454 
& Paradifo:’°-—** Virgin mother, daugh- 
ter of thy fon! lowly, yet exalted above 
all created beings! ultimate object of 
eternal wifdom; thou art the who haft 
fo ennobled nature, that her creator has 
not difdained to become one of her pro- 
ductions*.”’ 
He palliates the infividity of his ‘* Pera- 
difo’’ in one of the moft animated paflages 
of his work ; which is very pretty as an 
excufe” for failing in the attempt, but 
would have been {till more admirable as 
an apology for not undertaking it. I 
could point out other beauties that are 
fprinkled ap and down the work; but 
though not ‘‘ too tedious to mention,” 
they are perhaps too trivial to particu- 
larize ; and, like a glow-worm, would 
probably lofe much of their luftre, if 
drawn from the darknefs with which they 
are furrounded. Such, indeed, has been 
the fate of Dante himfelr. He fhone with 
fplendour in the unenlightened ages of Eu- 
rope; but, when the vanity ot hi 
trymen, or the obftinacy of th 
idolators of antiquity, will drag 
forth into the blaze of moderna literature 
and refinement, we cannot be furprized 
if he falls by a ftroke of the fun. 
After this critique cn the ‘* Comedia 
Divina’ of Dante, I will not trouble 
the reader with remarks on his ‘* Cezito,”’ 
or ** Rime Liviche.’—We wiil pafs on to 
PeTRARCH.—3: had formed great ex- 
pectations of this celebrated poet and lover. 
Z read the hiftcry of his lite; and, on 
‘fach a fubje&t, even Beccatelli could be 
interefting ; for he was the biographer 
ef aman who feems never to have been 
known but to be refpected and beloved ; 
and who, in perpetually acquiring new 
friends, was never’ actufed of neglecting 
the ald. The early refpectability of 
Petrarch’s character is admirably exem- 
plified in the following well-known anec- 
date :-—‘* “While he was yet.a youth, im 
the family of Cardinal Colonna, the lat- 
ter had occaiion to aflemble every mmate 
ef his houfe, and require them to con- 
firm individually, by oath, the truth of 
’ the anfwers they fhould give to his inter- 
rogatories. From this obligation not 
even the Bifhop of Luna, the Cardinal’s 
ewn brother, was exempt. When Pe- 
trarch, in his turn, approached to lay 
his hand on the facred volume, the Car- 
dinal, who held it, drew it back; and, 
tuning to the aflembled houfehold, ex- 
claimed, ‘¢ the word alone of this man is 
fufficient.”” It is fingular, that Beeéca- 
telli does not notice the fimilarity of this 
*® Virgine Madre! Figlia del tuo Figlio.” 
Remarks on the principal Italian Poets. 
[July 
és 
to the honourable teftimony of the Athe- 
nian judges, on the integrity of Keno- 
crates: the parallel is equally overlooked 
by the laborious and learned Caltlevetre, 
though he relates two or three anecdotes 
of this philefopher, when thus refpectably 
noticed by Petrarch himfelf: ‘* Keno- 
crates, more impenetrable than a ftone, 
whom no ferce could bend to meannefs*.”” 
Thefe favourable impreflions of Pe- 
trarch ftill farther exalted my expectations 
_ from his‘work ; but, in the feale of hope, 
like that which Petrarch affixes to the 
“ Triumpbal Arch of Love,” we find— 
<¢ falfe opinions in the gate, and flipping 
expeCtation on the fteps..> With the 
ereétion of any fuch allegorical or meta-— 
phorical edifice, our author very feldom 
indulges his readers: the prefent is one 
of his greateft flights in that part of .his 
works, where alone he attempted it. The 
plan of his “* Zrionf,” indeed, was fuf- 
ceptible of much allegorical beauty ; and 
where he enumerates the attendants of the 
feveral triumphs, much room was open 
to pay many elegant tributes to hiftorical 
charaéters, or to exhibit beautiful and 
fublime féutiments on hiftorical fa&ts :— 
But no!—the fats are flightly glanced. 
at in mere matter-of-fact fentences ; and 
the name of the hero is recorded as one of a 
catalogue. An obfcure allufion is fome- 
times added, as in the inftance of Xeno— 
crates, who-is faid to be ** firmer than a 
ftonet,’’ becaufe, fays Caftelvetro, a 
courtezan, who had engaged to corrupt 
him, and’ found that he refifted all her 
allurements, exclaimed, ‘* I thought i 
had to do with a man, and not a fratue:”” 
or, as when he mentions Cicero and 
Virgil, with this elegant metaphorical 
addition—“ Thefe are the eyes of our 
tonguet.” 
His forte was certainly in the fonnata, 
canzone, balatta, feftina, &c._ If a few 
of thefe were feleCted, they would be well 
worthy the perufal of one who had already 
een fo imprudently laborious as to learn 
the Italian language ; becaule it would be 
hard, indeed, if he were deprived of an 
thing the Janguage can give him: but it 
certainly would not be worth his trouble 
to read the whole in order to find thefe— 
much le{s for another to acquire the lan- 
guage for that purpofe. The multipli- 
city of pieces, under thele feveral names,_ 

* <¢ Sénocrate piu faldo,” &c.—Trionfe 
della Fama, cap, 3d. 
7 $¢ Piu faldo ch’un faffo.”—Trionf. del* 
Fam. cap. 3d. - 
t ** Quefti fon gli occhi della lingua nof+ 
tra eelIbid, ide 9 
is 


