A. D. 1578.

Aet 34.

CHAP. XIII. cution as altogether groundless. That they were greatly exaggerated is certain; but the false keys, and the endeavours to render suspected his best friends, are circumstances upon which one would think it is scarcely possible to be deceived. I have already indeed shown grounds upon which it is natural to conclude that our poet was persecuted at the court of Ferrara, where to live with comfort was almost impossible. In such a situation there was much scope for the operation of petty competition and of private malignity. In addition to the collusion of interests, rivalship was excited and increased by the personal presence of the opponent, and continual comparison of one with another. Tasso, too, had an uncommon and imprudent frankness; nor is it improbable that, with a soul naturally dignified and noble, he was too great not to be simple; and, in the universal masquerade of the court, neglected to veil the superiority of his genius, by that false modesty, or that low intrigue, which would have rendered it less offensive.*

Tasso often mentions in his letters, his uncommon openness of character, and complains of the evils which it had occasioned him. "Chi nella conversazione è più aperto, o più libero, o più anco inconsiderato di me? Cosi non foss'io stato tale; che in si fatta infelicità non sarei caduto. Non sono nell'animo mio, nè furon mai molte ritirate, nè molti nascondimenti: ma così l'ira, come l'amore, e così la buona, come la mala soddisfazione mi si legge nella fronte, e nella lingua si manifesta." Opere, vol. X. p. 378. A most helpless character this in an Italian court, of which I have already given the picture by Guarini, (vol. I. p. 344,) and which appears with no greater charms in a passage of the Adone, where Marino relates the incidents of his own life.

3

Aet. 34.

Our poet, however, was greatly delighted with the permis- CHAP. XIII. sion of returning to Ferrara, and easily consented to all the A.D. 1578. conditions imposed on him. This he did the more readily, as he had lately suffered a severe malady, which confined him to the house a great part of the few months during which he remained at Rome. He departed from that city on horseback, in the company of the ambassador Gualengo, * who was on his return to Ferrara, where Tasso was received with Tasso arrives courtesy and kindness. His expectations were now raised to a very high pitch, and his principal enemy, the philosopher of the court, seemed, (if we may believe our poet,) so dejected, that he was induced to pity and console him. This task was, however, of no long continuance; for, whether Tasso's hopes were too vigorous, or the frequency and fer

at Ferrara.

Vidi la corte, e nela corte Io vidi
Promesse lunghe, e guiderdoni avari,
Favori ingiusti, e patrocinii infidi,
Speranze dolci, e pentimenti amari,
Sorrisi traditor, vezzi homicidi,

Et acquisti dubbiosi, e danni chiari,

E voti vani, & Idoli bugiardi,

Onde il male è securo, e'l ven vien tardi.

Canto ix. stanza 76.

* In a letter to Maurice Cataneo, dated Turin, first December, 1578, Tasso says, "Rimango con infinito obbligo, che m'abbia impetrato il perdono da gl' Illustrissimi Signori Cardinali d' Este, e de' Medici, come chè Io non sappia, in che aver mai offeso Monsignor Illustris. d' Este, se non forse in partirmi di casa sua, e da Roma, senza fargli riverenza. Ma il primo errore nacque per soverchio d'umore; nell' altro Io non ebbi colpa alcuna, trovandomi in potere altrui. Il Sig. Cardinale de' Medici avrebbe forse maggior occasione di sdegno verso di me; onde ch'egli l'abbià deposto, me rimango con maggior obbligo a Monsignor Illust."-Oper. vol. X. p. 255.

CHAP. XIII.

