DANTE,

TRANSLATED BY

ICHABOD CHARLES WRIGHT, M.A.,

LATE FELLOW OF MAGDALEN COLLEGE, OXFord.

VOL I.

THE INFERNO.

A NEW EDITION, REVISED AND CORrected.

LONDON:

LONGMAN, ORME, BROWN, GREEN, AND LONGMAN.

1845.

"In exhibiting the works of great Poets in another language,
much depends upon preserving not only the internal meaning
-the force and beauty as regards sense, but even the external
lineaments, the proper colour and habit, the movement, and, as
it were, the gait of the original."-Bishop Lonth. Sacred Poetry
of the Hebrews. Lec. 3.

લાઇ

NOTTINGHAM:

Printed by W. DEARDEN, Carlton Street.

ADVERTISEMENT.

The present Translation of Dante's triple Poem was originally published at intervals of several years.-It is now for the first time published as a whole, and in a form accessible to the general reader. A Memoir of Dante has been added; also an Index; and the rhymes of the Inferno considerably improved.

The text has been selected from the "Various Readings" of the original, and not from any single edition; and this will account for many apparent mistakes. (See note to the 31st line of the third canto of the Inferno.)

That the Poet of the Middle Ages should be called upon to give light to the present century, may appear extraordinary :—but greatly revered as he was in former ages, his authority is now, if possible, held in still higher estimation. During the last few years the press of the continent has teemed with translations and commentaries. Dante is there consulted as an Oracle, as well as a Poet; and Professorships have been lately re-established in the foreign Universities, for the explanation of the Divina Commedia. At such a time, no apology is required for the endeavour to make Dante more known in England.