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1236 gftg TLtatStV. [Saturday ,
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tiitxainxt.
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Critics are not the legislators, but the...
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The new Year promises fewer adventures i...
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DANTE S LIFE AND TIMES. Tlie. Lifi'tnid ...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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1236 Gftg Tltatstv. [Saturday ,
1236 gftg TLtatStV . [ Saturday ,
Tiitxainxt.
tiitxainxt .
Critics Are Not The Legislators, But The...
Critics are not the legislators , but the judges and police of literature . They do not make laws—they interpret and try to enforce them—Edinburgh Review .
The New Year Promises Fewer Adventures I...
The new Year promises fewer adventures in the crowded thoroughfare of Periodicals than is customary at this epoch . Among the few we may notice , as likely to be important , the venture of a New Quarterly Review , which , departing from the now established rule of quarterlies to give essays , sparsely varied with reviews , proposes to fill the real office of a Literary Review , and exclusively
devote its pages to criticisms . It undertakes to present a view of all the publications of the quarter : a task more laborious and expensive than is perhaps fairly appreciated . In fact , it intends to supply what even the weekly journals , with their facilities , cannot perfectly accomplish . But we shall better see by its opening number the chance it has of creating a public for itself .
Talking of new quarterlies reminds us that the Westminster and Foreign Quarterly may be almost so considered under its new management , and we look forward to the January number with extreme interest . Report that may be relied on speaks of the very highest names on the Liberal side as contributing to the work ; and American writers of distinction have been invited to cooperate for a double purpose : first , that American Literature may be surveyed by the most accurately informed writers ; secondly , that American reprinters may be successfully defied—two of the important articles being copyright in America !
The programme of the new number is varied and attractive . It will be sufficient to set at rest all misgivings formerly so rife respecting the danger of the Review ' s becoming simply the organ of that section of thinkers illustrated by the " Catholic Series . " As we anticipated , Mr . Chapman has the sagacity to see that his Review must be the reflection not of one , but of all the liberal tendencies of thought in our day .
Dante S Life And Times. Tlie. Lifi'tnid ...
DANTE S LIFE AND TIMES . Tlie . Lifi ' tnid Times of Dantn .-lliyhicri . By Count Oosare Balbo , Tr . ui . sluU'd i ' rom the Kalian by V . J . Uiiiibury . In 2 vols . liuiitley . The greatest of Italian poets , like most other great . Poets , has been indifferently treated by biographers , probably because the minds most competent to the task have had misgivings which did not assail the temerity of lesser men . All the great critics have ; written about Dante ; but a really critical
and poetic Life has been left to inferior writers . Foscolo might have written a hook such as posterity could accept : he had the learning and the taste for such a task . The only name attached to a biography of the great Florentine , that can command the attention of men , is that of Boccaccio , his friend and generoua appreciator . Unhappily Boccaccio ' s Memoir is but a memoir , and though sweetly written , fails to meet the many inquiries which spring up around the subject in our day .
Count Cenare Balbo has here presented us with a work , which may fairly be said to supply the place of all compilations on this subject , hut leaves the great biography still to write . For the patient learning and temperate wpirit with which he ha « performed his tank , let all praise be given . But the eloquence , the subtlety , the profundity , and artistic power , demanded by the subject , we must Heek elsewhere . No complete image of the great poet issues from these pages . The eighty pages
consecrated to him in Leigh Hunt ' s Italian Poets , are in this respect worth the two volumes . But " it were to consider too curiously " to treat this work as an attempt to solve the problems of the Poet ' s life . Count Balbo liau put forth Inn strength elsewhere . lie has endeavoured' to paint an historical picture , lie has striven to render Dante ' s age familiar to u . s ; and in thin task he has been Kkilfiilly nided by the fair translator . We cordially commend tho hook to those who have read , or are
about to read that marvellouH poem , tho Ihome Corned ]/ . They will fmd much that in new and curious in it ; and they will find the whole pleasant , reading . Like most modern books , it wantH an index , though it is precisely to such books that the addition of an index is valuable .
