CHAP. XXI. A. D. 1588. Arrives at Rome, and some of the best, as well as the most voluminous writings which are in the possession of mankind, were the fruits of hours snatched from the turmoil of business, or produced in the evening of a toilsome life. Such are the works of Tully and of Bacon, almost unexampled in value as well as in extent; nor is it in the gloom of a cloister, nor in the soft ease of academic bowers, that the energies of genius are most willingly and most successfully exerted. On the arrival of Tasso at Rome, he alighted at the palace of Cardinal S. Gonzaga, where, not being, perhaps, received with all the warmth he expected, he soon afterward wrote a billet to his friend Niccolò degli Oddi, informing him of his being in the city, and of his desire to speak with him.* This good abbot having some idea of the poet's situation, conducted him to his monastery of S. Maria Nuova. Among the letters of Tasso, is one to Constantini, written on the tenth of December, which gives a sufficiently distressing picture of his situation prior to the visit of Oddi. “I have returned,” says he, "to Rome from Naples, and have brought back with me all the miseries from which I hoped to be delivered in that most noble and splendid city. These hopes have been so fallacious, that I find myself more unhappy than ever, which I have perceived since I came in many ways, and particularly as I cannot find a friend who will aid me in satisfying the custom-house. Oh, how I would have been * Vol. IX. 375. Aet. 44, delighted with the presence here of my dear Constantini! What CHAP. XXI. vexes me still more, is the injurious detention of my trunk A. D. 1588 for the matters of last year; nor needed the memory of the wrongs I then suffered to have been revived. I should have had great need of six scudi, which I expected from your courtesy ; and it would have been a double obligation, if I had found them here at present, to make use of them in my necessity. But Signior Claudius, your uncle, would not accommodate me with them, so that I cannot extricate from the custom-house a casket, for which a demand is made of four ducats. I grieve, too, that I have not hitherto found an apartment or lodging in a palace, or in some other place, at Rome; and, unless my affairs succeed more prosperously, I cannot but complain, as, in proportion to the friends I ought to, have, so are my obstacles. I have seen the library of his Holiness, which is most beautiful, and worthy of a sovereign prince, and it deserves the sonnet which you have written in its praise; if I shall have leisure, I will write a sonnet on the same subject, and I kiss your hands.” † This short letter may be considered as in some degree affording a picture in miniature of the life of Tasso. He is accustomed, and still expects, to lodge in a palace, and yet finds the utmost difficulty to obtain four ducats. He is oppressed by hardships, and a sense of misery; yet, by and by, his mind flits away from them to some subject which might CHAP. XXI. Occupy his muse. A. D. 1588. Abides in the monastery of S. Maria Nuova. Wretched as he often was, he possessed resources which are known to few; and enjoyed, amidst his literary pursuits, some hours of rapture, and many of obli vion. Immediately on taking up his residence in the monastery, our poet, though still as infirm and oppressed with melancholy as ever, * began to review and correct his works, with the design of publishing them in several volumes, in an uniform manner. He hoped thus to be delivered from his difficulties, provided he should be able to print them on his own account, with the privileges of all the states of Italy. For this purpose, he frequently wrote to his dearest friend Constantini, who was then at Venice, requesting him to use his good offices with that republic, that its printers might be prevented from usurping his rights. Notwithstanding his old infirmities, and the addition of a considerable degree of fever for three months, Tasso not only reviewed many of his former works, but composed new ones. He had never, however, the satisfaction of publishing this corrected edition, nor of receiving that pecuniary remuneration which was due to so much genius, and to so many labours. He even complains at this time that he was despised as a writer; an