[Footnote 1: For the general history of Italy in the ixth
and xth centuries, I may properly refer to the vth, vith,
and viith books of Sigonius de Regno Italiae, (in the second
volume of his works, Milan, 1732;) the Annals of Baronius,
with the criticism of Pagi; the viith and viiith books of
the Istoria Civile del Regno di Napoli of Giannone; the
viith and viiith volumes (the octavo edition) of the Annali
d' Italia of Muratori, and the 2d volume of the Abrege
Chronologique of M. de St. Marc, a work which, under a
superficial title, contains much genuine learning and
industry. But my long-accustomed reader will give me credit
for saying, that I myself have ascended to the fountain
head, as often as such ascent could be either profitable or
possible; and that I have diligently turned over the
originals in the first volumes of Muratori's great
collection of the Scriptores Rerum Italicarum.]