[89] Translation: “As Paul, when he had descended from heaven, could not speak of the arcana of God, so my heart has covered all my thoughts with an amorous veil. Wherefore, for joy which I hide in my heart, I keep silence as to all that I saw and all that I did; and I shall change the hair on my brow sooner than guilty thoughts shall ever reverse the obligation.” I have translated the last line in conformity with the annotation made by my father, which runs thus: “‘Che mai pensier rei volger possano in me l’obbligo’ to keep silence, as he has said.” I feel, however, some considerable doubt whether this is the true order of the words, which are, as a matter of mere construing, anything but clear. It might be possible to attempt some conjectural emendation in the words, but I forbear.
[90] These words come from Dante’s Paradiso: “In Rue du Fouarre, syllogizing invidious truths.”
[91] Mr Taylor was a member of the firm that printed Rossetti’s Amor Platonico. His book was, I think, Michelangelo considered as a Philosophic Poet.
[92] i.e. The Mistero dell’Amor Platonico—which was dedicated to Mr Kirkup.
[93] By the phrase “your circumstances” Mazzini, I think, refers not so much to moderate pecuniary means, but rather to the fact that Rossetti, maintaining himself and his family by the teaching of Italian in private families and schools, could not with any prudence put himself forward as a revolutionary agitator. I am satisfied that he did not join the Association named by Mazzini.
[94] The Conte Carlo Pepoli, a member of an ancient and highly distinguished Bolognese family, was then a political exile in London. He ultimately became a Senator of the Italian Kingdom. An epistle in verse had, in his youth, been addressed to him by the great poet Leopardi.
[95] Adelaide Kemble, afterwards Mrs Sartoris.
[96] He was, I think, a music-master in Paris.
[97] The address (as noted down by my mother on Mazzini’s letter) was No. 40 Clarges Street.
[98] As I have mentioned in my published Memoir of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, my father spoke at this Anniversary-meeting, followed by Mazzini.