he acted on no short-sighted views of political expedien felt not bound to follow a faction against the dictat conscience. He cast off the shackles of party, and himself an independent man. And, although it h his fate to be maligned while he lived, and to be misrep after death by those who envied his adamantine firm who could not appreciate his motives, still will a late ] reverse the sentence of interested or ignorant Biog and hail the man who, amid all the disasters of life, out the maxim he lays down for his conduct: "Be like a tower that never stoops its head, Bellow the tempests fiercely as they may." Purgatorio. From the period of his banishment, Dante wanderer, as he describes himself, from house to scarcely able at one time to obtain his bread, another, received into the houses of the great, whethe Guelf or Ghibelline party. After long enduring the of banishment, and making vain appeals to his countr be allowed to return, the intercession of his friends was to, on the condition that he should pay a fine, confess tice of his sentence, and make an apology to the state. dignation with which he spurns the offer is exhibite following letter from Dante to a friend. "After the sufferings of exile for nearly fifteen ye such a recall be a glorious one to Dante Alighieri? Is reward of an innocence universally acknowledgedlabour and fatigues of unremitting study? Far from conversant with Philosophy be the senseless pusillanin would bespeak such baseness of heart, and induce him himself up in chains, and follow others into the path of Far be it from a man demanding justice, to compromise injustice with money, and treat his persecutors as if they were his benefactors. No, my Father, this is not the way of returning to one's country. If, however, any other offer shall be made now, or at a future time, that shall not detract from the honour and reputation of Dante, that offer 1 will accept with no tardy steps. But if by no such way can Florence be entered, Florence I will never enter. What? can I not every where enjoy the sight of the sun and the stars! Can I not, under every part of heaven, meditate upon the most delightful truths, without first rendering myself inglorious, nay, infamous to the people and republic of Florence? Bread, at least, will not fail me." The hopes he here expresses were never destined to be realized. He never again returned to his beloved Florence, or enjoyed the comforts of domestic life. Yet he rarely speaks of himself, and tender hearted as he was, never of his wife and family. His last refuge was at Ravenna, in the palace of Guido da Polenta, a Guelf, to whom he felt so much indebted, that having been sent ambassador to Venice, by his protector, and failing in the object of his mission, he died on his return, from fatigue and disappointment, in the fifty-seventh year of his age. A.D. 1321. And at Ravenna his ashes rest, notwithstanding the tardy endeavours of "ungrateful Florence" to recover them. The incidents of Dante's life are involved in much obscurity; nor has it been attempted to trace his wanderings during twenty years of banishment. The history of his life is in fact the history of his mind-that mind which feeding upon high and heavenly thoughts, yet anxious to promote *See note to Par. xv. 118. mpromise injuss if they were of ot the way other offer shall ot detract from rl will accept an Florence be can I not every s! Can I not, most delightful nay, infamous at least, will stined to be ed Florence, rarely speaks of his wife he palace of • much in ice, by his he died on ty-seventh rest, notFlorence" -bscurity; Es during life is in feeding promote his grand scheme of uniting Italy under one M and Christians under one Shepherd, was ever an descending from above to mingle his ardent and affections in the things of earth;-that mind which relenting in its enmity to the "Wolves" that desola beloved country, nor abandoning the hope of returning laurels of a Poet to the "fair fold" where he had hi was bent through many a painful year on the completi Sacred Poem. "Should it befal that e'er the Sacred lay, To which have lent their aid both Heaven and e O'ercome the cruelty that is my bar From the fair fold where I, a lamb, had birth, Poet return; and at that shrine be crown'd, Paradiso. In his poem indeed must the life of Dante be r studied. And though his other works, both in prose a are sufficiently important of themselves to have raise a high place as a Poet and a Philosopher, still the Commedia is the imperishable crown of his labo offering of his heart as an admirer of Nature, and a worshipper of God—the melodious voice, not only o but of a Prophet-the representation of Time, and th of Eternity. Let Dante but be viewed in his proper light, and acknowledge him to be a true patriot, an independent 1 zealous Christian, a champion of liberty, and a lover o is beautiful, whether in the rural images of nature, or in the tenderest scenes of domestic life. Let us not only descend with him to the Inferno, but also mount with him to the Paradiso; and confess that if he could paint the horrors of Hell, he could depict with still more wondrous skill the light and glory of Heaven. One great recommendation of Dante is, that nothing immoral or impure ever escapes him, although he was born amid the darkness of the Middle Ages. And this is most remarkable, when we compare him not only with the subsequent poets of Italy, but with our own Chaucer and Shakspeare. Amidst the vice and impurity around him, he walked the earth scarcely touched by its contamination. Pride, he admits, was his besetting sin. Nor can we wonder that a man of high birth, so infinitely in advance of his age, should be conscious of his superiority. That he exerted himself, however, to attain humility, is evident from the candour of his confessions, and the abasement he experiences on entering the circle where pride is punished.* To war against evil in every shape was the object of his life and of his works; and he advances with boldness to the encounter on the raging sea of wickedness,+ "secure in the consciousness of pure intent." And this purity of heart, this intense earnestness in the cause of truth, united to extreme simplicity and conciseness of expression, form the grand features of a Poem, which, at the same time that it places many of the doctrines of Christianity in the clearest point of view,§ renders them most attractive by those outpourings of feeling and devotion, and those strains of matchless harmony with which they are accompanied. Hence it may be truly said nothing im- es many 7. that no other human work is so replete with sacred m divested of all modern cant and affectation; and that the of Dante is, above all other poetry, the hand-maid to Relig The life of Dante has been sketched in the most concise ner, without entering into discussion as to any of the rel or literary questions which are mixed up with it. Nor edition like the present can space be afforded to consider as they deserve. At a time, however, when Dante is exciting the most in interest on the continent; when commentaries and transl are daily multiplied, and Professorships established for th planation of his poem-when Catholic and Protestant are striving to claim him as their own; and both are anxio fathom the depths of the Oracle, whose voice is only no ginning to be understood-when England alone is back in exploring Truth, as exhibited in the most truthful an most earnest of uninspired Bards-some allusion can sca be avoided to the various questions that present themselve 1st. To what extent Dante was a Reformer; and how it i he continues to be claimed as a supporter by both Rom and Protestants? The fact is, that the inconsistencies which appear to ex to Dante's religious and political views, arise from his ve tion for the Catholic Church in its original purity on th hand, and his detestation, on the other, of those abus which it had been venalized and corrupted. b |