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ther-in-law conceived for her not to depravity, but noblene of heart in him, and to her own loveliness... She confesses th she loved him, because she was beloved. That charm ha deluded her...She goes on to relieve her brother-in-law fro all imputation of having seduced her. Alone, and unco scious of their danger they read a love story together. The gazed upon each other, pale with emotion, but the secret their mutual passion never escaped their lips. "For when w read," &c. line 133. After this avowal, she hastens to con plete the picture with one touch: "We read no more th day." She utters not another word: and yet we fancy her b fore us, with her downcast and glowing looks, while her lov stands by her side listening in silence and in tears. Dan too, who had hitherto questioned her, no longer ventures inquire in what manner her husband had put her to deat but is so overcome by pity that he sinks into a swoon...Fra cesca, to justify herself, must have criminated her father, an thus diminished the affecting magnanimity with which h character is studiously endowed by the poet...She was th daughter of Guido da Polenta, Dante's protector and mo faithful friend. The poet had probably known her when girl, blooming in innocence and beauty under the patern roof. He must at least have often heard the father mentio his ill-fated child. He must therefore have recollected h early happiness, when he beheld the spectacle of her etern torment; and this, we think, is the true account of the ove whelming sympathy with which her form overpowers hin The episode, too, was written by him in the very house i which she was born, and in which he had himself, during th last ten years of his exile, found a constant asylum." Th tale has been translated by Lord Byron.

CANTO VI.

ARGUMENT.

ON recovering his senses, Dante finds himself in the third circle, where the gluttons are punished. Ciacco foretels to Dante the future change of parties in Florence, where he says only two just men are to be found.

Which, at the sufferings of that kindred pair,

By overwhelming sorrows were subdued,New torments all around me I descry;

Tormented spirits I behold, where'er

I move or turn, where'er I cast mine eye.
Now the third circle have I reach'd, where rain
Accursed-heavy-cold-eternal flows;

No change-no respite in this dread domain.
Dark water tumbled through the gloom profound,
With snow and hail terrific; whence arose
A noisome stench from all the putrid ground.

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Cerberus, that cruel beast, devoid of form,
Stands barking like a dog, with triple jaw,

O'er the sad souls forced downward by the storm.
Red are his eyes, large belly he displays,

A black and

greasy beard: with savage claw He seizes on the spirits, tears, and flays. Like whelps they howl beneath the inclement rain ;

And with one side the other side defending,

Oft turn themselves these wretched souls profane. When Cerberus view'd us, as we nearer came,

1

The enormous worm, his triple mouth extending,
Show'd his huge tusks;-I shook through all my fram
Extended then his hands my faithful guide;

And when with earth he both of them had fill'd,
Cast it within those craving gullets wide.

E'en as a dog that barks with ravening jaw,

The moment that he tastes the food, is still'd,-
Intent alone to glut his greedy maw;

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His filthy jaws so Cerberus ceased to use,

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Who at the spirits with such fury storms,
That they full gladly would their hearing lose.
Now o'er the shades, close pent to shun the sleet,

We took our road, and on their empty forms,
Which seem'd substantial, did we place our feet.

Stretch'd on the ground, they all recumbent lay,
Save one, who from his seat uprose in haste,
As soon as he beheld us pass that way.
"O thou who visitest these realms," he said,

"Recal me to thy memory, if thou may'st,
For thou wert born before my spirit fled."
"The pain thou sufferest doth perhaps erase
Thy form," I said, "so wholly from my mind,
It seems to me I ne'er beheld thy face:
But tell me who thou art, thus sadly thrust
Within this place of woe ;-though one may find
Pangs more intense, yet none can more disgust."
Thy city," answer'd he, "where envy base
O'erflows all bounds that would its force restrain,
In life's sweet season was my dwelling place.
Ye, O my citizens, to mark my taste,

Erst named me Ciacco: here amid the rain

For gluttony thou see'st my body waste:

Nor I alone this weight of misery bear ;-
All these unhappy souls, condemn'd to smart

37

43

49

55

For like offences, like affliction share."

66

"O Ciacco," I replied, "thy misery

So weighs me down, it makes the tears to start:
But tell me, if thou knowest, what will be

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Attempted in the factious city next?

Doth one just man within its boundary dwell?
And why by such fierce discord is it vext?"
"After long struggle, blood," he said, "shall flow;
The woodland party shall at last prevail,

And with dire slaughter chase away their foe.
Yet, ere three years are past, shall fall their pride;
The other shall prove victor, by his aid

Who now cajoling, flatters either side.

Long time shall these their foreheads lift on high,
While heavy weights are on the other laid,

Though fierce their rage, and pitiful their cry.
Two just ones are there, but unheard their call ;-
Envy, and Pride, and Avarice combine-

Three fatal sparks-to fire the hearts of all."
Here ended he his lamentable strain.

Then I: "More knowledge to impart be thine;

And farther converse I entreat thee deign.

Tegghiaio, Farinata, names of worth,

And Rusticucci, Mosca, with the rest

Who bent their minds to working good on earth-
Say where they are, in answer to my prayers;
And tell, to satisfy my longing breast,

If bliss in heaven, or woe in hell be theirs."