Rinnovellarsi in guisa di Fenice,

E rinascer più vago, e più giocondo,
E quanto ha del terreno, e dell' immondo
Tutto spogliando, più leggiadre forme
Vestirsi e ciò par, ch'a ragion si spere
Da quelle luci altere,

Ch' esser dee l'opra alla cagion conforme,
Nè già si puon temere

Da beltà si divina effetti rei,

Che vital e'l morir, se vien da lei.

Canzon, deh sarà mai quel lieto giorno,

Che'n que' begli occhi le lor fiamme prime.
Raccese Io veggia, e ch'arda il mondo in loro?
Ch' ivi, qual foco l'oro,

Anch'io purgherei l'alma: e le mie rime

Foran d'augel canoro,

Ch'or son vili, e neglette, se non quanto

Costei Le onora col bel nome santo.

The above canzone, though containing beautiful passages, is upon the whole a very perfect specimen of what the French call Phebus. As it was published in January, 1567, it must have been written soon after Tasso's arrival at Ferrara, and I have placed it here as a kind of picture of his sentiments towards Leonora at this period. In any other country one would consider the canzone as symptomatic rather of gallantry than of love; but it has been very justly remarked by Mad. de Stäel, that, while in Italy, love is a profound sentiment, the expression of it is generally a refined and metaphysical language; and, it may be added, a tissue, frequently, of glaring images and far-fetched conceits. "En général (she makes an Italian say,) quoique notre poésie ait été consacrée à chanter l'amour, je hasarderai de dire que nous avons plus de profondeur et de sensibilité dans la peinture de toutes les autres passions que dans celle-là. A force de faire des vers amoureux, on s'est créé à cet égard parmi nous un langage convenu, et ce n'est pas ce qu'on a éprouvé, mais ce qu'on a lu qui sert d'inspiration aux poètes. L'amour tel qu'il existe en Italie. ne ressemble nullement à l'amour tel que nos ecrivains le peignent..... Nos Poètes subtilisent et exagèrent le sentiment, tandis que le véritable caractère de l'amour Italien, c'est une impression rapide et profonde, qui s'exprimerait

No. X.

No. X.

bien plûtot par des actions silencieuses et passionnées que par un ingénieux

This canzone to the Princess of Ferrara, was composed, it appears, either during her sickness, or while she was beginning to be convalescent. I have remarked, that Goethe has written a play, entitled Torquato Tasso, and has commended the passage in which Tasso describes his emotions at first seeing Leonora. This passage I shall here subjoin.

Leonore. Zum erstenmal trat Ich, noch unterstüsst
Von meinen Frauen, aus dem krankenzimmer,

Da kam Lukretia voll frohen lebens
Herbey und führte dich an ihrer hand.

Du warst der erste, der in neuen leben

Mir neu und unbekannt entgegen trat.

Da hofft' Ich viel für dich und mich, auch hat
Uns bis hierher die hoffnung nicht betrogen.
Tasso. Und Ich, der Ich betäubt von dem Gewimmel
Des drängendes Gewühls, von so viel glanz
Geblendet, und von mancher leidenschaft
Bewegt, durch stille gänge des Pallasts
An deiner schwester seite schweigend ging,
Dann in das Zimmer trat, wo Du uns bald
Auf deine Frau'n gelehnt ershienest-mir
Welch ein moment war dieser! O! vergib!
Wie den Bezauberten von Rausch und Wahn
Der Gottheit nähe leicht und willig heilt;
So war auch Ich von aller Phantasie,
Von ieder sucht, von iedem falschen triebe
Mit einem blick in deinen Blick geheilt,
Wenn unerfahren die Begierde sich
Nach tausend Gegenständen sonst verlor,
Trat Ich beschämt zuerst in mich zurück,
Und lernte nun das Wünschens werthe kennen.
So sucht man in dem weiten sand des Meers
Vergebens eine Perle, die verborgen
In stillen schalen eingeschlossen ruht.

A. II, sc. I.

*Corinne, tom. I. p. 348.

