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Behold the sun upon thy forehead thrown -
Behold the trees, the flowers, of every hue,
In this most happy soil spontaneous sown.
Here mayst thou stray, or rest beneath the shade,
Till, bright with joy, those eyes shall greet thy view
Which, erst suffused with tears, implored my aid.
No more from me expect or sign or word:

Thy will henceforth is upright, free, and sound;
To slight its impulse, were a sin ;-then lord
Be o'er thyself,-be mitred, and be crown'd."

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NOTES.

Page 245. (Line 1.) “It was sunrise at Jerusalem, mid-day in India, midnight in Portugal, and sunset where the poets now were."-Boyd.

Page 246. (Line 23.) Geryon was the monster who carried Virgil and Dante on his back, down from the seventh to the eighth circle of the Inferno. xvii. 91. (36.) i.e. This flame is the only obstacle between thee and Beatrice. Virgil well knew the effect of the mere mention of her name.

Page 247. (Line 44.) i.e. " Have we endured such toil in passing through the Inferno and ascending Purgatory, to remain here, when we are so near Beatrice?"-Landino. "That

is laudable," says Aristotle, “ οὗ ένεκα πολλὰ πεπόιηται ή δεδαTavηTaι.-Rhetoric. A. s. (58.) St. Matthew, xxv. 34. These words are sung by the Angel, so shrouded in his own effulgence as to be invisible to Dante.

Page 249. (Line 91.) i.e. Intent on contemplating the unusual splendour of the stars. (101.) Leah, the daughter of Laban, the first wife of Jacob.-She is the personification of active life-her sister Rachael, of contemplative life. "My delight," says Leah, "is to look into the mirror of God, and adorn myself with active virtues, while my sister is satisfied with contemplation."

Page 250. (Line 115.) The "promised fruit," Inf. xvi. 62, i.e. true happiness, which men anxiously seek where it cannot be found, among the deceitful and perishable things of this world. (127.) The fire of Purgatory and of Hell.

Page 251. (Line 137.) i.e. Till the arrival of Beatrice.The more to excite Dante, Virgil calls to his memory the kind and affectionate manner in which she first undertook to assist him, alluding to the Inf. ii. 115. (142.) i.e." Now thou art thine own master, free from the bondage of sin, and possessing sound views of religion, I invest thee with those insignia of power over thyself, by which kings in civil, and bishops in religious affairs, show their authority over others."

CANTO XXVIII.

ARGUMENT.

ARRIVING at the summit of the mountain, Dante enters the forest of the terrestrial Paradise. On the opposite bank of the river Lethe, he beholds Matelda gathering flowers as she sings. She explains the properties of the fruits belonging to this delicious region.

EAGER that heavenly forest to survey,

Whose living verdure, grateful to the eye,

Temper'd the fervour of the new born day-Waiting no more, I left the rocky bound,

Over the plain proceeding tardily,

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Whose fragrant soil breathed odours all around.

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A pleasant air that ever blew the same,

Soft as the impulse of a gentle wind,

With mild impression o'er my forehead came; By which the leaves, all trembling as they were Before the zephyr, to that side inclined

Where shadows from the mountain first appear.

Yet were they not so bent before the breeze,

But that the little birds in many a throng

Their several arts continued 'mid the trees;

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And, full of gladness, as they pour'd their throats,
Hail'd the sweet hours of prime, those leaves among,
Which kept harmonious murmur with their notes;
E'en such a murmur, as from bough to bough
Runs through the piny grove on Chiassi's shore,
When Eolus lets loose Sirocco.-Now
With tardy steps had I advanced such
Within that ancient forest, that no more
The point where I had enter'd could I trace.
And lo, a stream my further course denied,

space

Which, on the left hand, with its little wave Bent down the herbage springing at its side. All waters here on earth, most pure and bright, Some mixture in them would appear to have, Compared with this, concealing nought from sight. And yet it moved in darkness on its way,

Dark, in the depth of that perpetual shade

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Which sun nor moon e'er pierced with entering ray.

I check'd my steps, and travell'd with mine eye
Across the rill, to view the trees array'd

In all their fresh and rich variety.

And there appear'd to me (as, sudden brought
To view, some startling object has the power
Through wonder to divert each other thought)
A lady all alone; who roved about

Singing, as she selected flower from flower,

With which her pathway painted was throughout. "O beauteous lady, who full surely art

Irradiate with the fire of love's own beam,

If I may trust those signs that speak the heart, Be it thy pleasure to approach so near,"

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I thus address'd her, "towards this pleasant stream, That I the purport of thy song may hear.

Fair Proserpine thou to my mind dost bring,

And that most beauteous meadow where she roved, When by her mother lost, she lost the spring."

Like to a lady turning in the dance,

Foot before foot from earth so slightly moved,
That scarce perceptible is her advance ;—
So 'mid those flow'rets of the richest dyes,
Crimson and gold, to me she turn'd around,
Like virgin fair who veils her modest eyes,
And by her presence satisfied my prayer;
Approaching me so near, that with the sound,
I caught the meaning of her heavenly air.

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