anslation, he wrote:
"Enclosed you will find, line for line, in third rhyme (_terza rima_), of
which your British blackguard reader as yet understands nothing, Fanny of
Rimini. You know that she was born here, and married and slain, from
Cary, Boyd, and such people." In his diary, Byron commented scornfully
on Frederick Schlegel's assertions that Dante had never been a favourite
with his own countrymen; and that his main defect was a want of gentle
feelings. "_Not_ a favourite! Why they talk Dante--write Dante--and
think and dream Dante at this moment (1821) to an excess which would be
ridiculous, but that he deserves it. . . . Of gentle feelings!--and
Francesca of Rimini--and the father's feelings in Ugolino--and
Beatrice--and 'La Pia'! Why there is a gentleness in Dante beyond all
gentleness." Byron had not the patience to be a good translator. His
rendering is closer and, of course, more spirited than Hayley's; but
where long search for the right word was needed, and a delicate shading
of phrase to reproduce without loss the meaning of this most meaning and
least translatable of masters, Byron's work shows haste and imperfection.

"Love, who to none beloved to love again
Remits."

is neither an idiomatic nor in any way an adequate englishing of

"Amor, che a nullo amato amar perdona."

Nor does

"_Accursed_ was the book and he who wrote,"

fully give the force of the famous

"Galeotto fu il libro, e chi lo scrisse." [15]

The year before Byron had composed "The Prophecy of Dante," an original
poem in four cantos, in _terza rima_,

". . . imitative rhyme,
Harsh Runic copy of the Soutb's sublime." [16]

The poem foretells "the fortunes of Italy in the ensuing centuries," and
is a rheotorical piece, diffuse and declamatory, and therein quite the
opposite of Dante. It manifests Byron's self-conscious habit of
submitting his theme to himself, instead of losing himself in his theme.
_He_ is Dante in exile, and Gemma Donati is Lady Byron--

"That fatal she,
Their mother, the cold partner who hath brought
Destruction for a dowry--this to see
And feel and know without repair, hath taught
A bitter lesson; but it leaves me free:
I have not vilely found nor basely sought,
They made an exile not a slave of me."

Dante's bitter and proud defiance found a response in Byron's nature, but
his spirit, as a whole, the English poet was not well fitted to
interpret.