The Romance of Biography (Vol 1 of 2)

STOJA AND

are interesting even in a mere literary point of view: of these only one or two have shed a reflected splendour round the object of their adoration. Guido Cavalcanti, the Florentine, was the early and favourite friend of Dante: being engaged in the factions of his nat

etto trovai

tella bella

biondetti e

grand work on which his fame long rested, is a "Canzone sopra l'Amore," in which the subject is so profoundly and so philos

onsummate beauty of the picture it resents, and will gi

he vien ch' og

ar di carit

o amor, sì

puote; ma cia

embra quando g

ch'io nol s

umiltà do

ltra inver di

a contar la

nchina ogni g

e per sua D

ta già la m

osta in noi

ente n' abbi

L TRAN

ower in every glance of those eyes! Love alone can tell; for I have neither words nor skill! She alone is the Lady of gentleness-beside her, all others seem ungracious and unkind. Who can describe her sweetness, her l

eauty:-it is like a lovely dream-and probably nev

ile in love.[21] Apparently, this was after the death of the beautiful Ricciarda dei Selvaggi; or, as he calls her, his Selvaggia: she was of a noble family of Pistoia, her father having been gonfaliere, and leader of the faction of the Bianchi; and she was also celebrated for her poetical talents. It appears from a

CINO DA

sir, lo par

n allegranz

on poria, be

mio amor se

' allegria e

non haggio

vostro

ate la vostr

te pre

ar la nostr

e and lord! th

l my conscious

k it-but thou

hou rejoice in

nowing that I

thy will and c

hide our mutua

wild and solitary hills, when he assisted Ricciarda in her household duties, and in aiding and consoling her parents, were among the happiest of his life; but the winter came, and with it many privations and many hardships. Their mountain retreat was ill calculated to defend them against the fury of the e

n embassy, and causing his suite to travel by another road, he made a pilgrimage alone to the tomb of his lost Selvaggia. This incident gave rise to the most striking of all his

l'alto e in s

baciando il

quella pietr

tà pose la

iuse d' ogni

che di morte

a dello mio

utta d' ado

ai a questa

o, fa che qui

, che qui gia

n m'intese il

pur chiaman

ai, con voc

the mountain summits, crying aloud 'Selvaggia!' in accents of despair," has a s

r' una,"-"the fair number one"-of the four celebrated women of that century-T

will remember his beautiful Sonnet on th

stro amoroso

te s'è da

rrounded by his disciples, to whom he is explaining the code of civil law: a little behind stands the fig

d to by Petrarch in

Selva

Pistoja; Gui

idi che già f

onk, who is said to have invented the present form of the sonnet: to him also is a

itten by her lover in her praise, is entitled, La Bella Mano, the fair hand. Conti lived some years later than Petrarch. I

TNO

2

mora, sicco

iacer si leg

leggermente il