urt so nobly born a love;
For poverty hath tied my feet,
Trying to climb too far above.
Yet am I gentle, loving thee;
Nor need thou shun my poverty.

[Footnote 29: When the Cherubina, of whom mention has been
made above, was asked by Signor Tigri to dictate some of her
rispetti, she answered, 'O signore! ne dico tanti quando li
canto! . . . ma ora . . . bisognerebbe averli tutti in
visione; se no, proprio non vengono.']

[Footnote 30: I need hardly guard myself against being
supposed to mean that the form of _Ballata_ in question was
the only one of its kind in Italy.]

[Footnote 31: See my _Sketches in Italy and Greece_, p.
114.]

[Footnote 32: The originals will be found in Carducci's
_Studi Letterari_, p. 273 _et seq._ I have preserved their
rhyming structure.]

[Footnote 33: Stanza XLIII. All references are made to
Carducci's excellent edition, _Le Stanze, l'Orfeo e le Rime
di Messer Angelo Ambrogini Poliziano._ Firenze: G. Barbera.
1863.]

SKETCHES AND STUDIES

IN ITALY AND GREECE

BY JOHN ADDINGTON SYMONDS

AUTHOR OF "RENAISSANCE IN ITALY," "STUDIES OF THE GREEK POETS," ETC.

THIRD SERIES

WITH A FRONTISPIECE

LONDON

JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET, W.

1910

First Edition (Smith, Elder & Co.) _December 1898_
_Reprinted December 1907_
_Reprinted October 1910_
Taken Over by John Murray _January 1917_

_All rights reserved_

_Printed in Great Britain by_

Spottiswoode, Ballantyne & Co. Ltd.

_London, Colchester & Eton_

CONTENTS

FOLGORE DA SAN GEMIGNANO

THOUGHTS IN ITALY ABOUT CHRISTMAS

SIENA

MONTE OLIVETO

MONTEPULCIANO

PERUGIA

ORVIETO

LUCRETIUS

ANTINOUS

SPRING WANDERINGS

AMALFI, PAESTUM, CAPRI

ETNA

PALERMO

SYRACUSE AND GIRGENTI

ATHENS

INDEX

The Ildefonso Group _Frontispiece_

SKETCHES AND STUDIES

IN

ITALY AND GREECE

_FOLGORE DA SAN GEMIGNANO_

Students of Mr. Dante Gabriel Rossetti's translations from the early
Italian poets (_Dante and his Circle_. Ellis & White, 1874) will not
fail to have noticed the striking figure made among those jejune
imitators of Provencal mannerism by two rhymesters, Cecco Angiolieri
and Folgore da San Gemignano. Both belong to the school of Siena,
and both detach themselves from the metaphysical fashion of their
epoch by clearness of intention and directness of