"And art thou then that Virgil, that well-spring, From which such copious floods of eloquence Have issued?" I, with front abash'd, replied: "Glory and light of all the tuneful train! May it avail me, that I long with zeal Have sought thy volume, and with love immense Have conn'd it o'er. My master, thou, and guide! 'Thou he from whom I have alone deriv'd That style, which for its beauty into fame Exalts me.'" (Cary. [his translation--text Ed.]) Indeed there was a passion and a miracle of words in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, after the long slumber of language in barbarism, which gave an almost romantic character, a virtuous quality and power, to what was read in a book, independently of the thoughts or images contained in it. This feeling is very often perceptible in Dante. II. The Images in Dante are not only taken from obvious nature, and are all intelligible to all, but are ever conjoined with the universal feeling received from nature, and therefore affect the general feelings of all men. And in this respect, Dante's excellence is very great, and may be contrasted with the idiosyncracies of some meritorious modern poets, who attempt an eruditeness, the result of particular feelings. Consider the simplicity, I may say plainness, of the following simile, and how differently we should in all probability deal with it at the present day: Quale i fioretti dal notturno gelo Chinati e chiusi, poi che 'l sol gl' imbianca, Si drizzan tutti aperti in loro stelo,-- Fal mi fec' io di mia virtute stanca; ('Inf.' c. 2. v. 127.) As florets, by the frosty air of night Bent down and clos'd, when day has blanch'd their leaves, Rise all unfolded on their spiry stems,-- So was my fainting vigour new restor'd. (Cary. [2]) III. Consider the wonderful profoundness of the whole third canto of the 'Inferno'; and especially of the inscription over Hell gate: Per me si va, &c.-- which can only be explained by a meditation on the true nature of religion; that is,--reason 'plus' the understanding. I say profoundness rather than sublimity; for Dante does not so much elevate your thoughts as send them down deeper. In this canto all the images are distinct, and even vividly distinct; but there is a total impression of infinity; the wholeness is not in vision or conception, but in an inner feeling of totality, and absolute being. IV. In picturesqueness, Dante is beyond all other poets, modern or ancient, and more in the stern style of Pindar, than of any other. Michel Angelo is said to have made a design for every page of the 'Divina Commedia'. As superexcellent in this respect, I would note the conclusion of the third canto of the 'Inferno': Ed ecco verso noi venir per nave Un vecchio bianco per antico pelo Gridando: guai a voi anime prave: &c. ... (Ver. 82. &c.) And lo! toward us in a bark Comes on an old man, hoary white with eld, Crying, "Woe to you wicked spirits!" ... (CARY.)