The _Rime_--for which the more modern title, _Canzoniere_, has sometimes been substituted--comprise all Dante’s lyrical poems, together with others that are more doubtfully attributed to him. In the _Vita Nuova_ were inserted three canzoni, two shorter poems in the canzone mould, one ballata, twenty-five sonnets (including two double sonnets). The “testo critico” of the _Rime_, edited by Michele Barbi for the sexcentenary Dante, in addition to these accepts as authentic sixteen canzoni (the sestina is merely a special form of canzone), five ballate, thirty-four sonnets, and two stanzas. Dante himself regards the canzone as the noblest form of poetry (_V. E._ ii. 3), and he expounded three of his canzoni in the _Convivio_. From the middle of the fourteenth century onwards, a large number of MSS. give these three and twelve others (fifteen in all) as a connected whole in a certain definite order, frequently with a special rubric in Latin or Italian prefixed to each; this order and these rubrics are due to Boccaccio.[12] It has been more difficult to distinguish between the certainly genuine and the doubtful pieces among the ballate and sonnets, and the authenticity of some of those now included by Barbi in the canon is still more or less open to question. The _Rime_, on the whole, are the most unequal of Dante’s works; a few of the sonnets, particularly some of the earlier ones and those in answer to other poets, have but slight poetic merit, while several of the later canzoni rank among the world’s noblest lyrics. In the sexcentenary edition the arrangement of the lyrics is tentatively chronological, with subsidiary groupings according to subject-matter. While following the same general scheme, I slightly modify the arrangement, as certain poems regarded by Barbi as “rime d’amore” appear to me to be more probably allegorical. (_a_) A first group belongs to the epoch of the _Vita Nuova_. Conspicuous among them are two canzoni. One: La dispietata mente che pur mira, “Pitiless memory that still gazes back at the time gone by,” is addressed directly to a woman (in this respect differing from Dante’s other canzoni), who is probably the second lady represented as the poet’s screen. The other: E ’m’ incresce di me si duramente, “I grieve for myself so bitterly,” seems to give fuller expression to the first part of the _Vita Nuova_ with an alien note--the image of the little maiden has yielded to that of the woman whose great beauty is the object of unattainable desire. At times a lighter note is struck; Dante is apparently simply supplying words for composers to set to music, or revealing a spirit of playfulness of which there is no trace in the _Vita Nuova_.[13] Besides sonnets in honour of Beatrice, we have a few relating to other women, and in two ballate even their names are given: Fioretta and Violetta. One delightful sonnet: Sonar bracchetti e cacciatori aizzare,