Who has the whole world for a dungeon strong, -Alas! The limits of man's common malice, for of that fairest and most renowned daughter of Rome, Florence, to cast me forth out of her sweet bosom, in which I had my birth and nourishment even to the ripeness of my age, and in which, with her good-will, I desire, with all my heart, to rest this wearied spirit of mine, and to terminate the time allotted to me on earth. Wandering over almost every part, to which this our language extends, I have gone about like a mendicant, showing against my will the wound with which fortune has smitten me, and which is often imputed to his ill-deserving on whom it is inflicted. I have, indeed, been a vessel without sail and without steerage, carried about to divers ports, and roads, and shores, by the dry wind that springs out of sad poverty, and have appeared before the eyes of many who, perhaps, from some report that had reached them, had imagined me of a different form; in whose sight not only my person was disparaged, but every action of mine became of less value, as well already performed, as those which yet remained for me to attempt."] [About the year 1316, the friends of Dante succeeded in obtaining his restoration to his country and his possessions, on condition that he should pay a certain sum of money, and, entering a church, there avow himself guilty, and ask pardon of the republic. The following was his answer, on this occasion, to one of his kinsmen:-" From your letter, which I received with due respect and affection, I observe how much you have at heart my restoration to my country. I am bound to you the more gratefully, that an exile rarely finds a friend. But, after mature consideration, I must, by my answer, disappoint the wishes of some little minds; and I confide in the judgment to which your impartiality and prudence will lead you. Your nephew and mine has written to me, what indeed had been mentioned by many other friends, that by a decree concerning the exiles, I am allowed to return to Florence, provided I pay a certain sum of money, and submit to the humiliation of asking and receiving absolution: wherein, my Father, I see two propositions that are ridiculous and impertinent. I speak of the impertinence of those who mention such conditions to me: for in your letter, dictated by judgment and discretion, there is no such thing. Is such an invitation to return to his country glorious for Dante, after suffering in exile almost fifteen years? Is it thus, then, they would recompense innocence which all the world knows, and the labour and fatigue of unremitting study? Far from the man who is familiar with philosophy be the senseless baseness of a heart of earth, that could do like a little sciolist, and imitate the infamy of some others, by offering himself up as it were in chains. Far from the man who cries aloud for justice this compromise, by his money, with his persecutors ! No, my Father, this is not the way that shall lead me back to my country. But I shall return with hasty steps, if you or any other can open to me a way that shall not.derogate from the fame and honour of Dante; but if by no such way Florence can be entered, then Florence I shall never enter. What shall I not every where enjoy the sight of the sun and stars? and may I not seek and contemplate, in every corner of the earth under the canopy of heaven, consoling and delightful truth, without first rendering myself inglorious, nay infamous, to the people and republic of Florence? Bread, I hope, will not fail me." Yet he continued to experience "How salt the savour is of others' bread, How hard the passage to descend and climb By others' stairs l' His countrymen persecuted even his memory: he was excommunicated after death by the Pope.] All that a citizen could be I was; And make them own the Prophet in his tomb. 3 2 "E scrisse più volte non solamente a particolari cittadini del reggimento, ma ancora al popolo, e intra l'altre una Epistola assai lunga che comincia: Popule mi, quid feci tibi?'"- Vita di Dante, scritta da Lionardo Aretino. 