915 



TASSO, TOKQUATO. 



TASSO, TORQUATO. 



916 



out for France at the beginning of 1571, to accompany Cardinal Luigi 

 d'Kste on a mission to Charles IX., he left his manuscripts in charge of 

 his friend Rondinelli, with directions to publish them in case he should 

 die abroad, " except those which he had written to oblige some friend, 

 and which must be buried with him." 



This was a subterfuge to conceal the object of the above-mentioned 

 compositions, and to make them appear as if written at the request of 

 others, which in itself would have been no very creditable employment 

 for a mail of genius. However, before the end of the year 1571, Tasso 

 took his leave of the cardinal in France. It would appear that while 

 in that country, where he was introduced at the court of King 

 Charles IX., and became acquainted with the French poet Ronsard, 

 Tasso applied himself to study the points of controversy then debated 

 between the Roman Catholic and the Reformed churches, and that 

 his investigations of those delicate matters displeased the cardinal, 

 who spoke to him strongly on the subject. But Tasso had other and 

 secret reasons for wishing to return to Italy. Having returned to 

 Ferrara, he entered the service of Duke Alfonso himself, by whom he 

 was most graciously treated. " The duke extolled his poetical talent ; 

 he often listened to the recital of his verses (Tasso was then engaged 

 about his 'Qerusalemme,' which he intended to dedicate to the duke); 

 he admitted him to his own table, and to his own familiar society ; and 

 he refused him no favour that he chose to ask." (Serassi, ' Vita del 

 Tasso ;' Rosini, ' Saggio sugli Amori di Tasso.') Such waa the conduct 

 of Duke Alfonso towards the poet, until he discovered, years after, his 

 guilty compositions. Whilst Tasso was thus a favoured guest, rather 

 than a dependant of Duke Alfonso, he wrote his pastoral drama, the 

 ' Aminta,' in which he portrays with exquisite skill the pangs and the 

 delirium of love deemed hopeless for a long season, but in the end 

 requited. The drama was performed at the court of Duke Alfonso, 

 and its fame soon spread about Italy. Lucrezia, Eleonora's sister, who 

 had married Francesco Maria, duke of Urbino, wishing to hear the 

 'Aminta,' invited Tasso to her court, where he remained several 

 mouths. This 'was in 1573. While Tasso was absent from Ferrara, 

 envy was busy at work against him to loweY his credit with Duke 

 Alfonso. At the same time Guarino the poet, who was also at the 

 court of Ferrara, strove to ingratiate himself with the Princess 

 Kleonora, and this excited the jealousy of Tasso. It appears that 

 Tasso had been in the habit of writing to the princess, and sending 

 her- some of his poetical compositions ; but now he wrote none for 

 several months. At last he wrote her a letter, dated September 1573, 

 which was first published by his biographer Serassi, in which, after 

 apologising for his long silence, he sends her a sonnet, " which," he 

 says, "is not like those fine ones which I suppose your grace is now 

 wont to hear very often," alluding to those of his rival Guarino. And 

 he goes on to say, that his sonnet is poor both in the conception and 

 the style, as the author is poor of luck. This last expression cannot 

 bo understood as referring to his circumstances, for he was still in 

 favour with both the courts of Ferrara and Urbino, and was receiving 

 at the same time presents from the Duchess Lucrezia of Urbino. But 

 still he sends to the Princess Eleonora the sonnet, "hoping that, 

 whether good or bad, it will produce the effect that he wishes." This 

 sonnet, which begins "Sdegno, debil guerrier, campion audace," is that 

 of a desponding lover who asks for mercy. Tasso concludes his letter 

 with the usual subterfuge, that " the sonnet is not written on his own 

 account, but at the request of a poor lover, who having been for A 

 time angry with his mistress, is now no longer able to stand out, and 

 surrenders himself and asks for mercy." This and other passages of 

 his amorous verses, referred to by Professor Rosini in the above-quoted 

 essay, prove that the Princess Eleonora had been long aware of Tasso's 

 passion, and felt flattered by it, but probably looked upon it as a 

 poetical feeling, for which she gave him. her friendship. He himself 

 acknowledges this in several places ; and yet he had already written, 

 in the recess of his study, the guilty compositions which have been 

 mentioned above. 



Towards the end of 1573 Tasso returned to Ferrara, where he 

 applied himself to finish his great epic poem ' La Gerusalemme.' The 

 touching episode of Olindo and Sofronia, in the second canto, was 

 meant to portray his own situation with regard to the Princess Eleo- 

 nora ; and in a sonnet which he wrote to that lady he evidently speaks 

 of the charater of Sofronia as meant to represent herself. 



Parts of the * Gerusalemme ' began to circulate about in manuscript, 

 and the author was assailed by numerous pedantic critics. He 

 thought that the duke and his sister Eleonora did not take up his 

 defence with sufficient zeal ; and this slight sank deep into the poet's 

 heart. Towards the end of 1576 a false friend, who was in the secret 

 of his love for the princess, disclosed some particulars of it to others. 