A. D. 1578.
Aet. 34.

66

vour of his attentions were troublesome to the duke, he soon began to imagine himself slighted, and (as repose was recommended to him) that small account was made of him and of his writings. He was tormented with the idea that Alphonso wished him, as if his genius were now fled, to lead an idle and effeminate life; " to become," he says, a fugitive from Parnassus into the gardens of Epicurus."* He complained that his compositions were withheld from him, and that he was not allowed to polish and complete them; he demanded frequently an audience of the Duke, of the Duchess of Urbino, and of Leonora, for the purpose of obtaining restitution; but admission was denied him, and often, he tells us, disrespectfully. Repulsed in this manner, he often burst forth into violent expressions; wished he had served in preference some prince who was an enemy of Alphonso ; and at last, with despair in his heart, resolved again to fly from Ferrara. Of all these circumstances we have a full account in a long and interesting letter, written, soon after this period, by Tasso to the Duke of Urbino. It is probable that he offended Alphonso by refusing all sorts of medicine ; and it appears, also, from the letter just mentioned, that he had laid aside, for some time, his usually temperate habits. "Without regard," says he, " for my health or life, I voluntarily aggravated my evil by the disorders of immoderate intemperance; so that death was almost the consequence."† This, he says, he did, not from inclination, for he abhorred

66

intemperance, even while he practised it, but for the follow-
ing reasons, which would be ludicrous, did the condition of
our bard not render them affecting: "My first object,"
says he,
was to gain the favour of the duke; my second
was to accustom myself to despise health and pleasure, re-
collecting that it was the opinion of some of the best phi-
losophers, that vigorous health is dangerous to virtue, as it
assists the body to tyrannize over the mind. Besides the prac-
tice, not only of some nations which existed or exist, but
even of the ancient Greek legislators and philosophers,
who planned republics, establishes drunkenness as on some
occasions useful. I recollected that, not only Alcibiades,
who, with the Spartans, was a model of continence and ri-
gour, was, among the Asiatics and Thracians, delicate and a
drinker, but that even Socrates, the severest moral master
of antiquity, not only celebrated banquets in a gladsome
manner, but, in contests of drinking, excelled all the topers
of his time... I collected, too, from many probable conjec-
tures, or rather most certain proofs, that this contempt of
my health was agreeable to the duke; not only because I,
who had before now lived delicately, accustomed myself to
suffering, but that also I might amend, by notable confi-
dence, the error of my former diffidence."*

CHAP. XIII.
A. D. 1578.

Aet. 34.

* Oper. vol. IX. p. 189; see too vol. VII. p. 102. Tasso had always the example of some ancient philosopher to quote as an apology for any thing he did; and Socrates seems to have been his toper. "Io sono stato (says he in a letter to Ascanio Mori) questa notte

CHAP. XIII.

A. D. 1578.
Aet. 34.

With a person whose imagination was thus always creating new phantasies, and whose reason was ever ready to support them, it was scarcely possible to act so as not to render him dissatisfied. This was the more difficult, as, like Rousseau, he now seems to have believed, that he either did, or ought, to occupy the attention of all mankind; and that nothing else ought to be thought of, or attended to. Besides, neither the Aminta nor the Jerusalem were yet published; the reputation of their author was, consequently, vague and unestablished; nor did he yet seem worthy of that universal interest which his wonderful genius was calculated to awake. His friends finding it impossible either to calm his disquiet, or soothe his melancholy, were at last vexed with his caprices, and fatigued with his complaints. It was difficult for them to suppose, that something of verseness did not enter into his conduct, and that he, who reasoned so acutely, could be, on certain common subjects, so deaf to reason. Thus they were glad, at least, to escape his importunity; and as his natural sensibility to neglect was

per

molto male; e non sò s'io me debba attribuir la cagione al vino, o al cibo, o pur all' aver troppo bevuto; la qual cosa Io soglio far rare volte, e trapassar l'ordinario di poco, per discacciar la malinconia: ma non mi è venuto fatto questa notte. Per l'avvenire sarò più temperato, e cercherò che la temperanza mi faccia ben disposto al' bere, coll'esempio di Socrate. Ma V. S. dirà, che lo non son buon cortigiano; e lo gliele concedo volentieri; sì veramente, che altrui mi conceda, che lo possa filosofare. Mi dolgo della morte del Sig. Andrea, e accetto l'abito da duolo, non dico per consolazione del dolore, perchè ella sarebbe piccola; ma per segno della mia servitù. Ed a V. S. bacio la mano, Di camera."-Oper, vol. IX. p. 97.