3 [Dante died at Ravenna in 1321, in the palace of his patron, Guido Novello da Polenta, who testified his sorrow and respect by the sumptuousness of his obsequies, and by giving orders to erect a monument, which he did not live to complete. His countrymen showed, too late, that they knew the value of what they had lost. At the beginning of the next century, they entreated that the mortal remains of their illustrious citizen might be restored to them, and deposited among the tombs of their fathers. But the people of Ravenna were unwilling to part with the sad and honourable memorial of their own hospitality. No better success attended the subsequent negotiations of the Florentines for the same purpose, though renewed under the auspices of Leo X., and conducted through the powerful mediation of Michael Angelo. Never did any poem rise so suddenly into notice, after the death of its author, as the Divina Commedia. About the year 1350, Giovanni Visconti, Archbishop of Milan, selected six of the most learned men in Italy, -two divines, two philosophers, and two Florentines, and gave them in charge to contribute their joint endeavours towards the compilation of an ample comment, a copy of which is preserved in the Laurentian library. At Florence, a public lecture was founded for the purpose of explaining a poem, which was at the same time the boast and the disgrace of the city. The decree for this institution was passed in 1373; and in that year Boccaccio was appointed, with a salary of a hundred florins, to deliver lectures in one of the churches on the first of their poets. The example of Florence was speedily followed by Bologna, Pisa, Piacenza, and Venice. It is only within a few years that the merits of this great and original poet were attended to and made known in this country. And this seems to be owing to a translation of the very pathetic story of Count Ugolino; to the judicious and spirited summary given of this poem in the 31st section of the History of English Poetry; and to Mr. Hayley's translations of the three cantos of the Inferno. "Dante believed," says Ugo Foscolo, "that, by his sufferings on earth, he atoned for the errors of humanity• Ma la bontà divina ha si gran braccia, Che prende ciò che si rivolge a let.' Hath goodness infinite, that it receives And he seems to address Heaven in the attitude of a wor- 'So that nor night nor slumber with close stealth Convey'd from him a single step in all The goings on of time.' He collected the opinions, the follies, the vicissitudes, the miseries, and the passions that agitate mankind; and left behind him a monument, which, while it humbles us by the representation of our own wretchedness, should make us glory that we partake of the same nature with such a man, and encourage us to make the best use of our fleeting existence."] Francesca of Bimini. [This translation, of what is generally considered the most exquisitely pathetic episode in the Divina Commedia, was executed in March, 1820, at Ravenna, where, just five centuries before, and in the very house in which the unfortunate lady was born, Dante's poem had been composed. In mitigation of the crime of Francesca, Boccaccio relates, that "Guido engaged to give his daughter in marriage to Lanciotto, the eldest son of his enemy, the master of Rimini. Lanciotto, who was hideously deformed in countenance and figure, foresaw that, if he presented himself in person, he should be rejected by the lady. He therefore resolved to marry her by proxy, and sent as his representative his younger brother, Paolo, the handsomest and most accomplished man in all Italy. Francesca saw Paolo arrive, and imagined she beheld her future husband. That mistake was the commencement of her passion. The friends of Guido addressed him in strong remonstrances, and mournful predictions of the dangers to which he exposed a daughter, whose high spirit would never brook to be sacrificed with impunity. But Guido was no longer in a condition to make war; and the necessities of the politician overcame the feelings of the father." In transmitting his version to Mr. Murray, Lord Byron says" Enclosed you will find, line for line, in third rhyme (terza rima), of which your British blackguard reader as yet understands nothing, Fanny of Rimini. You know that she was born here, and married, and slain, from Cary, Boyd, and such people. I have done it into cramp English, line for line, and rhyme for rhyme, to try the possibility. If it is published, publish it with the original." In one of the poet's MS. Diaries we find the following passage:"January 29. 