“One day it happened,” he goes on to relate, “that this most gentle lady sat where words concerning the Queen of Glory are heard, and I was in a place from which I beheld my bliss.  Between her and me in a direct line sat a gentle lady of most pleasing aspect, who looked at me often, wondering at my gaze, which seemed to terminate upon her; and many observed her looks.  So great attention, indeed, was paid to this, that when I went out from the place I heard some one say, ’Behold how that lady wastes the life of this man!’—­and naming her, I heard that they spoke of her who had been in the path of the straight line which, parting from my most gentle Beatrice, had ended in my eyes.”  Then he says he thought to make this lady serve as a screen for his real love, and he did this so well that in a short time many persons fancied they knew his secret.  And in order to deceive them still more, he addressed to this lady many trifles in rhyme, of which he will insert in this account of his “New Life” only those which bear reference to Beatrice.

Some time after this, “it was the pleasure of the Lord of the Angels to call to his glory a young and beautiful lady, who had been very lovely in the city of Florence.  And I saw her body lying without its soul, surrounded by many ladies who wept grievously.  Then remembering that I had formerly seen her in company with that most gentle lady, I could not restrain some tears; and, weeping, I proposed to say some words about her death, as a return for that I had seen her sometimes with my lady.”  Then, he says, he wrote two poems, of which we give the last, adding to it his verbal comment, as an example of the style of commentary with which he has accompanied all the poems of the “Vita Nuova":—­

  “O villain Death, compassion’s foe,
     The Mother from of old of woe,
     Inexorable judge severe,
     Thou givest sorrow for the heart to bear;
     Wherefore in grief I go,
     And blaming thee my very tongue outwear.

“And if of every grace thou wouldst be
bare,
It only needs that I declare
The guilt of this thy sinful blow,
So that all those shall know,
And each shall be thy foe,
Who erst were nurtured with Love’s tender
care

“For thou hast taken from the world the
grace
And virtue which are woman’s praise,
And in youth’s gayest days
The charm of loveliness thou dost deface.

“Who is this lady is not to be told,
Save as these qualities do make her known. 
He who deserves salvation may alone
Have hope companionship with her to hold.

“This sonnet is divided into four parts.[F] In the first I address Death by certain of her proper names; in the second, speaking to her, I tell the reason why I am moved to blame her; in the third, I revile her; in the fourth, I speak to a person undefined, although definite as regards my intention.  The second part begins at Thou givest; the third at And if of every grace; the fourth at He who deserves.”