[1] 'Le Rime di Michelangelo Buonarroti, Pittore, Scultore e
Architetto, cavate dagli Autografi e pubblicate da Cesare Guasti,
Accademico della Crusca. In Firenze, per Felice le Monmer. MDCCCLXIII.'
[2] See, however, page xlvii of Signor Guasti's _Discorso._
[3] I have so fully expressed my admiration for Signor Guasti's edition
in the text that I may allow myself to point out in a note what seems
to me its chief defect, and why I think there is still, perhaps, room
for another and more critical edition. The materials are amply and
conscientiously supplied by Signor Guasti, indeed, I suppose we are
justified in believing that his single volume reproduces all the extant
manuscript authorities, with the exception, perhaps, of the British
Museum Codex. But, while it is so comprehensive, we are still left in
some doubt as to the preference of one reading rather than another in
the large type text presented to us as the final version of each
composition. It is true that when this was possible, Signor Guasti
invariably selected one of the autographs, that is, a copy in the
poet's own handwriting. But when we consider that very frequently
Michael Angelo's own autographs give twice as many various readings as
there are lines in a sonnet, when we reflect that we do not always
possess the copies which he finally addressed to his friends, and when,
moreover, we find that their readings (_e.g._ those of the Riccio MS
and those cited by Varchi) differ considerably from Michael Angelo's
rough copies, we must conclude that even the autographs do not
invariably represent these poems in the final form which he adopted.
There is therefore much room left for critical comparison and
selection. We are, in fact, still somewhat in the same position as
Michelangelo the younger. Whether any application of the critical
method will enable us to do again successfully what he so clumsily
attempted--that is, to reproduce a correct text from the _debris_
offered to our selective faculty--I do not feel sure. Meanwhile I am
quite certain that his principle was a wrong one, and that he dealt
most unjustifiably with his material. For this reason I cordially
accept Signor Guasti's labours, with the reservation I have attempted
to express in this note. They have indeed brought us far closer to
Michael Angelo's real text, but we must be careful to remember that we
have not even now arrived with certainty at what he would himself have
printed if he had prepared his own edition for the press.
[4] As far as I am aware, no complete translation of Michael Angelo's
sonnets has hitherto been made in English. The specimens produced by
Southey, Wordsworth, Harford, Longfellow, and Mr. Taylor, moreover,
render Michelangelo's _rifacimento._
[5] 'Lezione di Benedetto Varchi sopra il sottoscritto Sonetto di
Michelagnolo Buonarroti, fatta da lui pubblicamente nella Accademia
Fiorentina la Seconda Domenica di Quaresima l'anno MDXLVI.' The sonnet
commented by Varchi is Guasti's No xv.
[6] I have elsewhere recorded my disagreement with Signer Guasti and
Signer Gotti, and my reasons for thinking that Vaichi and Michelangelo
the younger were right in assuming that the sonnets addressed to
Tommaso de' Cavalieri (especially xxx, xxxi, lii) expressed the poet's
admiration for masculine beauty. See 'Renaissance in Italy, Fine Arts,'
pp. 521, 522. At the same time, though I agree with Buonarroti's first
editor in believing that a few of the sonnets 'risguardano, come si
conosce chiaramente, amor platonico virile,' I quite admit--as what
student of early Italian poetry will not admit?--that a woman is
generally intended under the title of 'Signore' and 'amico.'
[7] _Ridurle_ is his own phrase. He also speaks of _trasmutare_ and
_risoluzione_ to explain the changes he effected.
[8] See Guasti's 'Discorso,' p. xliv.
[9] See in particular 'Orazioni Tie in Salmodia Metafisicale ...
Canzone Prima ... Madrigale iii;' and 'A Berillo, Canzone di
Pentimento, Madrigale ii.'
[10] 'De Libras Proprus,' I 3, quoted by Orelli and Alessandro
d'Ancona. 'Opere di Tommaso Campanella,' vol. I. p 3.
[11] 'Opere di Tommaso Campanella,' vol. I p. ccci.
[12] Campanella's own poetry justified this curious _nom de plume_
adopted for him by his editor. See in particular 'Salmodia
Metafisicale,' canzone terza, madrigale ix.
'Tre canzon, nate a un parto
Da questa mia settimontana testa,
Al suon dolente di pensosa squilla.'
[13] These are the sonnets entitled by Adami 'La detta Congiunzione
cade nella revoluzione della Natività di Cristo,' and 'Sonetto cavato
dall' Apocalisse e Santa Brigida,' D'Ancona, vol. 1. pp. 97, 98.
[14] In this respect _rifacimento_ of 1623 has greater literary merits--
the merits of mere smoothness, clearness, grammatical coherence, and
intelligibility--than the autograph; and I can understand the
preference of some students for the former, though I do not share it
Michelangelo the younger added fluency and grace to his great-uncle's
composition by the sacrifice of much that is most characteristic, and
by the omission of much that is profound and vigorous and weighty.