Obstrictis aliis præter Iapygia,”
into this sort of thing:
“Ainsi des vents l’humide Père
Ton cours heureusement tempere,
Tenant ses enfants emplumez
Si bien sous la clef enfermez
Excepté l’opportun Zephyr,”
we have a version which no doubt seems correct and poetical enough to a Frenchman, but to an English mind suggests nothing so much as a damp and aged poultry-fancier locking up his chickens in the hen-house out of the rain. And a countryman of the cardinal can make nothing more of the “laughing eyes” of Dante’s Piccarda:
“Ond’ ella pronta e con occhi ridenti,”[[177]]
than