TORQUATO TASSO.

1544-1595.

LEONORA.

EARLY in the autumn of 1565, Tasso left the University of Bologna, where he had been for three years, studying poetry and philosophy, to enter the service of Cardinal Luigi d'Este, who was at that time in Ferrara. He arrived at Ferrara in October, and found the city alive with preparations for the approaching marriage of Duke Alphonso the Second with the Archduchess Barbara of Austria, daughter of the Emperor Ferdinand the First. The appearance of the bride elect, on the 31st of October, ushered in a series of magnificent entertainments, balls, tournaments, etc., which lasted an entire week. We are not told what part Tasso took in them (it could scarcely have been a prominent one, he was so newly arrived at court), but we know that it appealed strongly to his imagination, ever on the alert for the picturesque and the gorgeous. The death of Pius the Fifth terminated the festivities, and Cardinal Luigi departed for Rome to assist in the election of a new Pope as the presence of Tasso was not necessary at that ceremony, he remained at Ferrara. Already a favourite with the Duke and his sister, the Princess Lucretia, he was now introduced to the Princess Leonora, who was just recovering from a long illness. She received him graciously, and waiving her rank in his behalf, admitted him to her favour and intimacy. Various reasons have been assigned for this condescension on her part-such as his youth and beauty, the elegance of his mind and manners-but the strongest one was undoubtedly her fondness for an art, in which he had already attained a reputation. The fact of his being a poet, levelled, as it should have done, the barriers of rank and custom, and opened the way to her friendship.

It is not known at what time Tasso began to look upon the Princess Leonora with the eyes of love, for the whole subject is wrapt in profoundest mystery; but circumstances render it probable that it was not long after his introduction to her. There was from the first a marked difference between the poems which he addressed to her, and those which he addressed to her sister; the one being complimentary-the fanciful effusions of a young poet, celebrating a noble lady, because it was expected of him; the others breathing the most ardent attachment-the passionate but guarded confessions of a lover. How the Princess

Leonora received these poetical declarations from Tasso-whether she saw and encourraged his passion from the beginning, or only perceived it when it was too late, can never be known. That she returned it I have no doubt. Not openly, of course, for that would have been fatal to both; but in secret, by something in her voice or look-a tone meant only for his ear, a glance imperceptible to all but him-there were a thousand ways of showing him that he was dear, as every lover divines. It was necessary that they should exercise the greatest caution, and they did so, for their love remained unsuspected for years; indeed, that of Leonora was never suspected, for she died and made no sign. Tasso was equally discreet, for he not only addressed the sonnets which he wrote to her to other ladies, but paid his court to them with a great show of reality. There were two ladies in Ferrara with whom he was supposed to be in love-Laura Peperara, and Lucretia Bendidio. He met the former at Mantua, about a year before he entered the service of Cardinal Luigi; the latter, I believe, was a native of Ferrara, where she was celebrated for her beauty and accomplishments. She had two poets in her train, Pigna, the Duke's secretary, and Guarini, the author of "PASTOR FIDO." Tasso entered the lists (possibly at the suggestion of Leonora), and undertook on her account to support at the Academy, against every disputant, fifty amorous Theses or Conclusions. The trial, which lasted three days, redounded to his credit for ingenuity and learning.

