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diff --git a/old/10635-8.txt b/old/10635-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..dce9427 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10635-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11541 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Stories from the Italian Poets: With Lives +of the Writers, Vol. 2, by Leigh Hunt + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Stories from the Italian Poets: With Lives of the Writers, Vol. 2 + +Author: Leigh Hunt + +Release Date: January 8, 2004 [EBook #10635] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ITALIAN POETS *** + + + + +Produced by Stan Goodman, Jayam Subramanian and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + + + + + STORIES FROM THE ITALIAN POETS: + + WITH + + LIVES OF THE WRITERS. + + + BY LEIGH HUNT. + + + IN TWO VOLUMES. + + VOL. II. + + + + MDCCCXLVI. + + + CONTENTS + + OF + + THE SECOND VOLUME. + + + BOIARDO. + + CRITICAL NOTICE OF HIS LIFE AND GENIUS + + THE ADVENTURES OF ANGELICA + + THE DEATH OF AGRICAN + + THE SARACEN FRIENDS + Part the Second + + SEEING AND BELIEVING + + + ARIOSTO. + + CRITICAL NOTICE OF HIS LIFE AND GENIUS + + THE ADVENTURES OF ANGELICA Part + I. Angelica and her Suitors + II. Angelica and Medoro + III. The Jealousy of Orlando + + ASTOLFO'S JOURNEY TO THE MOON + + ARIODANTE AND GINEVRA + + SUSPICION + + ISABELLA + + + TASSO. + + CRITICAL NOTICE OF HIS LIFE AND GENIUS + + OLINDO AND SOPHRONIA + + TANCRED AND CLORINDA + + RINALDO AND ARMIDA; + + WITH THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENCHANTED FOREST: + Part I. Armida in the Christian Camp + II. Armida's Hate and Love + III. The Terrors of the Enchanted Forest + IV. The Loves of Rinaldo and Armida + V. The Disenchantment of the Forest, and the Taking of + Jerusalem, &c. + + + APPENDIX. + + I. The Death of Agrican + II. Angelica and Medoro Translation + III. The Jealousy of Orlando + IV. The Death of Clorinda + V. Tancred in the Enchanted Forest + + + +BOIARDO: + +Critical Notice of his Life and Genius. + +Critical Notice + +OF BOIARDO'S LIFE AND GENIUS.[1] + +While Pulci in Florence was elevating romance out of the street-ballads, +and laying the foundation of the chivalrous epic, a poet appeared in +Lombardy (whether inspired by his example is uncertain) who was destined +to carry it to a graver though still cheerful height, and prepare the way +for the crowning glories of Ariosto. In some respects he even excelled +Ariosto: in all, with the exception of style, shewed himself a genuine +though immature master. + +Little is known of his life, but that little is very pleasant. It +exhibits him in the rare light of a poet who was at once rich, romantic, +an Arcadian and a man of the world, a feudal lord and an indulgent +philosopher, a courtier equally beloved by prince and people. + +Matteo Maria Boiardo, Count of Scandiano, Lord of Arceto, Casalgrande, +&c., Governor of Reggio, and Captain of the citadel of Modena (it is +pleasant to repeat such titles when so adorned), is understood to have +been born about the year 1434, at Scandiano, a castle at the foot of the +Apennines, not far from Reggio, and famous for its vines. + +He was of an ancient family, once lords of Rubiera, and son of Giovanni, +second count of Scandiano, and Lucia, a lady of a branch of the Strozzi +family in Florence, and sister and aunt of Tito and Erole Strozzi, +celebrated Latin poets. His parents appear to have been wise people, for +they gave him an education that fitted him equally for public and private +life. He was even taught, or acquired, more Greek than was common to the +men of letters of that age. His whole life seems, accordingly, to have +been divided, with equal success, between his duties as a servant of the +dukes of Modena, both military and civil, and the prosecution of his +beloved art of poetry,--a combination of pursuits which have been idly +supposed incompatible. Milton's poetry did not hinder him from being +secretary to Cromwell, and an active partisan. Even the sequestered +Spenser was a statesman; and poets and writers of fiction abound in +the political histories of all the great nations of Europe. When a +man possesses a thorough insight into any one intellectual department +(except, perhaps, in certain corners of science), it only sharpens his +powers of perception for the others, if he chooses to apply them. + +In the year 1469, Boiardo was one of the noblemen who went to meet the +Emperor Frederick the Third on his way to Ferrara, when Duke Borso of +Modena entertained him in that city. Two years afterwards, Borso, who had +been only Marquis of Ferrara, received its ducal title from the Pope; and +on going to Rome to be invested with his new honours, the name of our +poet is again found among the adorners of his state. A few days after his +return home this prince died; and Boiardo, favoured as he had been by +him, appears to have succeeded to a double portion of regard in the +friendship of the new duke, Ercole, who was more of his own age. + +During all this period, from his youth to his prime, our author varied +his occupations with Italian and Latin poetry; some of it addressed to a +lady of the name of Antonia Caprara, and some to another, whose name is +thought to have been Rosa; but whether these ladies died, or his love was +diverted elsewhere, he took to wife, in the year 1472, Taddea Gonzaga, of +the noble house of that name, daughter of the Count of Novellara. In the +course of the same year he is supposed to have begun his great poem. A +popular court-favourite, in the prime of life, marrying and commencing +a great poem nearly at one and the same time, presents an image of +prosperity singularly delightful. By this lady Boiardo had two sons and +four daughters. The younger son, Francesco Maria, died in his childhood; +but the elder, Camillo, succeeded to his father's title, and left an heir +to it,--the last, I believe, of the name. The reception given to the +poet's bride, when he took her to Scandiano, is said to have been very +splendid. + +In the ensuing year the duke his master took a wife himself. She was +Eleonora, daughter of the King of Naples; and the newly-married poet was +among the noblemen who were sent to escort her to Ferrara. For several +years afterwards, his time was probably filled up with the composition +of the _Orlando Innamorato_, and the entertainments given by a splendid +court. He was appointed Governor of Reggio, probably in 1478. At the +expiration of two or three years he was made Captain of the citadel of +Modena; and in 1482 a war broke out, with the Venetians, in which he took +part, for it interrupted the progress of his poem. In 1484 he returned +to it; but ten years afterwards was again and finally interrupted by the +unprincipled descent of the French on Italy under Charles the Eighth; and +in the December following he died. The _Orlando Innamorato_ was thus left +unfinished. Eight years before his decease the author published what he +had written of it up to that time, but the first complete edition was +posthumous. The poet was writing when the French came: he breaks off with +an anxious and bitter notice of the interruption, though still unable to +deny himself a last word on the episode which he was relating, and a hope +that he should conclude it another time. + + "Mentre che io canto, o Dio redentore, + Vedo l'Italia tutta a fiamma e foco, + Per questi Galli, che con gran valore + Vengon, per disertar non so che loco: + Però vi lascio in questo vano amore + Di Fiordespina ardente poco a poco + Un' altra volta, se mi fia concesso, + Racconterovvi il tutto per espresso." + + But while I sing, mine eyes, great God! behold + A flaming fire light all the Italian sky, + Brought by these French, who, with their myriads bold, + Come to lay waste, I know not where or why. + Therefore, at present, I must leave untold + How love misled poor Fiordespina's eye.[2] + Another time, Fate willing, I shall tell, + From first to last, how every thing befell. + +Besides the _Orlando Innamorato_, Boiardo wrote a variety of prose works, +a comedy in verse on the subject of Timon, lyrics of great elegance, with +a vein of natural feeling running through them, and Latin poetry of a +like sort, not, indeed, as classical in its style as that of Politian and +the other subsequent revivers of the ancient manner, but perhaps not +the less interesting on that account; for it is difficult to conceive +a thorough copyist in style expressing his own thorough feelings. Mr. +Panizzi, if I am not mistaken, promised the world a collection of the +miscellaneous poems of Boiardo; but we have not yet had the pleasure +of seeing them. In his life of the poet, however, he has given several +specimens, both Latin and Italian, which are extremely agreeable. The +Latin poems consist of ten eclogues and a few epigrams; but the epigrams, +this critic tells us, are neither good nor on a fitting subject, being +satirical sallies against Nicolò of Este, who had attempted to seize on +Ferrara, and been beheaded. Boiardo was not of a nature qualified to +indulge in bitterness. A man of his chivalrous disposition probably +misgave himself while he was writing these epigrams. Perhaps he suffered +them to escape his pen out of friendship for the reigning branch of the +family. But it must be confessed, that some of the best-natured men have +too often lost sight of their higher feelings during the pleasure and +pride of composition. + +With respect to the comedy of _Timon_, if the whole of it is written as +well as the concluding address of the misanthrope (which Mr. Panizzi has +extracted into his pages), it must be very pleasant. Timon conceals a +treasure in a tomb, and thinks he has baffled some knaves who had a +design upon it. He therefore takes leave of his audience with the +following benedictions + + "Pur ho scacciate queste due formiche, + Che raspavano l' oro alla mia buca, + Or vadan pur, che Dio le malediche. + + Cotal fortuna a casa li conduca, + Che lor fiacchi le gambe al primo passo, + E nel secondo l'osso della nuca. + + Voi altri, che ascoltate giuso al basso, + Chiedete, se volete alcuna cosa, + Prima ch' io parta, perchè mo vi lasso. + + Benchè abbia l'alma irata e disdegnosa, + Da ingiusti oltraggi combattuta e vinta, + A voi già non l'avrò tanto ritrosa. + + In me non è pietade al tutto estinta + Faccia di voi la prova chi gli pare, + Sino alla corda, the mi trovo cinta; + + Gli presterò, volendosi impiccare." + + So! I've got rid of these two creeping things, + That fain would have scratched up my buried gold. + They're gone; and may the curse of God go with them! + May they reach home dust in good time enough + To break their legs at the first step in doors, + And necks i' the second!--And now then, as to you, + Good audience,--groundlings,--folks who love low places, + You too perhaps would fain get something of me, + Ere I take leave.--Well;--angered though I be, + Scornful and torn with rage at being ground + Into the dust with wrong, I'm not so lost + To all concern and charity for others + As not to be still kind enough to part + With something near to me-something that's wound + About my very self. Here, sirs; mark this;-- + _[Untying the cord round his waist_. + Let any that would put me to the test, + Take it with all my heart, and hang themselves. + +The comedy of _Timon_, which was chiefly taken from Lucian, and one, +if not more, of Boiardo's prose translations from other ancients, were +written at the request of Duke Ercole, who was a great lover of dramatic +versions of this kind, and built a theatre for their exhibition at an +enormous expense. These prose translations consist of Apuleius's +_Golden Ass_, Herodotus (the Duke's order), the _Golden Ass_ of Lucian, +Xenophon's _Cyropædia_ (not printed), Emilius Probus (also not printed, +and supposed to be Cornelius Nepos), and Riccobaldo's credulous _Historia +Universalis_, with additions. It seems not improbable, that he also +translated Homer and Diodorus; and Doni the bookmaker asserts, that he +wrote a work called the _Testamento dell' Anima_ (the Soul's Testament) +but Mr. Panizzi calls Doni "a barefaced impostor;" and says, that as +the work is mentioned by nobody else, we may be "certain that it never +existed," and that the title was "a forgery of the impudent priest." + +Nothing else of Boiardo's writing is known to exist, but a collection +of official letters in the archives of Modena, which, according to +Tiraboschi, are of no great importance. It is difficult to suppose, +however, that they would not be worth looking at. The author of the +_Orlando Innamorato_ could hardly write, even upon the driest matters +of government, with the aridity of a common clerk. Some little lurking +well-head of character or circumstance, interesting to readers of a later +age, would probably break through the barren ground. Perhaps the letters +went counter to some of the good Jesuit's theology. + +Boiardo's prose translations from the authors of antiquity are so scarce, +that Mr. Panizzi himself, a learned and miscellaneous reader, says he +never saw them. I am willing to get the only advantage in my power +over an Italian critic, by saying that I have had some of them in my +hands,--brought there by the pleasant chances of the bookstalls; but I +can give no account of them. A modern critic, quoted by this gentleman +(Gamba, _Testi di Lingua_), calls the version of Apuleius "rude and +curious;"[3] but adds, that it contains "expressions full of liveliness +and propriety." By "rude" is probably meant obsolete, and comparatively +unlearned. Correctness of interpretation and classical nicety of style +(as Mr. Panizzi observes) were the growths of a later age. + +Nothing is told us by his biographers of the person of Boiardo: and it is +not safe to determine a man's _physique_ from his writings, unless +perhaps with respect to the greater or less amount of his animal spirits; +for the able-bodied may write effeminately, and the feeblest supply the +defect of corporal stamina with spiritual. Portraits, however, seem to be +extant. Mazzuchelli discovered that a medal had been struck in the +poet's honour; and in the castle of Scandiano (though "the halls where +knights and ladies listened to the adventures of the Paladin are now +turned into granaries," and Orlando himself has nearly disappeared +from the outside, where he was painted in huge dimensions as +if "entrusted with the wardenship") there was a likeness of Boiardo +executed by Niccolo dell' Abate, together with the principal events of +the _Orlando Innamorato_ and the _Æneid_.But part of these +paintings (Mr. Panizzi tells us) were destroyed, and part removed from +the castle to Modena" to save them from certain loss;" and he does not +add whether the portrait was among the latter. + +From anecdotes, however, and from the poet's writings, we gather the +nature of the man; and this appears to have been very amiable. There is +an aristocratic tone in his poem, when speaking of the sort of people of +whom the mass of soldiers is wont to consist; and Foscolo says, that the +Count of Scandiano writes like a feudal lord. But common soldiers are not +apt to be the _elite_ of mankind; neither do we know with how goodnatured +a smile the mention of them may have been accompanied. People often give +a tone to what they read, more belonging to their own minds than the +author's. All the accounts left us of Boiardo, hostile as well as +friendly, prove him to have been an indulgent and popular man. According +to one, he was fond of making personal inquiries among its inhabitants +into the history of his native place; and he requited them so generously +for their information, that it was customary with them to say, when they +wished good fortune to one another, "Heaven send Boiardo to your house!" +There is said to have been a tradition at Scandiano, that having tried in +vain one day, as he was riding out, to discover a name for one of his +heroes, expressive of his lofty character, and the word _Rodamonte_ +coming into his head, he galloped back with a pleasant ostentation to his +castle, crying it out aloud, and ordering the bells of the place to be +rung in its holiour; to the astonishment of the good people, who took +"Rodamonte" for some newly-discovered saint. His friend Paganelli of +Modena, who wrote a Latin poem on the _Empire of Cupid_, extolled +the Governor of Reggio for ranking among the deity's most generous +vassals,--one who, in spite of his office of magistrate, looked with +an indulgent eye on errors to which himself was liable, and who was +accustomed to prefer the study of love-verses to that of the law. The +learned lawyer, his countryman Panciroli, probably in resentment, as +Panizzi says, of this preference, accused him of an excess of benignity, +and of being fitter for writing poems than punishing ill deeds; and in +truth, as the same critic observes, "he must have been considered crazy +by the whole tribe of lawyers of that age," if it be true that he +anticipated the opinion of Beccaria, in thinking that no crime ought to +be punished with death. + +The great work of this interesting and accomplished person, the _Orlando +Innamorato_, is an epic romance, founded on the love of the great Paladin +for the peerless beauty Angelica, whose name has enamoured the ears of +posterity. The poem introduces us to the pleasantest paths in that track +of reading in which Milton has told us that his "young feet delighted to +wander." Nor did he forsake it in his age. + + "Such forces met not, nor so wide a camp, + When Agrican with all his northern powers + Besieged Albracca, as romances tell, + The city of Gallaphrone, from whence to win + The fairest of her sex, Angelica." + + _Paradise Regained._ + +The _Orlando Innamorato_ may be divided into three principal +portions:-the search for Angelica by Orlando and her other lovers; the +siege of her father's city Albracca by the Tartars; and that of Paris +and Charlemagne by the Moors. These, however, are all more or less +intermingled, and with the greatest art; and there are numerous episodes +of a like intertexture. The fairies and fairy-gardens of British romance, +and the fabulous glories of the house of Este, now proclaimed for the +first time, were added by the author to the enchantments of Pulci, +together with a pervading elegance; and had the poem been completed, we +were to have heard again of the traitor Gan of Maganza, for the purpose +of exalting the imaginary founder of that house, Ruggero. + +This resuscitation of the Helen of antiquity, under a more seducing form, +was an invention of Boiardo's; so was the subjection of Charles's hero +Orlando to the passion of love; so, besides the heroine and her name, +was that of other interesting characters with beautiful names, which +afterwards figured in Ariosto. This inventive faculty is indeed so +conspicuous in every part of the work, on small as well as great +occasions, in fairy-adventures and those of flesh and blood, that +although the author appears to have had both his loves and his fairies +suggested to him by our romances of Arthur and the Round Table, it +constitutes, next to the pervading elegance above mentioned, his chief +claim to our admiration. Another of his merits is a certain tender +gallantry, or rather an honest admixture of animal passion with +spiritual, also the precursor of the like ingenuous emotions in Ariosto; +and he furthermore set his follower the example, not only of good +breeding, but of a constant heroical cheerfulness, looking with faith on +nature. Pulci has a constant cheerfulness, but not with so much grace and +dignity. Foscolo has remarked, that Boiardo's characters even surpass +those of Ariosto in truth and variety, and that his Angelica more engages +our feelings;[4] to which I will venture to add, that if his style is +less strong and complete, it never gives us a sense of elaboration. I +should take Boiardo to have been the healthier man, though of a less +determined will than Ariosto, and perhaps, on the whole, less robust. +You find in Boiardo almost which Ariosto perfected,--chivalry, battles, +combats, loves and graces, passions, enchantments, classical and romantic +fable, eulogy, satire, mirth, pathos, philosophy. It is like the first +sketch of a great picture, not the worse in some respects for being a +sketch; free and light, though not so grandly coloured. It is the morning +before the sun is up, and when the dew is on the grass. Take the stories +which are translated in the present volume, and you might fancy them all +written by Ariosto, with a difference; the _Death of Agrican_ perhaps +with minuter touches of nature, but certainly not with greater simplicity +and earnestness. In the _Saracen Friends_ there is just Ariosto's balance +of passion and levity; and in the story which I have entitled _Seeing and +Believing_, his exhibition of triumphant cunning. During the lives of +Pulci and Boiardo, the fierce passions and severe ethics of Dante had +been gradually giving way to a gentler and laxer state of opinion before +the progress of luxury; and though Boiardo's enamoured Paladin retains a +kind of virtue not common in any age to the heroes of warfare, the lord +of Scandiano, who appears to have recited his poem, sometimes to his +vassals and sometimes to the ducal circle at court, intimates a smiling +suspicion that such a virtue would be considered a little rude and +obsolete by his hearers. Pulci's wandering gallant, Uliviero, who in +Dante's time would have been a scandalous profligate, had become the +prototype of the court-lover in Boiardo's. The poet, however, in his most +favourite characters, retained and recommended a truer sentiment, as in +the instance of the loves of Brandimart and Fiordelisa; and there is +a graceful cheerfulness in some of his least sentimental ones, which +redeems them from grossness. I know not a more charming fancy in the +whole loving circle of fairy-land, than the female's shaking her long +tresses round Mandricardo, in order to furnish him with a mantle, when he +issues out of the enchanted fountain.[5] + +But Boiardo's poem was unfinished: there are many prosaical passages +in it, many lame and harsh lines, incorrect and even ungrammatical +expressions, trivial images, and, above all, many Lombard provincialisms, +which are not in their nature of a "significant or graceful" sort,[6] and +which shocked the fastidious Florentines, the arbiters of Italian taste. +It was to avoid these in his own poetry, that Boiardo's countryman +Ariosto carefully studied the Tuscan dialect, if not visited Florence +itself; and the consequence was, that his greater genius so obscured the +popularity of his predecessor, that a remarkable process, unique in the +history of letters, appears to have been thought necessary to restore +its perusal. The facetious Berni, a Tuscan wit full of genius, without +omitting any particulars of consequence, or adding a single story except +of himself, re-cast the whole poem of Boiardo, altering the diction of +almost every stanza, and supplying introductions to the cantos after the +manner of Ariosto; and the Florentine idiom and unfailing spirit of this +re-fashioner's verse (though, what is very curious, not till after a long +chance of its being overlooked itself, and a posthumous editorship which +has left doubts on the authority of the text) gradually effaced almost +the very mention of the man's name who had supplied him with the whole +staple commodity of his book, with all the heart of its interest, and +with far the greater part of the actual words. The first edition of Berni +was prohibited in consequence of its containing a severe attack on the +clergy; but even the prohibition did not help to make it popular. The +reader may imagine a similar occurrence in England, by supposing that +Dryden had re-written the whole of Chaucer, and that his reconstruction +had in the course of time as much surpassed the original in popularity, +as his version of the _Flower and the Leaf_ did, up to the beginning of +the present century. + +I do not mean to compare Chaucer with Boiardo, or Dryden with Berni. Fine +poet as I think Boiardo, I hold Chaucer to be a far finer; and spirited, +and in some respects admirable, as are Dryden's versions of Chaucer, they +do not equal that of Boiardo by the Tuscan. Dryden did not apprehend +the sentiment of Chaucer in any such degree as Berni did that of his +original. Indeed, Mr. Panizzi himself, to whom the world is indebted both +for the only good edition of Boiardo and for the knowledge of the most +curious facts respecting Berni's _rifacimento_, declares himself unable +to pronounce which of the two poems is the better one, the original +Boiardo, or the re-modelled. It would therefore not very well become a +foreigner to give a verdict, even if he were able; and I confess, after +no little consideration (and apart, of course, from questions of dialect, +which I cannot pretend to look into), I feel myself almost entirely at a +loss to conjecture on which side the superiority lies, except in point +of invention and a certain early simplicity. The advantage in those two +respects unquestionably belongs to Boiardo; and a great one it is, and +may not unreasonably be supposed to settle the rest of the question in +his favour; and yet Berni's fancy, during a more sophisticate period of +Italian manners, exhibited itself so abundantly in his own witty poems, +his pen at all times has such a charming facility, and he proved himself, +in his version of Boiardo, to have so strong a sympathy with the +earnestness and sentiment of his original in his gravest moments, that I +cannot help thinking the two men would have been each what the other was +in their respective times;--the Lombard the comparative idler, given more +to witty than serious invention, under a corrupt Roman court; and the +Tuscan the originator of romantic fictions, in a court more suited to him +than the one he avowedly despised. I look upon them as two men singularly +well matched. The nature of the present work does not require, and the +limits to which it is confined do not permit, me to indulge myself in a +comparison between them corroborated by proofs; but it is impossible not +to notice the connexion: and therefore, begging the reader's pardon for +the sorry substitute of affirmative for demonstrative criticism, I may be +allowed to say, that if Boiardo has the praise of invention to himself, +Berni thoroughly appreciated and even enriched it; that if Boiardo has +sometimes a more thoroughly charming simplicity, Berni still appreciates +it so well, that the difference of their times is sufficient to restore +the claim of equality of feeling; and finally, that if Berni strengthens +and adorns the interest of the composition with more felicitous +expressions, and with a variety of lively and beautiful trains of +thought, you feel that Boiardo was quite capable of them all, and might +have done precisely the same had he lived in Berni's age. In the greater +part of the poem the original is altered in nothing except diction, +and often (so at least it seems to me) for no other reason than the +requirements of the Tuscan manner. And this is the case with most of the +noblest, and even the liveliest passages. My first acquaintance, for +example, with the _Orlando Innamorato_ was through the medium of Berni; +and on turning to those stories in his version, which I have translated +from his original for the present volume, I found that every passage but +one, to which I had given a mark of admiration, was the property of the +old poet. That single one, however, was in the exquisitest taste, full of +as deep a feeling as any thing in its company (I have noticed it in the +translated passage). And then, in the celebrated introductions to his +cantos, and the additions to Boiardo's passages of description and +character (those about Rodamonte, for example, so admired by Foscolo), if +Berni occasionally spews a comparative want of faith which you regret, he +does it with a regret on his own part, visible through all his jesting. +Lastly, the singular and indignant strength of his execution often makes +up for the trustingness that he was sorry to miss. If I were asked, in +short, which of the two poems I should prefer keeping, were I compelled +to choose, I should first complain of being forced upon so hard an +alternative, and then, with many a look after Berni, retain Boiardo. The +invention is his; the first earnest impulse; the unmisgivings joy; the +primitive morning breath, when the town-smoke has not polluted the +fields, and the birds are singing their "wood-notes wild." Besides, after +all, one cannot be _sure_ that Berni could have invented as Boiardo did. +If he could, he would probably have written some fine serious poem of his +own. And Panizzi has observed, with striking and conclusive truth, that +"without Berni the _Orlando Innamorato_ will be read and enjoyed; without +Boiardo not even the name of the poem remains."[7] + +Nevertheless this conclusion need not deprive us of either work. Berni +raised a fine polished edifice, copied and enlarged after that of +Boiardo;--on the other hand, the old house, thank Heaven, remains; and +our best way of settling the question between the two is, to be glad that +we have got both. Let the reader who is rich in such possessions look +upon Berni's as one of his town mansions, erected in the park-like +neighbourhood of some metropolis; and Boiardo's as the ancient country +original of it, embosomed in the woods afar off, and beautiful as the +Enchanted Castle of Claude-- + + "Lone sitting by the shores of old romance." + + * * * * * + +[Footnote 1: The materials for the biography in this notice have been +gathered from Tiraboschi and others, but more immediately from the +copious critical memoir from the pen of Mr. Panizzi, in that gentleman's +admirable edition of the combined poems of Boiardo and Ariosto, in nine +volumes octavo, published by Mr. Pickering. I have been under obligations +to this work in the notice of Pulci, and shall again be so in that of +Boiardo's successor; but I must not a third time run the risk of omitting +to give it my thanks (such as they are), and of earnestly recommending +every lover of Italian poetry, who can afford it, to possess himself of +this learned, entertaining, and only satisfactory edition of either of +the Orlandos. The author writes an English almost as correct as it is +elegant; and he is as painstaking as he is lively.] + +[Footnote 2: She had taken a damsel in male attire for a man] + +[Footnote 3: Crescimbeni himself had not seen the translation from +Apuleius, nor, apparently, several others--_Commentari, &c_. vol. ii. +part ii. lib. vii. sect. xi.] + +[Footnote 4: Article on the _Narrative and Romantic Poems of the +Italians_, in the _Quarterly Review_, No. 62, p. 527.] + +[Footnote 5: + + "E' suoi capelli a sè sciolse di testa, + Che n'avea molti la dama gioconda; + Ed, abbracciato il cavalier con festa, + Tutto il coperse de la treccia bionda: + Così, nascosi entrambi di tal vesta, + Uscir' di quella fonte e la bell' onda." + + Her locks she loosened from her lovely head, + For many and long had that same lady fair; + And clasping him in mirth as round they spread, + Covered the knight with the sweet shaken hair: + And so, thus both together garmented, + They issued from the fount to the fresh air. + +Readers of the _Faerie Queene_ will here see where Spenser has been, +among his other visits to the Bowers of Bliss.] + +[Footnote 6: Foscolo, _ut sup_. p. 528.] + +[Footnote 7: A late amiable man of wit, Mr. Stewart Rose, has given +a prose abstract of Berni's _Orlando Innamorato_, with occasional +versification; but it is hardly more than a dry outline, and was, indeed, +intended only as an introduction to his version of the _Furioso_. A good +idea, however, of one of the phases of Berni's humour may be obtained +from the same gentleman's abridgment of the _Animali Parlanti_ of Casti, +in which he has introduced a translation of the Tuscan's description of +himself and of his way of life, out of his additions to Boiardo's poem. +The verses in the prohibited edition of Berni's _Orlando_, in which he +denounced the corruptions of the clergy, have been published, for the +first time in this country, in the notes to the twentieth canto of Mr. +Panizzi's Boiardo. They have all his peculiar wit, together with a +_Lutheran_ earnestness; and shew him, as that critic observes, to have +been "Protestant at his heart." + +Since writing this note I have called to mind that a translation of +Berni's account of himself is to be found in Mr. Rose's prose abstract of +the _Innamorato._] + + +THE ADVENTURES OF ANGELICA. + +Argument. + +Angelica, daughter of Galafron, king of Cathay, the most beautiful of +womankind, and a possessor of the art of magic, comes, with her brother +Argalia, to the court of Charlemagne under false pretences, in order +to carry away his knights to the country of her father. Her immediate +purpose is defeated, and her brother slain; but all the knights, Orlando +in particular, fall in love with her; and she herself, in consequence of +drinking at an enchanted fountain, becomes in love with Rinaldo. On the +other hand, Rinaldo, from drinking a neighbouring fountain of a reverse +quality, finds his own love converted to loathing. Various adventures +arise out of these circumstances; and the fountains are again drunk, with +a mutual reversal of their effects. + +THE ADVENTURES OF ANGELICA + +It was the month of May and the feast of Pentecost, and Charlemagne had +ordained a great jousting, which brought into Paris an infinite number of +people, baptised and infidel; for there was truce proclaimed, in order +that every knight might come. There was King Grandonio from Spain, with +his serpent's face; and Ferragus, with his eyes like an eagle; and +Balugante, the emperor's kinsman; and Orlando, and Rinaldo, and Duke +Namo; and Astolfo of England, the handsomest of mankind; and the +enchanter Malagigi; and Isoliero and Salamone; and the traitor Gan, with +his scoundrel followers; and, in short, the whole flower of the chivalry +of the age, the greatest in the world. The tables at which they feasted +were on three sides of the hall, with the emperor's canopy midway at the +top; and at that first table sat crowned heads; and down the table on the +right sat dukes and marquises; and down the table on the left, counts and +cavaliers. But the Saracen nobles, after their doggish fashion, looked +neither for chair nor bench, but preferred a carpet on the floor, which +was accordingly spread for them in the midst. + +High sat Charlemagne at the head of his vassals and his Paladins, +rejoicing in the thought of all the great men of which they consisted, +and holding the infidels cheap as the sands which are scattered by the +tempest. To each of his lords, as they drank, he sent round, by his +pages, gifts of enamelled cups of exquisite workmanship; and to every +body some mark of his princely distinction; and so they were all sitting +and hearing music, and feasting off dishes of gold, and talking of lovely +things with low voices,[1] when suddenly there came into the hall four +enormous giants, in the midst of whom was a lady, and behind the lady +there followed a cavalier. She was a very lily of the field, and a rose +of the garden, and a morning-star; in short, so beautiful that the like +had never been seen. There was Galerana in the hall; there was Alda, +the wife of Orlando; and Clarice, and Armellina the kind-hearted, and +abundance of other ladies, all beautiful till she made her appearance; +but after that they seemed nothing. Every Christian knight turned his +face that way; and not a Pagan remained on the floor, but arose and got +as near to her as he could; while she, with a cheerful sweetness, and +a smile fit to enamour a heart of stone, began speaking the following +words: + +"High-minded lord, the renown of your worthiness, and the valour of these +your knights, which echoes from sea to sea, encourages me to hope, that +two pilgrims who have come from the ends of the world to behold you, will +not have encountered their fatigue in vain. And to the end that I may not +hold your attention too long with speaking, let me briefly say, that +this knight here, Uberto of the Lion, a prince renowned also for his +achievements, has been wrongfully driven from out his dominions; and that +I, who was driven out with him, am his sister, whose name is Angelica. +Fame has told us of the jousting this day appointed, and of the noble +press of knights here assembled, and how your generous natures care not +to win prizes of gold or jewels, or gifts of cities, but only a wreath of +roses; and so the prince my brother has come to prove his own valour, and +to say, that if any or all of your guests, whether baptised or infidel, +choose to meet him in the joust, he will encounter them one by one, in +the green meadow without the walls, near the place called the Horseblock +of Merlin, by the Fountain of the Pine. And his conditions are +these,--that no knight who chances to be thrown shall have license to +renew the combat in any way whatsoever, but remain a submissive prisoner +in his hands; he, on the other hand, if himself be thrown, agreeing to +take his departure out of the country with his giants, and to leave his +sister, for prize, in the hands of the conqueror." + +Kneeling at the close of these words, the lady awaited the answer of +Charlemagne, and every body gazed on her with astonishment. Orlando +especially, more than all the rest, felt irresistibly drawn towards her, +so that his heart trembled, and he changed countenance. But he felt +ashamed at the same time; and casting his eyes down, he said to himself, +"Ah, mad and unworthy Orlando! whither is thy soul being hurried? I am +drawn, and cannot say nay to what draws me. I reckoned the whole world as +nothing, and now I am conquered by a girl. I cannot get her sweet look +out of my heart. My soul seems to die within me, at the thought of being +without her. It is love that has seized me, and I feel that nothing will +set me free;--not strength, nor courage, nor my own wisdom, nor that of +any adviser. I see the better part, and cleave to the worse."[2] + +Thus secretly in his heart did the frank and noble Orlando lament over +his new feelings; and no wonder; for every knight in the hall was +enamoured of the beautiful stranger, not excepting even old white-headed +Duke Namo. Charlemagne himself did not escape. + +All stood for awhile in silence, lost in the delight of looking at +her. The fiery youth Ferragus was the first to exhibit symptoms in his +countenance of uncontrollable passion. He refrained with difficulty from +going up to the giants, and tearing her out of their keeping. Rinaldo +also turned as red as fire; while his cousin Malagigi the enchanter, who +had discovered that the stranger was not speaking truth, muttered softly, +as he looked at her, "Exquisite false creature! I will play thee such a +trick for this, as will leave thee no cause to boast of thy visit." + +Charlemagne, to detain her as long as possible before him, made a speech +in answer, in which he talked and looked, and looked and talked, till +there seemed no end of it. At length, however, the challenge was accepted +in all its forms; and the lady quitted the hall with her brother and the +giants. + +She had not yet passed the gates, when Malagigi the enchanter consulted +his books; and that no means might be wanting to complete the +counteraction of what he suspected, he summoned to his aid three spirits +out of the lower regions. But how serious his look turned, how his very +soul within him was shaken, when he discovered that the most dreadful +disasters hung over Charles and his court, and that the sister of the +pretended Uberto was daughter of King Galafron of Cathay, a beauty +accomplished in every species of enchantment, and sent there by her +father on purpose to betray them all! Her brother's name was not Uberto, +but Argalia. Galafron had given him a horse swifter than the wind, an +enchanted sword, a golden lance, also enchanted, which overthrew all whom +it touched,[3] and a ring of a virtue so extraordinary, that if put into +the mouth, it rendered the person invisible, and if worn on the finger, +nullified every enchantment. But beyond even all this, he gave him his +sister for a companion; rightly judging, that every body that saw her +would fall into the proposal of the joust; and trusting that, at the +close of it, she would bring him the whole court of France into Cathay, +prisoners in her hands. + +Such, Malagigi discovered, was the plot of the accursed infidel hound, +King Galafron.[4] + +Meantime the pretended Uberto had returned to his station at the +Horseblock of Merlin. He had had a beautiful pavilion pitched there; and +under this pavilion he lay down awhile to refresh himself with sleep. His +sister Angelica lay down also, but in the open air, under the great pine +by the fountain. The four giants kept watch: and as she lay thus asleep, +with her fair head on the grass, she appeared like an angel come down +from heaven. + +By this time Malagigi, borne by one of his demons, had arrived in the +same place. He saw the beauty asleep by the flowery water, and the four +giants all wide awake; and he said within his teeth,--" Brute scoundrels, +I will take every one of you into my net without a blow." + +Malagigi took his book, and cast a spell out of it; and in an instant +the whole four giants were buried in sleep. Then, drawing his sword, he +softly approached the young lady, intending to despatch her as quickly: +but seeing her look so lovely as she slept, he paused, and considered +within himself, and resolved to detain her in the same state by +enchantment, so long as it should please him. Laying down the naked sword +in the grass, he again took his book, and read and read on, and still +read on, and fancied he was locking up her senses all the while in a +sleep unwakeable. But the ring of which I have spoken was on her finger. +She had borrowed it of her brother; and a superior power rendered all +other magic of no avail. A touch from Malagigi to prove the force of his +spell awoke her, to the magician's consternation, with a great cry. She +fled into the arms of her brother, whom it aroused; and, by the help of +his sister's knowledge of enchantment, Argalia mastered and bound the +magician. The book was then turned against him, and the place was +suddenly filled with a crowd of his own demons, every one of them crying +out to Angelica, "What commandest thou?" + +"Take this man," said Angelica, "and bear him prisoner to the great city +between Tartary and India, where my father Galafron is lord. Present him +to him in my name, and say it was I that took him; and add, that having +so taken the master of the book, I care not for all the other lords of +the court of Charlemagne." + +At the end of these words, and at one and the same instant, the magician +was conveyed to the feet of Galafron in Cathay, and locked up in a rock +under the sea. + +In due time the enamoured knights, according to agreement, came to the +spot, for the purpose of jousting with the supposed Uberto, each anxious +to have the first encounter, particularly Orlando, in order that he might +not see the beauty carried off by another. But they were obliged to draw +lots; and thirty other names appeared before his, the first of which was +that of Astolfo the Englishman. + +Now Astolfo was son of the king of England; and as I said before, he was +the handsomest man in the world. He was also very rich and well bred, and +loved to dress well, and was as brave as he was handsome; but his success +was not always equal to his bravery. He had a trick of being thrown from +his horse, a failing which he was accustomed to attribute to accident; +and then he would mount again, and be again thrown from the saddle, in +the boldest manner conceivable. + +This gallant prince was habited, on the present occasion, in arms worth a +whole treasury. His shield had a border of large pearls; his mail was of +gold; on his helmet was a ruby as big as a chestnut; and his horse was +covered with a cloth all over golden leopards.[5] He issued to the +combat, looking at nobody and fearing nothing; and on his sounding +the horn to battle, Argalia came forth to meet him. After courteous +salutations, the two combatants rushed together; but the moment the +Englishman was touched with the golden lance, his legs flew over his +head. + +"Cursed fortune!" cried he, as he lay on the grass; "this is out of all +calculation. But it was entirely owing to the saddle. You can't but +acknowledge, that if I had kept my seat, the beautiful lady would have +been mine. But thus it is when Fortune chooses to befriend infidels!"[6] + +The four giants, who had by this time been disenchanted out of their +sleep by Angelica, took up the English prince, and put him in the +pavilion. But when he was stripped of his armour, he looked so handsome, +that the lovely stranger secretly took pity on him, and bade them shew +him all the courtesies that captivity allowed. He was permitted to walk +outside by the fountain; and Angelica, from a dark corner, looked at him +with admiration, as he walked up and down in the moonlight.[7] + +The violent Ferragus had the next chance in the encounter, and was thrown +no less speedily than Astolfo; but he did not so easily put up with the +mischance. Crying out, "What are the emperor's engagements to me?" he +rushed with his sword against Argalia, who, being forced to defend himself +unexpectedly, dismounted and set aside his lance, and got so much the +worse of the fight, that he listened to proposals of marriage from +Ferragus to his sister. The beauty, however, not feeling an inclination +to match with so rough and savage-looking a person, was so dismayed at +the offer, that, hastily bidding her brother meet her in the forest of +Arden, she vanished from the sight of both, by means of the enchanted +ring. Argalia, seeing this, took to his horse of swiftness, and dashed +away in the same direction; Ferragus, in distraction, pursued Argalia; +and Astolfo, thus left to himself, took possession of the golden lance, +and again issued forth--not, indeed, with quite his usual confidence of +the result, but determined to run all risks, in any thing that might +ensue, for the sake of the emperor. In fine, to cut this part of the +history short, Charlemagne, finding the lady and her brother gone, +ordered the joust to be restored to its first intention; and Astolfo, +who was as ignorant as the others of the treasure he possessed in the +enchanted lance, unhorsed all comers against him like so many children, +equally to their astonishment and his own. + +The Paladin Rinaldo now learnt the issue of the fight between Ferragus +and the stranger, and galloped in a loving agony of pursuit after +the fair fugitive. Orlando learnt the disappearance of Rinaldo, and, +distracted with jealousy, pushed forth in like manner; and at length all +three are in the forest of Arden, hunting about for her who is invisible. + +Now in this forest were two enchanted waters, the one a running stream, +and the other a built fountain; the first caused every body who tasted it +to fall in love, and the other (so to speak) to fall _out_ of love; say, +rather, to feel the love turned into hate. To the latter of these two +waters Rinaldo happened to come; and being flushed with heat and anxiety, +he dismounted from his horse, and quenched, in one cold draught, both his +thirst and his passion. So far from loving Angelica as before, or holding +her beauty of any account, he became disgusted with its pursuit, nay, +hated her from the bottom of his heart; and so, in this new state of +mind, and with feelings of lofty contempt, he remounted and rode away, +and happened to come on the bank of the running stream. There, enticed by +the beauty of the place, which was all sweet meadow-ground and bowers of +trees, he again quitted his saddle, and, throwing himself on the ground, +fell fast asleep. Unfortunately for the proud beauty Angelica, or rather +in just punishment for her contempt, her palfrey conducted her to this +very place. The water tempted her to drink, and, dismounting and tying +the animal to one of the trees, she did so, and then cast her eyes on the +sleeping Rinaldo. Love instantly seized her, and she stood rooted to the +spot. + +The meadow round about was all full of lilies of the valley and wild +roses. Angelica, not knowing what to do, at length plucked a quantity +of these, and with her white hand she dropped them on the face of the +sleeper. He woke up; and seeing who it was, not only received her +salutations with a change of countenance, but remounting his horse, +galloped away through the thickest part of the forest. In vain the +beautiful creature followed and called after him; in vain asked him what +she had done to be so despised, and entreated him, at any rate, to take +care how he went so fast. Rinaldo disappeared, leaving her to wring her +hands in despair; and she returned in tears to the spot on which she had +found him sleeping. There, in her turn, she herself lay down, pressing +the spot of earth on which he had lain; and so, weeping and lamenting, +yet blessing every flower and bit of grass that he had touched, fell +asleep out of fatigue and sorrow. + +As Angelica thus lay, the good or bad fortune of Orlando conducted him to +the same place. The attitude in which she was sleeping was so lovely +that it is not even to be conceived, much less expressed. The very grass +seemed to flower on all sides of her for joy; and the stream, as it +murmured along, to go talking of love.[8] Orlando stood gazing like a man +who had been transported to another sphere. "Am I on earth," thought he, +"or am I in paradise? Surely it is I myself that am sleeping, and this is +my dream." + +But his dream was proved to be none, in a manner which he little desired. +Ferragus, who had slain Argalia, came up raging with jealousy, and a +combat ensued which awoke the sleeper. Terrified at what she beheld, she +rushed to her palfrey; and while the fighters were occupied with one +another, fled away through the forest. + +Fast fled the beauty in the direction taken by Rinaldo; nor did she +cease travelling, by one conveyance or another, till she reached her own +country, whither she had sent Malagigi. Him she freed from his prison, +on condition that he would employ his art for the purpose of bringing +Rinaldo to a palace of hers, which she possessed in an island; and +accordingly Rinaldo was inveigled by a spirit into an enchanted barque, +which he found on a sea-shore, and which conveyed him, without any +visible pilot, into Joyous Palace (for so the island was called). + +The whole island was a garden, fifteen miles in extent. It was full of +trees and lawns; and on the western side, close to the sea, was the +palace, built of a marble so clear and polished, that it reflected the +landscape round about. Rinaldo, not knowing what to think of his strange +conveyance, lost no time in leaping to shore; upon which a lady made her +appearance, who invited him within. The house was a most beautiful house, +full of rooms adorned with azure and gold, and with noble paintings; +and within as well as without it were the loveliest flowers, the purest +fountains, and a fragrance fit to turn sorrow to joy. The lady led the +knight into an apartment painted with stories, and opening to the garden +through pillars of crystal with golden capitals. Here he found a bevy of +ladies, three of whom were singing in concert, while another played on +some foreign instrument of exquisite accord, and the rest were dancing +round about them. When the ladies beheld him coming, they turned the +dance into a circuit round about himself; and then one of them, in the +sweetest manner, said, "Sir knight, the tables are set, and the hour +for the banquet is come:" and with these words they all drew him, still +dancing, across the lawn in front of the apartment, to a table that was +spread with cloth of gold and fine linen, under a bower of damask roses, +by the side of a fountain.[9] + +Four ladies were already seated there, who rose and placed Rinaldo +at their head, in a chair set with pearls. And truly indeed was he +astonished. A repast ensued, consisting of viands the most delicate, and +wines as fragrant as they were fine, drunk out of jewelled cups; and +when it drew towards its conclusion, harps and lutes were heard in the +distance, and one of the ladies said in the knight's ear, "This house, +and all that you see in it, are yours. For you alone was it built, and +the builder is a queen; and happy indeed must you think yourself, for +she loves you, and she is the greatest beauty in the world. Her name is +Angelica." + +The moment Rinaldo heard the name he so detested, disgust and +wretchedness fell upon his heart, notwithstanding the joys around him. He +started up with a changed countenance, and, in spite of all that the lady +could say, broke off across the garden, and never ceased hastening till +he reached the place where he landed. He would have thrown himself into +the sea, rather than stay any longer in that island; but the enchanted +barque was still on the shore. He sprang into it, and attempted instantly +to push off, for he still saw nobody in it but himself; but the barque +for a while resisted his efforts; till, on his feeling a wish to drown +himself, or to do any thing rather than return to that detested house, it +suddenly loosed itself from its moorings, and dashed away with him over +the sea, as if in a fury. + +All night did the pilotless barque dash on, till it reached, in the +morning, a distant shore covered with a gloomy forest. Here Rinaldo, +surrounded by enchantments of a very different sort from those which he +had lately resisted, was entrapped into a pit. The pit belonged to a +castle which was hung with human heads, and painted red with blood; and +as the Paladin was calling upon God to help him, a hideous white-headed +old woman, of a spiteful countenance, made her appearance on the edge of +the pit, and told him that he must fight with a monster born of Death and +Desire. + +"Be it so," said the Paladin. "Let me but remain armed as I am, and I +fear nothing." For Rinaldo had with him his renowned sword Fusberta.[10] + +The old woman laughed in derision. Rinaldo remained in the den all night, +and next day was taken to a place where a portcullis was lifted up, and +the monster rushed forth. He was a mixture of hog and serpent, larger +than an ox, and not to be looked at without horror. He had eyes like a +traitor, the hands of a man, but clawed, a beard dabbled with blood, a +skin of coarse variegated colours, too hard to be cut through, and two +horns on his temples, which he could turn on all sides of him at his +pleasure, and which were so sharp that they cut like a sword. + +Rising on his hind-legs, and opening a mouth six palms in width, this +horrible beast fell heavily on Rinaldo, who was nevertheless quick enough +to give it a blow on the snout which increased its fury. Returning the +knight a tremendous cuff, it seized his coat of mail between breast and +shoulder, and tore away a great strip of it down to the girdle, +leaving the skin bare. Every successive rent and blow was of the like +irresistible violence; and though the Paladin himself never fought with +more force and fury, he lost blood every instant. The monster at length +tearing his sword out of his hand, the Paladin surely began to think that +his last hour was arrived. + +Looking about to see what might possibly help him, he observed overhead +a beam sticking out of a wall at the height of some ten feet. He took a +leap more than human; and reaching the beam with his hand, succeeded in +flinging himself up across it. Here he sat for hours, the furious brute +continually trying to reach him. Night-time then came on with a clear +starry sky and moonlight, and the Paladin could discern no way of +escaping, when he heard a sound of something, he knew not what, coming +through the air like a bird. Suddenly a female figure stood on the end of +the beam, holding something in her hand towards him, and speaking in a +loving voice. + +It was Angelica, come with means for destroying the monster, and carrying +the knight away. + +But the moment Rinaldo saw her, desperate as seemed to be his condition, +he renounced all offers of her assistance; and at length became so +exasperated with her good offices, especially when she opened her arms +and offered to bear him away in them, that he threatened to cast himself +down to the monster if she did not go away.[11] + +Angelica, saying that she would lose her life rather than displease him, +descended from the beam; and having given the monster a cake of wax which +fastened up his teeth, and then caught and fixed him in a set of nooses +she had brought for that purpose, took her miserable departure. Rinaldo +upon this got down from the beam himself; and having succeeded, though +with the greatest difficulty, in beating and squeezing the life out of +the monster, dealt such havoc among the people of the castle who +assailed him, that the horrible old woman, whose crimes had made her the +creature's housekeeper, and led her to take delight in its cruelty, threw +herself headlong from a tower. The Paladin then took his way forth, +turning his back on the castle and the sea-shore. + +Angelica returned to the capital of her father's dominion, Albracca; and +the pertinacity of others in seeking her love being as great as that of +hers for Rinaldo, she found King Galafron, in a short time, besieged +there for her sake, by the fierce Agrican, king of Tartary. + +In a short time a jealous feud sprang up between the loving friends +Rinaldo and Orlando; and Angelica, torn with conflicting emotions, from +her dread on her father's account as well as her own, and her aversion +to every knight but her detester, was at one time compelled to apply to +Orlando for assistance, and at another, being afraid that he would have +the better of Rinaldo in combat, to send him away on a perilous adventure +elsewhere, with a promise of accepting his love should he succeed.[12] +Orlando went, but not before he had slain Agrican and delivered Albracca. +Circumstances, however, again took him with her to a distance, as the +reader will see, ere he could bring her to perform her promise; and the +Paladins in general having again been scattered abroad, it happened that +Rinaldo a second time found himself in the forest of Arden; and here, +without expecting it, he became an altered man; for he now tasted a very +different stream from that which had given him his hate for Angelica; +namely, the one which had made her fall in love with himself. He was led +to do this by a very extraordinary adventure. + +In the thick of the forest he had come upon a mead full of flowers, in +which there was a naked youth, singing in the midst of three damsels, who +were naked also, and who were dancing round about him. They had bunches +of flowers in their hands, and garlands on their heads; and as they +were thus delighting themselves, with faces full of love and joy, they +suddenly changed countenance on seeing Rinaldo. "Behold," cried they, "the +traitor! Behold him, villain that he is, and the scorner of all delights! +He has fallen into the net at last." With these words they fell upon him +with the flowers like so many furies; and tender as such scourges might +be thought, every blow which the roses and violets gave him, every fresh +stroke of the lilies and the hyacinths, smote him to the very heart, and +filled his veins with fire. The flowers in the bands of the nymphs +being exhausted, the youth gave him a blow on the helmet with a tall +garden-lily, which felled him to the earth; and so, taking him by the +legs, and dragging him over the grass, his conqueror went the whole +circuit of the mead with him, the nymphs taking the very garlands off +their heads, and again scourging him with their white and red roses.[13] + +At the close of this discipline, which left him more exhausted than +twenty battles, his enemies suddenly developed wings from their +shoulders, the feathers of which were of white and gold and vermilion, +every feather having an eye in it, not like those in the peacock's +feathers, but one full of life and motion, being a female eye, lovely and +gracious. And with these wings they poised themselves a little, and so +sprung up to heaven.[14] + +The Paladin, more dead than alive, lay helpless among the flowers, when a +fourth nymph came up to him, of inexpressible beauty. She told him that +he had grievously offended the naked youth, who was no other than Love +himself; and added, that his only remedy was to be penitent, and to drink +of the waters of a stream hard by, which he would find running from the +roots of an olive-tree and a pine. With these words, she vanished in her +turn like the rest; and Rinaldo, dragging himself as well as he could to +the olive and pine, stooped down, and greedily drank of the water. Again +and again he drank, and wished still to be drinking, for it took not only +all pain out of his limbs, but all hate and bitterness out of his soul, +and produced such a remorseful and doating memory of Angelica, that he +would fain have galloped that instant to Cathay, and prostrated himself +at her feet. By degrees he knew the place; and looking round about him, +and preparing to remount his horse, he discerned a knight and a lady in +the distance. The knight was in a coat of armour unknown to him, and the +lady kneeling and drinking at a fountain, which was the one that had +formerly quenched his own thirst; to wit, the Fountain of Disdain. + +Alas! it was Angelica herself; and the knight was Orlando. She had +allowed him to bring her into France, ostensibly for the purpose of +wedding him at the court of Charlemagne, whither the hero's assistance +had been called against Agramant king of the Moors, but secretly with the +object of discovering Rinaldo. Rinaldo, behold! is discovered; but the +fatal averse water has been drunk, and Angelica now hates him in turn, as +cordially as he detested her. In vain he accosted her in the humblest and +most repentant manner, calling himself the unworthiest of mankind, and +entreating to be allowed to love her. Orlando, disclosing himself, +fiercely interrupted him; and a combat so terrific ensued, that Angelica +fled away on her palfrey till she came to a large plain, in which she +beheld an army encamped. + +The army was Charlemagne's, who had come to meet Rodamonte, one of the +vassals of Agramant. Angelica, in a tremble, related how she had left the +two Paladins fighting in the wood; and Charlemagne, who was delighted to +find Orlando so near him, proceeded thither with his lords, and parting +the combatants by his royal authority, suppressed the dispute between +them for the present, by consigning the object of their contention to the +care of Namo duke of Bavaria, with the understanding that she was to be +the prize of the warrior who should best deserve her in the approaching +battle with the infidels. + +[This is the last we hear of Angelica in the unfinished poem of Boiardo. +For the close of her history see its continuation by Ariosto in the +present volume.] + + +[Footnote 1: "Con parlar basso e bei ragionamenti."] + +[Footnote 2: _Video meliora, proboque, &c._ Writers were now beginning +to pride themselves on their classical reading. The present occasion, +it must be owned, was a very good one for introducing the passage from +Horace. The previous words have an affecting ingenuousness; and, indeed, +the whole stanza is beautiful: + + "Io non mi posso dal cor dipartire + La dolce vista del viso sereno, + Perch'io mi sento senza lei morire, + E 'l spirto a poco a poco venir meno. + Or non mi vale forza, nè l'ardire + Contra d' amor, the m' ha già posto il freno; + Nè mi giova saper, ne altrui consiglio: + Il meglio veggio, ed al peggior m'appiglio." + + Alas! I cannot, though I shut mine eyes, + Lose the sweet look of that delightful face; + The very soul within me droops and dies, + To think that I may fail to gain her grace. + No strong limbs now, no valour, will suffice + To burst the spell that roots me to the place: + No, nor reflection, nor advice, nor force; + I see the better part, and clasp the worse.] + +[Footnote 3: + [Greek: Argureais logchaisi machou, kai panta krataeseis.] + + "Make war with silver spears, and you'll beat all." + +The reader will note the allegory or not, as he pleases. It is a very +good allegory; but allegory, by the due process of enchantment, becomes +matter of fact; and it is pleasant to take it as such.] + +[Footnote 4: "Rè Galagron, il maledetto cane"] + +[Footnote 5: The lions in the shield of England were leopards in the +"olden time," and it is understood, I believe, ought still to be so,--as +Napoleon, with an invidious pedantry, once permitted himself to be angry +enough to inform us.] + +[Footnote 6: The character of Astolfo, the germ of which is in our own +ancient British romances, appears to have been completed by the lively +invention of Boiardo, and is a curious epitome of almost all which has +been discerned in the travelled Englishmen by the envy of poorer and the +wit of livelier foreigners. He has the handsomeness and ostentation of a +Buckingham, the wealth of a Beckford, the generosity of a Carlisle, the +invincible pretensions of a Crichton, the self-commitals and bravery of +a Digby, the lucklessness of a Stuart, and the _nonchalance_ "under +difficulties" of "_Milord What-then_" in Voltaire's _Princess of +Babylon_, where the noble traveller is discovered philosophically reading +the news-paper in his carriage after it was overturned. English beauty, +ever since the days of Pope Gregory, with his pun about Angles and +Angels, has been greatly admired in the south of Europe--not a little, +perhaps, on account of the general fairness of its complexion. I once +heard a fair-faced English gentleman, who would have been thought rather +effeminate looking at home, called an "Angel" by a lady in Genoa.] + +[Footnote 7: + + "Stava disciolto, senza guardia alcuna, + Ed intorno a la fonte sollazzava; + Angelica nel lume de la luna, + Quanto potea nascosa, lo mirava." + +There is something wonderfully soft and _lunar_ in the liquid monotony of +the third line.] + +[Footnote 8: + + "La qual dormiva in atto tanto adorno, + Che pensar non si può, non ch'io lo scriva + Parea che l'erba a lei fiorisse intorno, + E d'amor ragionasse quella riva." + + Her posture, as she lay, was exquisite + Above all words--nay, thought itself above: + The grass seemed flowering round her in delight, + And the soft river murmuring of love.] + +[Footnote 9: Supremely elegant all this appears to me.] + +[Footnote 10: Sometimes called in the romances _Frusberta_ (query, from +_fourbir_, to burnish; or, _froisser_, to crush?). The meaning does not +seem to be known. I ought to have observed, in the notes to Pulci, that +the name of Orlando's sword, _Durlindana_ (called also _Durindana, +Durandal_, &c.), is understood to mean _Hardhitter_.] + +[Footnote 11: The force of aversion was surely never better imagined than +in this scene of the opened arms of beauty, and the knight's preference +of the most odious death.] + +[Footnote 12: Legalised, I presume, by a divorce from the hero's wife, +the fair Alda; who, though she is generally designated by that epithet, +seems never to have had much of his attention.] + +[Footnote 13: This violent effect of weapons so extremely gentle is +beautifully conceived.] + +[Footnote 14: The "female eye, lovely and gracious," is charmingly +painted _per se_, but of this otherwise thoroughly beautiful description +I must venture to doubt, whether _living_ eyes of any sort, instead of +those in the peacock's feathers, are in good taste. The imagination +revolts from life misplaced.] + + +THE + +DEATH OF AGRICAN + +Argument. + +Agrican king of Tartary, in love with Angelica, and baffled by the +prowess of the unknown Orlando in his attempts to bring the siege of +Albracca to a favourable conclusion, entices him apart from the battle +into a wood, in the hope of killing him in single combat. The combat is +suspended by the arrival of night-time; and a conversation ensues between +the warriors, which is furiously interrupted by Agrican's discovery of +his rival, and the latter's refusal to renounce his love. Agrican is +slain; and in his dying moments requests baptism at the hand of his +conqueror, who, with great tenderness, bestows it. + +THE + +DEATH OF AGRICAN. + +The siege of Albracca was going on formidably under the command of +Agrican, and the city of Galafron was threatened with the loss of the +monarch's daughter, Angelica, when Orlando, at his earnest prayer, came +to assist him, and changing at once the whole course of the war, threw +the enemy in his turn into transports of anxiety. Wherever the great +Paladin came, pennon and standard fell before him. Men were cut up and +cloven down, at every stroke of his sword; and whereas the Indians had +been in full rout but a moment before, and the Tartars ever on their +flanks, Galafron himself being the swiftest among the spurrers away, it +was now the Tartars that fled for their lives; for Orlando was there, and +a band of fresh knights were about him, and Agrican in vain attempted to +rally his troops. The Paladin kept him constantly in his front, forcing +him to attend to nobody else. The Tartar king, who cared not a button for +Galafron and all his army,[1] provided he could but rid himself of this +terrible knight (whom he guessed at, but did not know), bethought him of +a stratagem. He turned his horse, and made a show of flying in despair. +Orlando dashed after him, as he desired; and Agrican fled till he reached +a green place in a wood, with a fountain in it. + +The place was beautiful, and the Tartar dismounted to refresh himself at +the fountain, but without taking off his helmet, or laying aside any of +his armour. Orlando was quickly at his back, crying out, "So bold, and +yet such a fugitive! How could you fly from a single arm, and yet think +to escape? When a man can die with honour, he should be glad to die; for +he may live and fare worse. He may get death and infamy together." + +The Tartar king had leaped on his saddle the moment he saw his enemy; and +when the Paladin had done speaking, he said in a mild voice, "Without +doubt you are the best knight I ever encountered; and fain would I leave +you untouched for your own sake, if you would cease to hinder me from +rallying my people. I pretended to fly, in order to bring you out of the +field. If you insist upon fighting, I must needs fight and slay you; but +I call the sun in the heavens to witness, that I would rather not. I +should be very sorry for your death." + +The County Orlando felt pity for so much gallantry; and he said," The +nobler you shew yourself, the more it grieves me to think, that in dying +without a knowledge of the true faith, you will be lost in the other +world. Let me advise you to save body and soul at once. Receive baptism, +and go your way in peace." + +Agrican looked him in the face, and replied, "I suspect you to be the +Paladin Orlando. If you are, I would not lose this opportunity of +fighting with you, to be king of Paradise. Talk to me no more about your +things of the other world; for you will preach in vain. Each of us for +himself, and let the sword be umpire." + +No sooner said than done. The Tartar drew his sword, boldly advancing +upon Orlando; and a cut and thrust fight began, so long and so terrible, +each warrior being a miracle of prowess, that the story says it lasted +from noon till night. Orlando then, seeing the stars come out, was the +first to propose a respite. "What are we to do," said he, "now that +daylight has left us?" + +Agrican answered readily enough, "Let us repose in this meadow, and renew +the combat at dawn." + +The repose was taken accordingly. Each tied up his horse, and reclined +himself on the grass, not far from one another, just as if they had been +friends,--Orlando by the fountain, Agrican beneath a pine. It was a +beautiful clear night; and as they talked together, before addressing +themselves to sleep, the champion of Christendom, looking up at the +firmament, said, "That is a fine piece of workmanship, that starry +spectacle. God made it all,--that moon of silver, and those stars of +gold, and the light of day and the sun,--all for the sake of human kind." + +"You wish, I see, to talk of matters of faith," said the Tartar. "Now +I may as well tell you at once, that I have no sort of skill in such +matters, nor learning of any kind. I never could learn anything when +I was a boy. I hated it so, that I broke the man's head who was +commissioned to teach me; and it produced such an effect on others, that +nobody ever afterwards dared so much as shew me a book. My boyhood was +therefore passed as it should be, in horsemanship, and hunting, and +learning to fight. What is the good of a gentleman's poring all day over +a book? Prowess to the knight, and prattle to the clergyman. That is my +motto." + +"I acknowledge," returned Orlando, "that arms are the first consideration +of a gentleman; but not at all that he does himself dishonour by +knowledge. On the contrary, knowledge is as great an embellishment of the +rest of his attainments, as the flowers are to the meadow before us; and +as to the knowledge of his Maker, the man that is without it is no better +than a stock or a stone, or a brute beast. Neither, without study, can +he reach anything like a due sense of the depth and divineness of the +contemplation." + +"Learned or not learned," said Agrican, "you might skew yourself better +bred than by endeavouring to make me talk on a subject on which you have +me at a disadvantage. I have frankly told you what sort of person I am; +and I dare say, that you for your part are very learned and wise. You +will therefore permit me, if you say anything more of such things, to +make you no answer. If you choose to sleep, I wish you good night; but +if you prefer talking, I recommend you to talk of fighting, or of fair +ladies. And, by the way, pray tell me-are you, or are you not, may I ask, +that Orlando who makes such a noise in the world? And what is it, pray, +brings you into these parts? Were you ever in love? I suppose you must +have been; for to be a knight, and never to have been in love, would be +like being a man with no heart in his breast." + +The County replied, "Orlando I am, and in love I am.[2] Love has made me +abandon every thing, and brought me into these distant regions; and to +tell you all in one word, my heart is in the hands of the daughter of +King Galafron. You have come against him with fire and sword, to get +possession of his castles and his dominions; and I have come to help +him, for no object in the world but to please his daughter, and win her +beautiful hand. I care for nothing else in existence." + +Now when the Tartar king Agrican heard his antagonist speak in this +manner, and knew him to be indeed Orlando, and to be in love with +Angelica, his face changed colour for grief and jealousy, though it could +not be seen for the darkness. His heart began beating with such violence, +that he felt as if he should have died. "Well," said he to Orlando, "we +are to fight when it is daylight, and one or the other is to be left +here, dead on the ground. I have a proposal to make to you; nay, an +entreaty. My love is so excessive for the same lady, that I beg you to +leave her to me. I will owe you my thanks, and give up the fight myself. +I cannot bear that any one else should love her, and I live to see it. +Why, therefore, should either of us perish? Give her up. Not a soul shall +know it."[3] + +"I never yet," answered Orlando, "made a promise which I did not keep; +and, nevertheless, I own to you, that were I to make a promise like that, +and even swear to keep it, I should not. You might as well ask me to tear +away the limbs from my body, and the eyes out of my head. I could as soon +live without breath itself, as cease loving Angelica." + +Agrican bad scarcely patience enough to let the speaker finish, ere he +leaped furiously on horseback, though it was midnight. "Quit her," said +he, "or die!" + +Orlando, seeing the infidel getting up, and not being sure that he would +not add treachery to fierceness, had been hardly less quick in mounting +for the combat. "Never!" exclaimed he. "I never could have quitted her if +I would; and now I wouldn't if I could. You must seek her by other +means than these." + +Fiercely dashed their horses together, in the night-time, on the green +mead. Despiteful and terrible were the blows they gave and took by the +moonlight. There was no need of their looking out for one another, +night-time though it was. Their business was to take as sharp heed of +every movement, as if it had been noon-day.