1821, past midnight-one of the clock. I have been reading Frederick Schlegel (Lectures on the History of Literature, Ancient and Modern,') till now, and I can make out nothing. He evidently shows a great power of words, but there is nothing to be taken hold of. He is like Hazlitt in English, who talks pimples; a red and white corruption rising up (in little imitation of mountains upon maps), but containing nothing, and discharging nothing, except their own humours. I like him the worse (that is, Schlegel), because he always seems upon the verge of meaning; and, lo! he goes down like sunset, or melts like a rainbow, leaving a rather rich confusion. Of Dante, he says, that' at no time has the greatest and most national of all Italian poets ever been much the favourite of his countrymen !' 'Tis false. There have been more editors and commentators (and imitators ultimately) of Dante than of all their poets put together. Not a favourite! Why, they talk Dante-write Dante-and think and dream Dante, at this moment (1821), to an excess which would be ridiculous, but that he deserves it. He says also that Dante's chief defect is a want, in a word, of gentle feelings.' Of gentle feelings!-and Francesca of Riminiand the father's feelings in Ugolino-and Beatrice- and 'La Pia!' Why, there is a gentleness in Dante beyond all gentleness, when he is tender. It is true that, treating of the Christian Hades, or Hell, there is not much scope or site for gentleness: but who but Dante could have introduced any gentleness' at all into Hell? Is there any in Milton's? No and Dante's Heaven is all love, and glory, and majesty." This translation was first published in 1830.] 2 [Francesca, daughter of Guido da Polenta, Lord of Ravenna and of Cervia, was given by her father in marriage to Lanciotto, son of Malatesta, Lord of Rimini, a man of extraordinary courage, but deformed in his person. His brother, FROM THE INFERNO OF DANTE. CANTO V. "THE land where I was born 3 sits by the seas, But Caina waits for him our life who ended : "9 Paolo, who unhappily possessed those graces which the husband of Francesca wanted, engaged her affections; and being taken in adultery, they were both put to death by the enraged Lanciotto. The interest of this pathetic narrative is much Increased, when it is recollected that the father of this unfortunate lady was the beloved friend and generous protector of Dante during his latter days. See antè, p. 504., and also Canto xxvii. of the Inferno, where Dante, speaking of Ravenna, says L'aquila da Polenta là si cova, Sì che Cirvia ricopre co' suoi vanni. Guido was the son of Ostasio da Polenta, and made himself master of Ravenna in 1265. In 1322, he was deprived of his sovereignty, and died at Bologna in the year following. He is enumerated, by Tiraboschi, among the poets of his time.] 3 Ravenna. 4 [Among Lord Byron's unpublished letters we find the following: " Varied readings of the translation from Dante. Seized him for the fair person, which in its Bloom was ta'en from me, yet the mode offends. [From Cain, the first fratricide. By Cainà we are to understand that part of the Inferno to which murderers are condemned.] 6 [The whole history of woman's love is as highly and completely wrought, we think, in these few lines, as that of Juliet in the whole tragedy of Shakspeare. Francesca imputes the passion her brother-in-law conceived for her, not to depravity, but nobleness of heart in him, and to her own loveliness. With a mingled feeling of keen sorrow and complacent naïveté, she says she was fair, and that an ignominious death robbed him of her beauty. She confesses that she loved, because she was beloved,-that charm had deluded her; and she declares, with transport, that joy had not abandoned her even in hell ? Queste parole da lor ci fur porte. Da ch' io intesi quell' anime offense Chinai il viso, e tanto il tenni basso Fin che il Poeta mi disse: "Che pense Quando risposi incomminciai: "Ahi lasso ! Quanti dolci pensier, quanto desio Menò costoro al doloroso passo !" Pol mi rivolsi a loro, e parlai io, E cominciai: Francesca, i tuoi martiri A lagrimar mi fanno tristo e pio.. Ma dimmi: al tempo de' dolci sospiri A che, e come concedette Amore Che conosceste i dubbiosi desiri?. Ed ella a me: nessun maggior dolore Che ricordarsi del tempo felice Nella miseria 1; e ciò sa il tuo dottore. Ma se a conoscer la prima radice Del nostro amor tu hai cotanto affetto Farò come colui che piange e dice. Noi leggevamo un giorno per diletto Di Lancillotto 3, come Amor lo strinse: Soli eravamo, e senza alcun sospetto. Per più flate gli occhi ci sospinse Quella lettura, e scolorocci il viso: Ma solo un punto fu quel che ci vinse. Quando leggemmo il