58 .-- Ed.] * * * * * FROM THE ITALIAN OF MICHAEL ANGELO Translated 1805 ?--Published 1807 [Translations from Michael Angelo, done at the request of Mr.Duppa, whose acquaintance I made through Mr.Southey.

Mr.Duppa was engaged in writing the life of Michael Angelo, and applied to Mr.Southey and myself to furnish some specimens of his poetic genius .-- I.

F.] Compare the two sonnets entitled 'At Florence--from Michael Angelo', in the "Memorials of a Tour in Italy" in 1837.
The following extract from a letter of Wordsworth's to Sir George Beaumont, dated October 17, 1805, will cast light on the next three sonnets.
"I mentioned Michael Angelo's poetry some time ago; it is the most difficult to construe I ever met with, but just what you would expect from such a man, shewing abundantly how conversant his soul was with great things.

There is a mistake in the world concerning the Italian language; the poetry of Dante and Michael Angelo proves, that if there be little majesty and strength in Italian verse, the fault is in the authors, and not in the tongue.

I can translate, and have translated two books of Ariosto, at the rate, nearly, of one hundred lines a day; but so much meaning has been put by Michael Angelo into so little room, and that meaning sometimes so excellent in itself, that I found the difficulty of translating him insurmountable.