TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE BARBARINA LADY DACRE. MADAM, I am prompted to inscribe these pages with your Ladyship's name as well by my own gratitude, as by the opinion of those distinguished Literary Characters, whose kind assistance, surpassed only by yours, has enabled me to present my Essays to the English reader. With one voice and with national pride they pronounce, that your poetry has preserved the very spirit of Petrarch with a fidelity hardly to be hoped for, and certainly unattained by any other translation. And each of those who have contributed to this volume, resigning his portion of my acknowledgment, hopes the offering of it may accepted by you alone. I have the honour to remain, Madam, Your grateful and devoted Servant, be UGO FOSCOLO. South Bank, Regent's Park, January 1823. CONTENTS. I. SPECIMENS OF PETRARCH'S LATIN POETRY. II. SPECIMENS OF GREEK AMATORY POETRY, FROM SAPPHO DOWN TO THE WRITERS OF THE LOWER EMPIRE. III. A THEORY OF PLATONIC LOVE, BY LORENZO DE' MEDICI. V. PETRARCH'S UNPUBLISHED LETTERS IN ITALIAN. |