[4] + +Agrican fought in a rage: Orlando was cooler. And now the struggle had +lasted more than five hours, and dawn began to be visible, when the +Tartar king, furious to find so much trouble given him, dealt his enemy a +blow sharp and violent beyond conception. It cut the shield in two, as +if it had been a cheesecake; and though blood could not be drawn from +Orlando, because he was fated, it shook and bruised him, as if it had +started every joint in his body. + +His body only, however; not a particle of his soul. So dreadful was the +blow which the Paladin gave in return, that not only shield, but every +bit of mail on the body of Agrican, was broken in pieces, and three of +his left ribs cut asunder. + +The Tartar, roaring like a lion, raised his sword with still greater +vehemence than before, and dealt a blow on the Paladin's helmet, such as +he had never yet received from mortal man. For a moment it took away his +senses. His sight failed; his ears tinkled; his frightened horse turned +about to fly; and he was falling from the saddle, when the very action +of falling jerked his head upwards, and with the jerk he regained his +recollection. + +"O my God!" thought he, "what a shame is this! how shall I ever again +dare to face Angelica! I have been fighting, hour after hour, with this +man, and he is but one, and I call myself Orlando. If the combat last +any longer, I will bury myself in a monastery, and never look on sword +again." + +Orlando muttered with his lips closed and his teeth ground together; and +you might have thought that fire instead of breath came out of his nose +and mouth. He raised his sword Durindana with both his hands, and sent +it down so tremendously on Agrican's left shoulder, that it cut through +breast-plate and belly-piece down to the very haunch; nay, crushed the +saddle-bow, though it was made of bone and iron, and felled man and horse +to the earth. From shoulder to hip was Agrican cut through his weary +soul, and he turned as white as ashes, and felt death upon him. He called +Orlando to come close to him with a gentle voice, and said, as well as he +could, "I believe in Him who died on the Cross. Baptise me, I pray thee, +with the fountain, before my senses are gone. I have lived an evil life, +but need not be rebellious to God in death also. May He who came to save +all the rest of the world, save me! He is a God of great mercy." + +And he shed tears, did that king, though he had been so lofty and fierce. + +Orlando dismounted quickly, with his own face in tears. He gathered the +king tenderly in his arms, and took and laid him by the fountain, on +a marble cirque which it had; and then he wept in concert with him +heartily, and asked his pardon, and so baptised him in the water of the +fountain, and knelt and prayed to God for him with joined hands. + +He then paused and looked at him; and when he perceived his countenance +changed, and that his whole person was cold, he left him there on the +marble cirque by the fountain, all armed as he was, with the sword by his +side, and the crown upon his head. + + * * * * * + +I think I may anticipate the warm admiration of the reader for the whole +of this beautiful episode, particularly its close. "I think," says +Panizzi, "that Tasso had this passage particularly in view when he wrote +the duel of Clorinda and Tancredi, and her conversion and baptism before +dying. The whole passage, from stanza xii. (where Agrican receives his +mortal blow) to this, is beautiful; and the delicate proceeding of +Orlando in leaving Agrican's body armed, even with the sword in his hand, +is in the noblest spirit of chivalry."--Edition of _Boiardo and Ariosto_, +vol. iii. page 357. + +The reader will find the original in the Appendix No. I. + +In the course of the poem (canto xix. stanza xxvi.) a knight, with the +same noble delicacy, who is in distress for a set of arms, borrows those +belonging to the dead body, with many excuses, and a kiss on its face. + + +[Footnote 1: + + "Che tutti insieme, e 'l suo Rè Galafrone, + Non li stimava quanto un vil bottone."] + +[Footnote 2: Berni has here introduced the touching words, "Would I were +not so!" (Così non foss'io!)] + +[Footnote 3: This proposal is in the highest ingenuous spirit of the +absurd wilfulness of passion, thinking that every thing is to give way +before it, not excepting the same identical wishes in other people.] + +[Footnote 4: Very fine all this, I think.] + + +THE SARACEN FRIENDS. + +A FAIRY LOVE-TALE + +Argument. + +Prasildo, a nobleman of Babylon, to his great anguish, falls in love with +his friend's wife, Tisbina; and being overheard by her and her husband +threatening to kill himself, the lady, hoping to divert him from his +passion by time and absence, promises to return it on condition of his +performing a distant and perilous adventure. He performs the adventure; +and the husband and wife, supposing that there is no other way of her +escaping the consequences, resolve to take poison; after which the lady +goes to Prasildo's house, and informs him of their having done so. +Prasildo resolves to die with them; but hearing, in the mean time, that +the apothecary had given them a drink that was harmless, he goes and +tells them of their good fortune; upon which the husband is so struck +with his generosity, that he voluntarily quits Babylon for life and the +lady marries the lover. The new husband subsequently hears that his +friend's life is in danger, and quits the wife to go and deliver him from +it at the risk of his own, which he does. + +This story, which has resemblances to it in Boccaccio and Chaucer, is +told to Rinaldo while riding through a wood in Asia, with a damsel behind +him on the same horse. He has engaged to combat in her behalf with a band +of knights; and the lady relates it to beguile the way. + +The reader is to bear in mind, that the age of chivalry took delight in +mooting points of love and friendship, such as in after-times would +have been out of the question; and that the parties in this story are +Mahometans, with whom divorce was an easy thing, and caused no scandal. + +THE SARACEN FRIENDS. + +Iroldo, a knight of Babylon, had to wife a lady of the name of Tisbina, +whom he loved with a passion equal to that of Tristan for Iseult;[1] and +she returned his love with such fondness, that her thoughts were occupied +with him from morning till night. Among other pleasant circumstances +of their position, they had a neighbour who was accounted the greatest +nobleman in the city; and he deserved his credit, for he spent his great +riches in doing nothing but honour to his rank. He was pleasant in +company, formidable in battle, full of grace in love; an open-hearted, +accomplished gentleman. + +This personage, whose name was Prasildo, happened to be of a party one +day with Tisbina, who were amusing themselves in a garden, with a game in +which the players knelt down with their faces bent on one another's laps, +and guessed who it was that struck them. The turn came to himself, and +he knelt down to the lap of Tisbina; but no sooner was he there, than he +experienced feelings he had never dreamt of; and instead of trying to +guess correctly, took all the pains he could to remain in the same +position. + +These feelings pursued him all the rest of the day, and still more +closely at night. He did nothing but think and sigh, and find the soft +feathers harder than any stone. Nor did he get better as time advanced. +His once favourite pastime of hunting now ceased to afford him any +delight. Nothing pleased him but to be giving dinners and balls, to make +verses and sing them to his lute, and to joust and tournay in the eyes of +his love, dressed in the most sumptuous apparel. But above all, gentle +and graceful as he had been before, he now became still more gentle and +graceful--for good qualities are always increased when a man is in +love. Never in my life did I know them turn to ill in that case. So, in +Prasildo's, you may guess what a super-excellent person he became. + +The passion which had thus taken possession of this gentleman was not +lost upon the lady for want of her knowing it. A mutual acquaintance +was always talking to her on the subject, but to no purpose; she never +relaxed her pride and dignity for a moment. The lover at last fell ill; +he fairly wasted away; and was so unhappy, that he gave up all his +feastings and entertainments. The only pleasure he took was in a solitary +wood, in which he used to plunge himself in order to give way to his +grief and lamentations. + +It happened one day, early in the morning, while he was thus occupied, +that Iroldo came into the wood to amuse himself with bird-catching. He +had Tisbina with him; and as they were coming along, they overheard their +neighbour during one of his paroxysms, and stopped to listen to what he +said. + +"Hear me," exclaimed he, "ye flowers and ye woods. Hear to what a pass of +wretchedness I am come, since that cruel one will hear me not. Hear, O +sun that hast taken away the night from the heavens, and you, ye stars, +and thou the departing moon, hear the voice of my grief for the last +time, for exist I can no longer; my death is the only way left me to +gratify that proud beauty, to whom it has pleased Heaven to give a +cruel heart with a merciful countenance. Fain would I have died in her +presence. It would have comforted me to see her pleased even with that +proof of my love. But I pray, nevertheless, that she may never know it; +since, cruel as she is, she might blame herself for having shewn a scorn +so extreme; and I love her so, I would not have her pained for all her +cruelty. Surely I shall love her even in my grave." + +With these words, turning pale with his own mortal resolution, Prasildo +drew his sword, and pronouncing the name of Tisbina more than once with a +loving voice, as though its very sound would be sufficient to waft him +to Paradise, was about to plunge the steel into his bosom, when the lady +herself, by leave of her husband, whose manly visage was all in tears for +pity, stood suddenly before him. + +"Prasildo," said she, "if you love me, listen to me. You have often told +me that you do so. Now prove it. I happen to be threatened with nothing +less than the loss of life and honour. Nothing short of such a calamity +could have induced me to beg of you the service I am going to request; +since there is no greater shame in the world than to ask favours from +those to whom we have refused them. But I now promise you, that if you do +what I desire, your love shall be returned. I give you my word for it. I +give you my honour. On the other side of the wilds of Barbary is a garden +which has a wall of iron. It has four gates. Life itself keeps one; Death +another; Poverty the third; the fairy of Riches the fourth. He who goes +in at one gate must go out at the other opposite; and in the midst of the +garden is a tree, tall as the reach of an arrow, which produces pearls +for blossoms. It is called the Tree of Wealth, and has fruit of emeralds +and boughs of gold. I must have a bough of that tree, or suffer the most +painful consequences. Now, then, if you love me, I say, prove it. Prove +it, and most assuredly I shall love you in turn, better than ever you +loved myself." + +What need of saying that Prasildo, with haste and joy, undertook to do +all that she required? If she had asked the sun and stars, and the whole +universe, he would have promised them. Quitting her in spite of his love, +he set out on the journey without delay, only dressing himself before he +left the city in the habit of a pilgrim. + +Now you must know, that Iroldo and his lady had set Prasildo on that +adventure, in the hope that the great distance which he would have to +travel, and the change which it might assist time to produce, would +deliver him from his passion. At all events, in case this good end was +not effected before he arrived at the garden, they counted to a certainty +on his getting rid of it when he did; because the fairy of that garden, +which was called the Garden of Medusa, was of such a nature, that +whosoever did but look on her countenance forgot the reason for his going +thither; and whoever saluted, touched, and sat down to converse by her +side, forgot all that had ever occurred in his lifetime. + +Away, however, on his steed went our bold lover; all alone, or rather +with Love for his companion; and so, riding hard till he came to the Red +Sea, he took ship, and journeyed through Egypt, and came to the mountains +of Barca, where he overtook an old grey-headed palmer. + +Prasildo told the palmer the reason of his coming, and the palmer told +him what the reader has heard about the garden; adding, that he must +enter by the gate of Poverty, and take no arms or armour with him, +excepting a looking-glass for a shield, in which the fairy might behold +her beauty. The old man gave him other directions necessary for his +passing out of the gate of Riches; and Prasildo, thanking him, went on, +and in thirty days found himself entering the garden with the greatest +ease, by the gate of Poverty. + +The garden looked like a Paradise, it was so full of beautiful trees, and +flowers, and fresh grass. Prasildo took care to hold the shield over his +eyes, that he might avoid seeing the fairy Medusa; and in this manner, +guarding his approach, he arrived at the Golden Tree. The fairy, who was +reclining against the trunk of it, looked up, and saw herself in the +glass. Wonderful was the effect on her. Instead of her own white-and-red +blooming face, she beheld that of a dreadful serpent. The spectacle made +her take to flight in terror; and the lover, finding his object so far +gained, looked freely at the tree, and climbed it, and bore away a +bough[2]. + +With this he proceeded to the gate of Riches. It was all of loadstone, +and opened with a great noise. But he passed through it happily, for he +made the fairy who kept it a present of half the bough; and so he issued +forth out of the garden, with indescribable joy. + +Behold our loving adventurer now on his road home. Every step of the way +appeared to him a thousand. He took the road of Nubia to shorten the +journey; crossed the Arabian Gulf with a breeze in his favour; and +travelling by night as well as by day, arrived one fine morning in +Babylon. + +No sooner was he there, than he sent to tell the object of his passion +how fortunate he had been. He begged her to name her own place and time +for receiving the bough at his hands, taking care to remind her of her +promise; and he could not help adding, that he should die if she broke it. + +Terrible was the grief of Tisbina at this unlooked-for news. She threw +herself on her couch in despair, and bewailed the hour she was born. +"What on earth am I to do?" cried the wretched lady; "death itself is no +remedy for a case like this, since it is only another mode of breaking my +word. To think that Prasildo should return from the garden of Medusa! who +could have supposed it possible? And yet, in truth, what a fool I was to +suppose any thing impossible to love! O my husband! little didst thou +think what thou thyself advisedst me to promise!" + +The husband was coming that moment towards the room; and overhearing his +wife grieving in this distracted manner, he entered and clasped her in +his arms. On learning the cause of her affliction, he felt as though he +should have died with her on the spot. + +"Alas!" cried he, "that it should be possible for me to be miserable +while I am so dear to your heart. But you know, O my soul! that when love +and jealousy come together, the torment is the greatest in the world. +Myself--myself, alas! caused the mischief, and myself alone ought to +suffer for it. You must keep your promise. You must abide by the word you +have given, especially to one who has undergone so much to perform what +you asked him. Sweet face, you must. But oh! see him not till after I am +dead. Let Fortune do with me what she pleases, so that I be saved from a +disgrace like that. It will be a comfort to me in death to think that +I alone, while I was on earth, enjoyed the fond looking of that lovely +face. Nay," concluded the wretched husband, "I feel as though I should +die over again, if I could call to mind in my grave how you were taken +from me." + +Iroldo became dumb for anguish. It seemed to him as if his very heart had +been taken out of his breast. Nor was Tisbina less miserable. She was as +pale as death, and could hardly speak to him, or bear to look at him. At +length turning her eyes upon him, she said, "And do you believe I could +make my poor sorry case out in this world without Iroldo? Can he bear, +himself, to think of leaving his Tisbina? he who has so often said, that +if he possessed heaven itself, he should not think it heaven without her? +O dearest husband, there is a way to make death not bitter to either of +us. It is to die together. I must only exist long enough to see Prasildo! +Death, alas! is in that thought; but the same death will release us. It +need not even be a hard death, saving our misery. There are poisons so +gentle in their deadliness, that we need but faint away into sleep, and +so, in the course of a few hours, be delivered. Our misery and our folly +will then alike be ended." + +Iroldo assenting, clasped his wife in distraction; and for a long time +they remained in the same posture, half stifled with grief, and bathing +one another's cheeks with their tears. Afterwards they sent quietly for +the poison; and the apothecary made up a preparation in a cup, without +asking any questions; and so the husband and wife took it. Iroldo drank +first, and then endeavoured to give the cup to his wife, uttering not a +word, and trembling in every limb; not because he was afraid of death, +but because he could not bear to ask her to share it. At length, turning +away his face and looking down, he held the cup towards her, and she took +it with a chilled heart and trembling hand, and drank the remainder to +the dregs. Iroldo then covered his face and head, not daring to see her +depart for the house of Prasildo; and Tisbina, with pangs bitterer than +death, left him in solitude. + +Tisbina, accompanied by a servant, went to Prasildo, who could scarcely +believe his ears when he heard that she was at the door requesting to +speak with him. He hastened down to shew her all honour, leading her +from the door into a room by themselves; and when he found her in tears, +addressed her in the most considerate and subdued, yet still not unhappy +manner, taking her confusion for bashfulness, and never dreaming what a +tragedy had been meditated. + +Finding at length that her grief was not to be done away, he conjured +her by what she held dearest on earth to let him know the cause of it; +adding, that he could still die for her sake, if his death would do her +any service. Tisbina spoke at these words; and Prasildo then heard what +he did not wish to hear. "I am in your hands," answered she, "while I +am yet alive. I am bound to my word, but I cannot survive the dishonour +which it costs me, nor, above all, the loss of the husband of my heart. +You also, to whose eyes I have been so welcome, must be prepared for my +disappearance from the earth. Had my affections not belonged to another, +ungentle would have been my heart not to have loved yourself, who are so +capable of loving; but (as you must well know) to love two at once is +neither fitting nor in one's power. It was for that reason I never loved +you, baron; I was only touched with compassion for you; and hence the +miseries of us all. Before this day closes, I shall have learnt the taste +of death." And without further preface she disclosed to him how she and +her husband had taken poison. + +Prasildo was struck dumb with horror. He had thought his felicity at +hand, and was at the same instant to behold it gone for ever. She who was +rooted in his heart, she who carried his life in her sweet looks, even +she was sitting there before him, already, so to speak, dead. + +"It has pleased neither Heaven nor you, Tisbina," exclaimed the unhappy +young man, "to put my best feelings to the proof. Often have two lovers +perished for love; the world will now behold a sacrifice of three. Oh, +why did you not make a request to me in your turn, and ask me to free you +from your promise? You say you took pity on me! Alas, cruel one, confess +that you have killed yourself, in order to kill me. Yet why? Never did I +think of giving you displeasure; and I now do what I would have done at +any time to prevent it, I absolve you from your oath. Stay, or go this +instant, as it seems best to you." + +A stronger feeling than compassion moved the heart of Tisbina at these +words. "This indeed," replied she, "I feel to be noble; and truly could +I also now die to save you. But life is flitting; and how may I prove my +regard?" + +Prasildo, who had in good earnest resolved that three instead of two +should perish, experienced such anguish at the extraordinary position in +which he found all three, that even her sweet words came but dimly to his +ears. He stood like a man stupified; then begged of her to give him but +one kiss, and so took his leave without further ado, only intimating that +her way out of the house lay before her. As he spake, he removed himself +from her sight. + +Tisbina reached home. She found her husband with his head covered up as +she left him; but when she recounted what had passed, and the courtesy of +Prasildo, and how he had exacted from her but a single kiss, Iroldo got +up, and removed the covering from his face, and then clasping his hands, +and raising it to heaven, he knelt with grateful humility, and prayed God +to give pardon to himself, and reward to his neighbour. But before he had +ended, Tisbina sunk on the floor in a swoon. Her weaker frame was the +first to undergo the effects of what she had taken. Iroldo felt icy chill +to see her, albeit she seemed to sleep sweetly. Her aspect was not at all +like death. He taxed Heaven with cruelty for treating two loving hearts +so hardly, and cried out against Fortune, and life, and Love itself. + +Nor was Prasildo happier in his chamber. He also exclaimed against the +bitter tyrant "whom men call Love;" and protested, that he would gladly +encounter any fate, to be delivered from the worse evils of his false and +cruel ascendency. + +But his lamentations were interrupted. The apothecary who sold the potion +to the husband and wife was at the door below, requesting to speak with +him. The servants at first had refused to carry the message; but the old +man persisting, and saying it was a matter of life and death, entrance +for him into his master's chamber was obtained. "Noble sir," said the +apothecary, "I have always held you in love and reverence. I have +unfortunately reason to fear that somebody is desiring your death. This +morning a handmaiden of the lady Tisbina applied to me for a secret +poison; and just now it was told me, that the lady herself had been at +this house. I am old, sir, and you are young; and I warn you against the +violence and jealousies of womankind. Talk of their flames of love! Satan +himself burn them, say I, for they are fit for nothing better. Do not be +too much alarmed, however, this time: for in truth I gave the young woman +nothing of the sort that she asked for, but only a draught so innocent, +that if you have taken it, it will cost you but four or five hours' +sleep. So, in God's name, give up the whole foolish sex; for you may +depend on it, that in this city of ours there are ninety-nine wicked ones +among them to one good." + +You may guess how Prasildo's heart revived at these words. Truly might he +be compared to flowers in sunshine after rain; he rejoiced through all +his being, and displayed again a cheerful countenance. Hastily thanking +the old man, he lost no time in repairing to the house of his neighbours, +and telling them of their safety: and you may guess how the like joy was +theirs. But behold a wonder! Iroldo was so struck with the generosity +of his neighbour's conduct throughout the whole of this extraordinary +affair, that nothing would content his grateful though ever-grieving +heart, but he must fairly give up Tisbina after all. Prasildo, to do him +justice, resisted the proposition as stoutly as he could; but a man's +powers are ill seconded by an unwilling heart; and though the contest was +long and handsome, as is customary between generous natures, the husband +adhered firmly to his intention. In short, he abruptly quitted the city, +declaring that he would never again see it, and so left his wife to the +lover. And I must add (concluded the fair lady who was telling the story +to Rinaldo), that although Tisbina took his departure greatly to heart, +and sometimes felt as if she should die at the thoughts of it, yet since +he persisted in staying away, and there appeared no chance of his ever +doing otherwise, she did, as in that case we should all do, we at least +that are young and kind, and took the handsome Prasildo for second +spouse.[3] + +PART THE SECOND + +The conclusion of this part of the history of Iroldo and Prasildo was +scarcely out of the lady's mouth, when a tremendous voice was heard among +the trees, and Rinaldo found himself confronting a giant of a frightful +aspect, who with a griffin on each side of him was guarding a cavern +that contained the enchanted horse which had belonged to the brother of +Angelica. A combat ensued; and after winning the horse, and subsequently +losing the company of the lady, the Paladin, in the course of his +adventures, came upon a knight who lay lamenting in a green place by a +fountain. The knight heeding nothing but his grief, did not perceive the +new comer, who for some time remained looking at him in silence, till, +desirous to know the cause of his sorrow, he dismounted from his horse, +and courteously begged to be informed of it. The stranger in his turn +looked a little while in silence at Rinaldo, and then told him he had +resolved to die, in order to be rid of a life of misery. And yet, he +added, it was not his own lot which grieved him, so much as that of a +noble friend who would die at the same time, and who had nobody to help +him. + +The knight, who was no other than Tisbina's husband Iroldo, then briefly +related the events which the reader has heard, and proceeded to state how +he lead traversed the world ever since for two years, when it was his +misfortune to arrive in the territories of the enchantress Falerina, +whose custom it was to detain foreigners in prison, and daily give a +couple of them (a lady and a cavalier) for food to a serpent which kept +the entrance of her enchanted garden. To this serpent he himself was +destined to be sacrificed, when Prasildo, the possessor of his wife +Tisbina, hearing of his peril, set out instantly from Babylon, and rode +night and day till he came to the abode of the enchantress, determined +that nothing should hinder him from doing his utmost to save the life of +a friend so generous. Save it he did, and that by a generosity no less +devoted; for having attempted in vain to bribe the keeper of the prison, +he succeeded in prevailing on the man to let him substitute himself for +his friend; and he was that very day, perhaps that very moment, preparing +for the dreadful death to which he would speedily be brought. + +"I will not survive such a friend," concluded Iroldo. "I know I shall +contend with his warders to no purpose; but let the wretches come, if +they will, by thousands; I shall fight them to the last gasp. One comfort +in death, one joy I shall at all events experience. I shall be with +Prasildo in the other world. And yet when I think what sort of death he +must endure, even the release from my own miseries afflicts me, since it +will not prevent him from undergoing that horror." + +The Paladin shed tears to hear of a case so piteous and affectionate, and +in a tone of encouragement offered his services towards the rescue of his +friend. Iroldo looked at him in astonishment, but sighed and said, "Ah, +Sir, I thank you with all my heart, and you are doubtless a most noble +cavalier, to be so fearless and good-hearted; but what right have I to +bring you to destruction for no reason and to no purpose? There is not +a man on earth but Orlando himself, or his cousin Rinaldo, who could +possibly do us any good; and so I beg you to accept my thanks and depart +in safety, and may God reward you." + +"It is true," replied the Paladin, "I am not Orlando; and yet, for all +that, I doubt not to be able to effect what I propose. Nor do I offer my +assistance out of desire of glory, or of thanks, or return of any kind; +except indeed, that if two such unparalleled friends could admit me to be +a third, I should hold myself a happy man. What! you have given up the +woman of your heart, and deprived yourself of all joy and comfort; and +your friend, on the other hand, has become a prisoner and devoted to +death, for your sake; and can I be expected to leave two such friends in +a jeopardy so monstrous, and not do all in my power to save them? I would +rather die first myself, and on your own principle; I mean, in order to +go with you into a better world." + +While they were talking in this manner, a great ill-looking rabble, +upwards of a thousand strong, made their appearance, carrying a banner, +and bringing forth two prisoners to die. The wretches were armed after +their disorderly fashion; and the prisoners each tied upon a horse. One +of these hapless persons too surely was Prasildo; and the other turned +out to be the damsel who had told Rinaldo the story of the friends. +Having been deprived of the Paladin's assistance, her subsequent +misadventures had brought her to this terrible pass. The moment Rinaldo +beheld her, he leaped on his horse, and dashed among the villains. The +sight of such an onset was enough for their cowardly hearts. The whole +posse fled before him with precipitation, all except the leader, who was +a villain of gigantic strength; and him the Paladin, at one blow, clove +through the middle. Iroldo could not speak for joy, as he hastened to +release Prasildo. He was forced to give him tears instead of words. But +when speech at length became possible, the two friends, fervently and +with a religious awe, declared that their deliverer must have been divine +and not human, so tremendous was the death-blow he had given the ruffian, +and such winged and contemptuous slaughter he had dealt among the +fugitives. By the time he returned from the pursuit, their astonishment +had risen to such a pitch, that they fell on their knees and worshipped +him for the Prophet of the Saracens, not believing such prowess possible +to humanity, and devoutly thanking him for the mercy he had shewn them in +coming thus visibly from heaven. Rinaldo for the moment was not a little +disturbed at this sally of enthusiasm; but the singular good faith and +simplicity of it restored him to himself; and with a smile between +lovingness and humility he begged them to lay aside all such fancies, and +know him for a man like themselves. He then disclosed himself for the +Rinaldo of whom they had spoken, and made such an impression on them with +his piety, and his attributing what had appeared a superhuman valour to +nothing but his belief in the Christian religion, that the transported +friends became converts on the spot, and accompanied him thenceforth as +the most faithful of his knights. + + * * * * * + +The story tells us nothing further of Tisbina, though there can be no +doubt that Boiardo meant to give us the conclusion of her share in it; +for the two knights take an active part in the adventures of their new +friend Rinaldo. Perhaps, however, the discontinuance of the poem itself +was lucky for the author, as far as this episode was concerned; for it +is difficult to conceive in what manner he would have wound it up to the +satisfaction of the reader. + + +[Footnote 1: The hero and heroine of the famous romance of _Tristan de +Leonois_.] + +[Footnote 2: "Mr. Rose observes, that Medusa may be designed by Boiardo +as the 'type of conscience;' and he is confirmed in his opinion by the +circumstance mentioned in this canto (12, lib. i. stan. 39) of Medusa not +being able to contemplate the reflection of her own hideous appearance, +though beautiful in the sight of others. I fully agree with +him."--PANIZZI, _ut sup_. Vol. iii p. 333.] + +[Footnote 3: "Tisbina," says Panizzi, in a note on this passage, "very +wisely acted like Emilia (in Chaucer), who, when she saw she could not +marry Arcita, because he was killed, thought of marrying Palemone, rather +than 'be a mayden all hire lyf.' It is to be observed, that although she +regretted very much what had happened, and even fainted away, she did +not, however, stand on ceremonies, as the poet says in the next stanza, +but yielded immediately, and married Prasildo. This, at first, I thought +to be a somewhat inconsistent; but on consideration I found I was wrong. +Tisbina was wrong; because, having lost Iroldo, she did not know what +Prasildo would do; but so soon as the latter offered to fill up the +place, she nobly and magnanimously resigned herself to her fate."--_Ut +sup_. vol. iii. p. 336. + +It might be thought inconsistent in Tisbina, notwithstanding Mr. +Panizzi's pleasantry, to be so willing to take another husband, after +having poisoned herself for the first; but she seems intended by the poet +to exhibit a character of impulse in contradistinction to permanency of +sentiment. She cannot help shewing pity for Prasildo; she cannot help +poisoning herself for her husband; and she cannot help taking his friend, +when she has lost him. Nor must it be forgotten, that the husband was the +first to break the tie. We respect him more than we do her, because he +was capable of greater self-denial; but if he himself preferred his +friend to his love, we can hardly blame her (custom apart) for following +the example.] + + +SEEING AND BELIEVING. + +ARGUMENT + +A lady has two suitors, a young and an old one, the latter of whom wins +her against her inclinations by practising the artifice of Hippomanes in +his race with Atalanta. Being very jealous, he locks her up in a tower; +and the youth, who continued to be her lover, makes a subterraneous +passage to it; and pretending to have married her sister, invites the old +man to his house, and introduces his own wife to him as the bride. The +husband, deceived, but still jealous, facilitates their departure out of +the country, and returns to his tower to find himself deserted. + +This story, like that of the _Saracen Friends_, is told by a damsel to a +knight while riding in his company; with this difference, that she is the +heroine of it herself. She is a damsel of a nature still lighter than the +former; and the reader's sympathy with the trouble she brings on herself, +and the way she gets out of it, will be modified accordingly. On the +other hand, nobody can respect the foolish old man with his unwarrantable +marriage; and the moral of Boiardo's story is still useful for these +"enlightened times," though conveyed with an air of levity. + +In addition to the classics, the poet has been to the Norman fablers for +his story. The subterranean passage has been more than once repeated in +romance; and the closing incident, the assistance given by the husband +to his wife's elopement, has been imitated in the farce of _Lionel and +Clarissa._ + +SEEING AND BELIEVING. + +My father (said the damsel) is King of the Distant Islands, where the +treasure of the earth is collected. Never was greater wealth known, and I +was heiress of it all. + +But it is impossible to foresee what is most to be desired for us in this +world. I was a king's daughter, I was rich, I was handsome, I was lively; +and yet to all those advantages I owed my ill-fortune. + +Among other suitors for my hand there came two on the same day, one of +whom was a youth named Ordauro, handsome from head to foot; the other an +old man of seventy, whose name was Folderico. Both were rich and of noble +birth; but the greybeard was counted extremely wise, and of a foresight +more than human. As I did not feel in want of his foresight, the youth +was far more to my taste; and accordingly I listened to him with perfect +good-will, and gave the wise man no sort of encouragement. I was not at +liberty, however, to determine the matter; my father had a voice in it; +so, fearing what he would advise, I thought to secure a good result by +cunning and management. It is an old observation, that the craft of a +woman exceeds all other craft. Indeed, it is Solomon's own saying. But +now-a-days people laugh at it; and I found to my cost that the laugh is +just. I requested my father to proclaim, first, that nobody should have +me in marriage who did not surpass me in swiftness (for I was a damsel of +a mighty agility); and secondly, that he who did surpass me should be my +husband. He consented, and I thought my happiness secure. You must know, +I have run down a bird, and caught it with my own hand. + +Well, both my suitors came to the race; the youth on a large war-horse, +trapped with gold, which curvetted in a prodigious manner, and seemed +impatient for a gallop; the old roan on a mule, carrying a great bag at +his side, and looking already tired out. They dismounted on the place +chosen for the trial, which was a meadow. It was encircled by a world of +spectators; and the greybeard and myself (for his age gave him the first +chance) only waited for the sound of the trumpet to set off. + +I held my competitor in such contempt, that I let him get the start of +me, on purpose to make him ridiculous; but I was not prepared for his +pulling a golden apple out of his bag, and throwing it as far as he could +in a direction different from that of the goal. The sight of a curiosity +so tempting was too much for my prudence; and it rolled away so roundly, +and to such a distance, that I lost more time in reaching it than I +looked for. Before I overtook the old gentleman, he threw another apple, +and this again led me a chase after it. In short, I blush to say, that, +resolved as I was to be tempted no further, seeing that the end of our +course was now at hand, and my marriage with an old man instead of a +young man was out of the question, he seduced me to give chase to a +third apple, and fairly reached the goal before me. I wept for rage and +disgust, and meditated every species of unconjugal treatment of the old +fox. What right had he to marry such a child as I was? I asked myself the +question at the time; I asked it a thousand times afterwards; and I must +confess, that the more I have tormented him, the more the retaliation +delights me. + +However, it was of no use at the moment. The old wretch bore me off +to his domains with an ostentatious triumph; and then, his jealousy +misgiving him, he shut me up in a castle on a rock, where he endeavoured +from that day forth to keep me from the sight of living being. You may +judge what sort of castle it was by its name--_Altamura_ (lofty wall). It +overlooked a desert on three sides, and the sea on the fourth; and a man +might as well have flown as endeavoured to scale it. There was but one +path up to the entrance, very steep and difficult; and when you were +there, you must have pierced outwork after outwork, and picked the lock +of gate after gate. So there sat I in this delicious retreat, hopeless, +and bursting with rage. I called upon death day and night, as my only +refuge. I had no comfort but in seeing my keeper mad with jealousy, even +in that desolate spot. I think he was jealous of the very flies. + +My handsome youth, Ordauro, however, had not forgotten me; no, nor even +given me up. Luckily he was not only very clever, but rich besides; +without which, to be sure, his brains would not have availed him a pin. +What does he do, therefore, but take a house in the neighbourhood on the +sea-shore; and while my tormentor, in alarm and horror, watches every +movement, and thinks him coming if he sees a cloud or a bird, Ordauro +sets people secretly to work night and day, and makes a subterraneous +passage up to the very tower! Guess what I felt when I saw him enter! +Assuredly I did not show him the face which I shewed Folderico. I +die with joy this moment to think of my delight. As soon as we could +discourse of any thing but our meeting, Ordauro concerted measures for my +escape; and the greatest difficulty being surmounted by the subterraneous +passage, they at last succeeded. But our enemy gave us a frightful degree +of trouble. + +There was no end of the old man's pryings, peepings, and precautions. +He left me as little as possible by myself; and he had all the coast +thereabouts at his command, together with the few boats that ever touched +it. + +Ordauro, however, did a thing at once the most bold and the most +ingenious. He gave out that he was married; and inviting my husband to +dinner, who had heard the news with transport, presented me, to his +astonished eyes, for the bride. The old man looked as if he would have +died for rage and misery. + +"Horrible villain!" cried he," what is this?" + +Ordauro professed astonishment in his turn. + +"What!" asked he; "do you not know that the princess, your lady's sister, +is wonderfully like her, and that she has done me the honour of becoming +my wife? I invited you in order to do honour to yourself, and so bring +the good families together." + +"Detestable falsehood!" cried Folderico. "Do you think I'm blind, or a +born idiot? But I'll see to this business directly; and terrible shall be +my revenge." + +So saying, he flung out, and hastened, as fast as age would let him, to +the room in the tower, where he expected to find me not. But there he did +find me:--there was I, sitting as if nothing had happened, with my hand +on my cheek, and full of my old melancholy. + +"God preserve me!" exclaimed he; "this is astonishing indeed! Never could +I have dreamt that one sister could be so like another! But is it so, or +is it not? I have terrible suspicions. It is impossible to believe it. +Tell me truly," he continued; "answer me on the faith of a daring woman, +and you shall get no hurt by it. Has any one opened the portals for you +to-day? Who was it? How did you get out? Tell me the truth, and you shall +not suffer for it; but deceive me, and there is no punishment that you +may not look for." + +It is needless to say how I vowed and protested that I had never stirred; +that it was quite impossible; that I could not have done it if I would, +&c. I took all the saints to witness to my veracity, and swore I had +never seen the outside of his tremendous castle. + +The monster had nothing to say to this; but I saw what he meant to do--I +saw that he would return instantly to the house of Ordauro, and ascertain +if the bride was there. Accordingly, the moment he turned the key on me, +I flew down the subterraneous passage, tossed on my new clothes like +lightning, and sat in my lover's house as before, waiting the arrival of +the panting old gentleman. + +"Well," exclaimed he, as soon as he set eyes upon me, "never in all my +life--no--I must allow it to be impossible--never can my wife at home be +the lady sitting here." + +From that day forth the old man, whenever he saw me in Ordauro's house, +treated me as if I were indeed his sister-in-law, though he never had the +heart to bring the two wives together, for fear of old recollections. +Nevertheless, this state of things was still very perilous; and my new +husband and myself lost no time in considering how we should put an end +to it by leaving the country. Ordauro resorted, as before, to a bold +expedient. He told Folderico that the air of the sea-coast disagreed +with him; and the old man, whose delight at getting rid of his neighbour +helped to blind him to the deceit, not only expedited the movement, but +offered to see him part of the way on his journey! + +The offer was accepted. Six miles he rode forth with us, the stupid old +man; and then, taking his leave, to return home, we pushed our horses +like lightning, and so left him to tear his hair and his old beard with +cries and curses, as soon as he opened the door of his tower. + + + +ARIOSTO: + +Critical Notice of his Life and Genius. + +CRITICAL NOTICE + +OF + +ARIOSTO'S LIFE AND GENIUS.[1] + +The congenial spirits of Pulci and Boiardo may be said to have attained +to their height in the person of Ariosto, upon the principle of a +transmigration of souls, or after the fashion of that hero in romance, +who was heir to the bodily strengths of all whom he conquered. + +Lodovico Giovanni Ariosto was born on the 8th of September, 1474, in the +fortress at Reggio, in Lombardy, and was the son of Niccolò Ariosto, +captain of that citadel (as Boiardo had been), and Daria Maleguzzi, +whose family still exists. The race was transplanted from Bologna in the +century previous, when Obizzo the Third of Este, Marquess of Ferrara, +married a lady belonging to it, whose Christian name was Lippa. Niccolò +Ariosto, besides holding the same office as Boiardo had done, at Modena +as well as at Reggio, was master of the household to his two successive +patrons, the Dukes Borso and Ercole. He was also employed, like him, +in diplomacy; and was made a count by the Emperor Frederick the Third, +though not, it seems, with remainder to his heirs. + +Lodovico was the eldest of ten children, five sons and five daughters. +During his boyhood, theatrical entertainments were in great vogue at +court, as we have seen in the life of Boiardo; and at the age of twelve, +a year after the decease of that poet (who must have been well known to +him, and probably encouraged his attempts), his successor is understood +to have dramatised, after his infant fashion, the story of Pyramus and +Thisbe, and to have got his brothers and sisters to perform it. Panizzi +doubts the possibility of these precocious private theatricals; but +considering what is called "writing" on the part of children, and that +only one other performer was required in the piece, or at best a third +for the lion (which some little brother might have "roared like any +sucking-dove"), I cannot see good reason for disbelieving the story. Pope +was not twelve years old when he turned the siege of Troy into a play, +and got his school-fellows to perform it, the part of Ajax being given to +the gardener. Man is a theatrical animal ([Greek: zoon mimaetikon]), and +the instinct is developed at a very early period, as almost every family +can witness that has taken its children to the "playhouse." + +At fifteen the young poet, like so many others of his class, was +consigned to the study of the law, and took a great dislike to it. The +extreme mobility of his nature, and the wish to please his father, appear +to have made him enter on it willingly enough in the first instance;[2] +but as soon as he betrayed symptoms of disgust, Niccolò, whose affairs +were in a bad way, drove him back to it with a vehemence which must have +made bad worse.[3] At the expiration of five years he was allowed to give +it up. + +There is reason to believe that Ariosto was "theatricalising" during +no little portion of this time; for, in his nineteenth year, he is +understood to have been taken by Duke Ercole to Pavia and to Milan, +either as a writer or performer of comedies, probably both, since the +courtiers and ducal family themselves occasionally appeared on the stage; +and one of the poet's brothers mentions his having frequently seen him +dressed in character.[4] + +On being delivered from the study of the law, the young poet appears +to have led a cheerful and unrestrained life for the next four or five +years. + +He wrote, or began to write, the comedy of the _Cassaria_; probably +meditated some poem in the style of Boiardo, then in the height of his +fame; and he cultivated the Latin language, and intended to learn Greek, +but delayed, and unfortunately missed it in consequence of losing his +tutor. Some of his happiest days were passed at a villa, still possessed +by the Maleguzzi family, called La Mauriziana, two miles from Reggio. +Twenty-five years afterwards he called to mind, with sighs, the pleasant +spots there which used to invite him to write verses; the garden, the +little river, the mill, the trees by the water-side, and all the other +shady places in which he enjoyed himself during that sweet season of his +life "betwixt April and May."[5] To complete his happiness, he had a +friend and cousin, Pandolfo Ariosto, who loved every thing that he loved, +and for whom he augured a brilliant reputation. + +But a dismal cloud was approaching. In his twenty-first year he lost +his father, and found a large family left on his hands in narrow +circumstances. The charge was at first so heavy, especially when +aggravated by the death of Pandolfo, that he tells us he wished to die. +He took to it manfully, however, in spite of these fits of gloom; and he +lived to see his admirable efforts rewarded; his brothers enabled to seek +their fortunes, and his sisters properly taken care of. Two of them, it +seems, had become nuns. A third married; and a fourth remained long in +his house. It is not known what became of the fifth. + +In these family-matters the anxious son and brother was occupied for +three or four years, not, however, without recreating himself with his +verses, Latin and Italian, and recording his admiration of a number of +goddesses of his youth. He mentions, in particular, one of the name of +Lydia, who kept him often from "his dear mother and household," and +who is probably represented by the princess of the same name in the +_Orlando_, punished in the smoke of Tartarus for being a jilt and +coquette.[6] His friend Bembo, afterwards the celebrated cardinal, +recommended him to be blind to such little immaterial points as ladies' +infidelities. But he is shocked at the advice. He was far more of +Othello's opinion than Congreve's in such matters; and declared, that he +would not have shared his mistress' good-will with Jupiter himself.[7] + +Towards the year 1504, the poet entered the service of the unworthy +prince, Cardinal Ippolito of Este, brother of the new Duke of Ferrara, +Alfonso the First. His eminence, who had been made a prince of the church +at thirteen years of age by the infamous Alexander the Sixth (Borgia), +was at this period little more than one-and-twenty; but he took an active +part in the duke's affairs, both civil and military, and is said to +have made himself conspicuous in his father's lifetime for his vices and +brutality. He is charged with having ordered a papal messenger to be +severely beaten for bringing him some unpleasant despatches: which so +exasperated his unfortunate parent, that he was exiled to Mantua; and the +marquess of that city, his brother-in-law, was obliged to come to Ferrara +to obtain his pardon. But this was a trifle compared with what he +is accused of having done to one of his brothers. A female of their +acquaintance, in answer to a speech made her by the reverend gallant, had +been so unlucky as to say that she preferred his brother Giulio's eyes +to his eminence's whole body: upon which the monstrous villain hired two +ruffians to put out his brother's eyes; some say, was present at the +attempt. Attempt only it fortunately turned out to be, at least in part; +the opinion being, that the sight of one of the eyes was preserved.[8] + +Party-spirit has so much to do with stories of princes, and princes are +so little in a condition to notice them, that, on the principle of +not condemning a man till he has been heard in his defence, an honest +biographer would be loath to credit these horrors of Cardinal Ippolito, +did not the violent nature of the times, and the general character of the +man, even with his defenders, incline him to do so. His being a soldier +rather than a churchman was a fault of the age, perhaps a credit to the +man, for he appears to have had abilities for war, and it was no crime of +his if he was put into the church when a boy. But his conduct to Ariosto +shewed him coarse and selfish; and those who say all they can for him +admit that he was proud and revengeful, and that nobody regretted him +when he died. He is said to have had a taste for mathematics, as his +brother had for mechanics. The truth seems to be, that he and the duke, +who lived in troubled times, and had to exert all their strength to +hinder Ferrara from becoming a prey to the court of Rome, were clever, +harsh men, of no grace or elevation of character, and with no taste but +for war; and if it had not been for their connexion with Ariosto, nobody +would have heard of them, except while perusing the annals of the time. +Ippolito might have been, and probably was, the ruffian which the +anecdote of his brother Giulio represents him; but the world would have +heard little of the villany, had he not treated a poet with contempt. + +The admirers of our author may wonder how he could become the servant of +such a man, much more how he could praise him as he did in the great work +which he was soon to begin writing. But Ariosto was the son of a man who +had passed his life in the service of the family; he had probably been +taught a loyal blindness to its defects; gratuitous panegyrics of princes +had been the fashion of men of letters since the time of Augustus; and +the poet wanted help for his relatives, and was of a nature to take +the least show of favour for a virtue, till he had learnt, as he +unfortunately did, to be disappointed in the substance. It is not known +what his appointment was under the cardinal. Probably he was a kind of +gentleman of all work; an officer in his guards, a companion to amuse, +and a confidential agent for the transaction of business. The employment +in which he is chiefly seen is that of an envoy, but he is said also to +have been in the field of battle; and he intimates in his _Satires_, +that household attentions were expected of him which he was not quick +to offer, such as pulling off his eminence's boots, and putting on +his spurs.[9] It is certain that he was employed in very delicate +negotiations, sometimes to the risk of his life from the perils of roads +and torrents. Ippolito, who was a man of no delicacy, probably made use +of him on every occasion that required address, the smallest as well +as greatest,--an interview with a pope one day, and a despatch to a +dog-fancier the next. + +His great poem, however, proceeded. It was probably begun before he +entered the cardinal's service; certainly was in progress during the +early part of his engagement. This appears from a letter written to +Ippolito by his sister the Marchioness of Mantua, to whom he had sent +Ariosto at the beginning of the year 1509 to congratulate her on the +birth of a child. She gives her brother special thanks for sending his +message to her by "Messer Ludovico Ariosto," who had made her, she says, +pass two delightful days, with giving her an account of the poem he was +writing.[10] Isabella was the name of this princess; and the grateful +poet did not forget to embalm it in his verse.[11] + +Ariosto's latest biographer, Panizzi, thinks he never served under any +other leader than the cardinal; but I cannot help being of opinion with a +former one, whom he quotes, that he once took arms under a captain of the +name of Pio, probably a kinsman of his friend Alberto Pio, to whom he +addresses a Latin poem. It was probably on occasion of some early disgust +with the cardinal; but I am at a loss to discover at what period of time. +Perhaps, indeed, he had the cardinal's permission, both to quit his +service, and return to it. Possibly he was not to quit it at all, except +according to events; but merely had leave given him to join a party in +arms, who were furthering Ippolito's own objects. Italy was full of +captains in arms and conflicting interests. The poet might even, at some +period of his life, have headed a troop under another cardinal, his +friend Giovanni de' Medici, afterwards Leo the Tenth. He had certainly +been with him in various parts of Italy; and might have taken part in +some of his bloodless, if not his most military, equitations. + +Be this as it may, it is understood that Ariosto was present at the +repulse given to the Venetians by Ippolito, when they came up the river +Po against Ferrara towards the close of the year 1509; though he was away +from the scene of action at his subsequent capture of their flotilla, the +poet having been despatched between the two events to Pope Julius the +Second on the delicate business of at once appeasing his anger with the +duke for resisting his allies, and requesting his help to a feudatary of +the church. Julius was in one of his towering passions at first, but +gave way before the address of the envoy, and did what he desired. But +Ariosto's success in this mission was nearly being the death of him in +another; for Alfonso having accompanied the French the year following +in their attack on Vicenza, where they committed cruelties of the same +horrible kind as have shocked Europe within a few months past,[12] the +poet's tongue, it was thought, might be equally efficacious a second +time; but Julius, worn out of patience with his too independent vassal, +who maintained an alliance with the French when the pope had ceased to +desire it, was to be appeased no longer. He excommunicated Alfonso, and +threatened to pitch his envoy into the Tiber; so that the poet was fain +to run for it, as the duke himself was afterwards, when he visited Rome +to be absolved. Would Julius have thus treated Ariosto, could he have +foreseen his renown? Probably he would. The greater the opposition to the +will, the greater the will itself. To chuck an accomplished envoy into +the river would have been much; but to chuck the immortal poet there, +laurels and all, in the teeth of the amazement of posterity, would have +been a temptation irresistible. + +It was on this occasion that Ariosto, probably from inability to choose +his times or anodes of returning home, contracted a cough, which is +understood to have shortened his existence; so that Julius may have +killed him after all. But the pope had a worse enemy in his own +bosom--his violence--which killed himself in a much shorter period. He +died in little more than two years afterwards; and the poet's prospects +were all now of a very different sort--at least he thought so; for in +March 1513, his friend Giovanni de' Medici succeeded to the papacy, under +the title of Leo the Tenth. + +Ariosto hastened to Rome, among a shoal of visitants, to congratulate the +new pope, perhaps not without a commission from Alfonso to see what he +could do for his native country, on which the rival Medici family never +ceased to have designs. The poet was full of hope, for he had known Leo +under various fortunes; had been styled by him not only a friend, but a +brother; and promised all sorts of participations of his prosperity. Not +one of them came. The visitor was cordially received. Leo stooped from +his throne, squeezed his hand, and kissed him on both his cheeks; but "at +night," says Ariosto, "I went all the way to the Sheep to get my supper, +wet through." All that Leo gave him was a "bull," probably the one +securing to him the profits of his _Orlando;_ and the poet's friend +Bibbiena--wit, cardinal, and kinsman of Berni--facilitated the bull, but +the receiver discharged the fees. He did not get one penny by promise, +pope, or friend.[13] He complains a little, but all in good humour; and +good-naturedly asks what he was to expect, when so many hungry kinsmen +and partisans were to be served first. Well and wisely asked too, and +with a superiority to his fortunes which Leo and Bibbiena might have +envied. + +It is thought probable, however, that if the poet had been less a friend +to the house of Este, Leo would have kept his word with him, for their +intimacy had undoubtedly been of the most cordial description. But it is +supposed that Leo was afraid he should have a Ferrarese envoy constantly +about him, had he detained Ariosto in Rome. The poet, however, it is +admitted, was not a good hunter of preferment. He could not play the +assenter, and bow and importune: and sovereigns, however friendly they +may have been before their elevation, go the way of most princely flesh +when they have attained it. They like to take out a man's gratitude +beforehand, perhaps because they feel little security in it afterwards. + +The elevation to the papacy of the cheerful and indulgent son of Lorenzo +de' Medici, after the troublous reign of Julius, was hailed with delight +by all Christendom, and nowhere more so than in the pope's native place, +Florence. Ariosto went there to see the spectacles; and there, in the +midst of them, he found himself robbed of his heart by the lady whom he +afterwards married. Her name was Alessandra Benucci. She was the widow of +one of the Strozzi family, whom he had known in Ferrara, and he had long +admired her. The poet, who, like Petrarch and Boccaccio, has recorded the +day on which he fell in love, which was that of St. John the Baptist (the +showy saint-days of the south offer special temptations to that effect), +dwells with minute fondness on the particulars of the lady's appearance. +Her dress was black silk, embroidered with two grape-bearing vines +intertwisted; and "between her serene forehead and the path that went +dividing in two her rich and golden tresses," was a sprig of laurel in +bud. Her observer, probably her welcome if not yet accepted lover, beheld +something very significant in this attire; and a mysterious poem, in +which he records a device of a black pen feathered with gold, which he +wore embroidered on a gown of his own, has been supposed to allude to it. +As every body is tempted to make his guess on such occasions, I take the +pen to have been the black-haired poet himself, and the golden feather +the tresses of the lady. Beautiful as he describes her, with a face full +of sweetness, and manners noble and engaging, he speaks most of the +charms of her golden locks. The black gown could hardly have implied her +widowhood: the allusion would not have been delicate. The vine belongs to +dramatic poets, among whom the lover was at that time to be classed, the +_Orlando_ not having appeared. Its duplification intimated another self; +and the crowning laurel was the success that awaited the heroic poet and +the conqueror of the lady's heart.[14] + +The marriage was never acknowledged. The husband was in the receipt of +profits arising from church-offices, which put him into the condition of +the fellow of a college with us, who cannot marry so long as he retains +his fellowship: but it is proved to have taken place, though the date of +it is uncertain. Ariosto, in a satire written three or four years after +his falling in love, says he never intends either to marry or to take +orders; because, if he takes orders, he cannot marry; and if he marries, +he cannot take orders--that is to say, must give up his semi-priestly +emoluments. This is one of the falsehoods which the Roman Catholic +religion thinks itself warranted in tempting honest men to fall into; +thus perplexing their faith as to the very roots of all faith, and +tending to maintain a sensual hypocrisy, which can do no good to the +strongest minds, and must terribly injure the weak. + +Ariosto's love for this lady I take to have been one of the causes of +dissatisfaction between him and the cardinal. "Fortunately for the poet," +as Panizzi observes, Ippolito was not always in Ferrara. He travelled +in Italy, and he had an archbishopric in Hungary, the tenure of which +compelled occasional residence. His company was not desired in Rome, so +that he was seldom there. Ariosto, however, was an amusing companion; and +the cardinal seems not to have liked to go anywhere without him. In the +year 1515 he was attended by the poet part of the way on a journey to +Rome and Urbino; but Ariosto fell ill, and had leave to return. He +confesses that his illness was owing to an anxiety of love; and he even +makes an appeal to the cardinal's experience of such feelings; so that it +might seem he was not afraid of Ippolito's displeasure in that direction. +But the weakness which selfish people excuse in themselves becomes a +"very different thing" (as they phrase it) in another. The appeal to the +cardinal's experience might only have exasperated him, in its assumption +of the identity of the case. However, the poet was, at all events, left +this time to the indulgence of his love and his poetry; and in the +course of the ensuing year, a copy of the first edition of the _Orlando +Furioso_, in forty cantos, was put into the hands of the illustrious +person to whom it was dedicated. + +The words in which the cardinal was pleased to express himself on this +occasion have become memorable. "Where the devil, Master Lodovick," said +the reverend personage, "have you picked up such a parcel of trumpery?" +The original term is much stronger, aggravating the insult with +indecency. There is no equivalent for it in English; and I shall not +repeat it in Italian. "It is as low and indecent," says Panizzi, "as +any in the language." Suffice it to say that, although the age was not +scrupulous in such matters, it was one of the last words befitting the +lips of the reverend Catholic; and that, when Ippolito of Este +(as Ginguéné observes) made that speech to the great poet, "he +uttered--prince, cardinal, and mathematician as he was--an +impertinence."[15] + +Was the cardinal put out of temper by a device which appeared in this +book? On the leaf succeeding the title-page was the privilege for its +publication, granted by Leo in terms of the most flattering personal +recognition.[16] So far so good; unless the unpoetical Este patron was +not pleased to see such interest taken in the book by the tasteful Medici +patron. But on the back of this leaf was a device of a hive, with the +bees burnt out of it for their honey, and the motto, "Evil for good" +(_Pro bono malum_). Most biographers are of opinion that this device was +aimed at the cardinal's ill return for all the sweet words lavished on +him and his house. If so, and supposing Ariosto to have presented the +dedication-copy in person, it would have been curious to see the faces of +the two men while his Eminence was looking at it. Some will think that +the good-natured poet could hardly have taken such an occasion of +displaying his resentment. But the device did not express at whom it was +aimed: the cardinal need not have applied it to himself if he did not +choose, especially as the book was full of his praises; and good-natured +people will not always miss an opportunity of covertly inflicting a +sting. The device, at all events, shewed that the honey-maker had got +worse than nothing by his honey; and the house of Este could not say they +had done any thing to contradict it. + +I think it probable that neither the poet's device nor the cardinal's +speech were forgotten, when, in the course of the next year, the parties +came to a rupture in consequence of the servant's refusing to attend his +master into Hungary. Ariosto excused himself on account of the state of +his health and of his family. He said that a cold climate did not agree +with him; that his chest was affected, and could not bear even the stoves +of Hungary; and that he could not, in common decency and humanity, leave +his mother in her old age, especially as all the rest of the family were +away but his youngest sister, whose interests he had also to take care +of. But Ippolito was not to be appeased. The public have seen, in a late +female biography, a deplorable instance of the unfeelingness with which +even a princess with a reputation for religion could treat the declining +health and unwilling retirement of a poor slave in her service, fifty +times her superior in every thing but servility. Greater delicacy was +not to be expected of the military priest. The nobler the servant, the +greater the desire to trample upon him and keep him at a disadvantage. It +is a grudge which rank owes to genius, and which it can only wave when +its possessor is himself "one of God Almighty's gentlemen." I do not mean +in point of genius, which is by no means the highest thing in the world, +whatever its owners may think of it; but in point of the highest of all +things, which is nobleness of heart. I confess I think Ariosto was wrong +in expecting what he did of a man he must have known so well, and in +complaining so much of courts, however good-humouredly. A prince occupies +the station he does, to avert the perils of disputed successions, and +not to be what his birth cannot make him--if nature has not supplied the +materials. Besides, the cardinal, in his quality of a mechanical-minded +man with no taste, might with reason have complained of his servant's +attending to poetry when it was "not in his bond;" when it diverted +him from the only attentions which his employer understood or desired. +Ippolito candidly confessed, as Ariosto himself tells us, that he not +only did not care for poetry, but never gave his attendant one stiver in +patronage of it, or for any thing whatsoever but going his journeys and +doing as he was bidden.[17] On the other hand, the cardinal's payments +were sorry ones; and the poet might with justice have thought, that he +was not bound to consider them an equivalent for the time be was expected +to give up. The only thing to have been desired in this case was, that he +should have said so; and, in truth, at the close of the explanation which +he gave on the subject to his friends at court, he did--boldly desiring +them, as became him, to tell the cardinal, that if his eminence expected +him to be a "serf" for what he received, he should decline the bargain; +and that he preferred the humblest freedom and his studies to a slavery +so preposterous.[18] The truth is, the poet should have attached himself +wholly to the Medici. Had he not adhered to the duller house, he might +have led as happy a life with the pope as Pulci did with the pope's +father; perhaps have been made a cardinal, like his friends Bembo and +Sadolet. But then we might have lost the _Orlando_. + +The only sinecure which the poet is now supposed to have retained, was a +grant of twenty-five crowns every four months on the episcopal chancery +of Milan: so, to help out his petty income, he proceeded to enter into +the service of Alfonso, which shews that both the brothers were not angry +with him. He tells us, that he would gladly have had no new master, could +he have helped it; but that, if he must needs serve, he would rather +serve the master of every body else than a subordinate one. At this +juncture he had a brief prospect of being as free as he wished; for an +uncle died leaving a large landed property still known as the Ariosto +lands (_Le Arioste_); but a convent demanded it on the part of one of +their brotherhood, who was a natural son of this gentleman; and a more +formidable and ultimately successful claim was advanced in a court of +law by the Chamber of the Duchy of Ferrara, the first judge in the cause +being the duke's own steward and a personal enemy of the poet's. Ariosto, +therefore, while the suit was going on, was obliged to content himself +with his fees from Milan and a monthly allowance which he received from +the duke of "about thirty-eight shillings," together with provisions +for three servants and two horses. He entered the duke's service in the +spring of 1518, and remained in it for the rest of his life. But it was +not so burden-some as that of the cardinal; and the consequence of the +poet's greater leisure was a second edition of the _Furioso_, in the year +1521, with additions and corrections; still, however, in forty cantos +only. It appears, by a deed of agreement,[19] that the work was printed +at the author's expense; that he was to sell the bookseller one hundred +copies for sixty livres (about 5_l_. 12_s_.) on condition of the book's +not being sold at the rate of more than sixteen sous (1_s_. 8_d_.); that +the author was not to give, sell, or allow to be sold, any copy of the +book at Ferrara, except by the bookseller; that the bookseller, after +disposing of the hundred copies, was to have as many more as he chose on +the same terms; and that, on his failing to require a further supply, +Ariosto was to be at liberty to sell his volumes to whom he pleased. +"With such profits," observes Panizzi, "it was not likely that the poet +would soon become independent;" and it may be added, that he certainly +got nothing by the first edition, whatever he may have done by the +second. He expressly tells us, in the satire which he wrote on declining +to go abroad with Ippolito, that all his poetry had not procured him +money enough to purchase a cloak.[20] Twenty years afterwards, when he +was dead, the poem was in such request, that, between 1542 and 1551, +Panizzi calculates there must have been a sale of it in Europe to the +amount of a hundred thousand copies.[21] + +The second edition of the _Furioso_ did not extricate the author from +very serious difficulties; for the next year he was compelled to apply +to either to relieve him from his necessities, or permit him to look for +some employment more profitable than the ducal service. The answer of +this prince, who was now rich, but had always been penurious, and who +never laid out a farthing, if he could help it, except in defence of his +capital, was an appointment of Ariosto to the government of a district in +a state of anarchy, called Garfagnana, which had nominally returned to +his rule in consequence of the death of Leo, who had wrested it from him. +It was a wild spot in the Apennines, on the borders of the Ferrarese and +papal territories. Ariosto was there three years, and is said to have +reduced it to order; but, according to his own account, he had very +doubtful work of it. The place was overrun with banditti, including the +troops commissioned to suppress them. It required a severer governor than +he was inclined to be; and Alfonso did not attend to his requisitions for +supplies. The candid and good-natured poet intimates that the duke might +have given him the appointment rather for the governor's sake than the +people's; and the cold, the loneliness and barrenness of the place, and, +above all, his absence from the object of his affections, oppressed him. +He did not write a verse for twelve months: he says he felt like a bird +moulting[22]. The best thing got out of it was an anecdote for posterity. +The poet was riding out one day with a few attendants--some say walking +out in a fit of absence of mind--when he found himself in the midst of +a band of outlaws, who, in a suspicious manner, barely suffered him +to pass. A reader of Mrs. Radcliffe might suppose them a band of +_condottieri_, under the command of some profligate desperado; and such +perhaps they were. The governor had scarcely gone by, when the leader of +the band, discovering who he was, came riding back with much earnestness, +and making his obeisance to the poet, said, that he never should have +allowed him to pass in that manner had he known him to be the Signor +Ludovico Ariosto, author of the _Orlando Furioso_; that his own name was +Filippo Pacchione (a celebrated personage of his order); and that his men +and himself, so far from doing the Signor displeasure, would have the +honour of conducting him back to his castle. "And so they did," says +Baretti, "entertaining him all along the way with the various excellences +they had discerned in his poem, and bestowing upon it the most rapturous +praises[23]." + +On his return from Garfagnana, Ariosto is understood to have made several +journeys in Italy, either with or without the duke his master; some of +them to Mantua, where it has been said that he was crowned with laurel by +the Emperor Charles the Fifth. But the truth seems to be, that he only +received a laureate diploma: it does not appear that Charles made him any +other gift. His majesty, and the whole house of Este, and the pope, and +all the other Italian princes, left that to be done by the imperial +general, the celebrated Alfonso Davallos, Marquess of Vasto, to whom he +was sent on some mission by the Duke of Ferrara, and who settled on him +an annuity of a hundred golden ducats; "the only reward," says Panizzi, +"which we find to have been conferred on Ariosto expressly as a +poet."[24] Davallos was one of the conquerors of Francis the First, +young and handsome, and himself a writer of verses. The grateful poet +accordingly availed himself of his benefactor's accomplishments to make +him, in turn, a present of every virtue under the sun. Cæsar was not so +liberal, Nestor so wise, Achilles so potent, Nireus so beautiful, nor +even Ladas, Alexander's messenger, so swift.