Among the points which Count Balbo has not placed in a clear light , is that ( biographically ) allimportant one — his love for Beatrice . We talk of Dante ' s Beatrice as we do of Petrarch ' s Laura and of Tasso ' s Leonora . But we forget—somewhat wilfully it may be—that Dante and Beatrice were children of the respective ages of nine and eight ; and that this Romance of his was purely a Romance , not an abiding passion . As a child she quizzed him , as a girl she jilted him . For poetical purposes he made her his Idol , his Muse . A little more attention to the realities of the story would have saved reams of conjectural commentary . But what can you do with commentators , —
«• Gens ratione ferox et mentem pasta chimaeris / who daringly overlook the fact that Beatrice married another , and assure you she died in all the splendour of her virginity ? It must not be concluded from what has just been said that Beatrice is only an allegorical fiction , as commentators sometimes declare . Dante assuredly meant by Beatrice , not Theology—but Beatrice , as Count Balbo says : —
" The' Commedia' was first conceived in an impulse of passionate love ; it was developed in a dream , and confirmed by a vow of love ; it was abandoned , and after eight years resumed ; for thirty years it occupied Dante ' s mind and constant heart , and , the vow being fulfilled , the labours and life of the unhappy poet ended together . There is no work of imagination which is so true or so great a proof of love as this divine poem . Thus , amid the corruptions , additions , and contractions from which it-has suffered , nothing excites one ' s indignation so much , nor ought more resolutely to be rejected by all who wish , to
understand the ' Commedia and to enterinto all its beauties , than the supposition that Beatrice is sometimes to be understood , as Theology , sometimes as Philosophy , and sometimes as Italy . That she was intended to represent either of the last two of these three allegorical personages is absolutely false , and that she represented the first is only an approach to the truth . ; for Beatrice , who ranges throughout the whole of heaven , and of whom Dante speaks throughout his whole poem , cannot be meant by him for Theology ,
to Avhich he gives a determinate place in the ritth . heaven , and of which he treats expressly in the 10 ch and four succeeding cantos of the ' Paradise' If we desire to read Dante ' s works as he intended that they should be read , we must understand their literal sense before their allegorical ; and thus every time that we meet with Beatrice , we must understand the real Beatrice , Portinari's graceful daughter , Dante's lost mistress . But it is also true that , if we seek for it , we shali Jind ail allegorical as well as a literal
But there are other particular allegories in the poem , without which parts ot it would be less beautiful , and even unintelligible . And first , though it ought to be always remembered that Beatrice is really the woman whom Dante loved , still there is also an allegory understood in her name . But this is merely the idealisation of a beloved mistress , and this was done not only by Dante , but by Petrarch , and afterwards by many of their followers , and by all those poets who were on that account called Platonists , as well aa many who were not poets , but merely lovers . These considered a virtuous and beloved mistress aa
a means of rising from vice to virtue , from earth to heaven , from a devotion to material and base things to a comprehension of what was spiritual and divine , and even of God himself . This knowledge and adoration of God , and blessedness iu Him , is what we find figured under the name of Beatrice . The allegory , thus understood , does not destroy nor conceal the real image of Beatrice , but rather elevates and glorifies her , in the manner which many other poets and lovers have attempted , but have never succeeded in doing at * Dante has done ; and this does not diminish , but increases , tho beauty of the poem .
