264 



NOTES ANB QUERIES. 



[2nd 5. No 40., Oct. 4 '58. 



seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of 

 giants !" ? 



The author of JRaymond de Monthaidt, not to 

 mention Mr. Morgan's learned theological works, 

 may well afford this reference to a slight omis- 

 sion in a work conceived in the very spirit of the 

 liistory, legends, and traditions of the Cyrari ; and 

 which, — with a fine imagination and poetic sus- 

 ceptibility, great felicity of expression and graphic 

 narrative in the legendary tales, — exhibits an ac- 

 quaintance and sympathy with Cymric archoBo- 

 logy and literature, aided by an extensive classical, 

 oriental, and Scandinavian erudition to which few 

 among us can lay claim. 



SrON AP GwiLItYM AP Sjoif. 



Inner Temple. 



IMPBQVISBD ITAMAN VERSES ON A PREAM, BY 

 KICCOMNI. 



"D! fonnten vok bw 

 S^raume alter iunge 

 ?Wdbc{)en betaufcben/ 

 tDie »ielen fujyen 

 ©efjeimntffen wurben 

 rote auf tie ©puc 

 fommen ! " 



The unpublished Italian lines improvised by an 

 eminent living political writer, poet, and dramatist 

 of Tuscany, Giovanni Battista Niccolini, author of 

 Philippo Slrozzi and Arnaldo da Brescia, which 

 I introduce to the notice of the readers of "N. & 

 Q.," are connected with — and apart from their 

 intrinsic beauty owe their intei'est to — a "romance 

 of real life" which within the last few weeks Ijas 

 been realised in the land of poetry and love : 



"il bel paese 

 Ch' Appenin parte e '1 mar circonda e 1' Alpe." 



"xoo Vxi Sitvonen blu^n 



3m bunlein Bflub hk ©olbiOcangen %\\xhn, 

 6tn fanfter fBinb com blauen ^immel wz^t, 

 >Dic 9}Jv)rte ftxiU unb i)ocl) bee fiorbeer |tet)t." 



An English gentleman, my kinsman and friend, — 

 the beau-ideal type of the noblest characteristics 

 of his patrician class, whom to know is to love and 

 honour, — visiting Italy some years ago established 

 himself where 



" Arno wins us to tliefair wbil« wall», 

 Where the Etrurian Athens clainug and keeps 

 A softer feeling for her fairy halls." 



After a protracted residence in Florence, my 

 friend learnt from his servant, a native of that 

 city, that, constrained by the "angustaeres domi" 

 and other family calamities, it had become neces- 

 sary to provide an asylum for his sister, like him- 

 self, lowly in station and uneducated : 



" Ancor sul fiorir de primavera 



Sua tenerella ; " 



almost a child in years, but developed by the 



glowing sun of the South into the fulness and 

 maturity of womanly form ; on whom nature, in 

 the absence of other dowry, had showered in 

 dazzling, subduing splendour " the fatal gift of 

 beauty," — a gift which had already inspired 

 ardent admiration, royalty even deigning to offer 

 respectful homage to female fascination enshrined 

 in this humble child of the people. 



By the intervention of ray friend a more fitting 

 arrangement than that contemplated was effected, 

 and Diomira, such was her name, found a honae 

 with a respectable family : visiting her brother 

 occasionally at the house of an Italian gentleman, 

 of whom my friend was for a short period the 

 guest, she conciliated the esteem and partiality 

 of his- wife and daughters, and gradually became 

 domesticated in their family circle. Of this circle 

 the Tuscan poet, to whom I have referred, was one 

 of the most distinguished ornaments; and thus 

 Diomira became known to the poet's brother, an 

 Italian count, a military officer of rank, holding 

 high ministerial office in the Archducal govern- 

 ment and possessing extensive estates. Madame 

 de Stael, " cette femme prodigieuse qui dans le 

 romnn, la littcrature, la politique, sut analyser 

 comma uh philosophe, sentir comme un artiste, 

 et juger comme un homme d'etat," but to whom 

 beauty and feminine grace had been denied, as- 

 signed to them so high a rank that she would, she 

 observed, for those of her lovely friend, M*. Re- 

 camier, give in exchange all her own talent ; and 

 Diomira affords a confirmation of this estimate 

 entertained by the illustrious daughter of Necker,* 



* A striking instance of the susceptibility to beauty 

 of intellects of the highest order, capable of resisting 

 other powerful forms of influence, was given by Tycho 

 Brahe. Though passionately devoted to the astrono- 

 mical investigations which have rendered his name illus- 

 trious — •rivalling those of his predecessor Copernicus, and 

 of his contemporaries Kepler and Galileo — and ardently 

 ambitious of scientific fiime, he withheld from publication 

 for a considerable period his observations on the star of 

 Cassiopeia, which had excited in the highest degree the 

 interest of astronomers, lest he should disparage his no- 

 bility ! {Tychonis Brahei Vita, Gassendi, 4'", 1654.) 

 But the deference to aristocratic prepossession thus re- 

 markably evinced proved powerless against the fascina- 

 tion of the peasant girl, whom, despite the indignation of 

 his family and the Danish nobles, he made his wife, — 

 Christina, "welche einige ftlr eine Bauerstochter von 

 Knudstrup, andere fiir die Tochter eines Pfarrers an- 

 geben." {Tycko Brahe geschildert nach seinein Leben, 

 &c., von Helfrecht. Hof. 1798, 12. p. 34.) This author 

 adds, p. 35. : " Wahrscheinlich hatte er sich mit diescr 

 Person schon vor der Verehelicbung in allzunahe Ver- 

 traulichkeit eingelassen, weil ihm schon den 12 October, 

 1573, eine Tochter, nahmens Christine, geboren wurde, 

 welche nach drey Jabren wieder starb, und in ihrer 

 Grabschrift in der Kirche zu Helsingborg filia naturnlis 

 genennt wurde." This offers a striking parallel to Gothe, 

 of whom aristocratic reserve and hauteur became the 

 most striking feature, who had also his Christine, humble 

 in origin, the mother of his children before she became 

 his wife. 