disiato riso Esser baciato da cotanto amante, Questi, che mai da me non fia diviso, La bocca mi baciò tutto tremante : Galeotto fu il libro, e chi lo scrisseQuel giorno più non vi leggemmo avante. Mentre che l'uno spirto questo disse, L'altro piangeva sì che di pietade Io venni men così com' io morisse, E caddi come corpo morto cade. She nevertheless goes on to relieve her brother-in-law from all imputation of having seduced her. Alone, and unconscious of their danger, they read a love-story together. They gazed upon each other, pale with emotion; but the secret of their mutual passion never escaped their lips : "Per più fiate gli occhi ci sospinse Quella lettura, e scolorocci il viso ; Ma solo un punto fu qual che ci vinse." The description of two happy lovers in the story was the ruin of Francesca. It was the romance of Lancilot and Genevra, wife of Arthur, King of England: "Quando leggemmo il disiato riso Esser baciato da cotanto amante, After this avowal, she hastens to complete the picture with one touch which covers her with confusion Nor Quel giorno più non vi leggemmo avante." She utters not another word!-and yet we fancy her before us, with her downcast and glowing looks; whilst her lover stands by her side, listening in silence and in tears. Dante, too, who had hitherto questioned her, no longer ventures to inquire in what manner her husband had put her to death; but is so overawed by pity, that he sinks into a swoon. is this to be considered as merely a poetical exaggeration. The poet had probably known her when a girl, blooming in innocence and beauty under the paternal roof. This, we think, is the true account of the overwhelming sympathy with which her form overpowers him. The episode, too, was written by him in the very house in which she was born, and in which he had himself, during the fast ten years of his exile, found a constant asylum. - MACAULAY. "I pass each day where Dante's bones are laid; Don Juan, Canto lii.] ["In omni adversitate fortunæ infelicissimum genus infortunii est fuisse felicem."-Boettus. Dante himself tells us, These were the accents utter'd by her tongue. Since I first listen'd to these souls offended, I bow'd my visage, and so kept it till- [bended, "What think'st thou?" said the bard; when I unAnd recommenced: "Alas! unto such ill How many sweet thoughts, what strong ecstasies, Led these their evil fortune to fulfil!" And then I turn'd unto their side my eyes, And said, "Francesca, thy sad destinies By what and how thy love to passion rose, I will do even as he who weeps and says. The other wept, so that with pity's thralls that Boetius and Cicero de Amicitia were the two first books that engaged his attention.] 2 ["In some of the editions it is dirò,' in others' faro;" -an essential difference between saying' and doing,' which I know not how to decide. Ask Foscolo. The deditions drive me mad."- Lord Byron to Mr. M.] 3 [One of the Knights of Arthur's Round Table, and the lover of Genevra, celebrated in romance. See Southey's "King Arthur," vol. i. p. 52. Whitaker, the historian of Manchester, makes out for the knight both a local habitation and a name. "The name of Lancelot," he says, "is an appellation truly British, and significative of royalty; Lance being a Celtic term for a spear, and Leod, Lod, or Lot, importing a people. He was therefore (!) a British sovereign; and since he is denominated Lancelot of the Lake, perhaps (1) he resided at Coccium, in the region Linnis, and was the monarch of Lancashire; as the kings of Creones, living at Selma, on the forest of Morven, are generally denominated Sovereigns of Morven; or, more properly, was King of Cheshire, and resided at Pool-ton Lancelot, in the hundred of Wirrall." See also Ellis's Specimens of early Romances, vol. i. p. 271.] Is it over? Tra. Ink. Nor will be this hour. But the benches are cramm'd, like a garden in flower, With the pride of our belles, who have made it the fashion; [passion" So, instead of "beaux arts," we may say "la belle For learning, which lately has taken the lead in The world, and set all the fine gentlemen reading. Tra. I know it too well, and have worn out my patience With studying to study your new publications. There's Vamp, Scamp, and Mouthy, and Wordswords and Co. 3 With their damnable. Ta'en in such cruel sort, as grieves me still: The soul, who spilt our life. Such were their words; "Then turning, I to them my speech address'd, How him love thrall'd. Alone