VIII. THE DUCAL PALACE 407

the character of the vice which, as we have seen, Dante placed in the circle of hell.¹ The word in that case would, I think, have been “Tristitia,” the “unholy Griefe” of Spenser:

“All in sable sorrowfully clad,

Downe hanging his dull head with heavy chere:

. . . . .

A pair of pincers in his hand he had,

With which he pinched people to the heart.”²

He has farther amplified the idea under another figure in the fifth canto of the fourth book:³

“His name was Care; a blacksmith by his trade,

That neither day nor night from working spared;

But to small purpose yron wedges made:

Those be unquiet thoughts that carefull minds invade.

Rude was his garment, and to rags all rent,

Ne better had he, ne for better cared:

With blistered hands among the cinders brent.”

It is to be noticed, however, that in the Renaissance copy this figure is stated to be, not Miseria, but “Misericordia.” The contraction is a very moderate one, Misericordia being in old MS. written always as “Mia.” If this reading be right, the figure is placed here rather as the companion, than the opposite, of Cheerfulness; unless, indeed, it is intended to unite the idea of Mercy and Compassion with that of Sacred Sorrow.

§ 96. Second side. Cheerfulness. A woman with long flowing hair, crowned with roses, playing on a tambourine, and with open lips, as singing. Inscribed “ALACRITAS.”

We have already met with this virtue among those especially set by Spenser to attend on Womanhood.⁴ It is inscribed in the Renaissance copy,⁵ “ALACHRITAS CHANIT MECUM.” Note the gutturals of the rich and fully developed

¹ [See above, § 59.]

² [Book iii. canto xii. 16.]

³ [Stanza 35. Ruskin transposes the lines; his lines 5, 6, 7 are lines 1, 2, 3 of the stanza; line 4-“And fingers filthie with long nayles unpared”-is omitted; and then come Ruskin’s lines 1-4.]

⁴ [See above, § 59.]

⁵ [Capital No. 33. The inscription is now restored from the copy.]

[Version 0.04: March 2008]