ppose we are
justified in believing that his single volume reproduces all the extant
manuscript authorities, with the exception, perhaps, of the British
Museum Codex. But, while it is so comprehensive, we are still left in
some doubt as to the preference of one reading rather than another in
the large type text presented to us as the final version of each
composition. It is true that when this was possible, Signor Guasti
invariably selected one of the autographs, that is, a copy in the
poet's own handwriting. But when we consider that very frequently
Michael Angelo's own autographs give twice as many various readings as
there are lines in a sonnet, when we reflect that we do not always
possess the copies which he finally addressed to his friends, and when,
moreover, we find that their readings (_e.g._ those of the Riccio MS
and those cited by Varchi) differ considerably from Michael Angelo's
rough copies, we must conclude that even the autographs do not
invariably represent these poems in the final form which he adopted.
There is therefore much room left for critical comparison and
selection. We are, in fact, still somewhat in the same position as
Michelangelo the younger. Whether any application of the critical
method will enable us to do again successfully what he so clumsily
attempted--that is, to reproduce a correct text from the _debris_
offered to our selective faculty--I do not feel sure. Meanwhile I am
quite certain that his principle was a wrong one, and that he dealt
most unjustifiably with his material. For this reason I cordially
accept Signor Guasti's labours, with the reservation I have attempted
to express in this note. They have indeed brought us far closer to
Michael Angelo's real text, but we must be careful to remember that we
have not even now arrived with certainty at what he would himself have
printed if he had prepared his own edition for the press.

[4] As far as I am aware, no complete translation of Michael Angelo's
sonnets has hitherto been made in English. The specimens produced by
Southey, Wordsworth, Harford, Longfellow, and Mr. Taylor, moreover,
render Michelangelo's _rifacimento._

[5] 'Lezione di Benedetto Varchi sopra il sottoscritto Sonetto di
Michelagnolo Buonarroti, fatta da lui pubblicamente nella Accademia
Fiorentina la Seconda Domenica di Quaresima l'anno MDXLVI.' The sonnet
commented by Varchi is Guasti's No xv.

[6] I have elsewhere recorded my disagreement with Signer Guasti