idea which seems to have had no foundation but in his own Father Oddi, in a letter to Pellegrino, dated 20th December, 1588, says, "Il Sig. Tasso, il quale oggi è quà nel monasterio con me, però più carico d'umori ch'egli mai fosse, saluta, V. S." X. p. 227. + Vol. IX. p. 525, 6. Ibid. p. 330. A. D. 1589. Aet. 45. melancholy sensibility. He appeals from the cruelty and CHAP. XXI. envy of his own age, to the judgment of posterity, with that prophetic confidence which accompanies genius, and by which it is never deceived. * occupations. Amongst other employments, Tasso collected his Rime into His literary three volumes, and wrote a commentary, for the purpose of explaining a part of them. In this, there is a good deal of what in that age was reckoned philosophy; but what perhaps is most remarkable, is the honesty of the author in remarking his remotest imitations of preceding writers.† He composed also an oration in praise of the house of Medici, which he sent to the Cardinal Del Monte to be presented to the grand duke. ‡ This prince had been lately the Cardinal de' Medici, but was now (by the death of his brother without issue,) secularized, and had just concluded a marriage with Christina of Lorraine. On the subject of these nuptials, our poet, though he complains of great sterility of genius, wrote a canzone. || At this period, also, he com • Vol. X. p. 3. "Non posso negare, che Io mi doglio oltramisura di esser stato tanto disprezzato dal mondo, quanto non è altro Scrittore di questo secolo." In a letter, too, to Cataneo, X. p. 276, he says, " Non mi contento di sottopormi al giudicio d'alcuno in questo secolo, particolarmente in quel, ch'appartiene a questa sorta di lettere, per le quali prima Io sono stato onorato da alcuni più ch'io non meritava, poi perseguitato da molti più che non era convenevole....Laonde stimo di potermene ragionevolmente richiamare allà posterità." And in an epistle, 10th June, 1589, he writes thus, " In una Orazione ho pensato di lodare me stesso ad imitazione di Aristide, e d'attribuirmi il primo luogo nella Poesia, e tra Filosofi e gli Oratori non contentarmi degli ultimi. Tutto quello, ch'io scriverò, sarà scritto con molta ragione." + Vol. X. p. 391, et seq. Vol. X. p. 349, VIII. p. 315. || Vol. IX. p. 531. VI. p. 274. Onde sonar, &c. Tasso, too, at this time, composed an epithalamium on the marriage of the Duke of Bracciano, nephew of the grand duke, A. D. 1589. Aet. 45. CHAP. XXI. posed a dialogue, which, in honour of his dearest friend, he entitled, Il Constantino, or of Clemency. Of the merit of this work, Tasso had himself a very high opinion; "the dialogue," says he," is excellent, and not merely very ingenious. It is .my hard fortune," adds he, " that constrains me to praise it; as I do not hope to find any one who will give it due applause, either through malignity, or ignorance, or both. It is one of, perhaps, a hundred which I intended to compose; but, in my present unhappy circumstances, I fear it will be the last."* Is dismissed the house of Cardinal Gonzaga, After having remained about four months in the monastery of S. Maria Nuova, during the greater part of which he had been tormented with fever, Tasso, unwilling any longer to incommode the hospitable monks, resolved to return again to the house of Cardinal Gonzaga. Unfortunately, however, the cardinal found it expedient some time afterward to go to the baths, whither our poet, who had a new attack of the fever, did not follow him. Accordingly, he was again left at the mercy of his old tyrant, the steward George Alario, who, after some time, assumed the licence of bidding him leave the house. The following distressing ibid.p. 103. Delle più fresche rose, &c. Our poet, IX. p. 200, in a letter to the Duchess of Mantua, beseeches her to procure him some abbey, or other ecclesiastical living, which the grand duke had enjoyed while cardinal, and hints that his misfortunes had been owing to the Medici. * Vol. IX. p. 254. VII. 456. In July, 1589, Tasso was introduced to Sixtus V. " al quale, (says he,) finalmente con molta mia consolazione ho baciato il piede," IX. p. 365. This seems to have been the only favour which the poet ever received from Sixtus. + Vol. IX. p. 533. Vol. IX. p. 538. "In quanto al particolare, seguito per conto mio in casa del' |