'Qualonque cerca al mondo haver thesoro, Over diletto, o segue onore e stato, Ponga la mano a questa chioma d' oro, Ch' io porto in fronte, e quel fara beato. Ma quando ha il destro a far cotal lavoro, Non prenda indugio, che 'l tempo passato Più non ritorna, e non si trova mai; Ed io mi volto, e lui lascio con guai.' Cosi cantava d' intorno girando La bella Fata a quella fresca fonte; Ma come gionto vide il Conte Orlando, Subitamente rivoltô la fronte: Il prato e la fontana abbandonando, Prese il viaggio suo verso d* un monte, Quai chiudea la Valletta picciolina: Quivi fuggendo Morgana cammina.{1} 1 Bojardo: 1. ii. c. 8. Ed. Vinegia; 1544. With earnest wish to pass the enchanted gate, Orlando to the fount again advanced, And found Morgana, all with joy elate, Dancing around, and singing as she danced. As lightly moved and twirled the lovely Fate As to the breeze the lightest foliage glanced, With looks alternate to the earth and sky, She thus gave out her words of witchery: 'Let him, who seeks unbounded wealth to hold, Or joy, or honour, or terrestrial state, Seize with his hand this lock of purest gold, That crowns my brow, and blest shall be his fate. But when time serves, behoves him to be bold, Nor even a moment's pause interpolate: The chance, once lost, he never finds again: I turn, and leave him to lament in vain.' Thus sang the lovely Fate in bowery shade Circling in joy around the crystal fount; But when within the solitary glade Glittered the armour of the approaching Count, She sprang upon her feet, as one dismayed, And took her way towards a lofty mount That rose the valley's narrow length to bound: Thither Morgana sped along the ground. I have translated Fata, Fate. It is usually translated Fairy. But the idea differs essentially from ours of a fairy. Amongst other things there is no Fato, no Oberon to the Titania. It does not, indeed, correspond with our usual idea of Fate, but it is more easily distinguished as a class; for our old acquaintances the Fates are an inseparable three. The Italian _Fata_ is independent of her sisters. They are enchantresses; but they differ from other enchantresses in being immortal. They are beautiful, loo, and their beauty is immortal: always in Bojardo. He would not have turned Alcina into an old woman, as Ariosto did; which I must always consider a dreadful blemish on the many charms of the _Orlando Furioso_.