Dimmi chi è colei che teco viene?

E' Penitenza; e però nota e intendi
Chi non sa prender me costei ritiene.
E tu, mentre parlando il tempo spendi,
Occupato da molti pensier vani,

Già non t' avvedi, lasso, e non comprendi
Com' io ti son fuggita dalle mani !

IMITATED.

Ha! who art thou, of more than mortal birth,

Whom heaven adorns with beauty's brightest beam? On wings of speed why spurn'st thou thus the earth? Known but to few, OCCASION is my name.

No rest I find; for underneath my feet

Th'eternal circle rolls that speeds my way.
Not the swift eagle wins his course so fleet;
And these my glittering pennons I display,
That from the dazzling sight thine eyes may turn away.
In full luxuriance o'er my angel face

Float my loose tresses free and unconfined,
That through the veil my features few can trace;
But not one hair adorns my head behind.
Once past, for ever gone; no mortal might
Shall bid the ceaseless wheel return again.
But who is she, companion of thy flight?

Repentance. If thou grasp at me in vain
Then must thou in thy arms her loathsome form retain.

And now, whilst heedless of the truths I sing,

Vain thoughts and fond desires thy time employ;

Ah, seest thou not, on soft and silent wing,

The form that smiled so fair has glided by!

No. XIII. P. 311.

Leon. X. Pont. Max. Iambici.

In Lucretia Statuam.

LIBENTER OCcumbo, mea in præcordia
Adactum habens ferrum; juvat mea manu
It præstitise, quod Viraginum prius
Nulla ob pudicitiam peregit promptius;
Juvat cruorem contueri proprium,
Illumque verbis execrari asperrimis.

Sanguen mi acerbius veneno colchico,
Ex quo canis Stygius, vel Hydra præferox
Artus meos compegit in pœnam asperam ;
Lues flue, ac vetus reverte in toxicum.
Tabes amara exi; mihi invisa et gravis,
Quod feceris corpus nitidum et amabile.
Nec interim suas monet Lucretia
Civeis, pudore et castitate semper ut
Sint præditæ, fidemque servent integram
Suis maritis, cum sit hæc Mavortii
Laus magna populi, ut castitate fæminæ
Lætentur, et viris mage ista gloria
Placere studeant, quam nitore et gratia ;

Quin id probasse cæde vel mea gravi

Lubet, statim animum purum oportere extrahi
Ab inquinati corporis custodia.

No. XIV. P. 372, n. 311.

From the Cottonian MSS. in the British Museum, Vitell. B. 4.

p. 209.

QUAM grave Vulnus acceperim ex acerbissima Sanctissimi Domini nostri morte facile est Majestatis vestræ existimare, ut nil mirum videri debeat si doloris magnitudine victus, non ante quid mei officii ratio postulasset ad illam scripsi; ita enim illo ictu conciderat

animus, ut erigere se nullo modo posset. Cum primum vero me ex mærore collegi, has ad Majestatem vestram Literas dedi, ut significarem eadem me in religione, omne tempus, studio atque animo futurum erga Majestatem vestram, quo semper ante hac fuissem. Nam tametsi permultum mihi a fortuna ademptum est de potestate illi serviendi, amoris tamen et observantiæ nulla deductio facta est; quia illam jam pridem cum primis et Christianis Principibus mihi maxime colendam proposui, cujusque benevolentiam omni officio mihi compararem; quam me ab humanissimo et gratissimo principe plenissime consecutum spero, cum in suis ac sui regni, cujus protector sum, negociis, studium meum ac diligentiam perspexerit.

Ornaverat Sanctissimus Dom. noster Majestatem vestram Christianæ Fidei Defensoris cognomine, quod ad posteros quoque Reges transiret, amplissimo illo decreto quod maximo illustrique Regi conveniebat. Sed quum nova res et admirabilis visa est, in Rege maximo pietas et eloquentia tanta, amplioribus et non usitatis titulis, si qui reperirentur, illam exornare optabat, ideoque habebat adhuc apud se Bullam summorum cardinalium cosensu super Defensoris Cognomine confectam ; quam nunc ad Majestatem vestram mitto, t quum cætera illi debita Monimentorum genera mors præripuit, habeat hoc saltem summum atque extremum Sanctitatis suæ benevolentiæ ac judicii de se Testimonium. Felicissime valeat Majestas vestra, cui me quam humillime possum commendo. Roma, xxiiii Decembris, M.D.XXI.

Sacræ Serenissimæ Majestatis Vestræ,

Humillimus Servitor.

Sacræ Serenissimæ atque invictissim. Angliæ et Franciæ Regiæ

Majestati.

NOTES.

NOTE 1 (p. 3). The author of the "Ligue de Cambray" informs us that by this treaty the French monarch undertook to assist the archduke in recovering the dominions of his maternal ancestors on the death of his grandfather, the king of Aragon; in return for which the archduke agreed not to oppose the king in his attempt on Milan. Ligue de Camb. vol. ii. p. 397. It would have been very indecorous, and indeed very impolitic, in Charles, to have introduced a clause of this nature, which would have had a direct tendency to throw doubts upon his title to his hereditary dominions in Spain; nor are any such specific stipulations contained in the treaty, which is couched only in general terms.-Vide Dumont, tom, iv. par. i. p. 199.

Rymer, Fœdera,

NOTE 2 (p. 3).-Dumont, vol iv. par. i. p. 204. wol. vii. par. i. p. 98. The great attention paid by the pope to Henry VIII. at this period, sufficiently appears by a letter from him to that monarch, respecting the appointment of the archbishop of S. Andrews to the office of pontifical legate, in which he assures the king that he esteems him before all the sovereigns of the time, and is ready to do all in his power for his gratification.-Rymer, Foed. vi. 96.

NOTE 3 (p. 5).-Leo had written to Francis I. soon after his accession, congratulating him on that event, and assuring him of his perfect confidence in his good intentions towards the holy see; at the same time requesting him to confer on the cardinal Giulio de' Medici the archbishopric of Narbonne, with which the king complied.-Sad. Ep. Pont. No. 36.

NOTE 4 (p. 20).-Guicciard. lib. xii. vol. ii. p. 95. A contemporary poet puts into the mouth of the cardinal the beautiful words by which he sought to dissuade his countrymen from all proposals of conciliation. Turpe quidem ferro vinci, sed turpius auro.-Haller, lib. of Helvetic Hist. par. v. p. 116. Ap. Henke, Germ. ed. vol. ii. p. 229.*

NOTE 5 (p. 25).-The circumstances of this battle are particularly related by the Cav. Rosmini, in his life of Gian Giacopo Trivulzio, who informs us that some have denominated it the battle of Melegnano or S. Donato, and observes" that it produced a strong sensation, not only in Italy, but throughout Europe; inasmuch as it deprived the Swiss of that title of invincible, which they had obtained by their former victories."