[25] Ariosto was now verging +towards the grave; and he probably saw in the hundred ducats a golden +sunset of his cares. + +Meantime, however, the poet had built a house, which, although small, was +raised with his own money; so that the second edition of the _Orlando_ +may have realised some profits at last. He recorded the pleasant fact in +an inscription over the door, which has become celebrated: + + "Parva, sed apta mihi; sed nulli obnoxia; sed non + Sordida; parta meo sed tamen acre domus." + Small, yet it suits me; is of no offence; + Was built, not meanly, at my own expense. + +What a pity (to compare great things with small) that he had not as long +a life before him to enjoy it, as Gil Blas had with his own comfortable +quotation over his retreat at Lirias![26] + +The house still remains; but the inscription unfortunately became +effaced; though the following one remains, which was added by his son +Virginio: + + "Sic domus hæc Areostea + Propitios habeat deos, olim ut Pindarica." + + Dear to the gods, whatever come to pass, + Be Ariosto's house, as Pindar's was. + +This was an anticipation--perhaps the origin--of Milton's sonnet about +his own house, addressed to "Captains and Collonels," during the civil +war.[27] + +Davallos made the poet his generous present in the October of the year +1513; and in the same month of the year following the _Orlando_ was +published as it now stands, with various insertions throughout, chiefly +stories, and six additional cantos. Cardinal Ippolito had been dead some +time; and the device of the beehive was exchanged for one of two vipers, +with a hand and pair of shears cutting out their tongues, and the motto, +"Thou hast preferred ill-will to good" (_Dilexisti malitiam super +benignitatem_). The allusion is understood to have been to certain +critics whose names have all perished, unless Sperone (of whom we shall +hear more by and by) was one of them. The appearance of this edition was +eagerly looked for; but the trouble of correcting the press, and the +destruction of a theatre by fire which had been built under the poet's +direction, did his health no good in its rapidly declining condition; and +after suffering greatly from an obstruction, he died, much attenuated, on +the sixth day of June, 1533. His decease, his fond biographers have +told us, took place "about three in the afternoon;" and he was "aged +fifty-eight years, eight months, and twenty-eight days." His body, +according to his direction, was taken to the church of the Benedictines +during the night by four men, with only two tapers, and in the most +private and simple manner. The monks followed it to the grave out of +respect, contrary to their usual custom. + +So lived, and so died, and so desired humbly to be buried, one of the +delights of the world. + +His son Virginio had erected a chapel in the garden of the house built by +his father, and he wished to have his body removed thither; but the +monks would not allow it. The tomb, at first a very humble one, was +subsequently altered and enriched several times; but remains, I +believe, as rebuilt at the beginning of the century before last by his +grand-nephew, Ludovico Ariosto, with a bust of the poet, and two statues +representing Poetry and Glory. + +Ariosto was tall and stout, with a dark complexion, bright black eyes, +black and curling hair, aquiline nose, and shoulders broad but a little +stooping. His aspect was thoughtful, and his gestures deliberate. Titian, +besides painting his portrait, designed that which appeared in the +woodcut of the author's own third edition of his poem, which has been +copied into Mr. Panizzi's. It has all the look of truth of that great +artist's vital hand; but, though there is an expression of the, genial +character of the mouth, notwithstanding the exuberance of beard, it does +not suggest the sweetness observable in one of the medals of Ariosto, +a wax impression of which is now before me; nor has the nose so much +delicacy and grace.[28] + +The poet's temperament inclined him to melancholy, but his intercourse +was always cheerful. One biographer says he was strong and +healthy--another, that he was neither. In all probability he was +naturally strong, but weakened by a life full of emotion. He talks of +growing old at forty four, and of leaving been bald for some time.[29] He +had a cough for many years before he died. His son says he cured it by +drinking good old wine. Ariosto says that "vin fumoso" did not agree with +him; but that might only mean wine of a heady sort. The chances, under +such circumstances, were probably against wine of any kind; and Panizzi +thinks the cough was never subdued. His physicians forbade him all sorts +of stimulants with his food.[30] + +His temper and habits were those of a man wholly given up to love and +poetry. In his youth he was volatile, and at no time without what is +called some "affair of the heart." Every woman attracted him who had +modesty and agreeableness; and as, at the same time, he was very jealous, +one might imagine that his wife, who had a right to be equally so, would +have led no easy life. But it is evident he could practise very generous +self-denial; and probably the married portion of his existence, supposing +Alessandra's sweet countenance not to have belied her, was happy on both +sides. He was beloved by his family, which is never the case with the +unamiable. Among his friends were most Of the great names of the age, +including a world of ladies, and the whole graceful court of Guidobaldo +da Montefeltro, duke of Urbino, for which Catiglione wrote his book of +the _Gentleman (Il Cortegiano)_. Raphael addressed him a sonnet, and +Titian painted his likeness. He knew Vittoria Colonna, and Veronica da +Gambera, and Giulia Gonzaga (whom the Turks would have run away with), +and Ippolita Sforza, the beautiful blue-stocking, who set Bandello on +writing his novels, and Bembo, and Flaminio, and Berni, and Molza, and +Sannazzaro, and the Medici family, and Vida, and Macchiavelli; and nobody +doubts that he might have shone at the court of Leo the brightest of the +bright. But he thought it "better to enjoy a little in peace, than seek +after much with trouble."[31] He cared for none of the pleasures of the +great, except building, and that he was content to satisfy in Cowley's +fashion, with "a small house in a large garden." He was plain in his +diet, disliked ceremony, and was frequently absorbed in thought. His +indignation was roused by mean and brutal vices; but he took a large and +liberal view of human nature in general; and, if he was somewhat free in +his life, must be pardoned for the custom of the times, for his charity +to others, and for the genial disposition which made him an enchanting +poet. Above all, he was an affectionate son; lived like a friend with his +children; and, in spite of his tendency to pleasure, supplied the place +of an anxious and careful father to his brothers and sisters, who +idolized him. + + "Ornabat pietas et grata modestia vatem," + +wrote his brother Gabriel, + + "Sancta fides, dictique memor, munitaque recto + Justitia, et nullo patientia victa labore, + Et constans virtus animi, et elementia mitis, + Ambitione procul pulsa fastûsque tumore; + Credere uti posses natum felicibus horis, + Felici fulgente astro Jovis atque Diones."[32] + + Devoted tenderness adorn'd the bard, + And grateful modesty, and grave regard + To his least word, and justice arm'd with right, + And patience counting every labour light, + And constancy of soul, and meekness too, + That neither pride nor worldly wishes knew. + You might have thought him born when there concur + The sweet star and the strong, Venus and Jupiter. + +His son Virginio, and others, have left a variety of anecdotes +corroborating points in his character. I shall give them all, for they +put us into his company. It is recorded, as an instance of his reputation +for honesty, that an old kinsman, a clergyman, who was afraid of being +poisoned for his possessions, would trust himself in no other hands; but +the clergyman was his own grand-uncle and namesake, probably godfather; +so that the compliment is not so very great. + +In his youth he underwent a long rebuke one day from his father without +saying a word, though a satisfactory answer was in his power; on which +his brother Gabriel expressing his surprise, he said that he was thinking +all the time of a scene in a comedy he was writing, for which the +paternal lecture afforded an excellent study. + +He loved gardening better than he understood it; was always shifting +his plants, and destroying the seeds, out of impatience to see them +germinate. He was rejoicing once on the coming up of some "capers," which +he had been visiting every day to see how they got on, when it turned out +that his capers were elder-trees! + +He was perpetually altering his verses. His manuscripts are full of +corrections. He wrote the exordium of the _Orlando_ over and over again; +and at last could only be satisfied with it in proportion as it was not +his own; that is to say, in proportion as it came nearer to the beautiful +passage in Dante from which his ear and his feelings had caught it.[33] + +He, however, discovered that correction was not always improvement. He +used to say, it was with verses as with trees. A plant naturally well +growing might be made perfect by a little delicate treatment; but +over-cultivation destroyed its native grace. In like manner, you might +perfect a happily-inspired verse by taking away any little fault of +expression; but too great a polish deprived it of the charm of the first +conception. It was like over-training a naturally graceful child. If it +be wondered how he who corrected so much should succeed so well, even to +an appearance of happy negligence, it is to be considered that the most +impulsive writers often put down their thoughts too hastily, then correct +and re-correct them in the same impatient manner; and so have to bring +them round, by as many steps, to the feeling which they really had at +first, though they were too hasty to do it justice. + +Ariosto would have altered his house as often as his verses, but did not +find it so convenient. Somebody wondering that he contented himself with +so small an abode, when he built such magnificent mansions in his poetry, +he said it was easier to put words together than blocks of stone.[34] + +He liked Virgil; commended the style of Tibullus; did not care for +Propertius; but expressed high approbation of Catullus and Horace. I +suspect his favourite to have been Ovid. His son says he did not study +much, nor look after books; but this may have been in his decline, or +when Virginio first took to observing him. A different conclusion as to +study is to be drawn from the corrected state of his manuscripts, and the +variety of his knowledge; and with regard to books, he not only mentions +the library of the Vatican as one of his greatest temptations to visit +Rome, but describes himself, with all the gusto of a book-worm, as +enjoying them in his chimney-corner.[35] + +To intimate his secrecy in love-matters, he had an inkstand with a +Cupid on it, holding a finger on his lips. I believe it is still in +existence.[36] He did not disclose his mistresses' names, as Dante did, +for the purpose of treating them with contempt; nor, on the other hand, +does he appear to have been so indiscriminately gallant as to be fond of +goitres.[37] The only mistress of whom he complained he concealed in a +Latin appellation; and of her he did not complain with scorn. He had +loved, besides Alessandra Benucci, a lady of the name of Ginevra; the +mother of one of his children is recorded as a certain Orsolina; and that +of the other was named Maria, and is understood to have been a governess +in his father's family.[38] + +He ate fast, and of whatever was next him, often beginning with the bread +on the table before the dishes came; and he would finish his dinner with +another bit of bread. "Appetiva le rape," says his good son; videlicet, +he was fond of turnips. In his fourth Satire, he mentions as a favourite +dish, turnips seasoned with vinegar and boiled _must_ (sapa), which +seems, not unjustifiably, to startle Mr. Panizzi.[39] He cared so little +for good eating, that he said of himself, he should have done very well +in the days when people lived on acorns. + +A stranger coming in one day at the dinner-hour, he ate up what was +provided for both; saying afterwards, when told of it, that the gentleman +should have taken care of himself. This does not look very polite; but of +course it was said in jest. His son attributed this carelessness at table +to absorption in his studies. + +He carried this absence of mind so far, and was at the same time so good +a pedestrian, that Virginio tells us he once walked all the way from +Carpi to Ferrara in his slippers, owing to his having strolled out of +doors in that direction. + +The same biographers who describe him as a brave soldier, add, that he +was a timid horseman and seaman; and indeed he appears to have eschewed +every kind of unnecessary danger. It was a maxim of his, to be the last +in going out of a boat. I know not what Orlando would have said to this; +but there is no doubt that the good son and brother avoided no pain in +pursuit of his duty. He more than once risked his life in the service of +government from the perils of travelling among war-makers and banditti. +Imagination finds something worthy of itself on great occasions, but is +apt to discover the absurdity of staking existence on small ones. Ariosto +did not care to travel out of Italy. He preferred, he says, going round +the earth in a map; visiting countries without having to pay innkeepers, +and ploughing harmless seas without thunder and lightning[40]. + +His outward religion, like the one he ascribed to his friend Cardinal +Bembo, was "that of other people." He did not think it of use to disturb +their belief; yet excused rather than blamed Luther, attributing his +heresy to the necessary consequences of mooting points too subtle for +human apprehension[41]. He found it impossible, however, to restrain his +contempt of bigotry; and, like most great writers in Catholic countries, +was a derider of the pretensions of devotees, and the discords and +hypocrisies of the convent. He evidently laughed at Dante's figments +about the other world; not at the poetry of them, for that he admired, +and sometimes imitated, but at the superstition and presumption. He +turned the Florentine's moon into a depository of non-sense; and found no +hell so bad as the hearts of tyrants. The only other people he put into +the infernal regions are ladies who were cruel to their lovers! He had +a noble confidence in the intentions of his Creator; and died ill the +expectation of meeting his friends again in a higher state of existence. + +Of Ariosto's four brothers, one became a courtier at Naples, another a +clergyman, another an envoy to the Emperor Charles the Fifth; and the +fourth, who was a cripple and a scholar, lived with Lodovico, and +celebrated his memory. His two sons, whose names were Virginio and +Gianbattista, and who were illegitimate (the reader is always to bear +in mind the more indulgent customs of Italy in matters of this nature, +especially in the poet's time), became, the first a canon in the +cathedral of Ferrara, and the other an officer in the army. It does not +appear that he had any other children. + +Ariosto's renown is wholly founded on the _Orlando Furioso_, though he +wrote satires, comedies, and a good deal of miscellaneous poetry, all +occasionally exhibiting a master-hand. The comedies, however, were +unfortunately modelled on those of the ancients; and the constant +termination of the verse with trisyllables contributes to render them +tedious. What comedies might he not have written, had he given himself up +to existing times and manners[42]! + +The satires are rather good-natured epistles to his friends, written with +a charming ease and straightforwardness, and containing much exquisite +sense and interesting autobiography. + +On his lyrical poetry he set little value; and his Latin verse is not of +the best order. Critics have expressed their surprise at its inferiority +to that of contemporaries inferior to him in genius; but the reason lay +in the very circumstance. I mean, that his large and liberal inspiration +could only find its proper vent in his own language; he could not be +content with potting up little delicacies in old-fashioned vessels. + +The _Orlando Furioso_ is, literally, a continuation of the _Orlando +Innamorato_; so much so, that the story is not thoroughly intelligible +without it. This was probably the reason of a circumstance that would be +otherwise unaccountable, and that was ridiculously charged against him as +a proof of despairing envy by the despairing envy of Sperone; namely, his +never having once mentioned the name of his predecessor. If Ariosto had +despaired of equalling Boiardo, he must have been hopeless of reaching +posterity, in which case his silence must have been useless; and, in +any case, it is clear that he looked on himself as the continuator of +another's narration. But Boiardo was so popular when he wrote, that +the very silence shews he must have thought the mention of his name +superfluous. Still it is curious that he never should have alluded to it +in the course of the poem. It could not have been from any dislike to the +name itself, or the family; for in his Latin poems he has eulogised the +hospitality of the house of Boiardo[43]. + +The _Furioso_ continued not only what Boiardo did, but what he intended +to do; for as its subject is Orlando's love, and knight-errantry in +general, so its object was to extol the house of Este, and deduce it from +its fabulous ancestor Ruggiero. Orlando is the open, Ruggiero the covert +hero; and almost all the incidents of this supposed irregular poem, +which, as Panizzi has shewn, is one of the most regular in the world, go +to crown with triumph and wedlock the originator of that unworthy race. +This is done on the old groundwork of Charlemagne and his Paladins, of +the treacheries of the house of Gan of Maganza, and of the wars of the +Saracens against Christendom. Bradamante, the Amazonian _intended_ of +Ruggiero, is of the same race as Orlando, and a great overthrower of +infidels. Ruggiero begins with being an infidel himself, and is kept from +the wars, like a second Achilles, by the devices of an anxious guardian, +but ultimately fights, is converted, and marries; and Orlando all the +while slays his thousands, as of old, loves, goes mad for jealousy, is +the foolishest and wisest of mankind (somewhat like the poet himself); +and crowns the glory of Ruggiero, not only by being present at his +marriage, but putting on his spurs with his own hand when he goes forth +to conclude the war by the death of the king of Algiers. + +The great charm, however, of the _Orlando Furioso_ is not in its +knight-errantry, or its main plot, or the cunning interweavement of its +minor ones, but in its endless variety, truth, force, and animal spirits; +in its fidelity to actual nature while it keeps within the bounds of the +probable, and its no less enchanting verisimilitude during its wildest +sallies of imagination. At one moment we are in the midst of flesh and +blood like ourselves; at the next with fairies and goblins; at the next +in a tremendous battle or tempest; then in one of the loveliest of +solitudes; then hearing a tragedy, then a comedy; then mystified in some +enchanted palace; then riding, dancing, dining, looking at pictures; then +again descending to the depths of the earth, or soaring to the moon, or +seeing lovers in a glade, or witnessing the extravagances of the great +jealous hero Orlando; and the music of an enchanting style perpetually +attends us, and the sweet face of Angelica glances here and there like +a bud: and there are gallantries of all kinds, and stories endless, and +honest tears, and joyous bursts of laughter, and beardings for all base +opinions, and no bigotry, and reverence for whatsoever is venerable, +and candour exquisite, and the happy interwoven names of "Angelica and +Medoro," young for ever. + +But so great a work is not to be dismissed with a mere rhapsody of +panegyric. Ariosto is inferior, in some remarkable respects, to his +predecessors Pulci and Boiardo. His characters, for the most part, do not +interest us as much as theirs by their variety and good fellowship; he +invented none as Boiardo did, with the exception, indeed, of Orlando's, +as modified by jealousy; and he has no passage, I thick, equal in pathos +to that of the struggle at Roncesvalles; for though Orlando's jealousy +is pathetic, as well as appalling, the effects of it are confined to one +person, and disputed by his excessive strength. Ariosto has taken all +tenderness out of Angelica, except that of a kind of boarding-school +first love (which, however, as here-after intimated, may have simplified +and improved her general effect), and he has omitted all that was amusing +in the character of Astolfo. Knight-errantry has fallen off a little +in his hands from its first youthful and trusting freshness; more +sophisticate times are opening upon us; and satire more frequently and +bitterly interferes. The licentious passages (though never gross in +words, like those of his contemporaries,) are not redeemed by sentiment +as in Boiardo; and it seems to me, that Ariosto hardly improved so much +as he might have done Upon his predecessor's imitations of the classics. +I cannot help thinking that, upon the whole, he had better have left them +alone, and depended entirely on himself. Shelley says, he has too much +fighting and "revenge,"[44]--which is true; but the revenge was only +among his knights. He was himself (like my admirable friend) one of the +most forgiving of men; and the fighting was the taste of the age, in +which chivalry was still flourishing in the shape of such men as Bayard, +and ferocity in men like Gaston de Foix. Ariosto certainly did not +anticipate, any more than Shakspeare did, that spirit of human +amelioration which has ennobled the present age. He thought only of +reflecting nature as he found it. He is sometimes even as uninteresting +as he found other people; but the tiresome passages, thank God, all +belong to the house of Este! His panegyrics of Ippolito and his ancestors +recoiled on the poet with a retributive dulness. + +But in all the rest there is a wonderful invigoration and enlargement. +The genius of romance has increased to an extraordinary degree in power, +if not in simplicity. Its shoulders have grown broader, its voice louder +and more sustained; and if it has lost a little on the sentimental side, +it has gained prodigiously, not only in animal vigour, but, above all, in +knowledge of human nature, and a brave and joyous candour in shewing it. +The poet takes a universal, an acute, and, upon the whole, a cheerful +view, like the sun itself, of all which the sun looks on; and readers are +charmed to see a knowledge at once so keen and so happy. Herein lies the +secret of Ariosto's greatness; which is great, not because it has the +intensity of Dante, or the incessant thought and passion of Shakspeare, +or the dignified imagination of Milton, to all of whom he is far inferior +in sustained excellence,--but because he is like very Nature herself. +Whether great, small, serious, pleasureable, or even indifferent, he +still has the life, ease, and beauty of the operations of the daily +planet. Even where he seems dull and common-place, his brightness and +originality at other times make it look like a good-natured condescension +to our own common habits of thought and discourse; as though he did it +but on purpose to leave nothing unsaid that could bring him within the +category of ourselves. His charming manner intimates that, instead of +taking thought, he chooses to take pleasure with us, and compare old +notes; and we are delighted that he does us so much honour, and makes, as +it were, Ariostos of us all. He is Shakspearian in going all lengths with +Nature as he found her, not blinking the fact of evil, yet finding a +"soul of goodness" in it, and, at the same time, never compromising the +worth of noble and generous qualities. His young and handsome Medoro is a +pitiless slayer of his enemies; but they were his master's enemies, and +he would have lost his life, even to preserve his dead body. His Orlando, +for all his wisdom and greatness, runs mad for love of a coquette, who +triumphs over warriors and kings, only to fall in love herself with an +obscure lad. His kings laugh with all their hearts, like common people; +his mourners weep like such unaffected children of sorrow, that they must +needs "swallow some of their tears."[45] His heroes, on the arrival of +intelligence that excites them, leap out of bed and write letters before +they dress, from natural impatience, thinking nothing of their "dignity." +When Astolfo blows the magic horn which drives every body out of the +castle of Atlantes, "not a mouse" stays behind;--not, as Hoole and such +critics think, because the poet is here writing ludicrously, but because +he uses the same image seriously, to give an idea of desolation, as +Shakspeare in _Hamlet_ does to give that of silence, when "not a mouse is +stirring." Instead of being mere comic writing, such incidents are in the +highest epic taste of the meeting of extremes,--of the impartial eye with +which Nature regards high and low. So, give Ariosto his hippogriff, and +other marvels with which he has enriched the stock of romance, and Nature +takes as much care of the verisimilitude of their actions, as if she had +made them herself. His hippogriff returns, like a common horse, to the +stable to which he has been accustomed. His enchanter, who is gifted with +the power of surviving decapitation and pursuing the decapitator so long +as a fated hair remains on his head, turns deadly pale in the face when +it is scalped, and falls lifeless from his horse. His truth, indeed, is +so genuine, and at the same time his style is so unaffected, sometimes so +familiar in its grace, and sets us so much at ease in his company, that +the familiarity is in danger of bringing him into contempt with the +inexperienced, and the truth of being considered old and obvious, because +the mode of its introduction makes it seem an old acquaintance. When +Voltaire was a young man, and (to Anglicise a favourite Gallic phrase) +fancied he had _profounded_ every thing deep and knowing, he thought +nothing of Ariosto. Some years afterwards he took him for the first of +grotesque writers, but nothing more. At last he pronounced him equally +"entertaining and sublime, and humbly apologised for his error." Foscolo +quotes this passage from the _Dictionnaire Philosophique_; and adds +another from Sir Joshua Reynolds, in which the painter speaks of a +similar inability on his own part, when young, to enjoy the perfect +nature of Raphael, and the admiration and astonishment which, in his +riper years, he grew to feel for it.[46] + +The excessive "wildness" attributed to Ariosto is not wilder than +many things in Homer, or even than some things in Virgil (such as the +transformation of ships into sea-nymphs). The reason why it has been +thought so is, that he rendered them more popular by mixing them with +satire, and thus brought them more universally into notice. One main +secret of the delight they give us is their being poetical comments, +as it were, on fancies and metaphors of our own. Thus, we say of +a suspicious man, that he is suspicion itself; Ariosto turns him +accordingly into an actual being of that name. We speak of the flights of +the poets; Ariosto makes them literally flights--flights on a hippogriff, +and to the moon. The moon, it has been said, makes lunatics; he +accordingly puts a man's wits into that planet. Vice deforms beauty; +therefore his beautiful enchantress turns out to be an old hag. Ancient +defeated empires are sounds and emptiness; therefore the Assyrian and +Persian monarchies become, in his limbo of vanities, a heap of positive +bladders. Youth is headstrong, and kissing goes by favour; so Angelica, +queen of Cathay, and beauty of the world, jilts warriors and kings, and +marries a common soldier. + +And what a creature is this Angelica! what effect has she not had upon +the world in spite of all her faults, nay, probably by very reason of +them! I know not whether it has been remarked before, but it appears to +me, that the charm which every body has felt in the story of Angelica +consists mainly in that very fact of her being nothing but a beauty and +a woman, dashed even with coquetry, which renders her so inferior in +character to most heroines of romance. Her interest is founded on nothing +exclusive or prejudiced. It is not addressed to any special class. She +might or might not have been liked by this person or that; but the world +in general will adore her, because nature has made them to adore beauty +and the sex, apart from prejudices right or wrong. Youth will attribute +virtues to her, whether she has them or not; middle-age be unable to help +gazing on her; old-age dote on her. She is womankind itself, in form and +substance; and that is a stronger thing, for the most part, than all our +figments about it. Two musical names, "Angelica and Medoro," have become +identified in the minds of poetical readers with the honeymoon of +youthful passion. + +The only false acid insipid fiction I can call to mind in the _Orlando +Furioso_ is that of the "swans" who rescue "medals" from the river of +oblivion (canto xxxv.). It betrays a singular forgetfulness of the poet's +wonted verisimilitude; for what metaphor can reconcile us to swans taking +an interest in medals? Popular belief had made them singers; but it was +not a wise step to convert them into antiquaries. + +Ariosto's animal spirits, and the brilliant hurry and abundance of his +incidents, blind a careless reader to his endless particular beauties, +which, though he may too often "describe instead of paint" (on account, +as Foscolo says, of his writing to the many), spew that no man could +paint better when he chose. The bosoms of his females "come and go, like +the waves on the sea-coast in summer airs."[47] His witches draw the fish +out of the water + + "With simple words and a pure warbled spell."[48] + +He borrows the word "painting" itself,--like a true Italian and friend +of Raphael and Titian, to express the commiseration in the faces of the +blest for the sufferings of mortality + + "Dipinte di pietade il viso pio."[49] + + Their pious looks painted with tenderness. + +Jesus is very finely called, in the same passage, "il sempiterno Amante," +the eternal Lover. The female sex are the + + "Schiera gentil the pur adorna il mondo."[50] + + The gentle bevy that adorns the world. + +He paints cabinet-pictures like Spenser, in isolated stanzas, with a +pencil at once solid and light; as in the instance of the charming one +that tells the story of Mercury and his net; how he watched the Goddess +of Flowers as she issued forth at dawn with her lap full of roses and +violets, and so threw the net over her "one day," and "took her;" + + "un dì lo prese[51]." + +But he does not confine himself to these gentle pictures. He has many +as strong as Michael Angelo, some as intense as Dante. He paints the +conquest of America in five words + + "Veggio da diece cacciar mille."[52] + I see thousands + Hunted by tens. + +He compares the noise of a tremendous battle heard in the neighbourhood +to the sound of the cataracts of the Nile: + + "un alto suon ch' a quel s' accorda + Con che i vicin' cadendo il Nil assorda."[53] + +He "scourges" ships at sea with tempests--say rather the "miserable +seamen;" while night-time grows blacker and blacker on the "exasperated +waters."[54] + + +When Rodomont has plunged into the thick of Paris, and is carrying every +thing before him ("like a serpent that has newly cast his skin, and +goes shaking his three tongues under his eyes of fire"), he makes this +tremendous hero break the middle of the palace-gate into a huge "window," +and look through it with a countenance which is suddenly beheld by a +crowd of faces as pale as death: + + "E dentro fatto l' ha tanta finestra, + Che ben vedere e veduto esser puote + Dai visi impressi di color di morte[55]." + +The whole description of Orlando's jealousy and growing madness is +Shakspearian for passion and circumstance, as the reader may see even +in the prose abstract of it in this volume; and his sublimation of a +suspicious king into suspicion itself (which it also contains) is as +grandly and felicitously audacious as any thing ever invented by poet. +Spenser thought so; and has imitated and emulated it in one of his own +finest passages. Ariosto has not the spleen and gall of Dante, and +therefore his satire is not so tremendous; yet it is very exquisite, as +all the world have acknowledged in the instances of the lost things found +in the moon, and the angel who finds Discord in a convent. He does not +take things so much to heart as Chaucer. He has nothing so profoundly +pathetic as our great poet's _Griselda_. Yet many a gentle eye has +moistened at the conclusion of the story of Isabella; and to recur once +more to Orlando's jealousy, all who have experienced that passion will +feel it shake them. I have read somewhere of a visit paid to Voltaire by +an Italian gentleman, who recited it to him, and who (being moved perhaps +by the recollection of some passage in his own history) had the tears all +the while pouring down his cheeks. + +Such is the poem which the gracious and good Cardinal Ippolito designated +as a "parcel of trumpery." It had, indeed, to contend with more slights +than his. Like all originals, it was obliged to wait for the death of +the envious and the self-loving, before it acquired a popularity which +surpassed all precedent. Foscolo says, that Macchiavelli and Ariosto, +"the two writers of that age who really possessed most excellence, were +the least praised during their lives. Bembo was approached in a posture +of adoration and fear; the infamous Aretino extorted a fulsome letter of +praises from the great and the learned[56]." He might have added, that +the writer most in request "in the circles" was a gentleman of the name +of Bernardo Accolti, then called the _Unique_, now never heard of. +Ariosto himself eulogised him among a shoal of writers, half of whose +names have perished; and who most likely included in that half the men +who thought he did not praise them enough. For such was the fact! I +allude to the charming invention in his last canto, in which he supposes +himself welcomed home after a long voyage. Gay imitated it very +pleasantly in an address to Pope on the conclusion of his Homer. Some of +the persons thus honoured by Ariosto were vexed, it is said, at not being +praised highly enough; others at seeing so many praised in their company; +some at being left out of the list; and some others at being mentioned at +all! These silly people thought it taking too great a liberty! The poor +flies of a day did not know that a god had taken them in hand to give +them wings for eternity. Happily for them the names of most of these +mighty personages are not known. One or two, however, took care to make +posterity laugh. Trissino, a very great man in his day, and the would-be +restorer of the ancient epic, had the face, in return for the poet's +too honourable mention of him, to speak, in his own absurd verses, of +"Ariosto, with that _Furioso_ of his, which pleases the vulgar:" + + "L' Ariosto + Con quel _Furioso_ suo the piace al volgo." + +"_His_ poem," adds Panizzi, "has the merit of not having pleased any +body[57]." A sullen critic, Sperone (the same that afterwards plagued +Tasso), was so disappointed at being left out, that he became the poet's +bitter enemy. He talked of Ariosto taking himself for a swan and "dying +like a goose" (the allusion was to the fragment he left called the _Five +Cantos_). What has become of the swan Sperone? Bernardo Tasso, Torquato's +father, made a more reasonable (but which turned out to be an unfounded) +complaint, that Ariosto had established a precedent which poets would +find inconvenient. And Macchiavelli, like the true genius he was, +expressed a good-natured and flattering regret that his friend Ariosto +had left him out of his list of congratulators, in a work which was "fine +throughout," and in some places "wonderful[58]." + +The great Galileo knew Ariosto nearly by heart[59]. + +He is a poet whom it may require a certain amount of animal spirits to +relish thoroughly. The _air_ of his verse must agree with you before you +can perceive all its freshness and vitality. But if read with any thing +like Italian sympathy, with allowance for times and manners, and with a +_sense_ as well as _admittance_ of the different kinds of the beautiful +in poetry (two very different things), you will be almost as much charmed +with the "divine Ariosto" as his countrymen have been for ages. + + +[Footnote 1: The materials for this notice have been chiefly collected +from the poet's own writings (rich in autobiographical intimation) +and from his latest editor Panizzi. I was unable to see this writer's +principal authority, Baruffaldi, till I corrected the proofs and the +press was waiting; otherwise I might have added two or three more +particulars, not, however, of any great consequence. Panizzi is, as +usual, copious and to the purpose; and has, for the first time I believe, +critically proved the regularity and connectedness of Ariosto's plots, +as well as the hollowness of the pretensions of the house of Este to be +considered patrons of literature. It is only a pity that his _Life +of Ariosto is_ not better arranged. I have, of course, drawn my own +conclusions respecting particulars, and sometimes have thought I had +reason to differ with those who have preceded me; but not, I hope, with a +presumption unbecoming a foreigner.] + +[Footnote 2: See in his Latin poems the lines beginning, "Hæc me +verbosas suasit perdiscere leges." +_De Diversis Amoribus._] + +[Footnote 3: + + "Mio padre mi cacciò con spiedi e lancie," &c. + + _Satira_ vi. + +There is some appearance of contradiction in this passage and the one +referred to in the preceding note; but I think the conclusion in the test +the probable one, and that he was not compelled to study the law in the +first instance. He speaks more than once of his father's memory with +great tenderness, particularly in the lines on his death, entitled _De +Nicolao Areosto_.] + +[Footnote 4: His brother Gabriel expressly mentions it in his prologue to +the _Scholastica_.] + +[Footnote 5: + + "Già mi fur dolci inviti," &c. + + _Satira_ v.] + +[Footnote 6: See, in the present volume, the beginning of _Astolfo's +Journey to the Moon_.] + +[Footnote 7: + + "Me potius fugiat, nullis mollita querelis, + Dum simulet reliquos Lydia dura procos. + Parte carere omni malo, quam admittere quemquam + In partem. Cupiat Juppiter ipse, negem." + + _Ad Petrum Bembum._] + +[Footnote 8: Panizzi, on the authority of Guicciardini and others. Giulio +and another brother (Ferrante) afterwards conspired against Alfonso and +Ippolito, and, on the failure of their enterprise, were sentenced to be +imprisoned for life. Ferrante died in confinement at the expiration of +thirty-four years; Giulio, at the end of fifty-three, was pardoned. He +came out of prison on horseback, dressed according to the fashion of the +time when he was arrested, and "greatly excited the curiosity of the +people."--_Idem_, vol. i. p xii.] + +[Footnote 9: + + "Che debbo fare io qui? + Agli usatti, agli spron (perch'io son grande) + Non mi posso adattar, per porne o trarne." + _Satira_ ii.] + +[Footnote 10: "Per la lettera de la S.V. Reverendiss. et a bocha da Ms. +Ludovico Ariosto ho inteso quanta leticia ha conceputa del felice parto +mio: il che mi è stato summamente grato, cussi lo ringrazio de la +visitazione, et particolarmente di havermi mandato il dicto Ms. Ludovico, +per che ultra che mi sia stato acetto, representando la persona de +la S.V. Reverendiss. lui anche per conto suo mi ha addutta gran +satisfazione, havendomi cum la narratione de l'opera the compone facto +passar questi due giorni non solum senza fastidio, ma cum piacer +grandissimo."--Tiraboschi, _Storia della Poesia Italiana_, Matthias' +edition, vol. iii. p. 197.] + +[Footnote 11: _Orlando Furioso_, canto xxix, st. 29.] + +[Footnote 12: See the horrible account of the suffocated Vicentine +Grottoes, in Sismondi, _Histoire des Republiques Italiennes_, &c vol. iv. +p. 48.] + +[Footnote 13: + + "Piegossi a me dalla beata sede; + La mano e poi le gote ambe mi prese, + E il santo bacio in amendue mi diede. + + Di mezza quella bolla anco cortese + Mi fu, della quale ora il mio Bibbiena + Espedito m'ha il resto alle mie spese. + + Indi col seno e con la falda piena + Di speme, ma di pioggia molle e brutto, + La notte andai sin al Montone a cena." _Sat_. iv.] + +[Footnote 14: See _canzone_ the first, "Non so s'io potrò," &c. and the +_copitolo_ beginning "Della mia negra penna in fregio d'oro."] + +[Footnote 15: _Histoire Litteraire_, &c. vol. iv. p. 335.] + +[Footnote 16: +"Singularis tua et pervetus erga nos familiamque nostrum observantia, +egregiaque bonarum artium et litterarum doctrina, atque in studiis +mitioribus, praesertimque poetices elegans et præclarum ingenium, jure +prope suo a nobis exposcere videntur, ut quae tibi usui futurae sint, +justa praesertim et honesta petenti, ea tibi liberaliter et gratiose +concedamus. Quamobrem," &c. . "On the same page," says Panizzi, "are +mentioned the privileges granted by the king of France, by the republic +of Venice, and other potentates;" so that authors, in those days, appear +to have been thought worthy of profiting by their labours, wherever they +contributed to the enjoyment of mankind. + +Leo's privilege is the one that so long underwent the singular obloquy of +being a bull of excommunication against all who objected to the poem! a +misconception on the part of some ignorant man, or misrepresentation by +some malignant one, which affords a remarkable warning against taking +things on trust from one writer after another. Even Bayle (see the +article "Leo X." in his Dictionary) suffered his inclinations to blind +his vigilance.] + +[Footnote 17: + + "Apollo, tua mercè, tua mercè, santo + Collegio delle Muse, io non mi trovo + Tanto per voi, ch'io possa farmi un manto + + E se 'l signor m'ha dato onde far novo + Ogni anno mi potrei piu d'un mantello, + Che mi abbia per voi dato, non approve. + + Egli l' ha detto." + _Satira_ ii.] + +[Footnote 18: + + "Se avermi dato onde ogni quattro mesi + Ho venticinque scudi, nè sì fermi, + Che molte volte non mi sien contesi, + + Mi debbe incatenar, schiavo tenermi, + Obbligarmi ch'io sudi e tremi senza + Rispetto alcun, ch'io muoja o ch'io m'infermi, + + Non gli lasciate aver questa credenza + Ditegli, che più tosto ch'esser servo, + Torrò la povertade in pazienza" + + _Satira_ ii.] + +[Footnote 19: Panizzi, vol. i. p. 29. The agreement itself is in +Baruffaldi.] + +[Footnote 20: See the lines before quoted, beginning" Apollo, tua +mercè."] + +[Footnote 21: _Bibliographical Notices of Editions of + +Ariosto_, prefixed to his first vol. p. 51.] + +[Footnote 22: + + "La novità del loco è stata tanta, + C' ho fatto come augel che muta gabbia, + Che molti giorni resta the non canta." + +For the rest of the above particulars see the fifth satire, beginning +"Il vigesimo giorno di Febbraio." I quote the exordium, because these +compositions are differently numbered in different editions. The one I +generally use is that of Molini--_Poesie Varie di Lodovico Ariosto, con +Annotazioni_. Firenze, 12mo, 1824.] + +[Footnote 23: _Italian Library_, p. 52. I quote Baretti, because he +speaks with a corresponding enthusiasm. He calls the incident "a very +rare proof of the irresistible powers of poetry, and a noble comment on +the fables of Orpheus and Amphion," &c. The words "noble comment" might +lead us to fancy that Johnson had made some such remark to him while +relating the story in Bolt Court. Nor is the former part of the sentence +unlike him: "A very rare proof, _sir_, of the irresistible powers of +poetry, and a noble comment," &c. Johnson, notwithstanding his classical +predilections, was likely to take much interest in Ariosto on account +of his universality and the heartiness of his passions. He had a secret +regard for "wildness" of all sorts, provided it came within any pale +of the sympathetic. He was also fond of romances of chivalry. On one +occasion he selected the history of Felixmarte of Hyrcania as his course +of reading during a visit.] + +[Footnote 24: The deed of gift sets forth the interest which it becomes +princes and commanders to take in men of letters, particularly poets, +as heralds of their fame, and consequently the special fitness of the +illustrious and superexcellent poet Lodovico Ariosto for receiving from +Alfonso Davallos, Marquess of Vasto, the irrevocable sum of, &c. &c. +Panizzi has copied the substance of it from Baruffaldi, vol. i. p. 67.] + +[Footnote 25: _Orlando Furioso_ canto xxxiii. st. 28.] + +[Footnote 26: + + "Inveni portum: spes et fortuna valete; + Sat me lusistis; Indite nune alios." + + My port is found: adieu, ye freaks of chance; + The dance ye led me, now let others dance.] + +[Footnote 27: + + "The great Emathian conqueror bade spare + The house of Pindarus, when temple and tower + went to the ground," &c.] + +[Footnote 28: This medal is inscribed "Ludovicus Ariost. Poet." and has +the bee-hive on the reverse, with the motto "Pro bono malum." Ariosto was +so fond of this device, that in his fragment called the _Five Cantos_ (c. +v. st. 26), the Paladin Rinaldo wears it embroidered on his mantle.] + +[Footnote 29: + + "Io son de' dieci il primo, e vecchio fatto + Di quaranta quattro anni, e il capo calvo + Da un tempo in qua sotto il cuffiotto appiatto." + + _Satira_ ii.] + +[Footnote 30: + + "Il vin fumoso, a me vie più interdetto + Che 'l tosco, costì a inviti si tracanna, + E sacrilegio è non ber molto, e schietto. + +(He is speaking of the wines of Hungary, and of the hard drinking +expected of strangers in that country.) + + Tutti li cibi son con pope e canna, + Di amomo e d' altri aromati, che tutti + Come nocivi il medico mi danna." + + _Satira_ ii.] + +[Footnote 31: Pigna, _I Romanzi_, p. 119.] + +[Footnote 32: _Epicedium_ on his brother's death. It is reprinted +(perhaps for the first time since 1582) in Mr. Panizzi's Appendix to the +Life, in his first volume, p. clxi.] + +[Footnote 33: + + "Le donne, i cavalier, l' arme, gli amori, + Le cortesie, le audaci imprese, io canto," + +is Ariosto's commencement; + + Ladies, and cavaliers, and loves, and arms, + And courtesies, and daring deeds, I sing. + +In Dante's _Purgatory_ (canto xiv.), a noble Romagnese, lamenting the +degeneracy of his country, calls to mind with graceful and touching +regret, + + "Le donne, i cavalier, gli affanni e gli agi, + Che inspiravano amore e cortesia." + + The ladies and the knights, the cares and leisures, + Breathing around them love and courtesy.] + +[Footnote 34: The original is much pithier, but I cannot find equivalents +for the alliteration. He said, "Porvi le pietre e porvi le parole non è +il medesimo."--_Pigna_, p. 119. According to his son, however, his remark +was, that "palaces could be made in poems without money." He probably +expressed the same thing in different ways to different people.] + +[Footnote 35: Vide Sat. iii. "Mi sia un tempo," &c. and the passage in +Sat. vii. beginning "Di libri antiqui."] + +[Footnote 36: The inkstand which Shelley saw at Ferrara (_Essays and +Letters_, p. 149) could not have been this; probably his eye was caught +by a wrong one. Doubts also, after what we know of the tricks practised +upon visitors of Stratford-upon-Avon, may unfortunately be entertained +of the "plain old wooden piece of furniture," the arm-chair. Shelley +describes the handwriting of Ariosto as "a small, firm, and pointed +character, expressing, as he should say, a strong and keen, but +circumscribed energy of mind." Every one of Shelley s words is always +worth consideration; but handwritings are surely equivocal testimonies +of character; they depend so much on education, on times and seasons and +moods, conscious and unconscious wills, &c. What would be said by an +autographist to the strange old, ungraceful, slovenly handwriting of +Shakspeare?] + +[Footnote 37: See vol. i. of the present work, pp. 30, 202, and 216.] + +[Footnote 38: Baruffaldi, 1807; p. 105.] + +[Footnote 39: + + "In casa mia mi sa meglio una rapa + Ch'io cuoca, e cotta s' un stecco m' inforco, + E mondo, e spargo poi di aceto e sapa, + + Che all'altrui mensa tordo, starno, o porco + Selvaggio."] + +[Footnote 40: "Chi vuole andare," &c. _Satira_ iv.] + +[Footnote 41: + + "Se Nicoletto o Fra Martin fan segno + D' infedele o d' cretico, ne accuso + Il saper troppo, e men con lor mi sdegno: + + Perchè salendo lo intelletto in suso + Per veder Dio, non de' parerci strano + Se talor cade giù cieco e confuso." + + _Satira_ vi. + +This satire was addressed to Bembo. The cardinal is said to have asked +a visitor from Germany whether Brother Martin really believed what he +preached; and to have expressed the greatest astonishment when told +that he did. Cardinals were then what augurs were in the time of +Cicero--wondering that they did not burst out a-laughing in one another's +faces. This was bad; but inquisitors are a million times worse. By the +Nicoletto here mentioned by Ariosto in company with Luther, we are to +understand (according to the conjecture of Molini) a Paduan professor of +the name of Niccolò Vernia, who was accused of holding the Pantheistic +opinions of Averroes.] + +[Footnote 42: Take a specimen of this leap-frog versification from the +prologue to the _Cassaria_:-- + + "Questa commedia, ch'oggi _recitàtavi_ + Sarà, se nol sapete, è la _Cassària_, + Ch'un altra volta, già vent'anni _pàssano_, + Veder si fece sopra questi _pùlpiti_, + Ed allora assai piacque a tutto il _pòpolo_, + Ma non ne ripostò già degno _prèmio_, + Che data in preda a gl'importuni ed _àvidi_ + Stampator fu," &c. + +This through five comedies in five acts!] + +[Footnote 43: In the verses entitled _Bacchi Statua_.] + +[Footnote 44: Essays and Letters, _ut sup._ vol. ii. p. 125.] + +[Footnote 45: + + "Le lacrime scendean tra gigli e rôse, + Là dove avvien ch' alcune sè n' inghiozzi." + + Canto xii. st. 94. + +Which has been well translated by Mr. Rose + + And between rose and lily, from her eyes + Tears fall so fast, she needs must swallow some."] + +[Footnote 46: Essay on the _Narrative and Romantic Poems of the +Italians_, in the _Quarterly Review_, vol. xxi.] + +[Footnote 47: + + "Vengono e van, come onda al primo margo + Quando piacevole aura il mar combatte." + + Canto vii. st. 14.] + +[Footnote 48: + + "Con semplici parole e puri incanti." + + Canto vi. st. 38.] + +[Footnote 49: Canto xiv. st. 79.] + +[Footnote 50: Canto xxviii. st. 98.] + +[Footnote 51: Canto XV. st. 57.] + +[Footnote 52: _Id_. st. 23.] + +[Footnote 53: Canto xvi. st. 56.] + +[Footnote 54: Canto xviii. st. 142.] + +[Footnote 55: Canto XVII. st. 12.] + +[Footnote 56: _Essay_, as above, p.534.] + +[Footnote 57: _Boiardo and Ariosto_, vol. iv. p. 318.] + +[Footnote 58: _Life_, in Panizzi p. ix.] + +[Footnote 59: _Opere di Galileo_, Padova, 1744, vol. i. p. lxxii.] + + +THE + +ADVENTURES OF ANGELICA. + +Argument. + +PART I.--Angelica flies from the camp of Charlemagne into a wood, where +she meets with a number of her suitors. Description of a beautiful +natural bower. She claims the protection of Sacripant, who is overthrown, +in passing, by an unknown warrior that turns out to be a damsel. Rinaldo +comes up, and Angelica flies from both. She meets a pretended hermit, who +takes her to some rocks in the sea, and casts her asleep by magic. They +are seized and carried off by some mariners from the isle of Ebuda, where +she is exposed to be devoured by an orc, but is rescued by a knight on a +winged horse. He descends with her into a beautiful spot on the coast of +Brittany, but suddenly misses both horse and lady. He is lured, with the +other knights, into an enchanted palace, whither Angelica comes too. She +quits it, and again eludes her suitors. + +PART II.--Cloridan and Medoro, two Moorish youths, after a battle with +the Christians, resolve to find the dead body of their master, King +Dardinel, and bury it. They kill many sleepers as they pass through the +enemy's camp, and then discover the body; but are surprised, and left for +dead themselves. Medoro, however, survives his friend, and is cured of +his wounds by Angelica, who happens to come up. She falls in love with +and marries him. Account of their honeymoon in the woods. They quit them +to set out for Cathay, and see a madman on the road. + +PART III.--When the lovers had quitted their abode in the wood, Orlando, +by chance, arrived there, and saw every where, all round him, in-doors +and out-of-doors, inscriptions of "Angelica and Medoro." He tries in vain +to disbelieve his eyes; finally, learns the whole story from the owner of +the cottage, and loses his senses. What he did in that state, both in the +neighbourhood and afar off, where he runs naked through the country. His +arrival among his brother Paladins; and the result. + + +THE + +ADVENTURES OF ANGELICA. + +(CONTINUED BY ARIOSTO FROM BOIARDO[1].) + +Part the First. + +ANGELICA AND HER SUITORS. + +Angelica, not at all approving her consignment to the care of Namo by +Charlemagne, for the purpose of being made the prize of the conqueror, +resolved to escape before the battle with the Pagans. She accordingly +mounted her palfrey at once, and fled with all her might till she found +herself in a wood. + +Scarcely had she congratulated herself on being in a place of refuge, +when she met a warrior full armed, whom with terror she recognised to be +the once-loved but now detested Rinaldo. He had lost his horse, and was +looking for it. Angelica turned her palfrey aside instantly, and galloped +whithersoever it chose to carry her, till she came to a river-side, where +she found another of her suitors, Ferragus. She called loudly upon him +for help. Rinaldo had recognised her in turn; and though he was on foot, +she knew he would be coming after her. + +Come after her he did. A fight between the rivals ensued; and the beauty, +taking advantage of it, again fled away--fled like the fawn, that, having +seen its mother's throat seized by a wild beast, scours through the +woods, and fancies herself every instant in the jaws of the monster. +Every sweep of the wind in the trees--every shadow across her path--drove +her with sudden starts into the wildest cross-roads; for it made her feel +as if Rinaldo was at her shoulders.[2] + +Slackening her speed by degrees, she wandered afterwards she knew not +whither, till she came, next day, to a pleasant wood that was gently +stirring with the breeze. There were two streams in it, which kept the +grass always green; and when you listened, you heard them softly running +among the pebbles with a broken murmur. + +Thinking herself secure at last, and indeed feeling as if she were now a +thousand miles off from Rinaldo--tired also with her long journey, and +with the heat of the summer sun--she here determined to rest herself. +She dismounted; and having relieved her horse of his bridle, and let him +wander away in the fresh pasture, she cast her eyes upon a lovely natural +bower, formed of wild roses, which made a sort of little room by the +water's side. The bower beheld itself in the water; trees enclosed it +overhead, on the three other sides; and in the middle was room enough to +lie down on the sward; while the whole was so thickly trellised with the +leaves and branches, that the sunbeams themselves could not enter, much +less any prying sight. The place invited her to rest; and accordingly the +beautiful creature laid herself down, and so gathering herself, as it +were, together, went fast asleep[3]. + +She had not slept long when she was awakened by the trampling of a horse; +and getting up, and looking cautiously through the trees, she perceived +a cavalier, who dismounted from his steed, and sat himself down by the +water in a melancholy posture. It was Sacripant, king of Circassia, one +of her lovers, wretched at the thought of having missed her in the camp +of King Charles. Angelica loved Sacripant no more than the rest; but, +considering him a man of great conscientiousness, she thought he would +make her a good protector while on her journey home. She therefore +suddenly appeared before him out of the bower, like a goddess of the +woods, or Venus herself, and claimed his protection. + +Never did a mother bathe the eyes of her son with tears of such exquisite +joy, when he came home after news of his death in battle, as the Saracen +king beheld this sudden apparition with + + Così vôto nel mezo, the concede + Fresca stanza fra l'ombre più nascose: + E la foglie coi rami in modo è mista, + Che 'l Sol non v' entra, non che minor vista. + + Dentro letto vi fan tener' erbette, + Ch'invitano a posar chi s' appresenta. + La bella donna in mezo a quel si mette; + Ivi si scorca, et ivi s' addormenta." + + St.37.] + +An exquisite picture! Its divine face and beautiful manners.[4] He could +not help clasping her in his arms; and very different intentions were +coming into his head than those for which she had given him credit, when +the noise of a second warrior thundering through the woods made him +remount his horse and prepare for an encounter. The stranger speedily +made his appearance, a personage of a gallant and fiery bearing, clad in +a surcoat white as snow, with a white streamer for a crest. He seemed +more bent on having the way cleared before him than anxious about the +manner of it; so couching his lance as he came, while Sacripant did the +like with his, he dashed upon the Circassian with such violence as to +cast him on the ground; and though his own horse slipped at the same +time, he had it up again in an instant with his spurs; and so, +continuing his way, was a mile off before the Saracen recovered from his +astonishment. + +As the stunned and stupid ploughman, who has been stretched by a +thunderbolt beside his slain oxen, raises himself from the ground after +the lofty crash, and looks with astonishment at the old pine-tree near +him which has been stripped from head to foot, with just such amazement +the Circassian got up from his downfall, and stood in the presence of +Angelica, who had witnessed it. Never in his life had he blushed so red +as at that moment. + +Angelica comforted him in sorry fashion, attributing the disaster to his +tired and ill-fed horse, and observing that his enemy had chosen to risk +no second encounter; but, while she was talking, a messenger, with an +appearance of great fatigue and anxiety, came riding up, who asked +Sacripant if he had seen a knight in a white surcoat and crest. + +"He has this instant," answered the king, "overthrown me, and galloped +away. Who is he?" + +"It is no _he_," replied the messenger. "The rider who has overthrown +you, and thus taken possession of whatever glory you may have acquired, +is a damsel; and she is still more beautiful than brave. Bradalnante is +her illustrious name." And with these words the horseman set spurs to +his horse, and left the Saracen more miserable than before. He mounted +Angelica's horse without a word, his own having been disabled; and so, +taking her up behind him, proceeded on the road in continued silence.[5] + +They had just gone a couple of miles, when they again heard a noise, as +of some powerful body in haste; and in a little while, a horse without a +rider came rushing towards them, in golden trappings. It was Rinaldo's +horse, Bayardo.[6] The Circassian, dismounting, thought to seize it, +but was welcomed with a curvet, which made him beware how he hazarded +something worse. The horse then went straight to Angelica in a way as +caressing as a dog; for he remembered how she fed him in Albracca at the +time when she was in love with his ungracious master: and the beauty +recollected Bayardo with equal pleasure, for she had need of him. +Sacripant, however, watched his opportunity, and mounted the horse; so +that now the two companions had each a separate steed. They were about +to proceed more at their ease, when again a great noise was heard, and +Rinaldo himself was seen coming after them on foot, threatening the +Saracen with furious gestures, for he saw that he had got his horse; and +he recognised, above all, in a rage of jealousy, the lovely face beside +him. Angelica in vain implored the Circassian to fly with her. He asked +if she had forgotten the wars of Albracca, and all which he had done to +serve her, that thus she supposed him afraid of another battle. + +Sacripant endeavoured to push Bayardo against Rinaldo; but the horse +refusing to fight his master, he dismounted, and the two rivals +encountered each other with their swords. At first they went through +the whole sword-exercise to no effect; but Rinaldo, tired of the delay, +raised the terrible Fusberta,[7] and at one blow cut through the other's +twofold buckler of bone and steel, and benumbed his arm. Angelica turned +as pale as a criminal going to execution; and, without farther waiting, +galloped off through the forest, looking round every instant to see if +Rinaldo was upon her. + +She had not gone far when she met an old man who seemed to be a hermit, +but was in reality a magician, coming along upon an ass. He was of +venerable aspect, and seemed worn out with age and mortifications; yet, +when he beheld the exquisite face before him, and heard the lady explain +how it was she needed his assistance, even he, old as he really was, +began to fancy himself a lover, and determined to use his art for the +purpose of keeping his two rivals at a distance. Taking out a book, and +reading a little in it, there issued from the air a spirit in likeness +of a servant, whom he sent to the two combatants with directions to +give them a false account of Orlando's having gone off to France with +Angelica. The spirit disappeared; and the magician journeying with his +companion to the sea-coast, raised another, who entered Angelica's horse, +and carried her, to her astonishment and terror, out to sea, and so round +to some lonely rocks. There, to her great comfort at first, the old man +rejoined her; but his proceedings becoming very mysterious, and exciting +her indignation, he cast her into a deep sleep. + +It happened, at this moment, that a ship was passing by the rocks, bound +upon a tragical commission from the island of Ebuda. It was the custom of +that place to consign a female daily to the jaws of a sea-monster, for +the purpose of averting the wrath of one of their gods; and as it was +thought that the god would be appeased if they brought him one of +singular beauty, the mariners of the ship seized with avidity on the +sleeping Angelica, and carried her off, together with the old man. +The people of Ebuda, out of love and pity, kept her, unexposed to the +sea-monster, for some days; but at length she was bound to the rock where +it was accustomed to seek its food; and thus, in tears and horror, with +not a friend to look to, the delight of the world expected her fate. East +and west she looked in vain; to the heavens she looked in vain; every +where she looked in vain. That beauty which had made King Agrican come +from the Caspian gates, with half Scythia, to find his death from the +hands of Orlando; that beauty which had made King Sacripant forget both +his country and his honour; that beauty which had tarnished the renown +and the wisdom of the great Orlando himself, and turned the whole East +upside down, and laid it at the feet of loveliness, has now not a soul +near it to give it the comfort of a word. + +Leaving our heroine awhile in this condition, I must now tell you that +Ruggiero, the greatest of all the infidel warriors, had been presented by +his guardian, the magician Atlantes, with two wonderful gifts; the one +a shield of dazzling metal, which blinded and overthrew every one that +looked at it; and the other an animal which combined the bird with the +quadruped, and was called the Hippogriff, or griffin-horse. It had the +plumage, the wings, head, beak, and front-legs of a griffin, and the rest +like a horse. It was not made by enchantment, but was a creature of a +natural kind found but very rarely in the Riphæan mountains, far on the +other side of the Frozen Sea.[8] + +With these gifts, high mounted in the air, the young ward of Atlantes +was now making the grandest of grand tours. He had for some time been +confined by the magician in a castle, in order to save him from the +dangers threatened in his horoscope. From this he had been set free by +the lady with whom he was destined to fall in love; he had then been +inveigled by a wicked fairy into her tower, and set free by a good one; +and now he was on his travels through the world, to seek his mistress and +pursue knightly adventures. + +Casting his eyes on the coast of Ebuda, the rider of the hippogriff +beheld the amazing spectacle of the lady tied to the rock; and struck +with a beauty which reminded him of her whom he loved, he +resolved to deliver her from a peril which soon became too manifest. + +A noise was heard in the sea; and the huge monster, the Orc, appeared +half in the water and half out of it, like a ship which drags its way +into port after a long and tempestuous voyage.[9] It seemed a huge mass +without form except the head, which had eyes sticking out, and bristles +like a boar. Ruggiero, who had dashed down to the side of Angelica, and +attempted to encourage her in vain, now rose in the air; and the monster, +whose attention was diverted by a shadow on the water of a couple of +great wings dashing round and above him, presently felt a spear on his +Deck; but only to irritate him, for it could not pierce the skin. In vain +Ruggiero tried to do so a hundred times. The combat was of no more effect +than that of the fly with the mastiff, when it dashes against his eyes +and mouth, and at last comes once too often within the gape of his +snapping teeth. The orc raised such a foam and tempest in the waters with +the flapping of his tail, that the knight of the hippogriff hardly knew +whether he was in air or sea. He began to fear that the monster would +disable the creature's wings; and where would its rider be then? He +therefore had recourse to a weapon which he never used but at the last +moment, when skill and courage became of no service: he unveiled the +magic shield. But first he flew to Angelica, and put on her finger the +ring which neutralised its effect. The shield blazed on the water +like another sun. The orc, beholding it, felt it smite its eyes like +lightning; and rolling over its unwieldy body in the foam which it had +raised, lay turned up, like a dead fish, insensible. But it was not dead; +and Ruggiero was so long in making ineffectual efforts to pierce it, that +Angelica cried out to him for God's sake to release her while he had the +opportunity, lest the monster should revive. "Take Ime with you," she +said; "drown me; any thing, rather than let me be food for this horror." + +The knight released her instantly. He set her behind him on the winged +horse, and in a few minutes was in the air, transported with having +deprived the brute of his delicate supper. Then, turning as he went, he +imprinted on her a thousand kisses. He had intended to make a tour of +Spain, which was not far off; but he now altered his mind, and descended +with his prize into a lovely spot, on the coast of Brittany, encircled +with oaks full of nightingales, with here and there a solitary mountain. + +It was a little green meadow with a brook.[10] + +Ruggiero looked about him with transport, and was preparing to +disencumber himself of his hot armour, when the blushing beauty, casting +her eyes downwards, beheld on her finger the identical magic ring which +her father had given her when she first entered Christendom, and which +had delivered her out of so many dangers. If put on the finger only, it +neutralised all enchantment; but put into the mouth, it rendered the +wearer invisible. It had been stolen from her, and came into the hands of +a good fairy, who gave it to Ruggiero, in order to deliver him from +the wiles of a bad one. Falsehood to the good fairy's friend, his own +mistress Bradamante, now rendered him unworthy of its possession; and +at the moment when he thought Angelica his own beyond redemption, she +vanished out of his sight. In vain he knew the secret of the ring, and +the possibility of her being still present--the certainty, at all events, +of her not being very far off. He ran hither and thither like a madman, +hoping to clasp her in his arms, and embracing nothing but the air. In a +little while she was distant far enough; and Ruggiero, stamping about to +no purpose in a rage of disappointment, and at length resolving to +take horse, perceived he had been deprived, in the mean time, of his +hippogriff. It had loosened itself from the tree to which he had tied +it, and taken its own course over the mountains. Thus he had lost horse, +ring, and lady, all at once.[11] + +Pursuing his way, with contending emotions, through a valley between +lofty woods, he heard a great noise in the thick of them. He rushed to +see what it was; and found a giant combating with a young knight. The +giant got the better of the knight; and having cast him on the ground, +unloosed his helmet for the purpose of slaying him, when Ruggiero, to +his horror, beheld in the youth's face that of his unworthily-treated +mistress Bradamante. He rushed to assault her enemy; but the giant, +seizing her in his arms, took to his heels; and the penitent lover +followed him with all his might, but in vain. The wretch was hidden from +his eyes by the trees. At length Ruggiero, incessantly pursuing him, +issued forth into a great meadow, containing a noble mansion; and here he +beheld the giant in the act of dashing through the gate of it with his +prize. + +The mansion was an enchanted one, raised by the anxious old guardian of +Ruggiero for the purpose of enticing into it both the youth himself, and +all from whom he could experience danger in the course of his adventures. +Orlando had just been brought there by a similar device, that of the +apparition of a knight carrying off Angelica; for the supposed Bradamante +was equally a deception, and the giant no other than the magician +himself. There also were the knights Ferragus, and Brandimart, and +Grandonio, and King Sacripant, all searching for something they had +missed. They wandered about the house to no purpose; and sometimes +Ruggiero heard Bradamante calling him; and sometimes Orlando beheld +Angelica's face at a window.[12] + +At length the beauty arrived in her own veritable person. She was again +on horseback, and once more on the look-out for a knight who should +conduct her safely home--whether Orlando or Sacripant she had not +determined. The same road which had brought Ruggiero to the enchanted +house having done as much for her, she now entered it invisibly by means +of the ring. + +Finding both the knights in the place, and feeling under the necessity of +coming to a determination respecting one or the other, Angelica made up +her mind in favour of King Sacripant, whom she reckoned to be more at her +disposal. Contriving therefore to meet him by himself, she took the +ring out of her mouth, and suddenly appeared before him. He had hardly +recovered from his amazement, when Ferragus and Orlando himself came up; +and as Angelica now was visible to all, she took occasion to deliver them +from the enchanted house by hastening before them into a wood. They all +followed of course, in a frenzy of anxiety and delight; but the lady +being perplexed with the presence of the whole three, and recollecting +that she had again obtained possession of her ring, resolved to trust her +safe conduct to invisibility alone; so, in the old fashion, she left +them to new quarrels by suddenly vanishing from their eyes. She stopped, +nevertheless, a while to laugh at them, as they all turned their +stupefied faces hither and thither; then suffered them to pass her in a +blind thunder of pursuit; and so, gently following at her leisure on the +same road, took her way towards the East. + +It was a long journey, and she saw many places and people, and was now +hidden and now seen, like the moon, till she calve one day into a forest +near the walls of Paris, where she beheld a youth lying wounded on the +grass, between two companions that were dead. + +Part the Second. + +ANGELICA AND MEDORO. + +Now, in order to understand who the youth was that Angelica found lying +on the grass between the two dead companions, and how he came to be so +lying, you must know that a great battle had been fought there between +Charlemagne and the Saracens, in which the latter were defeated, and that +these three people belonged to the Saracens. The two that were slain were +Dardinel, king of Zumara, and Cloridan, one of his followers; and the +wounded survivor was another, whose name was Medoro. Cloridan and Medoro +had been loving and grateful servants of Dardinel, and very fast friends +of one another; such friends, indeed, that on their own account, as well +as in honour of what they did for their master, their history deserves a +particular mention. + +They were of a lowly stock on the coast of Syria, and in all the various +fortunes of their lord had shewn him a special attachment. Cloridan had +been bred a huntsman, and was the robuster person of the two. Medoro was +in the first bloom of youth, with a complexion rosy and fair, and a most +pleasant as well as beautiful countenance. He had black eyes, and hair +that ran into curls of gold; in short, looked like a very angel from +heaven. + +These two were keeping anxious watch upon the trenches of the defeated +army, when Medoro, unable to cease thinking of the master who had been +left dead on the field, told his friend that he could no longer delay to +go and look for his dead body, and bury it. "You," said he, "will remain, +and so be able to do justice to my memory, in case I fail." + +Cloridan, though he delighted in this proof of his friend's +noble-heartedness, did all he could to dissuade him from so perilous an +enterprise; but Medoro, in the fervour of his gratitude for benefits +conferred on him by his lord, was immovable in his determination to die +or to succeed; and Cloridan, seeing this, determined to go with him. + +They took their way accordingly out of the Saracen camp, and in a short +time found themselves in that of the enemy. The Christians had been +drinking over-night for joy at their victory, and were buried in wine and +sleep. Cloridan halted a moment, and said in a whisper to his friend, +"Do you see this? Ought I to lose such an opportunity of revenging our +beloved master? Keep watch, and I will do it. Look about you, and listen +on every side, while I make a passage for us among these sleepers with my +sword." + +Without waiting an answer, the vigorous huntsman pushed into the first +tent before him. It contained, among other occupants, a certain Alpheus, +a physician and caster of nativities, who had prophesied to himself a +long life, and a death in the bosom of his family. Cloridan cautiously +put the sword's point in his throat, and there was an end of his dreams. +Four other sleepers were despatched in like manner, without time given +them to utter a syllable. After them went another, who had entrenched +himself between two horses; then the luckless Grill, who had made himself +a pillow of a barrel which he had emptied. He was dreaming of opening +a second barrel, but, alas, was tapped himself. A Greek and a German +followed, who had been playing late at dice; fortunate, if they had +continued to do so a little longer; but they never counted a throw like +this among their chances. + +By this time the Saracen had grown ferocious with his bloody work, and +went slaughtering along like a wild beast among sheep. Nor could +Medoro keep his own sword unemployed; but he disdained to strike +indiscriminately--he was choice in his victims. Among these was a certain +Duke La Brett, who had his lady fast asleep in his arms. Shall I pity +them? That will I not. Sweet was their fated hour, most happy their +departure; for, embraced as the sword found them, even so, I believe, it +dismissed them into the other world, loving and enfolded. + +Two brothers were slain next, sons of the Count of Flanders, and +newly-made valorous knights. Charlemagne had seen them turn red with +slaughter in the field, and had augmented their coat of arms with his +lilies, and promised them lands beside in Friesland. And he would have +bestowed the lands, only Medoro forbade it. + +The friends now discovered that they had approached the quarter in +which the Paladins kept guard about their sovereign. They were afraid, +therefore, to continue the slaughter any further; so they put up their +swords, and picked their way cautiously through the rest of the camp into +the field where the battle had taken place. There they experienced so +much difficulty in the search for their master's body, in consequence of +the horrible mixture of the corpses, that they might have searched till +the perilous return of daylight, had not the moon, at the close of a +prayer of Medoro's, sent forth its beams right on the spot where the king +was lying. Medoro knew him by his cognizance, _argent_ and _gules_.The +poor youth burst into tears at the sight, weeping plentifully as he +approached him, only he was obliged to let his tears flow without noise. +Not that he cared for death--at that moment he would gladly have embraced +it, so deep was his affection for his lord; but he was anxious not to be +hindered in his pious office of consigning him to the earth. + +The two friends took up the dead king on their shoulders, and were +hasting away with the beloved burden, when the whiteness of dawn began to +appear, and with it, unfortunately, a troop of horsemen in the distance, +right in their path. + +It was Zerbino, prince of Scotland, with a party of horse. He was a +warrior of extreme vigilance and activity, and was returning to the camp +after having been occupied all night in pursuing such of the enemy as had +not succeeded in getting into their entrenchments[13]. + +"My friend," exclaimed the huntsman, "we must e'en take to our heels. Two +living people must not be sacrificed to one who is dead." + +With these words he let go his share of the burden, taking for granted +that the friend, whose life as well as his own he was thinking to secure, +would do as he himself did. But attached as Cloridan had been to his +master, Medoro was far more so. He accordingly received the whole burden +on his shoulders. Cloridan meantime scoured away, as fast as feet could +carry him, thinking his companion was at his side: otherwise he would +sooner have died a hundred times over than have left him. + +In the interim, the party of the Scottish prince had dispersed themselves +about the plain, for the purpose of intercepting the two fugitives, +whichever way they went; for they saw plainly they were enemies, by the +alarm they shewed. + +There was an old forest at hand in those days, which, besides being thick +and dark, was full of the most intricate cross-paths, and inhabited only +by game. Into this Cloridan had plunged. Medoro, as well as he could, +hastened after him; but hampered as he was with his burden, the more he +sought the darkest and most intricate paths, the less advanced he found +himself, especially as he had no acquaintance with the place. + +On a sudden, Cloridan having arrived at a spot so quiet that he became +aware of the silence, missed his beloved friend. "Great God!" he +exclaimed, "what have I done? Left him I know not where, or how!" The +swift runner instantly turned about, and, retracing his steps, came +voluntarily back on the road to his own death. As he approached the scene +where it was to take place, he began to hear the noise of men and horses; +then he discerned voices threatening; then the voice of his unhappy +friend; and at length he saw him, still bearing his load, in the midst of +the whole troop of horsemen. The prince was commanding them to seize him. +The poor youth, however, burdened as he was, rendered it no such easy +matter; for he turned himself about like a wheel, and entrenched himself, +now behind this tree and now behind that. Finding this would not do, +he laid his beloved burden on the ground, and then strode hither and +thither, over and round about it, parrying the horsemen's endeavours +to take him prisoner. Never did poor hunted bear feel more conflicting +emotions, when, surprised in her den, she stands over her offspring with +uncertain heart, groaning with a mingled sound of tenderness and rage. +Wrath bids her rush forward, and bury her nails in the flesh of their +enemy; love melts her, and holds her back in the middle of her fury, to +look upon those whom she bore.