v. 127. Costanza.] Widow of Peter III She has been already mentioned in the third Canto, v. 112. By Beatrice and Margaret are probably meant two of the daughters of Raymond Berenger, Count of Provence; the former married to St. Louis of France, the latter to his brother Charles of Anjou. See Paradise, Canto Vl. 135. Dante therefore considers Peter as the most illustrious of the three monarchs.
v. 129. Harry of England.] Henry III.
v. 130. Better issue.] Edward l. of whose glory our Poet was perhaps a witness, in his visit to England.
v. 133. William, that brave Marquis.] William, Marquis of Monferrat, was treacherously seized by his own subjects, at Alessandria, in Lombardy, A.D. 1290, and ended his life in prison. See G. Villani, 1. vii. c. 135. A war ensued between the people of Alessandria and those of Monferrat and the Canavese.
CANTO VIII
v. 6. That seems to mourn for the expiring day.] The curfew tolls the knell of parting day. Gray’s Elegy.
v. 13. Te Lucis Ante.] The beginning of one of the evening hymns.
v. 36. As faculty.]
My earthly by his heav’nly overpower’d
* * * *
As with an object, that excels the sense,
Dazzled and spent.
Milton, P. L. b. viii. 457.