Book I

., chap. vi.

61. _Dante._ Cf. _Lectures on the English Poets_, vol. V. pp. 17, 18, and notes.

62. _That withering inscription._ At the beginning of Canto III. of the _Inferno_.

_The Story of Geneura._ It is clear from the note that Hazlitt is referring to the story of Francesca of Rimini in Canto V. of the _Inferno_. Paolo and Francesca read together the story of Lancelot and Guinevere.

Note. ‘_And all that day we read no more!_’ _Inferno_, Canto V.

63. ‘_Because on earth_,’ _etc._ Hazlitt is fond of quoting these lines, which, however, do not appear to be Dante’s. Possibly the explanation is to be found in a letter from Lamb to Bernard Barton (Feb. 17, 1823), where he says: ‘I once quoted two lines from a translation of Dante, which Hazlitt very greatly admired, and quoted in a book, as proof of the stupendous power of that poet; but no such lines are to be found in the translation, which has been searched for the purpose. I must have dreamed them, for I am quite certain I did not forge them knowingly. What a misfortune to have a lying memory!’

‘_I am the tomb_,’ _etc._ _Inferno_, Canto XI.

_As when Satan is compared, etc._ Hazlitt seems to be confusing Dante with Milton. See _Paradise Lost_, IV. 196.

‘_Instinct with life._’ Cf. ‘Instinct with spirit.’ _Paradise Lost_, vi. 752.

_Count Ugolino._ _Inferno_, Canto XXXIII. Lamb shared Hazlitt’s dislike of Reynolds’s picture. See _Works_ (ed. E. V. Lucas), I. 75 and 149. Patmore (_My Friends and Acquaintance_, II. 252) compares Hazlitt with Ugolino.

‘_By the sole strength_,’ _etc._ See _Paradiso_, Canto I.

65. _The Sonnet of Petrarch._ No. CCLI. See _Sismondi_, chap. X.

68. _The story of the two holiday lovers._ _The Decameron_, 4th Day, Novel VII.

69. _Pulci._ Luigi Pulci (1432–?1484), author of _Il Morgante Maggiore_ (1481).

_Boyardo._ Matteo Maria Boiardo (1434–1494), whose _Orlando Innamorato_ was published in 1486. Francesco Berni’s (1490?–1536) version appeared in 1541.

71. ‘_Giace l’alta Cartago._’ _Jerusalem Delivered_, Canto XV. St. 20.

_The speech of Satan._ _Ibid._ Canto IV.

72. ‘_I rather envied_,’ _etc._ Montaigne, _Essays_,