DAN 



572 



DAN 



Dante. Carbonate of lime, crystallized in dodecahedrons, also 

 occurs in this vein ; and likewise sulphate of barytes, 

 mountain cork, and the aplome of Hauy. 



After the ore is broken into small pieces and roast- 

 ed, it is put into conical-shaped furnaces constructed 

 of the slag from cast iron. In these furnaces it is mixed 

 with the proper quantity of charcoal, and then melted 

 and separated from the slag. The cast iron obtained in 

 that manner is as white as silver, completely crystal- 

 lized, and very brittle. This cast iron is reduced to 

 malleable iron, by heating it in a bed of charcoal, and 

 hammering it out into bars. In this state it is whiter 

 than common iron, is less liable to rust, is distinctly fi- 

 brous in its texture, and much stouter than any other iron. 



The quantity of iron yielded by this mine every year, 

 amounts to above 4000 tons ; it is all sent to England, 

 the greater part of it being purchased by a merchant in 

 Hull. It is all converted into steel, and may be known 

 by a mark of three balls. 



Some chemists ascribe the superiority of the Danne- 

 mora iron to the presence of manganese. Berzelius at- 

 tributes it to the presence of the metal of silica, while 

 others, with more reason, suppose it to arise from the 

 nature of the process employed. In the neighbour- 

 hood of the mines are establishments for forging the 

 iron, and for the accommodation of more than 300 

 workmen Avith their families. Each of the little vil- 

 lages has three or four regular streets, often planted 

 with trees, a church, a school, and an hospital. See 

 Co.xe's Travels. Catteau, Voyage en AUemagne et en 

 Suede, torn. ii. p. 292 ; but particularly Dr Thomson's 

 Travels in Sweden during the Autumn of 1812, chap. x. 

 p. 180' — 192, to which we have been indebted for the 

 greater part of the preceding information. ( ?r) 



DANTE, Alighieri, one of the earliest and most 

 celebrated poets of modern Italy, was born of an illus- 

 trious family at Florence, in the year 1265. At a very 

 early age he displayed genius of a superior order, and 

 applied himself successfully to the study of philosophy 

 and literature, under the tuition of Brunetto Latini. 

 When grown up to manhood, he eagerly engaged in 

 the business of public life, and raised himself by his 

 abilities, to an eminent rank amongst his fellow citizens 

 of the republic of Florence. He appears to have com- 

 menced his public career in the military profession ; in 

 which he acquired considerable reputation ; having dis- 

 tinguished himself, by his bravery, in the battle of 

 Campaldino, or Arezzo, where the Florentines obtained 

 a signal victory. In the year 1291, he espoused Gemma, 

 the daughter of Manetto de Donati, a lady whose dis- 

 position was by no means calculated to contribute to his 

 domestic happiness and comfort ; and from whom he se- 

 parated after she had brought him several children. 



The superior talents and acquirements of Dante soon 

 paved the way for his advancement to the highest ho- 

 nours of the state. In the year 1300, he was appointed 

 one of the chief magistrates of the Florentine republic ; 

 a situation, however, which, at that troublesome period, 

 exposed him to many dangers, and eventually proved 

 the occasion of his ruin. Italy was, at that time, kept 

 in a state of continual agitation by the opposite factions 

 of the Guelphs and Ghibellines, which were the cause 

 of so much animosity and bloodshed; and the city of 

 Florence was, moreover, distracted by the turbulent 

 parties of the Ncri and Bianchi, or Blacks and Whites ; 

 st distinction originating from a private quarrel between 

 the two noble famines of the Cherchi and Donnli. 

 Dante unfortunately embraced the cause of the White 

 faction, and his party having been ultimately over- 



powered, sentence of banishment was pronounced 

 against him, his possessions were confiscated, and his 

 house razed to the foundation. 



At the time these proceedings took place, Dante was 

 absent from Florence. But the news of the sentence 

 reached him at Sienna, on his return ; and seeing him- 

 self there surrounded by a numerous and illustrious 

 band of exiles, he associated with them, and, under the 

 conduct of Alessandro di Romena, this army made re- 

 peated attempts, during a period of four years, to regain 

 possession of their native city. All these attempts, how- 

 ever, proved unsuccessful ; and the band of exiles, at 

 length, seeing their liopes frustrated, dispersed. Dante 

 repaired to the court of Verona, where he found a pa- 

 tron in the great Cane de la Scala, Prince of Verona, 

 whom the poet has celebrated in the first Canto of the 

 Inferno. But his residence there was short ; the treat- 

 ment which he experienced at the Veronese court did 

 not accord with his talents and temperament ; and he 

 found it necessary to seek his fortune elsewhere. From 

 Verona, therefore, he retired to France ; where he en- 

 deavoured to attract the notice of the learned; and, as 

 Boccacio informs us, disputed with great reputation in 

 the theological schools of Paris. 



In the year 1308, Henry, Count of Luxemburgh, was 

 elevated to the imperial dignity ; and Dante seems to 

 have, conceived the hope of being restored to his native 

 city, through the influence and exertions of that prince. 

 Accordingly he attached himself to the interests of the 

 new emperor, and endeavoured to conciliate his favour, 

 it is supposed, by the composition of his Latin work 

 De Monorchia, in which he asserted the rights of the 

 empire against the encroachments of the papacy. In 

 the year 1311, the emperor laid siege to Florence, but 

 was baffled in his attempt to take the city ; and his 

 death, which happened in 1313, deprived Dante of all 

 hopes of re-establishment in his native country. 



For some time after this period, we have no certain 

 accounts of the circumstances of his life ; but he is sup- 

 posed to have wandered about Italy, for several years, 

 in a state of poverty and dependence • until at length, 

 tlu'ough the friendship and patronage of Guido Novello 

 de Polenta, he procured an honourable establishment 

 at Ravenna ; where he continued to reside during the few 

 remaining years of his life. In the service of this new 

 patron, he was employed, as ambassador, to negociate a 

 peace with the Venetians, who were making prepara- 

 tions for hostilities against Ravenna. On his arrival at 

 Venice, however, he was unable to procure a public au- 

 dience ; ami the fatigue of the journey, together with the 

 mortification he experienced from the ill success of his 

 mission, threw him into a fever, which terminated in his 

 death, on the 14th of September 1321, in the 57th year 

 of his age. His remains were magnificently interred by 

 Guido j who also took upon himself the office of pro- 

 nouncing the funeral oration, and, at the same time, ex- 

 pressed his intention of erecting a splendid monument 

 to the deceased ; an intention which his own subsequent 

 misfortunes deprived him of the power of executing. 

 This honourable task was afterwards performed by Ber- 

 nard Bembo, the father of the celebrated cardinal, who 

 raised a handsome monument, with a suitable inscrip- 

 tion, over the neglected ashes of the poet. 



The Florentines, as if to expiate their resentment 

 against the illustrious poet, whom they had so unrelent- 

 mgly persecuted when alive, made repeated fruitless at- 

 tempts to recover his bones from the city of Ravenna. 

 In the age of Leo X they made a solemn application 

 to the Pope for that purpose; and the celebrated Michael. 



5 



Mantel 



