m oblivion the virtues and purity which had
strengthened and refined his passion, while they rendered it hopeless.
There is a beautiful passage in Campbell which appears exactly written
to express his state of mind at this time, and the retrospective glance
which he must have often cast on his past life.

"And yet, methinks, when wisdom shall assuage
The griefs and passions of our greener age,
Though dull the close of life, and far away,
Each flower that hailed the dawning of our day,
Yet o'er her lovely hopes that once were dear,
The time-taught spirit, pensive, not severe,
With milder griefs her aged eye shall fill,
And weep their falsehood, though she love them still!"

The private memorandum,[37] written in the manuscript Virgil, of this
extraordinary man, which is shown in the Ambrosian Library at Milan, may
be considered as expressing his most undisguised feelings, as excited by
an event which dissolves trifling attachments, while it gives permanence
to those of a genuine nature. It was probably intended for no eye but
his own. I annex as literal a translation as possible, and from the
beauty and ease of their latinity, have been tempted to precede it with
the original words.

[Footnote 37: I had procured this document from Milan, and translated it
for the press, previous to reading the version of it which is given in
the Quarterly.]

"Laura, propriis virtutibus illustris, et meis longum celebrata
carminibus, primum oculis meis apparuit sub primum adolescentiae meae
tempus, anno Domini 1327, die 6 mensis Aprilis, in ecclesia sanctae Clarae
Avinioni, hora matutina. Et in eadem civitate, eodem mense Aprilis,
eodem die 6, eadem hora prima, anno autem Domini 1348, ab hac luce lux
illa subtracta est, cum ego forte Veronae essem, heu fati mei nescius!
Rumor autem infelix, per literas Ludovici mei, me Parmae reperit, anno
eodem, mense Maii, die mane.

"Corpus illud castissimum ac pulcherrimum in loco Fratrum Minorum
repositum est ipsa die mortis ad vesperam. Animam quidem ejus, ut de
Africano ait Seneca, in coelum, unde erat, rediisse, mihi persuadeo.

"Haec autem, ad acerbam rei memoriam, amara quadam dulcedine scribere
visum est; hoc potissimum loco, qui saepe sub oculis meis redit, ut
cogitem nihil esse debere quod amplius mihi placeat in hac vita, et
effracto majori laqueo, tempus esse de Babylone fugiendi, crebra horum
inspectione, ac fugacissimae aetatis aestimatione, commone