DAN 



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DAN 



jattfe. ' Angelo, an enthusiastic admirer of Dante, generously 

 — */-—■» offered to execute a magnificent monument to the me- 

 mory of the poet. But tin's application was likewise 

 unsuccessful. To evince, however, the very high esti- 

 mation in which his talents were held in his native city, 

 the republic of Florence, in the year 1373, assigned a 

 public stipend to a person appointed to read lectures 

 .on the Divina Commedia; and the first individual en- 

 caged in this office was the celebrated Boccacio. A 

 sumptuous monument was raised to the memory of 

 Dante, in 1780, by the legate Cardinal Gonzaga, bearing 

 the inscription : " Danti AUgherio, poeta: mi tampons 

 primo, Rcstitutori politioris Tmmanitaths." A few years 

 ago, we were informed by some of the literary journals, 

 that a subscription had been opened at Florence, for de- 

 fraying the expence of a public monument proposed to 

 be erected in honour of their great native poet; and 

 that a drawing of the intended structure had been sub- 

 mitted to the Florentine Academy of the Fine Arts, which 

 met with general approbation. We are ignorant whe- 

 ther the intended monument has been since executed. 



Boccacio describes Dante as a man of middle stature; 

 his demeanour was solemn, and his walk slow ; his dress 

 suitable to his rank and age ; his visage long, his nose 

 aquiline, his eyes full, his cheek bones large, and his 

 upper lip projecting over the under one. His com- 

 plexion was olive ; his hair and beard thick and curled. 

 His manners were grave and sedate ; his deportment, 

 in public and private life, was regular and exemplary; 

 and he was extremely temperate in his way of living. 



Dante is the author of several works, both in prose 

 and in verse ; but his fame now rests entirely on his 

 great poem, the Divina Commedia. At what period, 

 and in what place, he composed this singular poem, 

 has not been precisely ascertained by any of his nume- 

 rous commentators. Boccacio affirms that he began 

 it in his thirty-eighth year, and had finished seven 

 cantos of the Inferno previous to his exile from Flo- 

 rence. The beginning of the poem is said to have been 

 fortunately preserved from the wreck of his effects ; 

 and being afterwards restored to the poet, he was in- 

 duced to continue it, amidst all the embarrassments of 

 ■an unfortunate and agitated life. At what time he 

 completed it is equally uncertain ; but it was probably 

 finished during his residence at Verona, as he dedi- 

 cated the Paradiso to his Veronese patron. 



When we take into consideration the various disad- 

 vantages under which this poem was composed, — whe- 

 ther resulting from the private circumstances of the 

 poet, or from the general complexion of the times in 

 which he flourished ; we shall find sufficient reason to 

 admire the genius that was capable of producing such 

 a work, at an sera by no means favourable to the deve- 

 lopement of poetical talents. Before Dante appeared, 

 very little progress had been made in the cultivation of 

 the vulgar dialect of Italy, as a learned or poetical lan- 

 guage. At that period, the studies of literary men 

 were almost exclusively devoted to the dialectics of the 

 peripatetic philosophy, and the sophisms of polemical 

 science: The ancient models of polite literature had 

 scarcely yet exerted their influence in purifying cor- 

 rupted taste, restraining the license of ungoverned ima- 

 gination, and conducting the efforts of genius to the 

 more cultivated regions of poetical fancy. On the ac- 

 cession of Charles of Anjou to the throne of Naples, 

 that restless prince made some small compensation for 

 the animosities, which lie introduced or fostered among 

 his subjects and neighbours, by transporting the Pro- 

 vcngul poetry from France to Italy. Upon the Avild, 



but often spirited compositions of the French Trouba- 

 dours, the genius of the first Italian poets appears to have 

 been formed; and it is not improbable that from these 

 productions Dante may have caught some of the earliest 

 sparks of that poetical flame, which afterwards shone 

 forth with such lustre, in the Divina Commedia. 



In this extraordinary production, the author is con- 

 ducted in a vision, through hell, purgatory, and para- 

 dise; which gives occasion to the tripartite division of 

 the poem. Although Dante is generally classed among 

 the epic poets, the Divina Commedia displays more of 

 the didactic, than of the epic character. Hell, purga- 

 tory, and paradise, are employed by the poet as so many 

 theatres for the exhibition of a variety of characters of 

 all ages and conditions; the poem, in the midst of much 

 occasional extravagance, abounds in the most sublime 

 images and sentiments; and there are few works of 

 genius which display a more intimate knowledge of the 

 human soul, or contain a more ample store of the most 

 useful precepts and practical maxims for the conduct of 

 life. The works of Dante have been accused of ob- 

 scurity and harshness. These scrictures must be meant 

 to apply either to the matter, or to the style, or to both. 

 With regard to the first, great allowance ought to be 

 made for the prepossession of the age in favour of scho- 

 lastic learning, to which every author, who aspired to 

 reputation, was, in some measure, forced to accommo- 

 date himself ; and, in the second place, it must be re- 

 membered, that many forms of expression had, through 

 the influence of time, and the neglect of succeeding 

 writers, become obsolete, which, in the age of Dante, 

 were in current use. The lyrical poems of Dante are, 

 in the opinion of Muratori, no less worthy of estima- 

 tion than his larger work. 



There are numerous editions of the Divina Comme- 

 dia; that which was published at Venice, 1757, in 

 three vols. 4to, is esteemed the best. Dante had three 

 sons, each of whom wrote a commentary on their fa- 

 ther's poem. The Divina Commedia has been trans- 

 lated into English verse by the Rev. Henry Boyd, with 

 notes and illustrations, London, 1802, in three vols. 8vo. 

 See the Life prefixed to Mr Boyd's translation of Dante; 

 also Gen.Biog. Muratori Storia della ling. Ital. The read- 

 er will likewise find some particulars relative to Dante 

 in the Notes to Hayley's Essay on Epic Poetry, (e) 



DANTHONIA, a genus of plants of the class Trian- 

 dria, and order Digynia. See Botany, p. 114. 



DANTZIC, Gdantzk, or Dantzig, the Gedanum 

 of the ancients, is a large city of Polish Prussia, in the 

 palatinate of Pomerellia, or Little Pomerania. It is si- 

 tuated about four miles from the embouchure of the 

 Vistula, ahd on one of the branches of that river, which 

 form the island called the Dantziger Werder. 



Dantzic is divided into three towns, the Fore Town 

 or Vorstadt ; the Old Town or Altstadt ; and the 

 Rechtstadt. The suburbs, the greater part of which 

 were burnt during the siege in 1 806, had the names of 

 Old and New Scotland, Stoltzenberg, Hagelberg, Bis- 

 ehofsberg, Scliidlitz, and Langefuhr. The suburbs of 

 Old and New Scotland were formerly inhabited by 

 Scotch families, who had settled in the town, on account 

 of particular privileges having been granted to them, in 

 consequence of services rendered to the city by a Scotch 

 family of the name of Douglas. The suburb of Stolt- 

 zenberg stands on a sandy hill, and commands a fine 

 prospect of the town and harbour. The Radaune and 

 the Motlau, two small rivers, run through the city. The 

 houses in Dantzic are built of brick and stone, and are 

 commonly three or four stories high. On the outside of 



