TASSO, TORQUATO, one of the greatest poets of Italy, was the son of the preceding, and was born at Sorrento in Naples, Mar. 11, 1544. His earliest education was received from the Jesuits. During his childhood, Tasso's father was an exile, but the affectionate solicitude of his mother well supplied the want of paternal care. In 1554 he went to Rome to join his father, and left his mother (whom he was destined never again to see) in a convent at Naples. At Rome, and subsequently at Bergamo, Urbino, Pesaro, and Venice, he continued to prosecute his studies. He assisted his father in copying, cor recting, and even in completing his pqem L' Amadigi, though as yet only 16 years of age. No wonder old Bernardo was delighted at the promise shown by his son, and prophesied in his letters that Torquato would yet become a great man. Later, however, sad experi ence of the miseries of a poet's life induced him to send Tasso to Padua, to study juris prudence under the celebrated Panciroli. But whom the gods have made poetical can never sink into a lawyer. The youth remained at Padua a year, and wrote Rinaldo (Tenice, 1562), a poem in 12 cantos, the hero of which is the son of Aymon, and cousin of Roland. It belongs, therefore, to the class of heroic romances. After the first burst of anger was over, Bernardd forgave his son for following his example rather than his precept, and became prouder of Tasso's genius than ever. Tasso now betook himself to the university of Bologna, to study philosophy, and is said to have distinguished himself by an extraordinary facility in the discussion of the most elevated and abstract themes ', circumstance that perhaps says more for his power of rhetoric than his power of speculation. On leaving Bologna, he spent some time with friends at Castelvetre, Modena, and Corregio, but returned to Padua at the request of his friend Scipio de Gonzaga, afterward cardinal, who had established a literary academy there, of which_ Tasso became a member. It was during this second residence at Padua that he conceived the first idea of his great work,•the Gerusalemme Liberata, a heroic record of the con quest of Jerusalem by the crusaders under the command of Godfrey de Bouillon. Lam artiue beautifully describes the mingled motives of the poet: "Urged by piety no less than by the muse. Tasso dreamed of a crusade of poetic genius, aspiring to equal by the glory and the sanctity of his songs, the crusaders of the lance he was about to celebrate." The same critic goes on to observe, in allusion to the less noble passion for the applause of courts that marked the poet: " The names of all the noble and sovereign families of the west would be revived in this epic catalogue of their exploits, and would attract to. the author the recognition and favor of the great Finally, the poet was himself a knight, noble blood flowed in his veins, to celebrate warlike deeds seemed, as it were, to be associating his name with those of the heroes who had performed them on the field_ of battle: thus religion, chivalry, poetry, the glory of heaven and earth, the hope of eternal fame, all combined to urge him to the undertaking." Bernardo heard of his son's design with exulting joy, and blessed heaven for making Torquato a greater genius. than himself. Meanwhile (1565), Tasso had been introduced by cardinal Luigi d'Este (to. whom he had dedicated the Rinaldo) to his brother, Alfonso II., sovereign duke of Ferrara. Here for a time he was supremely happy. Young, handsome, courteous, and. with that proper tinge of melancholy in his disposition that possesses an irresistible charm. for women, he soon became a universal favorite with the beauties of the court. While their bright eyes rained influence, Tasso painted his Arinida and Herminia almost without effort. It is only just to add that the attempt to seek the origin of his subsequent. miseries and madness in a presumptuous passion for Leonora, sister of the duke of Este, which was first encouraged, then repulsed, and finally punished with imprisonment, is utterly at variance with the notorious facts of the case. Space does not permit us to.
examine the question here, but it appears necessary to correct errors of traditions so specious as to have imposed upon illustrious men. Tasso courted, platonically and otherwise, various ladies of the court—a pretty chambermaid even was not beneath his notice; but there is not a vestige of evidence to show that lie lifted his eyes to the sister of his sovereign, or that such a suspicion was ever harbored by the lady herself or her brother. In truth, his madness was connected in its origin more closely with his poetry than with his loves. Having finished his great epic about 1575, he sent a copy of it to a. society of scholars, critics, and churchmen at Rome, to get their opinion of it. It would have been far better had lie published the poem at once, without placing it at the mercy of critics who were delighted to have the opportunity of finding fault before the public was in a position to praise. The critics would then have been forced to swell the chorus of general admiration. Tasso was tortured by their waspish comments, and, with pitiable agonies, proceeded to make his work more agreeable to his incapable judges. a morbid melancholy overpowered his reason; the spites and jealousies that are never absent from a gay and pleasure-loving court contributed to increase his mental disorder. He believed that invisible persecutors had denounced him to the inquisition as a heretic_ It was in vain that Alfonso and his sisters tried to calm the perturbations of his spirit, and even got the inquisition to write him a reassuring epistle. His paroxysms increased in violence. Finally one evening (June 17, 1577), he drew his dagger in the apartments. of the duchess of Urbino, to stab a domestic whom he conceived to be one of his secret enemies; whereupon Alfonso had him conveyed to a prison-hospital for the benefit of his health, rather than to punish him. On July 20 he made his escape, and fled across the Abruzzi to his birthplace, Sorrento, where he took refuge with his sister. The air of his native place quickly restored him to health; but no sooner had he recovered than he began to yearn for the old excitements, begged Alfonso to take him back, and when that prince drily informed him that he might return if he pleased, Tasso'greedily availed himself of the cold permission, and was soon as wretched as before. A new flight ensued, this time toward the north of Italy. The unhappy poet wandered at last half-naked into the city of Turin, where he was humanely received by the marquis d'Este, brother of Alfonso. After some time, he again ventured to return to Ferrara, Feb. 21, 1579, but only to madden, almost as soon as he breathed its noxious air. Alfonso was again obliged to put him under constraint, in which lie remained upward of seven years, when the duke, at the request of several of his brother sovereigns, released him (July 5, 1586). During the remainder of his life Tasso lived chiefly at Naples. Almost the last incident of his career was his visit to Rome to receive (like Petrarch) the honor of a public corona tion on the Capitol. The excitement was too much for his ruined frame. A slow fever seized him; he was removed to the convent of Santo Onotrio, on the Janiculum, and there died, April 25, 1595, alter a brief illness. See Manso, Vita di 7: Tasso (Nap. 1619); Jacobi, Vinolieice T. Tasee (Gott. 1763); Serassi, Vita del Tam (Rome, 1785); Black, Life of 2. Tasso (Edinb. 1810); Ebert, T. Tasso's Leben (Leip. 1819); Zuccala, Della Vita di Tasso (Mil. 1819); Millman, Life of T. Tasso (Lond. 1850); Cibrario, Degli Amori e Della. Prigione di Tasao (Tur. 1862). • Besides his Gerusalemme Liberate, Tasso wrote a great number of works in verse and prose, among which may he mentioned Rime, instemt con altri Componimenti (Yen. 1581): Dialoghi e Discorsi (Yen. 1586-87); Lettere Familiari (Bergamo, 1588); Rime (Brescia, 1592-93); and Gerusalemme Conquistata (Rome, 1593). The most complete edition of his works appeared at Pisa (1821-32), in 33 vols.