The life and correspondence of Sir Anthony Panizzi, K.C.B., Vol. 1 (of 2): Late principal librarian of the British museum, senator of Italy, etc.Fagan, Louis
History
The life and correspondence of Sir Anthony Panizzi, K.C.B., Vol. 1 (of 2): Late principal librarian of the British museum, senator of Italy, etc.
Fagan, Louis
Panizzi, Anthony, Sir, 1797-1879
“My Wife and I are certain you are better
Than you’re reported, reasoning from your letter;
In which you’ve blown your enemy to bits (I
Think) and deservedly, my dear Panizzi:
But do not in your honest rage outrun
The rule the ghostly king enjoined his son;
Tho’ you “speak daggers—use none”—this I know
You’d scarcely do—I mean don’t use your toe,
Or break his head, or pull him by the nose.
Always yours truly,
W. S. ROSE.”
Panizzi himself seems to have possessed somewhat of a poetic faculty, if
we may judge by the sole specimen extant of his skill in the art—a
translation of one of Moore’s songs, “Her last words at parting.” In
confirmation of this, it may be observed that the canon before assumed
in speaking of Lady Dacre on Cary, namely, that the translator should
conform to the style of the verse in the original, has here been
overlooked. For this neglect there may be cogent reasons. It would be
difficult to adapt Moore’s anapæstic lines to Italian verse in the same
measure, and, when adapted they would in all probability, prove
inelegant, and perhaps unnatural; even were this not the case, liberties
which would not be admissible with an important poem, might very
pardonably be taken with the trifling composition of Moore.
The stanzas set out below are neatly turned, and convey the idea of the
original in elegant and musical versification:—
L’ultime sue parole
Quando mi disse addio
Scordar giammai poss ’io?
Meco saranno ognor;
Qual melodioso accento
Che l’ alma ne consola
Benchè quel suon s’invola
Nè piu risuoni allor.
Venga l’avversa sorte,
M’ oltraggierà, ma invano;
Sempre il mio talismano
Sarà quel suon d’amor.
“Rammenta nell’ assenza,
Fra le ritorte e pene,
Un cor che ti vuol bene
Sol per te batte ancor.”
Da dolce fonte in oltra
Il pellegrino errante,
Per un sol breve istante
Gusta del suo sapor.
Ma si provede intanto
Dell’ acque ricche e care
Di quelle goccie rare
Che danno a lui valor.
Così al rigor del fato
Nell’ eremo della vita,
La fonte mia gradita
Sarà quel suon d’ amor.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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