"But soup and syrup pleased the Florentine (Berni),
Who loathed fatigue like death; and for his part,
Brought neither teeth nor fingers into play,
But made two varlets feed him as he lay.
"Here couchant, nothing but his head was spied,
Sheeted and quilted to the very chin;
And needful food a serving man supplied
Through pipe of silver placed the mouth within.
Meanwhile the sluggard moved no part beside,
Holding all motion else mere shame and sin:
And (so his spirits and his health were broke),
Not to fatigue this organ, seldom spoke."
"The cook was Master Peter hight, and he
Had tales at will to wile away the day;
To him the Florentine:—'Those fools, pardie,
Have little wit, who dance that endless way.'
And Peter in return: 'I think with thee.'
Then with some merry story back'd the say,
Swallowed a mouthful, and turned round in bed,
And so, by starts, talked, turned, and slept, and fed."
* * * *
"Above all other curses, pen and ink
Were by the Tuscan held in hate and scorn,
Who, worse than any loathsome sight or stink,
Detested pen and paper, ink and horn.
So deeply did a deadly venom sink,
So fester'd in his flesh a rankling thorn,
While, night and day, with heart and garments rent,
Seven weary years the wretch in writing spent.
"Of all their ways to baffle time and tide,
This seems the strangest of their waking dreams:
Couched on their backs, the two the rafters eyed,
And taxed their drowsy wits to count the beams.
'T is thus they mark at leisure which is wide,'
Which short, or which of due proportion seems,
And which worm-eaten are, and which are sound,
And if the total sum is odd or round."
This is a specimen of Berni's humour, which gave the name of Bernesco to poetry of this nature. More serious and more elegant verses abound, as we have already remarked, and prove that Berni deserves a very high place among Italian poets.
[91]Panizzi.
"Egli avea pien di lagrime la faccia,
E fù smontato in su la terra piana;
Ricolse il Re ferito ne le braccia,
E sopra 'l marmo il pose a la fontana,
E di pianger con seco non si saccia,
Chiedendogli perdon con voce umana.
Poi battezzollo a l' acqua de la fonte,
Pregando Dio per lui con le man gionte.
"Poco poi stette, che l' ebbe trovato
Freddo il viso e tutta la persona;
Onde s'avvide ch' egli era passato.
Sopra al marmor al fonte l'abbondona,
Così com' era tutto quanto armato,
Col brando in mano, e con la sua corona;
E poi verso il destrier fece riguardo,
E pargli di veder che sia Bajardo." Orlando Inn. da Bojardo, lib. I. can. XIX. stan. 16, 17.