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waving over her milky shoulders, of the soulsoothing tone of her sweet, sonorous voice, of the splendour of her forehead, of the ivory of her neck, and of the delicious roundness of her virgi nal bosom (1).' Next come Achilles and Paris; names recalling, not only stupendous events in. history and the formation of republics and of empires, but, what outlive these, the matchless productions of poetry. To the soft, yet noble Paris is accorded perhaps the finest similitude ever produced by the Muse of Homer, as well as the most spirited specimen of Mr. Pope's translation (2). Dante, by saying Achilles' fought with love to the last,' alludes not only to the long history of his amorous feats, from his puerile attachment to Deidomia to his passion for Patroclus (which produced an effect that neither patriotism, nor love of glory could), but also, and more particularly, to the manner of his death, when he was shot in the heel while waiting for the Trojan Virgin, Polyxena, by assignation. The amorous impetuosity of Achilles was

(1) Comento, Vol. 1. p. 304.

(2) Forth issues Paris from the palace wall

In brazen arms, whence gleamy lightnings fall.-
The wanton Courser thus, with reins unbound,
Breaks from his stall and beats the trembling ground;
Pampered and proud he seeks the wonted tides,
And laves, in heat of blood, his shining sides,
His head now freed he tosses to the skies,
His mane dishevelled o'er his shoulders flies,
He snuffs the females in the distant plain,
And springs exulting to his fields again.
Pope's Iliad, Book 6.

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indeed so remarkable, that some pretend it was to denote it, that the fiction of his having been immersed in Styx entirely except the heel, was first invented (1). I know not, whether any stickler for the Classics may object to the introduction of the .hero of the Iliad in this melancholy circle, instead of the Elysium of the former one: but let such recollect the sorrowful plight of that sacred champion in the Odyssey, who is there made to aver that, rather than reign where he was., he would be "A slave to some poor hind who toils for bread (2). " Indeed it is not easy to form any notion of Homer's plan of future rewards and punishments; and such no doubt was one reason for Dante's preferring the philosophical Virgil, as his instructor in the creed of Antiquity. The placing of Achilles here maintains that dignity which is intended for Francesca; nor is her state so terrible, nor the punishments of this first circle of Tartarus so severe, as to be derogatory to him.

Q. LXVII.

If Dante made a classic selection with regard to the preceding heroes and heroines, he made a fashionable one in designating Tristram of the

(1) Quod thalus immersus non sit, physicum tegit mysterium. Volunt namque physici quod venæ quæ in thalo sunt ad renum et fæmorum atque virilium rationem pertineant: et ideo per thalum non mersum in Styge, invictam in Achille libidinem volueruat. Genealogia Deor. Lib. xn. Cap. 52.

(2) Pope's Iliad, Book XI.

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Round table; which romance, along with Launcelot of the lake, composed a lady's library in those days. Arthur's chief favourite was the nephew to the king of Cornwall, Tristram ; who had the mis. fortune to become enamoured of his own royal aunt, Ysotta, a fair haired princess of Erin (1), while she played innocently on her harp; and the uncle, finding them thus together, took a fit of jealousy and wounded the youth with a poisoned arrow which he happened to have in his hand; so that he was thereupon carried away to bed: where the aunt coming in to visit him before he expired, they embraced each other with such affection and despair, that both their hearts burst together (2). Petrarch also gives Tristram a place in his Triumph of Love (3). So many illustrious personages force the reader to make a reflection (which the poet artfully omits), that, if so large a proportion of those, whom the world quote as examples of transcendant abilities and greatness of soul, were unequal to the conflict of love, we ought not to judge over-severely of a single fault of a very young

(1). la bionda figliuola del Re d'Irlanda. Bib. Riêc. M. S. Cod. 1016.

(2) .... dopo molto pianto, abbracciandosi insieme per grande passione ed amore, dice la favola che morirono l'una nelle braccie dell' altro a story (says the manuscript I am quoting) taken from the Chronicle of Mantua. Id. Id. Id. and Boccaccio, Comento, Vol. 1. p. 310.

(3) Ecco quei che le carte empion di sogni

Lancilotto, Tristano, e gli altri, ec.

Trionfo d'Amore. p. 99.

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couple, whom peculiar circumstances exposed to the most trying temptations..

Before proceeding further, it will be well to present the reader with the historical facts on which the poetic description he is about to peruse is founded; because without being perfectly aware of them it will be impossible to appreciate the poetry justly: Should my recital appear prolix, or should the quotations transcribed to support it be judged superfluously numerous, I alledge as an excuse that it is an oltremontanó who undertakes to investigate a question of Italian antiquities, which is not accurately treated in the Italian editions of Dante, and who not only affirms that on this head all those editions (even not excepting the most voluminous ones) are strangely deficient, but that of the little they state a portion is to be invalidated; and that palpable errors are disseminated in France and England in the most modern publications that profess information on this subject the Histoire Litteraire d'Italie, and the Story of Rimini'. Mr. Hunt indeed can quote Italian in his favour; and even were it otherwise, he could put in the triumphant plea of the beauty of his little poem: but the French critic has no such defence, and when he sets out by telling us that

"

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Paul and Francesca were cousins (1), he commits a blunder not discoverable in the most negligent copy ever printed of the Divina Commedia, and nearly disheartens one with his book.

Polenta and Malatesta were two feudal Lords, the former of Ravenna and Cervia, and the latter of Rimini; States which, according to the style of the time, were continually at bloody variance. It was on the cessation of one of their longest and most ruinous conflicts, that a union between their two most potent families was projected as the only expe. dient to insure a peace; which to Ravenna, as having fared the worst in the campaign, was supposed to be very desirable, if not absolutely necessary. But Polenta had another as powerful, though less patriotic reason. His family, though rich, were not ancient, and he was ambitious. His father had come from a small village at the foot of the Appennines; and although he himself had now risen, first to the dignity of Procurator to the Archbishop, and at last to that of Count, he aspired to greater honours. He therefore sought by every means to captivate his fellow-citizens by courteous manners, and to strengthen his reputation abroad by alliances in which he succeeded so well, that finally, by the aid of his son-in-law, Malatesta, he expelled the only people who could compete with him, the princely-descended Traversarii, and made

(1) Elle etait tendrement aimée de Paul son jeune cousin. Hist. Litt. d'Italie, Vol. 1. p. 45.