“ PELLICO, SILVIO (1788-1854) , Italian dramatist, was born at Saluzzo in Piedmont on the 24th of June 1788, the earlier portion of his life being passed at Pinerolo and Turin under the tuition of a priest named Manavella. At the age of ten he composed a tragedy under the inspiration of Caesarotti's translation of the Ossianic poems. On the marriage of his twin sister Rosina with a maternal cousin at Lyons he went to reside in that city, devoting himself during four years to the study of French literature. ”

“ Of the powerful literary executive which gathered about Counts Porro and Confalonieri, Pellico was the able secretary — the management of the Conciliatore, which appeared in 1818 as the organ of the association, resting largely upon him. But the paper, under the censorship of the Austrian officials, ran for a year only, and the society itself was broken up by the government. In October 1820 Pellico was arrested on the charge of carbonarism and conveyed to the Santa Margherita prison. ”