[14] + +Cloridan was in an agony of perplexity what to do. He longed to rush +forth and die with his friend; he longed also still to do what he could, +and not to let him die unavenged. He therefore halted awhile before +he issued from the trees, and, putting an arrow to his bow, sent it +well-aimed among the horsemen. A Scotsman fell dead from his saddle. The +troop all turned to see whence the arrow came; and as they were raging +and crying out, a second stuck in the throat of the loudest. + +"This is not to be borne," cried the prince, pushing his horse towards +Medoro; "you shall suffer for this." And so speaking, he thrust his hand +into the golden locks of the youth, and dragged him violently backwards, +intending to kill him; but when he looked on his beautiful face, he +couldn't do it. + +The youth betook himself to entreaty. "For God's sake, sir knight!" cried +he, "be not so cruel as to deny me leave to bury my lord and master. He +was a king. I ask nothing for myself--not even my life. I do not care for +my life. I care for nothing but to bury my lord and master." + +These words were spoken in a manner so earnest, that the good prince +could feel nothing but pity; but a ruffian among the troop, losing sight +even of respect for his lord, thrust his lance into the poor youth's +bosom right over the prince's hand. Zerbino turned with indignation to +smite him, but the villain, seeing what was coming, galloped off; and +meanwhile Cloridan, thinking that his friend was slain, came leaping full +of rage out of the wood, and laid about him with his sword in mortal +desperation. Twenty swords were upon him in a moment; and perceiving +life flowing out of him, he let himself fall down by the side of his +friend.[15] + +The Scotsmen, supposing both the friends to be dead, now took their +departure; and Medoro indeed would have been dead before long, he bled so +profusely. But assistance of a very unusual sort was at hand. + +A lady on a palfrey happened to be coming by, who observed signs of life +in him, and was struck with his youth and beauty. She was attired with +great simplicity, but her air was that of a person of high rank, and her +beauty inexpressible. In short, it was the proud daughter of the lord of +Cathay, Angelica herself. Finding that she could travel in safety and +independence by means of the magic ring, her self-estimation had risen to +such a height, that she disdained to stoop to the companionship of the +greatest man living. She could not even call to mind that such lovers as +the County Orlando or King Sacripant existed and it mortified her beyond +measure to think of the affection she had entertained for Rinaldo. + +"Such arrogance," thought Love, "is not to be endured." The little archer +with the wings put an arrow to his bow, and stood waiting for her by the +spot where Medoro lay. + +Now, when the beauty beheld the youth lying half dead with his wounds, +and yet, on accosting him, found that he lamented less for himself than +for the unburied body of the king his master, she felt a tenderness +unknown before creep into every particle of her being; and as the +greatest ladies of India were accustomed to dress the wounds of their +knights, she bethought her of a balsam which she had observed in coming +along; and so, looking about for it, brought it back with her to the +spot, together with a herdsman whom she had met on horseback in search +of one of his stray cattle. The blood was ebbing so fast, that the poor +youth was on the point of expiring; but Angelica bruised the plant +between stones, and gathered the juice into her delicate hands, and +restored his strength with infusing it into the wounds; so that, in a +little while, he was able to get on the horse belonging to the herdsman, +and be carried away to the man's cottage. He would not quit his lord's +body, however, nor that of his friend, till he had seen them laid in the +ground. He then went with the lady, and she took up her abode with him in +the cottage, and attended him till he recovered, loving him more and more +day by day; so that at length she fairly told him as much, and he loved +her in turn; and the king's daughter married the lowly-born soldier. + +O County Orlando! O King Sacripant! That renowned valour of yours, say, +what has it availed you? That lofty honour, tell us, at what price is it +rated? What is the reward ye have obtained for all your services? Shew us +a single courtesy which the lady ever vouchsafed, late or early, for all +that you ever suffered in her behalf. + +O King Agrican! if you could return to life, how hard would you think it +to call to mind all the repulses she gave you--all the pride and aversion +and contempt with which she received your advances! O Ferragus! O +thousands of others too numerous to speak of, who performed thousands of +exploits for this ungrateful one, what would you all think at beholding +her in the arms of the courted boy! + +Yes, Medoro had the first gathering of the kiss off the lips of +Angelica--those lips never touched before--that garden of roses on +the threshold of which nobody ever yet dared to venture. The love was +headlong and irresistible; but the priest was called in to sanctify +it; and the brideswoman of the daughter of Cathay was the wife of the +cottager. The lovers remained upwards of a month in the cottage. Angelica +could not bear her young husband out of her sight. She was for ever +gazing on him, and hanging on his neck. In-doors and out-of-doors, day as +well as night, she had him at her side. In the morning or evening they +wandered forth along the banks of some stream, or by the hedge-rows of +some verdant meadow. In the middle of the day they took refuge from the +heat in a grotto that seemed made for lovers; and wherever, in their +wanderings, they found a tree fit to carve and write on, by the side of +fount or river, or even a slab of rock soft enough for the purpose, there +they were sure to leave their names on the bark or marble; so that, what +with the inscriptions in-doors and out-of-doors (for the walls of the +cottage displayed them also), a visitor of the place could not have +turned his eye in any direction without seeing the words + + "ANGELICA AND MEDORO" + +written in as many different ways as true-lovers' knots could run.[16] + +Having thus awhile enjoyed themselves in the rustic solitude, the Queen +of Cathay (for in the course of her adventures in Christendom she had +succeeded to her father's crown) thought it time to return to her +beautiful empire, and complete the triumph of love by crowning Medoro +king of it. + +She took leave of the cottagers with a princely gift. The islanders of +Ebuda had deprived her of every thing valuable but a rich bracelet, +which, for some strange, perhaps superstitious, reason, they left on her +arm. This she took off, and made a present of it to the good couple for +their hospitality; and so bade them farewell. + +The bracelet was of inimitable workmanship, adorned with gems, and had +been given by the enchantress Morgana to a favourite youth, who was +rescued from her wiles by Orlando. The youth, in gratitude, bestowed it +on his preserver; and the hero had humbly presented it to Angelica, who +vouchsafed to accept it, not because of the giver, but for the rarity of +the gift. + +The happy bride and bridegroom, bidding farewell to France, proceeded by +easy journeys, and crossed the mountains into Spain, where it was their +intention to take ship for the Levant. Descending the Pyrenees, they +discerned the ocean in the distance, and had now reached the coast, and +were proceeding by the water-side along the high road to Barcelona, when +they beheld a miserable-looking creature, a madman, all over mud and +dirt, lying naked in the sands. He had buried himself half inside them +for shelter from the sun; but having observed the lovers as they came +along, he leaped out of his hole like a dog, and came raging against +them. + +But, before I proceed to relate who this madman was, I must return to the +cottage which the two lovers had occupied, and recount what passed in it +during the interval between their bidding it adieu and their arrival in +this place. + +PART THE THIRD + +THE JEALOUSY OF ORLANDO. + +During the course of his search for Angelica, the County Orlando had just +restored two lovers to one another, and was pursuing a Pagan enemy to no +purpose through a wild and tangled wood, when he came into a beautiful +spot by a river's side, which tempted him to rest himself from the heat. +It was a small meadow, full of daisies and butter-cups, and surrounded +with trees. There was an air abroad, notwithstanding the heat, which made +the shepherds glad to sit without their jerkins, and receive the coolness +on their naked bodies: even the hard-skinned cattle were glad of it; and +Orlando, who was armed _cap-a-pie_, was delighted to take off his helmet, +and lay aside his buckler, and repose awhile in the midst of a scene so +refreshing. Alas! it was the unhappiest moment of his life. + +Casting his eyes around him, while about to get off his horse, he +observed a handwriting on many of the trees which he thought he knew. +Riding up to the trees, and looking more closely, he was sure he knew it; +and in truth it was no other than that of his adored mistress Angelica, +and the inscription one of those numerous inscriptions of which I have +spoken. The spot was one of the haunts of the lovers while they abode in +the shepherd's cottage. Wherever the County turned his eyes, he beheld, +tied together in true-lovers' knots, nothing but the words + + "ANGELICA AND MEDORO." + +All the trees had them--his eyes could see nothing else; and every letter +was a dagger that pierced his heart. + +The unhappy lover tried in vain to disbelieve what he saw. He endeavoured +to compel himself to think that it was some other Angelica who had +written the words; but he knew the handwriting too well. Too often had he +dwelt upon it, and made himself familiar with every turn of the letters. +He then strove to fancy that "Medoro" was a feigned name, intended for +himself; but he felt that he was trying to delude himself, and that the +more he tried, the bitterer was his conviction of the truth. He was like +a bird fixing itself only the more deeply in the lime in which it is +caught, by struggling and beating its wings. + +Orlando turned his horse away in his anguish, and paced it towards a +grotto covered with vine and ivy, which he looked into. The grotto, both +outside and in, was full of the like inscriptions. It was the retreat the +lovers were so fond of at noon. Their names were written on all sides of +it, some in chalk and coal,[17] others carved with a knife. + +The wretched beholder got off his horse and entered the grotto. The first +thing that met his eyes was a larger inscription in the Saracen lover's +own handwriting and tongue--a language which the slayer of the infidels +was too well acquainted with. The words were in verse, and expressed the +gratitude of the "poor Medoro," the writer, for having had in his arms, +in that grotto, the beautiful Angelica, daughter of King Galafron, whom +so many had loved in vain. The writer invoked a blessing on every part +of it, its shades, its waters, its flowers, its creeping plants; and +entreated every person, high and low, who should chance to visit it, +particularly lovers, that they would bless the place likewise, and take +care that it was never polluted by foot of herd. + +Thrice, and four times, did the unhappy Orlando read these words, trying +always, but in vain, to disbelieve what he saw. Every time he read, they +appeared plainer and plainer; and every time did a cold hand seem to be +wringing the heart in his bosom. At length he remained with his eyes +fixed on the stone, seeing nothing more, not even the stone itself. He +felt as if his wits were leaving him, so abandoned did he seem of all +comfort. Let those imagine what he felt who have experienced the same +emotions--who know, by their own sufferings, that this is the grief which +surpasses all other griefs. His head had fallen on his bosom; his look +was deprived of all confidence; he could not even speak or shed a +tear. His impetuous grief remained within him by reason of his +impetuosity--like water which attempts to rush out of the narrow-necked +bottle, but which is so compressed as it comes, that it scarcely issues +drop by drop. + +Again he endeavoured to disbelieve his eyes--to conclude that somebody +had wished to calumniate his mistress, and drive her lover mad, and so +had done his best to imitate her handwriting. With these sorry attempts +at consolation, he again took horse, the sun having now given way to the +moon, and so rode a little onward, till he beheld smoke rising out of +the tops of the trees, and heard the barking of dogs and the lowing of +cattle. By these signs he knew that he was approaching a village. He +entered it, and going into the first house he came to, gave his horse to +the care of a youth, and was disarmed, and had his spurs of gold taken +off, and so went into a room that was shewn him without demanding either +meat or drink, so entirely was he filled with his sorrow. + +Now it happened that this was the very cottage into which Medoro had been +carried out of the wood by the loving Angelica. There he had been cured +of his wounds--there he had been loved and made happy--and there, +wherever the County Orlando turned his eyes, he beheld the detested +writing on the walls, the windows, the doors. He made no inquiries about +it of the people of the house: he still dreaded to render the certainty +clearer than he would fain suppose it. + +But the cowardice availed him nothing; for the host seeing him unhappy, +and thinking to cheer him, came in as he was getting into bed, and opened +on the subject of his own accord. It was a story be told to every body +who came, and he was accustomed to have it admired; so with little +preface he related all the particulars to his new guest--how the youth +had been left for dead on the field, and how the lady had found him, and +had him brought to the cottage--and how she fell in love with him as he +grew well--and how she could be content with nothing but marrying him, +though she was daughter of the greatest king of the East, and a queen +herself. At the conclusion of his narrative, the good man produced the +bracelet which had been given him by Angelica, as evidence of the truth +of all that he had been saying. + +This was the final stroke, the last fatal blow, given to the poor hopes +of Orlando by the executioner, Love. He tried to conceal his misery, but +it was no longer to be repressed; so finding the tears rush into his +eyes, he desired to be alone. As soon as the man had retired, he let them +flow in passion and agony. In vain he attempted to rest, much less to +sleep. Every part of the bed appeared to be made of stones and thorns. + +At length it occurred to him, that most likely they had slept in that +very bed. He rose instantly, as if he had been lying on a serpent. The +bed, the house, the herdsman, every thing about the place, gave him such +horror and detestation, that, without waiting for dawn, or the light of +moon, he dressed himself, and went forth and took his horse from the +stable, and galloped onwards into the middle of the woods. There, as soon +as he found himself in the solitude, he opened all the flood-gates of his +grief, and gave way to cries and outcries. + +But he still rode on. Day and night did Orlando ride on, weeping and +lamenting. He avoided towns and cities, and made his bed on the hard +earth, and wondered at himself that he could weep so long. + +"These," thought he, "are no tears that are thus poured forth. They are +life itself, the fountains of vitality; and I am weeping and dying both. +These are no sighs that I thus eternally exhale. Nature could not supply +them. They are Love himself storming in my heart, and at once consuming +me and keeping me alive with his miraculous fires. No more--no more am I +the man I seem. He that was Orlando is dead and buried. His ungrateful +mistress has slain him. I am but the soul divided from his body--doomed +to wander here in this misery, an example to those that put their trust +in love." + +For the wits of the County Orlando were going; and he wandered all night +round and round in the wood, till he came back to the grotto where Medoro +had written his triumphant verses. Madness then indeed fell upon him. +Every particle of his being seemed torn up with rage and fury; and he +drew his mighty sword, and hewed the grotto and the writing, till the +words flew in pieces to the heavens. Woe to every spot in the place in +which were written the names of "Angelica and Medoro." Woe to the place +itself: never again did it afford refuge from the heat of day to sheep or +shepherd; for not a particle of it remained as it was. With arm and sword +Orlando defaced it all, the clear and gentle fountain included. He hacked +and hewed it inside and out, and cut down the branches of the trees that +hung over it, and tore away the ivy and the vine, and rooted up great +bits of earth and stone, and filled the sweet water with the rubbish, so +that it was never clear and sweet again; and at the end of his toil, not +having satisfied or being able to satisfy his soul with the excess of +his violence, he cast himself on the ground in rage and disdain, and lay +groaning towards the heavens. + +On the ground Orlando threw himself, and on the ground he remained, his +eyes fixed on heaven, his lips closed in dumbness; and thus he continued +for the space of three days and three nights, till his frenzy had mounted +to such a pitch that it turned against himself. He then arose in fury, +and tore off mail and breastplate, and every particle of clothing from +his body, till humanity was degraded in his heroical person, and he +became naked as the beasts of the field. In this condition, and his wits +quite gone, sword was forgotten as well as shield and helm; and he tore +up fir-tree and ash, and began running through the woods. The shepherds +hearing the cries of the strong man, and the crashing of the boughs, came +hastening from all quarters to know what it was; but when he saw them he +gave them chase, and smote to death those whom he reached, till the whole +country was up in arms, though to no purpose; for they were seized with +such terror, that while they threatened and closed after him, they +avoided him. He entered cottages, and tore away the food from the tables; +and ran up the craggy hills and down into the valleys; and chased beasts +as well as men, tearing the fawn and the goat to pieces, and stuffing +their flesh into his stomach with fierce will. + +Raging and scouring onwards in this manner, he arrived one day at a +bridge over a torrent, on which the fierce Rodomont had fixed himself for +the purpose of throwing any one that attempted to pass it into the water. +It was a very narrow bridge, with scarcely room for two horses. But +Orlando took no heed of its narrowness. He dashed right forwards against +man and steed, and forced the champion to wrestle with him on foot; and, +winding himself about him with hideous strength, he leaped backwards with +him into the torrent, where he left him, and so mounted the opposite +bank, and again rushed over the country. A more terrible bridge than +this was in his way--even a precipitous pass of frightful height over +a valley; but still he scoured onwards, throwing over it the agonised +passengers that dared, in their ignorance of his strength, to oppose +him; and so always rushing and raging, he came down the mountains by the +sea-side to Barcelona, where he cast his eyes on the sands, and thought, +in his idiot mind, to make himself a house in them for coolness and +repose; and so he grubbed up the sand, and laid himself down in it: and +this was the terrible madman whom Angelica and Medoro saw looking at them +as they were approaching the city. + +Neither of them knew him, nor did he know Angelica; but, with an idiot +laugh, he looked at her beauty, and liked her, and came horribly towards +her to carry her away. Shrieking, she put spurs to her horse and fled; +and Medoro, in a fury, came after the pursuer and smote him, but to no +purpose. The great madman turned round and smote the other's horse to the +ground, and so renewed his chase after Angelica, who suddenly regained +enough of her wits to recollect the enchanted ring. Instantly she put +it into her lips and disappeared; but in her hurry she fell from her +palfrey, and Orlando forgot her in the instant, and, mounting the poor +beast, dashed off with it over the country till it died; and so at last, +after many dreadful adventures by flood and field, he came running into +a camp full of his brother Paladins, who recognised him with tears; and, +all joining their forces, succeeded in pulling him down and binding him, +though not without many wounds: and by the help of these friends, and the +special grace of the apostle St. John (as will be told in another place), +the wits of the champion of the church were restored, and he became +ashamed of that passion for an infidel beauty which the heavenly powers +had thus resolved to punish. + +But Angelica and Medoro pursued the rest of their journey in peace, and +took ship on the coast of Spain for India; and there she crowned her +bridegroom King of Cathay. The description of Orlando's jealousy and +growing madness is reckoned one of the finest things in Italian poetry; +and very fine it surely is--as strong as the hero's strength, and +sensitive as the heart of man. The circumstances are heightened, one +after the other, with the utmost art as well as nature. There is a +scriptural awfulness in the account of the hero's becoming naked; and the +violent result is tremendous. I have not followed Orlando into his feats +of ultra-supernatural strength. The reader requires to be prepared +for them by the whole poem. Nor are they necessary, I think, to +the production of the best effect; perhaps would hurt it in an age +unaccustomed to the old romances. + + * * * * * + +[Footnote 1: See p. 58 of the present volume.] + +[Footnote 2: + + "Fugge tra selve spaventose e scure, + Per lochi inabitati, ermi e selvaggi. + Il mover de le frondi e di verzure + Che di cerri sentia, d' olmi e di faggi, + Fatto le avea con subite paure + Trovar di quà e di là strani viaggi; + Ch' ad ogni ombra veduta o in monte o in valle + Temea Rinaldo aver sempre alle spalle." + + Canto i. st. 33.] + +[Footnote 3: + + "Ecco non lungi un bel cespuglio vede + Di spin fioriti e di vermiglic rôse, + Che de le liquide onde al specchio siede, + Chiuso dal Sol fra l' alte quercie ombrose; ] + +[Footnote 4: And how lovely is this! + + "E fuor di quel cespuglio oscuro e cieco + Fa di se bella et improvvisa mostra, + Come di selva o fuor d'ombroso speco + Diana in scena, o Citerea si mostra," &c. + + St. 52.] + +[Footnote 5: How admirable is the suddenness, brevity, and force of this +scene! And it is as artful and dramatic as off-hand; for this Amazon, +Bradamante, is the future heroine of the warlike part of the poem, and +the beauty from whose marriage with Ruggiero is to spring the house of +Este. Nor without her appearance at this moment, as Panizzi has shewn +(vol. i. p. cvi.), could a variety of subsequent events have taken place +necessary to the greatest interests of the story. All the previous +passages in romance about Amazons are nothing compared with this flash of +a thunderbolt.] + +[Footnote 6: From _bayard_, old French; _bay-colour._] + +Footnote 7: His famous sword, vide p. 48.] + +[Footnote 8: To richness and rarity, how much is added by remoteness! It +adds distance to the other difficulties of procuring it.] + +[Footnote 9: + + "Ecco apparir lo smisurato mostro + Mezo ascoso ne l'onda, e mezo sorto. + Come sospinto suol da Borca o d'Ostro + Venir lungo navilio a pigliar porto," + Canto x. st. 100. + +Improved from Ovid, _Metamorph_. lib. iv. 706 + + "Ecce velut navis præfixo concita rostro + Sulcat aquas, juvenum sudantibus acta lacertis; + Sic fera," &c. + + As when a galley with sharp beak comes fierce, + Ploughing the waves with many a sweating oar. + +Ovid is brisker and more obviously to the purpose; but Ariosto gives the +ponderousness and dreary triumph of the monster. The comparison of the +fly and the mastiff is in the same higher and more epic taste. The +classical reader need not be told that the whole ensuing passage, as far +as the combat is concerned, is imitated from Ovid's story of Perseus and +Andromeda.] + +[Footnote 10: + + "Sul lito un bosco era di querce ombrose, + Dove ogn' or par che Filomena piagna; + Ch'in mezo avea un pratel con una fonte, + + E quinci e quindi un solitario monte. + Quivi il bramoso cavalier ritenne + L'audace corso, e nel pratel discese." + St. 113. + +What a landscape! and what a charm beyond painting he has put into it +with his nightingales! and then what figures besides! A knight on a +winged steed descending with a naked beauty into a meadow in the thick of +woods, with "here and there a solitary mountain." The mountains make no +formal circle; they keep their separate distances, with their various +intervals of light and shade. And what a heart of solitude is given to +the meadow by the loneliness of these its waiters aloof!] + +[Footnote 11: Nothing can be more perfectly wrought up than this sudden +change of circumstances.] + +[Footnote 12: To feel the complete force of this picture, a reader should +have been in the South, and beheld the like sudden apparitions, at open +windows, of ladies looking forth in dresses of beautiful colours, and +with faces the most interesting. I remember a vision of this sort at +Carrara, on a bright but not too hot day (I fancied that the marble +mountains there cooled it). It resembled one of Titian's women, with its +broad shoulders, and boddice and sleeves differently coloured from the +petticoat; and seemed literally framed in the unsashed window. But I am +digressing.] + +[Footnote 13: Ariosto elsewhere represents him as the handsomest man in +the world; saying of him, in a line that has become famous, + + "Natura il fece, e poi roppe la stampa." + + Canto x. st. 84. + + --Nature made him, and then broke the mould. + +(The word is generally printed _ruppe_; but I use the primitive text +of Mr. Pannizi's edition.) Boiardo's handsomest man, Astolfo, was an +Englishman; Ariosto's is a Scotchman. See, in the present volume, the + note on the character of Astolfo, p. 41.] + +[Footnote 14: + + "Come orsa, che l'alpestre cacciatore + Ne la pietrosa tana assalita abbia, + Sta sopra i figli con incerto core, + E freme in suono di pieta e di rabbia: + Ira la 'nvita e natural furore + A spiegar l'ugne, e a insanguinar le labbia; + Amor la 'ntenerisce, e la ritira + A riguardare a i figli in mezo l'ira." + + Like as a bear, whom men in mountains start + In her old stony den, and dare, and goad, + Stands o'er her children with uncertain heart, + And roars for rage and sorrow in one mood; + Anger impels her, and her natural part, + To use her nails, and bathe her lips in blood; + Love melts her, and, for all her angry roar, + Holds back her eyes to look on those she bore. + +This stanza in Ariosto has become famous as a beautiful transcript of a +beautiful passage in Statius, which, indeed, it surpasses in style, but +not in feeling, especially when we consider with whom the comparison +originates: + + "Ut lea, quam saevo foetam pressere cubili + Venantes Numidae, natos erecta superstat + Mente sub incerta, torvum ac miserabile frendens + Illa quidem turbare globes, et frangere morsu + Tela queat; sed prolis amor crudelia vincit + Pectora, et in media catulos circumspicit ira." + + _Thebais_, x. 414.] + +[Footnote 15: This adventure of Cloridan and Medoro is imitated from the +Nisus and Euryalus of Virgil. An Italian critic, quoted by Panizzi, says, +that the way in which Cloridan exposes himself to the enemy is inferior +to the Latin poet's famous + + "Me, me (adsum qui feci), in me convertite ferrum." + + Me, me ('tis I who did the deed), slay me. + +And the reader will agree with Panizzi, that he is right. The +circumstance, also, of Euryalus's bequeathing his aged mother to the care +of his prince, in case he fails in his enterprise, is very touching; +and the main honour, both of the invention of the whole episode and its +particulars, remains with Virgil. On the other hand, the enterprise of +the friends in the Italian poet, which is that of burying their dead +master, and not merely of communicating with an absent general, is more +affecting, though it may be less patriotic; the inability of Zerbino to +kill him, when he looked on his face, is extremely so; and, as Panizzi +has shewn, the adventure is made of importance to the whole story of the +poem, and is not simply an episode, like that in the Æneid. It serves, +too, in a very particular manner to introduce Medoro worthily to the +affection of Angelica; for, mere female though she be, we should hardly +have gone along with her passion as we do, in a poem of any seriousness, +had it been founded merely on his beauty.] + +[Footnote 16: Canto xix. st. 34, &c. All the world have felt this to be +a true picture of first love. The inscription may be said to be that of +every other pair of lovers that ever existed, who knew how to write their +names. How musical, too, are the words "Angelica and Medoro!" Boiardo +invented the one; Ariosto found the match for it. One has no end to the +pleasure of repeating them. All hail to the moment when I first became +aware of their existence, more than fifty years ago, in the house of +the gentle artist Benjamin West! (Let the reader indulge me with this +recollection.) I sighed with pleasure to look on them at that time; I +sigh now, with far more pleasure than pain, to look back on them, for +they never come across me but with delight; and poetry is a world in +which nothing beautiful ever thoroughly forsakes us.] + +[Footnote 17: + + "Scritti, qual con carbone e qual con gesso." + + Canto xxiii. st. 106. + +Ariosto did not mind soiling the beautiful fingers of Angelica with coal +and chalk. He knew that Love did not mind it. + + * * * * * + +ASTOLFO'S JOURNEY TO THE MOON. + +Argument. + +The Paladin Astolfo ascends on the hippogriff to the top of one of the +mountains at the source of the Nile, called the Mountains of the Moon, +where he discovers the Terrestrial Paradise, and is welcomed by St. John +the Evangelist. The Evangelist then conveys him to the Moon itself, where +he is shewn all the things that have been lost on earth, among which is +the Reason of Orlando, who had been deprived of it for loving a Pagan +beauty. Astolfo is favoured with a singular discourse by the Apostle, and +is then presented with a vial containing the Reason of his great brother +Paladin, which he conveys to earth. + +ASTOLFO'S + +JOURNEY TO THE MOON + +When the hippogriff loosened itself from the tree to which Ruggiero had +tied it in the beautiful spot to which he descended with Angelica,[1] it +soared away, like the faithful creature it was, to the house of its own +master, Atlantes the magician. But not long did it remain there--no, nor +the house itself, nor the magician; for the Paladin Astolfo came with a +mighty horn given him by a greater magician, the sound of which overthrew +all such abodes, and put to flight whoever heard it; and so the house +of Atlantes vanished, and the enchanter fled; and the Paladin took +possession of the griffin-horse, and rode away with it on farther +adventures. + +One of these was the deliverance of Senapus, king of Ethiopia, from the +visitation of the dreadful harpies of old, who came infesting his table +as they did those of Æneas and Phineus. Astolfo drove them with his horse +towards the sources of the river Nile, in the Mountains of the Moon, and +pursued them with the hippogriff till they entered a great cavern, which, +by the dreadful cries and lamentings that issued from the depths within +it, the Paladin discovered to be the entrance from earth to Hell. + +The daring Englishman, whose curiosity was excited, resolved to penetrate +to the regions of darkness. "What have I to fear?" thought he; "the horn +will assist me, if I want it. I'll drive the triple-mouthed dog out of +the way, and put Pluto and Satan to flight."[2] + +Astolfo tied the hippogriff to a tree, and pushed forward in spite of a +smoke that grew thicker and thicker, offending his eyes and nostrils. It +became, however, so exceedingly heavy and noisome, that he found it would +be impossible to complete his enterprise. Still he pushed forward as far +as he could, especially as he began to discern in the darkness something +that appeared to stir with an involuntary motion. It looked like a dead +body which has hung up many days in the rain and sun, and is waved +unsteadily by the wind. It turned out to be a condemned spirit in this +first threshold of Hell, sentenced there, with thousands of others, for +having been cruel and false in love. Her name was Lydia, and she had been +princess of the country so called.[3] Anaxarete was among them, who, for +her hard-heartedness, became a stone; and Daphne, who now discovered how +she had erred in making Apollo "run so much;" and multitudes of other +women; but a far greater number of men--men being worthier of punishment +in offences of love, because women are proner to believe. Theseus and +Jason were among them; and Amnon, the abuser of Tamar; and he that +disturbed the old kingdom of Latinus.[4] + +Astolfo would fain have gone deeper into the jaws of Hell, but the smoke +grew so thick and palpable, it was impossible to move a step farther. +Turning about, therefore, he regained the entrance; and having refreshed +himself in a fountain hard by, and re-mounted the hippogriff, felt an +inclination to ascend as high as he possibly could in the air. The +excessive loftiness of the mountain above the cavern made him think that +its top could be at no great distance from the region of the Moon; and +accordingly he pushed his horse upwards, and rose and rose, till at +length he found himself on its table-land. It exhibited a region of +celestial beauty. The flowers were like beds of precious stones for +colour and brightness; the grass, if you could have brought any to earth, +would have been found to surpass emeralds; and the trees, whose leaves +were no less beautiful, were in fruit and flower at once. Birds of as +many colours were singing in the branches; the murmuring rivulets and +dumb lakes were more limpid than crystal: a sweet air was for ever +stirring, which reduced the warmth to a gentle temperature; and every +breath of it brought an odour from flowers, fruit-trees, and herbage all +at once, which nourished the soul with sweetness.[5] + +In the middle of this lonely plain was a palace radiant as fire. Astolfo +rode his horse round about it, constantly admiring all he saw, and filled +with increasing astonishment; for he found that the dwelling was thirty +miles in circuit, and composed of one entire carbuncle, lucid and +vermilion. What became of the boasted wonders of the world before this? +The world itself, in the comparison, appeared but a lump of brute and +fetid matter.[6] + +As the Paladin approached the vestibule, he was met by a venerable old +man, clad in a white gown and red mantle, whose beard descended on his +bosom, and whose aspect announced him as one of the elect of Paradise. +It was St. John the Evangelist, who lived in that mansion with Enoch and +Elijah, the only three mortals who never tasted death; for the place, as +the saint informed him, was the Terrestrial Paradise; and the inhabitants +were to live there till the angelical trumpet announced the coming of +Christ "on the white cloud." The Paladin, he said, had been allowed to +visit it, by the favour of God, for the purpose of fetching away to earth +the lost wits of Orlando, which the champion of the Church had been +deprived of for loving a Pagan, and which had been attracted out of his +brains to the neighbouring sphere, the Moon. + +Accordingly, after the new friends had spent two days in discourse, and +meals had been served up, consisting of fruit so exquisite that the +Paladin could not help thinking our first parents had some excuse for +eating it,[7] the Evangelist, when the Moon arose, took him into the car +which had borne Elijah to heaven; and four horses, redder than fire, +conveyed them to the lunar world. + +The mortal visitant was amazed to see in the Moon a world resembling his +own, full of wood and water, and containing even cities and castles, +though of a different sort from ours. It was strange to find a sphere so +large which had seemed so petty afar off; and no less strange was it to +look down on the world he had left, and be compelled to knit his brows +and look sharply before he could well discern it, for it happened at the +time to want light.[8] + +But his guide did not leave him much time to look about him. He conducted +him with due speed into a valley that contained, in one miraculous +collection, whatsoever had been lost or wasted on earth. I do not speak +only (says the poet) of riches and dominions, and such like gratuities of +Fortune, but of things also which Fortune can neither grant nor resume. +Much fame is there which Time has withdrawn--infinite prayers and vows +which are made to God Almighty by us poor sinners. There lie the tears +and the sighs of lovers, the hours lost in pastimes, the leisures of the +dull, and the intentions of the lazy. As to desires, they are so numerous +that they shadow the whole place. Astolfo went round among the different +heaps, asking what they were. His eyes were first struck with a huge +one of bladders which seemed to contain mighty sounds and the voices of +multitudes. These he found were the Assyrian and Persian monarchies, +together with those of Greece and Lydia.[9] One heap was nothing but +hooks of silver and gold, which were the presents, it seems, made to +patrons and great men in hopes of a return. Another consisted of snares +in the shape of garlands, the manufacture of parasites. Others were +verses in praise of great lords, all made of crickets which had burst +themselves with singing. Chains of gold he saw there, which were +pretended and unhappy love-matches; and eagles' claws, which were deputed +authorities; and pairs of bellows, which were princes' favours; and +overturned cities and treasuries, being treasons and conspiracies; and +serpents with female faces, that were coiners and thieves; and all sorts +of broken bottles, which were services rendered in miserable courts. A +great heap of overturned soup[10] he found to be alms to the poor, which +had been delayed till the giver's death. He then came to a great mount +of flowers, which once had a sweet smell, but now a most rank one. This +(_with submission_) was the present which the Emperor Constantine made to +good Pope Sylvester.[11] Heaps of twigs he saw next, set with bird-lime, +which, dear ladies, are your charms. In short there was no end to what he +saw. Thousands and thousands would not complete the list. Every thing +was there which was to be met with on earth, except folly in the raw +material, for that is never exported.[12] + +There he beheld some of his own lost time and deeds; and yet, if nobody +had been with him to make him aware of them, never would he have +recognised them as his.[13] + +They then arrived at something, which none of us ever prayed God to +bestow, for we fancy we possess it in superabundance; yet here it was in +greater quantities than any thing else in the place--I mean, sense. +It was a subtle fluid, apt to evaporate if not kept closely; and here +accordingly it was kept in vials of greater or less size. The greatest of +them all was inscribed with the following words: "The sense of Orlando." +Others, in like manner, exhibited the names of the proper possessors; and +among them the frank-hearted Paladin beheld the greater portion of his +own. But what more astonished him, was to see multitudes of the vials +almost full to the stopper, which bore the names of men whom he had +supposed to enjoy their senses in perfection. Some had lost them for +love, others for glory, others for riches, others for hopes from great +men, others for stupid conjurers, for jewels, for paintings, for all +sorts of whims. There was a heap belonging to sophists and astrologers, +and a still greater to poets.[14] + +Astolfo, with leave of the "writer of the dark Apocalypse," took +possession of his own. He had but to uncork it, and set it under his +nose, and the wit shot up to its place at once. Turpin acknowledges that +the Paladin, for a long time afterwards, led the life of a sage man, +till, unfortunately, a mistake which he made lost him his brains a second +time.[15] + +The Evangelist now presented him with the vial containing the wits of +Orlando, and the travellers quitted the vale of Lost Treasure. Before +they returned to earth, however, the good saint chewed his guest other +curiosities, and favoured him with many a sage remark, particularly on +the subject of poets, and the neglect of them by courts. He shewed him +how foolish it was in princes and other great men not to make friends of +those who can immortalise them; and observed, with singular indulgence, +that crimes themselves might be no hindrance to a good name with +posterity, if the poet were but feed well enough for spices to embalm the +criminal. He instanced the cases of Homer and Virgil. + +"You are not to take for granted," said he, "that Æneas was so pious +as fame reports him, or Achilles and Hector so brave. Thousands and +thousands of warriors have excelled them; but their descendents bestowed +fine houses and estates on great writers, and it is from their honoured +pages that all the glory has proceeded. Augustus was no such religious or +clement prince as the trumpet of Virgil has proclaimed him. It was his +good taste in poetry that got him pardoned his iniquitous proscription. +Nero himself might have fared as well as Augustus, had he possessed as +much wit. Heaven and earth might have been his enemies to no purpose, had +he known how to keep friends with good authors. Homer makes the Greeks +victorious, the Trojans a poor set, and Penelope undergo a thousand +wrongs rather than be unfaithful to her husband; and yet, if you would +have the real truth of the matter, the Greeks were beaten, and the +Trojans the conquerors, and Penelope was a --. [16] See, on the other +hand, what infamy has become the portion of Dido. She was honest to her +heart's core; and yet, because Virgil was no friend of hers, she is +looked upon as a baggage. + +"Be not surprised," concluded the good saint, "if I have expressed myself +with warmth on this subject. I love writers, and look upon their cause as +my own, for I was a writer myself when I lived among you; and I succeeded +so well in the vocation, that time and death will never prevail against +me. Just therefore is it, that I should be thankful to my beloved Master, +who procured me so great a lot. I grieve for writers who have fallen +on evil times--men that, with pale and hungry faces, find the doors of +courtesy closed against all their hardships. This is the reason there are +so few poets now, and why nobody cares to study. Why should he study? The +very beasts abandon places where there is nothing to feed them." + +At these words the eyes of the blessed old man grew so inflamed with +anger, that they sparkled like two fires. But he presently suppressed +what he felt; and, turning with a sage and gracious smile to the Paladin, +prepared to accompany him back to earth with his wonted serenity. + +He accordingly did so in the sacred car: and Astolfo, after receiving his +gentle benediction, descended on his hippogriff from the mountain, and, +joining the delighted Paladins with the vial, his wits were restored, as +you have heard, to the noble Orlando. + +The figure which is here cut by St. John gives this remarkable satire a +most remarkable close. His association of himself with the fraternity of +authors was thought a little "strong" by Ariosto's contemporaries. The +lesson read to the house of Este is obvious, and could hardly have been +pleasant to men reputed to be such "criminals" themselves. Nor can +Ariosto, in this passage, be reckoned a very flattering or conscientious +pleader for his brother-poets. Resentment, and a good jest, seem to have +conspired to make him forget what was due to himself. + +The original of St. John's remarks about Augustus and the ancient poets +must not be omitted. It is exquisite of its kind, both in matter and +style. Voltaire has quoted it somewhere with rapture. + + "Non fu sì santo nè benigno Augusto + Come la tuba di Virgilio suona: + L'aver avuto in poesia buon gusto + La proscrizion iniqua gli perdona. + Nessun sapria se Neron fosse ingiusto, + Nè sua fama saria forse men buona, + Avesse avuto e terra e ciel nimici, + Se gli scrittor sapea tenersi amici. + + Omero Agamennon vittorioso, + E fe' i Trojan parer vili et inerti; + E che Penelopea fida al suo sposo + Da i prochi mille oltraggi avea sofferti: + E, se tu vuoi che 'l ver non ti sia ascoso, + Tutta al contrario l'istoria converti: + Che i Greci rotti, e che Troia vittrice, + E che Penelopea fu meretrice. + + Da l'altra parte odi che fama lascia + Elissa, ch'ebbe il cor tanto pudico; + Che riputata viene una bagascia, + Solo perchè Maron non le fu amico." + + Canto xxxv. st. 26. ] + + * * * * * + +[Footnote 1: See p. 192.] + +[Footnote 2: Ariosto is here imitating Pulci, and bearding Dante. See +vol. i. p. 336.] + +[Footnote 3: I know of no story of a cruel Lydia but the poet's own +mistress of that name, whom I take to be the lady here "shadowed forth." +See Life, p. 114.] + +[Footnote 4: The story of Anaxarete is in Ovid, lib. xiv. Every body +knows that of Daphne, who made Apollo, as Ariosto says, "run so much" +(correr tanto). Theseus and Jason are in hell, as deserters of Ariadne +and Medea; Amnon, for the atrocity recorded in the Bible (2 Samuel, chap. +xiii.); and Æneas for interfering with Turnus and Lavinia, and taking +possession of places he had no right to. It is delightful to see the +great, generous poet going upon grounds of reason and justice in the +teeth of the trumped-up rights of the "pious Æneas," that shabby deserter +of Dido, and canting prototype of Augustus. He turns the tables, also, +with brave candour, upon the tyrannical claims of the stronger sex to +privileges which they deny the other; and says, that there are more +faithless men in Hell than faithless women; which, if personal infidelity +sends people there, most undoubtedly is the case beyond all comparison.] + +[Footnote 5: "Che di soävità l'alma notriva" is beautiful; but the +passage, as a whole, is not well imitated from the Terrestrial Paradise +of Dante. It is not bad in itself, but it is very inferior to the one +that suggested it. See vol. i. p. 210, &c. Ariosto's Terrestrial Paradise +was at home, among the friends who loved him, and whom he made happy.] + +[Footnote 6: This is better; and the house made of one jewel thirty miles +in circuit is an extravagance that becomes reasonable on reflection, +affording a just idea of what might be looked for among the endless +planetary wonders of Nature, which confound all our relative ideas of +size and splendour. The "lucid vermilion" of a structure so enormous, and +under a sun so pure, presents a gorgeous spectacle to the imagination. +Dante himself, if he could have forgiven the poet his animal spirits +and views of the Moon so different from his own, might have stood in +admiration before an abode at once so lustrous and so vast.] + +[Footnote 7: + + "De' frutti a lui del Paradiso diero, + Di tal sapor, ch'a suo giudizio, sanza + Scusa non sono i due primi parenti, + Se pur quei fur si poco ubbidienti." + + Canto xxxiv. st. 60.] + +[Footnote 8: Modern astronomers differ very much both with Dante's and +Ariosto's Moon; nor do the "argent fields" of Milton appear better placed +in our mysterious satellite, with its no-atmosphere and no-water, and its +tremendous precipices. It is to be hoped (and believed) that knowledge +will be best for us all in the end; for it is not always so by the way. +It displaces beautiful ignorances.] + +[Footnote 9: Very fine and scornful, I think, this. Mighty monarchies +reduced to actual bladders, which, little too as they were, contained big +sounds.] + +[Footnote 10: Such, I suppose, as was given at convent-gates.] + +[Footnote 11: The pretended gift of the palace of St. John Lateran, the +foundation of the pope's temporal sovereignty. This famous passage was +quoted and translated by Milton. + + "Di varii fiori ad on gran monte passa + Ch'ebbe già buon odore, or putia forte. + Questo era il dono (se però dir lece) + Che Constantino al buon Silvestro fece." + + Canto xxxiv. st. 80. + + The lines were not so bold in the first edition. They stood thus + + "Ad un monte di rose e gigli passa, + Ch'ebbe già buon odore, or putia forte, + Ch'era corrotto; e da Giovanni intese, + Che fu un gran don ch'un gran signor mal spese." + +"He came to a mount of lilies and roses, that once had a sweet smell, +but now stank with corruption; and be understood from John that it was a +great gift which a great lord ill expended." + +The change of these lines to the stronger ones in the third edition, as +they now stand, served to occasion a charge against Ariosto of having got +his privilege of publication from the court of Rome for passages which +never existed, and which he afterwards basely introduced; but, as Panizzi +observes, the third edition had a privilege also; so that the papacy +put its hand, as it were, to these very lines. This is remarkable; and +doubtless it would not have occurred in some other ages. The Spanish +Inquisition, for instance, erased it, though the holy brotherhood found +no fault with the story of Giocondo.] + + [Footnote 12: "Sol la pazzia non v'è, poca nè assai; + Che sta quà giù, nè se ne parte mai" + St. 78.] + +[Footnote 13: Part of this very striking passage is well translated by + Harrington + + "He saw some of his own lost time and deeds, + And yet he knew them not to be his own." + + I have heard these lines more than once repeated with touching +earnestness by Charles Lamb.] + +[Footnote 14: Readers need not have the points of this exquisite satire +pointed out to them. In noticing it, I only mean to enjoy it in their +company--particularly the passage about the men accounted wisest, and the +emphatic "I mean, sense" (Io dico, il senno).] + +[Footnote 15: Admirable lesson to frailty!] + +[Footnote 16: I do not feel warranted in injuring the strength of the +term here made use of by the indignant apostle, and yet am withheld from +giving it in all its force by the delicacy, real or false, of the times. +I must therefore leave it to be supplied by the reader according to the +requirements of his own feelings.] + + +ARIODANTE AND GINEVRA. + +Argument. + +The Duke of Albany, pretending to be in love with a damsel in the service +of Ginevra, Princess of Scotland, but desiring to marry the princess +herself, and not being able to compass his design by reason of her being +in love with a gentleman from Italy named Ariodante, persuades the +damsel, in his revenge, to personate Ginevra in a balcony at night, +and so make her lover believe that she is false. Ariodante, deceived, +disappears from court. News is brought of his death; and his brother +Lurcanio publicly denounces Ginevra, who, according to the laws of +Scotland, is sentenced to death for her supposed lawless passion. +Lurcanio then challenges the unknown paramour (for the duke's face had +not been discerned in the balcony); and Ariodante, who is not dead, is +fighting him in disguise, when the Paladin Rinaldo comes up, discloses +the whole affair, and slays the deceiver. + + +ARIODANTE AND GINEVRA.[1] + +Charlemagne had suffered a great defeat at Paris, and the Paladin Rinaldo +was sent across the Channel to ask succours of the King of England; but a +tempest arose ere he could reach the coast, and drove him northwards upon +that of Scotland, where he found himself in the Caledonian Forest, a +place famous of old for knightly adventure. Many a clash of arms had been +heard in its shady recesses--many great things had been done there by +knights from all quarters, particularly the Tristans and the Launcelots, +and the Gawains, and others of the Round Table of King Arthur. + +Rinaldo, bidding the ship await him at the town of Berwick, plunged into +the forest with no other companion than his horse Bayardo, seeking the +wildest paths he could find, in the hope of some strange adventure.[2] He +put up, for the first day, at an abbey which was accustomed to entertain +the knights and ladies that journeyed that way; and after availing +himself of its hospitality, he inquired of the abbot and his monks if +they could direct him where to find what he looked for. They said that +plenty of adventures were to be met with in the forest; but that, for the +most part, they remained in as much obscurity as the spots in which they +occurred. It would be more becoming his valour, they thought, to exert +itself where it would not be hidden; and they concluded with telling him +of one of the noblest chances for renown that ever awaited a sword. The +daughter of their king was in need of a defender against a certain baron +of the name of Lurcanio, who sought to deprive her both of life and +reputation. He accused her of having been found in the arms of a lover +without the license of the priest; which, by the laws of Scotland, was a +crime only to be expiated at the stake, unless a champion could be found +to disprove the charge before the end of a month. Unfortunately the month +had nearly expired, and no champion yet made his appearance, though the +king had promised his daughter's hand to anybody of noble blood who +should establish her innocence; and the saddest part of the thing was, +that she was accounted innocent by all the world, and a very pattern of +modesty. + +While this horrible story was being told him, the Paladin fell into a +profound state of thought. After remaining silent for a little while, +at the close of it he looked up, and said, "A lady then, it seems, is +condemned to death for having been too kind to one lover, while thousands +of our sex are playing the gallant with whomsoever they please, and +not only go unpunished for it, but are admired! Perish such infamous +injustice! The man was a madman who made such a law, and they are little +better who maintain it. I hope in God to be able to shew them their +error." + +The good monks agreed, that their ancestors were very unwise to make such +a law, and kings very wrong who could, but would not, put an end to it. +So, when the morning came, they speeded their guest on his noble purpose +of fighting in the lady's behalf. A guide from the abbey took him a short +cut through the forest towards the place where the matter was to be +decided; but, before they arrived, they heard cries of distress in a dark +quarter of the forest, and, turning their horses thither to see what it +was, they observed a damsel between two vagabonds, who were standing over +her with drawn swords. The moment the wretches saw the new comer, they +fled; and Rinaldo, after re-assuring the damsel, and requesting to know +what had brought her to a pass so dreadful, made his guide take her up +on his horse behind him, in order that they might lose no more time. The +damsel, who was very beautiful, could not speak at first, for the horror +of what she had expected to undergo; but, on Rinaldo's repeating his +request, she at length found words, and, in a voice of great humility, +began to relate her story. + +But before she begins, the poet interferes with an impatient remark.--"Of +all the creatures in existence," cries he, "whether they be tame or wild, +whether they are in a state of peace or of war, man is the only one that +lays violent hands on the female of his species. The bear offers no +injury to his; the lioness is safe by the side of the lion; the heifer +has no fear of the horns of the bull. What pest of abomination, what fury +from hell, has come to disturb, in this respect, the bosom of human kind? +Husband and wife deafen one another with injurious speeches, tear one +another's faces, bathe the genial bed with tears, nay, some times with +bloodshed. In my eyes the man who can allow himself to give a blow to a +woman, or to hurt even a hair of her head, is a violater of nature, and a +rebel against God; but to poison her, to strangle her, to take the soul +out of her body with a knife,--he that can do that, never will I believe +him to be a man at all, but a fiend out of hell with a man's face."[3] + +Such must have been the two villains who fled at the sight of Rinaldo, +and who had brought the woman into this dark spot to stifle her testimony +for ever. + +But to return to what she was going to say.-- + +"You are to know, sir," she began, "that I have been from my childhood in +the service of the king's daughter, the princess Ginevra. I grew up with +her; I was held in bonour, and I led a happy life, till it pleased the +cruel passion of love to envy me my condition, and make me think that +there was no being on earth to be compared to the Duke of Albany. He +pretended to love me so much, that, in return, I loved him with all my +heart. Unable, by degrees, to refuse him anything, I let him into the +palace at night, nay, into the room which of all others the princess +regarded as most exclusively her own; for there she kept her jewels, and +there she was accustomed to sleep during inclement states of the weather. +It communicated with the other sleeping-room by a covered gallery, which +looked out to some lonely ruins; and nobody ever passed that way, day or +night. + +"Our intercourse continued for several months; and, finding that I placed +all my happiness in obliging him, he ventured to disclose to me one day +a design he had upon the princess's hand; nay, did not blush to ask my +assistance in furthering it. Judge how I set his wishes above my own, +when I confess that I undertook to do so. It is true, his rank was nearer +to the princess's than to mine; and he pretended that he sought the +alliance merely on that account; protesting that he should love me more +than ever, and that Ginevra would be little better than his wife in name. +But, God knows, I did it wholly out of the excess of my desire to please +him. + +"Day and night I exerted all my endeavours to recommend him to the +princess. Heaven is my witness that I did it in real earnest, however +wrong it was. But my labour was to no purpose, for she was in love +herself. She returned in all its warmth the passion of a most +accomplished and valiant gentleman, who had come into Scotland with a +younger brother from Italy, and who had made himself such a favourite +with every body, my lover included, that the king himself had bestowed on +him titles and estates, and put him on a footing with the greatest lords +of the land. + +"Unfortunately, the princess not only turned a deaf ear to all I said +in the duke's favour, but grew to dislike him in proportion to my +recommendation; so that, finding there was no likelihood of his success, +his own love was secretly turned into hate and rage. He studied, little +as I dreamt he could be so base, how he could best destroy her prospect +of happiness. He resorted, for this purpose, to a most crafty expedient, +which I, poor fool, took for nothing but what he feigned it to be. He +pretended that a whim had come into his head for seeming to prosper in +his suit, out of a kind of revenge for his not being able to do so in +reality; and, in order to indulge this whim, he requested me to dress +myself in the identical clothes which the princess put off when she went +to bed that night, and then to appear in them at my usual post in the +balcony, and so let down the ladder as though I were her very self, and +receive him into my arms. + +"I did all that he desired, mad fool that I was; and out of the part +which I played has come all this mischief. I have intimated to you that +the duke and Ariodante (for such was the other's name) had been good +friends before Ginevra preferred hint to my false lover. Pretending +therefore to be still his friend, and entering on the subject of a +passion which he said he had long entertained for her, he expressed his +wonder at finding it interfered with by so noble a gentleman, especially +as it was returned by the princess with a fervour of which the other, if +he pleased, might have ocular testimony. "Greatly astonished at this news +was Ariodante. He had received all the proofs of his mistress's affection +which it was possible for chaste love to bestow, and with the greatest +scorn refused to believe it; but as the duke, with the air of a man who +could not help the melancholy communication, quietly persisted in his +story, the unhappy lover found himself compelled, at any rate, to let +him afford those proofs of her infidelity which he asserted to be in his +power. The consequence was, that Ariodante came with his brother to the +ruins I spoke of; and there the two were posted on the night when I +played my unhappy part in the balcony. He brought Lurcanio with him (that +was the brother's name), because he suspected that the duke had a design +on his life, not conceiving what he alleged against Ginevra to be +possible. Lurcanio, however, was not in the secret of his brother's +engagement with the princess. It had been disclosed hitherto neither to +him nor to any one, the lady not yet having chosen to divulge it to the +king himself. Ariodante, therefore, requested his brother to take his +station at a little distance, out of sight of the palace, and not to come +to him unless he should call: 'otherwise, my dear brother,' concluded he, +'stir not a step, if you love me.' "'Doubt me not,' said Lurcanio; and, +with these words, the latter entrenched himself in his post. + +"Ariodante now stood by himself, gazing at the balcony,--the only person +visible at that moment in all the place. In a few minutes the Duke +of Albany appeared below it, making the signal to which I had been +accustomed; and then I, in my horrible folly, became visible to the eyes +of both, and let down the ladder. + +"Meantime Lurcanio, beginning to be very uneasy at the mysterious +situation in which he found himself, and to have the most alarming fears +for his brother, had cautiously picked his way after him at a little +distance; so that he also, though still hidden in the shade of the lonely +houses, perceived all that was going on. + +"I was dressed, as I had undertaken to be, in the identical clothes which +the princess had put off that night; and as I was not unlike her in air +and figure, and wore the golden net with red tassels peculiar to ladies +of the royal family, and the two brothers, besides, were at quite +sufficient distance to be deceived, I was taken by both of them for her +very self. The duke impatiently mounted the ladder; I received him as +impatiently in my arms; and circumstances, though from very different +feelings, rendered the caresses that passed between us of unusual ardour. + +"You may imagine the grief of Ariodante. It rose at once to despair. He +did not call out; so that, had not his brother followed him, still worse +would have ensued than did; for he drew his sword, and was proceeding in +distraction to fall upon it, when Lurcanio rushed in and stopped him. +'Miserable brother!' exclaimed he, 'are you mad? Would you die for a +woman like this? You see what a wretch she is. I discern all your case +at once, and, thank God, have preserved you to turn your sword where it +ought to be turned, against the defender of such a pattern of infamy.' + +"Ariodante put up his sword, and suffered himself to be led away by his +brother. He even pretended, in a little while, to be able to review his +condition calmly, but not the less had he secretly resolved to perish. +Next day he disappeared, nobody knew whither; and about eight days +afterwards, news was secretly brought to Ginevra, by a pilgrim, that he +had thrown himself from a headland into the sea. + +"'I met him by chance,' said the pilgrim, 'and we happened to be standing +on the top of the headland, conversing, when he cried out to me, 'Relate +to the princess what you beheld on parting from me; and add, that the +cause of it was my having seen too much. Happy had it been for me had I +been blind!' And with these words,' concluded the pilgrim, 'he leaped +into the sea below, and was instantly buried beneath it.' + +"The princess turned as pale as death at this story, and for a while +remained stupefied. But, alas! what a scene was it my fate to witness, +when she found herself in her chamber at night, able to give way to her +misery. She tore her clothes, and her very flesh, and her beautiful +hair, and kept repeating the last words of her lover with amazement and +despair. + +The disappearance of Ariodante, and a rumour which transpired of his +having slain himself on account of some hidden anguish, surprised and +afflicted the whole court. But his brother Lurcanio evinced more and more +his impatience at it, and let fall the most terrible words. At length +he entered the court when the king was holding one of his fullest +assemblies, and laid open, as he thought, the whole matter; setting forth +how his unhappy brother had secretly, but honourably, loved the princess; +how she had professed to love him in return; and how she had grossly +deceived him, and played him impudently false before his own eyes. He +concluded with calling upon her unknown paramour to come forth, and shew +reasons against him with his sword why she ought not to die. + +"I need not tell you what the king suffered at hearing this strange and +terrible recital. He lost no time in sharply investigating the truth of +the allegation; and for this purpose, among other proceedings, he sent +for the ladies of his daughter's chamber. You may judge, sir,--especially +as, I blush to say it, I still loved the Duke of Albany,--that I could +not await an examination like that. I hastened to meet the duke, who was +as anxious to get me out of the way as I was to go; and to this end, +professing the greatest zeal for my security, he commissioned two men to +convey me secretly to a fortress he possessed in this forest. 'Tis at no +great distance from the place where Heaven sent you to my deliverance. +You saw, sir, how little those wretches intended to take me anywhere +except to my grave; and by this you may judge of the agonies and shame I +have endured in knowing what a dupe I have been to one of the cruelest of +men. But thus it is that Love treats his most faithful servants." + +The damsel here concluded her story; and the Paladin, rejoicing at having +become possessed of all that was required to establish the falsehood of +the duke, proceeded with her on his road to St. Andrews, where the lists +had been set up for the determination of the question. The king and his +court were anxiously praying at that instant for the arrival of some +champion to fight with the dreaded Lurcanio; for the month, as I have +stated, was nearly expired, and this terrible brother appeared to have +the business all his own way; so that the stake was soon to be looked for +at which the hapless Ginevra was to die. + +Fast and eagerly the Paladin rode for St. Andrews, with his squire and +the trembling damsel, who was now agitated for new reasons, though the +knight gave her assurances of his protection. They were not far from +the city when they found people talking of a champion who had certainly +arrived, but whose name was unknown, and his face constantly concealed by +his visor. Even his own squire, it seems, did not know him; for the +man had but lately been taken into his service. Rinaldo, as soon as +he entered the city, left the damsel in a place of security, and then +spurred his horse to the scene of action, when he found the accuser and +the champion in the very midst of the fight. The Paladin, whose horse, +notwithstanding the noise of the combat, had been heard coming like a +tempest, and whose sudden and heroical appearance turned all eyes towards +him, rode straight to the royal canopy, and, begging the king to stop the +combat, disclosed the whole state of the matter, to the enchantment of +all present, except the Duke of Albany; for the villain himself was on +horseback there in state as grand constable, and had been feasting his +miserable soul with the hope of seeing Ginevra condemned. The combatants +were soon changed. Instead of Lurcanio and the unknown champion (whom the +new comer had taken care to extol for his generosity), it was the Paladin +and the Duke that were opposed; and horribly did the latter's heart fail +him. But he had no remedy. Fight he must. Rinaldo, desirous to make short +work of him, took his station with fierce delight; and at the third sound +of the trumpets, the Duke was forced to couch his spear and meet him +at full charge. Sheer went the Paladin's ashen staff through the false +bosom, sending the villain to the earth eight feet beyond the saddle. The +conqueror dismounted instantly, and unlacing the man's helmet, enabled +the king to hear his dying confession, which he had hardly finished, when +life forsook him. Rinaldo then took off his own helmet; and the king, +who had seen the great Paladin before, and who felt more rejoiced at his +daughter's deliverance than if he had lost and regained his crown, lifted +up his hands to heaven, and thanked God for having honoured her innocence +with so illustrious a defender. + +The other champion, who, in the mean time, had been looking on through +the eyelets of his visor, was now entreated to disclose his own face. He +did so with peculiar emotion, and king and all recognised with transport +the face of the loved and, as it was supposed, lost Ariodante. The +pilgrim, however, had told no falsehood. The lover had indeed thrown +himself into the sea, and disappeared from the man's eyes; but (as +oftener happens than people suppose) the death which was desired when +not present became hated when it was so; and Ariodante, lover as he +was, rising at a little distance, struck out lustily for the shore, and +reached it.[4] He felt even a secret contempt for his attempt to kill +himself; yet putting up at an hermitage, became interested in the reports +concerning the princess, whose sorrow flattered, and whose danger, +though he could not cease to think her guilty, afflicted him. He grew +exasperated with the very brother he loved, when he found that Lurcanio +pursued her thus to the death; and on all these accounts he made his +appearance at the place of combat to fight him, though not to slay. His +purpose was to seek his own death. He concluded that Ginevra would then +see who it was that had really loved her, while his brother would mourn +the rashness which made him pursue the destruction of a woman. "Guilty +she is," thought he, "but no such guilt can deserve so cruel a +punishment. Besides, I could not bear that she should die before me. She +is still the woman I love, still the idol of my thoughts. Right or wrong, +I must die in her behalf." + +With this intention he purchased a suit of black armour, and obtained a +squire unknown in those parts, and so made his appearance in the lists. +What ensued there I need not repeat; but the king was so charmed with the +issue of the whole business, with the resuscitation of the favourite whom +he thought dead, and the restoration of the more than life of his beloved +daughter, that, to the joy of all Scotland, and at the special instance +of the great Paladin, he made the two lovers happy without delay; and the +bride brought her husband for dowry the title and estates of the man who +had wronged him. + + +[Footnote 1: The main point of this story, the personation of Ginevra by +one of her ladies, has been repeated by many writers--among others by +Shakspeare, in _Much Ado about Nothing_. The circumstance is said to have +actually occurred in Ferrara, and in Ariosto's own time. Was Ariosto +himself a party? "Ariodante" almost includes his name; and it is certain +that he was once in love with a lady of the name of Ginevra.] + +[Footnote 2: Rinaldo is an ambassador, and one upon very urgent business; +yet he halts by the way in search of adventures. This has been said to be +in the true taste of knight-errantry; and in one respect it is so. We +may imagine, however, that the ship is wind-bound, and that he meant to +return to it on change of weather. The Caledonian Forest, it is to be +observed, is close at hand.] + +[Footnote 3: All honour and glory to the manly and loving poet! + +"Lavezzuola," says Panizzi, "doubts the conjugal concord of beasts, more +particularly of bears. 