"FRANCESCA OF RIMINI.
"Translation from the Inferno of Dante, Canto 5th.
"'The land where I was born sits by the seas,
Upon that shore to which the Po descends,
With all his followers, in search of peace.
Love, which the gentle heart soon apprehends,
Seized him for the fair person which was ta'en
From me, and me even yet the mode offends.
Love, who to none beloved to love again
Remits, seized me with wish to please, so strong,
That, as thou seest, yet, yet it doth remain.
Love to one death conducted us along,
But Caina waits for him our life who ended:'
These were the accents utter'd by her tongue,—
Since first I listen'd to these souls offended,
I bow'd my visage and so kept it till—
{then}
'What think'st thou?' said the bard; {when} I unbended,
And recommenced: 'Alas! unto such ill
How many sweet thoughts, what strong ecstasies
Led these their evil fortune to fulfil!'
And then I turn'd unto their side my eyes,
And said, 'Francesca, thy sad destinies
Have made me sorrow till the tears arise.
But tell me, in the season of sweet sighs,
By what and how thy Love to Passion rose,
So as his dim desires to recognise?'
Then she to me: 'The greatest of all woes
{recall to mind}
Is to {remind us of} our happy days
{this}
In misery, and {that} thy teacher knows.
But if to learn our passion's first root preys
Upon thy spirit with such sympathy,
{relate}
I will {do[70] even} as he who weeps and says.—
We read one day for pastime, seated nigh,
Of Lancilot, how Love enchain'd him too.
We were alone, quite unsuspiciously,
But oft our eyes met, and our cheeks in hue
All o'er discolour'd by that reading were;
{overthrew}
But one point only wholly {us o'erthrew;}
{desired}
When we read the {long-sighed-for} smile of her,
{a fervent}
To be thus kiss'd by such {devoted} lover,
He who from me can be divided ne'er
Kiss'd my mouth, trembling in the act all over.
Accursed was the book and he who wrote!
That day no further leaf we did uncover.—
While thus one Spirit told us of their lot,
The other wept, so that with pity's thralls
I swoon'd as if by death I had been smote,
And fell down even as a dead body falls.'"
LETTER 363. TO MR. MURRAY.
"Ravenna, March 23. 1820.
"I have received your letter of the 7th. Besides the four packets you have already received, I have sent the Pulci a few days after, and since (a few days ago) the four first Cantos of Dante's Prophecy, (the best thing I ever wrote, if it be not unintelligible,) and by last post a literal translation, word for word (versed like the original), of the episode of Francesca of Rimini. I want to hear what you think of the new Juans, and the translations, and the Vision. They are all things that are, or ought to be, very different from one another.
"If you choose to make a print from the Venetian, you may; but she don't correspond at all to the character you mean her to represent. On the contrary, the Contessa G. does (except that she is fair), and is much prettier than the Fornarina; but I have no picture of her except a miniature, which is very ill done; and, besides, it would not be proper, on any account whatever, to make such a use of it, even if you had a copy.