THE PLEASURES OF MEMORY. PART I. Dolce sentier, Colle, che mi piacesti, Ov' ancor per usanza Amor mi mena; Non, lasso, in me. PETRARCH. ANALYSIS OF THE FIRST PART. THE Poem begins with the description of an obscure village, and of the pleasing melancholy which it excites on being revisited after a long absence. This mixed sensation is an effect of the Memory. From an effect we naturally ascend to the cause; and the subject pro posed is then unfolded with an investigation of the nature and leading principles of this faculty. |