I style foremost of my friends, and who hence indited another sonnet which begins: "Thou hast, I deem, beheld aright full worth," and this was as it were the starting-point of friendship betwixt him and me, as soon as he learned it was I who had sent it him.

The real meaning of this sonnet was not then divined of any, yet now it is plain to the simplest.

IV. Henceforth from the time of this vision, the whole of my natural spirit seemed paralysed, for the reason that my entire soul was absorbed in the thought of this noble woman. Thus I fell in a short time into such a frail and helpless condition, that friends sorrowed as they looked upon me, and many full of envy endeavoured to find out that which I above all things wished to conceal from others. And I, perceiving their malicious inquiries, for the sake of Love which commanded me, according to the counsel of reason, answered them, that Love was that thing which had conquered me thus. I said Love, because I bore upon my countenance so many of its traces, that it was impossible to hide it. But when they asked me, "Through whom hath this love played such havoc with thee," I smiling looked upon them, and held my peace.

V. It happened one day that this most

gentilissima sedea in parte, ove s'udíano parole della Regina della gloria, ed io era in luogo, dal quale vedea la mia beatitudine. E nel mezzo di lei e di me, per la retta linea, sedea una gentile donna di molto piacevole aspetto. La quale mi mirava spesse volte, maravigliandosi del mio sguardare, che parea che sopra lei terminasse ; onde molti s' accorsero del suo mirare. in tanto vi fu posto mente, che, partendomí da questo luogo, mi sentii dire appresso: "Vedi come cotale donna distrugge la persona di costui." E nominandola, intesi che diceano di colei, che in mezzo era stata nella linea retta che movea dalla gentilissima Beatrice, e terminava negli occhi miei. Allora mi confortai molto, assicurandomi che il mio segreto non era comunicato, lo giorno, altrui per mia vista. Ed immantinente pensai di fare di questa gentile donna schermo della veritade; e tanto ne mostrai in poco di tempo, che il mio segreto fu creduto sapere dalle più persone che di me ragionavano. Con questa donna mi celai alquanti mesi ed anni; e per più fare credente altrui, feci per lei certe cosette per rima, le quali non è mio intendimento di scrivere qui, se non in quanto facessero a

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gracious lady was seated in a place 1 where words about the Queen of Glory were said, and I was in a position from which I could see my bliss: and half-way between her and me, in a direct line, was seated a gentle lady of charming appearance, who often glanced at me, and was astonished at my staring, which seemed to be towards herself and thus many others became aware of my staring. And this was remarked so much that, in leaving that place, I heard people behind me saying: "See how that lady makes this man waste away." And, by naming her, I heard that they were speaking of this lady who had stood in the direct line that began in the eyes of the most gracious Beatrice and ended in my own eyes. I felt then greatly relieved, reassured that my secret had not been discovered that day to any one through my looking: and once I thought of making of this beautiful lady a screen for the truth: and I showed so much of it in a brief space of time that the greater number of the persons who spoke about me believed that they knew my secret. By means of this lady I kept my secret hidden for some months and years; and to make others believe this still more, I wrote for her some poetical trifles, which it is not my purpose to transcribe here, except in so far as they relate 1 A church,

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trattare di quella gentilissima Beatrice; e però le lascerò tutte, salvo che alcuna cosa ne scriverò, che pare che sia loda di lei.

VI. Dico che in questo tempo, che questa donna era schermo di tanto amore, quanto dalla mia parte, mi venne una volontà di voler ricordare il nome di quella gentilissima, ed accompagnarlo di molti nomi di donne, e specialmente del nome di questa gentildonna; e presi i nomi di sessanta le più belle della cittade, ove la mia donna fu posta dall' altissimo Sire, e composi una epistola sotto forma di serventese, la quale io non scriverò. E non n'avrei fatto menzione se non per dire quello, che componendola maravigliosamente addivenne, cioè che in alcuno altro numero non sofferse il nome della mia donna stare, se non in sul nove, tra' nomi di queste donne.

VII. La donna, con la quale io avea tanto tempo celata la mia volontà, convenne che si partisse della sopradetta cittade, e andasse in paese lontano: per che io, quasi sbigottito della bella difesa che mi era venuta meno, assai me ne disconfortai più che io medesimo non avrei creduto dinanzi. E pensando che, se della sua partita io non parlassi alquanto dolorosamente, le persone sarebbero accorte più tosto del mio nascon

to that most gracious Beatrice, and therefore I shall leave them all out, with the exception of some which I shall write and which appear to be in her praise.

VI. I say how at this time, when this lady was as a screen to my great love, there came to me a wish to mention the name of that most gracious lady, joining it to many other names of women and especially with the name of this lady, and I selected the names of sixty of the most beautiful women of the city, in which the Almighty Lord had placed my lady, and I wrote an epistle in the form of a sirvente, which I shall not transcribe: and I would not have mentioned this but that I wish to say what, in writing it, happened in a wonderful way, that is to say, that the name of my lady would not come in, among the names of these women, in any other order than that of ninth.

VII. The lady, whom for a long time I made believe to love, in order to hide my real love, was obliged to depart from the above-mentioned city and to go to a distant town; therefore I, sorely dismayed at the useful protection which had failed me, became very dejected, far more than I myself would have believed before. And thinking that, if I did not speak somewhat dolefully of her departure, people would become the sooner aware of my dissembling,