39 cantos to a certain Primaleone, son of Palmerius; in a third he celebrates the first exploits of Count Orlando; and in a fourth he sings of the Paladin Sacripante. A life of the emperor Charles V. and a similar account of Ferdinand I., published respectively in 1560 and 1566, are his chief historical productions; and among his minor treatises it is enough to mention the Osserυazioni sιdla lingua volgare, 1550; the Dialogo della pittura, 1557; and the Dialogo nel quale si ragiona del modo di accrescar la memoria, 1552....