Taylor, Edgar [Editor]; Austin, Sarah [Editor]: Lays of the minnesingers or German troubadours of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries: Illustr. by specimens of the contemporary lyric poetry of Provence and other parts of Europe ; With histor. and crit. notes, and engravings from the ms. of the minnesingers in the king's library at Paris, and from other sources (London, 1825)

62 ITALY.

Senza la mia donna non vi vorria gire,

Quella c' a la blonda testa el claro viso,

Che senza lei non porzeria gaudire

Estando da la mia donna diviso.
Ma non lo dico a tale intendimento

Perche peccato ci vollesse fare

Se non vedere lo suo bello portamento,
E lo bello viso el morbido sguardare;

Che lo mi tiria in gran consolamento

Vegendo la mia donna in gioja stare.

Following the example of the Sicilian poets, arose
the Tuscan school, nearer the middle of the 13th cen-
tury. Guido Guinicelli stands one of the first in the
rank, and his language differs little from the purest
classic Italian. His style, too, is thoroughly charac-
teristic of the national taste.

Al cor gentil ripara sempre amore

Si come augello in selvo a la verdura :

Non fe amore anzi che gentil core,

Ne gentil core anzi ch' amor, natura.

Ch' adesso com' fu '1 sole

Si tosto lo splendore fue lucente;

Ne fue duvanti al' sole;

E prende amore in gentillezza luoco,

Cosi propiamente

Com' il calore in clarita del foco.

To gentle heart doth Love for shelter fly
As birds for refuge to the shady grove :
Not elder born than Love is Courtesy,
Nor doth fair Courtesy precede true Love :
Like as the glorious light
Sprung forth at rising sun,
And was not till that orb appear'd,
So Love and Courtesy are one. &c.

Guittone d'Arezzo (who died in 1294) was also a