CHAP. XXIII. A. D. 1595. Eight other years elapsed without any appearance of the cardinal fulfilling his design. Accordingly, in 1608, (three years after the death of Clement VIII. and two before that of his nephew Cynthio,) the Cardinal Boniface Bevilacqua, a Ferrarese, had the honour and happiness of executing this the academy of Umoristi,] a circumstance alluded to by Milton in his poem of Mansus. The English poet mentions, in the same composition, that Manso had written a biographical memoir of each of his two friends, Tasso and Marino. Of these, the first only has been given to the world. The following are the verses of Milton : Ille itidem moriens tibi soli debita Vates Nec satis hoc visum est in utrumque, et nec pia cessant Qua potes, atque avidas Parcarum eludere leges : To thee alone the poet would entrust In more enduring history to live, An endless life is also thine to give; And thou hast given it them, and deign'd to teach The manners, fortunes, lives, and gifts of each; Rival to him whose pen, to Nature true, The life of Homer eloquently drew. COWPER. pious function. The monument, which is stately and elegant, is still to be seen on the left hand of the entrance into the church of Sant' Onofrio, where, beneath the effigy of the poet, is the following inscription: TORQVATI. TASSI. POETAE HEV. QVANTVM. IN. HOC. VNO. NOMINE OSSA. HVC. TRANSTVLIT. HIC. CONDIDIT BONIF. CARD. BEVILAQVA NE. QVI. VOLITAT. VIVVS. PER. ORA, VIRVM ADMONVIT. ADVERSVS. PATRIAE. ALVMNVM VIVET. HAVT. FALLIMVR. AETERNVM. IN. HOMINVM CHAPTER XXIV. Reflections on the general infelicity of the epic poets.-Description of the person of Tasso.—His dress.-Conversation. -Christian virtues and moral qualities. His defects.-Intellectual character and endowments.-Excellence of his poetical taste.-Reflections on the beauties and defects of the Jerusalem Delivered.-Celebrated authors, by whom that poem has been admired.-Lyrical compositions of Tasso, his canzoni and sonnets.-His prose writings.-Conclusion. CHAP. XXIV. A D We have now, in the course of the preceding pages, traced the steps of Tasso from the cradle to the tomb. Few persons have suffered so much, whether we consider his frail and feverish body, his mental maladies, or the hatred and persecution of unjust and contemptible men. These inhuman tormentors were chiefly candidates for literary fame, whom his glory had eclipsed; for (let us be just to the age of Tasso,) by A. D. * Aet. * the Epic Poets. most others, by the princes, the nobles, the monks, even by the CHAP. XXIV banditti, he seems to have been treated with attention and respect. Of the epic poets in general, it may be remarked, that their destinies appear to have been far from happy. The wandering life of Homer, and his poverty, are sufficiently proved Infelicity of by the relish with which he speaks in his works of the grossest aliments, and by the circumstance of his always placing eating in the first rank in his classification of enjoyments. The virtue which he most highly celebrates is hospitality; and the few moral reflections which he makes in his poems, relate in general to the wretchedness of humanity. Those of Virgil, likewise, are of a melancholy cast; his early life was spent in struggling with hardships; his health seems to have been extremely delicate, and he died young. Of Milton, much of the existence was spent in "cloud and ever-during dark;" and Camoens, after innumerable misfortunes, closed his career in an hospital. We are apt to lament the misfortunes of genius, but, perhaps, they may be an effect of that species of compensation which runs through all the works of nature. It were too much, (as I have already had occasion to observe,) to expect that to the blessings of genius should be added those of fortune; that to a happy life should follow immortality of fame, and that no languor should succeed the extacies of a creative mind. Great indeed were the sufferings of Tasso; but that man (I have thought) has little of the enthusiasm of talent, who would not prefer his misery, and his glory, to the most delightful situation which mediocrity ever enjoyed. CHAP. XXIV' A. D. Description of It now remains that I should describe the person of this poet, and offer some concluding remarks on his moral character, intellectual powers, and diversified compositions. The person of Tasso has been described by Manso, with a detail, which, though somewhat too minute, it would serve little purpose to abridge. "Torquato Tasso," says he, "was. a man of stature so lofty, that, among men of large size, he might have been considered as one of the bulkiest and best proportioned. His complexion had been exceedingly fair, but, first, studies and vigils, and afterwards disasters and infirmities, had made him somewhat pale. The colour of his hair and beard was a medium, between brown and fair; in such a way, however, that the former was somewhat darker than the latter; but that of both was soft, and smooth, and fine. His head was large, and raised both in the forehead, and in the hinder part, which the Greeks call occiput; in the middle, however, above each temple, it was rather depressed than round. His forehead was large and square, first rising to the middle, and afterwards inclining to the hair, which latter time had in a great degree removed, and * Though a tall man, Tasso was not slender, but suitably thick, and strong limbed. In one of his letters, (vol. IX. p. 162.) he says of himself, "Io son grande e grosso, come sapete." Capaccio, at page 281 of his Illustrium literis Virorum Eulogia, thus begins that of Tasso: "Quem cernis (quisquis es) procera staturâ virum, luscis oculis, subflavo capillo, tristi fronte, cogitabundum, inter Christianas phalanges arma barbarica phaleratis carminibus tractantem, Hic Torquatus est." &c. It will seem ludicrous to mention it; but Camöens, though likewise born in a country of which the natives are swarthy, had yellowish hair. "Mediocri staturâ fuit, (says Nicholas Antonio,) et carne plena, capillis usque ad croci colorem flavescentibus, maximè in juven tute. Eminebat ei frons, et medius nasus, cætera longus, et in fine crassiusculus." |