"I discern them from afar, the hills of eternity, their ever-
enduring summits clothed with garlands of bloom. O that I might
rise on wings like the eagle, fly upward with my eyes, and raise
my countenance and gaze into the heart of the sun!

"O Heaven, how beautiful are thy paths, they lead to where
liberty reigneth ever. How gentle the zephyrs wafted over thy
heights, who hath words to tell?"

The same mystic note struck by Rachel Morpurgo recurs in the works of
other Italian writers of the time. It distinguishes them strikingly from
their contemporaries in Galicia and Russia, who proclaim themselves
almost without exception the followers of a relentless rationalism.

* * * * *

Unquestionably the most original of all these writers, and the one who
occupied the most prominent and influential place, is Samuel David
Luzzatto (1800-1865). He was born at Triest, the son of a carpenter, a
poor man, but none the less educated and respected. The childhood years
of Luzzatto were passed in poverty and study. He emerged a conqueror
from the struggle for life and knowledge. As early as 1829 he was
appointed rector of the Rabbinical Seminary at Padua. Thereafter he
could devote himself without hindrance to science and the education of
disciples, many of whom became celebrated.

Luzzatto's learning was vast in extent and as thorough. Besides, he
possessed literary taste and modern culture. In his southern
temperament, feeling had the upper hand of reason. He was an