The marriage of the Princess Lucretia to the Duke of Urbino, in the spring of 1570, and her subsequent departure from Ferrara, made a blank in the life of Leonora, into which Tasso insensibly glided. He read his great epic, "JERUSALEM DELIVERED," to her as it was composed, for the benefit of her advice and criticism, and wrote her a great number of sonnets, canzones, and madrigals. He was assiduous in his attentions till autumn, when he was obliged to quit Ferrara, and accompany Cardinal Luigi to France. A difliculty with his Eminence while in that country, led him to return to Ferrara, and enter the service of Duke Alphonso. He was allowed a pension of fifteen crowns of gold a month, and exempted from any particular duty, that he might have leisure to attend to his studies. He set himself diligently to the completion of his epic, polishing what he had already written, and adding many new episodes. Growing at length weary of his application, he resolved to rest his mind on a new theme; and taking advantage of a visit of the Duke to Rome, he composed in two months his celebrated pastoral, "AMINTA." It was represented on the Duke's return, in the spring of 1573, and greeted with unbounded applause. Its reputation reached the ears of the Duchess of Urbino, who invited Tasso to her palace at Pesaro, to read it to her. The intrigues of his enemies during his absence from Ferrara embittered his mind, and laid the foundation of that singular suspicion which ever after marked his character. We are ignorant of the means they employed against him, but they must have been powerful ones, for they seem for a time to have prejudiced the mind of Leonora. They may have discovered, or at least guessed, the secret of his love. That one of the most active and talented of them, Guarini, did so, is evident from the paper war which ensued between him and Tasso. Tasso opened the campaign with an angry madrigal, addressed to Leonora, whose preference for Guarini, who had somehow insinuated himself into her good graces, was extremely distasteful to him. Guarini answered with another, assuming to speak the language of Leonora, and told him that his love and hate were alike indifferent to her. Whether he wrote this by her

authority, or volunteered it, because he thought it would please her and annoy Tasso, cannot be ascertained. Indeed, the whole affair is shrouded in obscurity. That it pained Tasso exceedingly, is evident from the following extract from a letter, which he wrote Leonora from Casteldurante, where he spent the summer of 1573, with the Duchess of Urbino: "I have not written to your highness for so many months, rather from want of subject than of will, since now that an occasion, however small, presents itself for paying my respects, it is not neglected. I send your highness, then, a sonnet, which may be allowed to recall me to your memory, inasmuch as it seems to me I promised to send you everything new of mine. It will not be found at all to resemble those beautiful ones your highness is now accustomed oftentimes to hear, but is as poor in wit and art as I am in fortune; nor in my present state can anything better be expected of me. I send it, however, trusting that, whether good or bad, it will have the effect I desire. But, that you may not deem me so vacant of thought as to give love a place in my bosom, know that it was not written for myself (or perhaps it might have been better), but at the request of a poor lover, who, being for a while in anger with his lady, and now unable to hold out longer, is obliged to surrender and beg for mercy." That Tasso himself was the poor lover, and Leonora the lady alluded to, it does not require much penetration to discover.

The next event of consequence in the life of Tasso (I pass over his poetical labors, as not essential to an understanding of his love for Leonora), was the opening of his apartments with false keys, in the autumn of 1576. The person who was guilty of this treachery was named Maddalo, but in what relation he stood to Tasso has never been settled. Some of Tasso's biographers say that he was a servant, others that he was a notary of his acquaintance; but the earliest of them, Manso, declares that he was "a friend with whom he had everything in common, even to his very thoughts, and from whom he had not altogether concealed the secret of his loves." He entered Tasso's apartments during a visit of the latter to Modena, and opened a box, or chest, in which he kept his private papers. Tasso discovered his baseness on his return, and meeting him in the palace court-yard, taxed him with it; but instead of apologizing, or attempting to clear himself of the charge, the villain gave him the lie. Tasso struck him in the face. He did not resent the blow at the time, but slunk away and collected his three brothers, and then waylaid the poet as he was walking alone in the piazza of the palace. They attacked him suddenly from behind, but he wheeled about, and drawing his sword, soon put them to flight.

This circumstance troubled Tasso greatly-why, we can only conjecture. There must have been more in it than meets the eye-more than the mere rummaging of a box of letters from his friends-or it would not have unsettled his mind, as it did. Maddalo must have obtained some secret connected with Leonora, some proof of Tasso's love, and possibly of hers, which, if divulged, would ruin both. Could it have been her letters to him? I suspect so. And what strengthens this suspicion in my mind is, that immediately after the rupture with Maddalo, Tasso visited Leonora at Consaldoli. The ostensible object of this visit was to divert his melancholy, but its real object, I am persuaded, was to concert measures for their safety, in case their love should come to the knowledge of the Duke.