Not simply a rank sinner, he appears
To outrage nature, and his God to dare,
Who his foul hand against a woman rears, &c.
Stanza iii. lines 1, 2, 3.
“At lapis est, ferrumque, suam quicunque puellam
“Verberat; e cœlo diripit ille Deos.”
“Of direr deed than ever yet was done,”
The gentle dame began, “Sir cavalier,
“In Thebes, Mycene, Argos, or upon
“Other more savage soil, prepare to hear;
“And I believe, that if the circling sun
“To these our Scottish shores approach less near
“Than other land, ’tis that he would eschew
“A foul ferocious race, that shocks his view.”
Stanza v.
The story of Geneura is familiar to every English reader, as forming the plot of Much-Ado-About-Nothing.
Shakespeare has been by some considered as indebted to Ariosto for this tale; but it is clear that he borrowed from a later transcript of it. I cannot trace it higher than the Italian poet, but should have little doubt that he derived it from some ancient novellist.
The first seat of civilization being in the south, it was natural that the southern people should consider proximity to the sun as a test of refinement: and hence Virgil’s
Nec tam aversus equos Tyriâ, Sol jungit ab urbe.
Nor old Vesuvius, nor Sicilia’s hill,
Nor Troy-town, ever with a blaze so bright
Flamed as the damsel’s breast, &c.
Stanza xviii. lines 5, 6, 7.
If Ariosto is not so happy in this as in many other of his
