Now timely sing, ere the rude bird of hate Whether the Muse, or Love call thee his mate, 10 II. DONNA leggiadra il cui bel nome honora De sui atti soavi giamai parco, E i don', che son d'amor saette ed arco, La onde l'alta tua virtu s'infiora. Quando tu vaga parli, o lieta canti Che mover possa duro alpestre legno 5 10 Guardi ciascun a gli occhi, ed a gli orecchi L'entrata, chi di te si truova indegno; Gratia sola di su gli vaglia, inanti shrill warns all lovers to wait upon Cupid, Sonn. xix. Jonson gives this appellation to the nightingale, in the Sad Shepherd, a. ii. s. 6. literally from a fragment of Sappho, preserved by the scholiast on Sophocles, Electr. v. 148. ΗΡΟΣ Δ' ΑΓΓΕΛΟΣ, ἱμεροφωνος αηδων. Milton laments afterwards, that But best, the dear good angel of the hitherto the nightingale had not spring, The nightingale. Angel is messenger. And the whole expression seems to be preceded the cuckow as she ought: had always sung too late, that is, after the cuckow. T. Warton. III. QUAL in colle aspro, al imbrunir di sera Cosi Amor meco insù la lingua snella E'l bel Tamigi cangio col bel Arno. Deh! foss' il mio cuor lento e'l duro seno CANZONE*. RIDONSI donne e giovani amorosi 5 10 are closed with rhyming couplets T. Warton. *It is from Petrarch, that Milton mixes the Canzone with the Sonetto Dante regarded the Canzone as the most perfect species of lyric composition. Della Volg. Eloqu. c. iv. But for the Canzone he allows more laxity than for the Sonnet. He says, when the Song is written on a grave or tragic subject, it is denominated Canzone, and when on a comic, cantilena, as diminutive. T. Warton. Dinne, se la tua speme sia mai vana, Spuntati ad hor, ad hor a la tua chioma Canzon dirotti, e tu per me rispondi Dice mia Donna, e'l suo dir, é il mio cuore IV. DIODATI, e te'l dirò con maraviglia, Quel ritroso io ch'amor spreggiar soléa Gia caddi, ov'huom dabben talhor s'impiglia. Ne treccie d'oro, ne guancia vermiglia M' abbaglian sì, ma sotto nova idea 5 10 15 5 7. altri rivi of whom more will be said here Altri lidi t'aspettan, ed altre after. T. Warton. onde, &c.] An echo to a stanza in Ariosto, Portamenti alti honesti, e nelle ciglia Parole adorne di lingua piu d' una, V. fuoco PER certo i bei vostr' occhi, Donna mia grina Bellezza." He is now no 10 cie d'oro, nor the bloom so conspicuous in fair-haired complexions, guancia vermiglia; but with the nelle ciglia Quel sereno fulgor d'amabil nero, the degli occhi si gran fuoco. I would add the El cantar, unless that was a particular compliment to his Leonora. The dark hair and eye of Italy are now become his new favourites. When a youth of nineteen, in his general description of the English Fair, he celebrates Cupid's golden nets of hair, l. i. el. i. 60. And in Comus, beauty is characterized by vermeil tinctured cheeks, and tresses like the morn. T. Warton. longer captivated with the brec- Where see the note. T. Warton. Per l'arene di Libia chi s' invia, Scoffo mi il petto, e poi n'uscendo poco VI. GIOVANE piano, e semplicetto amante Poi che fuggir me stesso in dubbio sono, De pensieri leggiadro, accorto, e buono ; Tanto del forse, e d' invidia sicuro, Di timori, e speranze al popol use Sol troverete in tal parte men duro * The forced thoughts at the close of this Sonnet are intolerable. But he was now in the land of conceit, and was infected by writing in its language. He had changed his native Thames for Arno, Sonn. iii. 9. 10 5 10 Canto, dal mio buon popol non inteso, + Milton had a natural severity of mind. For love-verses, his Italian Sonnets have a re |