ARIOS'TO, Li:movie°, one of the greatest of Italian poets, was b. at Reggio, Sept. 8, 1474, being the eldest son of the military governor of that city. He was bred to the law, but abandoned it for poetry. However, at an early period of life, he was com pelled to exert himself for the support of a large filthily, left as a burden on him at the death of his father. His imaginative powers were developed in early life. In 1503, after he had written two comedies, with several lyrical poems in Latin and Italian, he was introduced to the court of the cardinal Hippolytus d'Este, who employed him in many negotiations. Here, in Ferrara, in the space of about 10 years, he produced his great poem Orlando Furioso, which was published in that city, in 1 vol. 4to, in 1516, in 40 cantos. After the death of the cardinal, the duke, his brother, invited the poet to his service, and acted to him with great kindness and liberality. In the early part of 1521, a second edition of his poems was published, the Orlando Furioso being still in 40 cantos. Shortly after, he was commissioned by the duke to suppress an insurrection which had broken out in the wild mountain-district of Garfagnana; a task which seems more like a punishment than a mark of honor. A., however, succeeded in this arduous undertaking; and after remaining three years governor of the quarter, he returned to Ferrara, where he lived comfortably, nominally in the service of his but in reality enjoying what he highly prized—an abundant leisure for prosecuting his studies. It was at this time that he composed his comedies, and gave the finishing touch to his Orlando. At length, in the latter part of 1532, that poem made its appearance in a third edition, enlarged to its present dimensions of 46 cantos. He now became seriously ill of a pain ful internal distemper, of which, after' a few months of suffering, he d. on the 6th of June, 1533, in his 59th year, and was buried in the church of San Benedetto, at Ferrara, where a magnificent monument indicates the resting-place of his remains. A. is described as a man of noble personal appearance and amiable character. Ills Orlando Furioso is
a romantic, imaginative epic, marked by great vivacity, playfulness of fancy, and inge nuity in the linking together of the several episodes. It takes its name and its theme from a chivalrous romantic poem by Boiardo, the Orlando Innainorato. That poem treats of the wars between Charlemagne and the Saracens, confounded as they were by tra dition Avith those of Charles Martel, wherein Orlando, or Roland, stood forward as the champion of Christendom. Orlando is the hero of Boiardo's piece, and falls in love with Angelica, a clever and beautiful oriental princess, sent by the Paynim to sow discord among the knights of the Christian armies. The story of this lady being left unfinished in the Orlando Innamorato is taken up by A., who makes her fall in love herself with an obscure juvenile squire, on which Orlando gets furious, and long continues in a state of insanity. Besides his great work, A. wrote comedies, satires, sonnets, and a number of Latin poems, all more or less marked with the impress of his genius. In 1845, Giam peri, a librarian of Florence, announced that he had discovered at Argenta, near Ferrara, an autograph manuscript by A., containing a second epic, Itinald.o Ardito, describing, like the Orlando, the battles of Charlemagne and his paladins against the Saracens. The manuscript had been mutilated, and contained in a complete form only the cantos 3, 4, 5, while 2 and 6 were imperfect; and it was stated that the entire poem had consisted of 12 cantos. The work was published under the title Rinaldo Ardito di L. Ariosto, Fram menti Inediti J'ubblicati sul Manuscritto Originale, Florence, 1846. In genius and style, it has been found by critics by no means to accord with the Orlando. Of the Orlando there are three several translations into the English language: the first, by Sir John Harring ton, appeared in the year 1634; the second, by John Hoole, in 1783; and the third, by W. Stewart Rose, in 1823 and following years. In the last only is there to be found a fair representation of the feeling and spirit of the original.