The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1876-03-12

Secrets which they Will lmplOro the chance
receiver to aid them in keeping inviolate.
DANTE.
LECTURE BY REV. DIR JOHN LORD.
Rev. Dr. John Lord lectured at Association
Hall yesterday on DANTE" with whom il
associated the rise of modern poetry in
Europe, excepting that of the gay Provencal
singers. All the great poets, said he, are
harbingers of civilization. as we'll as inter.
prefers and seers. Of all the great poets
Dante has . proud pre-eminence. Only two
other men ct all tie unnumbsred human
beings dispute his throne. We compare him
with Homer and Shakespeare alone. These
compose the great trio who reign supreme
among the poets, and to whose influence and
fame we can assign 10 limiis-world- won
ders, prodigies, such as have appeared but
| three times on our earth-stars OF such sur
passing brillancy that we can only gaze aud
wonder creators of light rather than refec-
tors, and growing brighter and brighter with
| the progress of time SO remarkable that no
| barbarism can obscure their brightness, SO
original that an imitation becomes absurd.
Destroy the records of our own race, plunge
| society into homeless bondage, blot out
be remembered through all the ages. So pro-
foundly are they revered that their legacies
are the ve-y last which We would willingly re-
linquish. Ask Italians which they would most
| readily give up-the city which gave Dante
birth or "Divina Comedia"
Would they exchange Florence, with all her
palaces, for that priceless gift to mankind?
They no more would part with Dinte's legacy
than the English would relinquish the dra.
mas of Shakespeare, or the ancient Greeks
the "Iliad and the Odyssey" Now, to
arrive at such finale of greatness and re-
nown, extraordinary gifts and circumstances
Dante most lofty genius, united with vast
attainments, and then developed by remark
able experiences, we might reasonably doubt
his claims to the great ascendency he at pres
ent holds. And this is not all. We must also
be satisfied that his genius was called out by
some great and absorbing passion.
In surveying him We shall be persuaded of
the genius, we shall be impressed with the
circumstances, and shall admit the stimulus.
The great powers of Dante we're early devsl-
oped. AS boy he wrote sonnets such as
Sordellc, the troubadour, would not disdain
to own, and in order to express sentiments
which only great soul could conceive. He
delights in youth in those abstruse inquiries
which gave fame to Bonaventura and Thomas
Aquipas. He has an intuitive contempt for
all pretencers and quacks. He rapidly mas
ters all the learning of his age. At Paris he
maintains fourteen different theses, pro-
pounded by different subjects, and gains uni
versal admiration. He is early selected by
his native city for important Offices, which he
fills with honor. In wit he encounters no
superior. He scorches courts by his intense
sarcasm. He offends the great by superiority
he could not veil In poverty he preserves
the placidity Of ore Of natures mobiles.
Even in his egotism he is unique. He is
conscious of his vast superiority to other men,
even in matters outside his sphere. When
his native city was celebrating about the
choice of an ambassador to Rome, he play
fully but arrogantly remarked, eff remain
behind. who goes; and if 60, who remains
behind?" Even his countenance and air i'm
pressed all beholders with his Unborn great
ness. He was not tall, or commanding, or
fierce looking. but dignifed, quiet, thought
fol, tender and melancholy, expressing isola.
ton. scorn and pain, yet also gentleness and
love, like man whose whole life was battle |
and protest. His lip in Giotto's portrait |
is curled disdainfully, not of the world, but,
as it were, of the vultures which devoured his |
heart but which could not destroy his soul. |
He is given to no excess, lives with frugal |
ity, dresses simply. rarely speaks unless
spoken to, is courteous to all, and is absorbed |
with thought. But he is marked |
man, to every badly, even when he deems him
seit stranger. Behold, said group of la
dies to one another as he walked uncon-
,ciously and slowly by them, in q strange
,ity, there is man who has visited hell and
described its torments. To the close of his
life he was great devourer of books. He
had read everything which Italy and Paris
II o~rk~ ~$O nN%l
.ious, but he loved best discussions on those
great topics which pertain to mans destiny.
He was familiar with all the abstract specu-
atoms of the schoolmen, as well as the theo-
lies of the ancient philosophers. The old
poets were his companions. He delighted in
universities and scholastic retreats. From
he cares and duties of public life he would
.etire TO solitary labor, and dignity his retire.
nent end not fall, as most men do, in esti-
imation the moment they are Withdrawn
rom the public eye. He lived in no case like
but no man was ever more in
lebted to solitude and meditation than he for
hat insight and that inspiration which COM
nunion with God and great spirits and great
IDEAS alone can give.
The lecturer then sketched the life of the
reat Tuscan, and came at last to the inspiring
notive of his genius-his love for Beatrice.
The lecturer said: But something was re-
uired besides native genius, learning and
asst experience to enable Dante to write an
immortal poem. His soul must be stimulated
o the labor by some noble passion. This
,assion for Beatrice is as memorable as the
owes of Abelard and Heloise. The monu-
nent he erected to Beatrice is called the
Divina Commedia in three great parts
he "Inferno," the "Purgatorio and the
Paradise"
We can not 60 into an abstract of this we'll
.nown poem. by which Dante linked his
lame with civilization, and became an i'm
Mortal benefactor-a poem written with his
lesrt's blood, amid wanderiDgs, in bitter
xile-vivid as fire, deep, earnest as H.chy-
Is OF Isaiah. His distinguishing excellence
. moral wisdom, and the poem is the record