ola was banished suddenly from that city with much indignity; and several No. VII. other distinguished men were constrained to depart by persecution and neglect. Bevenuto Cellini, who resided some months at Ferrara, about twenty-five years before Tasso, gives a very unfavourable account of the conduct of the courtiers, and of the morality of the people in general. He tells us, that, having executed an ingenious piece of work for the duke, that prince ordered a diamond ring, of above two hundred crowns value, to be given him, which was changed by the treasurer into one not worth twelve. "The gentry of Ferrara," says he," are not only exceedingly avaricious, but rapacious after the property of others, and endeavour to get possession of it by every expedient they can think of. This is the general character of them all."-Vol. II. p. 46. Nugent's Translation. No. VIII.-P. 122. OF THE FAMILY OF ESTE. The best work relative to the family of Este, is the Antichità Estensi, of Muratori, which Gibbon justly pronounces to be a " model of genealogical criticism." It is in two volumes folio, the first of which is dedicated to George I. of Great Britain, who united with Rinaldo, Duke of Modena, in encouraging the author to this undertaking. This first volume was printed in 1717, but the publication of the second took place only in 1740. The illustrious Leibnitz employed some years of his life, and travelled into Italy for the purpose of composing a history of the House of Brunswick, a collateral, or rather descendant from that of Este; and though his work was never completed, much use was made of his papers in the Origines Guelfica, compiled by Eccard, and published in five folio volumes. The English reader, however, may be satisfied with a perusal of Gibbon's Antiquities of the House of Brunswick, in the second volume of his Miscellaneous Works. The support given to literature by the family of Este, began at a very early No, VIII, No. VIII. period, and continued unimpaired during several ages. From a document translated from the Provençal, by Muratori [Ant. Est. tom. ii. p. 11.] it appears that Azzo VII. Marquis of Este, who ruled 1216-1264, was a great encourager of Provençal poetry; that there was a frequent concourse of Troubadours at his court; and that one Maestro Ferrari, whom he patronised, was by all of them, at that period, considered as their chief. Godeva (says Tiraboschi) di averli sovente alla sua corte, e rendeva lor' quell'onore, che a lor talenti, e a loro studj credeva doversi, dando con ciò a gloriosi suoi successori i primi essempj di quella splendida munificenza con cui essi, in ogni età, hanno avvivate e protette le lettere, e i letterati. Quindi non e meraviglia, se di lui e delle principesse di lui figlie, si parla spesso con lode da Provenzali."* The house of Este was no favourite of Dante, who happened to be of a different political party. Accordingly, in the xiith canto of his Inferno, he places suo more the Marquis Obizzo II. (who ruled 1264--1293) in hell amongst others of the Guelphine faction. "This," says Muratori, "seems to have been from no demerit in that prince; and to a poet who was in his heart so fierce a Ghibellin, little credit should be given when he speaks of Obizzo, who was a great favourer of the Guelphs. I have seen (continues he) a manuscript discourse of our celebrated Alexander Tassoni, in which he confutes this improbable calumny of Dante."+ This is not the only passage of Dante's poem in which his ill-will to the family of Este breaks forth, and his displeasure at its princes seems to have extended to Ferrara itself, which he asserts had never produced a poet. The assertion is disproved by Tiraboschi, and had it been just never was a reproach so compleatly done away. Dante, therefore, cannot be numbered among the poets who enjoyed the patronage, and shared the munificence of the house of Este, but it was otherwise with the second father of Italian literature. Beccatelli, archbishop of Ragusa, tells us, in his life of Petrarch, that the lords of Este were friends and patrons of that wonderful man. "I signori da Este Marchesi di Ferrara furono suoi amorevolessimi, ed a loro non solo lettere, ma libri di grandi opere * Storia, &c. vol. i. p. 37. Ed. Mathias. + Ant. Est. vol. ii. p. 39. ha scritto." If we were still to trace them downwards, we should in every age No. VIII. observe the same propensity to literature, a propensity which even the ladies of the family introduced into the houses of which they became members. Of Niccolò III. (who ruled 1393-1451,) Muratori says, Portò egli secondo l'uso della casa d'Este un singolare amore alle lettere, e a i letterati, molte de' quali con grossi premj tirò a Ferrara, e massimamente Guarino Veronese, che per testimonianza d' Enea Silvio fu Padre e Maestro della maggior parte di coloro che si diedero in que' tempi a coltivar le lettere Greche in Italia. * Lionello, son of this prince, composed very elegantly in Latin, and patronized Theodore Gaza, George of Trebisond, Lorenzo Valla, and Nicholas and Titus Strozzi. Borso, first Duke of Ferrara and Modena, (1451--1471,) surpassed in magnificence all his predecessors, and, with the exception of Alphonso, the patron of Tasso, perhaps all his successors. Of this pompous magnificence many instances are enumerated by Muratori.