Silvio PELLICO (1789-1854). L.A.S., January 1, 1844, to Vincenzo Gioberti; 2pages in-8, addressed; in Italian. Beautiful, friendly letter. [Vincenzo Gioberti (1801-1852) had just published his Primato morale e civile degli Italiani, proposing a confederation of Italian states under papal authority, which was to have a great influence on the Risorgimento]. Pellico sends his best wishes to Gioberti, thanking him for introducing him to Giuseppe Massari (1821-1884), who seems to him capable of great things, especially as he is a Catholic. Even the greatest minds stumble badly when they fail to discern true religious truth. ("questo Massari sia mente da produre cose di vaglia, e lo spero vieppiu perch'egli è cattolico. Gl'ingegni anche alti quando non discernono il vero religioso, incianpano gravemente"). Pellico is a loner, but not a savage. He shuns, as far as possible, vain, curious or vulgar words; and when he cannot escape them, he listens and speaks, for in every human soul lies some treasure, great or small: "Io vivo un po solitario, ma non affatto selvaggio. [...] Sfuggo, per quanto è possibile, i parolai vani, curisi, volgari, che son molti. E quando non posso sfuggirli, penso che non bisogna essere scortese, ed ascolto e parlo; in ogni anima umana vi è qualche tesoro, picciolo o grande"... Enclosed: 3 L.A.S. from Pellico's translator Antoine de Latour, 1872-1875, concerning André Chénier in particular; and a L.A.S. from Alexandre Andryane, Pellico's prison companion, to the publisher Ladvocat, concerning the republication of his Mémoires d'un prisonnier (1859).