CANTO V.

perillous attachment increased with every effort to stifle it (1). Whether this were the involuntary effect to be predicted, I cannot tell; or whether it would not have been more natural for her to have begun to view the whole of mankind with detestation but in resolving to struggle with the sentiments of her heart, to resign herself under such irreparable wrongs, and to spurn legal interference, which, even if attainable, would have been only vengeance (not reparation) of an injury not redressed by human power, nor even by Omnipotence himself, unless, as is doubtful, he could change the past (2), and which could not be sought for without bringing eternal disgrace on her family — in determining to make a voluntary sacrifice of the little remnant of her peace of mind, after its main portion had been already irrevocably sacrificed, rather than brand her father as a villain, and plunge her country in war in submitting to her mate however unworthy, and in undertaking to dedicate the residue of her lingering existence to the duties of a forlorn, but lofty, spotless wife, she formed an idea of the most difficult and exalted virtue. Had her attempt succeeded, she would have been by far the brightest specimen of female heroism that the world ever saw: as it is, who

(1) Non levò l'amore ch' ella avea preso per Paolo, ma crebbe continuatamente. M. S. ut supra.

(2) Hoc namque dumtaxat negatum etiam Deo est, quæ facta sunt infecta posse reddere. Aristotle, de Moribus, Lib. vi.

GANTO V.

shall assail her with the first stone? Most elevated was her notion of moral excellence, and admirable and laudable her ambition in aspiring to such perfection; but who shall reproach her for fainting in the ascent, or not rather bewail the frailty of human-nature? For fourteen years (until 1289) her virtue persisted in its glorious career, maintaining an unblemished reputation in a court so full of spies, that, on the first occasion of her trespassing decorum by permitting one single kiss, it was instantly discovered. During that long period, she was exposed to the severest trials human-nature can sustain the continual presence of a loving and beloved object (one whom a little sophism might have taught her to consider her true husband) and the absence, or neglect of him who was ostensibly her husband, but whose rights would at any legal tribunal have been questionable, and whom not to hate was a mighty exertion of goodness, but whom to cherish; or respect, was above mortal power. And if we reduce her error to the receiving of that one, single, trembling kiss ( a stain which her heart-blood quickly washed out ) who, while admiring the judgment of the poet, in presenting us with her fictitious shade in hell, will not be induced to alter the award, and trust that the real Francesca is a saint in Paradise? Her husband continually employed in the chase, or in the repelling, or the directing of martial inroads, the society of her beloved brother-in-law became her

CANTO V.

principal, or only recreation; their near relationship, and the purity of her soul prevented either of them from foreseeing peril in their attachment; and if the primal dream of love was found by them to be fallacious, a connexion formed upon affinity, and chaste, tender friendship, seemed to repose unshakeably. Reading was their favourite delight; and, since they were not more remarkable for exterior loveliness than for gentle manners, adorned feelings, and the enthusiasm of fine associations, every circumstance conspired to cultivate between them a most high, mental sympathy, which is always infinitely more puissant than that caused by exterior attractions alone. By these too, however, the juvenile couple were distinguished above any others of that age. Their choice of books was in conformity with the reiguing fashion and led them to the perusal of the glowing romances of Chivalry: in one of which Launcelot of the lake, in a situation somewhat resembling their own, advances, through all the tremors and colouring of passion, to the boldness of pilfering a kiss from his adored Ginevra; on which Paul, whose nerves were over-come, was unable to refrain from realising the storied rapture, and thus sullied the lips of his brother's consort by touching them with his own. This is not only Dante's account of the transaction, but also the historical truth; and if he attributes to them no deeper guilt, neither do the genuine records either. No doubt however but

CANTO V;

such a salute between such relatives was highly wrong; and if I pretended the contrary, I should be totally unworthy of the punctilious moralist, I am commenting, who in another world sentences their misdemeanour, and does not advert to any one of the palliations in their excuse. It suffered on earth condign punishment without delay: for a servant having, through a cranny in the wainscot, witnessed that unguarded act, he hurried to inform his master of it, who was, as usual, absent from home. Scanatus was not of the delicacy to scorn listening to a mercenary tale-bearer, nor of a character to bridle his indignation till the matter was investigated, much less to give way to any self-culpations: so he hurried back to Rimini with his ferocious temper irritated to madness. The servant had only told him what he knew to be true,' viz. that kiss (1); for that these words only imply a kiss, and by no means any thing adulterous, is certain from the very man who uses them, Boccaccio, being the same who, as I have shown already, affirms possitively that he had never heard Francesca accused of adultery. Unfortunately the husband, swelled up to that state of unreflecting violence, was led to the staircase at the very moment that his brother in full dress with the collar of his order of knighthood, and in his mantle and buff coat of mail (2), was entering Francesca's room.

(1)... ciò che sapea. Boccaccio ut supra.

(2) He had on his coretto (says Boccaccio) which appears to have

CANTO V.

The cholerick Prince never considered that such visits were most wonted; and that, if his poor brother had any culpable design, he would never have resorted to it in those distinguished habiliments. No time was allowed to any indiscretion on the present occasion: for scarcely had Paul entered the room, when Scanatus called furiously to his wife to come down; upon which Paul, hearing the angry exclamation, instead of returning, went forward and descended to go away by another flight of stairs. But Scanatus hearing his tread turned into a corridore, so that he met Paul as he landed on the first floor; and when this latter, on beholding the other run towards him with fierce menaces and a drawn sword, sprang to elude if possible rather than wait a fraternal contest, the above 'mentioned golden collar got entangled with a nail projecting from the door of a draw-well fabricated in the wall a curious contrivance to be found in many rooms of old houses in Italy (1). At this

been a kind of rich mantle, for its falda, or hem is spoken of. The M. S. describes him as wearing a cosetto, which may mean a coat of mail of dressed skin; or a collar, since it mentions its maglia or links. Neither tosetto, nor corretto, however is to be found in the Vocabolario. That Paul was in some kind of a remarkably brilliant full dress is certain.

(1) I here rather follow the M. S. Boccaccio thinks it was down the draw-well itself Paul endeavoured to escape, and that when Francesca opened the door of her room (for it had been bolted) to Scanatus, he saw Paul who in descending had been caught by a nail in the well. But, in the first place, few rooms in old houses in Italy are without a second door through which there is an escape; and then those wells are so narrow that to descend by them is nearly impracticable, aud