the Council of the Arundel Society for their kind permission to Messrs. Dawson to make use of their lithograph of Mr. Seymour Kirkup's invaluable sketch in the production of the Frontispiece--a privilege that would have been taken more advantage of had it not been deemed advisable to work chiefly from the photograph of the same sketch, given in the third volume of the late Lord Vernon's sumptuous and rare edition of the _Inferno_ (Florence, 1865). In this Vernon photograph, as well as in the Arundel Society's chromolithograph, the disfiguring mark on the face caused by the damage to the plaster of the fresco is faithfully reproduced. A less degree of fidelity has been observed in the Frontispiece; although the restoration has not been carried the length of replacing the lost eye. EDINBURGH, _February_, 1884. CONTENTS. PAGE FLORENCE AND DANTE, xvii GIOTTO'S PORTRAIT OF DANTE, cx The Inferno. CANTO I. The Slumber--the Wood--the Hill--the three Beasts--Virgil--the Veltro or Greyhound, 1 CANTO II. Dante's misgivings--Virgil's account of how he was induced to come to his help--the three Heavenly Ladies--the beginning of the Journey, 9 CANTO III. The Gate of Inferno--the Vestibule of the Caitiffs--the Great Refusal--Acheron--Charon--the Earthquake--the Slumber of Dante, 17 CANTO IV. The First Circle, which is the Limbo of the Unbaptized and of the Virtuous Heathen--the Great Poets--the Noble Castle--the Sages and Worthies of the ancient world, 24 CANTO V. The Second Circle, which is that of Carnal Sinners--Minos--the Tempest--The Troop of those who died because of their Love-- Francesca da Rimini--Dante's Swoon, 32 CANTO VI. The Third Circle, which is that of the Gluttonous--the Hail and Rain and Snow--Cerberus--Ciacco and his Prophecy, 40 CANTO VII. The Fourth Circle, which is that of the Avaricious and the Thriftless--Plutus--the Great Weights rolled by the sinners in opposite directions--Fortune--the Fifth Circle, which is that of the Wrathful--Styx--the Lofty Tower, 47 CANTO VIII. The Fifth Circle continued--the Signals--Phlegyas--the Skiff-- Philip Argenti--the City of Dis--the Fallen Angels--the Rebuff of Virgil, 55 CANTO IX. The City of Dis, which is the Sixth Circle and that of the Heretics--the Furies and the Medusa head--the Messenger of Heaven who opens the gates for Virgil and Dante--the entrance to the City--the red-hot Tombs, 62 CANTO X. The Sixth Circle continued--Farinata degli Uberti--Cavalcante dei Cavalcanti--Farinata's prophecy--Frederick II., 69 CANTO XI. The Sixth Circle continued--Pope Anastasius--Virgil explains on what principle sinners are classified in Inferno--Usury, 77 CANTO XII. The Seventh Circle, First Division--the Minotaur--the River of Blood, which forms the Outer Ring of the Seventh Circle-- in it are those guilty of Violence against others--the Centaurs--Tyrants--Robbers and Murderers--Ezzelino Romano-- Guy of Montfort--the Passage of the River of Blood, 84 CANTO XIII. The Seventh Circle continued--the Second Division consisting of a Tangled Wood in which are those guilty of Violence against themselves--the Harpies--Pier delle Vigne--Lano--Jacopo da Sant' Andrea--Florence and its Patrons, 91 CANTO XIV. The Seventh Circle continued--the Third Division of it, consisting of a Waste of Sand on which descends an unceasing Shower of Fire-- in it are those guilty of Violence against God, against Nature, and against Art--Capaneus--the Crimson Brook--the Statue of Time-- the Infernal Rivers, 98 CANTO XV. The Seventh Circle continued--the Violent against Nature-- Brunetto Latini--Francesco d'Accorso--Andrea de' Mozzi, Bishop of Florence, 106 CANTO XVI. The Seventh Circle continued--the Violent against Nature-- Guidoguerra, Tegghiaio Aldobrandi, and Jacopo Rusticucci-- the Cataract--the Cord--Geryon, 115 CANTO XVII. The Seventh Circle continued--the Violent against Art--Usurers-- the descent on Geryon's back into the Eighth Circle, 123 CANTO XVIII. The Eighth Circle, otherwise named Malebolge, which consists of ten concentric Pits or Moats connected by bridges of rock--in these are punished those guilty...