D'arder sempre piangendo non mi doglio! Forse avro di fedele il titol vero, Caro a me sopra ogn' altro eterno onore. Non cambiero la fe,--ne questo scoglio Ch' al _mio_ sol piacque, ove finire spero Come le dolci gia, quest' amare ore![34] This Sonnet was written in the seventh year of her widowhood. She says elsewhere, that her heart having once been so nobly bestowed, disdains a meaner chain; and that her love had not ceased with the death of its object.-- Di cosi nobil fiamma amore mi cinse, Ch' essendo spenta, in me viva l' ardore. There is another, addressed to the poet Molza, in which she alludes to the fate of his parents, who, by a singular providence, both expired in the same day and hour: such a fate appeared to her worthy of envy; and she laments very tenderly that Heaven had doomed her to survive him with whom her heart lay buried. There are others addressed to Cardinal Bembo, in which she thus excuses herself for making Pescara the subject of her verse. Scrivo sol per sfogar l' interna doglia; La pura fe, l' ardor, l' intensa pena Mi scusa appo ciascun; che 'l grave pianto E tal, che tempo, ne raggion l' affrena. There is also a Canzone by Vittoria, full of poetry and feeling, in which she alludes to the loss of that beauty which once she was proud to possess, because it was dear in her husband's sight. "Look down upon me," she exclaims, "from thy seat of glory! look down upon me with those eyes that ever turned with tenderness on mine! Behold, how misery has changed me; how all that once was beauty is fled!--and yet I am--I am the same!"--(Io son--io son ben dessa!)--But no translation--none at least that I could execute--would do justice to the deep pathos, the feminine feeling, and the eloquent simplicity of this beautiful and celebrated poem. The reader will find it in Mathias's collection.[35] After the lapse of several years, her mind, elevated by the very nature of her grief, took a strong devotional turn: and from this time, we find her poetry entirely consecrated to sacred subjects. The first of these _Rime spirituali_ is exquisitely beautiful. She allows that the anguish she had felt on the death of her noble husband, was not alleviated, but rather nourished and kept alive in all its first poignancy, by constantly dwelling on the theme of his virtues and her own regrets; that the thirst of fame, and the possession of glory, could not cure the pining sickness of her heart; and that she now turned to Heaven as a last and best resource against sorrow.[36] Poiche 'l mio casto amor, gran tempo tenne L' alma di fama accesa, ed ella un angue In sen nudrio, per cui dolente or langue,-- Volta al Signor, onde il remedio venne. ....*....*....*....* Chiamar qui non convien Parnasso o Delo; Ch' ad altra acqua s' aspira, ad altro monte Si poggia, u' piede uman per se non sale.