led him; an infirmity that caused the rude man to be usually known by the barbarous nick-name of John Scanatus (). Some say that that the deli. cate-minded Paul became enamoured of Francesca only upon making her personal acquaintance after she had become affianced to his brother, Scanatus; whose pride was flattered by the fame of her worth and charms, so he demanded to be her husband previous to beholding her: but what is most probable (because related by the great historian of Ravenna as the current report) is, that Paul had been himself affianced to Francesca; and that when Scanatus came to pay her a ceremonious visit as his intended sister-in-law, he was so much struck by her beauty, that he declared she should be his own wife; and prosecuted his suit with such fe rocious energy, that he terrified her reluctant parents into obedience to his will. But in this all agree, that much force and fear were employed; and that she was surrendered unwillingly - not,

I mean, against her own will (for she, poor victim! like so many others, was never consulted about her destiny), but against that of her father and mother (2). The Imolese huddles up the story by

(1) Mire claudus Johannes Scanatus, et vir eorpore deformis, sed animo ferox. Benvenuti, ut supra.

(2) Sunt qui scribunt matrem Paulo Franciscam despondisse et Lancelottum cum Ravennam venisset . . confestim amore illius ardere cœpisse, et cum alia ratione non posset, per vim et me

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shortly adding, that a criminal connexion soon took place between Paul and Francesca, and that the irritated husband and brother, informed by a servant of their rendez-vous, surprised them together, and slew them both in the lady's chamber during their assignation (1). Landino and all the later commentators do nothing more than translate this servilely. The Imolese delivered those his lectures on Dante publickly in Bolog na, a town near enough to Ravenna and Rimini, for many considerations, of which we are ignorant, to prevent his being over-explicit. Yet his words are the only foundation for the two common charges, that the unfortunate couple

tum impetrasse ut sibi uxor adjungeretur. Hier. Rubæi, Hist. Raven. p. 308. E perchè era uomo potente e terribile gli fu data più per paura che per amore. Landino, Comento. p. 34.

(1) His words are simply these deposito libro pervenerunt ad osculum, et ad cætera, quæ sequuntur. Hæc autem, in brevi, significata Johanni per unum familiarem fuere. Ambos simul in dicta camera, ubi convenerant, mactavit. Com. ap. Mur. Antiq. Ital. T. 1. p. 1040. At the worst these imply an act of adultery quickly avenged, but not habitual profligacy: yet Rubæus cites Benvenuti as his authority for accusing them of a criminal connexion during several days, and Clementini for the most profligate conduct during many years: spesso giacevano in un medesimo letto, ma l'abominevole peccato del troppo continuato gioco disco perse l'accosto ed impudico fuoco al marito, il quale, dopo averlo più volte accennato a Francesca, un giorno, trovatoli in letto abbracciati ed addormentati, con un sol colpo di spada ammendue uccise l'anno 1289, come scrive Benvenuti da Imola, ec. Racc. Ist. di Rimini Lib v. p. 609 The impudico fuoco must have been in the mind of the annalist, or he could never have made such an indecent paraphrase of Benvenuti's few words. It is a glaring instance of literary flippancy. Had Francesca been such, Dante's wondrous delicacy would have been satire.

dered in Francesca's own room: but both of these assertions are contradicted by two more ancient, and more candid authorities, Boccaccio and the Riccardian M. S. now before me. The former absolutely denies that he had ever been able to discover a single proof of the adultery, beyond what is to be found in Dante's text; and that he verily believes it to be rather a fiction deduced from the interpretation of which that text is possibly suscep tible, than that Dante was conscious of their adulterous intercourse, or meant to affirm it: and certainly what Boccaccio could not discover then, it is unreasonable to expect now (1). The M. S. places the scene of their sanguinary catastrophe, not in Francesca's room, but, as it particulary specifies, in a chamber on the floor below it (2). And both books agree in the positive declaration that Francesca's death was no murder, but altogether accidental; and that it was not only involuntary on the part of her husband, but that it gave him pain (3). Now, without laying any stress on the superior credibility merited by Boccaccio, on

(1) Che Francesca dunque si congisse con Paolo, mai io non udii se non quello che l'Autore ne scrive; il che possibile è che così fosse, ma io credo essere quello piuttosto fizion formata sopra quello ch'era possibile ad esser avvenuto, ch'io non credo che l'Autore sapesse che così fosse. Comento Vol. 1. p. 134.

(2) . . . . nella camera che rispondea di sotto. Bib. Ricc. M. S. Cod. 1016.

(3) avenne quello ch'egli non avrebbe voluto... Boecaccio, ut supra.. credendo dare a lui, diede alla moglie. M. S. ut supra .

...

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the score of his inhabiting a free city far removed from the intrigues of either Ravenna, or Rimini, it is enough to remark, that the comments of the Imolese, who began their composition in 1375 (1), have much less antiquity than those of Boccaccio, who died that very year (2): and as to the manuscript, its date is still older by thirty-two years (3). The following is the whole statement of the matter according to these two last-named authorities, who generally corroborate, and never contradict each other. The few details which the M. S. Author adds to Boccaccio's recital, are of the self-same complexion with it; and when he varies from it, it is so slightly, and with regard to such minute facts (as at what precise moment Francesca discovered the deception, whether it was during the night by the reflection of a lamp, or in the morning when the ravisher was rising from the bed), that weight is added to both their testimonies, by showing that they had neither communicated with each other, nor drawn their information from precisely the same sources. On the close of hostilities at the commencement of 1275, (as mentioned before) Polenta, pressed by political interests, but above all by the demands. of Scanatus, determined on the ill-starred mar‍

(1) Bettinelli, Risorgimento, Vol. 1. p. 144.

(2) Il mourut a Certaldo le 21 decembre de 1375. Hist. Litt. d'Italie, Vol. 3. p. 33.

(3) It is dated 1343, as I said before. Hell, Comment, Canto 1. p. 41.

daughter to state policy, only produced the effect of making him apprehend resistance to his plan: so that the poor mother could not obtain for her child the privilege of choosing between the two brothers. She, with the perspicacity of parental sollicitude, had long wished for the union of her lovely girl with Paul the beautiful': for such is the title that designates him in the Riminese annals (1). That she had privately affianced them, is reported by the historian of Ravenna; and even he of Rimini concedes, that she was as much disgusted by the marriage with 'Scanatus the lame (2)' and as desirous of that with Paul the beautiful,' as her daughter herself (3). She felt that the one union was almost an outrage upon nature; and that the second was so natural, that it promised felicity to all parties. Nor was the mother the sole person who caused Polenta to foresee the possibility of his matrimonial scheme being thwarted: for several

(1) Vita di Paolo il bello. Paolo terzo figliuolo di Malatesta.. per la moltà beltà, leggiadria e dispotezza ch' era in lui, fu cognominato il bello. Clementini, Racc. Ist. di Rimini, Lib. v. p. 608.

(2) John, alias, Launcelot, alias, Guigliotto, alias, Scanatus the lame mentr' era fanciullo cadendo e debilitata una gamba, o, come altri dicono, per debolezza de' nervi, zoppicava alquanto e venne chiamato sciancato, e di alcuni Lanciotto e Guigliotto ec. Id. Id. p. 580.

(3) Polenta quasi ubligato diedegli in matrimonio Francesca con disgusto di lei e poca soddisfazione della madre, amendue inclinate a Paolo. Id. Id. Id. . . . matrem Paulo Franciscam despondisse. Hier. Rubai Hist. Ravenn. p. 309.