Mento tondo, fesso e piccioletto:
and thereupon the Poet breaks out into a rapture, any thing but theological,
Il bel diletto
Aver quel collo fra le braccia stretto
E far in quella gola un picciol segno!
Her arms were beautiful and round; her hand soft, white, and polished;
La bianca mano morbida e pulita:
her fingers slender, and decorated with jewelled rings as became her birth; fair she was as a pearl;
Con un color angelica di perla:
graceful and lovely to look upon, but disdainful where it was becoming:
Graziosa a vederla,
E disdegnosa dove si conviene.
And as a corollary to these traits, I will quote the eleventh Sonnet as a more general picture of female loveliness, heightened by some tender touches of mental and moral beauty, such as never seem to have occurred to the debased imaginations of the classic poets: