1799] 
moft patiently difcuffed it: but without 
entrenching on his province it may be 
faid, a modern Chriftian would find but 
little pleafure in feeing the choiceft {pirits 
of antiquity,—the patriots, the fages of 
four thoufand years, that preceded the 
birth of Chrift, all languifhing in an 
eternal limbo, or adiaphorous exiltence, 
that is fufceptible of neither pain nor plea- 
fure. 
I cannot purfue him through all the fu- 
perititious frivolity of this part of his 
work, or all the polemical difquilitions 
that form fo large a portion of ics fuc- 
ceeding divifions: tor, as foon as we ftep 
out of the bounds of hell, we bid adieu to 
all that can amufe even the mof puerile 
imaginations. Of ‘* IZ Purgatorio, et il 
Paradifo,” the local ideas are very vague, 
and the intellectual, if poflible, fill more 
infipid. Jn the Purgatorio I recolleé& but 
one paflage that aroie to fuch animation, 
even of ridicule, as to provoke a laugh. 
In defcribing one of the inhabitants of 
this region, he fays, ‘* Tothefe who can, 
in the tace of every man, read the word 
omo, the m would, in this man’s, have 
been very diftinét*®.”’—Cant. xxiii. v. 30. 
Now, who,—after puzzling himfelf over 
this notable diftich, and after confulting 
the learned and laborious commentaries of 
the accurate Volpi, the tedious Venturi, 
the pious Father Berti, and the pompous 
Filippo Rofa Merando Academico Filar- 
monico, and finding, at lait, that the author 
means to defcribe a lean face, and to fay, 
as fome can read the word emo in a man’s 
face, by the help of fuppofing each eye an 
9, the nofe the middle ftreke of the m, and 
the two temporal bones, the fides of the 
fame letter, he is fure, that in the face he 
is defcribing, the 7, at leaft, would be 
very con{picuous ;—who, I fay, on difco- 
vering this to be the meaning, would not 
{poil the legibility of his face bya laugh ? 
In juftice, however, let me fay, that this 
very diftich is preceded by one of thote 
few traces of poetical fpirit that is to be 
found in Dante :—‘* The hollow of his 
eye (fays he), appeared as a ring without 
its gem}t.””— 
The 8th canto of this part, opens in a 
manner that Gray has not thought unwor- 
thy of imitation, in beginning hiselegy : 
<The pilgrim hears from far the vefper bell, 
That feems to mourn the now expiring day}.” 
* <¢ Chi nel vilo aegli nomini legge omo 
Bene avria quivi connofciuto lemme.” 
4 © Parea Vocchiaje annella fenza gemma.” 
ae ode Sqguilla di lontano 
Che paja’l giorno pianger che fi muore.” 

Remarks on the principal Italian Poets. 
453 
A “ gentle reader” might fuppofe, as 
an apology ter Dante, that he conceived, 
in patling trom hell to purgatory, and from 
thence to paradife, his tubjects grew gra- 
dually more pleating in themfelves; and, 
conieguently, his exertions to render them 
fo became gradually lefs neceflary : for, im 
truth, nothing but the torments of his 
hell could provide us with a relith for the 
infipidity of his heaven, or teach us to 
participate the pretty amufements of his 
6th heaven, where the {piritsof the blefled 
find their happinefs in arranging them. 
lelves, by companies, into letters of the al- 
phabet, and forming, together, fentences 
of wildom, and axioms of morality.— 
«¢ They fung, and wheeling, light, and 
made themielves, in theirref{pective forms, 
a D, now an I, and now an L.*#”— 
‘The attention of thele fainted fages, 
however, is not wholly engroffed by this 
profound practical philofephy, in which 
they are at once authors; types, and com- 
pohtors. In the fifth heaven, they do not 
difdain to bend their attention on earthly 
affairs. Cantos 15, 16, 17, are almoft ex 
clufively occupied by a very reverend per- 
fonage, called Cecciguida:—and, as we 
fee his name announced in the argument of 
three fucceflive cantos, we begin to hope 
for fome permanent intereft, te which we 
have been hitherto total ftrangers. We 
liften with tolerable patience to the whole 
detail’of his tamily in all its generations ; 
and waiting to hear what celebrated fage 
or here of nittory he will prove, he con. 
cludes, by declaring himfelf no lefs than 
the great great grandtather of Dante!— 
“© tritavo’’—and like the fhade of Anchifes 
1s feized, too, with prophetic {pirit ; and 
foretels the foundation of an empire!— 
No,—TLhe banifhment of Dante from Flo- 
rence. hele cantes are nearly all the 
relief we find from a continual dilquif- - 
tion on the old expleded doétrines of 
theology, and ancient metapbyfics; as 
indeed might be expected from this en- 
gaging defcription of heaven by one of 
the hoping {pirits in purgatory :—** Oh, 
if thou haft the noble privilege of be- 
ing admitted to that moxzaffery, where 
Chrift is the abbot, oh, fay to him, in 
my name, one fingle pater-nofterf.”’—In 
his own tenets, he feems to have been a 
fuccetstul rival cf Athanalius himfelt— 
witnefs the following addre{s to the Virgin 
Mary, that opens the laft canto of his 

* ¢¢ Volitando cantavan e facenfi 
Or D, or I, or L, in fue figure,’’ &c.-&c. 
cant. xvill. v- 76. | 
¢ “* Oh fe tu hai,” Sc. c. xxvi. v. 137. 
satus 6 Para itfo.”* 