'Ho letto presso degno autore un orso aver cavato +un occhio ad un orsa con la zampa.' (I have read in an author worthy of +credit, that a bear once deprived a she-bear of an eye with a blow of his +paw.) The reader may choose between Ariosto and this nameless author, +which of them is to be believed. I, of course, am for my poet."--Vol. i. +p. 84. I am afraid, however, that Lavezzuola is right. Even turtle-doves +are said not to be always the models of tenderness they are supposed +to be. Brutes have even devoured their offspring. The violence is most +probably owing (at least in excessive cases) to some unnatural condition +of circumstances.] + +[Footnote 4: This is quite in Ariosto's high and bold taste for truth +under all circumstances. A less great and unmisgiving poet would have had +the lover picked up by a fisherman.] + + +SUSPICION [1] + +It is impossible to conceive a nobler thing in the world than a just +prince--a thoroughly good man, who shuns no part of the burden of his +duty, though it bend him double; who loves and cares for his people as a +father does for his children, and who is almost incessantly occupied in +their welfare, very seldom for his own. + +Such a man puts himself in front of dangers and difficulties in order +that he may be a shield to others; for he is not a mercenary, taking care +of none but himself when he sees the wolf coming; he is the right good +shepherd, staking his own life in that of his flock, and knowing the +faces of every one of them, just as they do his own. + +Such princes, in times of old, were Saturn, Hercules, Jupiter, and +others--men who reigned gently, yet firmly, equal to all chances that +came, and worthy of the divine honours that awaited them. For mankind +could not believe that they quitted the world in the same way as other +men. They thought they must be taken up into heaven to be the lords of +demigods. + +When the prince is good, the subjects are good, for they always imitate +their masters; or at least, if the subjects cannot attain to this height +of virtue, they at least are not as bad as they would be otherwise; and, +at all events, public decency is observed. Oh, blessed kingdoms that are +governed by such hearts! and oh, most miserable ones that are at the +mercy of a man without justice--a fellow-creature without feelings! + +Our Italy is full of such, who will have their reward from the pens of +posterity. Greater wretches never appeared in the shapes of Neros and +Caligulas, or any other such monsters, let them have been who they might. +I enter not into particulars; for it is always better to speak of the +dead than the living; but I must say, that Agrigentum never fared worse +under Phalaris, nor Syracuse under Dionysius, nor Thebes in the hand of +the bloody tyrant Eteocles, even though all those wretches were villains +by whose orders every day, without fault, without even charge, men were +sent by dozens to the scaffold or into hopeless exile. + +But they are not without torments of their own. At the core of their own +hearts there stands an inflicter of no less agonies. There he stands +every day and every moment--one who was born of the same mother with +Wrath, and Cruelty, and Rapine, and who never ceased tormenting his +infant brethren before they saw the light. His name is Suspicion.[2] + +Yes, Suspicion;--the cruelest visitation, the worst evil spirit and pest +that ever haunted with its poisonous whisper the mind of human being. +This is their tormentor by excellence. He does not trouble the poor and +lowly. He agonises the brain in the proud heads of those whom fortune +has put over the heads of their fellow-creatures. Well may the man hug +himself on his freedom who fears nobody because nobody hates him. Tyrants +are in perpetual fear. They never cease thinking of the mortal revenge +taken upon tormentors of their species openly or in secret. The fear +which all men feel of the one single wretch, makes the single wretch +afraid of every soul among them. + +Hear a story of one of these miserables, which, whatever you may think of +it, is true to the letter; such letter, at all events, as is written upon +the hearts of his race. He was one of the first who took to the custom +of wearing beards, for, great as he was, he had a fear of the race of +barbers! He built a tower in his palace, guarded by deep ditches and +thick walls. It had but one drawbridge and one bay-window. There was no +other opening; so that the very light of day had scarcely admittance, or +the inmates a place to breathe at. In this tower he slept; and it was his +wife's business to put a ladder down for him when he came in. A dog kept +watch at the drawbridge; and except the dog and the wife, not a soul was +to be discerned about the place. Yet he had such little trust in her, +that he always sent spies to look about the room before he withdrew for +the night. + +Of what use was it all? The woman herself killed him with his own sword, +and his soul went straight to hell. + +Rhadamanthus, the judge there, thrust him under the boiling lake, but was +astonished to find that he betrayed no symptoms of anguish. He did not +weep and howl as the rest did, or cry out, "I burn, I burn!" He evinced +so little suffering, that Rhadamanthus said, "I must put this fellow into +other quarters." Accordingly, he sent him into the lowest pit, where the +torments are beyond all others. + +Nevertheless, even here he seemed to be under no distress. At length they +asked him the reason. The wretch then candidly acknowledged, that hell +itself had no torments for him, compared with those which suspicion had +given him on earth. + +The sages of hell laid their heads together at this news. Amelioration of +his lot on the part of a sinner was not to be thought of in a place of +eternal punishment; so they called a parliament together, the result of +which was an unanimous conclusion, that the man should be sent back to +earth, and consigned to the torments of suspicion for ever. + +He went; and the earthly fiend re-entered his being anew with a subtlety +so incorporate, that their two natures were identified, and he became +SUSPICION ITSELF. Fruits are thus engrafted on wild stocks. One colour +thus becomes the parent of many, when the painter takes a portion of this +and of that from his palette in order to imitate flesh. + +The new being took up his abode on a rock by the sea-shore, a thousand +feet high, girt all about with mouldering crags, which threatened every +instant to fall. It had a fortress on the top, the approach to which was +by seven drawbridges, and seven gates, each locked up more strongly than +the other; and here, now this moment, constantly thinking Death is upon +him, Suspicion lives in everlasting terror. He is alone. He is ever +watching. He cries out from the battlements, to see that the guards are +awake below, and never does he sleep day or night. He wears mail upon +mail, and mail again, and feels the less safe the more he puts on; and is +always altering and strengthening everything on gate, and on barricado, +and on ditch, and on wall. And do whatever he will, he never seems to +have done enough. + + * * * * * + +Great poet, and good man, Ariosto! your terrors are better than Dante's; +for they warn, as far as warning can do good, and they neither afflict +humanity nor degrade God. + +Spenser has imitated this sublime piece of pleasantry; for, by a curious +intermixture of all which the mind can experience from such a fiction, +pleasant it is in the midst of its sublimity,--laughable with satirical +archness, as well as grand and terrible in the climax. The transformation +in Spenser is from a jealous man into Jealousy. His wife has gone to live +with the Satyrs, and a villain has stolen his money. The husband, in +order to persuade his wife to return, steals into the horde of the +Satyrs, by mixing with their flock of goats,--as Norandino does in a +passage imitated from Homer by Ariosto. The wife flatly refuses to do any +such thing, and the poor wretch is obliged to steal out again. + + "So soon as he the prison door did pass, + He ran as fast as both his feet could bear, + And never looked who behind him was, + Nor scarcely who before. Like as a bear + That creeping close among the hives, to rear + An honeycomb, the wakeful dogs espy, + And him assailing, sore his carcass tear, + That hardly he away with life does fly, + Nor stays till safe himself he see from jeopardy. + + Nor stay'd he till be came unto the place + Where late his treasure he entombèd had; + Where, when he found it not (for Trompart base + Had it purloined for his master bad), + With extreme fury he became quite mad, + And ran away--ran with himself away; + That who so strangely had him seen bestad, + With upstart hair and staring eyes' dismay, + From Limbo-lake him late escapèd sure would say. + + High over hills and over dales he fled, + As if the wind him on his wings had borne; + Nor bank nor bush could stay him, when he sped + His nimble feet, as treading still on thorn; + Grief, and Despite, and Jealousy, and Scorn, + Did all the way him follow hard behind; + And he himself himself loath'd so forlorn, + So shamefully forlorn of womankind, + That, as a snake, still lurkèd in his wounded mind. + + Still fled he forward, looking backward still; + Nor stay'd his flight nor fearful agony + Till that he came unto a rocky hill + Over the sea suspended dreadfully, + That living creature it would terrify + To look a-down, or upward to the height + From thence he threw himself dispiteously, + All desperate of his fore-damnèd spright, + That seem'd no help for him was left in living sight. + + But through long anguish and self-murd'ring thought, + He was so wasted and forpinèd quite, + That all his substance was consumed to nought, + And nothing left but like an airy sprite; + That on the rocks he fell so flit and light, + That he thereby received no hurt at all; + But chancèd on a craggy cliff to light; + Whence he with crooked claws so long did crawl, + That at the last he found a cave with entrance small. + + Into the same he creeps, and thenceforth there + Resolved to build his baleful mansion, + In dreary darkness, and continual fear + Of that rock's fall, which ever and anon + Threats with huge ruin him to fall upon, + That he dare never sleep, but that one eye + Still ope he keeps for that occasion; + Nor ever rests he in tranquillity, + The roaring billows beat his bower so boisterously. + + Nor ever is he wont on aught to feed + But toads and frogs, his pasture poisonous, + Which in his cold complexion do breed + A filthy blood, or humour rancorous, + Matter of doubt and dread suspicious, + That doth with cureless care consume the heart, + Corrupts the stomach with gall vicious, + Cross-cuts the liver with internal smart, + And doth transfix the soul with death's eternal dart. + + Yet can he never die, but dying lives, + And doth himself with sorrow new sustain, + That death and life at once unto him gives, + And painful pleasure turns to pleasing pain; + There dwells he ever, miserable swain, + Hateful both to himself and every wight; + Where he, through privy grief and horror vain, + Is waxen so deformed, that he has quite + Forgot he was a man, and Jealousy is hight." + +Spenser's picture is more subtly wrought and imaginative than Ariosto's; +but it removes the man farther from ourselves, except under very special +circumstances. Indeed, it might be taken rather for a picture of +hypochondria than jealousy, and under that aspect is very appalling. But +nothing, under more obvious circumstances, comes so dreadfully home to us +as Ariosto's poor wretch feeling himself "the less safe the more he puts +on," and calling out dismally from his tower, a thousand feet high, to +the watchers and warders below to see that all is secure. + + +[Footnote 1: This daring and grand apologue is not in the _Furioso_, but +in a poem which Ariosto left unfinished, and which goes under the name +of the _Five Cantos_. The fragment, though bearing marks of want of +correction, is in some respects a beautiful, and altogether a curious +one, especially as it seems to have been written after the _Furioso_; +for it touches in a remarkable manner on several points of morals and +politics, and contains an extravagance wilder than any thing in Pulci,--a +whale _inhabited_ by knights! It was most likely for these reasons that +his friend Bembo and others advised him to suppress it. Was it written in +his youth? The apologue itself is not one of the least daring attacks on +the Borgias and such scoundrels, who had just then afflicted Italy. + +Did Ariosto, by the way, omit Macchiavelli in his list of the friends who +hailed the close of his great poem, from not knowing what to make of his +book entitled the _Prince?_ It has perplexed all the world to this day, +and is not unlikely to have made a particularly unpleasant impression on +a mind at once so candid and humane as Ariosto's.] + +[Footnote 2: A tremendous fancy this last! + + "Sta for la pena, de la qual dicea + Che nacque quando la brutt'Ira nacque, + La Crudeltade, e la Rapina rea; + E quantunque in un ventre con for giacque, + Di tormentarle mai non rimanea."] + + +ISABELLA.[1] + +Rodomont, King of Algiers, was the fiercest of all the enemies of +Christendom, not out of love for his own faith (for he had no piety), but +out of hatred to those that opposed him. He had now quarrelled, however, +with his friends too. He had been rejected by a lady, in favour of the +Tartar king, Mandricardo, and mortified by the publicity of the rejection +before his own lord paramount, Agramante, the leader of the infidel +armies. He could not bear the rejection; he could not bear the sanction +of it by his liege lord; he resolved to quit the scene of warfare and +return to Africa; and, in the course of his journey thither, he had come +into the south of France, where, observing a sequestered spot that suited +his humour, be changed his mind as to going home, and persuaded himself +he could live in it for the rest of his life. He accordingly took up his +abode with his attendants in a chapel, which had been deserted by its +clergy during the rage of war. + +This vehement personage was standing one morning at the door of the +chapel in a state of unusual thoughtfulness, when he beheld coming +towards him, through a path in the green meadow before it, a lady of +a lovely aspect, accompanied by a bearded monk. They were followed by +something covered with black, which they were bringing along on a great +horse. + +Alas! the lady was the widow of Zerbino, the Scottish prince, who spared +the life of Medoro, and who now himself lay dead under that pall. He +had expired in her arms from wounds inflicted during a combat with +Mandricardo; and she had been thrown by the loss into such anguish of +mind that she would have died on his sword but for the intervention of +the hermit now with her, who persuaded her to devote the rest of her days +to God in a nunnery. She had now come into Provence with the good man for +that purpose, and to bury the corpse of her husband in the chapel which +they were approaching. + +Though the lady seemed lost in grief, and was very pale, and had her hair +all about the ears, and though she did nothing but weep and lament, and +looked in all respects quite borne down with her misery, nevertheless she +was still so beautiful that love and grace appeared to be indestructible +in her aspect. The moment the Saracen beheld her, he dismissed from his +mind all the determinations he had made to hate and detest + + The gentle bevy, that adorns the world. + +He was bent solely on obtaining the new angel before him. She seemed +precisely the sort of person to make him forget the one that had rejected +him. Advancing, therefore, to meet her without delay, he begged, in as +gentle a manner as he could assume, to know the cause of her sorrow. + +The lady, with all the candour of wretchedness, explained who she was, +and how precious a burden she was conveying to its last home, and the +resolution she had taken to withdraw from a vain world into the service +of God. The proud pagan, who had no belief in a God, much less any +respect for restraints or fidelities of what kind soever, forgot his +assumed gravity when he heard this determination, and laughed outright at +the simplicity of such a proceeding. He pronounced it, in his peremptory +way, to be foolish and frivolous; compared it with the miser who, in +burying a treasure, does good neither to himself nor any one else; and +said, that lions and serpents might indeed be shut up in cages, but not +things lovely and innocent. + +The monk, overhearing these observations, thought it his duty to +interfere. He calmly opposed all which the other asserted, and then +proceeded to set forth a repast of spiritual consolation not at all to +the Saracen's taste. The fierce warrior interrupted the preacher several +times; told him that he had nothing to do with the lady, and that the +sooner he returned to his cell the better; but the hermit, nothing +daunted, went on with his advice till his antagonist lost all patience. +He laid hands on his sacred person; seized him by the beard; tore away +as much of it as he grasped; and at length worked himself up into such a +pitch of fury, that he griped the good man's throat with all the force of +a pair of pincers, and, swinging him twice or thrice round, as one might +a dog, flung him off the headland into the sea. + +What became of the poor creature I cannot say. Reports are various. Some +tell us that he was found on the rocks, dashed all to pieces, so that you +could not distinguish foot from head; others, that he fell into the +sea at the distance of three miles, and perished in consequence of not +knowing how to swim, in spite of the prayers and tears that he addressed +to Heaven; others again affirm, that a saint came and assisted him, and +drew him to shore before people's eyes. I must leave the reader to adopt +which of these accounts he looks upon as the most probable. + +The Pagan, as soon as he had thus disposed of the garrulous hermit, +turned towards Isabella (for that was the lady's name), and with a face +some what less disturbed, began to talk to her in the common language of +gallantry, protesting that she was his life and soul, and that he should +not know what to do without her; for the sweetness of her appearance +mollified even him; and indeed, with all his violence, he would rather +have possessed her by fair means than by foul. He therefore flattered +himself that, by a little hypocritical attention, he should dispose her +to return his inclinations. + +On the other hand, the poor disconsolate creature, who, in a country +unknown to her, and a place so remote from help, felt like a mouse in the +cat's claws, began casting in her mind by what possible contrivance she +could escape from such a wretch with honour. She had made up her mind to +perish by her own hand, rather than be faithless, however unwillingly, to +the dear husband that had died in her arms: but the question was, how she +could protect herself from the pagan's violence, before she had secured +the means of so doing; for his manner was becoming very impatient, and +his speeches every moment less and less civil. + +At length an expedient occurred to her. She told him, that if he would +promise to respect her virtue, she would put him in possession of a +secret that would redound far more to his honour and glory, than any +wrong which he could inflict on the innocent. She conjured him not to +throw away the satisfaction he would experience all the rest of his life +from the consciousness of having done right, for the sake of injuring one +unhappy creature. "There were thousands of her sex," she observed, "with +cheerful as well as beautiful faces, who might rejoice in his affection; +whereas the secret she spoke of was known to scarcely a soul on earth but +herself." + +She then told him the secret; which consisted in the preparation of a +certain herb boiled with ivy and rue over a fire of cypress-wood, and +squeezed into a cup by hands that had never done harm. The juice thus +obtained, if applied fresh every month, had the virtue of rendering +bodies invulnerable. Isabella said she had seen the herb in the +neighbourhood, as she came along, and that she would not only make the +preparation forth-with, but let its effects be proved on her own person. +She only stipulated, that the receiver of the gift should swear not to +offend her purity in deed or word. + +The fierce infidel took the oath immediately. It delighted him to think +that he should be enabled to have his fill of war and slaughter for +nothing; and the oath was the more easy to him, inasmuch as he had no +intention of keeping it. + +The poor Isabella went into the fields to look for her miraculous herb, +still, however, attended by the Saracen, who would not let her go out of +his sight. She soon found it; and then going with him into his house, +passed the rest of the day and the whole night in preparing the mixture +with busy solemnity,--Rodomont always remaining with her. + +The room became so hot and close with the fire of cypress-wood, that the +Saracen, contrary to his law and indeed to his habits, indulged himself +in drinking; and the consequence was, that, as soon as it was morning, +Isabella lost no time in proving to him the success of her operations. +"Now," she said, "you shall be convinced how much in earnest I have been. +You shall see all the virtue of this blessed preparation. I have only to +bathe myself thus, over the head and neck, and if you then strike me with +all your force, as though you intended to cut off my head,--which you +must do in good earnest,--you will see the wonderful result." + +With a glad and rejoicing countenance the paragon of virtue held forth +her neck to the sword; and the bestial pagan, giving way to his natural +violence, and heated perhaps beyond all thought of a suspicion with his +wine, dealt it so fierce a blow, that the head leaped from the shoulders. + +Thrice it bounded on the ground where it fell, and a clear voice was +heard to come out of it, calling the name of "Zerbino," doubtless in joy +of the rare way which its owner had found of escaping from the Saracen. + +O blessed soul, that heldest thy virtue and thy fidelity dearer to thee +than life and youth! go in peace, then soul blessed and beautiful. If any +words of mine could have force in them sufficient to endure so long, hard +would I labour to give them all the worthiness that art can bestow, so +that the world might rejoice in thy name for thousands and thousands of +years. Go in peace, and take thy seat in the skies, and be an example to +womankind of faith beyond all weakness. + + +[Footnote 1: The ingenious martyrdom in this story, which has been told +by other writers of fiction, is taken from an alleged fact related in +Barbaro's treatise _De Re Uxoria_.It is said, indeed, to have been +actually resorted to more than once; and possibly may have been so, even +from a knowledge of it; for what is more natural with heroical minds than +that the like outrages should produce the like virtues? But the colouring +of Ariosto's narration is peculiarly his own; and his apostrophe at the +close beautiful.] + + + +TASSO: + +Critical Notice of his Life and Genius. + +Critical Notice + +OF + +TASSO'S LIFE AND GENIUS. [1] + +The romantic poetry of Italy having risen to its highest and apparently +its most lawless pitch in the _Orlando Furioso_, a reaction took place in +the next age in the _Jerusalem Delivered_.It did not hurt, however, the +popularity of Ariosto. It only increased the number of poetic readers; +and under the auspices, or rather the control, of a Luther-fearing +Church, produced, if not as classical a work as it claimed to be, or +one, in the true sense of the word, as catholic as its predecessor, yet +certainly a far more Roman Catholic, and at the same time very delightful +fiction. The circle of fabulous narrative was thus completed, and a link +formed, though in a very gentle and qualified manner, both with Dante's +theocracy and the obvious regularity of the _Aeneid_, the oldest romance +of Italy. + +The author of this epic of the Crusades was of a family so noble and +so widely diffused, that, under the patronage of the emperors and the +Italian princes, it flourished in a very remarkable manner, not only in +its own country, but in Flanders, Germany, and Spain. There was a +Tasso once in England, ambassador of Philip the Second; another, like +Cervantes, distinguished himself at the battle of Lepanto; and a third +gave rise to the sovereign German house of Tour and Taxis. _Taxus_ is the +Latin of Tasso. The Latin word, like the Italian, means both a badger +and a yew-tree; and the family in general appear to have taken it in the +former sense. The animal is in their coat of arms. But the poet, or his +immediate relatives, preferred being more romantically shadowed forth by +the yew-tree. The parent stock of the race was at Bergamo in Lombardy; +and here was born the father of Tasso, himself a poet of celebrity, +though his fame has been eclipsed by that of his son. + +Bernardo Tasso, author of many elegant lyrics, of some volumes of +letters, not uninteresting but too florid, and of the _Amadigi_, an epic +romance now little read, was a man of small property, very honest and +good-hearted, but restless, ambitious, and with a turn for expense beyond +his means. He attached himself to various princes, with little ultimate +advantage, particularly to the unfortunate Sanseverino, Prince of +Salerno, whom he faithfully served for many years. The prince had a high +sense of his worth, and would probably have settled him in the wealth and +honours he was qualified to adorn, but for those Spanish oppressions in +the history of Naples which ended in the ruin of both master and servant. +Bernardo, however, had one happy interval of prosperity; and during this, +at the age of forty-six, he married Porzia di Rossi, a young lady of a +rich and noble family, with a claim to a handsome dowry. He spent some +delightful years with her at Sorrento, a spot so charming as to have been +considered the habitation of the Sirens; and here, in the midst of his +orange-trees, his verses, and the breezes of an aromatic coast, he had +three children, the eldest of whom was a daughter named Cornelia, and the +youngest the author of the _Jerusalem Delivered_. the other child died +young. The house distinguished by the poet's birth was restored from a +dilapidated condition by order of Joseph Bonaparte when King of Naples, +and is now an hotel. + +Torquato Tasso was born March the 11th, 1544, nine years after the death +of Ariosto, who was intimate with his father. He was very devoutly +brought up; and grew so tall, and became so premature a scholar, that +at nine, he tells us, he might have been taken for a boy of twelve. At +eleven, in consequence of the misfortunes of his father, who had been +exiled with the Prince of Salerno, he was forced to part from his mother, +who remained at home to look after a dowry which she never received. Her +brothers deprived her of it; and in two years' time she died, Bernardo +thought by poison. Twenty-four years afterwards her illustrious son, in +the midst of his own misfortunes, remembered with sighs the tears with +which the kisses of his poor mother were bathed when she was forced to +let him go.[2] + +The little Torquato following, as he says, like another Ascanius, the +footsteps of his wandering father, joined Bernardo in Rome. After two +years' study in that city, partly under an old priest who lived with +them, the vicissitudes of the father's lot took away the son first to +Bergamo, among his relations, and then to Pesaro, in the duchy of Urbino, +where his education was associated for nearly two years with that of the +young prince, afterwards Duke Francesco Maria the Second (della Rovere), +who retained a regard for him through life. In 1559 the boy joined his +father in Venice, where the latter had been appointed secretary to the +Academy; but next year he was withdrawn from these pleasing varieties +of scene by the parental delusion so common in the history of men of +letters--the study of the law; which Bernardo intended him to pursue +henceforth in the city of Padua. He accordingly arrived in Padua at the +age of sixteen and a half, and fulfilled his legal destiny by writing the +poem of _Rinaldo_, which was published in the course of less than two +years at Venice. The goodnatured and poetic father, convinced by this +specimen of jurisprudence how useless it was to thwart the hereditary +passion, permitted him to devote himself wholly to literature, which he +therefore went to study in the university of Bologna; and there, at the +early age of nineteen, he began his _Jerusalem Delivered_; that is to +say, he planned it, and wrote three cantos, several of the stanzas of +which he retained when the poem was matured. He quitted Bologna, however, +in a fit of indignation at being accused of the authorship of a satire; +and after visiting some friends at Castelvetro and Correggio, returned +to Padua on the invitation of his friend Scipio Gonzaga, afterwards +cardinal, who wished him to become a member of an academy he had +instituted, called the _Eterei_(Ethereals). Here he studied his favourite +philosopher, Plato, and composed three Discourses on Heroic Poetry, +dedicated to his friend. He now paid a visit to his father in Mantua, +where the unsettled man had become secretary to the duke; and here, it is +said, he fell in love with a young lady of a distinguished family, whose +name was Laura Peperara; but this did not hinder him from returning to +his Paduan studies, in which he spent nearly the whole of the following +year. He was then informed that the Cardinal of Este, to whom he had +dedicated his _Rinaldo_, and with whom interest had been made for the +purpose, had appointed him one of his attendants, and that he was +expected at Ferrara by the 1st of December. Returning to Mantua, in order +to prepare for this appointment with his father, he was seized with a +dangerous illness, which detained him there nearly a twelvemonth longer. +On his recovery he hastened to Ferrara, and arrived in that city on the +last day of October, 1565, the first of many years of glory and misery. + +The cardinal of Este was the brother of the reigning Duke of Ferrara, +Alfonso the Second, grandson of the Alfonso of Ariosto. It is curious +to see the two most celebrated romantic poets of Italy thrown into +unfortunate connexion with two princes of the same house and the same +respective ranks. Tasso's cardinal, however, though the poet lost his +favour, and though very little is known about him, left no such bad +reputation behind him as Ippolito. It was in the service of the duke that +the poet experienced his sufferings. + +This prince, who was haughty, ostentatious, and quarrelsome, was, at the +time of the stranger's arrival, rehearsing the shows and tournaments +intended to welcome his bride, the sister of the Emperor Maximilian the +Second. She was his second wife. The first was a daughter of the rival +house of Tuscany, which he detested; and the marriage had not been happy. +The new consort arrived in the course of a few weeks, entering the city +in great pomp; and for a time all went happily with the young poet. He +was in a state of ecstasy with the beauty and grandeur he beheld around +him--obtained the favourable notice of the duke's two sisters and the +duke himself--went on with his _Jerusalem Delivered_, which, in spite of +the presence of Ariosto's memory, he was resolved to load with praises of +the house of Este; and in this tumult of pride and expectation, he beheld +the duke, like one of the heroes of his poem, set out to assist the +emperor against the Turks at the head of three hundred gentlemen, armed +at all points, and mantled in various-coloured velvets embroidered with +gold. + +To complete the young poet's happiness, or commence his disappointments, +he fell in love, notwithstanding the goddess he had left in Mantua, with +the beautiful Lucrezia Bendidio, who does not seem, however, to have +loved in return; for she became the wife of a Macchiavelli. Among his +rivals was Guarini, who afterwards emulated him in pastoral poetry, and +who accused him on this occasion of courting two ladies at once. + +Guarini's accusation has been supposed to refer to the duke's sister +Leonora, whose name has become so romantically mixed up with the poet's +biography; but the latest inquiries render it probable that the allusion +was to Laura Peperara.[3] The young poet, however, who had not escaped +the influence of the free manners of Italy, and whose senses and vanity +may hitherto have been more interested than his heart, rhymed and +flattered on all sides of him, not of course omitting the charms of +princesses. In order to win the admiration of the ladies in a body, he +sustained for three days, in public, after the fashion of the times, +_Fifty Amorous Conclusions_; that is to say, affirmations on the subject +of love; doubtless to the equal delight of his fair auditors and himself, +and the creation of a good deal of jealousy and ill-will on the part of +such persons of his own sex as had not wit or spirits enough for the +display of so much logic and love-making. + +In 1569, the death of his father, who had been made governor of Ostiglia +by the Duke of Mantua, cost the loving son a fit of illness; but the +continuation of his _Jerusalem_, an _Oration_ spoken at the opening of +the Ferrarese academy, the marriage of Leonora's sister Lucrezia with the +Prince of Urbino, and the society of Leonora herself, who led the retired +life of a person in delicate health, and was fond of the company of men +of letters, helped to divert him from melancholy recollections; and a +journey to France, at the close of the year following, took him into +scenes that were not only totally new, but otherwise highly interesting +to the singer of Godfrey of Boulogne. The occasion of it was a visit of +the cardinal, his master, to the court of his relative Charles the Ninth. +It is supposed that his Eminence went to confer with the king on matters +relative to the disputes which not long afterwards occasioned the +detestable massacre of St. Bartholomew. + +Before his departure, Tasso put into the hands of one of his friends a +document, which, as it is very curious, and serves to illustrate perhaps +more than one cause of his misfortunes, is here given entire. + +_Memorial left by Tasso on his departure to France._ + +"Since life is frail, and it may please Almighty God to dispose of me +otherwise in this my journey to France, it is requested of Signor Ercole +Rondinelli that he will, in that case, undertake the management of the +following concerns: + +"In the first place, with regard to my compositions, it is my wish that +all my love-sonnets and madrigals should be collected and published; but +with regard to those, whether amatory or otherwise, _which I have written +for any friend_, my request is, that _they should be buried with myself_, +save only the one commencing "_Or che l'aura mia dolce altrove spira_." I +wish the publication of the _Oration_ spoken in Ferrara at the opening of +the academy, of the four books on _Heroic Poetry_, of the six last cantos +of the _Godfrey_ (the _Jerusalem_), and of those stanzas of the two first +which shall seem least imperfect. All these compositions, however, are to +be submitted to the review and consideration of Signor Scipio Gonzaga, of +Signor Domenico Veniero, and of Signor Battista Guarini, who, I persuade +myself, will not refuse this trouble, when they consider the zealous +friendship I have entertained for themselves. + +"Let them be informed, too, that it was my intention that they should +cut and hew without mercy whatever should appear to them defective or +superfluous. With regard to additions or changes, I should wish them +to proceed more cautiously, since, after all, the poem would remain +imperfect. As to my other compositions, should there be any which, to +the aforesaid Signor Rondinelli and the other gentlemen, might seem not +unworthy of publication, let them be disposed of according to their +pleasure. + +"In respect to my property, I wish that such part of it as I have +_pledged to Abram --_ for twenty-five lire, and seven pieces of arras, +which are _likewise in pledge to Signor Ascanio for thirteen scudi_, +together with whatever I have in this house, should be sold, and that the +overplus of the proceeds should go to defray the expense of the following +epitaph to be inscribed on a monument to my father, whose body is in St. +Polo. And should any impediment take place in these matters, I entreat +Signor Ercole _to have recourse to the favour of the most excellent +Madame Leonora, whose liberality I confide in, for my sake._ + +"I, Torquato Tasso, have written this, Ferrara, 1570." + +I shall have occasion to recur to this document by and by. I will merely +observe, for the present, that the marks in it, both of imprudence in +money-matters and confidence in the goodwill of a princess, are very +striking. "Abram" and "Signor Ascanio" were both Jews. The pieces of +arras belonged to his father; and probably this was an additional reason +why the affectionate son wished the proceeds to defray the expense of the +epitaph. The epitaph recorded his father's poetry, state-services, and +vicissitudes of fortune. + +Tasso was introduced to the French king as the poet of a French hero and +of a Catholic victory; and his reception was so favourable (particularly +as the wretched Charles, the victim of his mother's bigotry, had himself +no mean poetic feeling), that, with a rash mixture of simplicity and +self-reliance (respect makes me unwilling to call it self-importance), +the poet expressed an impolitic amount of astonishment at the favour +shewn at court to the Hugonots--little suspecting the horrible design it +covered. He shortly afterwards broke with his master the cardinal; and +it is supposed that this unseasonable escape of zeal was the cause. He +himself appears to have thought so.[4] Perhaps the cardinal only wanted +to get the imprudent poet back to Italy; for, on Tasso's return to +Ferrara, he was not only received into the service of the duke with +a salary of some fifteen golden scudi a-month, but told that he was +exempted from any particular duty, and might attend in peace to his +studies. Balzac affirms, that while Tasso was at the court of France, he +was so poor as to beg a crown from a friend; and that, when he left it, +he had the same coat on his back that he came in.[5] The assertions of a +professed wit and hyperbolist are not to be taken for granted; yet it is +difficult to say to what shifts improvidence may not be reduced. + +The singer of the house of Este would now, it might have been supposed, +be happy. He had leisure; he had money; he had the worldly honours that +he was fond of; he occupied himself in perfecting the _Jerusalem_; and he +wrote his beautiful pastoral, the _Aminta_, which was performed before +the duke and his court to the delight of the brilliant assembly. The +duke's sister Lucrezia, princess of Urbino, who was a special friend of +the poet, sent for him to read it to her at Pesaro; and in the course of +the ensuing carnival it was performed with similar applause at the +court of her father-in-law. The poet had been as much enchanted by the +spectacle which the audience at Ferrara presented to his eyes, as the +audience with the loves and graces with which he enriched their stage. +The shepherd Thyrsis; by whom he meant himself, reflected it back upon +them in a passage of the performance. It is worth while dwelling on this +passage a little, because it exhibits a brief interval of happiness in +the author's life, and also chews us what he had already begun to +think of courts at the moment he was praising them. But he ingeniously +contrives to put the praise in his own mouth, and the blame in another's. +The shepherd's friend, Mopsus (by whom Tasso is thought to have meant +Speroni), had warned him against going to court + + "Però, figlio, + Va su l'avviso," &c. + + "Therefore, my son, take my advice. Avoid + The places where thou seest much drapery, + Colours, and gold, and plumes, and heraldries, + And such new-fanglements. But, above all, + Take care how evil chance or youthful wandering + Bring thee upon the house of Idle Babble." + "What place is that?" said I; and he resumed;-- + "Enchantresses dwell there, who make one see + Things as they are not, ay and hear them too. + That which shall seem pure diamond and fine gold + Is glass and brass; and coffers that look silver, + Heavy with wealth, are baskets full of bladders.[6] + + * * * * * + + The very walls there are so strangely made, + They answer those who talk; and not in syllables, + Or bits of words, like echo in our woods, + But go the whole talk over, word for word, + With something else besides, that no one said[7]. + The tressels, tables, bedsteads, curtains, lockers, + Chairs, and whatever furniture there is + In room or bedroom, all have tongues and speech, + And are for ever tattling. Idle Babble + Is always going about, playing the child; + And should a dumb man enter in that place, + The dumb would babble in his own despite. + And yet this evil is the least of all + That might assail thee. Thou might'st be arrested + In fearful transformation to a willow, + A beast, fire, water,--fire for ever sighing, + Water for ever weeping."--Here he ceased: + And I, with all this fine foreknowledge, went + To the great city; and, by Heaven's kind will, + Came where they live so happily. The first sound + I heard was a delightful harmony, + Which issued forth, of voices loud and sweet;--Sirens, + and swans, and nymphs, a heavenly noise + Of heavenly things;--which gave me such delight, + That, all admiring, and amazed, and joyed, + I stopped awhile quite motionless. There stood + Within the entrance, as if keeping guard + Of those fine things, one of a high-souled aspect, + Stalwart withal, of whom I was in doubt + + Whether to think him better knight or leader.[8] + He, with a look at once benign and grave, + In royal guise, invited me within; + He, great and in esteem; me, lorn and lowly. + Oh, the sensations and the sights which then + Shower'd on me! Goddesses I saw, and nymphs + Graceful and beautiful, and harpers fine + As Linus or as Orpheus; and more deities, + All without veil or cloud, bright as the virgin + Aurora, when she glads immortal eyes, + And sows her beams and dew-drops, silver and gold. + +In the summer of 1574, the Duke of Ferrara went to Venice to pay his +respects to the successor of Charles the Ninth, Henry the Third, then on +his way to France from his kingdom of Poland. Tasso went with the duke, +and is understood to have taken the opportunity of looking for a printer +of his _Jerusalem_, which was now almost finished. Writers were anxious +to publish in that crafty city, because its government would give no +security of profit to books printed elsewhere. Alfonso, who was in +mourning for Henry's brother, and to whom mourning itself only suggested +a new occasion of pomp and vanity, took with him to this interview five +hundred Ferrarese gentlemen, all dressed in long black cloaks; who +walking about Venice (says a reporter) "by twos and threes," wonderfully +impressed the inhabitants with their "gravity and magnificence."[9] The +mourners feasted, however; and Tasso had a quartan fever, which delayed +the completion of the _Jerusalem_ till next year. This was at length +effected; and now once more, it might have been thought, that the writer +would have reposed on his laurels. + +But Tasso had already begun to experience the uneasiness attending +superiority; and, unfortunately, the strength of his mind was not equal +to that of his genius. He was of an ultra-sensitive temperament, and +subject to depressing fits of sickness. He could not calmly bear envy. +Sarcasm exasperated, and hostile criticism afflicted him. The seeds of a +suspicious temper were nourished by prosperity itself. The author of the +_Armida_ and the _Jerusalem_ began to think the attentions he received +unequal to his merits; while with a sort of hysterical mixture of demand +for applause, and provocation of censure, he not only condescended to +read his poems in manuscript wherever he went, but, in order to secure +the goodwill of the papal licenser, he transmitted it for revisal to +Rome, where it was mercilessly criticised for the space of two years by +the bigots and hypocrites of a court, which Luther had rendered a very +different one from that in the time of Ariosto. + +This new source of chagrin exasperated the complexional restlessness, +which now made our author think that he should be more easy any where +than in Ferrara; perhaps more able to communicate with and convince +his critics; and, unfortunately, he permitted himself to descend to a +weakness the most fatal of all others to a mind naturally exalted +and ingenuous. Perhaps it was one of the main causes of all which he +suffered. Indeed, he himself attributed his misfortunes to irresolution. +What I mean in the present instance was, that he did not disdain to adopt +underhand measures. He skewed a face of satisfaction with Alfonso, at the +moment that he was taking steps to exchange his court for another. He +wrote for that purpose to his friend Scipio Gonzaga, now a prelate at the +court of Rome, earnestly begging him, at the same time, not to commit him +in their correspondence; and Scipio, who was one of his kindest and most +indulgent friends, and who doubtless saw that the Duke of Ferrara and his +poet were not of dispositions to accord, did all he could to procure him +an appointment with one of the family of the Medici. + +Most unhappily for this speculation (and perhaps even the good-natured +Gonzaga took a little more pleasure in it on that account), Alfonso +inherited all the detestation of his house for that lucky race; and it is +remarkable, that the same jealousies which hindered Ariosto's advancement +with the Medici were still more fatal to the hopes of Tasso; for they +served to plunge him into the deepest adversity. In vain he had warnings +given him, both friendly and hostile. The princess, now Duchess of +Urbino, who was his particular friend, strongly cautioned him against the +temptation of going away. She said he was watched. He himself thought his +letters were opened; and probably they were. They certainly were at a +subsequent period. Tasso, however, persisted, and went to Rome. Scipio +Gonzaga introduced him to Cardinal Ferdinand de' Medici, afterwards Grand +Duke of Tuscany; and Ferdinand made him offers of protection so handsome, +that they excited his suspicion. The self-tormenting poet thought they +savoured more of hatred to the Este family, than honour to himself.[10] +He did not accept them. He did nothing at Rome but make friends, in order +to perplex them; listen to his critics, in order to worry himself; +and perform acts of piety in the churches, by way of shewing that the +love-scenes in the _Jerusalem_ were innocent. For the bigots had begun to +find something very questionable in mixing up so much love with war. The +bloodshed they had no objection to. The love bearded their prejudices, +and excited their envy. + +Tasso returned to Ferrara, and endeavoured to solace himself +with eulogising two fair strangers who had arrived at Alfonso's +court,--Eleonora Sanvitale, who had been newly married to the Count of +Scandiano (a Tiene, not a Boiardo, whose line was extinct), and Barbara +Sanseverino, Countess of Sala, her mother-in-law. The mother-in-law, who +was a Juno-like beauty, wore her hair in the form of a crown. The still +more beautiful daughter-in-law had an under lip such as Anacreon or Sir +John Suckling would have admired,--pouting and provoking,--[prokaloymenon +phileama]. Tasso wrote verses on them both, but particularly to the lip; +and this Countess of Scandiano is the second, out of the three Leonoras, +with whom Tasso was said by his friend Manso to have been in love. The +third, it is now ascertained, never existed; and his love-making to the +new, or second Leonora, goes to shew how little of real passion there was +in the praises of the first (the Princess Leonora), or probably of +any lady at court. He even professed love, as a forlorn hope, to the +countess's waiting-maid. Yet these gallantries of sonnets are exalted +into bewilderments of the heart. + +His restlessness returning, the poet now condescended to craft a second +time. Expecting to meet with a refusal, and so to be afforded a +pretext for quitting Ferrara, he applied for the vacant office of +historiographer. It was granted him; and he then disgusted the Medici by +pleading an unlooked-for engagement, which he could only reconcile to his +applications for their favour by renouncing his claim to be believed. If +he could have deceived others, why might he not have deceived them? + +All the lurking weakness of the poet's temperament began to display +itself at this juncture. His perplexity excited him to a degree of +irritability bordering on delirium; and circumstances conspired to +increase it. He had lent an acquaintance the key of his rooms at court, +for the purpose (he tells us) of accommodating some intrigue; and +he suspected this person of opening cabinets containing his papers. +Remonstrating with him one day in the court of the palace, either on that +or some other account, the man gave him the lie. He received in return +a blow on the face, and is said by Tasso to have brought a set of his +kinsmen to assassinate him, all of whom the heroical poet immediately put +to flight. At one time he suspected the duke of jealousy respecting +the dedication of his poem, and at another, of a wish to burn it. He +suspected his servants. He became suspicious of the truth of his friend +Gonzaga. He doubted, even, whether some praises addressed to him by +Orazio Ariosto, the nephew of the great poet, which, one would have +thought, would have been to him a consummation of bliss, were not +intended to mystify and hurt him. At length he fancied that his +persecutors had accused him of heresy to the Inquisition; and, as he had +gone through the metaphysical doubts, common with most men of reflection +respecting points of faith and the mysteries of creation, he feared that +some indiscreet words had escaped him, giving colour to the charge. He +thus beheld enemies all around him. He dreaded stabbing and poison; and +one day, in some paroxysm of rage or horror, how occasioned it is not +known, ran with a knife or dagger at one of the servants of the Duchess +of Urbino in her own chamber. + +Alfonso, upon this, apparently in the mildest and most reasonable manner, +directed that he should be confined to his apartments, and put into the +hands of the physician. These unfortunate events took place in the summer +of 1577, and in the poet's thirty-third year. + +Tasso shewed so much affliction at this treatment, and, at the same time, +bore it so patiently, that the duke took him to his beautiful country +seat of Belriguardo; where, in one of his accounts of the matter, the +poet says that he treated him as a brother; but in another, he accuses +him of having taken pains to make him criminate himself, and confess +certain matters, real or supposed, the nature of which is a puzzle with +posterity. Some are of opinion (and this is the prevailing one), that he +was found guilty of being in love with the Princess Leonora, perhaps of +being loved by herself. Others think the love out of the question, and +that the duke was concerned at nothing but his endeavouring to transfer +his services and his poetic reputation into the hands of the Medici. +Others see in the duke's conduct nothing but that of a good master +interesting himself in the welfare of an afflicted servant. + +It is certain that Alfonso did all he could to prevent the surreptitious +printing of the _Jerusalem Delivered_ in various towns of Italy, the +dread of which had much afflicted the poet; and he also endeavoured, +though in vain, to ease his mind on the subject of the Inquisition; +for these facts are attested by state-papers and other documents, not +dependent either on the testimony of third persons or the partial +representations of the sufferer. But Tasso felt so uneasy at Belriguardo, +that he requested leave to retire a while into a convent. He remained +there several days, apparently so much to his satisfaction, that he wrote +to the duke to say that it was his intention to become a friar; and, yet +he had no sooner got into the place, than he addressed a letter to the +Inquisition at Rome, beseeching it to desire permission for him to come +to that city, in order to clear himself from the charges of his enemies. +He also wrote to two other friends, requesting them to further his +petition; and adding that the duke was enraged with him in consequence of +the anger of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, who, it is supposed, had accused +Tasso of having revealed to Alfonso some indecent epithet which his +highness had applied to him.[11] These letters were undoubtedly +intercepted, for they were found among the secret archives of Modena, +the only principality ultimately remaining in the Este family; so that, +agreeably to the saying of listeners hearing no good of themselves, if +Alfonso did not know the epithet before, he learnt it then. The reader +may conceive his feelings. Tasso, too, at the same time, was plaguing +him with letters to similar purpose; and it is observable, that while +in those which he sent to Rome he speaks of Cosmo de' Medici as "Grand +Duke," he takes care in the others to call him simply the "Duke of +Florence." Alfonso had been exasperated to the last degree at Cosmo's +having had the epithet "Grand" added by the Pope to his ducal title; +and the reader may imagine the little allowance that would be made by +a haughty and angry prince for the rebellious courtesy thus shewn to a +detested rival. Tasso, furthermore, who had not only an infantine hatred +of bitter "physic," but reasonably thought the fashion of the age +for giving it a ridiculous one, begged hard, in a manner which it is +humiliating to witness, that he might not be drenched with medicine. The +duke at length forbade his writing to him any more; and Tasso, whose +fears of every kind of ill usage had been wound up to a pitch unbearable, +watched an opportunity when he was carelessly guarded, and fled at once +from the convent and Ferrara. + +The unhappy poet selected the loneliest ways he could find, and directed +his course to the kingdom of Naples, where his sister lived. He was +afraid of pursuit; he probably had little money; and considering his ill +health and his dread of the Inquisition, it is pitiable to think what he +may have endured while picking his long way through the back states of +the Church and over the mountains of Abruzzo, as far as the Gulf of +Naples. For better security, he exchanged clothes with a shepherd; and as +he feared even his sister at first, from doubting whether she still +loved him, his interview with her was in all its circumstances painfully +dramatic. Cornelia Tasso, now a widow, with two sons, was still residing +at Sorrento, where the poet, casting his eyes around him as he +proceeded towards the house, must have beheld with singular feelings of +wretchedness the lovely spots in which he had been a happy little boy. He +did not announce himself at once. He brought letters, he said, from the +lady's brother; and it is affecting to think, that whether his sister +might or might not have retained otherwise any personal recollection +of him since that time (for he had not seen her in the interval), his +disguise was completed by the alterations which sorrow had made in his +appearance. For, at all events, she did not know him. She saw in him +nothing but a haggard stranger who was acquainted with the writer of the +letters, and to whom they referred for particulars of the risk which +her brother ran, unless she could afford him her protection. These +particulars were given by the stranger with all the pathos of the real +man, and the loving sister fainted away. On her recovery, the visitor +said what he could to reassure her, and then by degrees discovered +himself. Cornelia welcomed him in the tenderest manner. She did all that +he desired; and gave out to her friends that the gentleman was a cousin +from Bergamo, who had come to Naples on family affairs. + +For a little while, the affection of his sister, and the beauty and +freshness of Sorrento, rendered the mind of Tasso more easy: but his +restlessness returned. He feared he had mortally offended the Duke of +Ferrara; and, with his wonted fluctuation of purpose, he now wished to be +restored to his presence for the very reason he had run away from it. He +did not know with what vengeance he might be pursued. He wrote to the +duke; but received no answer. The Duchess of Urbino was equally silent. +Leonora alone responded, but with no encouragement. These appearances +only made him the more anxious to dare or to propitiate his doom; and he +accordingly determined to put himself in the duke's hands. His sister +entreated him in vain to alter his resolution. He quitted her before the +autumn was over; and, proceeding to Rome, went directly to the house of +the duke's agent there, who, in concert with the Ferrarese ambassador, +gave his master advice of the circumstance. Gonzaga, however, and another +good friend, Cardinal Albano, doubted whether it would be wise in the +poet to return to Ferrara under any circumstances. They counselled him +to be satisfied with being pardoned at a distance, and with having his +papers and other things returned to him; and the two friends immediately +wrote to the duke requesting as much. The duke apparently acquiesced in +all that was desired; but he said that the illness of his sister, the +Duchess of Urbino, delayed the procuration of the papers, which, it +seems, were chiefly in her hands. The upshot was, that the papers did not +come; and Tasso, with a mixture of rage and fear, and perhaps for more +reasons than he has told, became uncontrollably desirous of retracing the +rest of his steps to Ferrara. + +Love may have been among these reasons--probably was; though it does not +follow that the passion must have been for a princess. The poet now, +therefore, petitioned to that effect; and Alfonso wrote again, and said +he might come, but only on condition of his again undergoing the ducal +course of medicine; adding, that if he did not, he was to be finally +expelled his highness's territories. + +He was graciously received--too graciously, it would seem, for his +equanimity; for it gave him such a flow of spirits, that the duke appears +to have thought it necessary to repress them. The unhappy poet, at this, +began to have some of his old suspicions; and the unaccountable detention +of his papers confirmed them. He made an effort to keep the suspicions +down, but it was by means, unfortunately, of drowning them in wine and +jollity; and this gave him such a fit of sickness as had nearly been his +death. He recovered, only to make a fresh stir about his papers, and +a still greater one about his poems in general, which, though his +_Jerusalem_ was yet only known in manuscript, and not even his _Aminta_ +published, he believed ought to occupy the attention of mankind. People +at Ferrara, therefore, not foreseeing the respect that posterity would +entertain for the poet, and having no great desire perhaps to encourage a +man who claimed to be a rival of their countryman Ariosto, now began to +consider their Neapolitan guest not merely an ingenious and pitiable, but +an overweening and tiresome enthusiast. The court, however, still seemed +to be interested in its panegyrist, though Tasso feared that Alfonso +meant to burn his _Jerusalem_. Alfonso, on the other hand, is supposed to +have feared that he would burn it himself, and the ducal praises with it. +The papers, at all events, apparently including the only fair copy of the +poem, were constantly withheld; and Tasso, in a new fit of despair, +again quitted Ferrara. This mystery of the papers is certainly very +extraordinary. + +The poet's first steps were to Mantua, where he met with no such +reception as encouraged him to stay. He then went to Urbino, but did not +stop long. The prince, it is true, was very gracious; and bandages for +a cautery were applied by the fair hands of his highness's sister; but, +though the nurse enchanted, the surgery frightened him. The hapless poet +found himself pursued wherever he went by the tormenting beneficence +of medicine. He escaped, and went to Turin. He had no passport; and +presented, besides, so miserable an appearance, that the people at the +gates roughly refused him admittance. He was well received, however, at +court; and as he had begun to acknowledge that he was subject to humours +and delusions, and wrote to say as much to Cardinal Albano, who returned +him a most excellent and affecting letter, full of the kindest regard +and good counsel, his friends entertained a hope that he would become +tranquil. But he disappointed them. He again applied to Alfonso for +permission to return to Ferrara--again received it, though on worse than +the old conditions--and again found himself in that city in the beginning +of the year 1579, delighted at seeing a brilliant assemblage from all +quarters of Italy on occasion of a new marriage of the duke's (with a +princess of Mantua). He made up his mind to think that nothing could be +denied him, at such a moment, by the bridegroom whom he meant to honour +and glorify. + +Alas! the very circumstance to which he looked for success, tended to +throw him into the greatest of his calamities. Alfonso was to be married +the day after the poet's arrival. He was therefore too busy to attend to +him. The princesses did not attend to him. Nobody attended to him. He +again applied in vain for his papers. He regretted his return; became +anxious to be any where else; thought himself not only neglected but +derided; and at length became excited to a pitch of frenzy. He broke +forth into the most unmeasured invectives against the duke, even in +public; invoked curses on his head and that of his whole race; retracted +all he had ever said in the praise of any of them, prince or otherwise; +and pronounced him and his whole court "a parcel of ingrates, rascals, +and poltroons."[12] The outbreak was reported to the duke; and the +consequence was, that the poet was sent to the hospital of St. Anne, +an establishment for the reception of the poor and lunatic, where he +remained (with the exception of a few unaccountable leave-days) upwards +of seven years. This melancholy event happened in the March of the year +1579. + +Tasso was stunned by this blow as much as if he had never done or +suffered any thing to expect it. He could at first do nothing but wonder +and bewail himself, and implore to be set free. The duke answered, that +he must be cured first. Tasso replied by fresh entreaties; the duke +returned the same answers. The unhappy poet had recourse to every friend, +prince, and great man he could think of, to join his entreaties; he +sought refuge in composition, but still entreated; he occasionally +reproached and even bantered the duke in some of his letters to his +friends, all of which, doubtless, were opened; but still he entreated, +flattered, adored, all to no purpose, for seven long years and upwards. +In time he became subject to maniacal illusions; so that if he was not +actually mad before, he was now considered so. He was not only visited +with sights and sounds, such as many people have experienced whose brains +have been over-excited, but he fancied himself haunted by a sprite, and +become the sport of "magicians." The sprite stole his things, and the +magicians would not let him get well. He had a vision such as Benvenuto +Cellini had, of the Virgin Mary in her glory; and his nights were so +miserable, that he ate too much in order that he might sleep. When he +was temperate, he lay awake. Sometimes he felt "as if a horse had thrown +himself on him." "Have pity on me," he says to the friend to whom he +gives these affecting accounts; "I am miserable, because the world is +unjust."[13] + +The physicians advised him to leave off wine; but he says he could not do +that, though he was content to use it in moderation. In truth he required +something to support him against the physicians themselves, for they +continued to exhaust his strength by their medicines, and could not +supply the want of it with air and freedom. He had ringings in the ears, +vomits, and fluxes of blood. It would be ludicrous, if it were not +deplorably pathetic, to hear so great a man, in the commonest +medical terms, now protesting against the eternal drenches of these +practitioners, now humbly submitting to them, and now entreating like a +child, that they might at least not be "so bitter." The physicians, with +the duke at their head, were as mad for their rhubarbs and lancets as the +quacks in Molière; and nothing but the very imagination that had nearly +sacrificed the poet's life to their ignorance could have hindered +him from dashing his head against the wall, and leaving them to the +execrations of posterity. It is the only occasion in which the noble +profession of medicine has not appeared in wise and beneficent connexion +with the sufferings of men of letters. Why did Ferrara possess no +Brocklesby in those days? no Garth, Mead, Warren, or Southwood Smith? + +Tasso enabled himself to endure his imprisonment with composition. He +supported it with his poetry and his poem, and what, alas! he had been +too proud of during his liberty, the praises of his admirers. His genius +brought him gifts from princes, and some money from the booksellers: +it supported him even against his critics. During his confinement the +_Jerusalem Delivered_ was first published; though, to his grief, from +a surreptitious and mutilated copy. But it was followed by a storm of +applause; and if this was succeeded by as great a storm of objection and +controversy, still the healthier part of his faculties were roused, and +he exasperated his critics and astonished the world by shewing how coolly +and learnedly the poor, wild, imprisoned genius could discuss the most +intricate questions of poetry and philosophy. The disputes excited by his +poem are generally supposed to have done him harm; but the conclusion +appears to be ill founded. They diverted his thoughts, and made him +conscious of his powers and his fame. I doubt whether he would have +been better for entire approbation: it would have put him in a state of +elevation, unfit for what he had to endure. He had found his pen +his great solace, and he had never employed it so well. It would be +incredible what a heap of things he wrote in this complicated torment of +imprisonment, sickness, and "physic," if habit and mental activity had +not been sufficient to account for much greater wonders. His letters +to his friends and others would make a good-sized volume; those to his +critics, another; sonnets and odes, a third; and his Dialogues after +the manner of Plato, two more. Perhaps a good half of all he wrote was +written in this hospital of St. Anne; and he studied as well as composed, +and had to read all that was written at the time, _pro_ and _con_, in the +discussions about his _Jerusalem_, which, in the latest edition of his +works, amount to three out of six volumes octavo! Many of the occasions, +however, of his poems, as well as letters, are most painful to think +of, their object having been to exchange praise for money. And it is +distressing, in the letters, to see his other little wants, and the +fluctuations and moods of his mind. Now he is angry about some book not +restored, or some gift promised and delayed. Now he is in want of some +books to be lent him; now of some praise to comfort him; now of a little +fresh linen. He is very thankful for visits, for respectful letters, for +"sweetmeats;" and greatly puzzled to know what to do with the bad sonnets +and panegyrics that are sent him. They were sometimes too much even for +the allowed ultra courtesies of Italian acknowledgment. His compliments +to most people are varied with astonishing grace and ingenuity; his +accounts of his condition often sufficient to bring the tears into +the manliest eyes; and his ceaseless and vain efforts to procure his +liberation mortifying when we think of himself, and exasperating when we +think of the petty despot who detained him in so long, so degrading, and +so worse than useless a confinement. + +Tasso could not always conceal his contempt of his imprisoner from the +ducal servants. Alfonso excelled the grandiloquent poet himself in his +love of pomp and worship; and as he had no particular merits to warrant +it, his victim bantered his love of titles. He says, in a letter to the +duke's steward, "If it is the pleasure of the Most Serene Signor Duke, +Most Clement and Most Invincible, to keep me in prison, may I beg that he +will have the goodness to return certain little things of mine, which +his Most Invincible, Most Clement, and Most Serene Highness has so often +promised me.[14] + +But these were rare ebullitions of gaiety, perhaps rather of bitter +despair. A playful address to a cat to lend him her eyes to write by, +during some hour in which he happened to be without a light (for it +does not appear to have been denied him), may be taken as more probable +evidence of a mind relieved at the moment, though the necessity for +the relief may have been very sad. But the style in which he generally +alludes to his situation is far different. He continually begs his +correspondents to pity him, to pray for him, to attribute his errors to +infirmity. He complains of impaired memory, and acknowledges that he has +become subject to the deliriums formerly attributed to him by the enemies +that had helped to produce them. Petitioning the native city of his +ancestors (Bergamo) to intercede for him with the duke, he speaks of the +writer as "this unhappy person;" and subscribes himself,-- + +"Most illustrious Signors, your affectionate servant, Torquato Tasso, a +prisoner, and infirm, in the hospital of St. Anne in Ferrara." + +In one of his addresses to Alfonso, he says most affectingly: + +"I have sometimes attributed much to myself, and considered myself as +somebody. But now, seeing in how many ways imagination has imposed on +me, I suspect that it has also deceived me in this opinion of my own +consequence. Indeed, methinks the past has been a dream; and hence I am +resolved to rely on my imagination no longer." + +Alfonso made no answer. + +The causes of Tasso's imprisonment, and its long duration, are among +the puzzles of biography. The prevailing opinion, notwithstanding the +opposition made to it by Serassi and Black, is, that the poet made love +to the Princess Leonora--perhaps was beloved by her; and that her brother +the duke punished him for his arrogance. This was the belief of his +earliest biographer, Manso, who was intimately acquainted with the poet +in his latter days; and from Manso (though he did not profess to receive +the information from Tasso, but only to gather it from his poems) it +spread over all Europe. Milton took it on trust from him;[15] and so have +our English translators Hoole and Wiffen. The Abbé de Charnes, however, +declined to do so;[16] and Montaigne, who saw the poet in St. Anne's +hospital, says nothing of the love at all. He attributes his condition +to poetical excitement, hard study, and the meeting of the extremes of +wisdom and folly. The philosopher, however, speaks of the poet's having +survived his reason, and become unconscious both of himself and his +works, which the reader knows to be untrue. He does not appear to have +conversed with Tasso. The poet was only shewn him; probably at a sick +moment, or by a new and ignorant official.[17] Muratori, who was in the +service of the Este family at Modena, tells us, on the authority of +an old acquaintance who knew contemporaries of Tasso, that the "good +Torquato" finding himself one day in company with the duke and his +sister, and going close to the princess in order to answer some question +which she had put to him, was so transported by an impulse "more than +poetical," as to give her a kiss; upon which the duke, who had observed +it, turned about to his gentlemen, and said, "What a pity to see so great +a man distracted!" and so ordered him to be locked up.[18] But this +writer adds, that he does not know what to think of the anecdote: he +neither denies nor admits it. Tiraboschi, who was also in the service of +the Este family, doubts the truth of the anecdote, and believes that +the duke shut the poet up solely for fear lest his violence should do +harm.[19] Serassi, the second biographer of Tasso, who dedicated his +book to an Este princess inimical to the poet's memory, attributes the +confinement, on his own shewing, to the violent words he had uttered +against his master.[20] Walker, the author of the _Memoir on Italian +Tragedy_, says, that the life by Serassi himself induced him to credit +the love-story:[21] so does Ginguéné.[22] Black, forgetting the age and +illnesses of hundreds of enamoured ladies, and the distraction of lovers +at all times, derides the notion of passion on either side; because, he +argues, Tasso was subject to frenzies, and Leonora forty-two years of +age, and not in good health.[23] What would Madame d'Houdetot have said +to him? or Mademoiselle L'Espinasse? or Mrs. Inchbald, who used to walk +up and down Sackville Street in order that she might see Dr. Warren's +light in his window? Foscolo was a believer in the love;[24] Sismondi +admits it;[25] and Rosini, the editor of the latest edition of the poet's +works, is passionate for it. He wonders how any body can fail to discern +it in a number of passages, which, in truth, may mean a variety of other +loves; and he insists much upon certain loose verses (_lascivi_) which +the poet, among his various accounts of the origin of his imprisonment, +assigns as the cause, or one of the causes, of it. [26] + +I confess, after a reasonable amount of inquiry into this subject, that +I can find no proofs whatsoever of Tasso's having made love to Leonora; +though I think it highly probable. I believe the main cause of the duke's +proceedings was the poet's own violence of behaviour and incontinence +of speech. I think it very likely that, in the course of the poetical +love-making to various ladies, which was almost identical in that age +with addressing them in verse, Torquato, whether he was in love or not, +took more liberties with the princesses than Alfonso approved; and it is +equally probable, that one of those liberties consisted in his indulging +his imagination too far. It is not even impossible, that more gallantry +may have been going on at court than Alfonso could endure to see alluded +to, especially by an ambitious pen. But there is no evidence that such +was the case. Tasso, as a gentleman, could not have hinted at such a +thing on the part of a princess of staid reputation; and, on the other +hand, the "love" he speaks of as entertained by her for him, and +warranting the application to her for money in case of his death, was +too plainly worded to mean any thing but love in the sense of friendly +regard. "Per amor mio" is an idiomatical expression, meaning "for my +sake;" a strong one, no doubt, and such as a proud man like Alfonso might +think a liberty, but not at all of necessity an amatory boast. If it was, +its very effrontery and vanity were presumptions of its falsehood. The +lady whom Tasso alludes to in the passage quoted on his first confinement +is complained of for her coldness towards him; and, unless this was +itself a gentlemanly blind, it might apply to fifty other ladies besides +the princess. The man who assaulted him in the streets, and who is +supposed to have been the violator of his papers, need not have found any +secrets of love in them. The servant at whom he aimed the knife or the +dagger might be as little connected with such matters; and the sonnets +which the poet said he wrote for a friend, and which he desired to be +buried with him, might be alike innocent of all reference to Leonora, +whether he wrote them for a friend or not. Leonora's death took +place during the poet's confinement; and, lamented as she was by the +verse-writers according to custom, Tasso wrote nothing on the event. This +silence has been attributed to the depth of his passion; but how is the +fact proved? and why may it not have been occasioned by there having been +no passion at all? + +All that appears certain is, that Tasso spoke violent and contemptuous +words against the duke; that he often spoke ill of him in his letters; +that he endeavoured, not with perfect ingenuousness, to exchange his +service for that of another prince; that he asserted his madness to have +been pretended in the first instance purely to gratify the duke's whim +for thinking it so (which was one of the reasons perhaps why Alfonso, +as he complained, would not believe a word be said); and finally, that, +whether the madness was or was not so pretended, it unfortunately became +a confirmed though milder form of mania, during a long confinement. +Alfonso, too proud to forgive the poet's contempt, continued thus to +detain him, partly perhaps because he was not sorry to have a pretext for +revenge, partly because he did not know what to do with him, consistently +either with his own or the poet's safety. He had not been generous enough +to put Tasso above his wants; he had not address enough to secure his +respect; he had not merit enough to overlook his reproaches. If Tasso had +been as great a man as he was a poet, Alfonso would not have been reduced +to these perplexities. The poet would have known how to settle quietly +down on his small court-income, and wait patiently in the midst of his +beautiful visions for what fortune had or had not in store for him. But +in truth, he, as well as the duke, was weak; they made a bad business of +it between them; and Alfonso the Second closed the accounts of the +Este family with the Muses, by keeping his panegyrist seven years in a +mad-house, to the astonishment of posterity, and the destruction of his +own claims to renown. + +It does not appear that Tasso was confined in any such dungeon as they +now exhibit in Ferrara. The conduct of the Prior of the Hospital is more +doubtful. His name was Agostino Mosti; and, strangely enough, he was +the person who had raised a monument to Ariosto, of whom he was an +enthusiastic admirer. To this predilection has been attributed his +alleged cruelty to the stranger from Sorrento, who dared to emulate the +fame of his idol;--an extraordinary, though perhaps not incredible, mode +of skewing a critic's regard for poetry. But Tasso, while he laments +his severity, wonders at it in a man so well bred and so imbued with +literature, and thinks it can only have originated in "orders."