I need hardly remark that I found the poetical value of these sonnets worthy of their fame; but what claimed my attention also was their greater precision in structure, as compared with the sonnets of our English masters—a precision which gives to the regular Italian sonnet a peculiar place in poetry, unlike that of any other established form of modern lyric, for no other form is bound by such rigid rules. The sonnet, according to the regular Italian type, resolves itself into an octave of eight lines and a sestet of six; these being further subdivided into two quatrains and two tercets, each of the two separate parts having its own system of rhymes. Thus the most common form for the quatrains is for the first line to rhyme with the fourth, the fifth, and the eighth, and the second line with the third, the sixth, and the seventh; or as the arrangement may be more concisely expressed in the formula

The quatrains are sometimes named the Basi, or "bases" of the sonnet, and the above arrangement is known as rima chiusa, or "shut-up" or " enclosed rhyme."

The second mode of arranging the quatrains is in alternate rhyme, as in the following formula:

QUATRAINS AND TERCETS.

3

This structure is more sparingly used than the first, and is occasionally varied thus

2. The tercets, or volte or "turnings," as they are sometimes named, have much greater powers of variation in their rhymes than the quatrains. They may be either in rima incatenata, or "interlaced," or "interlocked" rhymes; or rima alternata or "alternate" rhymes. Of the former, the arrangement

and several others, which must, however, be regarded

as exceptional.

3. I took the trouble to make a metrical arrangement of the three hundred and seventeen sonnets of Petrarch, and to place them in a tabular form according to the order of the rhymes. The result of this analysis is that one hundred and sixteen sonnets, or upwards of one-third of the total number, belong to

what I venture to name TYPE I., or the normal Italian

type, as expressed by the formula—

Upwards of another third, or one hundred and seven sonnets, have the tercets alternately rhymed, and this arrangement, which may be named TYPE II., has the formula

In sixty-seven sonnets the metrical arrangement is according to the formula—

Now it will be seen that in the three types, which include two hundred and ninety out of three hundred and seventeen sonnets, the variations are but slight. The structure of the quatrains is the same in all three types, and in the tercets three lines rhyme with three lines. Of the remaining twentyseven sonnets, which do not fall under any one of the three types already given, the quatrains in eleven sonnets are arranged as in the three types; in another eleven they are in alternate rhyme, and in the remaining four they are arranged thus―

1 2 1 2 2 1 2 1

SONNET BY PETRARCH.

5

As to the arrangement of the tercets, many of them follow one or other of the first three types, and a few fall under one or other of the following formulæ :— 3 4 3, 3 4 3

3 4 4, 4 3 3

3 4 5, 5 4 3

3 4 5, 4 5 3

4. Of the first or normal type, the following translation from Petrarch may serve as an illustration:

SONNET CCLXI. Levommi il mio pensier in parte, ov era.

TYPE I.

On wings of thought I soared to regions where
She whom I seek, but here on earth in vain,
Dwells among those who the third heaven gain,
And saw her lovelier and less haughty there,
She took my hand and said-" In this bright sphere,
Unless my wish deceive, we meet again :

Lo! I am she who gave thee strife and pain,
And closed my day before the eve was near,
My bliss no human thought can understand:
I wait for thee alone-my fleshly veil,

So loved by thee, is by the grave retained."
She ceased, ah why! and why let loose my hand!
Such chaste and tender words could so prevail,
A little more, I had in heaven remained.

5. Dante, who is perhaps the greatest master of the modern Italian sonnet, has about forty specimens which are regarded as authentic. The quatrains in

thirty-three examples are regular, as in Types I., II., and III., and alternate in the remaining seven. Of the tercets connected with the former, eleven sonnets are thus arranged-3 4 5 4 3 5. In eight examples they are alternate. In another eight-3 4 5 5 4 3. In six-3 4 4 4 3 3; and in four-3 4 3 3 4 3. In the second case, where the quatrains are in alternate rhymes, the tercets are in five cases arranged as in Type I., as if to avoid monotony. In one case they follow this order-3 4 5 5 4 3; and in one only are they alternate.

As an illustration of Dante's mastery over the sonnet, I give the following from the Vita Nuova, with the remark that Dante's sonnet poetry is so beautifully simple and direct that the verses often seem to translate themselves, as in several of the lines of this poem, especially the first :—

1 2 2 1,1 2 2 1 Negli occhi porta la mia Donna,
345,543
Amore.

My lady carries love within her eyes,

And thus makes gentle whom she gazes on;
Where'er she goes, all men towards her turn;
Whom she salutes, trembles his heart somewise,
And conscious of his own defects, he sighs,

With downcast look, and countenance all wan:
Before her, anger, pride, are quickly gone:
O aid me, ladies! to set forth her praise.

Who hears her speak, feels something come to bless,
For, in his heart, sweet, lowly thoughts are bred;