Must all the finer thoughts, the thrilling sense, The electric blood with which their arteries run Their body's self turn'd soul with the intense Feeling of that which is, and fancy of That which should be, to such a recompense Back to their native mansion, soon they find And when at length the winged wanderers stoop, Then is the prey-birds' triumph, then they share The spoil, o'erpower'd at length by one fell swoop Yet some have been untouch'd who learn'd to bear, Some whom no power could ever force to droop, Who could resist themselves even, hardest care! And task most hopeless; but some such have been, And if my name amongst the number were, That destiny austere, and yet serene, Were prouder than more dazzling fame unbless'd; The Alp's snow summit nearer heaven is seen Than the volcano's fierce eruptive crest, Whose splendour from the black abyss is flung, mastering our uncongenial language, and habitual modes of thought a well as expression- they seem to have been inspired by the very genius of the inarrivabile Dante himself." — GLENBERVIE, Ricciardetto, p. 106 While the scorch'd mountain, from whose burning breast A temporary torturing flame is wrung, Shines for a night of terror, then repels Its fire back to the hell from whence it sprung, The hell which in its entrails ever dwells. THE PROPHECY OF DANTE CANTO THE FOURTH. MANY are poets who have never penn'd Their inspiration, and perchance the best: Of passion, and their frailties link'd to fame, And be the new Prometheus of new men, Lies chain'd to his lone rock by the sea-shore? The form which their creations may essay, Than aught less than the Homeric page may bear ; One noble stroke with a whole life may glow, Or deify the canvass till it shine With beauty so surpassing all below, That they who kneel to idols so divine Break no commandment, for high heaven is there Transfused, transfigurated: and the line Of poesy, which peoples but the air With thought and beings of our thought reflected, Ye shall be taught by Ruin to revive In Roman works wrought by Italian hands, A dome (1), its image, while the base expands Such as all flesh shall flock to kneel in: ne'er And lay their sins at this huge gate of heaven. And the bold Architect unto whose care The daring charge to raise it shall be given, Whom all arts shall acknowledge as their lord, (2) Whether into the marble chaos driven His chisel bid the Hebrew (3), at whose word (1) The cupola of St. Peter's. (2) ["If," says Sir Joshua Reynolds, "the high admiration and esteem in which Michael Angelo has been held by all nations, and in all ages, should be put to the account of prejudice, it must still be granted that those prejudices could not have been entertained without a cause: the ground of our prejudice then becomes the source of our admiration. But from whatever it proceeds, or whatever it is called, it will not, I hope, be thought presumptuous in me to appear in the train, I cannot say of his imitators, but of his admirers. I have taken another course, one more suited to my abilities, and to the taste of the times in which I live. Yet, however unequal I feel myself to that attempt, were I :ow to begin the world again, I would tread in the steps of that great master. To kiss the hem of his garment, to catch the slightest of his perfections, would be glory and distinction enough for an ambitious man."-SIR JOSHUA REYNOLDS' Discourses, vol. ii. p. 216.] (3) The statue of Moses on the monument of Julius IL SONETTO Di Giovanni Battista Zappi. Chi è costui, che in dura pietra scolto, |