In the last stanza of the preceding translation, the seventh line is the essence of the stanza immediately following; the eighth is from a passage several stanzas forward, after Orlando has obtained the key, which was the object of his search:
Che mal se trova alcun sotto la Luna, Ch' adopri ben la chiave di Fortuna.
The first two books of Bojardo's poem were published in 1486. The first complete edition was published in 1495.
The Venetian edition of 1544, from which I have cited this passage, and the preceding one in chapter xx., is the fifteenth and last complete Italian edition. The original work was superseded by the _Rifacciamenti_ of Berni and Domenichi. Mr. Panizzi has rendered a great service to literature in reprinting the original. He collated all accessible editions. _Verum opere in longo fas est obrepere somnum_. He took for his standard,... as I think unfortunately, the Milanese edition of 1539. With all the care he bestowed on his task, he overlooked one fearful perversion in the concluding stanza, which in all editions but the Milanese reads thus: Mentre ch' io canto, ahimè Dio redentore...
'She must have anticipated my coming,' said the young gentleman to himself. 'She had opened the book at this passage, and has left it to say to me for her--Choose between love and repentance. Four times seven days! That is to ensure calm for the Christmas holidays. The term will pass over Twelfth Night. The lovers of old romance were subjected to a probation of seven years:--
Seven long years I served thee, fair one, Seven long years my fee was scorn.
'But here, perhaps, the case is reversed. She may have feared a probation of seven years for herself; and not without reason. And what have I to expect if I let the four times seven days pass by? Why, then, I can read in her looks--and they are interpreted in the verses before me--I am assigned to repentance, without the hope of a third opportunity. She is not without a leaning towards Lord Curryfin.
Veggio 1' Italia tutta a fiamma e a foco, Per questi Galli, che con gran furore Vengon per disertar non so che loco. Perô vi lascio in questo vano amore Di Fiordespina ardente a poco a poco: Un' altra fiata, se mi fia concesso, Racconterovi il tutto per espresso.