Page:Grierson Herbert - First Half of the Seventeenth Century.djvu/353

Rh Beyond the hyperbole in the sixth line there is nothing in such a sonnet which is not purely charming, and the art is superior at every turn to Drummond's. For the delightful image of the Graces and the Loves dancing with joy when she gathered her golden hair, Drummond has only the conventional

"Here did she spread the treasure of her hair,    More rich than that brought from the Colchian mines;"

and Marino's closing sigh is lost in the Scotchman's platitude—

"But ah! what serv'd it to be happy so,          Sith passed pleasures double but new woe?"

Both the pastoral and maritime sonnets contain picturesque descriptions, such as the following of the bay of Naples:—

"Pon mente al mar Cratone hor che'n ciascuna        Riva sua dorme l' onda, e tace il vento:         E notte in ciel di cento gemme, e cento         Ricca spiega la vesta azurra, e bruna.         Rimira ignuda, e senza benda alcuna         Nuotando per lo mobile elemento         Misto, e confuso l' un con l' altro argento,         Trà le ninfe del Ciel danza la Luna.         Vè come van per queste piagge, e quelle         Con scintille scherzando ardenti, e chiare         Volte in pesci le stelle, i pesci in stelle:         Si puro il vago fondo à noi traspare         Che frà tanti dirai lampi, e facelle         Ecco in Ciel christallin cangiato il mare."

The hyperbolical, ingenious prettiness of the last thoughts is the characteristic of "secentismo" in