tures on the History of Literature, antient and modern.' He is graciously pleased to represent Dante as the greatest of Italian and of Christian poets, '-but observes, at the same time, that the Ghibeline harshness appears in Dante in a form noble and dignified. But although it may perhaps do no injury to the outward beauty, it certainly mars, in a very considerable degree, the internal charm of his poetry. His chief defect is, in a word, the want of gentle feelings. Now, the opinion of Mr Hallam is directly opposite to that of this learned Theban. In one so highly endowed by nature,' observes Mr Hallam, and so consummate by instruction, we may well sympathize with a resentment which exile and poverty rendered perpetually fresh. But the heart of Dante was naturally sensible and even tender; his poetry is full of comparisons from rural life; and the sincerity of his early passion for Beatrice, pierces through the veil of allegory that surrounds her. But the memory of his injuries pursued him into the immensity of eternal light; and, in the company of saints and angels, his unforgiving spirit darkens at the name of Florence. It would be presumption in us to determine-between Mr Schlegel and Mr Hallam-which has read Dante with more care; but the poem itself, we think, affords sufficient evidence that the English critic has the truer sense of its character—and is most in unison with the soul of the poet, which was fraught even to redundance with 'gentle feelings,' and poured them out, on every occasion, with a warmth and delicacy perhaps unequalled in any other writer. We must however remind even Mr Hallam, that Dante does not always, in his poem, mention his country with resentment; and, in his prose work, Il Convito,' he remembers Florence with the most affectionate tenderness. He styles the injustice of his fellow-citizens towards himself, a fault, not a crime-and offers up a pathetic prayer, that his bones might repose at last in the soft bosom of that land which had nursed and borne him to the maturity of his age.'-We subjoin his own words, for the satisfaction of those who are sufficiently conversant with Italian to feel the beauty of the original, and who will thence readily concur in the truth of our observation. Ahi! piaciuto fosse al Dispensatore dell' Universo che la cagione della mia scusa mai non fosse stata! Che nè altri contro me avria fallato, nè io sofferto avrei pena ingiustamente; pena, dico, d'esilio e di povertà, poichè fu piacere dei cittadini della bellissima e famosissima figlia di Roma, Fiorenza, di gittarmi fuori del suo dolce seno, nel quale nato e nudrito fui fino al colmo della mia vita; e nel quale, con buona pace di quella, desidero con tutto il cuore di riposare l'animo stanco, e terminare il tempo che mi è dato.' Mr Schlegel, however, is not the only person who has imputed harshness of soul to Dante. This, indeed, is a sort of traditional censure, derived from the fastidious critics of the Court of Leo X.; for our poet, it must be confessed, was .......... minus aplus acutis Naribus horum hominum ......... at est vir bonus, ut melior Non alius quisquam, at ingenium ingens. It is a distinctive trait in the character of the earlier poets, that they continually reveal to us in their writings the inmost feelings and dispositions of their souls. They, as it were, say to the reader, Tibi nunc, hortante Camana, But, in order to obtain just views of those characteristic feelings, their poems should be read through and through; whereas the generality of critics content themselves with a few popular passages, and judge of the rest according to the response of some of those oracles, who, like Cardinal Bembo, have had the art or the good fortune to make their dicta pass current as authority. Dante is, perhaps, the poet most spoken of, and least read by foreigners. It may, therefore, be proper to select a few passages from the many that might be found in his poem, to prove that his heart was as much distinguished for gentleness, as for magnanimity and force. The haughtiness of demeanour, attributed to him by all the writers from Giovanni Villani to the present day, probably is not exaggerated. He was naturally proud; and when he compared himself with his cotemporaries, he felt his own superiority, and took refuge, as he expresses it himself with so much hap piness Sotto l'usbergo del sentirsi puro. Conscience makes me firm; The boon companion, who her strong breastplate And bids him on, and fear not. Nevertheless, this inflexibility and pride, melt at once into the softest deference and docility, when he meets those who have claims upon his gratitude or respect. In conversing with the shade of Brunetto Latini, who was damned for a shameful crime, he still attends his master with his head bent downIl capo chino Tenea, com' uom che riverente vada Held my head Bent down as one who walks in reverent guise. We believe it has never been remarked that Dante, who makes it a rule, in conversing with all others, to employ the pro noun tu (thou), uses the pronoun voi (yon) in addressing his preceptor Brunetto, and his mistress Beatrice. Even Mr Cary has not seized this shade of distinction, and translates Our poet has even carried modesty so far as not to pronounce his own