These lighter and more animated productions have not been translated; but, as a specimen of his more serious style, we select one of the epitaphs or elegiac poems among those which Mr. Wordsworth has translated, with his usual accuracy and force of diction:-- There never breathed a man who, when his life Was closing, might hot of that life relate Toils long and hard. The warrior will report Of wounds, and bright swords flashing in the field, And blast of trumpets. He, who hath been doom'd To bow his forehead in the court of kings, Will tell of fraud and never-ceasing hate, Envy, and heart-inquietude, derived From intricate cabals of treacherous friends. I, who on shipboard lived from earliest youth, Could represent the countenance horrible Of the vexed waters, and the indignant rage Of Auster and Boötes. Forty years Over the well-steer'd galleys did I rule: From huge Pelorus to the Atlantic pillars, Rises no mountain to mine eyes unknown; And the broad gulphs I traversed oft and oft; Of every cloud which in the heavens might stir I knew the force; and hence the rough sea's pride Avail'd not to my vessel's overthrow. What noble pomp, and frequent, have not I On regal decks beheld! Yet in the end I learn that one poor moment can suffice To equalise the lofty and the low. We sail the sea of life--a _calm_ one finds, And one a _tempest_--and, the voyage o'er, Death is the quiet haven of us all.[45] The tranquil life of Chiabrera was agreeably varied by his love, not exactly of travelling, but of visiting the various cities of Italy, and by the honours paid him by its princes, in recompence for his poetry, which was enthusiastically admired by all his countrymen. He never made any long stay away from home, except at Genoa and Florence, and there he possessed friends who were glad to welcome him; for if he was of an irascible, he was of a placable disposition, and though serious of aspect, he was gay and good-humoured in society. The grand duke of Tuscany, Ferdinand I., held him in high esteem, and employed him in arranging various dramatic representations on the marriage of Mary de' Medici with the king of France. Charles Emanuel, duke of Savoy, made him generous offers of remuneration, if he would take up his abode at his court; but Chiabrera wisely preferred his independence. It has been mentioned that he arranged the interludes of a comedy of Guarini, when it was represented on occasion of the marriage of the son of the duke of Mantua with a princess of Savoy. All these princes rewarded him with gifts, or honours, which he seems to have set a still higher value upon; lodging him in their palaces, sending their carriages for his conveyance, and permitting him to remain covered in their presence. He had been the intimate friend of cardinal Barberini, and when the latter was created pope, under the name of Urban VIII., Chiabrera often visited Rome, though he would never reside there; and the pope made him priestly