Aet. 50. rhyme and of blank verse; and similar pedantic arguments CHAP. XXII. have been used against the former, from its not having been A. D. 1594. employed by the ancients." Perhaps (says Metastasio) the Greeks and Latins did not avail themselves of rhyme, on account of the scarcity of similar terminations in their languages. But neither did they use the telescope, the compass, types, nor many other new, useful, and beautiful inventions, which are now adopted, and applauded amongst every people. The use of rhyme, which had been familiar to all the Orientals, is indeed laborious and difficult; but the art of sculpture in marble is more valuable than that of modelling in wax, precisely because it is more difficult and laborious. The infinite number of rhymers proves that the difficulty does not exceed the ability of such poets as are not deterred by labour. It is most certain, likewise, that from the force of a genius constrained by the compression of rhyme, there issue, and not seldom (as from the percussion of a flint,) those luminous poetical sparks, which, without such violence, would never have been elicited. Besides, between the vigour of the same thought expressed in blank verse and in rhyme, there is the same difference as between the velocity of a stone thrown from the hand, and one hurled from a sling. In addition to these reasons, what can be opposed to the doleful confirmation which many distinguished poems in our language have given of this incontestible truth. Such are the Italia liberata of the very learned Trissino, the Sette giornate del mondo creato of the immortal Torquato Tasso, and many others; which, full of art, A. D. 1594. Aet. 50. CHAP. XXII. learning, and merit, and, in spite of the high credit of their authors, are (merely from their want of rhyme) buried in oblivion; unknown to every one; and not read for the most part even by those few literary men who sometimes take notice of them merely for the purpose of a display of erudition." "Our Ottava Rima (continues Metastasio,) may boast of having obtained the universal suffrage of all the learned, and of all the vulgar in the innumerable poems written in this measure, with which the Italian idiom abounds. This is the effect of the sweetness of that seducing chant, which prevents satiety, and deceives the weariness of readers by its periódical regular reposes, which are neither so frequent as to glut by their uniformity, nor so distant as to occasion a loss of the sense of the linked sweetness, nor so unaccommodating as to constrain the writer to interrupt the connected series of his thoughts."* * Estratto, &c. cap. 24. It is a circumstance in favour of the melody of the octave rhyme, that it has been adopted as the heroic measure, not by the Italians only, but by the Spaniards and Portuguese. It was attempted to be introduced into our language, both by Drayton and Daniel; by the first in his Barons Wars, by the other in his History of the Civil Wars. "I chose (says Drayton in his preface to the Barons Wars,) Ariosto's stanza, of all other the most complete, and best proportioned; consisting of eight, six interwoven, or alternate, and a couplet in base.... This sort of stanza hath in it majesty, perfection, and solidity, resembling the pillar which, in architecture, is called the Tuscan, whose shaft is of six diameters, and base of two." The genius of neither of these poets, however, was sufficiently powerful to establish it as our heroic rhyme, even though they were aided by the translations of Fairfax, Harrington, &c., who always adopted the stanza of the original poems, which they inter CHAPTER XXIII. Tasso leaves Rome, and visits Naples.-Dialogue on friendship, addressed by him to Manso.-State of his lawsuit.—He writes a Latin poem.-Furnishes the Prince of Venosa with madrigals for his musical compositions.-Desires a reconciliation with the Duke of Ferrara.-Is invited to Rome to be crowned in the Capitol.-His gracious reception from the pope, who bestows on him a pension.-Anecdotes concerning him.-Aggravation of his distempers.-Requests to be carried to the monastery of Sant' Onofrio.-His last letter to Constantini. His death and funeral.-Epitaph. A. D. 1594-1595. Aet. 50-51. In the preceding chapter, I have had the pleasure of CHAP. XXIII. relating, that, though the frail and feverish body of Tasso A. D. 1594. made little acquisition in strength, his mind was consider Aet. 50. preted. This want of success in the establishment of the octave rhyme may be attributed to the licence which, first Chaucer, and afterwards Spenser, assumed of moulding the structure of the stanza at will. Chaucer's first considerable poem, the Court of Love, A. D. 1594. CHAP. XXIII. ably soothed, and his cares allayed, by the high degree of attention and distinction which he enjoyed. "This holy week," says he, in a letter to a friend, "I have been invited to dinner at the palace, with many of the most noble cardinals of the college. I alone, with a very few prelates, have been honoured in this manner; and the same courtesy I have met with from the princes of this city."* He had a place, whenever he chose, at the table of the two cardinal nephews; and his disposition seems always to have led him to prefer grandeur to ease, and the society of the great to that of the gay. Owing to his infirm state of health, Tasso rarely left his chambers in the Vatican; but he sometimes amused as well as his next great work, Troilus and Cresseide, are distributed into stanzas of seven lines each; of which the first four lines rhyme alternately; the fifth rhymes to the second and fourth; and the stanza then concludes with a couplet. "The stanza of seven lines," says Mr Godwin, (Life of Chaucer, vol. I. p. 375, 8vo.) "which Chaucer uses in many considerable works, he is supposed to have been the first to introduce into the English language. It obtained afterwards the name of Rythm Royal, was the favourite measure of a long succession of English poets, and is particularly dear to all genuine lovers of English poetry, as having been employed by our admirable Spenser, in his two exquisite hymns of Love and Beauty. Perhaps (adds Mr Godwin,) the circle of English poetry does not afford a more grateful harmony, particularly as applied to compositions of the length of those last mentioned." Shakespeare, in his Rape of Lucrece, adopted this stanza of seven lines. His Venus and Adonis is written in another stanza, very common at that period, consisting of six verses, of which the first four are alternate, and closing with a couplet. Spenser not only added a line to the octave, but made some other changes. There being thus no fixed standard, every English poet thought himself at liberty to adopt a stanza according to his fancy or convenience. In general, however, the heroic verses of those times approximate, more or less, to the octave measure, all of them rhyming alternately, and concluding with a couplet. *Vol. IX. p. 236. Aet. 50. himself by going to hear the lectures of the professors, in the CHAP. XXIII. college della Sapienza. Among these was his old opponent A. D. 1594.Francis Patrizio, who had formerly, under the pretence of defending Ariosto, made an attack on the Jerusalem.* This person was now professor of Platonic philosophy at Rome; and Tasso condescended sometimes to attend his lectures, and to converse in the circle of studious youth, upon various topics of philosophy and literature. Amongst other learned persons, who at this period earnestly sought his notice, was Antonio Decio da Horte, a celebrated civilian, who, in 1592, had published a tragedy [Arcipanda,] which, for a long time, procured its author a very high reputation. † In March, 1594, Tasso felt an aggravation of his disorders, and continued during the whole spring in a very feeble condition. In a letter to Constantini, of the seventh of May, he tells his friend that he had not recovered his health, and that now even his physicians gave him very little hope. Finding every remedy to fail, he resolved to pass the summer at Naples, which, for a considerable time, he had been very desirous to revisit. He hoped some benefit from the baths and change of air; and, besides, was anxious to come *Vol. III. 147, 161, 173. Of this tragedy, an analysis of considerable length may be found in the Historical Memoir on Italian Tragedy, p. 111. The tragedy is upon the whole too bombastic, and full of blood; but a scene of much pathos and beauty is extracted from the work by Mr Walker. + Vol. X. p. 42. |