[27] +Perhaps there were faults of temper on both sides; and Mosti, not liking +his office, forgot the allowance to be made for that of a prisoner and +sick man. His nephew, Giulio Mosti, became strongly attached to the poet, +and was a great comfort to him. + +At length the time for liberation arrived. In the summer of 1586, Don +Vincenzo Gonzaga, Prince of Mantua, kinsman of the poet's friend Scipio, +came to Ferrara for the purpose of complimenting Alfonso's heir on his +nuptials. The whole court of Mantua, with hereditary regard for Tasso, +whose father had been one of their ornaments, were desirous of having +him among them; and the prince extorted Alfonso's permission to take him +away, on condition (so hard did he find this late concession to humanity, +and so fearful was he of losing the dignity of jailor) that his deliverer +should not allow him to quit Mantua without obtaining leave. A young and +dear friend, his most frequent visitor, Antonio Constantini, secretary +to the Tuscan ambassador, went to St. Anne's to prepare the captive by +degrees for the good news. He told him that he really might look for his +release in the course of a few days. The sensitive poet, now a premature +old man of forty-two, was thrown into a transport of mingled delight and +anxiety. He had been disappointed so often that he could scarcely believe +his good fortune. In a day or two he writes thus to his visitor + +"Your kindness, my dear friend, has so accustomed me to your precious and +frequent visits, that I have been all day long at the window expecting +your coming to comfort me as you are wont. But since you have not yet +arrived, and in order not to remain altogether without consolation, I +visit you with this letter. It encloses a sonnet to the ambassador, +written with a trembling hand, and in such a manner that he will not, +perhaps, have less difficulty in reading it than I had in writing." + +Two days afterwards, the prince himself came again, requested of the poet +some verses on a given subject, expressed his esteem for his genius and +virtues, and told him that, on his return to Mantua, he should have the +pleasure of conducting him to that city. Tasso lay awake almost all +night, composing the verses; and next day enclosed them, with a letter, +in another to Constantini, ardently begging him to keep the prince in +mind of his promise. The prince had not forgotten it; and two or three +days afterwards, the order for the release arrived, and Tasso quitted his +prison. He had been confined seven years, two months, and several days. +He awaited the prince's departure for a week or two in his friend's +abode, paying no visits, probably from inability to endure so much +novelty. Neither was he inclined or sent for to pay his respects to the +duke. Two such parties could hardly have been desirous to look on each +other. The duke must especially have disliked the thought of it; though +Tasso afterwards fancied otherwise, and that he was offended at his +non-appearance. But his letters, unfortunately, differ with themselves on +this point, as on most others. About the middle of July 1586, the poet +quitted Ferrara for ever. + +At Mantua Tasso was greeted with all the honours and attentions which his +love of distinction could desire. The good old duke, the friend of his +father, ordered handsome apartments to be provided for him in the palace; +the prince made him presents of costly attire, including perfumed silken +hose (kindred elegancies to the Italian gloves of Queen Elizabeth); the +princess and her mother-in-law were declared admirers of his poetry; the +courtiers caressed the favourite of their masters; Tasso found literary +society; he pronounced the very bread and fruit, the fish and the flesh, +excellent; the wines were sharp and brisk ("such as his father was fond +of"); and even the physician was admirable, for he ordered confections. +One might imagine, if circumstances had not proved the cordial nature of +the Gonzaga family, and the real respect and admiration entertained for +the poet's genius by the greatest men of the time, in spite of the rebuke +it had received from Alfonso, that there had been a confederacy to mock +and mystify him, after the fashion of the duke and duchess with Don +Quixote (the only blot, by the way, in the book of Cervantes; if, indeed, +he did not intend it as a satire on the mystifiers). + +For a while, in short, the liberated prisoner thought himself happy. +He corrected his prose works, resumed and finished the tragedy of +_Torrismond_, which he had begun some years before, corresponded with +princes, and completed and published a narrative poem left unfinished by +his father. Torquato was as loving a son as Mozart or Montaigne. Whenever +he had a glimpse of felicity, he appears to have associated the idea of +it with that of his father. In the conclusion of his fragment, "O del +grand' Apennino," he affectingly begs pardon of his blessed spirit for +troubling him with his earthly griefs.[28] + +But, alas, what had been an indulgence of self-esteem had now become the +habit of a disease; and in the course of a few months the restless poet +began to make his old discovery, that he was not sufficiently cared for. +The prince had no leisure to attend to him; the nobility did not "yield +him the first place," or at least (he adds) they did not allow him to be +treated "externally as their equal;" and he candidly confessed that he +could not live in a place where such was the custom.[29] He felt also, +naturally enough, however well it might have been intended, that it was +not pleasant to be confined to the range of the city of Mantua, attended +by a servant, even though he confessed that he was now subject to +"frenzy." He contrived to stay another half-year by help of a brilliant +carnival and of the select society of the prince's court, who were +evidently most kind to him; but at the end of the twelvemonth he was in +Bergamo among his relations. The prince gave him leave to go; and the +Cavaliere Tasso, his kinsman, sent his chariot on purpose to fetch him. + +Here again he found himself at a beautiful country-seat, which the family +of Tasso still possesses near that city; and here again, in the house of +his father, he proposed to be happy, "having never desired," he says, +"any journey more earnestly than this." He left it in the course of a +month, to return to Mantua. + +And it was only to wander still. Mantua he quitted in less than two +months to go to Rome, in spite of the advice of his best friends. +He vindicated the proceeding by a hope of obtaining some permanent +settlement from the Pope. He took Loretto by the way, to refresh himself +with devotion; arrived in a transport at Rome; got nothing from the Pope +(the hard-minded Sixtus the Fifth); and in the spring of the next year, +in the triple hope of again embracing his sister, and recovering the +dowry of his mother and the confiscated property of his father, he +proceeded to Naples. + +Naples was in its most beautiful vernal condition, and the Neapolitans +welcomed the poet with all honour and glory; but his sister, alas, was +dead; he got none of his father's property, nor (till too late) any of +his mother's; and before the year was out, he was again in Rome. He +acquired in Naples, however, another friend, as attached to him and +as constant in his attentions as his beloved Constantini, to wit, +Giambattista Manso, Marquis of Villa, who became his biographer, and who +was visited and praised for his good offices by Milton. In the society of +this gentleman he seemed for a short while to have become a new man. He +entered into field-sports, listened to songs and music, nay, danced, says +Manso, with "the girls." (One fancies a poetical Dr. Johnson with the two +country damsels on his knees.) In short, good air and freedom, and no +medicine, had conspired with the lessons of disappointment to give him, +before he died, a glimpse of the power to be pleased. He had not got rid +of all his spiritual illusions, even those of a melancholy nature; but he +took the latter more quietly, and had grown so comfortable with the race +in general, that he encouraged them. He was so entirely freed from his +fears of the Inquisition and of charges of magic, that whereas he had +formerly been anxious to shew that he meant nothing but a poetical fancy +by the spirit which he introduced as communing with him in his dialogue +entitled the _Messenger_, he now maintained its reality against the +arguments of his friend Manso; and these arguments gave rise to the most +poetical scene in his history. He told Manso that he should have ocular +testimony of the spirit's existence; and accordingly one day while they +were sitting together at the marquis's fireside, "he turned his eyes," +says Manso, "towards a window, and held them a long time so intensely on +it, that, when I called him, he did not answer. At last, 'Behold,' said +he, 'the friendly spirit which has courteously come to talk with me. Lift +up your eyes, and see the truth.' I turned my eyes thither immediately +(continues the marquis); but though I endeavoured to look as keenly as I +could, I beheld nothing but the rays of the sun, which streamed through +the panes of the window into the chamber. Whilst I still looked around, +without beholding any object, Torquato began to hold, with this unknown +something, a most lofty converse. I heard, indeed, and saw nothing but +himself; nevertheless his words, at one time questioning, at another +replying, were such as take place between those who reason strictly on +some important subject. And from what was said by the one, the reply of +the other might be easily comprehended by the intellect, although it was +not heard by the ear. The discourses were so lofty and marvellous, +both by the sublimity of their topics and a certain unwonted manner of +talking, that, exalted above myself in a kind of ecstasy, I did not dare +to interrupt them, nor ask Tasso about the spirit, which he had announced +to me, but which I did not see. In this way, while I listened between +stupefaction and rapture, a considerable time had elapsed; till at last +the spirit departed, as I learned from the words of Torquato; who, +turning to me, said, 'From this day forward all your doubts will have +vanished from your mind.' 'Nay,' said I, 'they are rather increased; +since, though I have heard many things worthy of marvel, I have seen +nothing of what you promised to shew me to dispel them.' He smiled, and +said, 'You have seen and heard more of him than perhaps --,' and here +he paused. Fearful of importuning him with new questions, the discourse +ended; and the only conclusion I can draw is, what I before said, that +it is more likely his visions or frenzies will disorder my own mind than +that I shall extirpate his true or imaginary opinion."[30] + +Did the "smile" of Tasso at the close of this extraordinary scene, and +the words which he omitted to add, signify that his friend had seen and +heard more, perhaps, than the poet _would have liked_ to explain? Did he +mean that he himself alone had been seen and heard, and was author of the +whole dialogue? Perhaps he did; for credulity itself can impose;--can +take pleasure in seeing others as credulous as itself. On the other +hand, enough has become known in our days of the phenomena of morbid +perception, to render Tasso's actual belief in such visions not at +all surprising. It is not uncommon for the sanest people of delicate +organisation to see faces before them while going to sleep, sometimes +in fantastical succession. A stronger exercise of this disposition in +temperaments more delicate will enlarge the face to figure; and there can +be no question that an imagination so heated as Tasso's, so full of the +speculations of the later Platonists, and accompanied by a state of body +so "nervous," and a will so bent on its fancies, might embody whatever +he chose to behold. The dialogue he could as easily read in the vision's +looks, whether he heard it or not with ears. If Nicholay, the Prussian +bookseller, who saw crowds of spiritual people go through his rooms, had +been a poet, and possessed of as wilful an imagination as Tasso, he might +have gifted them all with _speaking countenances_ as easily as with coats +and waistcoats. Swedenborg founded a religion on this morbid faculty; and +the Catholics worship a hundred stories of the like sort in the Lives of +the Saints, many of which are equally true and false; false in reality, +though true in supposition. Luther himself wrote and studied till he +saw the Devil; only the great reformer retained enough of his naturally +sturdy health and judgment to throw an inkstand at Satan's head,--a thing +that philosophy has been doing ever since. + +Tasso's principal residence while at Naples had been in the beautiful +monastery of Mount Olivet, on which the good monks begged he would write +them a poem; which he did. A cold reception at Rome, and perhaps the +difference of the air, brought back his old lamentations; but here again +a monastery gave him refuge, and he set himself down to correct his +former works and compose new ones. He missed, however, the comforts of +society and amusement which he had experienced at Naples. Nevertheless, +he did not return thither. He persuaded himself that it was necessary to +be in Rome in order to expedite the receipt of some books and manuscripts +from Bergamo and other places; but his restlessness desired novelty. He +thus slipped back from the neighbourhood of Rome to the city itself, and +from the city back to the monastery, his friends in both places being +probably tired of his instability. He thought of returning to Mantua; but +a present from the Grand Duke of Tuscany, accompanied by an invitation to +his court, drew him, in one of his short-lived transports, to Florence. +He returned, in spite of the best and most generous reception, to Rome; +then left Rome for Mantua, on invitation from his ever-kind deliverer +from prison, now the reigning duke; tired again, even of him; returned to +Rome; then once more to Naples, where the Prince of Conca, Grand Admiral +of the kingdom, lodged and treated him like an equal; but he grew +suspicious of the admiral, and went to live with his friend Manso; +quitted Manso for Rome again; was treated with reverence on the way, like +Ariosto, by a famous leader of banditti; was received at Rome into the +Vatican itself, in the apartments of his friend Cintio Aldobrandino, +nephew of the new pope Clement the Eighth, where his hopes now seemed to +be raised at once to their highest and most reasonable pitch; but fell +ill, and was obliged to go back to Naples for the benefit of the air. +A life so strangely erratic to the last (for mortal illness was +approaching) is perhaps unique in the history of men of letters, and +might be therefore worth recording even in that of a less man than Tasso; +but when we recollect that this poet, in spite of all his weaknesses, and +notwithstanding the enemies they provoked and the friends they cooled, +was really almost adored for his genius in his own time, and instead +of refusing jewels one day and soliciting a ducat the next, might have +settled down almost any where in quiet and glory, if he had but possessed +the patience to do so, it becomes an association of weakness with power, +and of adversity with the means of prosperity, the absurdity of which +admiration itself can only drown in pity. + +He now took up his abode in another monastery, that of San Severino, +where he was comforted by the visits of his friend Manso, to whom he had +lately inscribed a dialogue on _Friendship_; for he continued writing +to the last. He had also the consolation, such as it was, of having the +law-suit for his mother's dowry settled in his favour, though under +circumstances that rendered it of little importance, and only three +months before his death. So strangely did Fortune seem to take delight in +sporting with a man of genius, who had thought both too much of her and +too little; too much for pomp's sake, and too little in prudence. Among +his new acquaintances were the young Marino, afterwards the corrupter of +Italian poetry, and the Prince of Venosa, an amateur composer of music. +The dying poet wrote madrigals for him so much to his satisfaction, that, +being about to marry into the house of Este, he wished to reconcile him +with the Duke of Ferrara; and Tasso, who to the last moment of his life +seems never to have been able to resist the chance of resuming old +quarters, apparently from the double temptation of renouncing them, wrote +his old master a letter full of respects and regrets. But the duke, who +himself died in the course of the year, was not to be moved from his +silence. The poet had given him the last possible offence by recasting +his _Jerusalem_, omitting the glories of the house of Este, and +dedicating it to another patron. Alfonso, who had been extravagantly +magnificent, though not to poets, had so weakened his government, that +the Pope wrested Ferrara from the hands of his successor, and reduced +the Este family to the possession of Modena, which it still holds and +dishonours. The duke and the poet were thus fading away at the same time; +they never met again in this world; and a new Dante would have divided +them far enough in the next.[31] + +The last glimpse of honour and glory was now opening in a very grand +manner on the poet--the last and the greatest, as if on purpose to give +the climax to his disappointments. Cardinal Cintio requested the Pope to +give him the honour of a coronation. It had been desired by the poet, it +seems, three years before. He was disappointed of it at that time; and +now that it was granted, he was disappointed of the ceremony. Manso says +he no longer cared for it; and, as he felt himself dying, this is not +improbable. Nevertheless he went to Rome for the purpose; and though the +severity of the winter there delayed the intention till spring, wealth +and honours seemed determined to come in floods upon the poor expiring +great man, in order to take away the breath which they had refused to +support. The Pope assigned him a yearly pension of a hundred scudi; and +the withholders of his mother's dowry came to an accommodation by which +he was to have an annuity of a hundred ducats, and a considerable sum +in hand. His hand was losing strength enough to close upon the money. +Scarcely was the day for the coronation about to dawn, when the poet felt +his dissolution approaching. Alfonso's doctors had killed him at last by +superinducing a habit of medicine-taking, which defeated its purpose. +He requested leave to return to the monastery of St. Onofrio--wrote a +farewell letter to Constantini--received the distinguished honour of a +plenary indulgence from the Pope--said (in terms very like what Milton +might have used, had he died a Catholic), that "this was the chariot upon +which he hoped to go crowned, not with laurel as a poet into the capitol, +but with glory as a saint to heaven"--and expired on the 25th of April, +1575, and the fifty-first year of his age, closely embracing the +crucifix, and imperfectly uttering the sentence beginning, "Into thy +hands, O Lord!"[32] + +Even after death, success mocked him; for the coronation took place on +the senseless dead body. The head was wreathed with laurel; a magnificent +toga delayed for a while the shroud; and a procession took place through +the city by torchlight, all the inhabitants pouring forth to behold it, +and painters crowding over the bier to gaze on the poet's lineaments, +from which they produced a multitude of portraits. The corpse was then +buried in the church of St. Onofrio; and magnificent monuments talked of, +which never appeared. Manso, however, obtained leave to set up a modest +tablet; and eight years afterwards a Ferrarese cardinal (Bevilacqua) made +what amends he could for his countrymen, by erecting the stately memorial +which is still to be seen. + +Poor, illustrious Tasso! weak enough to warrant pity from his +inferiors--great enough to overshadow in death his once-fancied +superiors. He has been a by-word for the misfortunes of genius: but +genius was not his misfortune; it was his only good, and might have +brought him all happiness. It is the want of genius, as far as it +goes, and apart from martyrdoms for conscience' sake, which produces +misfortunes even to genius itself--the want of as much wit and balance +on the common side of things, as genius is supposed to confine to the +uncommon. + +Manso has left a minute account of his friend's person and manners. He +was tall even among the tall; had a pale complexion, sunken cheeks, +lightish brown hair, head bald at the top, large blue eyes, square +forehead, big nose inclining towards the mouth, lips pale and thin, white +teeth, delicate white hands, long arms, broad chest and shoulders, legs +rather strong than fleshy, and the body altogether better proportioned +than in good condition; the result, nevertheless, being an aspect of +manly beauty and expression, particularly in the countenance, the dignity +of which marked him for an extraordinary person even to those who did not +know him. His demeanour was grave and deliberate; he laughed seldom; +and though his tongue was prompt, his delivery was slow; and he was +accustomed to repeat his last words. He was expert in all manly +exercises, but not equally graceful; and the same defect attended his +otherwise striking eloquence in public assemblies. His putting to flight +the assassins in Ferrara gave him such a reputation for courage, that +there went about in his honour a popular couplet + + "Colla penna e colla spada + Nessun val quanto Torquato." + + For the sword as well as pen + Tasso is the man of men. + +He was a little eater, but not averse to wine, particularly such as +combined piquancy with sweetness; and he always dressed in black. Manso's +account is still more particular, and yet it does not tell all; for Tasso +himself informs us that he stammered, and was near-sighted;[33] and a +Neapolitan writer who knew him adds to the near-sightedness some visible +defect in the eyes.[34] I should doubt, from what Tasso says in his +letters, whether he was fond of speaking in public, notwithstanding his +_début_ in that line with the _Fifty Amorous Conclusions_.Nor does he +appear to have been remarkable for his conversation. Manso has left a +collection of one hundred of his pithy sayings--a suspicious amount, and +unfortunately more than warranting the suspicion; for almost every one of +them is traceable to some other man. They come from the Greek and Latin +philosophers, and the apothegms of Erasmus. The two following have the +greatest appearance of being genuine: + +A Greek, complaining that he had spoken ill of his country, and +maintaining that all the virtues in the world had issued out of it, the +poet assented; with the addition, that they had not left one behind them. + +A foolish young fellow, garnished with a number of golden chains, coming +into a room where he was, and being overheard by him exclaiming, "Is this +the great man that was mad?" Tasso said, "Yes; but that people had never +put on him more than one chain at a time." + +His character may be gathered, but not perhaps entirely, from what has +been written of his life; for some of his earlier letters shew him to +have been not quite so grave and refined in his way of talking as readers +of the _Jerusalem_ might suppose. He was probably at that time of life +not so scrupulous in his morals as he professed to be during the greater +part of it. His mother is thought to have died of chagrin and impatience +at being separated so long from her husband, and not knowing what to do +to save her dowry from her brothers; and I take her son to have combined +his mother's ultra-sensitive organisation with his father's worldly +imprudence and unequal spirits. The addition of the nervous temperament +of one parent to the aspiring nature of the other gave rise to the poet's +trembling eagerness for distinction; and Torquato's very love for them +both hindered him from seeing what should have been corrected in the +infirmities which he inherited. Falling from the highest hopes of +prosperity into the most painful afflictions, he thus wanted solid +principles of action to support him, and was forced to retreat upon an +excess of self-esteem, which allowed his pride to become a beggar, and +his naturally kind, loving, just, and heroical disposition to condescend +to almost every species of inconsistency. The Duke of Ferrara, he +complains, did not believe a word he said;[35] and the fact is, that, +partly from disease, and partly from a want of courage to look his +defects in the face, he beheld the same things in so many different +lights, and according as it suited him at the moment, that, without +intending falsehood, his statements are really not to be relied on. He +degraded even his verses, sometimes with panegyrics for interest's sake, +sometimes out of weak wishes to oblige, of which he was afterwards +ashamed; and, with the exception of Constantini, we cannot be sure that +any one person praised in them retained his regard in his last days. His +suspicion made him a kind of Rousseau; but he was more amiable than +the Genevese, and far from being in the habit of talking against old +acquaintances, whatever he might have thought of them. It is observable, +not only that he never married, but he told Manso he had led a life of +entire continence ever since he entered the walls of his prison, being +then in his thirty-fifth year.[36] Was this out of fidelity to some +mistress? or the consequence of a previous life the reverse of continent? +or was it from some principle of superstition? He had become a devotee, +apparently out of a dread of disbelief; and he remained extremely +religious for the rest of his days. The two unhappiest of Italian poets, +Tasso and Dante, were the two most superstitious. + +As for the once formidable question concerning the comparative merits +of this poet and Ariosto, which anticipated the modern quarrels of the +classical and romantic schools, some idea of the treatment which Tasso +experienced may be conceived by supposing all that used to be sarcastic +and bitter in the periodical party-criticism among ourselves some thirty +years back, collected into one huge vial of wrath, and poured upon the +new poet's head. Even the great Galileo, who was a man of wit, bred up +in the pure Tuscan school of Berni and Casa, and who was an idolator +of Ariosto, wrote, when he was young, a "review" of the _Jerusalem +Delivered_, which it is painful to read, it is so unjust and +contemptuous.[37] But now that the only final arbiter, posterity, has +accepted both the poets, the dispute is surely the easiest thing in the +world to settle; not, indeed, with prejudices of creeds or temperaments, +but before any judges thoroughly sympathising with the two claimants. Its +solution is the principle of the greater including the less. For Ariosto +errs only by having an unbounded circle to move in. His sympathies are +unlimited; and those who think him inferior to Tasso, only do so in +consequence of their own want of sympathy with the vivacities that +degrade him in their eyes. Ariosto can be as grave and exalted as Tasso +when he pleases, and he could do a hundred things which Tasso never +attempted. He is as different in this respect as Shakspeare from Milton. +He had far more knowledge of mankind than Tasso, and he was superior in +point of taste. But it is painful to make disadvantageous comparisons of +one great poet with another. Let us be thankful for Tasso's enchanted +gardens, without being forced to vindicate the universal world of his +predecessor. Suffice it to bear in mind, that the grave poet himself +agreed with the rest of the Italians in calling the Ferrarese the "divine +Ariosto;" a title which has never been popularly given to his rival. + +The _Jerusalem Delivered_ is the history of a Crusade, related with +poetic license. The Infidels are assisted by unlawful arts; and the +libertinism that brought scandal on the Christians, is converted into +youthful susceptibility, led away by enchantment. The author proposed +to combine the ancient epic poets with Ariosto, or a simple plot, and +uniformly dignified style, with romantic varieties of adventure, and +the luxuriance of fairy-land. He did what he proposed to do, but with a +judgment inferior to Virgil's; nay, in point of the interdependence of +the adventures, to Ariosto, and with far less general vigour. The mixture +of affectation with his dignity is so frequent, that, whether Boileau's +famous line about Tasso's tinsel and Virgil's gold did or did not mean to +imply that the _Jerusalem_ was nothing but tinsel, and the _Æneid_ all +gold, it is certain that the tinsel is so interwoven with the gold, as to +render it more of a rule than an exception, and put a provoking distance +between Tasso's epic pretensions and those of the greatest masters of the +art. People who take for granted the conceits because of the "wildness" +of Ariosto, and the good taste because of the "regularity" of Tasso, just +assume the reverse of the fact. It is a rare thing to find a conceit in +Ariosto; and, where it does exist, it is most likely defensible on some +Shakspearian ground of subtle propriety. Open Tasso in almost any part, +particularly the love-scenes, and it is marvellous if, before long, you +do not see the conceits vexatiously interfering with the beauties. + + "Oh maraviglia! Amor, the appena è nato, + Già grande vola, e già trionfa armato." Canto i. St. 47. + + Oh, miracle! Love is scarce born, when, lo, + He flies full wing'd, and lords it with his bow! + + "Se 'l miri fulminar ne l'arme avvolto, + Marte lo stimi; Amor, se scopre il volto." St. 58. + + Mars you would think him, when his thund'ring race + In arms he ran; Love, when he shew'd his face. + +Which is as little true to reason as to taste; for no god of war could +look like a god of love. The habit of mind would render it impossible. +But the poet found the prettiness of the Greek Anthology irresistible. + +Olindo, tied to the stake amidst the flames of martyrdom, can say to his +mistress + + "Altre fiamme, altri nodi amor promise." Canto ii. st. 34. + + Other flames, other bonds than these, love promised. + +The sentiment is natural, but the double use of the "flames" on such an +occasion, miserable. + +In the third canto the fair Amazon Clorinda challenges her love to single +combat. + + "E di due morti in un punto lo sfida." St. 23. + + "And so at once she threats to kill him twice." _Fairfax_. + +That is to say, with her valour and beauty. + +Another twofold employment of flame, with an exclamation to secure our +astonishment, makes its appearance in the fourth canto + + "Oh miracol d'amor! che le faville + Tragge del pianto, e'i cor' ne l'acqua accende." St. 76. + + Oh, miracle of love! that draweth sparks + Of fire from tears, and kindlest hearts in water! + +This puerile antithesis of _fire_ and _water, fire_ and _ice, light_ +in _darkness, silence_ in _speech_, together with such pretty turns as +_wounding one's-self in wounding others_, and the worse sacrifice of +consistency and truth of feeling,--lovers making long speeches on the +least fitting occasions, and ladies retaining their rosy cheeks in the +midst of fears of death,--is to be met with, more or less, throughout +the poem. I have no doubt they were the proximate cause of that general +corruption of taste which was afterwards completed by Marino, the +acquaintance and ardent admirer of Tasso when a boy. They have been laid +to the charge of Petrarch; but, without entering into the question, how +far and in what instances conceits may not be natural to lovers haunted, +as Petrarch was, with one idea, and seeing it in every thing they behold, +what had the great epic poet to do with the faults of the lyrical? And +what is to be said for his standing in need of the excuse of bad example? +Homer and Milton were in no such want. Virgil would not have copied the +tricks of Ovid. There is an effeminacy and self-reflection in Tasso, +analogous to his Rinaldo, in the enchanted garden; where the hero wore +a looking-glass by his side, in which he contemplated his sophisticated +self, and the meretricious beauty of his enchantress.[38] Agreeably to +this tendency to weakness, the style of Tasso, when not supported by +great occasions (and even the occasion itself sometimes fails him), is +too apt to fall into tameness and common-place,--to want movement and +picture; while, at the same time, with singular defect of enjoyment, it +does not possess the music which might be expected from a lyrical and +voluptuous poet. Bernardo prophesied of his son, that, however he might +surpass him in other respects, he would never equal him in sweetness; +and he seems to have judged him rightly. I have met with a passage in +Torquato's prose writings (but I cannot lay my hands on it), in which he +expresses a singular predilection for verses full of the same vowel. +He seems, if I remember rightly, to have regarded it, not merely as a +pleasing variety, which it is on occasion, but as a reigning principle. +Voltaire (I think, in his treatise on _Epic Poetry_) has noticed the +multitude of _o_'s in the exordium of the _Jerusalem_.This apparent +negligence seems to have been intentional. + + "Cantò l'armi pietòse e 'l capitanò + Che 'l gran Sepòlerò liberò di Cristò; + Mòltò egli òprò còl sennò e còn la manò, + Mòltò sòffri nel glòriòsò acquistò; + E invan l'infernò a lui s'òppòse; e invanò + S'armò d'Asia e di Libia il pòpòl mistò; + Che il ciel gli diè favòre, e sòttò ai santi + Segni ridusse i suòi còmpagni erranti." + +The reader will not be surprised to find, that he who could thus confound +monotony with music, and commence his greatest poem with it, is too often +discordant in the rest of his versification. It has been thought, that +Milton might have taken from the Italians the grand musical account to +which he turns a list of proper names, as in his enumerations of realms +and deities; but I have been surprised to find how little the most +musical of languages appears to have suggested to its poets anything of +the sort. I am not aware of it, indeed, in any poets but our own. All +others, from Homer, with his catalogue of leaders and ships, down to +Metastasio himself, though he wrote for music, appear to have overlooked +this opportunity of playing a voluntary of fine sounds, where they had no +other theme on which to modulate. Its inventor, as far as I am aware, is +that great poet, Marlowe.[39] + +There are faults of invention as well as style in the _Jerusalem_. The +Talking Bird, or bird that sings with a human voice (canto iv. 13), is a +piece of inverisimilitude, which the author, perhaps, thought justifiable +by the speaking horses of the ancients. But the latter were moved +supernaturally for the occasion, and for a very fine occasion. Tasso's +bird is a mere born contradiction to nature and for no necessity. The +vulgar idea of the devil with horns and a tail (though the retention +of it argued a genius in Tasso very inferior to that of Milton) is +defensible, I think, on the plea of the German critics, that malignity +should be made a thing low and deformed; but as much cannot be said for +the storehouse in heaven, where St. Michael's spear is kept with which +he slew the dragon, and the trident which is used for making earthquakes +(canto vii. st. 81). The tomb which supernaturally comes out of the +ground, inscribed with the name and virtues of Sueno (canto viii. st. +39), is worthy only of a pantomime; and the wizard in robes, with +beech-leaves on his head, who walks dry-shod on water, and superfluously +helps the knights on their way to Armida's retirement (xiv. 33), is +almost as ludicrous as the burlesque of the river-god in the _Voyage_ of +Bachaumont and Chapelle. + +But let us not wonder, nevertheless, at the effect which the _Jerusalem_ +has had upon the world. It could not have had it without great nature and +power. Rinaldo, in spite of his aberrations with Armida, knew the path +to renown, and so did his poet. Tasso's epic, with all its faults, is a +noble production, and justly considered one of the poems of the world. +Each of those poems hit some one great point of universal attraction, +at least in their respective countries, and among the givers of fame in +others. Homer's poem is that of action; Dante's, of passion; Virgil's, of +judgment; Milton's, of religion; Spenser's, of poetry itself; Ariosto's, +of animal spirits (I do not mean as respects gaiety only, but in strength +and readiness of accord with the whole play of nature); Tasso looked +round with an ultra-sensitive temperament, and an ambition which required +encouragement, and his poem is that of tenderness. Every thing inclines +to this point in his circle, with the tremulousness of the needle. Love +is its all in all, even to the design of the religious war which is +to rescue the sepulchre of the God of Charity from the hands of the +unloving. His heroes are all in love, at least those on the right side; +his leader, Godfrey, notwithstanding his prudence, narrowly escapes the +passion, and is full of a loving consideration; his amazon, Clorinda, +inspires the truest passion, and dies taking her lover's hand; his +Erminia is all love for an enemy; his enchantress Armida falls from +pretended love into real, and forsakes her religion for its sake. An old +father (canto ix.) loses his five sons in battle, and dies on their +dead bodies of a wound which he has provoked on purpose. Tancred cannot +achieve the enterprise of the Enchanted Forest, because his dead mistress +seems to come out of one of the trees. Olindo thinks it happiness to be +martyred at the same stake with Sophronia. The reconciliation of Rinaldo +with his enchantress takes place within a few stanzas of the close of +the poem, as if contesting its interest with religion. The _Jerusalem +Delivered_, in short, is the favourite epic of the young: all the lovers +in Europe have loved it. The French have forgiven the author his conceits +for the sake of his gallantry: he is the poet of the gondoliers; and +Spenser, the most luxurious of his brethren, plundered his bowers of +bliss. Read Tasso's poem by this gentle light of his genius, and you pity +him twentyfold, and know not what excuse to find for his jailer. + +The stories translated in the present volume, though including war and +magic, are all love-stories. They were not selected on that account. They +suggested themselves for selection, as containing most of the finest +things in the poem. They are conducted with great art, and the characters +and affections happily varied. The first (_Olindo and Sophronia_) is +perhaps unique for the hopelessness of its commencement (I mean with +regard to the lovers), and the perfect, and at the same time quite +probable, felicity of the conclusion. There is no reason to believe that +the staid and devout Sophronia would have loved her adorer at all, but +for the circumstance that first dooms them both to a shocking death, +and then sends them, with perfect warrant, from the stake to the altar. +Clorinda is an Amazon, the idea of whom, as such, it is impossible for +us to separate from very repulsive and unfeminine images; yet, under the +circumstances of the story, we call to mind in her behalf the possibility +of a Joan of Arc's having loved and been beloved; and her death is a +surprising and most affecting variation upon that of Agrican in Boiardo. +Tasso's enchantress Armida is a variation of the Angelica of the same +poet, combined with Ariosto's Alcina; but her passionate voluptuousness +makes her quite a new character in regard to the one; and she is as +different from the painted hag of the _Orlando_ as youth, beauty, and +patriotic intention can make her. She is not very sentimental; but all +the passion in the world has sympathised with her; and it was manly and +honest in the poet not to let her Paganism and vehemence hinder him from +doing justice to her claims as a human being and a deserted woman. Her +fate is left in so pleasing a state of doubt, that we gladly avail +ourselves of it to suppose her married to Rinaldo, and becoming the +mother of a line of Christian princes. I wish they had treated her poet +half so well as she would infallibly have treated him herself. + +But the singer of the Crusades can be strong as well as gentle. You +discern in his battles and single combats the poet ambitious of renown, +and the accomplished swordsman. The duel of Tancred and Argantes, in +which the latter is slain, is as earnest and fiery writing throughout as +truth and passion could desire; that of Tancred and Clorinda is also +very powerful as well as affecting; and the whole siege of Jerusalem is +admirable for the strength of its interest. Every body knows the grand +verse (not, however, quite original) that summons the devils to council, +"Chiama gli abitator," &c.; and the still grander, though less original +one, describing the desolations of time, "Giace l'alta Cartago."[40] The +forest filled with supernatural terrors by a magician, in order that the +Christians may not cut wood from it to make their engines of war, is one +of the happiest pieces of invention in romance. It is founded in as true +human feeling as those of Ariosto, and is made an admirable instrument +for the aggrandizement of the character of Rinaldo. Godfrey's attestation +of all time, and of the host of heaven, when he addresses his army in the +first canto, is in the highest spirit of epic magnificence. So is the +appearance of the celestial armies, together with that of the souls of +the slain Christian warriors, in the last canto, where they issue forth +in the air to assist the entrance into the conquered city. The classical +poets are turned to great and frequent account throughout the poem; +and yet the work has a strong air of originality, partly owing to the +subject, partly to the abundance of love-scenes, and to a certain +compactness in the treatment of the main story, notwithstanding the +luxuriance of the episodes. The _Jerusalem Delivered_ is stately, +well-ordered, full of action and character, sometimes sublime, always +elegant, and very interesting-more so, I think, as a whole, and in +a popular sense, than any other story in verse, not excepting the +_Odyssey_. For the exquisite domestic attractiveness of the second +Homeric poem is injured, like the hero himself, by too many diversions +from the main point. There is an interest, it is true, in that very +delay; but we become too much used to the disappointment. In the epic +of Tasso the reader constantly desires to learn how the success of the +enterprise is to be brought about; and he scarcely loses sight of any of +the persons but he wishes to see them again. Even in the love-scenes, +tender and absorbed as they are, we feel that the heroes are fighters, or +going to fight. When you are introduced to Armida in the Bower of Bliss, +it is by warriors who come to take her lover away to battle. + +One of the reasons why Tasso hurt the style of his poem by a manner too +lyrical was, that notwithstanding its deficiency in sweetness, he was one +of the profusest lyrical writers of his nation, and always having his +feelings turned in upon himself. I am not sufficiently acquainted with +his odes and sonnets to speak of them in the gross; but I may be allowed +to express my belief that they possess a great deal of fancy and feeling. +It has been wondered how he could write so many, considering the troubles +he went through; but the experience was the reason. The constant +succession of hopes, fears, wants, gratitudes, loves, and the necessity +of employing his imagination, accounts for all. Some of his sonnets, such +as those on the Countess of Scandiano's lip ("Quel labbro," &c.); the one +to Stigliano, concluding with the affecting mention of himself and his +lost harp; that beginning + + "Io veggio in cielo scintillar le stelle," + +recur to my mind oftener than any others except Dante's "Tanto gentile" +and Filicaia's _Lament on Italy_; and, with the exception of a few of the +more famous odes of Petrarch, and one or two of Filicaia's and Guidi's, I +know of none in Italian like several of Tasso's, including his fragment +"O del grand' Apennino," and the exquisite chorus on the _Golden Age_, +which struck a note in the hearts of the world. + +His _Aminta_, the chief pastoral poem of Italy, though, with the +exception of that ode, not equal in passages to the _Faithful +Shepherdess_ (which is a Pan to it compared with a beardless shepherd), +is elegant, interesting, and as superior to Guarini's more sophisticate +yet still beautiful _Pastor Fido_ as a first thought may be supposed to +be to its emulator. The objection of its being too elegant for shepherds +he anticipated and nullified by making Love himself account for it in a +charming prologue, of which the god is the speaker: + + "Queste selve oggi ragionar d'Amore + S'udranno in nuova guisa; e ben parassi, + Che la mia Deità sia quì presente + In se medesma, e non ne' suoi ministri. + Spirerò nobil sensi à rozzi petti; + Raddolcirò nelle lor lingue il suono: + Perchè, ovunque i' mi sia, io sono Amore + Ne' pastori non men che negli eroi; + E la disagguaglianza de' soggetti, + Come a me piace, agguaglio: e questa è pure + Suprema gloria, e gran miracol mio, + Render simili alle più dotte cetre + Le rustiche sampogne." + + After new fashion shall these woods to-day + Hear love discoursed; and it shall well be seen + That my divinity is present here + In its own person, not its ministers. + I will inbreathe high fancies in rude hearts; + I will refine and render dulcet sweet + Their tongues; because, wherever I may be, + Whether with rustic or heroic men, + There am I Love; and inequality, + As it may please me, do I equalise; + And 'tis my crowning glory and great miracle + To make the rural pipe as eloquent + Even as the subtlest harp. + +I ought not to speak of Tasso's other poetry, or of his prose, for I +have read little of either; though, as they are not popular with his +countrymen, a foreigner may be pardoned for thinking his classical +tragedy, _Torrismondo_, not attractive--his _Sette Giornate_ (Seven +Days of the Creation) still less so--and his platonical and critical +discourses better filled with authorities than reasons. Tasso was a +lesser kind of Milton, enchanted by the Sirens. We discern the weak parts +of his character, more or less, in all his writings; but we see also the +irrepressible elegance and superiority of the mind, which, in spite of +all weakness, was felt to tower above its age, and to draw to it the +homage as well as the resentment of princes. + + +[Footnote 1: My authorities for this notice are, Black's _Life of Tasso_ +(2 vols. 4to, 1810), his original, Serassi, _Vita di Torquato Tasso_ (do. +1790), and the works of the poet in the Pisan edition of Professor Rosini +(33 vols. 8vo, 1332). I have been indebted to nothing in Black which I +have not ascertained by reference to the Italian biographer, and quoted +nothing stated by Tasso himself but from the works. Black's Life, which +is a free version of Serassi's, modified by the translator's own opinions +and criticism, is elegant, industrious, and interesting. Serassi's was +the first copious biography of the poet founded on original documents; +and it deserved to be translated by Mr. Black, though servile to +the house of Este, and, as might be expected, far from being always +ingenuous. Among other instances of this writer's want of candour is the +fact of his having been the discoverer and suppresser of the manuscript +review of Tasso by Galileo. The best summary account of the poet's life +and writings which I have met with is Ginguéné's, in the fifth volume +of his _Histoire Littéraire_, &c. It is written with his usual grace, +vivacity, and acuteness, and contains a good notice of the Tasso +controversy. As to the Pisan edition of the works, it is the completest, +I believe, in point of contents ever published, comprises all the +controversial criticism, and is, of course, very useful; but it contains +no life except Manso's (now known to be very inconclusive), has got a +heap of feeble variorum comments on the _Jerusalem_, no notes worth +speaking of to the rest of the works, and, notwithstanding the claim +in the title-page to the merit of a "better order," has left the +correspondence in a deplorable state of irregularity, as well as totally +without elucidation. The learned Professor is an agreeable writer, and, I +believe, a very pleasant man, but he certainly is a provoking editor.] + +[Footnote 2: In the beautiful fragment beginning, _O del grand'Apennino:_ + + "Me dal sen della madre empia fortuna + Pargoletto divelse. Ah! di que' baci, + Ch'ella bagnò di lagrime dolenti, + Con sospir mi rimembra, e degli ardenti + Preghi, che sen portár l'aure fugaci, + Ch'io giunger non dovea più volto a volto + Fra quelle braccia accolto + Con nodi così stretti e sì tenaci. + Lasso! e seguii con mal sicure piante, + Qual Ascanio, o Camilla, il padre errante." + + Me from my mother's bosom my hard lot + Took when a child. Alas! though all these years + I have been used to sorrow, + I sigh to think upon the floods of tears + which bathed her kisses on that doleful morrow: + + I sigh to think of all the prayers and cries + She wasted, straining me with lifted eyes: + For never more on one another's face + was it our lot to gaze and to embrace! + Her little stumbling boy, + Like to the child of Troy, + Or like to one doomed to no haven rather, + Followed the footsteps of his wandering father.] + +[Footnote 3: Rosini, _Saggio sugli Amori di Torquato Tasso_, &c., in the +Professor's edition of his works, vol. xxxiii.] + +[Footnote 4: _Lettere Inedite_, p. 33, in the _Opere_, vol. xvii.] + +[Footnote 5: _Entretiens_, 1663, p.169 quoted by Scrassi, pp. 175, 182.] + +[Footnote 6: Suggested by Ariosto's furniture in the Moon.] + +[Footnote 7: This was a trick which he afterwards thought he had reason +to complain of in a style very different from pleasantry.] + +[Footnote 8: Alfonso. The word for "leader" in the original, _duce_, made +the allusion more obvious. The epithet "royal," in the next sentence, +conveyed a welcome intimation to the ducal car, the house of Este being +very proud of its connexion with the sovereigns of Europe, and very +desirous of becoming royal itself.] + +[Footnote 9: Serassi, vol i. p. 210.] + +(Footnote 10: "Alla lor magnanimità è convenevole il mostrar, ch'amor +delle virtù, non odio verso altri, gli abbia già mossi ad invitarmi con +invito così largo." _Opere_, vol. xv. p. 94.] + +[Footnote 11: The application is the conjecture of Black, vol. i. p. 317. +Serassi suppressed the whole passage. The indecent word would have been +known but for the delicacy or courtliness of Muratori, who substituted an +_et-cetera_ in its place, observing, that he had "covered" with it "an +indecent word not fit to be printed" ("sotto quell'_et-cetera_ ho io +coperta un'indecente parola, che non era lecito di lasciar correre alle +stampe." _Opere del Tasso,_ vol. xvi. p. 114). By "covered" he seems to +have meant blotted out; for in the latest edition of Tasso the _et-cetera +is_ retained.] + +[Footnote 12: Black's version (vol. ii. p. 58) is not strong enough. The +words in Serassi are "una ciurma di poltroni, ingrati, e ribaldi." ii. p. +33.] + +[Footnote 13: _Opere_, vol xiv. pp. 158, 174, &c.] + +[Footnote 14: "Prego V. Signoria the si contenti, se piace al Serenissimo +Signor Duca, Clementissimo ed Invitissimo, the io stia in prigione, di +farmi dar le poche robicciole mie, the S.A. Invitissima, Clementissima, +Serenissima m' ha promesse tante volte," &c. _Opere_, vol. xiv. p. 6.] + +[Footnote 15: "Altera Torquatum cepit Leonora poetam," &c.] + +[Footnote 16: _Vie du Tasse,_ 1695, p. 51.] + +[Footnote 17: In the Apology _for Raimond de Sebonde_; Essays, +vol. ii. ch. 12.] + +[Footnote 18: In his _Letter to Zeno,--Opere del + +Tasso_, xvi. p. 118.] + +[Footnote 19: _Storia della Poesia Italiana_ (Mathias's edition), vol. +iii. part i. p 236.] + +[Footnote 20: Serassi is very peremptory, and even abusive. He charges +every body who has said any thing to the contrary with imposture. "Egli +non v' ha dubbio, che le troppe imprudenti e temerarie parole, che il +Tasso si lasciò uscir di bocca in questo incontro, furone la sola cagione +della sua prigionia, e ch' è mera favola ed _impostura_ tutto ciò, che +diversamente è stato affermato e scritto da altri in tale proposito." +Vol. ii. p. 33. But we have seen that the good Abbè could practise a +little imposition himself.] + +[Footnote 21: Black, ii. 88.] + +[Footnote 22: _Hist. Litt. d'Italie_, v. 243, &c.] + +[Footnote 23: Vol. ii. p. 89.] + +[Footnote 24: Such at least is my impression; but I cannot call the +evidence to mind.] + +[Footnote 25: _Literature of the South of Europe_ (Roscoe's translation), +vol. ii. p. 165. To shew the loose way in which the conclusions of a +man's own mind are presented as facts admitted by others, Sismondi says, +that Tasso's "passion" was the cause of his return to Ferrara. There is +not a tittle of evidence to shew for it.] + +[Footnote 26: _Saggio sugli Amori_, &c. ut sup p. 84, and passim. As +specimens of the learned professor's reasoning, it may be observed that +whenever the words _humble, daring, high, noble_, and _royal_, occur in +the poet's love-verses, he thinks they _must_ allude to the Princess +Leonora; and he argues, that Alfonso never could have been so angry with +any "versi lascivi," if they had not had the same direction.] + +[Footnote 27: _Opere_, vol. xvii. p.32.] + +[Footnote 28: + + "Padre, o buon padre, che dal ciel rimiri, + Egro e morto ti piansi, e ben tu il sai; + E gemendo scaldai + La tomba e il letto. Or che negli altri giri + Tu godi, a te si deve onor, non lutto: + A me versato il mio dolor sia tutto." + + O father, my good father, looking now + On thy poor son from heaven, well knowest thou + What scalding tears I shed + Upon thy grave, upon thy dying bed; + But since thou dwellest in the happy skies, + 'Tis fit I raise to thee no sorrowing eyes + Be all my grief on my own head.] + +[Footnote 29: + + " Non posso viver in città, ove tutti i nobili, o non mi +concedano i primi luoghi, o almeno non si contentino the la cosa in +quel the appartiene a queste esteriori dimostrazioni, vada del pari." + _Opere,_, vol. xiii. p. 153.] + +[Footnote 30: Black, vol. ii. p. 240.] + +[Footnote 31: The world in general have taken no notice of Tasso's +reconstruction of his _Jerusalem_, which he called the _Gerusalemme +Conquistata_. It never "obtained," as the phrase is. It was the mere +tribute of his declining years to bigotry and new acquaintances; and +therefore I say no more of it.] + +[Footnote 32: _In manus tuas, Domine_. One likes to know the actual +words; at least so it appears to me.] + +[Footnote 33: Serassi, ii. 276.] + +[Footnote 34: "Quem _cernis_, quisquis es, procera statura virum, +_luscis_ oculis, &c. hic Torquatus est."--Cappacio, _Illustrium Literis +Virorum Elogia et Judici_, quoted by Serassi, ut sup. The Latin word +_luscus_, as well as the Italian _losco_, means, I believe, near-sighted; +but it certainly means also a great deal more; and unless the word +_cernis_ (thou beholdest) is a mere form of speech implying a foregone +conclusion, it shews that the defect was obvious to the spectator.] + +[Footnote 35: "Il Signor Duca non crede ad alcuna mia parola." + _Opere_, xiv. 161.] + +[Footnote 36: "Fui da bocca di lui medesimo rassicurato, che dal tempo +del suo ritegno in sant'Anna, ch'avenne negli anni trentacinque della sua +vita e sedici avanti la morte, egli intieramente fu casto: degli anni +primi non mi favellò mai di modo ch' io possa alcuna cosa di certo qui +raccontare." + _Opere_, xxxiii. 235.] + +[Footnote 37: It is to be found in the collected works, _ut supra_; both +of the philosopher and the poet.] + +[Footnote 38: It is an extraordinary instance of a man's violating, in +older life, the better critical principles of his youth,--that Tasso, in +his _Discourses on Poetry_, should have objected to a passage in Ariosto +about sighs and tears, as being a "conceit too lyrical," (though it was +warranted by the subtleties of madness, see present volume, p. 219), and +yet afterwards not in the same conceits when wholly without warrant.] + +[Footnote 39: [Greek: + + Dardanion aut aerchen, eus pais Agchisao, + Aineias ton hup Agchisae teke di Aphroditae + Idaes en knaemoisi, thea brotps eunaetheisa + Ouk oios hama toge duo Antaenoros uie, + Archilochos t, Akamas te machaes en eidute pasaes. + + _Iliad_, ii. 819.] + +It is curious that these five lines should abound as much in _a_'s +Tasso's first stanza does in o's. Similar monotonies are strikingly +observable in the nomenclatures of Virgil. See his most perfect poem, the + _Georgics_: + + "Omnià secum + `Armentàrius `Afer àgit, tectumque, Làremque, + `Armaque, `Amyclæumque cànem, Cressàmque pharetràm." + Lib. iii. 343. + +It is clear that Dante never thought of this point. See his Mangiadore, +Sanvittore, Natan, Raban, &c. at the end of the twelfth canto of the +_Paradiso_. Yet in his time poetry was _recitatived_ to music. So it was +in Petrarch's, who was a lutenist, and who "tried" his verses, to see +how they would go to the instrument. Yet Petrarch could allow himself to + write such a quatrain as the following list of rivers + + "Non Tesin, Pò, Varo, Arno, Adige e Tebro, + Eufrate, Tigre, Nilo, Ermo, Indo c Gange, + Tana, Istro, Alfeo, Garrona, è 'l mar the frange, + Rodano, Ibero, Ren, Senna, _Albia, Era, Ebro!_" + +In Tasso's _Sette Giornate_, to which Black thinks Milton indebted for +his grand use of proper names, the following is the way in which the poet +writes + + "Di Silvàni + Di Pàni, e d' Egipàni, e d' àltri errànti, + Ch'empier lè solitariè incultè selvè + D'antichè maravigliè; e quell'accòltò + Esercitò di Baccò in òriente + Ond'egli vinse, e trionfò degl'Indi, + Tornandò glòriòsò ai Greci lidi, + Siccòm'e favòlòsò anticò gridò." + +The most diversified passage of this kind (as far as I an, aware) is +Ariosto's list of his friends at the close of the _Orlando_; and yet such +writing as follows would seem to shew that it was an accident: + + "Iò veggiò il Fracastòrò, il Bevazzanò, + Trifòn Gabriel, e il Tassò più lòntanò; + Veggo Niccòlò Tiepoli, e con esso + Niccòlò Amaniò in me affissar le ciglia; + Autòn Fulgòsò, ch'a vedermi appressò + Al litò, mòstra gaudiò e maraviglia. + Il miò Valeriò e quel che là s'è messò + Fuòr de le dònne," &c. + + Even Metastasio, who wrote expressly for singers, and often with +exquisite modulation, especially in his songs, forgets himself when he +comes to the names of his dramatis persome,--"`Artaserse, `Artàbàno, +`Arbàce, Màndàne, Semirà, Megàbise,"--all in one play. + + "Gran cose io temo. Il mio germàno `Arbàce + Pàrte prià de l'aurorà. Il pàdre armàto + Incontro, e non mi pàrlà. `Accusà il cielo + `Agitàto `Artàserse, e m'àbbàndonà." + + Atto i. se. 6. + +I am far from intending to say that these reiterations are not sometimes +allowable, nay, often beautiful and desirable. Alliteration itself may be +rendered an exquisite instrument of music. I am only speaking of monotony +or discord in the enumeration of proper names.] + +[Footnote 40: See them both in the present volume, pp. 420 and 445.] + + +OLINDO AND SOPHRONIA. + +Argument. + +The Mahomedan king of Jerusalem, at the instigation of Ismeno, a +magician, deprives a Christian church of its image of the Virgin, and +sets it up in a mosque, under a spell of enchantment, as a palladium +against the Crusaders. The image is stolen in the night; and the king, +unable to discover who has taken it, orders a massacre of the Christian +portion of his subjects, which is prevented by Sophronia's accusing +herself of the offence. Her lover, Olindo, finding her sentenced to the +stake in consequence, disputes with her the right of martyrdom. He is +condemned to suffer with her. The Amazon Clorinda, who has come to fight +on the side of Aladin, obtains their pardon in acknowledgment of her +services; and Sophronia, who had not loved Olindo before, now returns his +passion, and goes with him from the stake to the marriage-altar. + +OLINDO AND SOPHRONIA. + +Godfrey of Boulogne, the leader of the Crusaders, was now in full march +for Jerusalem with the Christian army; and Aladin, the old infidel king, +became agitated with wrath and terror. He had heard nothing but accounts +of the enemy's irresistible advance. There were many Christians within +his walls whose insurrection he dreaded; and though he had appeared to +grow milder with age, he now, in spite of the frost in his veins, felt as +hot for cruelty, as the snake excited by the fire of summer. He longed +to stifle his fears of insurrection by a massacre, but dreaded the +consequence in the event of the city's being taken. He therefore +contented himself, for the present, with laying waste the country round +about it, destroying every possible receptacle of the invaders, +poisoning the wells, and doubly fortifying the only weak point in his +fortifications. + +At this juncture the renegade Ismeno stood before him--a bad old man who +had studied unlawful arts. He could bind and loose evil spirits, and draw +the dead out of their tombs, restoring to them breath and perception. +This man told the king, that in the church belonging to his Christian +subjects there was an altar underground, on which stood a veiled image of +the woman whom they worshipped--the mother, as they called her, of their +dead and buried God. A dazzling light burnt for ever before it; and the +walls were hung with the offerings of her credulous devotees. If this +image, he said, were taken away by the king's own hand, and set up in a +mosque, such a spell of enchantment could be thrown about it as should +render the city impregnable so long as the idol was kept safe. + +Aladin proceeded instantly to the Christian temple, and, treating the +priests with violence, tore the image from its shrine and conveyed it to +his own place of worship. The necromancer then muttered before it his +blasphemous enchantment. But the light of morning no sooner appeared in +the mosque, than the official to whose charge the palladium had been +committed missed it from its place, and in vain searched every other to +find it. In truth it never was found again; nor is it known to this +day how it went. Some think the Christians took it; others that Heaven +interfered in order to save it from profanation. And well (says the +poet) does it become a pious humility so to think of a disappearance so +wonderful. + +The king, who fell into a paroxysm of rage, not doubting that some +Christian was the offender, issued a proclamation setting a price on +the head of any one who concealed it. But no discovery was made. The +necromancer resorted to his art with as little effect. The king then +ordered a general Christian massacre. His savage wrath hugged itself on +the reflection, that the criminal would be sure to perish, perish else +who might. + +The Christians heard the order with an astonishment that took away all +their powers of resistance. The suddenness of the presence of death +stupified them. They did not resort even to an entreaty. They waited, +like sheep, to be butchered. Little did they think what kind of saviour +was at hand. + +There was a maiden among them of ripe years, grave and beautiful; one who +took no heed of her beauty, but was altogether absorbed in high and holy +thoughts. If she thought of her beauty ever, it was only to subject it to +the dignity of virtue. The greater her worth, the more she concealed it +from the world, living a close life at home, and veiling herself from all +eyes. + +But the rays of such a jewel could not but break through their casket. +Love would not consent to have it so locked up. Love turned her very +retirement into attraction. There was a youth who had become enamoured +of this hidden treasure. His name was Olindo; Sophronia was that of the +maiden. Olindo, like herself, was a Christian; and the humbleness of his +passion was equal to the worth of her that inspired it. He desired much, +hoped little, asked nothing.[1] He either knew not how to disclose his +love, or did not dare it. And she either despised it, or did not, or +would not, see it. The poor youth, up to this day, had got nothing by his +devotion, not even a look. + +The maiden, who was nevertheless as generous as she was virtuous, fell +into deep thought how she might save her Christian brethren. She soon +came to her resolve. She delayed the execution of it a little, only out +of a sense of virgin decorum, which, in its turn, made her still more +resolute. She issued forth by herself, in the sight of all, not muffling +up her beauty, nor yet exposing it. She withdrew her eyes beneath a veil, +and, attired neither with ostentation nor carelessness, passed through +the streets with unaffected simplicity, admired by all save herself. She +went straight before the king. His angry aspect did not repel her. She +drew aside the veil, and looked him steadily in the face. + +"I am come," she said, "to beg that you will suspend your wrath, and +withhold the orders given to your people. I know and will give up the +author of the deed which has offended you, on that condition." + +At the noble confidence thus displayed, at the sudden apparition of so +much lofty and virtuous beauty, the king's countenance was confused, and +its angry expression abated. Had his spirit been less stern, or the look +she gave him less firm in its purpose, he would have loved her. But +haughty beauty and haughty beholder are seldom drawn together. Glances +of pleasure are the baits of love. And yet, if the ungentle king was not +enamoured, he was impressed. He was bent on gazing at her; he felt an +emotion of delight. + +"Say on," he replied; "I accept the condition." + +"Behold then," said she, "the offender. The deed was the work of this +hand. It was I that conveyed away the image. I am she whom you look for. +I am the criminal to be punished." + +And as she spake, she bent her head before him, as already yielding it to +the executioner. + +Oh, noble falsehood! when was truth to be compared with thee?[2] + +The king was struck dumb. He did not fall into his accustomed transports +of rage. When he recovered from his astonishment, he said, "Who advised +you to do this? Who was your accomplice?" + +"Not a soul," replied the maiden. "I would not have allowed another +person to share a particle of my glory. I alone knew of the deed; I alone +counselled it; I alone did it." + +"Then be the consequence," cried he, "on your own head!" + +"'Tis but just," returned Sophronia. "Mine was the sole honour; mine, +therefore, should be the only punishment." + +The tyrant at this began to feel the accession of his old wrath. "Where," +he said, "have You hidden the image?" + +"I did not hide it," she replied, "I burnt it. I thought it fit and +righteous to do so. I knew of no other way to save it from the hands of +the unbelieving. Ask not for what will never again be found. Be content +with the vengeance you have before you." + +Oh, chaste heart! oh, exalted soul! oh, creature full of nobleness! think +not to find a forgiving moment return. Beauty itself is thy shield no +longer. + +The glorious maiden is taken and bound. The cruel king has condemned her +to the stake. Her veil, and the mantle that concealed her chaste bosom, +are torn away, and her soft arms tied with a hard knot behind her. She +said nothing; she was not terrified; but yet she was not unmoved. Her +bosom heaved in spite of its courage. Her lovely colour was lost in a +pure white. + +The news spread in an instant, and the city crowded to the sight, +Christians and all, Olindo among them. He had thought within himself, +"What if it should be Sophronia!" But when he beheld that it was she +indeed, and not only condemned, but already at the stake, he made +way through the crowd with violence, crying out, "This is not the +person,--this poor simpleton! She never thought of such a thing; she had +not the courage to do it; she had not the strength. How was she to carry +the sacred image away? Let her abide by her story if she dare. I did it." + +Such was the love of the poor youth for her that loved him not. + +When he came up to the stake, he gave a formal account of what he +pretended to have done. "I climbed in," he said, "at the window of your +mosque at night, and found a narrow passage round to the image, where +nobody could expect to meet me. I shall not suffer the penalty to be +usurped by another. I did the deed, and I will have the honour of doing +it, now that it comes to this. Let our places be changed." + +Sophronia had looked up when she heard the youth call out, and she gazed +on him with eyes of pity. "What madness is this!" exclaimed she. "What +can induce an innocent person to bring destruction on himself for +nothing? Can I not bear the thing by myself? Is the anger of one man so +tremendous, that one person cannot sustain it? Trust me, friend, you are +mistaken. I stand in no need of your company." + +Thus spoke Sophronia to her lover; but not a whit was he disposed to +alter his mind. Oh, great and beautiful spectacle! Love and virtue at +strife;--death the prize they contend for;--ruin itself the salvation of +the conqueror! But the contest irritated the king. He felt himself set at +nought; felt death itself despised, as if in despite of the inflictor. +"Let them be taken at their words," cried be; "let both have the prize +they long for." + +The youth is seized on the instant, and bound like the maiden. Both are +tied to the stake, and set back to back. They behold not the face of one +another. The wood is heaped round about them; the fire is kindled. + +The youth broke out into lamentations, but only loud enough to be heard +by his fellow-sufferer. "Is this, then," said he, "the bond which I hoped +might join us? Is this the fire which I thought might possibly warm two +lovers' hearts?