name; and upon one occasion, when he was asked who he was, did not say that he was Dante; but whilst he described himself in such a manner as to give an exalted opinion of his genius, ascribed all the merit to love, by which he was inspiredìo mi son un, che quando Amore spira, noto; e a quel modo Che detta dentro, vo significando. Count of me but as one Who am the scribe of Love, that, when he breathes, Yet when the beloved Beatrice addresses him, as if to reproach him with his past life Dante! Non pianger anco, non pianger ancora ; Dante, weep not; Weep thou not yet ;-behoves thee feel the edge Of other sword, and thou shalt weep for that; he writes his own name, lest he should alter or omit a single word that fell from the lips of her he loved; yet, even for this, he thinks it necessary to excuse himself Quando mi volsi, al suon del nome mio Che di necessità quì si rigistra— Turning me at the sound of mine own nanie This repugnance to occupy his readers with his own particular concerns, (a repugnance of which we have certainly no reason to complain in the authors of the present day), has perhaps imposed upon Dante his singular silence respecting his family: Whilst he records a variety of domestic anecdotes of almost all his acquaintance, and so forcibly paints the miseries of exile, he omits one grief the most cruel of all-that of a father without a house to shelter, or bread to feed his young and helpless children. It is beyond all doubt that he had several sons, and that they lived in a state of proscription and distress until the period of his death. But, for this fact, we are indebted only to the historians. From his own writings it could not be even suspected that he was a husband and a father. It is, however, easy to perceive, that he is thinking of his family, when he exclaims, that the women of Florence, in older times, when purity of morals and civil concord prevailed, were not reduced to a life of widowhood whilst their husbands yet lived-or obliged to share with them the sufferings of their exile, without knowing in what place they should find a grave— O fortunate, e ciascuna era certa Della sua sepoltura Oh! happy they, Each sure of burial in her native land. It is not alone in his comparisons drawn from rural life,' as remarked by Mr Hallam, but principally in what he says of social intercourse, and of the brighter days of his country, that we perceive the sensibility and gentleness of his nature. He delights in painting the joys of domestic life, of which he presents a most affecting picture in the 15th Canto of the Paradiso, whence we have taken the verses just quoted. He does not lament the loss of innocence and simplicity alone, but also of the refined luxury, the courtesy, the chivalrous spirit of gallantry and love, and the tone of high breeding in society, which in Italy, it seems, were then beginning to disappear. The ladies and the knights, the toils and ease These two lines have such a charm to Italian ears, that Ariosto, after having sketched a thousand beginnings for his poem, and decided upon an indifferent one enough, which was printed, finally rejected them all in the second edition, and substituted almost word for word, the verses of Dante, as follows Le donne, i cavalier, l'armi, gli amori Le cortesie, l'audaci imprese, io canto. But the slight change which it was necessary to make, destroyed the sweet harmony of the original; and the delicate sentiment of regret is wholly lost in the imitation. It is very rarely that the same ideas, or the same words, produce the same effect, when transplanted from the place into which they first dropped from the heart of a man of genius. It is curious to see, how little novelty there is, even in the most modern of our elegant distresses. Dante, in the beginning of the 14th century, complains, that commerce having suddenly enriched numbers of mere clowns, society was corrupted and debased by an upstart aristocracy whose insolence and profusion had put to flight all courtesy of heart, and refinement of breed 1: An upstart multitude, and sudden gain, Pride and excess, oh! Florence! have in thee Engendered; so that now in tears thou mourn'st. This is one of the many instances in which our poet mingles with stern justice of observation, a sentiment of plaintive tenderness for his country. It will, we believe, be much more forcibly felt by those who understand the original. La gente nuova e i subiti guadagni, Fiorenza, in te! si che tu già ten piagni. He has also the generosity to attribute to others the courtesy With such fond ardour to embrace me, I I need must think, was painted in my looks, And therefore pause; but why walkest thou here?” We shall give neither the sequel nor the original of this dialogue. Even this feeble attempt at translation suffices to show, that it was dictated to a delicate mind by nature. At the close of their conversation the poet asks his friend to sing. Then I: "If new laws have not quite destroyed Memory and use of that sweet song of love, That whilom all my cares had power to 'suage, My spirit "Love that discourses in my thoughts." He then The sweetness thrills me yet. These lines convey but a dim shadow of the grace and ten derness of the original. toglie Ed Io: "Se nuova legge non ti |