of such a color as to make me deem they wept.  And it appeared to me that the birds as they flew fell dead, and that there were great earthquakes.  And struck with wonder at this fantasy, and greatly alarmed, I imagined that a friend came to me, who said, ’Dost thou not know?  Thy admirable lady has departed from this world.’  Then I began to weep very piteously, and wept not only in imagination, but with my eyes shedding real tears.  Then I imagined that I looked toward heaven, and it seemed to me that I saw a multitude of angels who were returning upwards, having before them a little cloud of exceeding whiteness.  It seemed to me that these angels sang gloriously, and that the words of their song were these:  ’Osanna in excelsis!’—­and other than these I did not hear.[S]

[Footnote S:  In the Divina Commedia frequent reference is made to the singing of Osanna by the Angels.  See Purgat. xi. 11; xxix. 51; Par. vii. 1; xxviii. 94, 118; xxxii. 135; and especially viii. 28.]

“Then the heart in which abode such great love seemed to say to me, ’It is true that our lady lies dead.’  And thereupon I seemed to go to behold the body in which that most noble and blessed soul had been.  And the erring fancy was so powerful that it showed to me this lady dead, and it appeared to me that ladies were covering her head with a white veil, and that her face had such an aspect of humility that it seemed to say, ’I behold the beginning of peace.’”

Then Dante called upon Death to come to him; and when he had beheld in his imagination the sad mysteries which are performed for the dead, he seemed to return to his own chamber.  And so strong was his imagining, that, weeping, he said with his true voice, “O most beautiful soul! how is he blessed who beholds thee!” Upon this, a young and gentle lady, who was watching by his bed, thinking that he was grieving for his own pain, began to weep; whereon other ladies who were in the chamber drew near and roused him from his dream.  Then they asked him by what he had been troubled; and he told all that he had seen in fancy, keeping silence only with regard to the name of Beatrice; and when, some time after, he recovered from his illness, he wrote a poem which related his vision.

The next incident of his new life which Dante tells is one of a different nature, and of pleasant character.  One day he saw Love coming to him full of joy; and his own heart became so joyful that it seemed to him it could not be his heart, so changed was its condition.  Then he saw approaching him a lady of famous beauty, who had been the lady of his first friend.  Her name was Giovanna, but on account of her beauty she was called Primavera, which means Spring.  And with her was Beatrice.  Then Love, after they had passed, explained the hidden meaning of the name Primavera, and said, that, by one considering subtilely, Beatrice would be called Love, on account of the great resemblance she bore to him.  Then Dante, thinking over these things, wrote this sonnet to his friend, believing that he still admired the beauty of this gentle Primavera:—­