The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 03, No. 16, February, 1859

Dora Deane; or East India Uncle and Maggie Miller, or Old Hagar's Secret. By Mrs. M.J. Holmes, Author of "Tempest and Sunshine." 12mo. $1.00. New York. C. Saxton.

The Power of Prayer Illustrated in the Wonderful Display of Divine Grace. By S.I. Prime. 12mo. $1.00. New York. C. Scribner.

The Banks of New York, their Dealers, the Clearing-House, and the Panic of 1857, with a Financial Chart. By J.S. Gibbons. With Thirty Illustrations. 12mo. $1.50. New York. D. Appleton & Co.

Future Life, or Scenes in Another World. By George Wood, Author of "Modern Pilgrims." 12mo. $1.25. New York. Derby & Jackson.

While it was Morning. By Virginia F. Townsend. 12mo. $1.25. New York. Derby & Jackson.

The Sociable; One Thousand and One Home Amusements. By the Author of the Magician's Own Book. 12mo. $1.00. New York. Dick & Fitzgerald.

Wild Flowers, Drawn and Colored from Nature. By Mrs. C.M. Badger. With an Introduction by Mrs. L.H. Sigourney. 4to. morocco. $12.50. New York. C. Scribner.

The Daily Counsellor. By Mrs. L.H. Sigourney. Small 8vo. $1.50. Hartford. Brown & Gross.

Palestine, Past and Present, with Biblical, Literary, and Scientific Notices. By Henry S. Osborn, A.M. With Illustrations. 8vo. $3.50. Philadelphia. James Challen & Sons.

The Mustee; or Love and Liberty. By B.F. Presbury. 12mo. $1.25. Boston. Shepard, Clark, & Brown.

The Queen's Domain, and other Poems. By William Winter. 16mo. 63 cts. Boston. E.O. Libby & Co.

Life Memories, and other Poems. By Edward Sprague Rand, Jr. 16mo. 63 cts. Boston. J. Munroe & Co.

Poems. By Frances Anne Kemble. 12mo. $1.00. Boston. Ticknor & Fields.

Lectures and Addresses on Literary and Social Topics. By the late Frederick W. Robertson of Brighton. 12mo. $1.00. Boston. Ticknor & Fields.

History of the Reign of Philip Second, King of Spain. By William H. Prescott. Vol. 3. 8vo. $2.25. Boston. Phillips, Sampson, & Co.

The Modern Cook; A Practical Guide to the Culinary Art in all its Branches, etc. etc. By Charles Elmè Francatelli, Pupil to the Celebrated Carême. From the Ninth London Edition. With Sixty-two Illustrations. 8vo. $3.00. Philadelphia. T.B. Peterson & Brothers.

Annals of the American Episcopal Pulpit; or Commemorative Notices of Distinguished Clergymen of the Episcopal Church in the United States. From the Early Settlements of the Country to the Close of 1855, with an Historical Introduction. By Wm. B. Sprague, D.D. Being the Fifth Volume of the Annals of the American Pulpit. 8vo. $2.50. New York. Robert Carter & Brothers.

The New Testament. Translated from the Original Greek, with Chronological Arrangement of the Sacred Books, and Improved Divisions of Chapters and Verses. By Leicester Ambrose Sawyer. 12mo. $1.25. Boston. John P. Jewett & Co.

notes

1

It may be well to fortify this point by a racy extract from that rare and amusing old book, the pioneer of its class, entitled "The Lawes Resolutions of Women's Rights, or the Lawes Provision for Woman. A Methodicall Collection of such Statutes and Customes, with the Cases, Opinions, Arguments, and Points of Learning in the Law as doe properly concern Women." London: A.D. 1632. pp. 404. 4to. The pithy sentences lose immeasurably, however, by being removed from their original black-letter setting.

"Lib. III Sect. VII, The Baron may beate his Wife.

"The rest followeth, Justice Brooke 12. H. 8. fo. 1. affirmeth plainly, that if a man beat an out-law, a traitor, a Pagan, his villein, or his wife, it is dispunishable, because by the Law Common these persons can haue no action: God send Gentle women better sport, or better companie.

"But it seemeth to be very true, that there is some kind of castigation which Law permits a Husband to vse; for if a woman be threatned by her husband to bee beaten, mischieued, or slaine, Fitzherbert sets donne a Writ which she may sve out of Chancery to compell him to finde surety of honest behauiour toward her, and that he shall neither doe nor procure to be done to her (marke I pray you) any bodily damage, otherwise then appertaines to the office of a Husband for lawfull and reasonable correction. See for this the new Nat. bre. fo. 80 f. & fo. 23S f.

"How farre that extendeth I cannot tell, but herein the sexe feminine is at no very great disaduantage: for first for the lawfulnesse; If it be in no other regard lawfull to beat a man's wife, then because the poore wench can sve no other action for it, I pray why may not the Wife beat the Husband againe, what action can he haue if she doe: where two tenants in Common be on a horse, and one them will trauell and vse this horse, hee may keepe it from his Companion a yeare two or three and so be euen with him; so the actionlesse woman beaten by her Husband, hath retaliation left to beate him againe, if she dare. If he come to the Chancery or Justices in the Country of the peace against her, because her recognizance alone will hardly bee taken, he were best be bound for her, and then if he be beaten the second time, let him know the price of it on God's name."

2

It may be that Dante here refers to the meaning of the name Beatrice,—She who renders happy. She who blesses.

3

According to the astronomy of the times, the sphere of the stars moved from west to east one degree in a hundred years. The twelfth of a degree was, therefore, eight and a half years. See the Convito, Tratt. II. c. vi.

4

Compare with this passage Canzone x, st. 5, 6. Especially the lines,

"E, se 'l libro non erra,
Lo spirito maggior tremò si forte,
Che parve ben, che morte
Per lui in questo mondo giunta fosse."

"And, if the book errs not, the chief spirit so greatly trembled, that it plainly appeared that death for him had arrived in this world."

When Dante meets Beatrice in Purgatory, he says, referring to this time,—and it is pleasant to note these connections between his earliest and his latest works,—

"Tosto che nella vista mi percosse
L' alta virtù, che già m' avca trafitto
Prima ch' io fuor di puerizia fosse."

    Canto xxx. l. 40-42.

5

The text of the Vita Nuova is often uncertain. Here, for example, many authorities concur in the reading, "la quale fu si tosto a lui disponsata," "which had been so quickly betrothed to him." But we prefer to read "disposta," as being more in accordance with the remainder of the figure concerning Love. Many other various readings will be passed over without notice,—but a translation might be exposed to the charge of inaccuracy, if it were judged by the text of any special edition of the original, without comparison with others. The text usually followed in these versions is that of Fraticelli.

6

Inferno, x. 58-60.

7

Dante calls this little poem a sonnet, although, strictly, the name does not belong to it.

8

In his few words of introduction to the Vita Nuova, Dante implies that he shall not copy out into his book all his compositions relating to its subject. Some of the poems of this period, not included in the Vita Nuova, have been preserved, and we propose to refer to them in their appropriate places. Compare with this passage Sonnet lxxix., Poesie Liriche, ed. Fraticelli,—

"Se 'l bello aspetto non mi fosse tolto,"—

which was apparently written during Dante's absence from Beatrice.

9