kind which lurks
in the background, and there is little evidence to show that there was
any general belief in the chastening power of the love of a good
woman--a power which might be of positive value in character building.

The spiritual possibilities latent in this higher conception seem,
however, to have been grasped by some of the Italian poets of the early
Renaissance, and here we find a devotion to women which comes not from
the heart alone, but from the soul as well. Dante's "natural spirit" was
but the sensual nature, and well might it cry out when the "spirit of
life" began to feel the secret commotion of the "spirit of the soul":
"Woe is me, wretched! Because often from this time forth shall I be
hindered in my work." And so it was. With this first somewhat broad
conception of the dignity of womanhood there was a new incentive to
manly endeavor; and there came into the world, in the power and might of
the great Florentine poet, a majesty of character which fair Provence
could never have produced. Immediately before Dante's time we see
glimmerings of this new sentiment in the work of Guido Cavalcanti and of
Cino da Pistoja. Cavalcanti, being exiled from Florence, went on a visit
to the shrine of Saint James of Compostella; and upon the way, passing
through Toulouse, he was captivated by a beautiful Spanish girl, whom he
has made celebrated under the name of Mandetta:

"In un boschetto trovai pastorella,
Piu che la stella bella al mio parere,
Capegli avea biondetti e ricciutelli."

It is true that in his work Cavalcanti shows many of the stilted
mannerisms which were common to the troubadours; but such expressions as
"to her, every virtue bows," and "the mind of man cannot soar so high,
nor is it sufficiently purified by divine grace to understand and
appreciate all her perfections," point the way toward a greater
sincerity. His chief work was a long _Canzone sopra l'Amore_, which was
so deep and philosophic that seven weighty commentaries in both Latin
and Italian have as yet failed to sound all its depths. In the story of
the early love of Cino da Pistoja for Ricciarda dei Selvaggi there is a
genuine and homely charm which makes us feel that here indeed true love
had found a place. Ricciarda--or Selvaggia, as Cino calls her--was the
daughter of a noble family of Pistoja, her father having been
_gonfaniere_ and leader of the Bianchi faction, and it appears that she
also was famed for her poetic g