REFERENCES.--Davis, “The Chinese,” 1844, Vol. III. p. xi; Venanson, “Boussole,” pp. 75, 148–154; Azuni, “Boussole,” p. 139; Klaproth, “Boussole,” pp. 45–46; “Journal des Savants” for January 1865, also for January and February 1880; “The Monthly Magazine” for June 1802; Libri, “Hist. des Sciences Mathématiques,” Paris, 1838, Vol. II. pp. 64, 152–156. =A.D. 1265–1321.=--Dante--Durante--(Alighieri), illustrious Italian poet, regarded as the greatest poetical genius that flourished between the Augustan and Elizabethan ages, composed, during his exile, the “Divina Commedia,” which was the first poem written in the Italian language. In Canto XII. vv. 28–30 of his “Paradiso,” translated by Dr. Plumptre, he thus alludes to the mariner’s compass: “Then from the heart of one of those new lights, There came a voice which made me turn to see, E’en as the star the needle’s course incites.” Guido Guinicelli (1240–1276), priest and scholar, and whom Dante considered not only the greatest of living Bolognese poets, but his master in poetry (Note: “Purg.,” XXVI. Vol. I. p. 327, v. 92) refers to the nautical compass in nearly the same terms as Dante (“Rime. Ant.,” p. 295). He adds: “The mountains of loadstone give the virtue to the air of attracting iron, but, because it (the loadstone) is far off, (it) wishes to have the help of a similar stone to make it (the virtue) work, and to direct the needle toward the star” (P. L. Ginguené, “Hist. Lit. d’Italie,” Vol. I. p. 413; Guido delle Colonne--Io Colonna da Messina--Mandella Lett. p. 81, Florence, 1856). At pp. 35 and 130 of Bertelli’s “Pietro Peregrino di Maricourt,” Roma, 1868, Memoria prima, appear verses said to be by Guinicelli and by Guido delle Colonne, judge of Messina, who flourished about 1250, and which are translated literally into English as follows: “In those parts under foreign skies Are the mountains of loadstone, _Which give power to the air_ To attract iron, but, because distant, It requires to have assistance from similar stones, To bring it into use, And direct the needle towards the star. The learned relate that the loadstone Could not attract Iron by its power, _Were it not that the air between them aids_; Although the calamite is a stone, The other existing stones Are not so powerful To attract, because they have not the influence.” The “Paradiso,” translated by A. J. Butler, London, 1885, Canto XII. v. 29, reads: “_Si mosse voce, che l’ago (needle) alla stella_,” and Fazio degli Uberti in the “Dittamondo” (about 1360) has “_Quel gran disio, che mi, traeva addietro come ago a calamita_” (III. 2).