530 



TASSO 



hike wta most agreeably surprised, on bis return, 

 by this performance, and ordered tin- representation 

 of it to be maile with the greatest splendour. 

 Tasso's consideration and favour with the duke in- 

 creased ; but his good fortune excited the envy of 

 many, who continually meditated his ruin. The 

 princess of I'rbino wishing to become acquainted 

 with the poem, which was the subject of general 

 admiration, Tasso paid her a visit at Pesaro, where 

 the old prince Guidobaldo, as well as his son and 

 daughter-in-law, received him in a very flattering 

 manner. For several months, he lived in the charm- 

 ing castle Durante, in the most intimate friendship 

 with Lucretia, who willingly listened to the verses 

 in which he immortalized her. With rich presents 

 he returned to Ferrara, and occupied himself again 

 with his epic poem, which he once more reluctantly 

 discontinued, to accompany the duke to Venice, 

 whither the latter went to meet king Henry III., 

 who had just exchanged the throne of Poland for 

 that of France, and who was now invited to visit 

 Ferrara. This journey took place in the hottest 

 season of the year, and brought on the poet a fever, 

 which continued a long time, and interrupted all 

 his labours. During his convalescence, he finished, 

 in the early part of the year 1575, bis Goffredo 

 the fruit of so much exertion, and the source of 

 such great misfortunes to him. But he wished, 

 before publishing it, to obtain the judgment of his 

 friends; and their discordant opinions perplexed 

 and agitated him to such a degree as to occasion 

 another burning fever, from which, however, he 

 soon recovered. He immediately examined his 

 work anew, in order to retouch or alter it in parti- 

 cular places. The duke treated him with redoubled 

 attention and distinction. Tasso accompanied him 

 on his journeys of pleasure to Belriguardo, and 

 Lucretia, who had separated from her husband, and 

 had returned to her brother, wished to have the 

 poet always with her. It was with difficulty that 

 he obtained, under these circumstances, in Novem- 

 ber, 1575, permission to go to Rome, in order to 

 subject his poem to a new and thorough examina- 

 tion. Here he was well received, in particular by 

 his friend Scipio di Gonzaga. By him he was pre- 

 sented to the cardinal Ferdinand de' Medici (bro- 

 ther, and afterwards successor, of the grand-duke 

 of Tuscany), who, knowing that the poet was no 

 longer pleased with Ferrara, proposed to him the 

 service of the grand-duke. Tasso, however, de- 

 clined, from a feeling of gratitude towards the house 

 of Este. He therefore soon returned to Ferrara, 

 where, not long after, arrived the young and beauti- 

 ful countess Leonora Sanvitali, wife of the count 

 of Scandiano, a lady whom Tasso ardently admired, 

 and whom he had celebrated in his poems. She, 

 also, on her part, was not insensible to his friend- 

 ship; and the duke about this time conferred upon 

 him the vacant office of historiographer to the house 

 of Este ; thus, to his misfortune, he found himself 

 bound more closely to Ferrara : and the hatred of 

 his rivals and enemies was increased. He was 

 greatly troubled by the information that his poem 

 had been printed in a city of Italy, as it did not ap- 

 pear to him sufficiently finished for the press, and 

 as he saw himself, also, by this means, deprived of 

 the advantages which he had hoped for from the 

 labour of so many years. This and other troubles, 

 partly real, partly imaginary, increased his melan- 

 choly : ' he believed himself persecuted by his ene- 

 mies, calumniated, accused. In this state of mind, 

 one evening, in the apartment of the duchess of 



1'ibinn, lu- dnw his sword against one of her ser- 

 vants. Tliis induced the iluke to arrest him, and 

 confine him in a house near the palace; but, upon 

 his entreaty, he restored him to liberty, and merely 

 desired that he would put himself under the care of 

 a physician. A cure appeared to be effected, and 

 the duke took him on a journey of pleasure to Bel- 

 riguardo, in order to console and divert him, after 

 he had caused the grand inquisitor to satisfy some 

 scruples of conscience which had arisen in Tasso's 

 mind, on account of doubts upon religious subjects. 

 But all this care was not sufficient to restore the 

 poet's peace, and the duke at last saw himself under 

 the necessity of letting him return, according to his 

 desire, to the Franciscans in Fenara. His situation 

 became continually worse : he imagined himself sur- 

 rounded by perils, gave himself the most painful re- 

 proaches, and, at last, in this state of mental disor- 

 der, took advantage of a moment when he was not 

 watched, and, destitute of every thing, without 

 even his manuscripts, made his escape on the 20th 

 of July, 1577. He hastened to his sister Cornelia, 

 who lived in a state of widowhood at Sorrento, in 

 Naples, and who received him most tenderly. By 

 her care, he at last began to grow composed. He 

 repented of his precipitate flight, and presented to 

 the duke and princesses a petition that he might be 

 restored to his place, but paiticularly to their fav- 

 our. He, indeed, went back to Ferrara ; but his 

 Old malady soon returned, and he escaped a second 

 time. In vain did he seek shelter in Mantua, Padua 

 and Venice : at the court of Urbino he first met 

 with a worthy reception. But, notwithstanding 

 all the friendship and care with which he was 

 treated, his melancholy acquired new strength : he 

 thought himself not secure ; and, while he fled from 

 imaginary dangers, he rushed upon real ones. Ht 

 went, at last, to Turin. Here a friend recognised 

 him, extricated him from his embarrassments, and 

 presented him to the marquis Filippo d' Este, who 

 received him in a very friendly and liberal manner. 

 The archbishop of Turin, an old friend of Bernardo 

 Tasso, introduced him to duke Charles Emanuel, 

 who received him under the same conditions as 

 those on which he had lived in Ferrara. Once 

 more the unhappy Tasso took courage, and bright 

 sparks shone through the gloomy mist which had 

 veiled his mind, and which but too soon resumed 

 the ascendency. He longed to be once more in 

 Ferrara, and thought that the nuptials of the duke 

 with Margareta Gonzaga would be the most suit- 

 able time for his appearance there. He went, but 

 was bitterly disappointed. He was received on 

 every side with indifference, even with mockery 

 and contempt : neither the duke nor the princesses 

 admitted him to their presence : and he poured forth 

 loud invectives against Alphonso and the whole 

 court. The duke, instead of bestowing pity upon 

 the unfortunate poet, commanded that he should be 

 placed in St Anne's hospital, and confined there as 

 a madman (March, 1579). In order to explain 

 this cruel command of the prince, other causes have 

 been assigned, in particular the love of Tasso for 

 the princess Leonora. But though his passion can- 

 not be denied, yet it can in no way be proved that 

 Tasso overstepped the limits of respect and modesty. 

 It may, indeed, have contributed to aggravate the 

 frenzy which sometimes visited him, and which may 

 perhaps, have been owing to physical as well as to 

 moral causes. That Tasso, by such measures as 

 were taken with him, could not have been cured, is 

 evident. The very thought that he was in a mad- 



