[Footnote 14: "With nose deprest," says Mr. Cary. But Dante says, literally, "small nose,"—nasetto. So, further on, he says, "masculine nose,"—maschio naso. He meant to imply the greater or less determination of character, which the size of that feature is supposed to indicate.]
[Footnote 15: An English reader is surprised to find here a sovereign for whom he has been taught to entertain little respect. But Henry was a devout servant of the Church.]
[Footnote 16:
"Era già l'ora che volge 'l desio
A' naviganti, e intenerisce 'l cuore
Lo dì ch' an detto a' dolci amici a Dio;
E che lo nuovo peregrin d'amore
Punge, se ode squilla di lontano
Che paia 'l giorno pianger che si muore."
A famous passage, untiring in the repetition. It is, indeed, worthy to be the voice of Evening herself.
'Twas now the hour, when love of home melts through
Men's hearts at sea, and longing thoughts portray
The moment when they bade sweet friends adieu;
And the new pilgrim now, on his lone way,
Thrills, if he hears the distant vesper-bell,
That seems to mourn for the expiring day.
Every body knows the line in Gray's Elegy, not unworthily echoed from
Dante's—
"The curfew tolls the knell of parting day."
Nothing can equal, however, the tone in the Italian original,—the