"As Beatrice la both tho Beatrice herself and the personification of the knowledge of and blessedness in ( iod , ho the Virgil of thin poem in both the real Virgil and tho representative of Poetry ; tin ; Sun also represents theological knowledge ; and thus we might go on . The whole poem , from beginning to end , i . s full of these allegories , most of them beautiful , but some indifferent , and Koine we niuut acknowledge perfectly uhcIckh , involved , and obscure . " Of Dante ' s own wife we hear little , and that little contradictory , lie himself , , so prodigal of tender phrases to Beatrice , never mcntjuiiK his wife . Was it to her that he alludes in the passage Count llalbo gives here ?—
" Two years and a half hutl elapsed since tint death of Iuh mistress , and it was about theclo . se of 1 ' 2 . ) U , or the beginning of I'JO . 'J , when he saw u young and beautiful ludy at a window looking on him compiiHHionately ; and , whenever aflerwiu-dtt he saw her , her face expressed compulsion , and , irum itspafcuoHM , one
would almost suppose love . This reminds v " many times of his mistress , who was also at all ?• pale . And many times , when he couid not weeVTl thus relieve his sadness , he used to go and sS \ v compassionate lady , whose sight seemed to draw thl tears from h 18 eyes . And this went so far that Jl * his eyes began , to delight in looking atherUt whidX was often angry with himself , and considered hinSSf base in so doing , and oftentimes he cursed the vanT of his eyes . ' The sight of this lady , ' he conXeJ brought me to so strange a condition , that manv times the thought of her became too pleasant to ml and thus I would think of her . This lady is a kdv courteous and beautiful , and young and wise and perhaps bestowed on me by Love , in order that peace should be restored to my life .. And many times I
thought of her still more passionately , so that nvv heart assented to this ., that is , to my reasoning . And when it had thus assented , I reflected on what mv reason suggested to me , and then said to myself'Ah , what a thought is this , that would console me in so base a manner , and scarcely allows me another thought ! ' Then another thought occurred to me , and I said : ' Now , since Love has brought thee into s uch tribulation , why dost thou not wish to withdraw thyself from such bitterness ? Thou seest that this is an emotion that brings before thee the desires of love ; and it is awakened by so sweet a means , that is to say , by that lady who has shown herself so compassionate towards thee . '
" Dante , as usual , turns the account of his various struggles into verse ; four poems on this subject are in 'theVitaNuova , ' and two are , in another book ( which he wrote some years later ) , the Convito . '" Among the anecdotes in these volumes , the following may amuse you : — " Another instance of the insolence Dante was apt to display in speech is recorded by a modern author , who does not give his authority : Dante was standing in the church of Santa Maria Novella , meditating
apart , and leaning upon an altar , when he was accosted by one of those bores who have no idea of solitude and silence , and like always to be employed in trifling conversation . Dante made many efforts to get rid of him , but , not succeeding , said to him , Before I answer thee , wilt thou solve a question for me ? What is the greatest beast in the world ? ' The man answered , ' By the authorityof Plinyit was supposed to be the elephant . ' ' Well , ' replied Dante , ' O Elephant , do not annoy me ; ' and so he departed . "
This is quoted as " insolence , " but may it not have been one of his jokes ? All depends upon the tone in which such things are said . We are limited in space , and must conclude with one more extract , showing how Boccaccio painted : — j s A PORTRAIT OF DANTE . /" This poet , of ours was then of moderate stature , and since he had arrived at a mature age he walked a little stooping , and his walk was slow and quiet , and he was always wel l dressed , and in a habit suitable to his mature age . His face was long , his nose aquiline , his eyes rather great than small , his jaws large , and his under lip projected beyond his upper lip . He had a brown complexion , his hair and beard were thickblackand curly , and his countenance
, , was always melancholy and thoughtful ; on which account , one day it happened at Verona ( for the fame of his works had been everywhere spread , and particularly that part of the * Commedia ' which was called the Inferno , and he was known to many , both men and women ) , that he , passing before a door where many women were sitting , one of them said to another softly , but not so softly but that she could be well heard by him , Look at the man who goes into hell , und returns when he pleases , and brings news to us here above from those there below . 1 <> which one of them answered simply , ' Verily thou must speak the truth . Dost not thou see hovv the heat and smoke down below have given him so dark a colour and so curled a beard ? ' Which words ho
hearing , Dante looked back on them , and , perceiving that these women spoke seriously , was amused , almost pleased , that they held such opinions , ana smiling a little he continued his walk . In his puhlic and domestic habits ho was wonderfully composed and orderly , and in all he did , above all othern , courteous and polite . In bin diet he was inoHt moderate , taking bin repasts at fixed bourn , and not exceeding wli . it necessity required : be indulged neither in eating or drinking to any cxccbh . He l > i " ^ delieate viands , and iiHunlly partook of the commonest ,, he blamed above all thon « who Htudy much to hnvi < choice dainties , and have them prepared with # < . ' . .-him- No one was more earnest than he , botn '
bin HturiicK , and in any other object on which » ' <' WI intent ; ho much ho , that many times both hw Uimuy and bin wife complained of it , before having »««"" ' accustomed to Iuh vvay « , when they conned to u - for it . Ho rnrcly Mpok « , uiiIchh ho wan questiont . and then deliberately , and with a voice Hinted to matter on winch he Hpoke . NeverthelcHH , wll
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 27, 1851, page 1236, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/ldr_27121851/page/16/
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