out of sleep with the thunder of the Law, and shew him his miserable state and wretchedness, and make him abhor and hate himself, and desire help; and then comfort him with the pleasant rain of the Gospel, i.e., with the sweet promises of God in Christ, and stir up faith in him to believe the promises."-Tindal the Martyr. Prologue to St. Paul's Epistle to the Romans. (10.) "Ibant obscuri, solâ sub nocte, per umbram."-En. 268. This is the "cieco mondo," or " the blind cave of eternal night.”—Shakspeare, Rich. III. act. 5, scene 3, Page 32. (Line 30.)

"Matres atque viri, defunctaque corpora vitâ Magnanimûm heroum, pueri innuptæque puellæ." Virg. Georg. iv. 475.

Again, En. vi. 426.

"Continuæ auditæ voces, vagitus et ingens,

Infantumque animæ flentes in limine primo."

Page 33. (51.) "Lombardi well observes, that Dante seems to have been restrained by reverence from uttering the name of Christ in this place of torment, and that for the same cause, probably, it does not occur once throughout the whole of this first part of the poem."-Cary.、 (53.) Our Saviour." It is certain Christ's soul in the three days of his separation did exercise acts of life, of joy, of triumph, and did not sleep; but visited the souls of the Fathers, trampled upon the pride of devils, and satisfied those longing souls which were prisoners of hope."-Jeremy Taylor. Serm. 28. "Now I do affirm the consentient and constant doctrine of the primitive church to be this, that the souls of all the faithful, immediately after death, enter into a place and state of bliss, far exceeding all the felicities of this world, though short of the most consummate perfect beatitude of the kingdom of heaven.”—Bp. Bull. Serm. 3. See 1 Peter iii. 19; iv. 6. (54.) "And a crown was

given unto Him; and he went forth, conquering, and to conquer."—Rev. vi. 2.

Page 34. (Line 68.) The flame whose lustre overcomes the hemisphere of darkness is a poetical conception, beautifully exemplifying the light which poetry casts in an age of barbarism and ignorance. (80.) Virgil.-He had left his companions-having quitted Limbo at the request of Beatrice, canto ii. 53. (84.) Being in a place of neither happiness nor torment.

Page 35. (Line 86.) The sword may be considered symbolical of the wars celebrated by Homer, or intended to represent him as the prince of poetry, in the same manner as St. Paul is painted with a sword, as chief of the Apostles. (108.) This stream is generally considered to represent eloquence; and the seven walls the seven cardinal virtues.

Page 36. (Line 118.) "Riparumque toros, et prata recentia rivis Incolimus."- Virgil. En. vi. 673. (120.) "Equidem efferor studio patres vestros, quos colui, et dilexi, videndi: neque vero eos solum convenire amo, quos ipse cognovi; sed illos etiam de quibus audivi, et legi, et ipse conscripsi.

O præclarum diem, cum ad illud divinum animorum concilium cætumque proficiscar, cumque ex hac turba et colluvione discedam! Proficiscar enim non ad eos solum viros de quibus ante dixi, sed etiam ad Catonem meum, quo nemo vir melior natus est, nemo pietate præstantior."-Cicero. De Senectute. (123.) “And like a griffon looked he about.”—Chaucer. Palamon and Arcite. Suetonius relates that Cæsar was remarkable for his black eyes. Thus Virgil-" Geminas circum cui tempora flammas Læta vomunt, patriumque aperitur vertice sidus." (130.) Aristotle. (148.) Virgil and Dante quit the other poets, and proceed together.

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CANTO V.

ARGUMENT.

ENTERING the second circle, Dante sees Minos, the infernal judge. He witnesses the punishment of carnal sinners, who, wrapt in darkness, are swept along by a violent hurricane. Semiramis, Dido, Helen, Paris, Francesca of Rimini, who at Dante's request relates her misfortunes.

FROM the first circle made we our descent

Down to the second,-which, though less in size,
Holds greater grief, that bursts in loud lament.
Grinding his teeth-there Minos dreadful stands:
The culprits, as they enter in, he tries,—
Awards their sentence-issues his commands.

The guilty soul confesses all its crimes,

When brought before him: then the judge decrees Its proper place in hell as many times

As he himself encircles with his tail,

Such is the destined number of degrees

The souls are plunged within the infernal scale.

1

Crowds ever stand before him, doom'd to woe;
All in succession to the Judge repair:

They speak-they hear-and then are hurl'd below. "O thou, who comest to this sad abode,"

Minos exclaim'd, when he beheld me there,
His dread employ suspending-" mark thy road;
And heed thee well on whom thou dost rely;

Nor let the spacious entrance tempt thee on."
To him my guide: "Why makest thou this cry?
Check not his passage, which the fates ordain :
Thus it is will'd where will and power are one;
Therefore submit-nor question us again."

Proceeding onward, I begin to hear

The melancholy sound of those who weep:

Now, sharpest lamentations strike mine ear.
Throughout the place speaks not the light of heaven;
And the vast region bellows loud and deep,
As when o'er ocean warring winds are driven.
The infernal blast, unceasing in it's course,

Hurries along the miserable crowd,
Whirling and tossing with resistless force.

When they arrive before the brink extreme,

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19

25

31

There, shrieks are heard, complaint, and wailing loud; There, the almighty Spirit they blaspheme.

Torments like these, I learnt, were here assign'd

To carnal sinners, who to appetite
Subject the nobler faculty of mind.
As starlings, ere the winter, in a vast
Innumerable squadron wheel their flight;
So, ever and anon, this sweeping blast,
Now up-now down,-this way, and that again
Impels the wicked souls :—no comfort springs
From hope of rest, nor e'en of lessened pain.
As chaunting forth their melancholy lay

their wings,

The clamorous cranes are borne upon
High marshalling in air their long array ;—
Repeating thus their lamentable song,

Souls I beheld, who tow'rds us quickly sped,
Swept by the dreadful hurricane along.

"O master, tell me who are these," I cried,

Lash'd by the cutting wind!" "The first,” he said,

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'Reign'd empress over nations far and wide; While so abandon'd to voluptuousness,

That lest opprobrium should on her be laid,
She caused the laws to sanction all excess ;
Semiramis her name-who, we are told,

At Ninus' death, her husband's sceptre sway'd;
That land was her's which now the Sultans hold."

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43

49

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