A white satin hat, a little like that of Madame ----, seen in the distance in the street, made his heart stop beating, and forced him to rest against the wall. Even in his blackest moments, the happiness of meeting her gave him always some hours of intoxication, beyond the reach of all misfortune and all reasoning.[6] For the rest, at the time of his death[7] his character had certainly contracted more than one noble habit, after two years of [Pg 110] this generous and boundless passion; and, in so far at least, he judged himself correctly. Had he lived, and circumstances helped him a little, he would [Pg 111] have made a name for himself. Maybe also, just through his simplicity, his merit would have passed on this earth unseen. O lasso Quanti dolci pensier, quanto desio Menò costui al doloroso passo! Biondo era, e bello, e di gentile aspetto; Ma l'un de' cigli un colpo avea diviso. (_Dante._)[8] [1] Sotto l'usbergo del sentirsi pura. [Under the shield of conscious purity.--Tr.] (Dante, _Inf._, XXVIII, 117.) [2] That is a thing which I have often seemed to notice in love--that propensity to reap more unhappiness from what is unhappy than happiness from what is happy. [3] Don Carlos,(17) Saint-Preux,(17) Racine's _Hippolyte_ and _Bajazet_. [4] Mordaunt Mertoun, _Pirate_, Vol. I. [5] As I have mentioned Correggio, I will add that in the sketch of an angel's head in the gallery of the museum at Florence, is to be seen the glance of happy love, and at Parma in the Madonna crowned by Jesus the downcast eyes of love. [6] Come what sorrow can It cannot countervail the exchange of joy That one short moment gives me in her sight.--(_Romeo and Juliet_.) [7] Some days before the last he made a little ode, which has the merit of expressing just the sentiments, which formed the subject of our conversations:--. L'ULTIMO DI. Anacreontica. A ELVIRA.