T A - 



in that oaii <, a fresh source of vexations opened 



upon him. 11 - pic poem. l.a Gcrusalcmme 



I.lbcrata,' had been imhlisht-d complete at Parma in l.'isl, 

 and afterwards at Mantua in 15S4. A. holt of critic* fell 

 upon it, and by their strictures strove to obscure all the 

 merits of the poem. At the head of them stood Salviati, 

 of the Crusca Academy. Tasso's language, his p. 

 . his imagery, the plot of his poem, his episodes, . 

 thing was made a subject of censure. Tasso, already 

 weakened by mental and btxlily suffering, felt these attacks 

 bitterly. He however took up his pen and wrote in a 

 nuasured and dignified tone a defence of bis poem. He 

 was at the same time writing letters to all his friends to 

 obtain his final liberty from the duke. He wrote to the 

 citv of Bergamo, to the duke of Mantua, to the grand- 

 duke of Tuscany, to the pope, to the emperor, who all 

 employed their good offices on his behalf with Duke Al- 

 fonso, who hesitated a long time before he consented to 

 his release. At last Vincenzo Gonzaga, son of tlie duke of 

 Mantua, obtained, in July, l."JS(i. permission for T:. 

 accompany him to Mantua. His reception at that court 

 wa-s like a triumph. In order to make some return for the 

 kindness which he experienced from the house of Gon- 

 zaga, he completed his tragedy of ' Torrismondo," which he 

 dedicated to his liberator Vincenzo, on hi.s accession to the 

 ducal throne of Mantua in 1587. The subject of the 'Tor- 

 rismondo' is a supposed Scandinavian legend. Some of 

 the descriptions have been admired. After some time 

 spent at Mantua and in his paternal town of Bergamo, 

 Tasso, depressed by a settled melancholy, took leave of 

 Duke Vincenzo, and repaired to Rome in the latter part of 

 1587, and thence to Naples in the following year. The 

 poet appeared delighted with the beauties of his native 

 country. At Naples he began a lawsuit to recover his 

 paternal property, which had been seized when his father 

 Bernardo became an exile. The Neapolitan courts of law- 

 have been at all times proverbially known for their dilato- 

 riuess. and justice was wretchedly administered under the 

 Spanish viceregal administration. Tasso made little pro- 

 iu his suit. But he found a sincere friend in the 

 Marquis Gio. Batista Manso, who took him in the autumn 

 to his estate of Bisaccio, where they spent the time in 

 sporting, listening to the rustic improvvisatori, and con- 

 versing in the evening upon various topics, especially 

 about Tasso's pretended familiar. It was at tlie request, of 

 Manso's mother that Tasso undertook his ' Sette Giornate 

 del Mondo Creato,' which is. a poetical paraphrase of the 

 narrative of the creation of the world in the first two 

 chapters of Genesis. In 1589, Tasso, always ic-t less, re- 

 paired to Rome; but finding himself in great pecuniary 

 distress, he accepted an invitation of the grand-duke Fer- 

 dinand de' Medici to go to Florence in the spring of 1590, 

 where he was received with great honour by the court and 

 other persons of distinction, as if to make amends for the 

 annoyance given to him by Salviati and his compeers. 



Towards the end of the same year however he went to 

 Rome, and in 1591 he returned to Naples, and then 

 applied himself to re-write his epic poem, under the title 

 of 'Gerusalemmel 'onquistata,' in order to satisfy the critics. 

 However the first version of his poem is in the hands of all, 

 whilst few everread his'GcrusalemmeConquistata.' Tasso 

 intended to end his days at Naples; but in 15!)2. Cardinal 

 Aldobrandini having been made pope by the name of Cle- 

 ment VIII., his nephew, Cinzio Aldobrandini, afterwards 

 inal. who was well acquainted withTiusso. invited him 

 in the most pressing manner to Rome, where he came about 

 middle of that year. He was stopped several days at 

 Mola di Gaeta. the road being blocked up by the bands ,,f 

 the famous robber chief Marco Sciarra, who was scouring 

 the country with perfect impunity. Sciarra. who was a 

 man of birth and education, having heard that Tasso was 

 detained at Mola, sent him a message to entreat him to 

 proceed on his journey, assuring him of perfect safety 

 from his men, and ottering him an escoi:, which 

 however Tasso declined ; upon wind. with- 



drew- his men from the mountains of It. ; leave 



the passage open for Tasso. Having arrived safely at 

 Rome, he 1 completed lus ' Gcrusalcinmc ('onquistata.' 

 which he dedicated to Cardinal Cinzio Aldobrandini. In 

 th" summer of 1594 he returned to Naples, and lodged 



in the Mencdictine monastery of San Si-vein 

 afterwards went to a country-seat" of his tiicnd M 

 Meantime Cardinal Cinzio, out of affection and gratitude 



1 'I \ .s 



towards Tango, prevailed on Pope Clement to grant the 

 poet the honour of being solemnly crowned with the laurel- 

 crown in the Capitol, as Petrarch and others bad been. 

