old English writers, were of a different
opinion: as Alfieri and Schiller have also been, more recently, upon the
Continent. The following extract will explain the facts on which the
story is founded. The name of _Azo_ is substituted for Nicholas, as more
metrical.--[B.]

"Under the reign of Nicholas III. [A.D. 1425] Ferrara was polluted with
a domestic tragedy. By the testimony of a maid, and his own observation,
the Marquis of Este discovered the incestuous loves of his wife
Parisina, and Hugo his bastard son, a beautiful and valiant youth. They
were beheaded in the castle by the sentence of a father and husband, who
published his shame, and survived their execution.[411] He was
unfortunate, if they were guilty: if they were innocent, he was still
more unfortunate; nor is there any possible situation in which I can
sincerely approve the last act of the justice of a parent."--Gibbon's
_Miscellaneous Works_, vol. iii. p. 470.--[Ed. 1837, p. 830.]

PARISINA.[412]

I.

It is the hour when from the boughs[413]
The nightingale's high note is heard;
It is the hour when lovers' vows
Seem sweet in every whispered word;
And gentle winds, and waters near,
Make music to the lonely ear.
Each flower the dews have lightly wet,
And in the sky the stars are met,
And on the wave is deeper blue,
And on the leaf a browner hue, 10
And in the heaven that clear obscure,
So softly dark, and darkly pure,
Which follows the decline of day,
As twilight melts beneath the moon away.[414]

II.

But it is not to list to the waterfall[qy]
That Parisina leaves her hall,
And it is not to gaze on the heavenly light
That the Lady walks in the shadow of night;
And if she sits in Este's bower,
'Tis not for the sake of its full-blown flower; 20
She listens--but not for the nightingale--
Though her ear expects as soft a tale.
There glides a step through the foliage thick,[qz]
And her cheek grows pale, and her heart beats quick.
There whispers a voice through the rustling leaves,
And her blush returns, and her bosom heaves:
A moment more--and they shall meet--
'Tis past--her Lover's at her feet.

III.

And what unto them is the world beside,
With all its change of time and