164 
Butler — Dante. 
Satan, it goes to and fro in the earth and walks up and down 
in it. It thus endows money with the divine attribute of omni¬ 
presence. 
But Dante’s miracle is greater. He makes the world invisi¬ 
ble to become visible in all its heights and depths; and so he 
bestows upon his readers the gift of omniscience. 
In reading an original writer we wish we had known him 
sooner, we resolve to know him better; and, not knowing 
what we do, we hold up our rush light to show the sun. As 
Dante gazed on things unutterable his prayer was: “ O that I 
may show to those who come after me one spark only of this 
glory! ” Some glimpse of the morning-star of modern poetry I 
would fain give. Even if I have failed I rejoice that you need 
no exhortation to forswear thin potations and addict yourselves 
to Dante. You may not join the zealots who with Ruskin call 
Dante “ the central man of all the world. ” You may, however, 
agree with Lowell, that among sons of genius, if Shakespeare 
was the most comprehensive intellect, Dante was “the highest 
spiritual nature, ” and so as Italians say Daltissimo poeta. 
Madison , Wis. 
