Keener than earth's injustice, since to live Art troubled, child? I would not see thee sorry, Dante. Speak, Beatrice ! [Pauses. Stretch out thy holy hands and help me to thee! Air-air-give me but air! (Sinks back in chair.) How dark it grows! Not as destroyer come, O death, but gently Shut out from strainèd lids this world's harsh views, Seal up the jarrèd ear from earth's rude sounds, Stay grief's grim accents on the faltering lips, Steal pain from touch, take tired exile home, O! thou great herald of eternal rest. Bice. O father! father! Dante (half rising). And Florence-Beatrice God-my heart is thine. [Dies. APPENDIX. "Can proud Donati, Vieri's words forget Said at the feast?" (Act I. sc. iii.) At a feast, Vieri dei Cerchi, observing two ladies exchange unfriendly looks, laughingly said, "As these two dames do not agree, it will be best to put some friendly soul between them." Dona Donati instantly sprang up, pale with rage, and was leaving the table, when Vieri rose, begged her pardon, and prayed she would be seated, laying his hand upon her sleeve as he spoke. But the angry dame shook it off, proclaiming loudly that it had all been a planned insult. Vieri, furious, replied hotly; upon which Donati drew his sword, vowing his wife was insulted. Blows followed, and the feast ended in a general fray. "The Vale so sends unto the Seven Hills, (Act II. sc. i.) "Parte The Cerchi party was called the Forest partySelvagia "—as they came from the woods of the valley of the Seine and district of Acone. Later they assumed the name of Bianchi, and Donati's followers were then called Nieri. "Shall I, then, feed on Dante's pile of bones?" (Act III. sc. ii.) While Dante was at the Court of Can Grande, a boy who was concealed under the table, gathering the bones which, according to the custom of the times, were thrown under the table, placed them all together at the feet of the poet. On rising from dinner the pile was discovered. The company seemed much amused, and Can Grande remarked that Dante must be a great eater of meat, to which he quickly retorted, alluding to the name of Cane, "Sir, you would not see so many bones even if I were a dog (un cane)" (Botta's "Dante"). "When with rude hands his sister once he tore (Act III. sc. ii.) "Corso Donati took twelve ruffians and scaled the convent where his sister Piccada, or perhaps Riccarda, was a nun, and carried her off by force to his home, and gave her in marriage to a nobleman named Roosellino della Rosa" ("Par.," c. iii. v. 34). PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED, LONDON AND BECCLES. |