 Tasso having heard of this, and meeting him in the court of the ducal 

 palace, required him to deny what he had said ; and upon the other's 

 refusal, gave him a blow in the face. This led to a duel : the treache- 

 rous friend came escorted by his relatives, who also drew their swords 

 against the poet ; but Tasso, who was a good swordsman, succeeded in 

 parrying their blows, and came away in triumph. Nothing particular 

 happened after this until June of the following year, 1577, when 

 Taaso, on the evening of the 17th of June, being in the apartments oi 

 the Duchess of Urbino, in Duke Alfonso's palace at Ferrara, fel] 

 into a violent passion at some impertinence, real or supposed, of a 

 domestic, and forgot himself BO far as to throw a knife after him. He 



was immediately arrested by order of Duke Alfonso, and confined to 

 room which looked on the court of the palace. It appears that 

 aetween these two incidents his own servants had been tampered with 

 ,n order to give up his concealed papers. Tasso got information of 

 ,his, and looked out for a trusty servant from Urbino, and wrote on the 

 subject to Guido Baldo, marquis del Monte, and his letter is quoted 

 by his biographer .Serassi. He had also felt for some time scruples 

 about matters of faith : he mentions in his discourse to Scipioue 

 Sonzaga, that he had doubts concerning many points of religion. He 

 bad even applied to the inquisitor of Bologna, who had granted him 

 absolution ; but still he thought himself under the censures of the 

 Church. AH these things added to the anguish of his mind. From 

 the place of his imprisonment Tasso wrote a submissive letter to the 

 duke, begging his pardon ; and the duke appearing to forgive him, 

 released him after a few days, and took him with him to his country- 

 seat of Bel Riguardo about the end of June. What happened there 

 between the duke and Taeso is not ascertained ; but from some 

 expressions of the poet it appears that he waa there closely and sternly 

 examined by the duke, who had probably by this time in his possession 

 Tasso's papers, "in order to get from him an acknowledgment of what, 

 if avowed, would incense him against him." (Taeso's Sonnet, begin- 

 ning " Alma graude d'Alcide," addressed to the deceased duke Hercules, 

 father of Alfonso.) On the llth of July the duke sent Tasso back to 

 Ferrara under an escort, and shut him up in the convent of St. Francis, 

 his secretary having written to the monks that he was mad, and must 

 be treated as a madman. 



Tasso's love adventures, his real or pretended madness, and the 

 causes of his long imprisonment, made much noise about Italy at the 

 time ; and they have been so much discussed and commented upon 

 since, that they have acquired an historical importance, especially as 

 they serve to illustrate the manners of the times. Duke Alfonso has 

 been much abused, and, we think, without discrimination, for his 

 treatment of the poet. There is a mystery about the whole story 

 resembling that which hangs over Ovid's banishment. Professor 

 Rosini h^s collected with the greatest patience and care the discord- 

 ant opinions, as well as the evidence resulting from Tasso's own 

 writings, published and unpublished, and from those of his contempo- 

 raries ; and the conclusion which he arrives at by the help of sound 

 criticism is, that the duke, having in his hands the loose compositions 

 of Tasso already mentioned, which, joined to his other compositions 

 addressed to the same person, and his other strange sayings and doings, 

 furnished full evidence that his sister Eleonra was the person alluded 

 to in them, was naturally enough incensed against the poet, and 

 thought that the only reparation that he could make to her injured 

 honour was to make it be supposed that Tasso was mad. This gives 

 the clue to his subsequent treatment of the poet. He must also have 

 been confident that his sister was guiltless, otherwise, as Rosini 

 observes, he would have taken a different sort of vengeance, according 

 to the manners of the age. From the convent of St. Francis, Tasso 

 wrote to the duke, saying, " that the clemency of his highness had 

 forgiven him his faults, and that thenceforth if he spoke to anyone, 

 he should acknowledge to all that which he clearly knew, that he was 

 under a sanitary treatment." He adds, that he had resolved, when 

 the treatment was over, to turn monk ; and in a postscript he says, 

 that he earnestly wishes that the duke may know all the truth, that 

 he may not think him more mad than he is. In a long letter which 

 he afterwards wrote to the Duke of Urbino, he says, that " in order to 

 please Duke Alfonso, he thought it no disgrace to imitate the example 

 of Brutus and Solon." Both those personages, according to Livy and 

 Plutarch, feigned madness. Receiving no answer from either Duke 

 Alfonso or the Duke of Urbino, Tasso, about the 20th of July, ran 

 away from the convent, quitted Ferrara, and made his way alone and 

 mostly on foot to Naples, and thence to Sorrento, where his sister was 

 married. Having by kind treatment recovered his health and his spirits, 

 he went to Rome, where he Applied through some agent of the duke 

 to be allowed to return to Ferrara. Duke Alfonso wrote in reply, 

 that he was willing to receive Tasso again into his service, if he would 

 allow himself to be treated by the physicians ; but that if he con- 

 tinued his subterfuges, and to talk as he had done before, he would 

 immediately turn him out of his territories, and never allow him to 

 return. Tasso, upon this, returned to Ferrara in the spring of 1578, 

 with the Cavaliere Gualengo. He was civilly but coldly received by 

 the duke, who gave him to understand that he ought now to try to 

 compose himself and to lead a quiet life, and to avoid all excitement. 

 He attempted to get an interview with the Princess Eleonora and the 

 Duchess of Urbino, but was prevented. 



Tasso, tired of this manner of life, having lost the favour which ho 

 used to enjoy at court, ran away again from Ferrara in the summer of 

 1578, wandered to Mantua, Padua, and Venice, and then went to Urbiuo, 

 where he wrote to the Duke of Urbino, who appears to have been then 

 on bad terms with his own wife and with the court of Ferrara, entreat- 

 ing him to make the truth known, and to contradict the reports 

 maliciously "circulated of his madness," saying that he had sub- 

 mitted to it in obedience to Duke Alfonso's wishes, but that he could 

 not consent any longer to lead an animal life, far from literature and 

 from the Muses. He wrote in similar terms to his friend Scipione 

 Gonzaga at Rome, to his own sister at Sorrento, and to the Arciprete 

 Lamberti, to whom he sent a sonnet, beginning " Falso e il romor che 