+ Erat praeterea (says a contemporary writer) divinarum humanarum que literarum egregiè doctus, et eam ob rem doctorum virorum amantissimus habebatur, et eos undecumque haberi possent, suo in Gymnasio ad se convocavit. Hercules I. Duke of Ferrara (1471--1505,) caused plays, principally translated from Plautus by himself and others, to be acted with prodigious magnificence, and these, according to Muratori, were the first plays acted in modern Italy.‡ Of the splendour of Hercules, and his great fondness of theatrical representations, several instances are recorded by this writer. At his court the celebrated Boiardo, Anthony Tebaldeo, Batista Guarino the elder, Titus and Hercules Strozzi, and other distinguished writers, flourished and were patronised. The son of this prince, Alphonso I. was engaged in almost continual wars with the Venetians, and with the Pontiffs Julius II. and Leo X. For many years, likewise, he was deprived of two of his principal cities, Modena and Reggio, so that what money he had was necessarily expended rather on soldiers than the sciences. As soon, however, as he respired from his long and * Ant. Est. vol. ii. p. 201. + Ant. Est. vol. ii. pp. 209, 212, 218, 219, 225. Ant. Est. pp. 253, 278. No. VIII. grievous wars, he turned his attention to the support of literature. His court was adorned by the immortal Ariosto, whom he employed in many important functions, treated as a friend, and rewarded as a favourite.* The brother of Alphonso, Cardinal Ippolito, was much devoted to mathematics and astronomy. This, in the opinion of Tiraboschi, explains his question to Ariosto, "Where the devil, Master Lodovico, did you pick up so many fooleries,” if indeed that question was ever put, or at least ever put seriously and in a contemptuous manner. Hercules II. son and successor of Alphonso I. was not only a great promoter of literature, but is celebrated by Ariosto as one of the most cultivated poets of his time. He invited to Ferrara a great number of literary men, and his attention to learning is testified by many dedications: "Quem alium Patronum (says Palingenius, in the dedicatory epistle of his Zodiacus Vitae to this prince) in tota Italia invenire possum cui musae cordi sunt? qui carmen sibi oblatum aut intelligat, aut examine recto expendere sciat." His duchess Renée, daughter of Lewis XII. of France was not only profoundly skilled in Greek and Latin, but was a most sweet and affable favourer of the learned.|| Nor was the brother of Hercules, Cardinal Ippolito II. a less munificent protector of literature, as is evident from many eulogies of Muretus and others. § We have now reached the times of Alphonso II. the patron of Tasso, and * Ariosto, Satir. vii. Ant. Est. ii. p. 363. Tiraboschi, Storia, &c. tom. vii. part I. p. 34 + Di Filosofi altrove, e di Poeti Si vede in mezzo un' onorata squadra ; Questi meste elegie, quel versi lieti Quel canta Heroici, ô qualche oda leggiadra. Canto xxvii, stanza 13. || Tiraboschi, Storia vii. part I. p. 37. Ant. Est. II. p. 389. Orlan. Fur. xlvi. stan. 92. Life of Tasso, p. 129. from this short sketch, it will be evident that no family whatever had so long No. VIII. and so uniformly patronised learning, or has perhaps merited so well the compliment which Justus Lipsius pays to the Medici: "Stirps quasi fataliter nata, ad instauranda vel fovenda studia." After the loss of Ferrara, the family of Este, then only Dukes of Modena, and long oppressed, had much less power to patronise literature and the arts. That this was done, however, to a considerable extent, appears from Tiraboschi, Storia, &c. VIII. p. 18, &c. Muratori Ant. Est. vol. II. cap. 16, 17, 18. The patronage, indeed, bestowed by the family of Modena on the two illustrious writers, to whom I am now referring, proves at once the perseverance of the princes of that house in this generous virtue; and is another instance of their felicity in having selected, as subjects of their protection, persons in whose gratitude posterity partake. In fine, it ought not to be omitted, in speaking of the princes of Este, that, in ages the most corrupted, and in a country the most debauched, of which history gives an account, they stand pre-eminent for their virtues among those of the other Italian families. If we except one unfortunate incident in the year 1425, and one cruel act of Cardinal Ippolito I.* their story does not present a single inhuman or unholy deed. We find in it none of those rapes, murders, oppressions; none of those conspiracies, seditions, and rebellions among their subjects, which present themselves at almost every page of the annals of the other contemporary princes of Italy. Thus, while they excelled every other family in their long continued patronage of literature; the princes of the house of Este, surpassed them also in the still higher graces of veneration for religion, and the cultivation of virtue. * Ant. Est. II. pp. 190, 280. |