The Romance of Biography (Vol 1 of 2)

preceded Petrarch, having been born some forty years before him,-bu

unts o

templation;-

ine walks; he

ves for recre

elf and to my readers; where we shall be priviledged to wander at will; to pause or turn back; to d

of a stern commanding temper, mingling study with action. Petrarch loved with all the vivacity of his temper; he took a pleasure in publishing, in exaggerating, in embellishing his passion in the eyes of the world. Dante, capable of strong and enthusiastic tenderness, and early

on un ch

, noto, ed

dentro, vo s

orio,

which was characteristic of his mind: his eyes, were large and intensely black, his nose aquiline, his complexion of a dark olive, his hair and beard very much curled, his step slow and measured, and the habitual expression of his countenance grave, with a tinge of melancholy abstraction. When Petrarch walked along the streets of Avignon, the women smiled, and said, "there goes the lover of Laura!" The impression which Dante left on those who beheld him, was far different. In allusion to his own personal appearance, he used to relate an incident that once occurred to him. When years of persecution and exile had added to th

by her father, Folco de' Portinari, when Dante was only nine years old, and Beatrice a year younger. His childish attachment, as he te

hair scattered to the winds, "i capei d'oro al aura sporsi," her soft smiles, and her angel-li

d'amore

eology: with how much

ea of female beauty, than he could form to himself from the celebrated Ode of Anacreon, on a similar subject." From this canzone and some lines scattered through his sonnets, I shall sketch the person and cha

sa va di un

pra se, co

as fair an

crespi

ehead, "spaciosa fronte," a mouth that when it smiled surpassed all things in swe

he qua

dolcezza og

lla bocca i

ona, p

mondo cosa

i, con buon v

slender, springing gr

a sua svelta

dalle spall

round, di

, fesso e p

eaks out into a rapture,

el d

llo fra le b

lla gola un

and round; her hand so

mano morbi

d with jewelled rings as became h

or angelic

look upon, but disdainf

sa a v

sa dove si

icture of female loveliness, heightened by some tender touches of mental and moral beaut

porta la mia

gentil cioc

a, ogni uom v

ta, fa tre

ndo 'l viso

difetto al

i a lei supe

donne, a

za, ogni pe

re a chi par

ato chi pri

par, quando

icer, nè te

miracolo

SLAT

our forsakes his cheek, and he sighs for his own unworthiness. Pride and anger fly before her! Assist me, ladies, to do her honour! All sweet thoughts of humble love and good-will spring in the hearts of

ike an earthquake; it beats in every pulse and artery; it has dwelt in his heart till it has become a part of his life, or rather his life itself.[39] Though we are not told so expressly, it is impossible to doubt, on a consideration of all those passages and poems which relate to Beatrice, that his love was approved and returned, and that his character was understood and appreciated by a woman too generous, too noble-minded, to make him the sport of her vanity. He complains, indeed, poetically, of her disdain, for which he excuses himself in another poem: "We know that the heavens shine on in

del suo st

zelle amoro

osa da parl

and blooming beauty, was called, at Florence, Primavera, (the Spring.) Her real name was Giovanna. Dante frequently names them together, and in particular i

na e Monna

lover utterly discountenanced in her presence, and pointed out her triumph to her companions. This offence seems to have deeply affected the proud, susceptible mind

il dì ch' io

vostri occ

a fine characteristic contrast with that eloquent and impassioned effusion of Petrarch, in which he multi

giorno, e 'l me

oved. In the 12th and 13th Sonnets, we have, perhaps, one of the most beautiful groups ever presented in poetry. Dante meets a company of young Florentine ladies, who were returning from paying Beatrice a visit of condolence on the death of her father. Their altered and dejected looks, their downcast eyes, and cheeks "colourless as marble," make his heart tremble within him; he asks after Beatrice-"our gentle lady," as he tenderly expresses it: the young girls raise their downcast eyes,

wn end, for she died within a few months afterwards, in her 24th year. In the "Vita Nuova" there is a fragment of a canzone, which b

God of justice to call unto himself this gentlest of human beings; that she might be glorified under the auspice

seems to have been "grief-stung to madness." To the first Canzone, written after the death of Beatrice, Dante has prefixed a note, in which he tells us, that after he had long wept in silence the loss of her he loved, he thought to give utterance to his sorrow in words; and to compose a Canzone, in which he should write, (weeping as he wrote,) of

parlare

gentil, che

implicity at once tender and sublime. The sentiment, or ra

ehind. It was not the frost of winter that chilled her, nor was it the heat of summer that withered her; it was the power of her virtue, her humility, and her tru

any one doubt that this little incident, so natural and so affecting,-his thinking on his lost Beatrice, and by association sketching the figure of an angel, while his mind dwelt upon

fearful vehemence, to the agony of his feelings, when he believed no human eye was on him. "She turned pale," he says, "with compassion; her eyes filled with tears, as if she had loved me: then did I remember my noble-hearted Beatrice, for

(his miscellaneous poems on the subject of

rthily; which that I may do, I devote my whole soul to study, as she knoweth well; in so much, that if it please the Great Disposer of all t

ter the pride of a patron;-but to the inspiration of a young, beautiful, and noble-minded woman, we owe one of the grandest efforts of human genius. And never did it enter into the imagination of any lover, before or since, to raise so mighty, so vast, so enduring, so glorious a monument to the worth and charms of a mistress. Other poets were satisfied if they con

TNO

ra formosi

lemn language of Sacred Wri

stre, o dolc

lo spirit

n.

sublime Canzone addressed to the

vete intelle

donna Giovanna; and Monn

y and by Shelley. I subjoin the version of the

TO GUIDO C

ld that Lapo

rong enchantme

whose charmed

l, where'er our t

hange, nor an

joyous voyage;

tiety should

arts their str

unteous wizard

ce, and thy

ur wanderings,

e talk, wherev

each were as c

that thou and

13 (Poesie del

a Nuova,