A translation should not in any case be taken as a pouring from the golden into the silver vessel, as used to be erroneously supposed, for Croce has proved that in so far as the translator rethinks the original he is himself a creator. This explains why so many writers have been addicted to translation--in English we have Pope, Fitzgerald, Rossetti, to name but three of many--and the author of the Philosophy of the Spirit, Croce himself, has published a splendid Italian version of Hegel's _Encyclopaedia of the Philosophic Sciences._ DOUGLAS AINSLIE. The Athenaeum, Pall Mall, London, October, 1920. CONTENTS PART I LUDOVICO ARIOSTO I A CRITICAL PROBLEM II THE LIFE OF THE AFFECTIONS IN ARIOSTO, AND THE HEART OF HIS HEART III THE HIGHEST LOVE: HARMONY IV THE MATERIAL FOR THE HARMONY V THE REALISATION OF HARMONY VI HISTORICAL DISASSOCIATIONS PART II WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE VII THE PRACTICAL PERSONALITY AND THE POETICAL PERSONALITY VIII SHAKESPEAREAN SENTIMENT IX MOTIVES AND DEVELOPMENT OF SHAKESPEARE'S POETRY X THE ART OF SHAKESPEARE XI SHAKESPEAREAN CRITICISM XII SHAKESPEARE AND OURSELVES PART III PIERRE CORNEILLE XIII CRITICISM OF THE CRITICISM XIV THE IDEAL OF CORNEILLE XV THE MECHANISM OF THE CORNELIAN TRAGEDY XVI THE POETRY OF CORNEILLE INDEX PART I LUDOVICO ARIOSTO CHAPTER I A CRITICAL PROBLEM[1] The fortune of the _Orlando Furioso_ may be compared to that of a graceful, smiling woman, whom all look upon with pleasure, without experiencing any intellectual embarrassment or perplexity, since it suffices to have eyes and to direct them to the pleasing object, in order to admire. Crystal clear as is the poem, polished in every particular, easily to be understood by whomsoever possesses general culture, it has never presented serious difficulties of interpretation, and for that reason has not needed the industry of the commentators, and has not been injured by their quarrelsome subtleties; nor has it been subject, more than to a very slight extent, to the intermittences from which other notable poetical works have suffered, owing to the varying conditions of culture at different times. Great men and ordinary readers have been in as complete agreement about it, as, for instance, about the beauty, let us say, of a Madame Récamier; and the list of great men, who have experienced its fascination, goes from Machiavelli and the Galilei, to Voltaire and to Goethe, without mentioning names more near to our own time.