celebrated works, the Missus est, was composed in her honour [i. e. in honour of the Virgin] as Mother of the Redeemer; and in eighty Sermons on texts from the Song of Solomon, he set forth her divine perfection as the Selected and Espoused, the type of the Church on earth'; Legends of the Monastic Orders, 2nd ed. p. 144. Cf. note to l. 58.
See a further illustration of the great favour shewn by the Virgin to St. Bernard at p. 142 of the same volume; and, at p. 145, the description of a painting by Murillo, quoted from Stirling's Spanish Painters, p. 914. See also Dante, Paradiso, xxxi. 102.
32. comfort of us wrecches, comfort of us miserable sinners; see note to l. 58.
do me endyte, cause me to indite.
34. of the feend, over the Fiend. Tyrwhitt reads over for of, but it is unneccessary. Accent victórie on the o.
36. Lines 36-51 are a free translation of a passage in Dante's Paradiso, Canto xxxiii. ll. 1-21; and are quoted in the notes to Cary's translation. I am persuaded that ll. 36-56 (three stanzas) were added at a later period. Being taken from Dante, they could hardly have been written very early; whereas the Life of St. Cecile seems to have been quite a juvenile performance. And this explains why the phrase 'Me, flemed wrecche' in l. 58 is so far removed from the parallel expression, viz. 'us wrecches,' in l. 32. Cf. note to l. 58.
| l. 36. | 'Vergine madre, figlia del tuo Figlio, |
| l. 39. | Umile ed alta più che creatura, Termine fisso d'eterno consiglio, Tu se' colei che l' umana natura |
| l. 40, 41. | Nobilitastì si, che il suo Fattore |
| l. 41, 42. | Non disdegnò di farsi sua fattura. |
| l. 43. | Nel ventre tuo si raccese l' amore, |
| l. 44. | Per lo cui caldo nell' eterna pace Cosi è germinato questo fiore. Qui sei a noi meridiana face Di caritade, e giuso, intra i mortali, Sé' di speranza fontana vivace.< Donna, se' tanto grande, e tanto vali, Che qual vuol grazia, e a te non ricorre, Sua disianza vuol volar senz' ali. |
| ll. 53, 54. | La tua benignità non pur soccorre |
| ll. 53, 54. | A chi dimanda, ma molte fiate |
| ll. 55, 56. | Liberamente al dimandar precorre. |
| l. 51. | In te misericordia, in te pietate, |
| l. 50. | In te magnificenza, in te s'aduna Quatunque in creatura è di bontate.' |
The numbers at the side denote the corresponding lines.
40. nobledest, didst ennoble; Dante's 'nobilitasti.'