82 Ugo Foscolo, and the Italian Poets. JAN 



as of the highest value not as it may satisfy curiosity, far more particular in 

 such cases than philosophy, about the exactness of trifling facts, but as serving 

 to indicate the tone of feeling and sentiment which characterised the youth of 

 this great man. 



" Folco Portinari, the father of Beatrice, was a citizen of distinction, and it 

 was the custom in Florence, at that period, for the better class of the inhabitants 

 to keep the first of May with open house and various kinds of rejoicing. Dante, 

 on the present occasion, happened to be among the guests of Portinari, and the 

 little Bice, as her friends called her, who was about the same age as himself, was 

 so gentle and beautiful, that she immediately attracted his regard. In a few 

 years the child-like affection he had conceived for her ripened into a deeper 

 feeling, and wholly occupied his thoughts. To this he attributes the earliest 

 exercise of his muse, and the following sonnet is the first of his printed compo- 

 sitions. It contains an address to all who had any experience in the mysteries 

 of love, and were likely to interpret the meaning of his poetic visions. 



" A ciascun' alma presa, e gentil core, 

 Nel cui cospetto vien' il dir presente 

 In cio che mi riscrivan, suo parvente 

 Salute in lor Signer, cioe Amore. 

 Gia eran' quasi ch' atterzate 1'hore 

 Del tempo ch' ogni stella e piu lucente 

 Quando m' apparve amor subitamente 

 Cui essenza sembrar, mi da horrore. 

 Allegro mi sembrava Amor' tenendo, 

 Mio cor' in mano, e nelle braccia havea 

 Madonna involta in un drappo dormendo 

 Poi la svegliava, e desto cor ardendo 

 Lei paventosa humilmente pascea 

 Appresso gir* lo ne vedea piangendo." 



" To every captive soul and gentle heart, 

 For whom I sing, what sorrows strange I prove ! 

 I wish all grace, and may their master, Love, 

 Present delight and happy hopes impart. 

 Two-thirds of night were spent, but brightly clear 

 The stars were shining, when surprised I saw 

 Love, whom to worship is my will and law ; 

 Glad was his aspect, and he seemed to bear 

 _My own heart in his hand, while on his arms 

 Garmented in her many-folded vest, 

 Madonna lay, with gentle sleep oppressed ; 

 But he awoke her filled with soft alarms, 

 And with that burning heart in humble guise 

 Did feed her, till in gloom the vision fled my eyes." 



Beatrice died soon after both she and Dante reached their twenty- 

 fifth year : 



" It one day happened that as he was brooding over the recollection of his 

 beloved mistress, he saw, at the window of a neighbouring house, a lady of the 

 most exquisite loveliness. Her eyes were fixed upon his melancholy figure with 

 a look of deep sympathy, and her countenance, pale and expressive, was the 

 counterpart of the image so strongly impressed on his heart. His tears, he 

 says, fell freer as he contemplated this fair resemblance of his Beatrice, and he 

 wrote sonnet after sonnet declaring the consolation he found in the sympathy 

 she rendered his sufferings. At length, however, he perceived that his eyes 

 began to take a greater delight in the graces of the living beauty than was con- 

 sistent with the devout remembrance , of Beatrice. Discovering his danger, he 

 reproached himself in the bitterest manner for what he termed the vileness of his 



