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ANNUAL REPORT.

THE past year has been a memorable one for the Dante Society. The favorable reception by scholars and by the public of works published during the year by members of the Society- Mr. Butler's annotated translation of "Hell," Dr. Scartazzini's "Dante-Handbuch," the late Mr. Latham's translation, with historical notes, of Dante's Letters (the Dante Prize Essay for 1890), and Mr. Norton's translation of the "Divine Comedy" — has shown with what faithfulness and what success the members of the Society are promoting its object, "the encouragement of the study of the Life and Works of Dante."

But the year has been chiefly and darkly memorable for the Society on account of the death of its second president, James Russell Lowell, who succeeded Mr. Longfellow in that office in 1882. The distinction conferred on the Society by its first two Presidents is enduring, and the example afforded by their life and work will be a perpetual stimulus and encouragement to their successors. The following extract is from the records of the annual meeting, May 17, 1892.

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The meeting having been called to order, Mr. Norton spoke briefly of the loss which the Society had sustained in the death of its President. Mr. Lowell stood first among the interpreters of Dante to the English-speaking race. Alike as scholar and as poet, by long study and by sympathetic insight, he had become one of the intimate familiars of Dante. He had applied to himself in relation to Dante, the words of Dante to Virgil: 'May the long zeal and the great love avail me which have made me search thy volume!' The zeal and love had begun in early life and continued to its end.

"Mr. Norton spoke of the character of the instruction given by Mr. Lowell, as professor, to his classes in Dante; and then read some extracts from letters of various dates illustrating the constancy of Mr. Lowell's occupation with the Poet, closing with the following extract from one of his unpublished college lectures.

"One is sometimes asked by young men to recommend to them a course of reading. My advice would always be to confine yourselves to the supreme books in whatever literature; still better, to choose some one great author and grow thoroughly familiar with him. For as all roads lead to Rome, so they all likewise lead thence; and you will find that in order to understand perfectly and weigh exactly any really vital piece of literature, you will be gradually and pleasantly persuaded to studies and explorations of which you little dreamed when you began, and will find yourselves scholars before you are aware. If I may be allowed a personal illustration, it was my own profound admiration for the "Divina

Commedia" of Dante that lured me into what little learning I possess. For remember that there is nothing less fruitful than scholarship for the sake of mere scholarship, nor anything more wearisome in the attainment. But the moment you have an object and a centre, attention is quickened, the mother of memory; and whatever you acquire groups and arranges itself in an order which is lucid because it is everywhere in intelligent relation to an object of constant and growing interest. Thus, as respects Dante, I asked myself, What are his points of likeness or unlikeness with the authors of classical antiquity? In how far is either of these an advantage or defect? What and how much modern literature had preceded him? How much was he indebted to it? How far had the Italian language been subdued and suppled to the uses of poetry or prose before his time? How much did he color the style or thought of the authors who followed him? Is it a fault or a merit that he is so thoroughly impregnated with the opinions, passions, and even prejudices not only of his age but his country? Was he right or wrong in being a Ghibelline? To what extent is a certain freedom of opinion which he shows sometimes on points of religious doctrine to be attributed to the humanizing influence of the Crusades in enlarging the horizon of the western mind by bringing it in contact with other races, religions, and social arrangements? These and a hundred other such questions were constant stimulants to thought and inquiry, stimulants such as no merely objectless and, so to speak, impersonal study could have supplied.'"

The attention of members is called to the change made by the unanimous vote of the Council, as provided in section twelve, in section five of the By-Laws.

No essays were presented in May, 1892, for the Latham Prize, which therefore remains open for an

other year. Attention is especially called to the fact that "the competition is open not only to the students in any department of Harvard University, and to Harvard graduates of not more than three years' standing, but also to students and graduates of similar standing in any college or university in the United States."

The following subjects are proposed for the year 1892-93, but competitors are at liberty to write on any one of the subjects which have been proposed for the six years during which the Dante Prize has been offered:

I. A comparison of Dante's system of sins in Hell and Purgatory, and an explanation of its apparent differences in the two realms.

2. Who was the Matilda of the Earthly Paradise, and what is her allegorical and symbolical character?

3. The acquaintance of English writers from Chaucer to Gray with the Divine Comedy.

The first of the papers which accompany this Report concludes the reprint, begun last year, of all documents known to exist concerning Dante's public life. A large part of these documents are contained in books or periodical literature not easily accessible to many students of Dante, and it is hoped that to such this collection of them may be of permanent value; to all students it will be a convenience to have in a single publication documents which have been too long contained only in many different works.

The second paper is the list of books and periodical articles relating to Dante, received at Harvard College Library during the year ending May 1, 1892. These number 172 titles, about the same as last year; 52 are works purchased with the Society's money; 53 were given by authors, editors, or others; the rest are articles in periodicals or books bought with Library funds. To the many friends of the Society in Italy and elsewhere who have presented their writings to be added to its Dante library, and to each of whom a note of thanks has already been sent by mail, the Society desires again publicly to express its gratitude. The third paper is the successful essay in competition for the Timmins Prize of 1891, at the Harvard Annex, printed here through the courtesy of the authorities of the Annex, and at the expense of a member of the Society.

MAY, 1892.

GEORGE RICE CARPENTER,
Council of the Dante Society.

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