Leonora. Then first I saw thee, when the weary couch
Of sickness first I quitted-feeble yet,

And leaning, trembling, on my handmaid's arm;
Forward Lucretia came, with mirthful glee,
And thee, a stranger, thee, as yet unknown,
Led by the hand; and with thy presence dear
Hail'd and refresh'd my scarce-reviving life-
Blest was the omen-much I hop'd for both-
For thee and me; nor has my hope been vain.
Tasso. I, too, I never shall forget the hour-

Lost mid the pressing crowd; by empty pomp
Dazzled and blinded, (by the painful thought
Of self-abasement tortur'd, and the wish
For those vain trappings which my reason scorn'd,)
I pass d through the proud palace, full of woe,
And drooping, silent, by thy sister's side,—
She led through still apartments, till we came
Where, leaning on thy handmaid, thou approach'd-
O! what a moment! Lady-oh forgive!—

As, when the Godhead comes, each hellish charm,
Each spell unholy passes from the soul:

So, at one glance of that angelic look,
One single glance, each phantasy inane,
Each poor ambition, every vain desire
Of vanity was lost-nor wander'd more

My warring thoughts; but what was precious knew,
What to be wish'd, and what, at length to prize-
So, on the ocean's wide expanse of sand,

The pearl is vainly sought, which, hid from glare,
Sleeps in the bosom of its secret shell.

No. XI.-P. 159.

SONNET OF TASSO.

No. X.

As the following sonnet is excepted from the number of those written for No. XI. other persons, which Tasso wished to be destroyed in the event of his death in

No. XI.

France, I have given it a place in the Appendix. The subject is a lady going to the country, of the name of Laura.

Or, che l'aura mia dolce altrove spira

Fra selve, e campi: ahi ben di ferro ha'l core,

Chi riman qui solingo, ove d'orrore

E'cieca valle, di miseria, e d'ira.

Qui nessun raggio di beltà si mira :
Rustico è fatto, e co' bifolchi Amore
Pasce gli Armenti, e'n sull' estivo ardore
Or tratta il rastro, ed or la falce aggira.
O fortunata selva! O liete piagge !

Ove le fere, ove le piante, e i sassi
Appreso han di valor senso e costume!
Or che far non potea quel dolce lume,

Se fa, d'ond' egli parte, ov' egli stassi,
Civili i boschi, e le città selvagge?

It is not easy to perceive why Tasso preferred this above many other sonnets of his composition. The idea is derived from the following beautiful verses of Tibullus:

Rura tenent, Cornute, meam, villaeque puellam ;
Ferreus, est Eheu! quisquis in urbe manet.
Ipsa Venus laetos jam nunc migravit in agros,
Verbaque aratoris rustica discit Amor.

In his commentary on the last verse of his sonnet Civili i boschi, e le città sel-
vagge, Tasso says, "This figure, in which the predicate implies a contradiction
to the subject, is most beautifully used by our poets." Indeed, it seems to have
been a favourite of our bard; for, in his extended discourses on heroic poetry,
he says,
"Most beautiful also, and most ornate, are the adjuncts which imply
contrariety and contradiction, as the following:

E dannoso guadagno, ed util danno,
E gradi ove più scende, chi più sale,

Stanco riposo, e riposato affanno.

Chiaro disnore, e gloria oscura, e negra,
Perfida lealtate, e fido inganno.

"This figure, (adds he,) is in a manner peculiar to the Tuscans, although very similar ones have been used by the Greeks and Latins, such are, aduga daga, ájáμovs yàμous, and the insepulta sepultura of Marcus Tully."

No. XI.

No. XII.-P. 173.

The following Latin poem of Tasso is not printed in his works, and as he No. XII. exercised himself very little in this sort of composition, may be considered

as curious.

AD NUBES.

Neptuni genus humidae

Nubes, quae volucri curritis agmine

Qua cæci rapiunt Noti:

E vestro gremio cum sonitu horrida
Mittit fulmina Juppiter,

Si quando in Superos gens fera verticem

Tollit, si veteres manu

Lucos sacrilega polluit; hinc tonat

Arx coeli, hinc micat ignibus

Crebris. Vos placidae frugiferos agris

Imbres mittitis, et sata

Laeta humore alitis. Vos sitientibus

Succos vitibus additis,

Mox libanda novis munera poculis.

Vos largas pluviae nisi

Effundatis opes, gramina non humus,

Non flores dabit arida.

Arescunt viduæ frondibus arbores;

Vestri languida corpora

Ex desiderio vix animas suo

Languentes retinent sinu;

Vos in pinifero vertice, seu tenet

Atlas, seu Scythiae latus,

Seu vasto oceani luditis æquore,
Foetus imbriferos date;

Rores in gremium spargite torridae