[3] Too long (is it not so?) have we been divided, and now +too cruelly are we united: too cruelly, I say, but not as regards me; +for since I am not to be partner of thy existence, gladly do I share thy +death. It is thy fate, not mine, that afflicts me. Oh! too happy were it +to me, too sweet and fortunate, if I could obtain grace enough to be +set with thee heart to heart, and so breathe out my soul into thy lips! +Perhaps thou wouldst do the like with mine, and so give me thy last +sigh." + +Thus spoke the youth in tears; but the maiden gently reproved him. + +She said: "Other thoughts, my friend, and other lamentations befit a time +like this. Why thinkest thou not of thy sins, and of the rewards which +God has promised to the righteous? Meet thy sufferings in his name; so +shall their bitterness be made sweet, and thy soul be carried into the +realms above. Cast thine eyes upwards, and behold them. See how beautiful +is the sky; how the sun seems to invite thee towards it with its +splendour." + +At words so noble and piteous as these, the Pagans themselves, who stood +within hearing, began to weep. The Christians wept too, but in voices +more lowly. Even the king felt an emotion of pity; but disdaining to give +way to it, he turned aside and withdrew. The maiden alone partook not of +the common grief. She for whom every body wept, wept not for herself. + +The flames were now beginning to approach the stake, when there appeared, +coming through the crowd, a warrior of noble mien, habited in the arms of +another country. The tiger, which formed the crest of his helmet, drew +all eyes to it, for it was a cognizance well known. The people began to +think that it was a heroine instead of a hero which they saw, even the +famous Clorinda. Nor did they err in the supposition. + +A despiser of feminine habits had Clorinda been from her childhood. She +disdained to put her hand to the needle and the distaff. She renounced +every soft indulgence, every timid retirement, thinking that virtue could +be safe wherever it went in its own courageous heart; and so she armed +her countenance with pride, and pleased herself with making it stern, but +not to the effect she looked for, for the sternness itself pleased. While +yet a child her little right hand would control the bit of the charger, +and she wielded the sword and spear, and hardened her limbs with +wrestling, and made them supple for the race; and then as she grew up, +she tracked the footsteps of the bear and lion, and followed the trumpet +to the wars; and in those and in the depths of the forest she seemed a +wild creature to mankind, and a man to the wildest creature. She had now +come out of Persia to wreak her displeasure on the Christians, who had +already felt the sharpness of her sword; and as she arrived near this +assembled multitude, death was the first thing that met her eyes, but in +a shape so perplexing, that she looked narrowly to discern what it was, +and then spurred her horse towards the scene of action. The crowd gave +way as she approached, and she halted as she entered the circle round the +stake, and sat gazing on the youth and maiden. She wondered to see the +male victim lamenting, while the female was mute. But indeed she saw that +he was weeping not out of grief but pity; or at least, not out of grief +for himself; and as to the maiden, she observed her to be so wrapt up +in the contemplation of the heavens at which she was gazing, that she +appeared to have already taken leave of earth. + +Pity touched the heart of the Amazon, and the tears came into her eyes. +She felt sorry for both the victims, but chiefly for the one that said +nothing. She turned to a white-headed man beside her, and said, "What is +this? Who are these two persons, whom crime, or their ill fortune, has +brought hither?" + +The man answered her briefly, but to the purpose; and she discerned at +once that both must be innocent. She therefore determined to save them. +She dismounted, and set the example of putting a stop to the flames, and +then said to the officers, "Let nobody continue this work till I have +spoken to the king. Rest assured he will hold you guiltless of the +delay." The officers obeyed, being struck with her air of confidence and +authority; and she went straight towards the king, who had heard of her +arrival, and who was coming to bid her welcome. + +"I am Clorinda," she said. "Thou knowest me? Then thou knowest, sir, one +who is desirous to defend the good faith and the king of Jerusalem. I am +ready for any duty that may be assigned me. I fear not the greatest, nor +do I disdain the least. Open field or walled city, no post will come +amiss to the king's servant." + +"Illustrious maiden," answered the king, "who knoweth not Clorinda? What +region is there so distant from Asia, or so far away out of the paths of +the sun, to which the sound of thy achievements has not arrived? Joined +by thee and by thy sword I fear nothing. Godfrey, methinks, is too slow +to attack me. Dost thou ask to which post thou shalt be appointed? To the +greatest. None else becomes thee. Thou art lady and mistress of the war." + +Clorinda gave the king thanks for his courtesy, and then resumed. +"Strange is it, in truth," she said, "to ask my reward before I have +earned it; but confidence like this reassures me. Grant me, for what I +propose to do in the good cause, the lives of these two persons. I wave +the uncertainty of their offence; I wave the presumption of innocence +afforded by their own behaviour. I ask their liberation as a favour. And +yet it becomes me, at the same time, to confess, that I do not believe +the Christians to have taken the image out of the mosque. It was an +impious thing of the magician to put it there. An idol has no business in +a Mussulman temple, much less the idols of unbelievers; and my opinion +is, that the miracle was the work of Mahomet himself, out of scorn and +hatred of the contamination. Let Ismeno prefer his craft, if he will, to +the weapons of a man; but let him not take upon himself the defence of a +nation of warriors." + +The warlike damsel was silent; and the king, though he could with +difficulty conquer his anger, yet did so, to please his guest. "They are +free," said he; "I can deny nothing to such a petitioner. Whether it be +justice or not to absolve them, absolved they are. If they are innocent, +I pronounce them so; if guilty, I concede their pardon." + +At these words the youth and the maiden were set free. And blissful +indeed was the fortune of Olindo; for love, so proved as his, awoke love +in the noble bosom of Sophronia; and so he passed from the stake to +the marriage-altar, a husband, instead of a wretch condemned--a lover +beloved, instead of a hopeless adorer. + + +[Footnote 1: "Brama assai, poco spera, e nulla chiede." Canto ii. st. 16. +A line justly famous.] + +[Footnote 2: + + "Magnanima menzogna! or quando è il vero + Sì bello, che si possa a te preporre?"] + +[Footnote 3: This conceit is more dwelt upon in the original, coupled +with the one noticed at p. 362.] + + +TANCRED AND CLORINDA. + +Argument. + +The Mussulman Amazon Clorinda, who is beloved by the Christian chief +Tancred, goes forth in disguise at night to burn the battering tower of +the Christian army. She effects her purpose; but, in retreating from its +discoverers, is accidentally shut out of the gate through which she had +left the city. She makes her way into the open country, trusting to get +in at one of the other gates; but, having been watched by Tancred, who +does not know her in the armour in which she is disguised, a combat +ensues between them, in which she is slain. She requests baptism in her +last moments, and receives it from the hands of her despairing lover. + +TANCRED AND CLORINDA + +The Christians, in their siege of Jerusalem, had brought a huge rolling +tower against the walls, from which they battered and commanded the city +with such deadly effect, that the generous Amazon Clorinda resolved to go +forth in disguise and burn it. She disclosed her design to the chieftain +Argantes, for the purpose of recommending to him the care of her damsels, +in case any misfortune should happen to her; but the warrior, jealous of +the glory of such an enterprise, insisted on partaking it. The old king, +weeping for gratitude, joyfully gave them leave; and the Soldan of Egypt, +with a generous emulation, would fain have joined them. Argantes was +about to give him a disdainful refusal, when the king interposed, and +persuaded the Soldan to remain behind, lest the city should miss too many +of its best defenders at one time; adding, that the risk of sallying +forth should be his, in case the burners of the tower were pursued on +their return. Argantes and the Amazon then retired to prepare for the +exploit, and the magician Ismeno compounded two balls of sulphur for the +work of destruction. + +Clorinda took off her beautiful helmet, and her surcoat of cloth of +silver, and laid aside all her haughty arms, and dressed herself (hapless +omen!) in black armour without polish, the better to conceal herself from +the enemy. Her faithful servant, the good old eunuch Arsetes, who had +attended her from infancy, and was now following her about as well as he +could with his accustomed zeal, anxiously noticed what she was doing, +and guessing it was for some desperate enterprise, entreated her, by his +white hairs and all the love he had shewn her, to give it up. Finding his +prayers to no purpose, he requested with great emotion that she would +give ear to certain matters in her family history, which he at length +felt it his duty to disclose. "It would then," he said, "be for herself +to judge, whether she would persist in the enterprise or renounce it." +Clorinda, at this, looked at the good man, and listened with attention. + +"Not long ago," said he, "there reigned in Ethiopia, and perhaps is still +reigning, a king named Senapus, who in common with his people professed +the Christian religion. They are a black though a handsome people, and +the king and his queen were of the salve colour. The king loved her +dearly, but was unfortunately so jealous, that he concealed her from +the sight of mankind. Had it been in his power, I think he would have +hindered the very eyes of heaven from beholding her. The sweet lady, +however, was wise and humble, and did every thing she could to please +him. + +"I was not a Christian myself. I was a Pagan slave, employed among the +women about the queen, and making one of her special attendants. + +"It happened, that the royal bed-chamber was painted with the story of a +holy knight saving a maiden from a dragon;[1] and the maiden had a face +beautifully fair, with blooming cheeks. The queen often prayed and +wept before this picture; and it made so great an impression on her, +particularly the maiden's face, that when she bore a child, she saw with +consternation that the infant's skin was of the same fair colour. This +child was thyself. [2] + +"Terrified with the thoughts of what her husband would feel at such a +sight, what a convincing proof he would hold it of a faith on her part +the reverse of spotless,[3] she procured a babe of her own colour by +means of a confidant; and before thou wert baptised (which is a ceremony +that takes place in Ethiopia later than elsewhere) committed thee to my +care to be brought up at a distance. Who shall relate the tears which +thy mother poured forth, and the sighs and sobs with which they were +interrupted? How many times, when she thought she had given thee the +last embrace, did she not gather thee to her bosom once more! At length, +raising her eyes to heaven, she said, 'O Thou that seest into the hearts +of mortals, and knowest in this matter the spotlessness of mine, dark +though it be otherwise with frailty and with sin, save, I pray thee, +this innocent creature who is denied the milk of its mother's breast. +Vouchsafe that she resemble her hapless parent in nothing but a chaste +life. And thou, celestial warrior, that didst deliver the maiden out of +the serpent's mouth, if I have ever lit humble taper on thine altar, and +set before thee offerings of gold and incense, be, I implore thee, her +advocate. Be her advocate to such purpose, that in every turn of fortune +she may be enabled to count on thy good help.' Here she ceased, torn to +her very heart-strings, with a face painted of the colour of death; and +I, weeping myself, received thee, and bore thee away, hidden in a sweet +covering of flowers and leaves. + +"I journeyed with thee along a forest, where a tiger came upon us with +fury in its eyes. I betook me, alas, to a tree, and left thee lying on +the ground, such terror was in me; and the horrible beast looked down +upon thee. But it fell to licking thee with its dreadful tongue, and thou +didst smile to it, and put thy little hand to its jaws; and, lo, it gave +thee suck, being a mother itself; and then, wonderful to relate, it +returned into the woods, leaving me to venture down from the tree, and +bear thee onward to my place of refuge. There, in a little obscure +cottage, I had thee nursed for more than a year; till, feeling that I +grew old, I resolved to avail myself of the riches the queen had given +me, and go into my own country, which was Egypt. I set out for it +accordingly, and had to cross a torrent where thieves threatened me on +one side, and the fierce water on the other. I plunged in, holding thee +above the torrent with one hand, till I came to an eddy that tore thee +from me. I thought thee lost. What was my delight and astonishment, on +reaching the bank, to find that the water itself had tossed thee upon it +in safety! + +"But I had a dream at night, which seemed to shew me the cause of +thy good fortune. A warrior appeared before me with a threatening +countenance, holding a sword in my face, and saying in an imperious +voice, 'Obey the commands of the child's mother and of me, and baptise +it. She is favoured of Heaven, and her lot is in my keeping. It was I +that put tenderness in the heart of the wild beast, and even a will to +save her in the water. Woe to thee, if thou believest not this vision. It +is a message from the skies.' + +"The spirit vanished, and I awoke and pursued my journey; but thinking my +own creed the true one, and therefore concluding the dream to be false, I +baptised thee not; I bred thee what I was myself, a Pagan; and thou didst +grow up, and become great and wonderful in arms, surpassing the deeds +of men, and didst acquire riches and lands; and what thy life has been +since, then knowest as well as I; ay, and thou knowest mine own ways too, +how I have followed and cautiously waited on thee ever, being to thee +both as a servant and father. + +"Now yesterday morning, as I lay heavily asleep, in consequence of my +troubled mind, the same figure of the warrior made its appearance, but +with a countenance still more threatening, and speaking in a louder +voice. 'Wretch,' it exclaimed, 'the hour is approaching when Clorinda +shall end both her life and her belief. She is mine in despite of thee. +Misery be thine.' With these words it darted away as though it flew. + +"Consider then, delight of my soul, what these dreams may portend. They +threaten thee terrible things; for what reason I know not. Can it be, +that mine own faith is the wrong one, and that of thy parents the right? +Ah! take thought at least, and repress this daring courage. Lay aside +these arms that frighten me." + +Tears hindered the old man from saying more. Clorinda grew thoughtful, +and felt something of dread, for she had had a like kind of dream. At +length, however, cheerfully looking up, she said, "I must follow the +faith I was bred in; the faith which thou thyself bred'st me in, +although thy words would now make me doubt it. Neither can I give up the +enterprise that calls me forth. Such a withdrawal is not to be expected +of an honourable soul. Death may put on the worst face it pleases. I +shall not retreat." + +The intrepid maiden, however, did her best to console her good friend; +but the time having arrived for the adventure, she finally bade him be of +good heart, and so left him. + +Silently, and in the middle of the night, Argantes and Clorinda took +their way down the hills of Jerusalem, and, quitting the gates, went +stealthily towards the site of the tower. But its ever-watchful guards +were alarmed. They demanded the watch-word; and, not receiving it, cried +out, "To arms! to arms!" The dauntless adventurers plunged forwards with +their swords; they dashed aside every assailant, pitched the balls of +sulphur into the machine, and in a short time, in the midst of a daring +conflict, had the pleasure of seeing the smoke and the flame arise, and +the whole tower blazing to its destruction. A terrible sight it was to +the Christians. Waked up, they came crowding to the place; and the two +companions, notwithstanding their skill and audacity, were compelled to +make a retreat. The besieged, with the king at their head, now arrived +also, crowding on the walls; and the gate was opened to let the +adventurers in. The Soldan issued forth at the same moment to cover the +retreat. Argantes was forced through the gate by Clorinda in spite of +himself; and she, but for a luckless antagonist, would have followed him; +but a soldier aiming at her a last blow, she rushed back to give the man +his death; and, in the confusion of the moment, the warders, believing +her to have entered, shut up the gate, and the heroine was left without. + +Behind Clorinda was the gate--before and round about her was a host of +foes; and surely at that moment she thought that her life was drawing to +its end. Finding, however, that her dark armour befriended her in +the tumult, she mingled with the enemy as though she had been one of +themselves, and so, by degrees, picked her way through the confusion +caused by the fire. As the wolf, with its bloody mouth, seeks covert +in the woods, even so Clorinda got clear out of the multitude into the +darkness and the open country. + +Not, however, so clear, alas, but that Tancred perceived her--Tancred, +her foe in creed, but her adoring lover, whose heart she had conquered in +the midst of strife, and whose passion for her she knew. But now she knew +not that he had seen her; nor did he, poor valiant wretch, know that +the knight in black armour whom he pursued, was a woman, and Clorinda. +Tancred had seen the warrior strike down the assailant at the gate; he +had watched him as he picked his way to escape; and Clorinda now heard +the unknown Tancred coming swiftly on horseback behind her as she was +speeding round towards another gate in hopes of being let in. + +The heroine at length turned, and said, "How now, friend?--what is thy +business?" + +"Death!" answered the pursuer. + +"Thou shalt have it," replied the maiden. + +The knight, as his enemy was on foot, dismounted, in order to render +the combat equal; and their swords are drawn in fury, and the fight +begins.[4] + +Worthy of the brightest day-time was that fight--worthy of a theatre full +of valiant be-holders. Be not displeased, O. Night! that I draw it out of +thy bosom, and set it in the serene light of renown: the splendour will +but the more exhibit the great shade of thy darkness. + +No trial was this of skill--no contest of warding and traversing and +taking heed--no artful interchange of blows now pretended, now given in +earnest, now glancing. Night-time and rage flung aside all consideration. +The swords horribly clashed and hammered on one another. Not a cut +descended in vain--not a thrust was without substance. Shame and fury +aggravated one another. Every blow became fiercer than the last. They +closed--they could use their blades no longer; they dashed the pummels of +their swords at one another's faces; they butted and shouldered with helm +and buckler. Three times the man threw his arms round the woman with +other embraces than those of love--three times they returned to their +swords, and cut and slashed one another's bleeding bodies; till at length +they were obliged to hold back for the purpose of taking breath. + +Tancred and Clorinda stood fronting one another in the darkness, leaning +on their swords for want of strength. The last star in the heavens was +fading in the tinge of dawn; and Tancred saw that his enemy had lost more +blood than himself, and it made him proud and joyful. Oh, foolish mind of +us humans, elated at every fancy of success! Poor wretch! for what dost +thou rejoice? How sad will be thy victory! What a misery to look back +upon, thy delight! Every drop of that blood will be paid for with worlds +of tears! + +Dimly thus looking at one another stood the combatants, bleeding a while +in peace. At length Tancred, who wished to know his antagonist, said, "It +hath been no good fortune of ours to be compelled thus to fight where +nobody can behold us; but we have at least become acquainted with the +good swords of one another. Let me request, therefore (if to request any +thing at such a time be not unbecoming), that I may be no stranger to thy +name. Permit me to learn, whatever be the result, who it is that shall +honour my death or my victory." + +"I am not accustomed," answered the fierce maiden, "to disclose who I am; +nor shall I disclose it now. Suffice to hear, that thou seest before thee +one of the burners of the tower." + +Tancred was exasperated at this discovery. "In an evil moment," cried he, +"hast thou said it. Thy silence and thy speech alike disgust me." Into +the combat again they dash, feeble as they were. Ferocious indeed is the +strife in which skill is not thought of, and strength itself is dead; in +which valour rages instead of contends, and feebleness becomes hate and +fury. Oh, the gates of blood that were set open in wounds upon wounds! +If life itself did not come pouring forth, it was only because scorn +withheld it. + +As in the Ægean Sea, when the south and north winds have lost the +violence of their strength, the billows do not subside nevertheless, but +retain the noise and magnitude of their first motion; so the continued +impulse of the combatants carried them still against one another, +hurling them into mutual injury, though they had scarcely life in their +bodies.[5] + +And now the fatal hour has come when Clorinda must die. The sword of +Tancred is in her bosom to the very hilt. The stomacher under the cuirass +which enclosed it is filled with a hot flood. + +Her legs give way beneath her. She falls--she feels that she is +departing. The conqueror, with a still threatening countenance, prepares +to follow up his victory, and treads on her as she lies. + +But a new spirit had come upon her--the spirit which called the beloved +of Heaven to itself; and, speaking in a sorrowing voice, she thus uttered +her last words: + +"My friend, thou hast conquered--I forgive thee. Forgive thou me, not for +my body's sake, which fears nothing, but for the sake, alas, of my soul. +Baptise me, I beseech thee." + +There was something in the voice, as the dying person spake these words, +that went, he knew not why, to the heart of Tancred. The tears forced +themselves into his eyes. Not far off there was a little stream, and the +conqueror went to it and filled his helmet; and returning, prepared for +the pious office by unlacing his adversary's helmet. His hands trembled +when he first beheld the forehead, though he did not yet know it; but +when the vizor was all down, and the face disclosed, he remained without +speech and motion. + +Oh, the sight! oh, the recognition! + +He did not die. He summoned up all the powers within him to support his +heart for that moment. He resolved to hold up his duty above his misery, +and give life with the sweet water to her whom he had slain with sword. +He dipped his fingers in it, and marked her forehead with the cross, and +repeated the words of the sacred office; and while he was repeating them, +the sufferer changed countenance for joy, and smiled, and seemed to say, +in the cheerfulness of her departure, "The heavens are opening--I go in +peace." A paleness and a shade together then came over her countenance, +as if lilies had been mixed with violets. She looked up at heaven, and +heaven itself might be thought for very tenderness to be looking at her; +and then she raised a little her hand towards that of the knight (for she +could not speak), and so gave it him in sign of goodwill; and with his +pressure of it her soul passed away, and she seemed asleep. + +But Tancred no sooner beheld her dead, than all the strength of mind +which he had summoned up to support him fell flat on the instant. He +would have given way to the most frantic outcries; but life and speech +seemed to be shut up in one point in his heart; despair seized him like +death, and he fell senseless beside her. And surely he would have died +indeed, had not a party of his countrymen happened to come up. They were +looking for water, and had found it, and they discovered the bodies at +the same time. The leader knew Tancred by his arms. The beautiful body of +Clorinda, though he deemed her a Pagan, he would not leave exposed to +the wolves; so he directed them both to be carried to the pavilion of +Tancred, and there placed in separate chambers. + +Dreadful was the waking of Tancred--not for the solemn whispering around +him--not for his aching wounds, terrible as they were,--but for the agony +of the recollection that rushed upon him. He would have gone staggering +out of the pavilion to seek the remains of his Clorinda, and save them +from the wolves; but his friends told him they were at hand, under the +curtain of his own tent. A gleam of pleasure shot across his face, and be +staggered into the chamber; but when he beheld the body gored with his +own hand, and the face, calm indeed, but calm like a pale night without +stars, he trembled so, that he would have sunk to the ground but for his +supporters. + +"O sweet face!" he exclaimed; "thou mayst be calm now; but what is to +calm me? O hand that was held up to me in sign of peace and forgiveness! +to what have I brought thee? Wretch that I am, I do not even weep. Mine +eyes are as cruel as my hands. My blood shall be shed instead." + +And with these words he began tearing off the bandages which the surgeons +had put upon him; and he thrust his fingers into his wounds, and would +have slain himself thus outright, had not the pain made him faint away. + +He was then taken back to his own chamber. Godfrey came in the mean +time with the venerable hermit Peter; and when the sufferer awoke, they +addressed him in kind words, which even his impatience respected; but it +was not to be calmed till the preacher put on the terrors of religion, +remonstrating with him as an ingrate to God, and threatening him with the +doom of a sinner. The tears then crept into his eyes, and he tried to be +patient, and in some degree was so--only breaking out ever and anon, now +into exclamations of horror, and now into fond lamentations, talking as +if with the shade of his beloved. + +Thus lay Tancred for days together, ever woful; till, falling asleep one +night towards the dawn, the shade of Clorinda did indeed appear to him, +more beautiful than ever, and clad in light and joy. She seemed to stoop +and wipe the tears from his eyes; and then said, "Behold how happy I am. +Behold me, O beloved friend, and see how happy, and bright, and beautiful +I am; and consider that it is all owing to thyself. 'Twas thou that +took'st me out of the false path, and made me worthy of admission among +saints and angels. There, in heaven, I love and rejoice; and there I look +to see thee in thine appointed time; after which we shall both love the +great God and one another for ever and ever. Be faithful, and command +thyself, and look to the end; for, lo, as far as it is permitted to a +blessed spirit to love mortality, even now I love thee!" + +With these words the eyes of the vision grew bright beyond mortal beauty; +and then it turned and was hidden in the depth of its radiance, and +disappeared. + +Tancred slept a quiet sleep; and when he awoke, he gave himself patiently +up to the will of the physician; and the remains of Clorinda were +gathered into a noble tomb.[6] + + +[Footnote 1: St. George.] + +[Footnote 2: This fiction of a white Ethiop child is taken from the Greek +romance of Heliodorus, book the fourth. The imaginative principle on +which it is founded is true to physiology, and Tasso had a right to use +it; but the particular and excessive instance does not appear happy in +the eyes of a modern reader acquainted with the history of _albinos._] + +[Footnote 3: The conceit is more antithetically put in the original + + "Ch'egli avria del candor che in te si vede + Argomentato in lei non bianca fede." + + Canto xii. st. 24.] + +[Footnote 4: The poet here compares his hero and heroine to two jealous + +"bulls," no happy comparison certainly. + + "Vansi a ritrovar non altrimenti + Che duo tori gelosi." St. 53.] + +[Footnote 5: + + "Qual l'alto Egeo, perchè Aquilone o Noto + Cessi, che tutto prima il volse e scosse, + Non s'accheta però, ma 'l suono e 'l moto + Ritien de l'onde anco agitate e grosse; + Tal, se ben manca in lor col sangue voto + Quel vigor che le braccia ai colpi mosse, + Serbano ancor l'impeto primo, e vanno + Da quel sospinti a giunger danno a danno." + Canto xii. st. 63.] + +[Footnote 6: This tomb, Tancred says, in an address which he makes to it, + + "has his flames inside of it, and his tears without:" + "Che dentro hai le mie fiamme, e fuori il pianto." St. 96.] + +I am loath to disturb the effect of a really touching story; but if I do +not occasionally give instances of these conceits, my translations will +belie my criticism.] + + +RINALDO AND ARMIDA: + +WITH THE + +ADVENTURES OF THE ENCHANTED FOREST. + +Argument. + +PART I.--Satan assembles the fiends in council to consider the best means +of opposing the Christians. Armida, the niece of the wizard king of +Damascus, is incited to go to their camp under false pretences, and +endeavour to weaken it; which she does by seducing away many of the +knights, and sowing a discord which ends in the flight of Rinaldo. + +PART II.--Armida, after making the knights feel the power of her magic, +dismisses them bound prisoners for Damascus. They are rescued on their +way by Rinaldo. Armida pursues him in wrath, but falls in love with him. + +PART III.--The magician Ismeno succeeds in frightening the Christians in +their attempt to cut wood from the Enchanted Forest. Rinaldo is sent for, +as the person fated to undo the enchantment. + +PART IV.--Rinaldo and Armida, in love with each other, pass their time in +a bower of bliss. He is fetched away by two knights, and leaves her in +despair. + +PART V.--Rinaldo disenchants the forest, and has the chief hand in the +taking of Jerusalem. He meets and reconciles Armida. RINALDO AND ARMIDA, +ETC. + +Part the First + +ARMIDA IN THE CHRISTIAN CAMP. + +The Christians had now commenced their attack on Jerusalem, and brought a +great rolling tower against the walls, built from the wood of a forest in +the neigbbourhood; when the Malignant Spirit, who has never ceased his +war with Heaven, cast in his mind how he might best defeat their purpose. +It was necessary to divide their forces; to destroy their tower; to +hinder them from building another; and to make one final triumphant +effort against the whole progress of their arms. + +Forgetting how the right arm of God could launch its thunderbolts, the +Fiend accordingly seated himself on his throne, and ordered his powers to +be brought together. The Tartarean trumpet, with its hoarse voice, called +up the dwellers in everlasting darkness. The huge black caverns trembled +to their depths, and the blind air rebellowed with the thunder. The bolt +does not break forth so horribly when it comes bursting after the flash +out of the heavens; nor had the world before ever trembled with such an +earthquake.[1] + +The gods of the abyss came thronging up on all sides through the +gates;--terrible-looking beings with unaccountable aspects, dispensers of +death and horror with their eyes;--some stamping with hoofs, some rolling +on enormous spires,--their faces human, their hair serpents. There were +thousands of shameless Harpies, of pallid Gorgons, of barking Scyllas, +of Chimeras that vomited ashes, and of monsters never before heard or +thought of, with perverse aspects all mixed up in one. + +The Power of Evil sat looking down upon them, huger than a rock in the +sea, or an alp with forked summits. A certain horrible majesty augmented +the terrors of his aspect. His eyes reddened; his poisonous look hung in +the air like a comet; the mouth, as it opened in the midst of clouds of +beard, seemed an abyss of darkness and blood; and out of it, as from a +volcano, issued fires, and vapours, and disgust. + +Satan laid forth to his dreadful hearers his old quarrel with Heaven, +and its new threats of an extension of its empire. Christendom was to be +brought into Asia; their worshippers were to perish; souls were to be +rescued from their devices, and Satan's kingdom on earth put an end to. +He exhorted them therefore to issue forth once for all and prevent this +fatal consummation by the destruction of the Christian forces. Some of +the leaders he bade them do their best to disperse, others to slay, +others to draw into effeminate pleasures, into rebellion, into the ruin +of the whole camp, so that not a vestige might remain of its existence. + +The assembly broke up with the noise of hurricanes. They issued forth +to look once more upon the stars, and to sow seeds every where of +destruction to the Christians. Satan himself followed them, and entered +the heart of Hydraotes, king of Damascus. + +Hydraotes was a wizard as well as a king, and held the Christians in +abhorrence. But he was wise enough to respect their valour; and with +Satan's help he discerned the likeliest way to counteract it. He had a +niece, who was the greatest beauty of the age. He had taught her his art: +and he concluded, that the enchantments of beauty and magic united would +prove irresistible. He therefore disclosed to her his object. He told her +that every artifice was lawful, when the intention was to serve one's +country and one's faith; and he conjured her to do her utmost to separate +Godfrey himself from his army, or in the event of that not being +possible, to bring away as many as she could of his noblest captains. + +Armida (for that was her name), proud of her beauty, and of the unusual +arts that she had acquired, took her way the same evening, alone, and by +the most sequestered paths,--a female in gown and tresses issuing forth +to conquer an army.[2] + +She had not travelled many days ere she came in sight of the Christian +camp, the outskirts of which she entered immediately. The Frenchmen all +flocked to see her, wondering who she was, and who could have sent them +so lovely a messenger. Armida passed onwards, not with a misgiving air, +not with an unalluring, and yet not with an immodest one. Her golden +tresses she suffered at one moment to escape from under her veil, and +at another she gathered them again within it. Her rosy mouth breathed +simplicity as well as voluptuousness. Her bosom was so artfully draped, +as to let itself be discerned without seeming to intend it. And thus she +passed along, surprising and transporting every body. Coming at length +among the tents of the officers, she requested to be shewn that of the +leader; and Eustace eagerly stepped forward to conduct her. + +Eustace was the younger brother of Godfrey. He had all the ardour of his +time of life, and the gallantry, in every respect, of a Frenchman. After +paying her a profusion of compliments, and learning that she was a +fugitive in distress, he promised her every thing which his brother's +authority and his own sword could do for her; and so led her into +Godfrey's presence. + +The pretended fugitive made a lowly obeisance, and then stood mute and +blushing, till the general re-assured her. She then told him, that she +was the rightful queen of Damascus, whose throne was usurped by an uncle; +that her uncle sought her death, from which she had been saved by the man +who was bribed to inflict it; and that although her creed was Mahometan, +she had brought her mind to conclude, that so noble an enemy as Godfrey +would take pity on her condition, and permit some of his captains to aid +the secret wishes of her people, and seat her on the throne. Ten selected +chiefs would overcome, she said, all opposition; and she promised in +return to become his grateful and faithful vassal. + +The leader of the Christian army sat a while in deliberation. His heart +was inclined to befriend the lady, but his prudence was afraid of a Pagan +artifice. He thought also that it did not become his piety to turn aside +from the enterprise which God had favoured. He therefore gave her a +gentle refusal; but added, that should success attend him, and Jerusalem +be taken, he would instantly do what she required. + +Armida looked down, and wept. A mixture of indignation and despair +appeared to seize her; and exclaiming that she had no longer a wish to +live, she accused, she said, not a heart so renowned for generosity as +his, but Heaven itself which had steeled it against her. What was she to +do? She could not remain in his camp. Virgin modesty forbade that. She +was not safe out of its bounds. Her enemies tracked her steps. It was fit +that she should die by her own hand. + +An indignant pity took possession of the French officers. They wondered +how Godfrey could resist the prayers of a creature so beautiful; and +Eustace openly, though respectfully, remonstrated. He said, that if ten +of the best of his captains could not be spared, ten others might; +that it especially became the Christians to redress the wrongs of the +innocent; that the death of a tyrant, instead of being a deviation from +the service of God, was one of the directest means of performing it; and +that France would never endure to hear, that a lady had applied to her +knights for assistance, and found her suit refused. + +A murmur of approbation followed the words of Eustace. His companions +pressed nearer to the general, and warmly urged his request. + +Godfrey assented to a wish expressed by so many, but not with perfect +goodwill. He bade them remember, that the measure was the result of their +own opinion, not his; and concluded by requesting them at all events, for +his sake, to moderate the excess of their confidence. The transported +warriors had scarcely any answer to make but that of congratulations to +the lady. She, on her side, while mischief was rejoicing in her heart, +first expressed her gratitude to all in words intermixed with smiles and +tears, and then carried herself towards every one in particular in the +manner which she thought most fitted to ensnare. She behaved to this +person with cordiality, to that with comparative reserve; to one with +phrases only, to another with looks besides, and intimations of secret +preference. The ardour of some she repressed, but still in a manner to +rekindle it. To others she was all gaiety and attraction; and when others +again had their eyes upon her, she would fall into fits of absence, and +shed tears, as if in secret, and then look up suddenly and laugh, and put +on a cheerful patience. And thus she drew them all into her net. + +Yet none of all these men confessed that passion impelled them; every +body laid his enthusiasm to the account of honour--Eustace particularly, +because he was most in love. He was also very jealous, especially of the +heroical Rinaldo, Prince of Este; and as the squadron of horse to which +they both belonged--the greatest in the army--had lately been deprived of +its chief, Eustace cast in his mind how he might keep Rinaldo from going +with Armida, and at the same time secure his own attendance on her, by +advancing him to the vacant post. He offered his services to Rinaldo for +the purpose, not without such emotion as let the hero into his secret; +but as the latter had no desire to wait on the lady, he smilingly +assented, agreeing at the same time to assist the wishes of the lover. +The emissaries of Satan, however, were at work in all quarters. If +Eustace was jealous of Rinaldo as a rival in love, Gernando, Prince of +Norway, another of the squadron that had lost its chief, was no less +so of his gallantry in war, and of his qualifications for being his +commander. Gernando was a haughty barbarian, who thought that every sort +of pre-eminence was confined to princes of blood royal. He heard of +the proposal of Eustace with a disgust that broke into the unworthiest +expressions. He even vented it in public, in the open part of the camp, +when Rinaldo was standing at no great distance; and the words coming to +the hero's ears, and breaking down the tranquillity of his contempt, +the latter darted towards him, sword in hand, and defied him to single +combat. Gernando beheld death before him, but made a show of valour, and +stood on his defence. A thousand swords leaped forth to back him, mixed +with as many voices; and half the camp of Godfrey tried to withhold the +impetuous youth who was for deciding his quarrel without the general's +leave. But the hero's transport was not to be stopped; he dashed through +them all, forced the Norwegian to encounter him, and after a storm of +blows that dazzled the man's eyes and took away his senses, ran his sword +thrice through the prince's body. He then sent the blade into its sheath +reeking as it was, and, taking his way back to his tent, reposed in the +calmness of his triumph. + +The victor had scarcely gone, when the general arrived on the ground. He +beheld the slain Prince of Norway with acute feelings of regret. What was +to become of his army, if the leaders thus quarrelled among themselves, +and his authority was set at nought? The friends of the slain man +increased his anger against Rinaldo, by charging him with all the blame +of the catastrophe. The hero's friend, Tancred, assuaged it somewhat by +disclosing the truth, and then ventured to ask pardon for the outbreak. +But the wise commander skewed so many reasons why such an offence could +not be overlooked, and his countenance expressed such a determination to +resent it, that the gallant youth hastened secretly to his friend, and +urged him to quit the camp till his services should be needed. Rinaldo at +first called for his arms, and was bent on resisting every body who came +to seize him, had it been even Godfrey himself; but Tancred shewing +him how unjust that would be, and how fatal to the Christian cause, he +consented with an ill grace to depart. He would take nobody with him but +two squires; and he went away raging with a sense of ill requital for +his achievements, but resolving to prove their value by destroying every +infidel prince that he could encounter. + +Armida now tried in vain to make an impression on the heart of Godfrey. +He was insensible to all her devices; but she succeeded in quitting the +camp with her ten champions. Lots were drawn to determine who should go; +and all who failed to be in the list--Eustace among them--were so jealous +of the rest, that at night-time, after the others had been long on +the road, they set out to overtake them, each by himself, and all in +violation of their soldierly words. The ten opposed them as they came up, +but to no purpose. Armida reconciled them all in appearance, by feigning +to be devoted to each in secret; and thus she rode on with them many a +mile, till she came to a castle on the Dead Sea, where she was accustomed +to practise her unfriendliest arts. + +Meanwhile news came to Godfrey that his Egyptian enemies were at hand +with a great fleet, and that his caravan of provisions had been taken by +the robbers of the desert. His army was thus threatened with ruin from +desertion, starvation, and the sword. He maintained a calm and even a +cheerful countenance; but in his thoughts he had great anxiety. + +Part the Second. + +ARMIDA'S HATE AND LOVE. + +The castle to which Armida took her prisoners occupied an island close to +the shore in the loathsome Dead Sea. They entered it by means of a narrow +bridge; but if their pity had been great at seeing her forced to take +refuge in a spot so desolate and repulsive, how pleasingly was it changed +into as great a surprise at finding a totally different region within the +walls! The gardens were extensive and lovely; the rivulets and fountains +as sweet as the flowery thickets they watered; the breezes refreshing, +the skies of a sapphire blue, and the birds were singing round about them +in the trees. Her riches astonished them no less. The side of the castle +that looked on the gardens was all marble and gold; a banquet awaited +them beside a water on a shady lawn, consisting of the exquisitest viands +on the costliest plate; and a hundred beautiful maidens attended them +while they feasted. The enchantress was all smiles and delight; and such +was her art, that although she bestowed no favour on any body beyond his +banquet and his hopes, every body thought himself the favoured lover. + +But no sooner was the feast over, than the greatest and worst of their +astonishments ensued. The lady quitted them, saying she should return +presently. She did so with a troubled and unfriendly countenance, having +a book in one hand, and a little wand in the other. She read in the book +in a low voice, and while she was reading shook the little wand; and the +guests, altering in every part of their being, and shrinking into minute +bodies, felt an inclination, which they obeyed, to plunge into the water +beside them. They were fish. In a little while they were again men, +looking her in the face with dread and amazement. She had restored them +to their humanity. She regarded them with a severe countenance, and said +"You have tasted my power; I can exercise it far more terribly--can put +you in dungeons for ever--can turn you to roots in the ground--to flints +within the rock. Beware of my wrath, and please me; quit your faiths for +mine, and fight against the blasphemer Godfrey." + +Every Christian but one rejected her alternative with abhorrence. Him she +made one of her champions; the rest were tied and bound, and after being +kept a while in a dungeon were sent off as a present to the King of +Egypt, with an escort that came from Damascus to fetch them. + +Exulting was left the fair and bigoted magician; but she little guessed +what a new fortune awaited them on the road. The discord with which the +powers of evil had seconded her endeavours to weaken the Christian camp, +had turned in this instance against herself. It had made Rinaldo a +wanderer; it had brought his wanderings into this very path; and he now +met the prisoners, and bade defiance to the escort. A battle ensued, in +which the hero won his accustomed victory. The Christians, receiving the +armour of their foes, joyfully took their way back to the camp; and one +of the escort, who escaped the slaughter, returned to Armida with news of +the deliverance of her captives. + +The mortified enchantress took horse and went in pursuit of Rinaldo, with +wrath and vengeance in her heart. She tracked him from place to place, +till she knew he must arrive on the banks of the Orontes; and there, +making a stealthy circuit, she cast a spell, and lay in wait for him in a +little island which divided the stream in two.[3] + +Rinaldo came up with his squires; he beheld on the bank a pillar of white +marble, and beside it on the water a little boat. The pillar presented +an inscription, inviting travellers to cross to the island and behold a +wonder of the world. The hero accepted the invitation; but as the boat +was too small to hold more than one person, and the circumstance probably +an appeal to his courage, he bade his squires wait for him, and proceeded +by himself. + +On reaching the island and casting his eyes eagerly round about, the +adventurer could discern nothing but trees and grottos, flowers and +grass, and water. He thought himself trifled with; but as the spot was +beautiful and refreshing, he took off his helmet, resolving to stay a +little and repose. He crossed to the farther side of the island, and lay +down on the river-side. On a sudden he observed the water bubble and +gurgle in a manner that was very strange; and presently the top of a head +arose with beautiful hair, then the face of a damsel, then the bosom. +The fair creature stood half out of the stream, and warbled a song so +luxurious and so lulling, that the little wind there was seemed to +fall in order to listen; and the young warrior was so drowsed with the +sweetness, that languor crept through all his senses, and he slept. +Armida came from out a thicket and looked on him. She had resolved that +he should perish. But when she saw how placidly he breathed, and what an +intimation of beautiful eyes there was in his very eyelids, she hung over +him, still looking. + +In a little while she sat down by his side, always looking. She hung over +him as Narcissus did over the water, and indignation melted out of her +heart. She cooled his face with her veil; she made a fan of it; she gave +herself up to the worship of those hidden eyes. Of an enemy she became a +lover.[4] + +Armida gathered trails of roses and lilies from the thickets around her, +and cast a spell on them, and made bands with which she fettered his +sleeping limbs; and then she called her nymphs, and they put him into her +ear, and she went away with him through the air far off, even to one of +the Fortunate Islands in the great ocean, where her jealousy, assisted by +her art, would be in dread of no visitors, no discovery. She bore him to +the top of a mountain, and cast a spell about the mountain, to make the +top lovely and the sides inaccessible. She put shapes of wild beasts +and monsters in the woods of the lowest region, and heaps of ice in the +second, and alluring and betraying shapes and enchantments towards the +summit; and round the summit she put walls and labyrinths of inextricable +error; and in the heart of these was a palace by a lake, and the +loveliest of gardens. + +Mere Rinaldo was awaked by love and beauty; and here for the present he +is left. + +Part the Third. + +THE TERRORS OF THE ENCHANTED FOREST. + +Meantime the siege of the Holy City had gone on, with various success on +either side, but chiefly to the loss of the Christians. The machinations +of Satan were prevailing. Rinaldo, in his absence, was thought to have +been slain by the contrivance of Godfrey, which nearly produced a revolt +of the forces. Godfrey was himself wounded in battle by Clorinda: and now +the great wooden tower was burnt, and Clorinda slain in consequence (as +you have heard in another place), which oppressed the courage of Tancred +with melancholy. + +On the other hand, the Powers of Evil were far from being as prosperous +as they wished. They had lost the soul of Clorinda. They had seen Godfrey +healed by a secret messenger from Heaven, who dropt celestial balsam +into his wound. They had seen the return of Armida's prisoners, who had +arrived just in time to change the fortune of a battle, and drive the +Pagans back within their walls. And worse than all, they had again felt +the arm of St. Michael, who had threatened them with worse consequences +if they reappeared in the contest. + +The fiends, however, had colleagues on earth, who plotted for them +meanwhile. The Christians had set about making another tower; but in +this proceeding they were thwarted by the enchanter Ismeno, who cast his +spells to better purpose this time than he had done in the affair of the +stolen image. The forest in which the Christians obtained wood for these +engines lay in a solitary valley, not far from the camp. It was very old, +dark, and intricate; and had already an evil fame as the haunt of impure +spirits. No shepherd ever took his flock there; no Pagan would cut a +bough from it; no traveller approached it, unless he had lost his way: +he made a large circuit to avoid it, and pointed it out anxiously to his +companions. + +The necessity of the Christians compelled them to defy this evil repute +of the forest; and Ismeno hastened to oppose them. He drew his line, and +uttered his incantations, and called on the spirits whom St. Michael had +rebuked, bidding them come and take charge of the forest--every one of +his tree, as a soul of its body. The spirits delayed at first, not only +for dread of the great angel, but because they resented the biddings of +mortality, even in their own cause. The magician, however, persisted; and +his spells becoming too powerful to be withstood, presently they came +pouring in by myriads, occupying the whole place, and rendering the very +approach to it a task of fear and labour. The first party of men that +came to cut wood were unable to advance when they beheld the trees, but +turned like children, and became the mockery of the camp. Godfrey sent +them back, with a chosen squadron to animate them to the work; but the +squadron themselves, however boldly they affected to proceed, lead no +sooner approached the spot, than they found reason to forgive the fears +of the woodcutters. The earth shook; a great wind began rising, with a +sound of waters; and presently, every dreadful noise ever heard by man +seemed mingled into one, and advancing to meet them--roarings of lions, +hissings of serpents, pealings and rolls of thunder. The squadron went +back to Godfrey, and plainly confessed that it had not courage enough to +enter such a place. + +A leader, of the name of Alcasto, shook his head at this candour with a +contemptuous smile. He was a man of the stupider sort of courage, without +mind enough to conceive danger. "Pretty soldiers," exclaimed he, "to be +afraid of noises and sights! Give the duty to me. Nothing shall stop +Alcasto, though the place be the mouth of hell." + +Alcasto went; and he went farther than the rest, and the trembling +woodcutters once more prepared their axes; but, on a sudden, there sprang +up between them and the trees a wall of fire which girded the whole +forest. It had glowing battlements and towers; and on these there +appeared armed spirits, with the strangest and most bewildering aspects. +Alcasto retired--slowly indeed, but with shame and terror; nor had he the +courage to re-appear before his commander. Godfrey had him brought, but +could hardly get a word from his lips. The man talked like one in a +dream. + +At last Tancred went. He would have, gone before; but he had neither +thought the task so difficult, nor did he care for any thing that was +going forward. His mind was occupied with the dead Clorinda. He had now +work that aroused him; and he set out in good earnest for the forest, not +unmoved in his imagination, but resolved to defy all appearances. + +Arrived at the wall of fire, Tancred halted a moment, and looked up at +the visages on its battlements, not without alarm. Many reflections +passed swiftly through his mind, some urging him forward, others +withholding; but he concluded with stepping right through the fire. It +did not resist him: he did not feel it. + +The fire vanished; and, in its stead, there poured down a storm of hail +and rain, black as midnight. This vanished also. + +Tancred stood amazed for an instant, and then passed on. He was soon in +the thick of the wood, and for some time made his way with difficulty. On +a sudden, he issued forth into a large open glade, like an amphitheatre, +in which there was nothing but a cypress-tree that stood in the middle. +The cypress was marked with hieroglyphical characters, mixed with some +words in the Syrian tongue which he could read; and these words requested +the stranger to spare the fated place, nor trouble the departed souls who +were there shut up in the trees. Meantime the wind was constantly moaning +around it; and in the moaning was a sound of human sighs and tears. + +Tancred's heart, for a moment, was overcome with awe and pity; but +recollecting himself, and resolving to make amends for his credulity, +he smote with all his might at the cypress. The blow, wonderful to see, +produced an effusion of blood, which dyed the grass about the root. +Tancred's hair stood on end. He smote, however, again, with double +violence, resolving to see the end of the marvel; and then he heard a +woful voice issuing as from a tomb. + +"Hast thou not hurt me," it said, "Tancred, enough already? Hast thou +slain the human body which I once joyfully inhabited; and now must thou +cut and rend me, even in this wretched enclosure? My name was Clorinda. +Every tree which thou beholdest is the habitation of some Christian or +Pagan soul; for all come hither that are slain beneath the walls of the +city, compelled by I know not what power, or for what reason. Every bough +in the forest is alive; and when thou cuttest down a tree, thou slayest a +soul." + +As a sick man in a dream thinks, and yet thinks not, that he sees some +dreadful monster, and, notwithstanding his doubt, wishes to fly from the +horrible perplexity; so the trembling lover, though suspecting what he +beheld, had so frightful an image before his thoughts of Clorinda weeping +and wailing after death, and bleeding in her very soul, that he had +not the heart to do more, or to remain in the place. He returned in +bewildered sorrow to Godfrey, and told him all. "It is not in my power," +he said, "to touch another bough of that forest."[5] + +The astonished leader of the Christians now made up his mind to go +himself; and so, with prayer and valour united, bring this appalling +adventure to some conclusion. But the hermit Peter dissuaded him. The +holy man, in an ecstacy of foreknowledge, beheld the coming of the only +champion fated to conclude it; and Godfrey himself the same night had a +vision from heaven, bidding him grant the petition of those who should +sue him next day for the recall of Rinaldo from exile--Rinaldo, the right +hand of the army, as Godfrey was its head. + +The petition was made as soon as daylight appeared; and two knights, +Carlo and Ubaldo, were despatched in search of the fated hero. + +Part the Fourth + +THE LOVES OF RINALDO AND ARMIDA. + +The knights, with information procured on the road from a good wizard, +struck off for the sea-coast, and embarking in a pinnace which +miraculously awaited them, sailed along the shores of the Mediterranean +for the retreat of Armida. They saw the Egyptian army assembled at Gaza, +but hoped to return with Rinaldo before it could effect anything at +Jerusalem. They passed the mouths of the Nile, and Alexandria, and +Cyrene, and Ptolemais, and the cities of the Moors, and the dangers of +the Greater and Lesser Whirlpools, and their pilot showed them the spot +where Carthage stood,--Carthage, now a dead city, whose grave is scarcely +discernible. For cities die; kingdoms die;--a little sand and grass +covers all that was once lofty in them and glorious. And yet man, +forsooth, disdains that he is mortal! Oh, mind of ours, inordinate and +proud![6] + +After looking towards the site of Carthage, they passed Algiers, and +Oran, and Tingitana, and beheld the opposite coast of Spain, and +then they cleared the narrow sea of Gibraltar, and came out into the +immeasurable ocean, leaving all sight of land behind them; and so +speeding ever onward in the billows, they beheld at last a cluster of +mountainous and beautiful islands; the larger ones inhabited by a simple +people, the smaller quite wild and desolate. So at least they appeared. +But in one of these smaller islands was the mountain, on the top of +which, in the indulgence of every lawless pleasure, lay the champion of +the Christian faith. This the pilot shewed to the two knights, and then +steered the pinnace into its bay; and here, after a voyage of four days +and nights, it dropped its sails without need of anchor, so mild and +sheltered was the port, with natural moles curving towards the entrance, +and evergreen woods overhead. + +It was evening, with a beautiful sunset. The knights took leave of the +pilot, and setting out instantly on their journey, well furnished with +all advices how to proceed, slept that night at the foot of the mountain; +for they were not to begin to scale it till sunrise. With the first beams +of the sun they arose and ascended. They had not climbed far, when a +serpent rushed out upon the path, entirely stopping it, but fled at the +sound of a slender rod, which Ubaldo whisked as he advanced. A lion, for +all his cavernous jaws, did the same; nor was greater resistance made by +a whole herd of monsters. They now mounted with great labour the region +of ice and snow; but, at the top of it, emerged from winter-time into +summer. The air was full of sweet odours, yet fresh; they sauntered (for +they could not walk fast) over a velvet sward, under trees, by the side +of a shady river; and a bewitching pleasure began to invite their senses. +But they knew the river, and bore in mind their duty. It was called the +River of Laughter.[7] A little way on, increasing in beauty as it went, +it formed a lucid pool in a dell; and by the side of this pool was a +table spread with every delicacy, and in the midst of it two bathing +damsels, talking and laughing. Sometimes they sprinkled one another, then +dived, then partly came up without spewing their faces, then played a +hundred tricks, pretending all the while not to see the travellers. Then +they became quiet, and sunk gently; and, as they reappeared, one of them +rose half into sight, sweetly as the morning star when it issues from the +water, dewy and dropping, or as Venus herself arose out of the froth of +the sea. Such looked this damsel, and so did the crystal moisture +go dropping from her tresses. Then she turned her eyes towards the +travellers, and feigning to behold them for the first time, shrunk within +herself. She hastened to undo the knot in which her tresses were tied up, +and shook them round about her, and down they fell to the water thick and +long, enclosing that beautiful sight; and yet the enclosure itself was +not less beautiful. So, hid in the pool below, and in her tresses above, +she glanced at the knights through her hair, with a blushing gladness. +She blushed and she laughed at the same time; and the blushing was more +beautiful for the laughter, and the laughter for the blushing; and then +she said, in a voice which would alone have conquered any other hearers, +"You are very happy to be allowed to come to this place. Nothing but +delight is here. Our queen must have chosen you from a great number. But +be pleased first to rid you of the dust of your journey, and to refresh +yourselves at this table." + +So spake the one; and the other accompanied her speech with accordant +looks and gestures, as the dance accompanies the music. + +Nor was the allurement unfelt. + +But the companions passed on, taking no notice; and the bathers went +sullenly under the water.[8] + +The knights passed through the gates of the park of Armida, and entered a +labyrinth made with contrivance the most intricate. Here their path would +have been lost, but for a map traced by one who knew the secret. By +the help of this they threaded it in safety, and issued upon a garden +beautiful beyond conception. Every thing that could be desired in +gardens was presented to their eyes in one landscape, and yet without +contradiction or confusion,--flowers, fruits, water, sunny hills, +descending woods, retreats into corners and grottos: and what put the +last loveliness upon the scene was, that the art which did it all was no +where discernible.[9] You might have supposed (so exquisitely was the +wild and the cultivated united) that all had somehow happened, not been +contrived. It seemed to be the art of Nature herself; as though, in a fit +of playfulness, she had imitated her imitator. But the temperature of the +place, if nothing else, was plainly the work of magic, for blossoms and +fruit abounded at the same time. The ripe and the budding fig grew on the +same bough; green apples were clustered upon those with red cheeks; the +vines in one place had small leaves and hard little grapes, and in the +next they laid forth their richest tapestry in the sun, heavy with +bunches full of wine. At one time you listened to the warbling of birds; +and a minute after, as if they had stopped on purpose, nothing was heard +but the whispering of winds and the fall of waters. It seemed as if every +thing in the place contributed to the harmony and the sweetness. The +notes of the turtle-dove were deeper here than any where else; the hard +oak, and the chaste laurel, and the whole exuberant family of trees, +the earth, the water, every element of creation, seemed to have been +compounded but for one object, and to breathe forth the fulness of its +bliss.[10] + +The two messengers, hardening their souls with all their might against +the enchanting impression, moved forward silently among the trees; till, +looking through the branches into a little opening which formed a bower, +they saw--or did they but think they saw?--no, they saw indeed the hero +and his Armida reclining on the grass.[11] Her dress was careless, +her hair loose in the summer-wind. His head lay in her bosom; a smile +trembled on her lips and in her eyes, like a sunbeam in water; and as she +thus looked on him with passionate love, he looked up at her, face to +face, and returned it with all his soul. + +Now she kissed his lips, now his eyes; and then they looked again at one +another with their ever-hungry looks; and then she kissed him again, and +he gave a sigh so deep you would have thought his soul had gone out of +him, and passed into hers. The two warriors from their covert gazed on +the loving scene. + +At the lover's side there hung a strange accoutrement for a warrior, +namely, a crystal mirror. He rose a little on his elbow, and gave it into +Armida's hands: and in two different objects each beheld but one emotion, +she hers in the glass, and he his own in her eyes. But he would not +suffer her to look long at any thing but himself; and then they spake +loving and adoring words; and after a while Armida bound up her hair, and +put some flowers into it, as jewels might be put upon gold, and added a +rose or two to the lilies of her bosom, and adjusted her veil. And never +did peacock look so proudly beautiful when he displays the pomp of his +eyed plumes; nor was ever the rainbow so sweetly coloured when it curves +forth its dewy bosom against the light.[12] But lovely above all was the +effect of a magic girdle which the enchantress had made with her whole +art, and which she never laid aside day or night. Spirit in it had taken +substance; the subtlest emotions of the soul a shape and palpability. +Tender disdains were in it, and repulses that attracted, and levities +that endeared, and contentments full of joy, and smiles, and little +words, and drops of delicious tears, and short-coming sighs, and soft +kisses. All these she had mingled together, and made one delight out +of many, and wound it about her heart, and wore it for a charm +irresistible.[13] + +And now she kissed him once more, and begged leave of a little absence +(for love is courteous ever), and so went as usual to her books and her +magic arts. Rinaldo remained where he was, for he had no power to wish +himself out of the sweet spot; only he would stray a while among the +trees, and amuse himself with the birds and squirrels, and so be a loving +hermit till she returned. And at night they retired under one roof, still +in the midst of the garden. + +But no sooner had Armida gone, than the two warriors issued from their +hiding-place, and stood before the lover, glittering in their noble arms. + +As a war-horse, that has been taken from the wars, and become the +luxurious husband of the stud, wanders among the drove in the meadows in +vile enjoyment; should by chance a trumpet be heard in the place, or a +dazzling battle-axe become visible, he turns towards it on the instant, +and neighs, and longs to be in the lists, and vehemently desires the +rider on his back who is to dash and be dashed at in the encounter;--even +so turned the young hero when the light of the armour flashed upon him, +even so longed for the war, even so shook himself up out of his bed of +pleasure, with all his great qualities awaked and eager. + +Ubaldo saw the movement in his heart, and held right in his face the +shield of adamant, which had been brought for the purpose. It was a +mirror that shewed to the eyes of every one who looked into it the very +man as he was. + +But when Rinaldo beheld himself indeed,--when he read his transformation, +not in the flattering glass of the enchantress, but by the light of +this true, and simple, and severe reflector,--his hair tricked out with +flowers and unguents, his soft mantle of exquisitest dye, and his very +sword rendered undistinguishable for what it was by a garland,--shame and +remorse fell upon him. He felt indeed like a dreamer come to himself. He +looked down. He could not speak. He wished to hide himself in the bottom +of the sea. + +Ubaldo raised his voice and spoke. "All Europe and Asia," said he, "are +in arms. Whoever desires fame, or is a worshipper of his Saviour, is a +fighter in the land of Syria. Thou only, O son of Bertoldo, remainest +out of the high way of renown--in luxury--in a little corner; thou only, +unmoved with the movement of the world, the champion of a girl. What +dream, what lethargy can have drowned a valour like thine? What vileness +have had attraction for thee? Up, up, and with us. The camp, the +commander himself calls for thee; fortune and victory await thee. Come, +fated warrior, and finish thy work; see the false creed which thou hast +shaken, laid low beneath thy inevitable sword." + +On hearing these words the noble youth remained for a time without +speaking, without moving. At length shame gave way to a passionate sense +of his duty. With a new fire in his cheeks, he tore away the effeminate +ornaments of his servitude, and quitted the spot without a word. In a few +moments he had threaded the labyrinth: he was outside the gate. Ere long +he was descending the mountain. + +But meantime Armida had received news of the two visitors; and coming to +look for them, and casting her eyes down the steep, she beheld--with his +face, alas, turned no longer towards her own--the hasty steps of her hero +between his companions. She wished to cry aloud, but was unable. She +might have resorted to some of her magic devices, but her heart forbade +her. She ran, however--for what cared she for dignity?