we were, and no The story of Francesca and Paolo is a great favourite with the Italians. It is noticed by all the historians of Ravenna. Petrarch introduces it, in his Trionfi d' Amore, among his examples of calamitous passion; and Tassoni, in his Secchia Rapita, represents Paolo Malatesta as leading the troops of Rimini, and describes him, when mounted on his charger, as contemplating a golden sword-chain, presented to him by Francesca: "Rimini vien con la bandiera sesta, Ink. Hold, my good friend, do you know Whom you speak to ? Tra. Right well, boy, and so does "the Row: "4 Can stand tamely in silence to hear you decry To the Nine; though the number who make some Quel foco ognor, che l' anima gli accende, "To him Francesca gave the golden chain At parting-time, from which his sword was hung; The wretched lover gazed at it with pain, Adding new pangs to those his heart had wrung; The more he sought to fly the luscious bane, The The firmer he was bound, the deeper stung."] [This trifle, which Lord Byron has himself designated as a "mere buffoonery, never meant for publication," was written in 1820, and first appeared in "The Liberal.' personal allusions in which it abounds are, for the most part, sufficiently intelligible; and, with a few exceptions, so goodhumoured, that the parties concerned may be expected to join in the laugh.] 2["About the year 1781, it was much the fashion for several ladies to have evening assemblies, where the fair sex might participate in conversation with literary and ingenious men, animated by a desire to please. These societies were denominated Blue-stocking Clubs; the origin of which title being little known, it may be worth while to relate it. One of the most eminent members of those societies, when they first commenced, was Mr. Stillingfleet, whose dress was remarkably grave, and in particular it was observed that he wore blue stockings. Such was the excellence of his conversation, that his absence was felt as so great a loss, that it used to be said, We can do nothing without the blue stockings;' and thus by degrees the title was established."-Boswell, vol. viii. p. 86. Sir William Forbes, in his Life of Dr. Beattie, says, that" a foreigner of distinction hearing the expression, translated it literally, Bas Bleu,' by which these meetings came to be distinguished. Miss Hannah More, who was herself a member, has written a poem with the title of Bas Bleu,' in allusion to this mistake of the foreigner, in which she has characterised most of the eminent personages of which it was composed."] 3 [See the stanzas on Messrs. Wordsworth and Southey in Don Juan, canto iii.] 4 [Paternoster-row-long and still celebrated as a very bazaar of booksellers. Sir Walter Scott" hitches into rhyme" one of the most important firms that "Of Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, That it is, as the phrase goes, extremely "refreshing." Ink. Not left him a tatter- [so. Tra. No; I left a round dozen of authors and others Tra. What, won't you return to the lecture? Besides, our friend Scamp is to-day so absurd- - Tra. I make you! Tra. Say rather an angle. Ink. Ink. Humph! I can't say I know any happy alliance Which has lately sprung up from a wedlock with science. She's so learned in all things, and fond of concerning That. Tra. What? I perhaps may as well hold my tongue; But there's five hundred people can tell you you 're wrong. Tra. You forget Lady Lilac's as rich as a Jew. Ink. Is it miss or the cash of mamma you pursue? Tra. Why, Jack, I'll be frank with you-something The girl's a fine girl. [of both. Ink. And you feel nothing loth To her good lady-mother's reversion; and yet Her life is as good as your own, I will bet. Tra. Let her live, and as long as she likes; I demand [hand Nothing more than the heart of her daughter and Ink. Why, that heart's in the inkstand-that hand on the pen. Tra. A propos and then? -Will you write me a song now Yes, you! I said nothing until For the heart of the fair like a stanza or two; You compell'd me, by speaking the truth. And so, as I can't, will you furnish a few? Ink. In your name? Tra. In my name. I will copy them out, To slip into her hand at the very next rout. Ink. Are you so far advanced as to hazard this? Tra. Why, Is that your deduction? To speak ill? Tra. I would, butInk. Pray, then, let us retire. There must be attraction much higher Than Scamp, or the Jews' harp he nicknames his lyre, To call you to this hotbed. |