Giuseppe Liaspardo Mezzofanti, an Italian linguist, born in Bologna, Sept. 17, 1774, died in Rome, March 15,181!). He was educated for the church, and was ordained in 1797. He bad an extraordinary memory, and before the close of his university career had mastered the Latin. Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, Coptic, Spanish, French, German, and Swedish languages. At the age of 23 be was appointed professor of Arabic at Bologna; but on the annexation of that city to the Cisalpine republic, he was removed from his professorship for refusing to take the oath to the new constitution. After the conclusion of the concordat between Pius VII. and Napoleon, Mezzofanti was restored to the university, and named professor of oriental languages. The suppression of his professorship in 1808 left him mainly dependent on private tuition for his own support and that of his sister's children. The wars of which northern Italy was so long the theatre had afforded him many opportunities of extending his knowledge as a linguist. In the hospital of Bologna, to which he had attached himself as volunteer chaplain, were invalids from most of the countries of central and eastern Europe; and while administering to them he acquired a knowledge of their respective languages.

In 1812 he was appointed assistant librarian, and in 1815 head librarian of the university of Bologna. After the conclusion of peace, his reputation as a linguist rapidly extended. In 1817 he could read 20 languages and write 18. Lord Byron, whom he is said to have beaten in talking English slang, pronounced him a monster of languages, a Briareus of parts of speech, and a walking polyglot. Having gone to Rome in 1831 as one of a deputation sent by the Bolognese to congratulate Gregory XVI. on his election, he was induced by the pope to accept a prebend in the church of St. John Lateran, and soon afterward a canonry in St. Peter's. In 1833 he succeeded Angelo Mai as chief keeper of the Vatican library, an office which he held till 1838, when he was made a cardinal. During his residence in Rome he gained a knowledge of Irish, Welsh, Lappish, Sanskrit, Persian, Georgian, Armenian, Chinese, and several African tongues. His familiarity with the dialectical varieties and local idioms of the principal languages, as well as with their respective literatures, and his power of passing from one to another in conversation, were almost incredible. At the time of his death he is said to have been acquainted with 114 languages.

Mezzofanti, though a learned theologian and canonist, is almost unknown as an author, his only published work being a panegyrical " Memoir of Father Emanuel da Ponte," a brother professor (Bologna, 1820). His life has been written by Charles William Russell, D. D., principal of Maynooth college (London, 1858; 2d ed., 1863).