Page:A history of Hungarian literature.djvu/122

was of a restless, self-consuming, artistic temperament. Alexander outlived his brother, and to a certain extent outlived his popularity.

As a young man, Alexander Kisfaludy was an officer in the Lifeguards, like Bessenyei, but he belonged to a later generation, having been born in the year in which Bessenyei's first work was published. We read in some memoirs that when two English magnates, conducted by Duke Eszterhazy, visited the fine rococo palace in which the Lifeguard officers lived, they were much struck on seeing a young Hungarian officer seated at a table, busily translating Tasso. The young officer was Alexander Kisfaludy, on whose poetry the literature of Italy had a great influence. "The literature of love songs was born in the sunny vales of Provence," said Uhland, in a well-known poem. Kisfaludy's love songs were certainly born there. He was in northern Italy with the army during the war with Napoleon. At the conquest of Milan he was made prisoner and carried to Draguignan in Provence. It was there, not far from Vaucluse, the abode of Petrarch, that he began to write the work which made him famous: Himfy's Love.

The love songs which make up the volume are linked together by the thread of a love story. Himfy meets Liza, and falls in love with her at first sight. But his love is not returned. Himfy tries to forget his enchantress, leaves his country, and seeks the excitement and distractions of war. He even contemplates suicide, Kisfaludy here revealing the influence of the "Werther" epoch. At length Himfy returns, and finds that Liza loves another. Of course, the success of the book had no connection with the commonplace plot. Its immense and instant popularity was due to the songs in it. All at