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)

ITALY. 63

writer of sonnets, many of which are published in the
Giunti collection of Tuscan poets of 1527 : some of
them will bear to be placed by the side of those of
his great successor Petrarch, and often display touches
of considerable feeling *.

Ben forse alcun verra dopo qualch' anno

II qual leggendo i mei sospiri in rima,

Se dolcra della mia dura sorte:
E chi sa se colci ch* or non mi estima,

Visto con il mio mal giunto il suo danno,

Non deggia lagrimar della mia morte.

In after years perhaps there may be one
Who, dwelling on the music of my sighs,
May grieve in pity at my destinies:

Who knows but she, whose breast would now disown
One kinder thought, may then repent her hate,

And, viewing then my misery as her own.
May drop a tear o'er my untimely fate ?

Guido Cavalcanti (who died in 1300) is the only
one of these early poets whose productions have any
lightness or animation. His works have been collected
and published by Cicciaporci at Florence in 1813: his
ballads (ballatette) or pastorals have something of
the old Troubadour gaiety j and feeling of delight

• It should be observed that there is some controversy among
Italian antiquaries as to the authenticity of these sonnets.
■f The measure of these little pieces is sprightly and elegant:
Ballatctta, in Toscana,
Va tu leggiera e piana,
Dritta alia Donna mia—
There is an interesting article on Guido's history and poetry in
the New Monthly Magazine, vol. v. p. 1.