Betti, Zachary

, an elegant Italian poet of the last century, was born at Verona, July 16, 1732, and began his studies at the Jesuits’ college at Brescia, but was obliged, by bad health, to return home to complete them. The work on which his reputation chiefly rests is his poem on the silk- worm, “Del baco da seta, canti IV. con annotaziom,” Verona, 1756, 4to, in which he contrives to | be original on a subject that had been amply treated in the sixteenth century, in the “La Sereide” of Tesauro. He dedicated this poem to the marquis Spolverini, the author of a didactic poem on the cultivation of rice, “La cold vazi one del Riso.” His poetical efforts were all directed to the object of his more serious labours, agriculture. His bust is in the hall of the academy of agriculture at Verona, of which he was the founder, and among other academies, he was a member of the Georgophiles of Florence. He wrote another poem, “Le Cascine,” with notes, but it does not appear to have been printed. He died at Verona in 1788. ¹