Studies in Italian Literature, Classical and Modern: Also, the Legend of "Il Cenacolo," a Poem

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S. Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, 1887 - 326 pages
 

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Page 208 - It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the Queen of France, then the dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she just began to move in— glittering like the morning star, full of life, and splendour, and joy.
Page 55 - The noise Of worldly fame is but a blast of wind, That blows from diverse points, and shifts its name, Shifting the point it blows from.
Page 126 - It is a very striking circumstance, that the Beauty of high-minded inventors of this great art tried at the very outset so bold a flight as the printing an entire Bible, and executed it with astonishing success. It was Minerva leaping on earth in her divine strength and radiant armour, ready at the moment of her nativity to subdue and destroy her enemies.
Page 126 - We may see in imagination this venerable and splendid volume leading up the crowded myriads of its followers , and imploring , as it were, a blessing on the new art, by dedicating its first fruits to the service of Heaven.
Page 2 - And I will frankly confess that the vague sublimity of Milton affects me less than these reviled details of Dante. We read Milton ; and we know that we are reading a great poet. When we read Dante, the poet vanishes. • We are listening to the man who has returned from " the valley of the dolorous abyss...
Page 139 - Pelops' line, Or the tale of Troy divine, Or what (though rare) of later age Ennobled hath the buskined stage. But, O sad virgin, that thy power Might raise Musaeus from his bower! Or bid the soul of Orpheus sing Such notes as, warbled to the string, Drew iron tears down Pluto's cheek, And made Hell grant what Love did seek!
Page 121 - It is not my intention to detract a single particle from the praises due to Leo X. for the services rendered by him to the cause of literature. I shall only remark that the greater part of the Italian princes of this period might with equal right pretend to the same honour ; so that there is no particular reason for conferring on Leo * Gingu6n4| vol. vii. p. 1)9. the superiority over all the rest.
Page 8 - Voi altri pochi, che drizzaste il collo Per tempo al pan degli Angeli, del quale Vivesi qui, ma non sen vien satollo, Metter potete ben per l' alto sale Vostro navigio, servando mio solco Dinanzi all
Page 80 - Anna, and I enclose you a piece of the wood of the very door which for seven years and three months divided this glorious being from the air and the light which had nourished in him those influences which he has communicated, through his poetry, to thousands.
Page 28 - He supported with the same virtue the return of prosperity ; and, till the ruin of his declining age, the ancestors, the character, and the children of Stephen Colonna, exalted his dignity in the Roman republic, and at the court of Avignon.

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