Page:The Contrasts in Dante.djvu/14

 During the twenty-four hours I have been in Manchester, I have seen another variant, i sensi e i polsi, in two magnificent manuscripts, the one in the Rylands Library, and the other at the house of my kind host, Dr. Lloyd Roberts, which belonged to Mr. Hughes.

We may also notice the remarkable way in which at times the number of a Canto in one Cantica, corresponds with the number of a Canto in another Cantica, when the subjects in both offer a parallel or a contrast. Take, for instance. Canto VI. of the Inferno, where Ciacco censures the inner condition of Florence; Canto VI. of the Purgatorio, where Dante declaims against the intestine feuds which rendered Italy powerless in the world; and contrast these with Canto VI. of the Paradiso, where the Emperor Justinian extols the glories of the Roman Eagle, which had of yore carried the pre-eminence of Italy over the whole world. Take the darkening of night in Canto II. of the Inferno, and contrast it with the lovely dawn in Canto II. of the Purgatorio. Take the bad Pope in Inf. XIX., and contrast with that passage, the description of the good Pope in Purg. XIX.

Take also the following contrasts: —

And greatest of all contrasts: that of the two Montefeltros, of which more anon.

Who would venture to affirm that these are mere coincidences of figures and facts, and not designedly a