 This being agreed upon. Canliual Cinzio hastened to an- 

 nounce the news to 'lasso, urging him to repair to Home 

 as soon as possible. Tasso did not seem at all dated : 

 he observed to Manso that he thought it more glori- 

 ous to deserve honours than to receive them. He how- 

 ever assented, and took an affectionate have of bis kind 

 friend Manso, with a foreboding that it would be the 

 last. He spent the Christmas festivities at the i 

 of Monte Casino, and arrived at Rome in the beginning of 

 I.V.I.'i. He was met outside of the gates by many gentle- 

 men iiud attendants of the Papal court, by whom he was 

 led in a kind of triumph to the Vatican palace, where he 

 was introduced to the pope, who told him that he had 

 awarded him the laurel-crown, in order that it might be 

 as much honoured by him. as in foimer times it bad 

 served to honour others.' Tasso wits lodged in the Pupal 

 palace, and treated with the greatest regard. \Vhile tin- 

 day of the coronation was anxiously expected. Cardinal 

 Cinzio fell ill ; and Lent coming on, the pageant was 

 poned, and then Tasso himself fell seriously ill. He felt. 

 from the first a conviction that this illness would be his 

 last; and wishing to compose himself in retirement for his 

 last moments, he expressed a wish to be taken to the mo- 

 nastery of St. Onofrio, on Mount Janicuhmi. Having been 

 carried thither in one of Cardinal Cinzio's carnages, he 

 said to the prior and his monks who came to receive him 

 at the gate, ' I am come to die amongst you.' II 

 led into a comfortable apartment, where he devoted lus 

 remaining days entirely to religious practices, and seemed 

 totally weaned from worldly feelings and cares. When 

 the pope's physician announced to him his approaching 

 death, he embraced liim, thanking him for the happy 

 tidings. To Cardinal Cinzio, who came to take leave of 

 him, he expressed his gratitude for all his kindm 

 the cardinal and those present could not refrain from tears, 

 he said to them, ' Yon think that you are leaving me, but 

 I shall go before you.' He expired on the 25th of April, 

 15!)5. after fifteen days' illness, being fifty-one years of age. 

 lie was buried, according to his desire, in the church of 

 St. Onofrio, with a plain slab over his tomb, upon which 

 the monks engraved the simple inscription, ' Torquati 

 Tassi ossa hie jaccnt.' 



The lasting fame of Tasso as a great poet rests upon his 

 ' Gerusalemme Libcrata,' or ' II Goffredo.' a,s it is some- 

 times called, one of the few great epic poems of which 

 the world can boast. The action is complete : it r- 

 the events of the great crusade, and cuds with the osten- 

 sible object of that expedition, the deliverance of .!> 

 lem from the hands of the Moslems. The licaui: 

 well as the faults of the composition, have been the theme 

 of many disquisitions. Among foreign critics. Blair, Vol- 

 taire, D'Alembert, La Harpe, and Chateaubriand have 

 been loud in its praise. The poem has a peculiarity that 

 distinguishes it from most other epics: i' illy a 



Christian poem; and breathes throughout the fc. 

 the faith, and the hopes of a Christian. Tasso, as In 

 in his invocation, 



' II Mn\, 111 rlir cli r.nllirlli nllnri 

 Nun rin-ontil la ftontf in Klirona, 



1 > inir.i i I'f: i 

 HJII ill .stcllc immurmli ,-uireu Coronn.' (c. I., St. 2.) 



had drawn his inspiration from a sacred source, and has 

 thus afforded a refutation to those who pretend that the 

 Christian religion is not so favourable to poetical ini: 

 as the splendid fictions of mythology. A melancholy 

 tinge pervades the poem; but" it is a melancholy lighted 

 up by cheering and constant hope. With the single ex- 

 ception of the episode of the gardens of Armida. the 

 language of the Gcrnsalcmmc ' is eminently chaste, and 

 the morality of its sentiments is pure and elevated, which 

 ra it tit for the perusal of youth. Among its beauties 

 of detail we will only instance the episode of Olindo and 

 Siifronia, in the 2nd "canto : the council of the d:rmons, 

 in the 4th ; the flight of Knninia. and her meeting with 

 the old shepherd on the banks of the .Ionian, in th" 7th ; 

 the introduction of the Turk Solyman into the besieged 

 city, m the loth: the death of Clorinda, in the 121h; and 

 i light of Argante witli Tarn-red, in the 19th canto. 

 The other poems of Tasso have been mentioned in the 

 course of this ail icle. Hi- lyncal compusit ions are very 



