‘My dear Mr. Rogers,—Your very handsome present has delighted me, and demands my warmest gratitude. The book is magnificent, and quite suitable to the value of its contents.
‘I sought immediately my old and highly prized friend, “The Pleasures of Memory,” which I have read over more than three times, with increased admiration. I should like to hear what your opinion is of the famous passage in Dante—
—‘Nessun maggior
dolore
Che ricordarsi del tempo felice Nella miseria.— |
‘Milton has the same idea—
‘For now the thought Both of lost happiness and lasting pain Torments him. |
‘This would seem inconsistent with the notion of pleasure in the recollection of past happiness; Goldsmith too—
‘To our past joys recurring ever, And cheating us with present pain. |
‘Not so T. Moore—
‘The memory of the past shall stay, And all our joys renew. |
| 180 | ROGERS AND HIS CONTEMPORARIES |
‘Dante hints that there is some such sentiment in Virgil—
‘e ciò sa il tuo
Dottore. |
‘But I do not remember any passage in Virgil of that description, although several where the recollection of past pain is described as a pleasure—
‘Hæc olim meminisse juvabit. |
‘I shall read the other poems in the book with great attention, and I have no doubt with the same admiration as that with which I am more particularly acquainted.
‘Believe me always, my dear Sir, with sincere regards and esteem, your faithful and obliged servant,
