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Dante, the celebrated Italian poet, has been described by Boccacio, as
of a middle stature, of a pensive and melancholy expression in his
countenance. He was courteous and civil, and his way of living extremely
temperate. He is said to have been a very absent man, of which instances
have been recorded; once meeting with a book in an apothecary's, which
he had been long looking for, he opened it, and read from morning till
night without being roused from his pursuit by the distraction and
tumult occasioned by a great wedding passing through the street. For
some time he roved about Italy in an indigent and distressed condition,
till he was hospitably received by the Lord of Ravenna, his patron and
friend.
Paul Scarron, whose life abounds with curious features, married
Mademoiselle d'Aubigne, afterwards the celebrated Madame de Maintenon,
who was at that time only sixteen years of age. On his marriage, the
notary asked him what dowry he would settle upon his wife? he replied,
"Immortality: the names of the wives of kings die with them, but the
name of Scarron's wife shall live for ever." He was accustomed to talk
to his superiors with great freedom, and in a very jocular style.
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