29 JULY 1882, Page 14

TENNYSON AND PETRARCH.

[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPROTATOR."]

SIR,—In your review of Dr. Gatty's key to "In Memoriam," it is said that the poet cannot be identified who sang,—

" That men may rise on stepping-stones

Of their dead selves to higher things."

Permit me to attempt the identification, in the following lines from Petrarch's canzone beginning, "Quell' antique Eli& dolce," &c. :— " Ancor (a questo i quel, che tutto avanza), Da voles sopra 'I Cie' gli area slat' all Per le cose mortali,

Cho son scale. al Fatter, chi ben restima."

And. again, one having a supreme hope,—

" D'una in nitro. sombianza

Potea levarsi an' alto cagion prima;

Ed ei date aleuna volta in rima,"

(Rolandi's " Petrarch," 1828, Vol. II., p. 119.) Obviously, we may not find here mere coincidence of expres- sion, but in Petrarch the original singer of Mr. Tennyson's-