--she ran down +the mountain, hoping still by her beauty and her tears to arrest the +fugitive; but his feet were too strong, even for love: she did not reach +him till he had arrived on the sea-shore. Where was her pride now? where +the scorn she had exhibited to so many suitors? where her coquetry and +her self-sufficiency--her love of being loved, with the power to hate the +lover? The enchantress was now taught what the passion was, in all its +despair as well as delight. She cried aloud. She cared not for the +presence of the messengers. "Oh, go not, Rinaldo," she cried; "go not, or +take me with thee. My heart is torn to pieces. Take me, or turn and kill +me. Stop, at least, and be cruel to me here. If thou hast the heart to +fly me, it will not be hard to thee to stay and be unkind." + +Even the messengers were moved at this, or seemed to be moved. Ubaldo +told the fugitive that it would be heroical in him to wait and hear what +the lady had to say, with gentleness and firmness. + +His conquest over himself would then be complete. + +Rinaldo stopped, and Armida came up breathless and in tears--lovelier +than ever. She looked earnestly at him at first, without a word. He gave +her but a glance, and looked aside. + +As a fine singer, before he lets loose his tongue in the lofty utterance +of his emotion, prepares the minds of his hearers with some sweet +prelude, exquisitely modulating in a lower tone,--so the enchantress, +whose anguish had not deprived her of all sense of her art, breathed a +few sighs to dispose the soul of her idol to listen, and then said: "I +do not beg thee to hear me as one that loves me. We both loved once; but +that is over. I beg thee to hear, even though as one that loves me not. +It will cost thy disdain nothing to grant me that. Perhaps thou hast +discovered a pleasure in hating me. Do so. I come not to deprive thee of +it. If it seem just to thee, just let it be. I too once hated. I hated +the Christians--hated even thyself. I thought it right to do so: I was +bred up to think it. I pursued thee to do thee mischief; I overtook thee; +I bore thee away; and worse than all--for now perhaps thou loathest me +for it--I loved thee. I loved thee, for the first time that I loved any +one; nay, I made thee love me in turn; and, alas, I gave myself into +thine arms. It was wrong. I was foolish; I was wicked. I grant that I +have deserved thou shouldst think ill of me, that thou shouldst punish +me, and quit me, and hate to have any remembrance of this place which I +had filled with delights. Go; pass over the seas; make war against my +friends and my country; destroy us all, and the religion we believe in. +Alas! _'we'_ do I say? The religion is mine no longer--O thou, the cruel +idol of my soul. Oh, let me go with thee, if it be but as thy servant, +thy slave. Let the conqueror take with him his captive; let her be +mocked; let her be pointed at; only let her be with thee. I will cut off +these tresses, which no longer please thee: I will clothe myself in other +attire, and go with thee into the battle. I have courage and strength +enough to bear thy lance, to lead thy spare-horse, to be, above all, +thy shield-bearer--thy shield. Nothing shall touch thee but through +me--through this bosom, Rinaldo. Perhaps mischance may spare thee for +its sake. Not a word? not a little word? Do I dare to boast of what thou +hadst once a kind word for, though now thou wilt neither look upon me nor +speak to me?" + +She could say no more: her words were suffocated by a torrent of tears. +But she sought to take his hand, to arrest him by his mantle--in vain. +He could scarcely, it is true, restrain his tears: but he did. He looked +sorrowful, but composed; and at length he said: "Armida, would I could do +as thou wishest; but I cannot. I would relieve thee instantly of all this +tumult of emotion. No hate is there in him that must quit thee; no such +disdain as thou fanciest; nothing but the melancholy and impetuous sense +of his duty. Thou hast erred, it is true--erred both in love and hate; +but have I not erred with thee? and can I find excuse which is not found +for thyself? Dear and honoured ever wilt thou be with Rinaldo, whether in +joy or sorrow. Count me, if it please thee, thy champion still, as far as +my country and my faith permit; but here, in this spot, must be buried +all else--buried, not for my sake only, but for that of thy beauty, thy +worthiness, thy royal blood. Consent to disparage thyself no longer. +Peace be with thee. I go where I have no permission to take thee with me. +Be happy; be wise." While Rinaldo was speaking in this manner, Armida +changed colour; her bosom heaved; her eyes took a new kind of fire; scorn +rose upon her lip. When he finished, she looked at him with a bitterness +that rejected every word he had said; and then she exclaimed: "Thou hast +no such blood in thine own veins as thou canst fear to degrade. Thy +boasted descent is a fiction: base, and brutish, and insensible was thy +stock. What being of gentle blood could quit a love like mine without +even a tear--a sigh? What but the mockery of a man could call me his, and +yet leave me? vouchsafe me his pardon, as if I had offended him? excuse +my guilt and my tenderness; he, the sage of virtue, and me, the wretch! O +God! and these are the men that take upon them to slaughter the innocent, +and dictate faiths to the world! Go, hard heart, with such peace as thou +leavest in this bosom. Begone; take thine injustice from my sight for +ever. My spirit will follow thee, not as a help, but as a retribution. +I shall die first, and thou wilt die speedily: thou wilt perish in the +battle. Thou wilt lie expiring among the dead and bleeding, and wilt call +on Armida in thy last moments, and I shall hear it--yes, I shall hear it; +I shall look for that." + +Down fell Armida on the ground, senseless; and Rinaldo stood over her, +weeping at last. Open thine eyes, poor wretch, and see him. Alas, the +heavens deny thee the consolation! What will he do? Will he leave thee +lying there betwixt dead and alive? Or will he go--pitying thee, but +still going? He goes; he is gone; he is in the bark, and the wind is in +the sail; and he looks back--ever back; but still goes: the shore begins +to be out of sight. + +Armida woke, and was alone. She raved again, but it was for vengeance. +In a few days she was with the Egyptian army, a queen at the head of her +vassals, going against the Christians at Jerusalem. + +Part the Fifth. + +THE DISENCHANTMENT OF THE FOREST, AND THE TAKING OF JERUSALEM, &c. + +Rinaldo arrived without loss of time in the Christian camp before +Jerusalem. Every body rejoiced to see the right hand of the army. Godfrey +gladly pardoned him; the hermit Peter blessed him; he himself retired to +beg the forgiveness and favour of Heaven; and then he went straight to +the Enchanted Forest. + +It was a beautiful morning, and the forest, instead of presenting its +usual terrors, appeared to him singularly tranquil and pleasing. On +entering it he heard, not dreadful thunder-claps, but harmonies made +up of all sorts of gentle and lovely sounds--brooks, whispering winds, +nightingales, organs, harps, human voices. He went slowly and cautiously, +and soon came to a beautiful river which encircled the heart of the wood. +A bridge of gold carried him over. He had no sooner crossed it, than the +river higher up suddenly swelled and rushed like a torrent, sweeping +the bridge away. The harmony meanwhile had become silent. Admiring, but +nothing daunted, the hero went on. + +Every thing as he advanced appeared to start into fresh beauty. His steps +produced lilies and roses; here leaped up a fountain, and there came +falling a cascade; the wood itself seemed to grow young as with sudden +spring; and he again heard the music and the human voices, though he +could see no one. + +Passing through the trees, he came into a glade in the heart of the wood, +in the centre of which he beheld a myrtle-tree, the largest and most +beautiful ever seen: it was taller than a cypress or palm, and seemed the +queen of the forest. Looking around him, he observed to his astonishment +an oak suddenly cleave itself open, and out of it there came a nymph. A +hundred other trees did the same, giving birth to as many nymphs. They +were all habited as we see them in theatres; only, instead of bows and +arrows, each held a lute or guitar. Coming towards the hero with joyful +eyes, they formed a circle about him, and danced; and in their dancing +they sang, and bade him welcome to the haunt of their mistress, their +loving mistress, of whom he was the only hope and joy. Looking as they +spoke towards the myrtle, Rinaldo looked also, and beheld, issuing out of +it--Armida. + +Armida came sweetly towards him, with a countenance at once grieving and +rejoicing, but expressing above all infinite affection. "And do I indeed +see thee again?" she said; "and wilt thou not fly me a second time? am +I visited to be consoled, or to be treated again as an enemy? is poor +Armida so formidable, that thou must needs close up thine helmet when +thou beholdest her? Thou mightest surely have vouchsafed her once more a +sight of thine eyes. Let us be friends, at least, if we may be nothing +more. Wilt thou not take her hand?" + +Rinaldo's answer was, to turn away as from a cheat, to look towards the +myrtle-tree, to draw his sword, and proceed with manifest intentions of +assailing it. She ran before him shrieking, and hugged it round. "Nay, +thou wilt not," she said, "thou wilt not hurt my tree--not cut and slay +what is bound up with the life of Armida? Thy sword must pass first +through her bosom." + +Armida writhed and wailed; Rinaldo nevertheless raised his sword, and it +was coming against the tree, when her shape, like a thing in a dream, +was metamorphosed as quick as lightning. It became a giant, a Briareus, +wielding a hundred swords, and speaking in a voice of thunder. Every +one of the nymphs at the same instant became a Cyclops; tempest and +earthquake ensued, and the air was full of ghastly spectres. + +Rinaldo again raised his arm with a more vehement will; he struck, and +at the same instant every horror disappeared. The sky was cloudless; the +forest was neither terrible nor beautiful, but heavy and sombre as of +old--a natural gloomy wood, but no prodigy. + +Rinaldo returned to the camp, his aspect that of a conqueror; the silver +wings of his crest, the white eagle, glittering in the sun. The hermit +Peter came forward to greet him; a shout was sent up by the whole camp; +Godfrey gave him high reception; nobody envied him. Workmen, no longer +trembling, were sent to the forest to cut wood for the machines of war; +and the tower was rebuilt, together with battering-rams and balistas, and +catapults, most of them an addition to what they had before. The tower +also was now clothed with bulls-hides, as a security against being set on +fire; and a bridge was added to the tower, from which the besiegers could +at once step on the city-walls. + +With these long-desired invigorations of his strength, the commander of +the army lost no time in making a general assault on Jerusalem; for +a dove, supernaturally pursued by a falcon, had brought him letters +intended for the besieged, informing them, that if they could only hold +out four days longer, their Egyptian allies would be at hand. The Pagans +beheld with dismay the resuscitated tower, and all the new engines coming +against them. They fought valiantly; but Rinaldo and Godfrey prevailed. +The former was the first to scale the walls, the latter to plant his +standard from the bridge. The city was entered on all sides, and the +enemy driven, first into Solomon's Temple, and then into the Citadel, or +Tower of David. Before the assault, Godfrey had been vouchsafed a sight +of armies of angels in the air, accompanied by the souls of those who had +fallen before Jerusalem; the latter still fighting, the former rejoicing; +so that there was no longer doubt of triumph; only it still pleased +Heaven that human virtue should be tried. + +And now, after farther exploits on both sides, the last day of the war, +and the last hope of the Infidels, arrived at the same time; for the +Egyptian army came up to give battle with the Christians, and to restore +Jerusalem, if possible, to its late owners, now cramped up in one corner +of it--the citadel. The besiegers in their narrow hold raised a shout of +joy at the sight; and Godfrey, leaving them to be detained in it by an +experienced captain, went forth to meet his new opponents. Crowns of +Africa and of Persia were there, and the king of the Indies; and in the +midst of all, in a chariot surrounded by her knights and suitors, was +Armida. + +The battle joined, and great was the bravery and the slaughter on both +sides. It seemed at first all glitter and gaiety--its streamers flying, +its arms flashing, drums and trumpets rejoicing, and horses rushing with +their horsemen as to the tournament. Horror looked beautiful in the +spectacle. Out of the midst of the dread itself there issued a delight. +But soon it was a bloody, and a turbulent, and a raging, and a groaning +thing:--pennons down, horses and men rolling over, foes heaped upon one +another, bright armour exchanged for blood and dirt, flesh trampled, and +spirit fatigued. Brave were the Pagans; but how could they stand against +Heaven? Godfrey ordered every thing calmly, like a divine mind; Rinaldo +swept down the fiercest multitudes, like an arm of God. The besieged in +the citadel broke forth, only to let the conquerors in. Jerusalem was won +before the battle was over. King after king fell, and yet the vanquished +did not fly. Rinaldo went every where to hasten the rout; and still had +to fight and slay on. Armida beheld him coming where she sat in the midst +of her knights; he saw her, and blushed a little: she turned as cold as +ice, then as hot as fire. Her anger was doubled by the slaughter of her +friends; and with her woman's hand she sent an arrow out of her bow, +hoping, and yet even then hoping not, to slay or to hurt him. The arrow +fell on him like a toy; and he turned aside, as she thought, in disdain. +Yet he disdained not to smite down her champions. Hope of every kind +deserted her. Resolving to die by herself in some lonely spot, she got +down from her chariot to horse, and fled out of the field. Rinaldo saw +the flight; and though one of the knights that remained to her struck him +such a blow as made him reel in his saddle, he despatched the man with +another like a thunderbolt, and then galloped after the fugitive. + +Armida was in the act of putting a shaft to her bosom, in order to die +upon it, when her arm was arrested by a mighty grasp; and turning round, +she beheld with a shriek the beloved face of him who had caused the ruin +of her and hers. She closed her disdainful eyes and fainted away. Rinaldo +supported her; he loosened her girdle; he bathed her bosom and her +eyelids with his tears. Coming at length to herself, still she would +not look at him. She would fain not have been supported by him. She +endeavoured with her weak fingers to undo the strong ones that clasped +her; she wept bitterly, and at length spoke, but still without meeting +his eyes. + +"And may I not," she said, "even die? must I be followed and tormented +even in my last moments? What mockery of a wish to save me is this! I +will not be watched; I believe not a syllable of such pity; and I will +not be made a sight of, and a by-word. I ask my life of thee no longer; +I want nothing but death; and death itself I would not receive at such +hands; they would render even that felicity hateful. Leave me. I could +not be hindered long from putting an end to my miseries, whatever +barbarous restraint might be put upon me. There are a thousand ways of +dying; and I will be neither hindered, nor deceived, nor flattered--oh, +never more!" + +Weeping she spoke--weeping always, and sobbing, and full of wilful words. +But yet she felt all the time the arm that was round her. + +"Armida," said Rinaldo, in a voice full of tenderness, "be calm, and know +me for what I am--no enemy, no conqueror, nothing that intends thee shame +or dishonour; but thy champion, thy restorer--he that will preserve thy +kingdom for thee, and seat thee in house and home. Look at me--look in +these eyes, and see if they speak false. And oh, would to Heaven thou +wouldst indeed be as I am in faith. There isn't a queen in all the East +should equal thee in glory." + +His tears fell on her eyelids as he spoke--scalding tears; and she looked +at him, and her heart re-opened to its lord, all love and worship; and +Armida said, "Behold thy handmaid; dispose of her even as thou wilt." + +And that same day Godfrey of Boulogne was lord of Jerusalem, and paid his +vows on the sepulchre of his Master. + + +[Footnote 1: + + "Chiama gli abitator' de l'ombre eterne + Il rauco suon de la tartarea tromba. + Treman le spaziose atre caverne, + E l'aer cieco a quel romor rimbomba. + Nè sì stridendo mai da le superne + Regioni del cielo il folgor piomba: + Nè sì scossa già mai trema la terra, + Quando i vapori in sen gravida serra." + Canto iv. st. 3. + + The trump of Tartarus, with iron roar, + Called to the dwellers the black regions under: + Hell through its caverns trembled to the core, + And the blind air rebellowed to the thunder: + Never yet fiery bolt more fiercely tore + The crashing firmament, like rocks, asunder; + Nor with so huge a shudder earth's foundations + Shook to their mighty heart, lifting the nations. + +The tone of this stanza (suggested otherwise by Vida) was caught from a +fine one in Politian, the passage in which about the Nile I ought to have +called to mind at page 168. + + "Con tal romor, qualor l'aer discorda, + Di Giove il foco d'alta nube piomba: + Con tal tumulto, onde la gente assorda, + Da l'alte cataratte il Nil rimbomba: + Con tal orror del Latin sangue ingorda + Sonò Megera la tartarea tromba." + +_Fragment on the Jousting of Giuliano de' Medici_. + + Such is the noise, when through his cloudy floor + The bolt of Jove falls on the pale world under; + So shakes the land, where Nile with deafening roar + Plunges his clattering cataracts in thunder; + Horribly so, through Latium's realm of yore, + The trump of Tartarus blew ghastly wonder.] + +[Footnote 2: + + "La bella Armida, di sua forma altiera, + E de' doni del sesso e de l'etate, + L' impresa prende: e in su la prima sera + Parte, e tiene sol vie chiuse e celate: + E 'n treccia e 'n gonna femminile spera + Vincer popoli invitti e schiere armate." + Canto iv. st. 27.] + +[Footnote 3: + + "That sweet grove + Of Daphne by Orontes." +_Parad. Lost_, b. iv. + +It was famous for the most luxurious worship of antiquity. Vide Gibbon, +vol. iii. p. 198.] + +[Footnote 4: I omit a point about "fires" of love, and "ices" of the +heart; and I will here observe, once for all, that I omit many such in +these versions of Tasso, for the reason given in the Preface.] + +[Footnote 5: In the original, an impetuous gust of wind carries away the +sword of Tancred; a circumstance which I mention because Collins admired +it (see his Ode on the Superstitions of the Highlands). I confess I +cannot do so. It seems to me quite superfluous; and when the reader +finds the sword conveniently lying for the hero outside the wood, as he +returns, the effect is childish and pantomimic. If the magician wished +him not to fight any more, why should he give him the sword back? And if +it was meant as a present to him from Clorinda, what gave her the +power to make the present? Tasso retained both the particulars in the +_Gerusalemme Conquistata_.] + +[Footnote 6: + + "Giace l'alta Cartago: appena i segni + De l'alte sue ruine il lido serba. + + Muoiono le città: muoiono i regni: + Copre i fasti e le pompe arena ed erba: + E l'uom d'esser mortal par che si sdegni. + Oh nostra mente cupida e superba!" + + Canto xv. st. 20. + + Great Carthage is laid low. Scarcely can eye + Trace where she stood with all her mighty crowd + For cities die; kingdoms and nations die; + A little sand and grass is all their shroud; + Yet mortal man disdains mortality! + O mind of ours, inordinate and proud! + +Very fine is this stanza of Tasso; and yet, like some of the finest +writing of Gray, it is scarcely more than a cento. The commentators call +it a "beautiful imitation" of a passage in Sannazzaro; and it is; but the +passage in Sannazzaro is also beautiful. It contains not only the "Giace +Cartago," and the "appena i segni," &c., but the contrast of the pride +with the mortality of man, and, above all, the "dying" of the cities, +which is the finest thing in the stanza of its imitator. + + "Qua devictae Carthaginis arces + Procubuere, jacentque infausto in littore turres + Eversae; quantum ille metus, quantum illa laborum + Urbs dedit insultans Latio et Laurentibus arvis! + Nunc passim vix reliquias, vix nomina servans, + Obruitur propriis non agnoscenda ruinis. + Et querimur genus infelix, humana labare + Membra aevo, cum regna palam moriantur et urbes." + + _De Partu Virginis_, lib. ii. + +The commentators trace the conclusion of this passage to Dante, where he +says that it is no wonder families perish, when cities themselves "have +their terminations" (termin hanuo): but though there is a like germ of +thought in Dante, the mournful flower of it, the word "death," is not +there. It was evidently suggested by a passage (also pointed out by the +commentators) in the consolatory letter of Sulpicius to Cicero, on the +death of his daughter Tullia;--"Heu nos homunculi indignamur, si quis +nostrum interiit, aut occisus est, quorum vita brevior esse debet, cum +uno loco tot oppidorum cadavera projecta jaceant." (Alas! we poor human +creatures are indignant if any one of us dies or is slain, frail as are +the materials of which we are constituted; and yet we can see, lying +together in one place, the dead bodies of I know not how many cities!) +The music of Tasso's line was indebted to one in Petrarch's _Trionfo del +Tempo, v. 112 + + _" Passan le signorie, passano i regni;" + +and the fine concluding verse, "Oh nostra mente," to another perhaps +in his _Trionfo della Divinità, v. 61_, not without a recollection of +Lucretius, lib. ii. v. 14: + + "O miseras hominum menteis! o pectora caeca!"] + +[Footnote 7: A fountain which caused laughter that killed people is in +Pomponius Mela's account of the Fortunate Islands; and was the origin of +that of Boiardo; as I ought to have noticed in the place.] + +[Footnote 8: All this description of the females bathing is in the +highest taste of the voluptuous; particularly the latter part: + + "Qual mattutina stella esce de l'onde + Rugiadosa e stillante: o come fuore + Spuntò nascendo già da le feconde + Spume de l'ocean la Dea d'Amore: + Tale apparve costei: tal le sue bionde + Chiome stillavan cristallino umore. + Poi girò gli occhi, e pur allor s'infinse + Que' duo vedere, e in se tutta si strinse: + + E 'l crin the 'n cima al capo avea raccolto + In un sol nodo, immantinente sciolse; + Che lunghissimo in giù cadendo, e folto, + D'un aureo manto i molli avori involse. + Oh che vago spettacolo è lor tolto! + Ma mon men vago fu chi loro il tolse. + Così da l'acque e da capelli ascosa, + A lor si volse, lieta e vergognosa. + + Rideva insieme, e insieme ella arrossia; + Ed era nel rossor più bello il riso, + E nel riso il rossor, the le copria + Insino al mento il delicato viso." + Canto xv. st. 60. + +Spenser, among the other obligations which it delighted him to owe to +this part of Tasso's poem, has translated these last twelve lines: + + "With that the other likewise up arose, + And her fair locks, which formerly were bound + Up in one knot, she low adown did loose, + Which, flowing long and thick, her cloth'd around, + And th' ivory in golden mantle gown'd: + So that fair spectacle from him was reft; + Yet that which reft it, no less fair was found. + So hid in locks and waves from looker's theft, + Nought but her lovely face she for his looking left. + + Withal she laughèd, and she blush'd withal; + That blushing to her laughter gave more grace, + And laughter to her blushing." + Fairy Queen, book ii. canto 12, St. 67. + +Tasso's translator, Fairfax, worthy both of his original and of Spenser, +has had the latter before him in his version of the passage, not without +a charming addition of his own at the close of the first stanza: + + "And her fair locks, that in a knot were tied + High on her crown, she 'gan at large unfold; + Which falling long and thick, and spreading wide, + The ivory soft and white mantled in gold: + Thus her fair skin the dame would clothe and hide; + And that which hid it, no less fair was hold. + Thus clad in waves and locks, her eyes divine + From them ashamed would she turn and twine. + + Withal she smilèd, and she blush'd withal; + Her blush her smiling, smiles her blushing graced."] + +[Footnote 9: + + "E quel che 'l bello e 'l caro accresce a l'opre, + L'arte, the tutto fa, nulla si scopre. + + Stimi (si misto il culto è col negletto) + Sol naturali e gli ornamenti e i siti. + Di natura arte par, the per diletto + L'imitatrice sua scherzando imiti." + +The idea of Nature imitating Art, and playfully imitating her, is in +Ovid; but that of a mixture of cultivation and wildness is, as far as I +am aware, Tasso's own. It gives him the honour of having been the first +to suggest the picturesque principle of modern gardening; as I ought +to have remembered, when assigning it to Spenser in a late publication +(_Imagination and Fancy, p. 109_). I should have noticed also, in the +same work, the obligations of Spenser to the Italian poet for the passage +before quoted about the nymph in the water.] + +[Footnote 10: + + "Par che la dura quercia e 'l casto alloro, + E tutta la frondosa ampia famiglia, + Par the la terra e l'acqua e formi e spiri + Dolcissimi d'amor sensi e sospiri." + St. 16. + +Fairfax in this passage is very graceful and happy (in the first part of +his stanza he is speaking of a bird that sings with a human voice--which +I have omitted): + + "She ceased: and as approving all she spoke, + The choir of birds their heavenly tunes renew; + The turtles sigh'd, and sighs with kisses broke; + The fowls to shades unseen by pairs withdrew; + It seem'd the laurel chaste and stubborn oak, + And all the gentle trees on earth that grew, + It seem'd the land, the sea, and heaven above, + All breath'd out fancy sweet, and sigh'd out love."] + +[Footnote 11: + + "Ecco tra fronde e fronde il guardo avante + Penetra, e vede, o pargli di vedere, + Vede per certo," &c. + St. 17.] + +[Footnote 12: The line about the peacock, + + "Spiega la pompa de l'occhiute piume," + Opens wide the pomp of his eyed plumes, + +was such a favourite with Tasso, that he has repeated it from the +_Aminta_, and (I think) in some other place, but I cannot call it to +mind.] + +[Footnote 13: + + "Teneri sdegni, e placide e tranquille + Repulse, e cari vezzi, e liete paci, + Sorrisi, e parolette, e dolci stille + Di pianto, e sospir' tronchi, e molli baci." St. 5 + +This is the cestus in Homer, which Venus lends to Juno for the purpose of +enchanting Jupiter + +Greek: N kai apo staethesphin elusato keston himanta + Poikilon' entha de ohi thelktaeria panta tetukto' + Enth' heni men philotaes, en d' himeras, en d' oaristus, + Parphasis, hae t' eklepse noon puka per phroneonton.] + + Iliad, lib. xiv. 214. + + She said; and from her balmy bosom loosed + The girdle that contained all temptinguess-- + Love, and desire, and sweet and secret talk + Lavish, which robs the wisest of their wits.] + + + +APPENDIX + + * * * * * + +No. I. + +THE DEATH OF AGRICAN. + +BOIARDO. + + Orlando ed Agricane un' altra fiata + Ripreso insieme avean crudel battaglia, + La più terribil mai non fu mirata, + L'arme l'un l'altro a pezzo a pezzo taglia. + Vede Agrican sua gente sbarattata, + Nè le può dar aiuto, che le vaglia. + Però che Orlando tanto stretto il tiene, + Che star con seco a fronte gli conviene. + + Nel suo segreto fè questo pensiero, + Trar fuor di schiera quel Conte gagliardo; + E poi Che ucciso l'abbia in su 'l sentiero, + Tornare a la battaglia senza tardo; + Però che a lui par facile e leggiero + Cacciar soletto quel popol codardo; + Chè tutti insieme, e 'l suo Re Galafrone, + Non li stimava quanto un vil bottone. + + Con tal proposto si pone a fuggire, + Forte correndo sopra la pianura; + Il Conte nulla pensa a quel fallire, + Anzi crede che 'l faccia per paura. + Senz' altro dubbio se 'l pone a seguire, + E già son giunti ad una selva scura + Appunto in mezzo a quella selva piana, + Era un bel prato intorno a una fontana. + + Fermossi ivi Agricane a quella fonte, + E smontò de l'arcion per riposare, + Ma non si tolse l'elmo da la fronte, + Nè piastra, o scudo si volse levare; + E poco dimorò, che giunse 'l Conte, + E come il vide a la fonte aspettare, + Dissegli: Cavalier, tu sei fuggito, + E sì forte mostravi e tanto ardito! + + Come tanta vergogna puoi soffrire, + A dar le spalle ad un sol cavaliero! + Forse credesti la morte fuggire, + Or vedi che fallito hai il pensiero; + Chi morir può onorato dee morire; + Che spesse volte avviene e di leggiero, + Che, per durar in questa vita trista, + Morte e vergogna ad un tratto s'acquista. + + Agrican prima rimontò in arcione, + Poi con voce soave rispondia + Tu sei per certo il più franco Barone, + Ch'io mai trovassi ne la vita mia, + E però del tuo scampo fia cagione + La tua prodezza e quella cortesia, + Che oggi sì grande al campo usato m'hai, + Quando soccorso a mia gente donai. + + Però ti voglio la vita lasciare, + Ma non tornasti più per darmi inciampo. + Questo la fuga mi fè simulare, + Nè v'ebbi altro partito a darti scampo. + Se pur ti piace meco battagliare, + Morto ne rimarrai su questo campo; + Ma siami testimonio il cielo e 'l sole, + Che darti morte mi dispiace e duole. + + Il Conte gli rispose molto umano, + Perchè avea preso già di lui pietate; + Quanto sei, disse, più franco e soprano, + Più di te mi rincresce in veritate, + Che sarai morto, e non sei Cristiano, + Ed anderai tra l'anime dannate; + Ma se vuoi il corpo e l'anima salvare, + Piglia battesmo, e lascierotti andare. + + Disse Agricane, e riguardollo in viso: + Se tu sei Cristiano, Orlando sei. + Chi mi facesse Re del Paradiso, + Con tal ventura non la cangierei; + Ma sin or ti ricordo e dotti avviso, + Che non mi parli de' fatti de' Dei, + Perchè potresti predicar invano; + Difenda it suo ciascun co 'l brando in mano. + + Nè più parole; ma trasse Tranchera, + E verso Orlando con ardir s'affronta. + Or si comincia la battaglia fiera, + Con aspri colpi, di taglio e di ponta; + Ciascun è di prodezza una lumiera, + E sterno insieme, com'il libro conta, + Da mezzo giorno insino a notte scura, + Sempre più franchi a la battaglia dura. + + Ma poi che 'l sol avea passato il monte + E cominciossi a far il ciel stellato, + Prima verso del Re parlava it Conte; + Che farem, disse, the 'l giorno n'è andato? + Disse Agricane, con parole pronte: + Ambi ci poseremo in questo prato, + E domattina, come il giorno appare, + Ritorneremo insieme a battagliare. + + Così d'accordo il partito si prese; + Lega il destrier ciascun come gli piace, + Poi sopra a l'erba verde si distese: + Come fosse tra loro antica pace, + L'uno a l'altro vicino era e palese. + Orlando presso al fonte isteso giace, + Ed Agricane al bosco più vicino + Stassi colcato, a l'ombra d'un gran pino. + + E ragionando insieme tutta via + Di cose degne e condecenti a loro, + Guardava il Conte il ciel, poscia dicia: + Questo the ora veggiamo, è un bel lavoro, + Che fece la divina Monarchia, + La luna d'argento e le stelle d'oro, + E la luce del giorno e 'l sol lucente, + Dio tutto ha fatto per l'umana gente. + + Disse Agricane: Io comprendo per certo, + Che to vuoi de la fede ragionare; + Io di nulla scienza son esperto, + Nè mai sendo fanciul, volsi imparare; + E ruppi il capo al maestro mio per merto; + Poi non si potè un altro ritrovare, + Che mi mostrasse libro, nè scrittura, + Tanto ciascun avea di me paura. + + E così spesi la mia fanciullezza, + In caccie, in giochi d'arme e in cavalcare; + Nè mi par che convenga a gentilezza, + Star tutto il giorno ne' libri a pensare; + Ma la forza del corpo e la destrezza + Conviensi al cavaliero esercitare; + Dottrina al prete, ed al dottor sta bene; + Io tanto saccio quanto mi conviene. + + Rispose Orlando: Io tiro teco a un seguo, + Che l'armi son del'uomo il primo onore; + Ma non già che 'l saper faccia un men degno, + Anzi l'adorna com' un prato il fiore; + Ed è simile a un bove, a un sasso, a un legno, + Che non pensa a l'eterno Creatore; + Nè ben si puo pensar, senza dottrina, + La somma maestade, alta e divina. + + Disse Agricane: Egli è gran scortesia + A voler contrastar con avvantaggio. + Io t' ho scoperto la natura mia, + E to conosco, the sei dotto e saggio; + Se più parlassi, io non risponderia; + Piacendoti dormir, dormiti ad aggio; + E se meco parlar hai pur diletto, + D'arme o d' amor a ragionar t' aspetto. + + Ora ti prego, che a quel ch' io domando + Risponda il vero, a fè d' uomo pregiato; + Se in se' veramente quell' Orlando, + Che vien tanto nel mondo nominato; + E perchè qui sei giunto, e come, e quando; + E se mai fosti ancora innamorato; + Perche ogni cavalier, ch'è senza amore, + Se in vista è vivo, vivo senza core. + + Rispose il Conte: Quell' Orlando sono, + Che uccise Almonte e'l suo fratel Troiano; + Amor m' ha posto tutto in abbandono, + E venir fammi in questo luogo strano. + E perchè teco piu largo ragiono, + Voglio the sappi che 'l mio cor è in mano + De la figliuola del Re Galafrone, + Che ad Albracca dimora nel girone. + + Tu fai co 'l padre guerra a gran furore, + Per prender suo paese e sua castella; + Ed io quà son condotto per amore, + E per piacer a quella damisella; + Molte fiate son stato per onore + E per la fede mia sopra la sella; + Or sol per acquistar la bella dama + Faccio battaglia, e d'altro non ho brama. + + Quando Agrican ha nel parlare accolto, + Che questo è Orlando, ed Angelica amava, + Fuor di misura si turbò nel volto, + Ma per la notte non lo dimostrava; + Piangeva sospirando come un stolto, + L'anima e 'l petto e 'l spirto gli avvampava, + E tanto gelosia gli batte il core, + Che non è vivo, e di doglia non more. + + Poi disse a Orlando: Tu debbi pensare, + Che come il giorno sarà dimostrato, + Debbiamo insieme la battaglia fare, + E l'uno o l'altro rimarrà su 'l prato. + Or d'una cosa ti voglio pregare, + Che, prima che vegnamo e cotal piato, + Quella donzella, che 'l tuo cor disia, + Tu l'abbandoni e lascila per mia. + + Io non potria patire, essendo vivo, + Che altri con meco amasse il viso adorno: + O l'uno o l'altro al tutto sarà privo + Del spirto e de la dama al novo giorno; + Altri mai non saprà, che questo rivo + E questo bosco, ch'è quivi d'intorno, + Che l'abbi rifiutata in cotal loco + E in cotal tempo, che sarà sì poco. + + Diceva Orlando al Re: Le mie promesse + Tutte ho servate, quante mai ne fei; + Ma se quel che or mi chiedi io promettesse + E s'io il giurassi, io non l'attenderei; + Così poria spiccar mie membra istesse + E levarmi di fronte gli occhi miei, + E viver senza spirto e senza core, + Come lasciar d' Angelica l'amore. + + Il Re Agrican, che ardeva oltre misura, + Non puote tal risposta comportare; + Benchè sia 'l mezzo de la notte scura, + Prese Bajardo e su v' ebbe a montare, + Ed orgoglioso, con vista sicura, + Isgrida al Conte, ed ebbel a sfidare, + Dicendo: Cavalier, la dama gaglia + Lasciar convienti, o far meco battaglia. + + Era già il Conte in su l' arcion salito, + Perchè, come si mosse il Re possente, + Temendo dal Pagan esser tradito, + Saltò sopra 'l destrier subitamente; + Onde rispose con animo ardito: + Lasciar colei non posso per niente; + E s'io potess, ancora io non vorria; + Avertela convien per altra via. + + Come in mar la tempesta a gran fortuna, + Cominciarno l' assalto i cavalieri + Nel verde prato, per la notte bruna, + Con sproni urtarno addosso i buon destrieri; + E si scorgeano al lume de la luna, + Dandosi colpi dispietati e fieri, + Ch' era ciascun difor forte ed ardito + Ma più non dico; il Canto è quì finito. + +ARIOSTO. + + Seguon gli Scotti ove la guida loro + Per l'alta selva alto disdegno mena, + Poi che lasciato ha l'uno e l'altro Moro, + L'un morto in tutto, e l'altro vivo a pena. + Giacque gran pezzo il giovine Medoro, + Spicciando il sangue da sì larga vena, + Che di sua vita al fin saria venuto, + Se non sopravenia chi gli diè aiuto. + + Gli sopravenne a caso una donzella, + Avvolta in pastorale et umil veste, + Ma di real presenzia, e in viso bella, + D'alte maniere e accortamente oneste. + Tanto è ch'io non ne dissi più novella, + Ch'a pena riconoscer la dovreste; + Questa, se non sapete, Angelica era, + Del gran Can del Catai la figlia altiera. + + Poi che 'l suo annello Angelica riebbe, + Di the Brunel l'avea tenuta priva, + In tanto fasto, in tanto orgoglio crebbe, + Ch'esser parea di tutto 'l mondo schiva: + Se ne va sola, e non si degnerebbe + Compagno aver qual più famoso viva; + Si sdegna a rimembrar the già suo amante + Abbia Orlando nomato, o Sacripante. + + E, sopra ogn'altro error, via più pentita + Era del ben che già a Rinaldo volse. + Troppo parendole essersi avvilita, + Ch'a riguardar sì basso gli occhi volse. + Tant'arroganzia avendo Amor sentita, + Più lungamente comportar non volse. + Dove giacea Medor, si pose al varco, + E l'aspettò, posto lo strale all'arco. + + Quando Angelica vide il giovinetto + Languir ferito, assai vicino a morte, + Che del suo Re che giacea senza tetto, + Più che del proprio mal, si dolea forte, + Insolita pietade in mezo al petto + Si sentì entrar per disusate porte, + Che le fe' il duro cor tenero e molle; + E più quando il suo caso egli narrolle. + + E rivocando alla memoria l'arte + Ch'in India imparò già chirurgia, + (Chè par che questo studio in quella parte + Nobile e degno e di gran laude sia; + E, senza molto rivoltar di carte, + Che 'l patre a i figli ereditario il dia) + Si dispose operar con succo d'erbe, + Ch'a più matura vita lo riserbe. + + E ricordossi che passando avea + Veduta un'erba in una piaggia amena; + Fosse dittamo, o fosse panacea, + O non so qual di tal effetto piena, + Che stagna il sangue, e de la piaga rea + Leva ogni spasmo e perigliosa pena, + La trovò non lontana, e, quella côlta, + Dove lasciato avea Medor, diè volta. + + Nel ritornar s'incontra in un pastore, + Ch'a cavallo pel bosco ne veniva + Cercando una iuvenca, che gli fuore + Duo dì di mandra e senza guardia giva. + Seco lo trasse ove perdea il vigore + Medor col sangue che del petto usciva; + E già n'avea di tanto il terren tinto, + Ch'era omai presso a rimanere estinto. + + Del palafreno Angelica giù scese, + E scendere il pastor seco fece anche. + Pestò con sassi l'erba, indi la presse, + E succo ne cavò fra le man bianche: + Ne la piaga n'infuse, e ne distese + E pel petto e pel ventre e fin a l'anche; + E fu di tal virtù questo liquore, + Che stagnò il sangue e gli tornò il vigore: + + E gli diè forza, che poté salire + Sopra il cavallo the 'l pastor condusse. + Non però volse indi Medor partire + Prima ch'in terra il suo signor non fosse, + E Cloridan col Re fe' sepelire; + E poi dove a lei piacque si ridusse; + Et ella per pietà ne l'umil case + Del cortese pastor seco rimase. + + Nè, fin che nol tornasse in sanitade, + Volea partir: così di lui fe' stima: + Tanto sè intenerì de la pietade + Che n'ebbe, come in terra il vide prima. + Poi, vistone i costumi e la beltade, + Roder si sentì il cor d'ascosa lima; + Roder si sentì il core, e a poco a poco + Tutto infiammato d'amoroso fuoco. + + Stava il pastore in assai buona e bella + Stanza, nel bosco infra duo monti piatta, + Con la moglie e co i figli; et avea quella + Tutta di nuovo e poco inanzi fatta. + Quivi a Medoro fu per la donzella + La piaga in breve a sanità ritratta; + Ma in minor tempo si sentì maggiore + Piaga di questa avere ella nel core. + + Assai più larga piaga e più profonda + Nel cor senti da non veduto strale, + Che da' begli occhi e da la testa bionda + Di Medoro avventè l'arcier c'ha l'ale. + Arder si sente, e sempre il fuoco abonda, + E più cura l'altrui che 'l proprio male. + Di sè non cura; e non è ad altro intenta, + Ch'a risanar chi lei fere e tormenta. + + La sua piaga più s'apre e più incrudisce, + Quanto piu l' altra si restringe e salda. + Il giovine si sana: ella languisce + Di nuova febbre, or agghiacciata or calda. + Di giorno in giorno in lui beltà fiorisce: + La mísera si strugge, come falda + Strugger di nieve intempestiva suole, + Ch'in loco aprico abbia scoperta il sole. + + Se di disio non vuol morir, bisogna + Che senza indugio ella sè stessa aïti: + E ben le par che, di quel ch' essa agogna, + Non sia tempo aspettar ch' altri la 'nviti. + Dunque, rotto ogni freno di vergogna, + La lingua ebbe non men che gli occhi arditi; + E di quel colpo domandò mercede, + Che, forse non sapendo, esso le diede. + + O Conte Orlando, o Re di Circassia, + Vestra inclita virtù, dite, che giova? + Vostro alto onor, dite, in che prezzo sia? + O che merce vostro servir ritruova? + Mostratemi una sola cortesia, + Che mai costei v'usasse, o vecchia o nuova, + Per ricompensa e guidardone e merto + Di quanto avete già per lei sofferto. + + Oh, se potessi ritornar mai vivo, + Quanto ti parria duro, o Re Agricane! + Che già mostrò costei sì averti a schivo + Con repulse crudeli et inumane. + O Ferraù, o mille altri ch'io non scrivo, + Ch'avete fatto mille pruove vane + Per questa ingrata, quanto aspro vi fora + S'a costu' in braccio voi la vedesse ora! + + Angelica a Medor la prima rôsa + Coglier lasciò, non ancor tocca inante; + Nè persona fu mai si avventurosa, + Ch'in quel giardin potesse por le piante. + Per adombrar, per onestar la cosa, + Si celebrò con cerimonie sante + Il matrimonio, ch'auspice ebbe Amore, + E pronuba la moglie del pastore. + + Fêrsi le nozze sotto all'umil tetto + Le più solenni che vi potean farsi; + E più d'un mese poi stero a diletto + I duo tranquilli amanti a ricrearsi. + Più lunge non vedea del giovinetto + La donna, nè di lui potea saziarsi: + Nè, per mai sempre pendegli dal cello, + Il suo disir sentìa di lui satollo. + + Se stava all'ombra, o se del tetto usciva, + Avea dì e notte il bel giovine a lato: + Matino e sera or questa or quella riva + Cercando andava, o qualche verde prato: + Nel mezo giorno un antro li copriva, + Forse non men di quel commodo e grato + Ch'ebber, fuggendo l'acque, Enea e Dido, + De' lor secreti testimonio fido. + + Fra piacer tanti, ovunque un arbor dritto + Vedesse ombrare o fonte o rivo puro, + V'avea spillo o coltel subito fitto; + Così, se v'era alcun sasso men duro. + Et era fuori in mille luoghi scritto, + E così in casa in altri tanti il muro, + Angelica e Medoro, in varii modi + Legati insieme di diversi nodi. + + Poi che le parve aver fatto soggiorno + Quivi più ch'a bastanza, fe' disegno + Di fare in India del Catai ritorno, + E Medor coronar del suo bel regno. + Portava al braccio un cerchio d'oro, adorno + Di ricche gemme, in testimonio e segno + Del ben che 'l Conte Orlando le volea; + E portato gran tempo ve l'avea. + + Quel dono già Morgana a Ziliante, + Nel tempo the nel lago ascoso il tenne; + Et esso, poi ch'al padre Monodante + Per opra e per virtù d'Orlando venne, + Lo diede a Orlando: Orlando ch'era amante, + Di porsi al braccio it cerchio d'or sostenne, + Avendo disegnato di donarlo + Alla Regina sua di ch'io vi parlo. + + Non per amor del Paladino, quanto + Perch'era ricco e d'artificio egregio, + Caro avuto l'avea la donna tanto + Che più non si può aver cosa di pregio. + Sè lo serbò ne l'Isola del pianto, + Non so già dirvi con the privilegio, + Là dove esposta al marin mostro nuda + Fu da la gente inospitale e cruda. + + Quivi non si trovando altra mercede, + Ch'al buon pastore et alla moglie dessi, + Che serviti gli avea con sì gran fede + Dal dì che nel suo albergo si fur messi; + Levò dal braccio il cerchio, e gli lo diede, + E volse per suo amor che lo tenessi; + Indi saliron verso la montagna + Che divide la Francia da la Spagna. + + Dentro a Valenza o dentro a Barcellona + Per qualche giorno avean pensato porsi, + Fin che accadesse alcuna nave buona, + Che per Levante apparecchiasse a sciorsi. + Videro il mar scoprir sotto a Girona + Ne lo smontar giù de i montani dorsi; + E, costeggiando a man sinistra il lito, + A Barcellona andâr pel camin trito. + + Ma non vi giunser prima ch'un uom pazzo + Giacer trovaro in su l'estreme arene, + Che, come porco, di loto e di guazzo + Tutto era brutto, e volto e petto e schene. + Costui si scagliò lor, come cagnazzo + Ch' assalir forestier subito viene; + E diè for noia e fu per far lor scorno. + + * * * * * + + The troop then follow'd where their chief had gone, + Pursuing his stern chase among the trees, + And leave the two companions there alone, + One surely dead, the other scarcely less. + Long time Medoro lay without a groan, + Losing his blood in such large quantities, + That life would surely have gone out at last, + Had not a helping hand been coming past. + + There came, by chance, a damsel passing there, + Dress'd like a shepherdess in lowly wise, + But of a royal presence, and an air + Noble as handsome, with clear maiden eyes. + 'Tis so long since I told you news of her, + Perhaps you know her not in this disguise. + This, you must know then, was Angelica, + Proud daughter of the Khan of great Cathay. + + You know the magic ring and her distress? + Well, when she had recover'd this same ring, + It so increas'd her pride and haughtiness, + She seem'd too high for any living thing. + She goes alone, desiring nothing less + Than a companion, even though a king + She even scorns to recollect the flame + Of one Orlando, or his very name. + + But, above all, she hates to recollect + That she had taken to Rinaldo so; + She thinks it the last want of self-respect, + Pure degradation, to have look'd so low. + "Such arrogance," said Cupid, "must be check'd." + The little god betook him with his bow + To where Medoro lay; and, standing by, + Held the shaft ready with a lurking eye. + + Now when the princess saw the youth all pale, + And found him grieving with his bitter wound, + Not for what one so young might well bewail, + But that his king should not be laid in ground,-- + She felt a something strange and gentle steal + Into her heart by some new way it found, + Which touch'd its hardness, and turn'd all to grace; + And more so, when he told her all his case. + + And calling to her mind the little arts + Of healing, which she learnt in India, + (For 'twas a study valued in those parts + Even by those who were in sovereign sway, + And yet so easy too, that, like the heart's, + 'Twas more inherited than learnt, they say), + She cast about, with herbs and balmy juices, + To save so fair a life for all its uses. + + And thinking of an herb that caught her eye + As she was coming, in a pleasant plain + (Whether 'twas panacea, dittany, + Or some such herb accounted sovereign + For stanching blood quickly and tenderly, + And winning out all spasm and bad pain), + She found it not far off, and gathering some, + Returned with it to save Medoro's bloom. + + In coming back she met upon the way + A shepherd, who was riding through the wood + To find a heifer that had gone astray, + And been two days about the solitude. + She took him with her where Medoro lay, + Still feebler than he was with loss of blood; + So much he lost, and drew so hard a breath, + That he was now fast fading to his death. + + Angelica got off her horse in haste, + And made the shepherd get as fast from his; + She ground the herbs with stones, and then express'd + With her white hands the balmy milkiness; + Then dropp'd it in the wound, and bath'd his breast, + His stomach, feet, and all that was amiss + And of such virtue was it, that at length + The blood was stopp'd, and he look'd round with strength. + + At last he got upon the shepherd's horse, + But would not quit the place till he had seen + Laid in the ground his lord and master's corse; + And Cloridan lay with it, who had been + Smitten so fatally with sweet remorse. + He then obey'd the will of the fair queen; + And she, for very pity of his lot, + Went and stay'd with him at the shepherd's cot. + + Nor would she leave him, she esteem'd him so, + Till she had seen him well with her own eye; + So full of pity did her bosom grow, + Since first she saw him faint and like to die. + Seeing his manners now, and beauty too, + She felt her heart yearn somehow inwardly; + She felt her heart yearn somehow, till at last + 'Twas all on fire, and burning warm and fast. + + The shepherd's home was good enough and neat, + A little shady cottage in a dell + The man had just rebuilt it all complete, + With room to spare, in case more births befell. + There with such knowledge did the lady treat + Her handsome patient, that he soon grew well; + But not before she had, on her own part, + A secret wound much greater in her heart. + + Much greater was the wound, and deeper far, + Which the sweet arrow made in her heart's strings; + 'Twas from Medoro's lovely eyes and hair; + 'Twas from the naked archer with the wings. + She feels it now; she feels, and yet can bear + Another's less than her own sufferings. + She thinks not of herself: she thinks alone + How to cure him by whom she is undone. + + The more his wound recovers and gets ease, + Her own grows worse, and widens day by day. + The youth gets well; the lady languishes, + Now warm, now cold, as fitful fevers play. + His beauty heightens, like the flowering trees; + She, miserable creature, melts away + Like the weak snow, which some warm sun has found + Fall'n, out of season, on a rising ground. + + And must she speak at last, rather than die? + And must she plead, without another's aid? + She must, she must: the vital moments fly + She lives--she dies, a passion-wasted maid. + At length she bursts all ties of modesty: + Her tongue explains her eyes; the words are said + And she asks pity, underneath that blow + Which he, perhaps, that gave it did not know. + + O County Orlando! O King Sacripant! + That fame of yours, say, what avails it ye? + That lofty honour, those great deeds ye vaunt,-- + Say, what's their value with the lovely she + Shew me--recall to memory (for I can't)-- + Shew me, I beg, one single courtesy + That ever she vouchsafed ye, far or near, + For all you've done and have endured for her. + + And you, if you could come to life again, + O Agrican, how hard 'twould seem to you, + Whose love was met by nothing but disdain, + And vile repulses, shocking to go through! + O Ferragus! O thousands, who, in vain, + Did all that loving and great hearts could do, + How would ye feel, to see, with all her charms, + This thankless creature in a stripling's arms? + + The young Medoro had the gathering + Of the world's rose, the rose untouch'd before; + For never, since that garden blush'd with spring, + Had human being dared to touch the door. + To sanction it--to consecrate the thing-- + The priest was called to read the service o'er, + (For without marriage what can come but strife?) + And the bride-mother was the shepherd's wife. + + All was perform'd, in short, that could be so + In such a place, to make the nuptials good; + Nor did the happy pair think fit to go, + But spent the month and more within the wood. + The lady to the stripling seemed to grow. + His step her step, his eyes her eyes pursued; + Nor did her love lose any of its zest, + Though she was always hanging on his breast. + + In doors and out of doors, by night, by day, + She had the charmer by her side for ever; + Morning and evening they would stroll away, + Now by some field or little tufted river; + They chose a cave in middle of the day, + Perhaps not less agreeable or clever + Than Dido and Æneas found to screen them, + When they had secrets to discuss between them. + + And all this while there was not a smooth tree, + That stood by stream or fountain with glad breath, + Nor stone less hard than stones are apt to be, + But they would find a knife to carve it with; + And in a thousand places you might see, + And on the walls about you and beneath, + ANGELICA AND MEDORO, tied in one, + As many ways as lovers' knots can run. + + And when they thought they had outspent their time, + Angelica the royal took her way, + She and Medoro, to the Indian clime, + To crown him king of her great realm, Cathay.[1] + +[Footnote 1: This version of the present episode has appeared in print +before. So has a portion of the _Monks and the Giants_, in the first +volume.] + + * * * * * + +No. III. + +THE JEALOUSY OF ORLANDO. + +THE SAME. + + Feron camin diverso i cavallieri, + Di quà Zerbino, e di là il Conte Orlando. + Prima che pigli il Conte altri sentieri, + All'arbor tolse, e a sè ripose il brando; + E, dove meglio col Pagan pensosse + Di potersi incontrare, il destrier mosse. + + Lo strano corso the tenne il cavallo + Del Saracin pel bosco senza via, + Fece ch'Orlando andò duo giorni in fallo, + Nè lo trovò, nè potè averne spia. + Giunse ad un rivo, che parea cristallo, + Ne le cui sponde un bel pratel fioria, + Di nativo color vago e dipinto, + E di molti e belli arbori distinto. + + Il merigge facea grato l'orezo + Al duro armento et al pastore ignudo; + Si che nè Orlando sentia alcun ribrezo, + Che la corazza avea, l'elmo e lo scudo. + Quivi egli entrò, per riposarsi, in mezo; + E v'ebbe travaglioso albergo e crudo, + E, più che dir si possa, empio soggiorno, + Quell'infelice e sfortunato giorno. + + Volgendosi ivi intorno, vidi scritti + Molti arbuscelli in su l'ombrosa riva. + Tosto the fermi v'ebbe gli occhi e fitti, + Fu certo esser di man de la sua Diva. + Questo era un di quei lochi già descritti, + Ove sovente con Medor veniva + Da casa del pastore indi vicina + La bella donna del Catai Regina. + + Angelica e Medor con cento nodi + Legati insieme, e in cento lochi vede. + Quante lettere son, tanti son chiodi + Co i quali Amore il cor gli punge e fiede. + Va col pensier cercando in mille modi + Non creder quel ch'al suo dispetto crede: + Ch'altra Angelica sia, creder si sforza, + Ch'abbia scritto il suo nome in quella scorza. + + Poi dice: Conosco io pur queste note; + Di tal io n'he tante e vedute e lette. + Finger questo Medoro ella si puote; + Forse ch'a me questo cognome mette. + Con tali opinion dal ver remote + Usando fraude a sè medesmo, stette + Ne la speranza il mal contento Orlando, + Che si seppe a sè stesso ir procacciando. + + Ma sempre più raccende e più rinuova, + Quanto spenger più cerca, il rio sospetto; + Come l'incauto augel che si ritrova + In ragna o in visco aver dato di petto, + Quanto più batte l'ale e più si prova + Di disbrigar, più vi si lega stretto. + Orlando viene ove s'incurva il monte + A guisa d'arco in su la chiara fonte. + + Aveano in su l'entrata il luogo adorno + Coi piedi storti edere e viti erranti. + Quivi soleano al più cocente giorno + Stare abbracciati i duo felici amanti. + V'aveano i nomi lor dentro e d'intorno + Più che in altro de i luoghi circonstanti, + Scritti, qual con carbone e qual con gesso, + E qual con punte di coltelli impresso. + + Il mesto Conte a piè quivi discese; + E vide in su l'entrata de la grotta + Parole assai, che di sua man distese + Medoro avea, che parean scritte allotta. + Del gran piacer che ne la grotta prese, + Questa sentenzia in versi avea ridotta: + Che fosse culta in suo linguaggio io penso; + Et era ne la nostra tale in senso: + + Liete piante, verdi erbe, limpide acque, + Spelunca opaca e di fredde ombre grata, + Dove la bella Angelica, che nacque + Di Galafron, da molti in vano amata, + Spesso ne le mie braccia nuda giacque; + De la commodità che qui m'è data, + Io povero Medor ricompensarvi + D'altro non posso, che d'ognior lodarvi: + + E di pregare ogni signore amante + E cavallieri e damigelle, e ognuna + Persona o paësana o viandante, + Che quì sua volontà meni o Fortuna, + Ch'all'erbe, all'ombra, all'antro, al rio, alle piante + Dica: Benigno abbiate e sole e luna, + E de le nimfe il coro che provveggia, + Che non conduca a voi pastor mai greggia. + + Era scritta in Arabico, che 'l Conte + Intendea così ben, come Latino. + Fra molte lingue e molte ch'avea pronte + Prontissima avea quella il Paladino + E gli schivò più volte e danni et onte, + Che si trovò tra il popul Saracino. + Ma non si vanti, se già n'ebbe frutto; + Ch'un danno or n'ha, che può scontargli il tutto. + + Tre volte, e quattro, e sei, lesse lo scritto + Quello infelice, e pur cercando in vano + Che non vi fosse quel che v'era scritto; + E sempre lo vedea più chiaro e piano; + Et ogni volta in mezo il petto afflitto + Stringersi il cor sentia con fredda mano. + Rimase il fin con gli occhi e con la mente + Fissi nel sasso, al sasso indifferente. + + Fu allora per uscir del sentimento; + Sì tutto in preda del dolor si lassa. + Credete a chi n'ha fatto esperimento, + Che questo è 'l duol che tutti gli altri passa. + Caduto gli era sopra il petto il mento, + La fronte priva di baldanza, e bassa; + Nè potè aver (che 'l duol l'occupò tanto) + Alle querele voce, o umore al pianto. + + L'impetuosa doglia entro rimase, + Che volea tutta uscir con troppa fretta. + Così veggian restar l'acqua nel vase, + Che largo il ventre e la bocca abbia stretta; + Chè, nel voltar che si fa in su la base, + L'umor, che vorria uscir, tanto s'affretta, + E ne l'angusta via tanto s'intrica, + Ch'a goccia a goccia fuore esce a fatica. + + Poi ritorna in sè alquanto, e pensa come + Possa esser che non sia la cosa vera: + Che voglia alcun così infamare il nome + De la sua donna e crede e brama e spera, + O gravar lui d'insopportabil some + Tanto di gelosia, che sè ne pera; + Et abbia quel, sia chi si voglia stato, + Molto la man di lei bene imitato. + + In così poca, in così debol speme + Sveglia gli spirti, e gli rifranca un poco; + Indi al suo Brigliadoro il dosso preme, + Dando già il sole alla sorella loco. + Non molto va, che da le vie supreme + De i tetti uscir vede il vapor del fuoco, + Sente cani abbaiar, muggiare armento; + Viene alla villa, e piglia alloggiamento. + + Languido smonta, e lascia Brigliadoro + A un discreto garzon che n'abbia cura. + Altri il disarma, altri gli sproni d'oro + Gli leva, altri a forbir va l'armatura. + Era questa la casa ove Medoro + Giacque ferito, e v'ebbe alta avventura. + Corcarsi Orlando e non cenar domanda, + Di dolor sazio e non d'altra vivanda. + + Quanto più cerca ritrovar quiete, + Tanto ritrova più travaglio e pene; + Che de l'odiato scritto ogni parete, + Ogni uscio, ogni finestra vede piena. + Chieder ne vuol: poi tien le labra chete; + Chè teme non si far troppo serena, + Troppo chiara la cosa, che di nebbia + Cerca offuscar, perchè men nuocer debbia. + + Poco gli giova usar fraude a sè stesso; + Chè senza domandarne è chi ne parla. + Il pastor, che lo vede così oppresso + Da sua tristrizia, e che vorria levarla, + L'istoria nota a sè the dicea spesso + Di quei duo amanti a chi volea ascoltarla, + Ch'a molti dilettevole fu a udire, + Gl'incominciò senza rispetto a dire: + + Come esso a prieghi d'Angelica bella, + Portato avea Medoro alla sua villa; + Ch'era ferito gravemente, e ch'ella + Curò la piaga, e in pochi dì guarilla; + Ma che nel cor d'una maggior di quella + Lei ferì amor: e di poca scintilla + L'accese tanto e sì cocente fuoco, + Che n'ardea tutta, e non trovava loco. + + E, sanza aver rispetto ch'ella fosse + Figlia del maggior Re ch'abbia il Levante, + Da troppo amor constretta si condusse + A farsi moglie d'un povero fante. + All'ultimo l'istoria si ridusse, + Che 'l pastor fe' portar la gemma inante, + Ch'alla sua dipartenza, per mercede + Del buono albergo, Angelica gli diede. + + Questa conclusion fu la secure + Che 'l capo a un colpo gli levò dal collo, + Poi che d'innumerabil battiture + Si vide il manigoldo Amor satollo. + Celar si studia Orlando il duolo; e pure + Quel gli fa forza, e male asconder puollo; + Per lacrime e suspir da bocca e d'occhi + Convien, voglia o non voglia, al fin che scocchi. + + Poi ch'allagare il freno al dolor puote + (Che resta solo, e senza altrui rispetto), + Giù da gli occhi rigando per le gote + Sparge un fiume di lacrime su 'l petto: + Sospira e geme, e va con spesse ruote + Di qua di là tutto cercando il letto; + E più duro ch'un sasso, e più pungente + Che se fosse d'urtica, sè lo sente. + + In tanto aspro travaglio gli soccorre, + Che nel medesmo letto in che giaceva + L'ingrata donna venutasi a porre + Col suo drudo più volte esser doveva. + Non altrimenti or quella piuma abborre + Nè con minor prestezza sè ne leva, + Che de l'erba il villan, che s'era messo + Per chiuder gli occhi, e vegga il serpe appresso. + + Quel letto, quella casa, quel pastore + Immantinente in tant'odio gli casca, + Che senza aspettar luna, o che l'albore + Che va dinanzi al nuovo giorno, nasca, + Piglia l'arme e il destriero, et esce fuore + Per mezo il bosco alla più oscura frasca; + E quando poi gli è avviso d'esser solo, + Con gridi et urli apre le porte al duolo. + + Di pianger mai, mai di gridar non resta; + Nè la notte nè 'l dì si dà mai pace; + Fugge cittadi e borghi, e alla foresta + Su 'l terren duro al discoperto giace. + Di sè si maraviglia ch'abbia in testa + Una fontana d'acqua sì vivace, + E come sospirar possa mai tanto; + E spesso dice a sè così nel pianto: + + Queste non son più lacrime, che fuore + Stillo da gli occhi con sì larga vena. + Non suppliron le lacrime al dolore; + Finîr, ch'a mezo era il dolore a pena. + Dal fuoco spinto ora il vitale umore + Fugge per quella via ch'a gli occhi mena; + Et è quel che si versa, e trarrà insieme + E 'l dolore e la vita all'ore estreme. + + Questi, ch'indizio fan del mio tormento, + Sospir non sono; nè i sospir son tali. + Quelli han triegua talora; io mai non sento + Che 'l petto mio men la sua pena esali. + Amor, che m'arde il cor, fa questo vento, + Mentre dibatte intorno al fuoco l'ali. + Amor, con che miracolo lo fai, + Che 'n fuoco il tenghi, e nol consumi mai? + + Non son, non sono io quel che paio in viso; + Quel, ch'era Orlando, è morto, et è sotterra; + La sua donna ingratissima l'ha ucciso; + Si, mancando di fe, gli ha fatto guerra. + Io son lo spirito suo da lui diviso, + Ch'in questo inferno tormentandosi erra, + Acciò con l'ombra sia, che sola avanza, + Esempio a chi in amor pone speranza. + + Pel bosco errò tutta la notte il Conte; + E allo spuntar della diurna fiamma + Lo tornò il suo destin sopra la fonte, + Dove Medoro insculse l'epigramma. + Veder l'ingiuria sua scritta nel monte + L'accese sì, ch'in lui non restò dramma + Che non fosse odio, rabbia, ira e furore; + Né più indugiò, che trasse il brando fuore. + + Tagliò lo scritto e 'l sasso, e sin al cielo + A volo alzar fe'le minute schegge. + Infelice quell'antro, et ogni stelo + In cui Medoro e Angelica si legge! + Così restâr quel dì, ch'ombra nè gielo + A pastor mai non daran più, nè a gregge: + E quella fonte già si chiara e pura, + Da cotanta ira fu poco sicura: + + Che rami, e ceppi, e tronchi, e sassi, e zolle + Non cessò di gittar ne le bell'onde, + Fin che da sommo ad imo si turbolle + Che non furo mai più chiare nè monde; + E stanco al fin, e, al fin di sudor molle, + Poi che la lena vinta non risponde + Allo sdegno, al grave odio, all'ardente ira, + Cade sul prato, e verso il ciel sospira. + + Afflitto e stanco al fin cade ne l'erba, + E ficca gli occhi al cielo, e non fa motto; + Senza cibo e dormir così si serba, + Che 'l sole esce tre volte, e torna sotto. + Di crescer non cessò la pena acerba, + Che fuor del senno al fin l'ebbe condotto. + Il quarto dì, da gran furor commosso, + E maglic e piastre si straccio di dosso. + + Quì riman l'elmo, e là riman lo scudo; + Lontan gli arnesi, e più lontan l'usbergo + L'arme sue tutte, in somma vi concludo, + Avean pel bosco differente albergo. + E poi si squarciò i panni, e mostrò ignudo + L'ispido ventre, e tutto 'l petto e 'l tergo; + E cominciò la gran follia, sì orrenda, + Che de la più non sarà mai ch'intenda. + + In tanta rabbia, in tanto furor venne, + Che rimase offuscato in ogni senso. + Di tor la spada in man non gli sovvenne, + Che fatte avria mirabil cose, penso. + Ma nè quella nè scure nè bipenne + Era bisogno al suo vigore immenso. + Quivi fe' ben de le sue prove eccelse; + Ch'un alto pine al primo crollo svelse; + + E svelse dopo il primo altri parecchi, + Come tosser finocchi, ebuli o aneti; + E fe' il simil di querce e d'olmi vecchi, + Di faggi e d' orni e d' illici a d' abeti; + Quel ch'un uccellator, the s'apparecchi + Il campo mondo, fa, per por le reti, + De i giunchi e de le stoppie e de l'urtiche, + Facchi de cerri e d' altre piante antiche. + + I pastor, che sentito hanno il fracasso, + Lasciando il gregge sparso alla foresta, + Chi di quà, chi di là, tutti a gran passo + Vi vengono a veder che cosa è questa. + + * * * * * + +The poet breaks off here, and enters afterwards at large into the +consequences of the madness of Orlando; omitted in this work, for the +reasons mentioned at page 224. + + * * * * * + +No. IV. + +THE DEATH OF CLORINDA. + + TASSO. + + Ma, ecco omai l'ora fatale è giunta + Che 'l viver di Clorinda al suo fin deve. + Spinge egli il ferro nel bel sen di punta, + Che vi s'immerge, e 'l sangue avido beve; + E la veste che d'or vago trapunta + Le mammelle stringea tenera e leve + L'empie d'un caldo fiume. Ella già sente + Morirsi, e 'l piè le manea egro e languente. + + Quel segue la vittoria, e la trafitta + Vergine minacciando incalza e preme: + Ella, mentre cadea, la voce afitta + Movendo, disse le parole estreme: + Parole ch'a lei novo on spirto ditta, + Spirto di fè, di carità, di speme: + Virtù ch'or Dio le infonde; e se rubella + In vita fu, la vuole in morte ancella: + + Amico, hai vinto; io ti perdon: perdona + Tu ancora, al corpo no, che nulla pave, + All'alma sì: deh! per lei prega: e dona + Battesmo a me ch'ogni mia colpe lave. + In queste voci languide risuona + Un non so che di flebile e soave, + Che al cor gli serpe, ed ogni sdegno ammorza, + E gli occhi a lagrimar gl' invoglia e sforza. + + Poco quindi lontan nel sen del monte + Scaturía mormorando an picciol rio: + Egli v'accorse, e l'elmo empiè nel fonte, + E tornò mesto al grande ufficio e pio. + Tremar sentì la man, mentre la fronte, + Non conosciuta ancor, sciolse e scoprio. + La vide, e la conobbe; e restò senza + E voce, e moto. Ahi vista! ahi cognoscenza! + + Non morì già; che sue virtuti accolse + Tutte in quel punto, e in guardia al cor le mise; + E, premendo il suo affanno, a dar si volse + Vita coll'acqua a chi col ferro uccise. + Mentre egli il suon de' sacri detti sciolse, + Colei di gioia trasmutossi, e rise: + E in atto di morir lieto e vivace, + Dir parea; S'apre il cielo; io vado in pace. + + D'un bel pallore ha il bianco volto asperso, + Come a gigli sarian miste viole; + E gli occhi al cielo affisa, e in lei converso + Sembra per la pietate il cielo e 'l sole; + E la man nuda e fredda alzando verso + Il cavaliero, in vece di parole, + Gli dà pegno di pace. In questa forma + Passa la bella donna, e par che dorma. + + Come l'alma gentile uscita ei vede, + Rallenta quel vigor ch'avea raccolto, + E l'imperio di sè libero cede + Al duol già fatto impetuoso e stolto, + Ch' al cor si stringe, e chiusa in breve sede + La vita, empie di morte i sensi e 'l volto. + Già simile all' estinto il vivo langue + Al colore, al silenzio, agli atti, al sangue. + + E ben la vita sua sdegnosa e schiva, + Spezzando a sforza il suo ritegno frale, + La bell'anima sciolta alfin seguiva, + Che poco innanzi a lei spiegava l'ale; + Ma quivi stuol de' Franchi a caso arriva, + Cui trae bisogno d' acqua, o d'altro tale; + E con la donna il cavalier ne porta, + In sè mal vivo, e morto in lei ch'è morta. + + * * * * * + +No V. + +TANCRED IN THE ENCHANTED FOREST. + +THE SAME. + + Era in prence Tancredi intanto sorto + A seppellir la sua diletta amica; + E, benchè in volto sia languido e smorto, + E mal atto a portar elmo e lorica, + Nulladimen, poi che 'l bisogno ha scorto, + Ei non ricusa il rischio o la fatica; + Che 'l cor vivace il suo vigor trasfonde + Al corpo sì, che par ch'esso n'abbonde. + + Vassene il valoroso in sè ristretto, + E tacito e guardingo al rischio ignoto + E sostien della selva il fero aspetto, + E 'l gran romor del tuono e del tremoto; + E nulla sbigottisce; e sol nel petto + Sente, ma tosto il seda, un picciol moto. + Trapassa; ed ecco in quel silvestre loco + Sorge improvvisa la città del foco. + + Allor s' arretra, e dubbio alquanto resta, + Fra sè dicendo: Or qui che vaglion l'armi? + Nelle fauci de' mostri, e 'n gola a questa + Divoratrice fiamma andrò a gettarmi? + Non mai la vita, ove cagione onesta + Del comun pro la chieda, altri risparmi; + Ma nè prodigo sia d' anima grande + Uom denso; e tale è ben chi qui la spande. + + Pur l'oste che dirà, s'indarno io riedo? + Qual altra selva ha di troncar speranza? + Nè intentato lasciar vorrà Goffredo + Mai questo varco. Or, s'oltre alcun s'avanza, + Forse l'incendio, che qui sorto i' vedo, + Fia d'effetto minor che sembianza; + Ma seguane che puote. E in questo dire + Dentro saltovvi: oh memorando ardire! + + Nè sotto l'arme già sentir gli parve + Caldo o fervor come di foco intenso; + Ma pur, se fosser vere fiamme o larve, + Mal potè giudicar sì tosto il senso: + Perchè repente, appena tocco, sparve + Quel simulacro, e giunse un nuvol denso, + Che portò notte e verno; e 'l verno ancora + E l'ombra dileguossi in picciol'ora. + + Stupido sì, ma intrepido rimane + Tancredi; e poichè vede il tutto cheto, + Mette securo il piè nelle profane + Soglie, e spia della selva ogni secreto. + Nè più apparenze inusitate e strane, + Nè trova alcun per via scontro o divieto, + Se non quanto per sè ritarda il bosco + La vista e i passi, inviluppato e fosco. + + Alfine un largo spazio in forma scorge + D'anfiteatro, e non è pianta in esso, + Salvo che nel suo mezzo altero sorge, + Quasi eccelsa piramide, un cipresso. + Colà si drizza, e nel mirar s' accorge + Ch' era di varj segni il tronco impresso, + Simil a quei, chè in vece usò di scritto + L'antico già misterioso Egitto. + + Fra i segni ignoti alcune note ha scorte + Del sermon di Soria, ch'ei ben possiede: + O tu, che dentro ai chiostri della morte + Osasti por, guerriero audace, il piede, + Deh! se non sei crudel, quanto sei forte, + Deh! non turbar questa secreta sede. + Perdona all'alme omai di luce prive: + Non dee guerra co' morti aver chi vive. + + Così dicea quel motto. Egli era intento + Delle brevi parole ai segni occulti. + Fremere intanto udia continuo il vento + Tra le frondi del bosco e tra i virgulti; + E trarne un suon che flebile concento + Par d'umani sospiri e di singulti; + E un non so che confuso instilla al core + Di pietà, di spavento e di dolore. + + Pur tragge alfin la spada, e con gran forza + Percote l'alta pianta. Oh maraviglia! + Manda fuor sangue la recisa scorza, + E fa la terra intorno a sè vermiglia. + Tutto si raccapriccia; e pur rinforza + Il colpo, e 'l fin vederne ei si consiglia. + Allor, quasi di tomba, uscir ne sente + Un indistinto gemito dolente; + + Che poi distinto in voci: Ahi troppo, disse, + M' hai tu, Tancredi, offesso: or tanto basti: + Tu dal corpo, che meco e per me visse, + Felice albergo gia, mi discacciasti. + Perchè il misero tronco, a cui m'affisse + Il mio duro destino, ancor mi guasti? + Dopo la morte gli avversarj tuoi, + Crudel, ne' lor sepolcri offender vuoi? + + Clorinda fui: nè sol qui spirto umano + Albergo in questa pianta rozza e dura; + Ma ciascun altro ancor, Franco o Pagano, + Che lassi i membri a piè dell'alte mura, + Astretto è qui da novo incanto e strano, + Non so s' io dica in corpo o in sepoltura. + Son di sensi animati i rami e i tronchi; + E micidial sei tu, se legno tronchi. + + Qual infermo talor, ch'in sogno scorge + Drago, o cinta di fiamme alta Chimera, + Sebben sospetta, o in parte anco s'accorge + Che simulacro sia non forma vera, + Pur desia di fuggir, tanto gli porge + Spavento la sembianza orrida e fera: + Tale il timido amante appien non crede + Ai falsi inganni: e pur ne teme, e cede: + + E dentro il cor gli è in modo tal conquiso + Da varj affetti, che s' agghiaccia e trema; + E nel moto potente ed improvviso + Gli cade il ferro: e 'l manco e in lui la tema. + Va fuor di sè. Presente aver gli è avviso + L' offesa donna sua, che plori e gema: + Nè può soffrir di rimirar quel sangue, + Nè quei gemiti udir d'egro che langue. + + Così quel contra morte audace core + Nulla forma turbò d' alto spavento; + Ma lui, che solo è fievole in amore, + Falsa imago deluse e van lamento. + Il suo caduto ferro instanto fuore + Portò del bosco impetuoso vento, + Sicchè vinto partissi; e in sulla strada + Ritrovò poscia, e ripigliò la spada. + + Pur non tornò, né ritentando ardio + Spiar di novo le cagioni ascose; + E poi che, giunto al sommo Duce, unio + Gli spirti alquanto, e l'animo compose, + Incominciò: Signor, nunzio son io + Di non credute e non credibil cose. + Ciò che dicean dello spettacol fero, + E del suon paventoso, è tutto vero. + + Maraviglioso foco indi m'apparse, + Senza materia in un istante appreso; + Che sorse, e, dilatando un muro farse + Parve, e d' armati mostri esser difeso. + Pur vi passai; che ne l'incendio m' arse, + Nè dal ferro mi fu l'andar conteso: + Vernò in quel punto, ed annottò: fe' il giorno + E la serenità poscia ritorno. + + Di più dirò; ch'agli alberi dà vita + Spirito uman, che sente e che ragiona. + Per prova sollo: io n'ho la voce udita, + Che nel cor flebilmente anco mi suona. + Stilla sangue de' tronchi ogni ferita, + Quasi di molle carne abbian persona. + No, no, più non potrei (vinto mi chiamo) + Nè corteccia scorzar, nè sveller ramo. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Stories from the Italian Poets: With +Lives of the Writers, Vol. 2, by Leigh Hunt + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ITALIAN POETS *** + +***** This file should be named 10635-8.txt or 10635-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/6/3/10635/ + +Produced by Stan Goodman, Jayam Subramanian and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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For +example an eBook of filename 10234 would be found at: + + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/2/3/10234 + +or filename 24689 would be found at: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/4/6/8/24689 + +An alternative method of locating eBooks: + https://www.gutenberg.org/GUTINDEX.ALL + + diff --git a/old/10635-8.zip b/old/10635-8.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..31fee05 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10635-8.zip diff --git a/old/10635.txt b/old/10635.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..db870a5 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10635.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11541 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Stories from the Italian Poets: With Lives +of the Writers, Vol. 2, by Leigh Hunt + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Stories from the Italian Poets: With Lives of the Writers, Vol. 2 + +Author: Leigh Hunt + +Release Date: January 8, 2004 [EBook #10635] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ITALIAN POETS *** + + + + +Produced by Stan Goodman, Jayam Subramanian and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + + + + + STORIES FROM THE ITALIAN POETS: + + WITH + + LIVES OF THE WRITERS. + + + BY LEIGH HUNT. + + + IN TWO VOLUMES. + + VOL. II. + + + + MDCCCXLVI. + + + CONTENTS + + OF + + THE SECOND VOLUME. + + + BOIARDO. + + CRITICAL NOTICE OF HIS LIFE AND GENIUS + + THE ADVENTURES OF ANGELICA + + THE DEATH OF AGRICAN + + THE SARACEN FRIENDS + Part the Second + + SEEING AND BELIEVING + + + ARIOSTO. + + CRITICAL NOTICE OF HIS LIFE AND GENIUS + + THE ADVENTURES OF ANGELICA Part + I. Angelica and her Suitors + II. Angelica and Medoro + III. The Jealousy of Orlando + + ASTOLFO'S JOURNEY TO THE MOON + + ARIODANTE AND GINEVRA + + SUSPICION + + ISABELLA + + + TASSO. + + CRITICAL NOTICE OF HIS LIFE AND GENIUS + + OLINDO AND SOPHRONIA + + TANCRED AND CLORINDA + + RINALDO AND ARMIDA; + + WITH THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENCHANTED FOREST: + Part I. Armida in the Christian Camp + II. Armida's Hate and Love + III. The Terrors of the Enchanted Forest + IV. The Loves of Rinaldo and Armida + V. The Disenchantment of the Forest, and the Taking of + Jerusalem, &c. + + + APPENDIX. + + I. The Death of Agrican + II. Angelica and Medoro Translation + III. The Jealousy of Orlando + IV. The Death of Clorinda + V. Tancred in the Enchanted Forest + + + +BOIARDO: + +Critical Notice of his Life and Genius. + +Critical Notice + +OF BOIARDO'S LIFE AND GENIUS.[1] + +While Pulci in Florence was elevating romance out of the street-ballads, +and laying the foundation of the chivalrous epic, a poet appeared in +Lombardy (whether inspired by his example is uncertain) who was destined +to carry it to a graver though still cheerful height, and prepare the way +for the crowning glories of Ariosto. In some respects he even excelled +Ariosto: in all, with the exception of style, shewed himself a genuine +though immature master. + +Little is known of his life, but that little is very pleasant. It +exhibits him in the rare light of a poet who was at once rich, romantic, +an Arcadian and a man of the world, a feudal lord and an indulgent +philosopher, a courtier equally beloved by prince and people. + +Matteo Maria Boiardo, Count of Scandiano, Lord of Arceto, Casalgrande, +&c., Governor of Reggio, and Captain of the citadel of Modena (it is +pleasant to repeat such titles when so adorned), is understood to have +been born about the year 1434, at Scandiano, a castle at the foot of the +Apennines, not far from Reggio, and famous for its vines. + +He was of an ancient family, once lords of Rubiera, and son of Giovanni, +second count of Scandiano, and Lucia, a lady of a branch of the Strozzi +family in Florence, and sister and aunt of Tito and Erole Strozzi, +celebrated Latin poets. His parents appear to have been wise people, for +they gave him an education that fitted him equally for public and private +life. He was even taught, or acquired, more Greek than was common to the +men of letters of that age. His whole life seems, accordingly, to have +been divided, with equal success, between his duties as a servant of the +dukes of Modena, both military and civil, and the prosecution of his +beloved art of poetry,--a combination of pursuits which have been idly +supposed incompatible. Milton's poetry did not hinder him from being +secretary to Cromwell, and an active partisan. Even the sequestered +Spenser was a statesman; and poets and writers of fiction abound in +the political histories of all the great nations of Europe. When a +man possesses a thorough insight into any one intellectual department +(except, perhaps, in certain corners of science), it only sharpens his +powers of perception for the others, if he chooses to apply them. + +In the year 1469, Boiardo was one of the noblemen who went to meet the +Emperor Frederick the Third on his way to Ferrara, when Duke Borso of +Modena entertained him in that city. Two years afterwards, Borso, who had +been only Marquis of Ferrara, received its ducal title from the Pope; and +on going to Rome to be invested with his new honours, the name of our +poet is again found among the adorners of his state. A few days after his +return home this prince died; and Boiardo, favoured as he had been by +him, appears to have succeeded to a double portion of regard in the +friendship of the new duke, Ercole, who was more of his own age. + +During all this period, from his youth to his prime, our author varied +his occupations with Italian and Latin poetry; some of it addressed to a +lady of the name of Antonia Caprara, and some to another, whose name is +thought to have been Rosa; but whether these ladies died, or his love was +diverted elsewhere, he took to wife, in the year 1472, Taddea Gonzaga, of +the noble house of that name, daughter of the Count of Novellara. In the +course of the same year he is supposed to have begun his great poem. A +popular court-favourite, in the prime of life, marrying and commencing +a great poem nearly at one and the same time, presents an image of +prosperity singularly delightful. By this lady Boiardo had two sons and +four daughters. The younger son, Francesco Maria, died in his childhood; +but the elder, Camillo, succeeded to his father's title, and left an heir +to it,--the last, I believe, of the name. The reception given to the +poet's bride, when he took her to Scandiano, is said to have been very +splendid. + +In the ensuing year the duke his master took a wife himself. She was +Eleonora, daughter of the King of Naples; and the newly-married poet was +among the noblemen who were sent to escort her to Ferrara. For several +years afterwards, his time was probably filled up with the composition +of the _Orlando Innamorato_, and the entertainments given by a splendid +court. He was appointed Governor of Reggio, probably in 1478. At the +expiration of two or three years he was made Captain of the citadel of +Modena; and in 1482 a war broke out, with the Venetians, in which he took +part, for it interrupted the progress of his poem. In 1484 he returned +to it; but ten years afterwards was again and finally interrupted by the +unprincipled descent of the French on Italy under Charles the Eighth; and +in the December following he died. The _Orlando Innamorato_ was thus left +unfinished. Eight years before his decease the author published what he +had written of it up to that time, but the first complete edition was +posthumous. The poet was writing when the French came: he breaks off with +an anxious and bitter notice of the interruption, though still unable to +deny himself a last word on the episode which he was relating, and a hope +that he should conclude it another time. + + "Mentre che io canto, o Dio redentore, + Vedo l'Italia tutta a fiamma e foco, + Per questi Galli, che con gran valore + Vengon, per disertar non so che loco: + Pero vi lascio in questo vano amore + Di Fiordespina ardente poco a poco + Un' altra volta, se mi fia concesso, + Racconterovvi il tutto per espresso." + + But while I sing, mine eyes, great God! behold + A flaming fire light all the Italian sky, + Brought by these French, who, with their myriads bold, + Come to lay waste, I know not where or why. + Therefore, at present, I must leave untold + How love misled poor Fiordespina's eye.[2] + Another time, Fate willing, I shall tell, + From first to last, how every thing befell. + +Besides the _Orlando Innamorato_, Boiardo wrote a variety of prose works, +a comedy in verse on the subject of Timon, lyrics of great elegance, with +a vein of natural feeling running through them, and Latin poetry of a +like sort, not, indeed, as classical in its style as that of Politian and +the other subsequent revivers of the ancient manner, but perhaps not +the less interesting on that account; for it is difficult to conceive +a thorough copyist in style expressing his own thorough feelings. Mr. +Panizzi, if I am not mistaken, promised the world a collection of the +miscellaneous poems of Boiardo; but we have not yet had the pleasure +of seeing them. In his life of the poet, however, he has given several +specimens, both Latin and Italian, which are extremely agreeable. The +Latin poems consist of ten eclogues and a few epigrams; but the epigrams, +this critic tells us, are neither good nor on a fitting subject, being +satirical sallies against Nicolo of Este, who had attempted to seize on +Ferrara, and been beheaded. Boiardo was not of a nature qualified to +indulge in bitterness. A man of his chivalrous disposition probably +misgave himself while he was writing these epigrams. Perhaps he suffered +them to escape his pen out of friendship for the reigning branch of the +family. But it must be confessed, that some of the best-natured men have +too often lost sight of their higher feelings during the pleasure and +pride of composition. + +With respect to the comedy of _Timon_, if the whole of it is written as +well as the concluding address of the misanthrope (which Mr. Panizzi has +extracted into his pages), it must be very pleasant. Timon conceals a +treasure in a tomb, and thinks he has baffled some knaves who had a +design upon it. He therefore takes leave of his audience with the +following benedictions + + "Pur ho scacciate queste due formiche, + Che raspavano l' oro alla mia buca, + Or vadan pur, che Dio le malediche. + + Cotal fortuna a casa li conduca, + Che lor fiacchi le gambe al primo passo, + E nel secondo l'osso della nuca. + + Voi altri, che ascoltate giuso al basso, + Chiedete, se volete alcuna cosa, + Prima ch' io parta, perche mo vi lasso. + + Benche abbia l'alma irata e disdegnosa, + Da ingiusti oltraggi combattuta e vinta, + A voi gia non l'avro tanto ritrosa. + + In me non e pietade al tutto estinta + Faccia di voi la prova chi gli pare, + Sino alla corda, the mi trovo cinta; + + Gli prestero, volendosi impiccare." + + So! I've got rid of these two creeping things, + That fain would have scratched up my buried gold. + They're gone; and may the curse of God go with them! + May they reach home dust in good time enough + To break their legs at the first step in doors, + And necks i' the second!--And now then, as to you, + Good audience,--groundlings,--folks who love low places, + You too perhaps would fain get something of me, + Ere I take leave.--Well;--angered though I be, + Scornful and torn with rage at being ground + Into the dust with wrong, I'm not so lost + To all concern and charity for others + As not to be still kind enough to part + With something near to me-something that's wound + About my very self. Here, sirs; mark this;-- + _[Untying the cord round his waist_. + Let any that would put me to the test, + Take it with all my heart, and hang themselves. + +The comedy of _Timon_, which was chiefly taken from Lucian, and one, +if not more, of Boiardo's prose translations from other ancients, were +written at the request of Duke Ercole, who was a great lover of dramatic +versions of this kind, and built a theatre for their exhibition at an +enormous expense. These prose translations consist of Apuleius's +_Golden Ass_, Herodotus (the Duke's order), the _Golden Ass_ of Lucian, +Xenophon's _Cyropaedia_ (not printed), Emilius Probus (also not printed, +and supposed to be Cornelius Nepos), and Riccobaldo's credulous _Historia +Universalis_, with additions. It seems not improbable, that he also +translated Homer and Diodorus; and Doni the bookmaker asserts, that he +wrote a work called the _Testamento dell' Anima_ (the Soul's Testament) +but Mr. Panizzi calls Doni "a barefaced impostor;" and says, that as +the work is mentioned by nobody else, we may be "certain that it never +existed," and that the title was "a forgery of the impudent priest." + +Nothing else of Boiardo's writing is known to exist, but a collection +of official letters in the archives of Modena, which, according to +Tiraboschi, are of no great importance. It is difficult to suppose, +however, that they would not be worth looking at. The author of the +_Orlando Innamorato_ could hardly write, even upon the driest matters +of government, with the aridity of a common clerk. Some little lurking +well-head of character or circumstance, interesting to readers of a later +age, would probably break through the barren ground. Perhaps the letters +went counter to some of the good Jesuit's theology. + +Boiardo's prose translations from the authors of antiquity are so scarce, +that Mr. Panizzi himself, a learned and miscellaneous reader, says he +never saw them. I am willing to get the only advantage in my power +over an Italian critic, by saying that I have had some of them in my +hands,--brought there by the pleasant chances of the bookstalls; but I +can give no account of them. A modern critic, quoted by this gentleman +(Gamba, _Testi di Lingua_), calls the version of Apuleius "rude and +curious;"[3] but adds, that it contains "expressions full of liveliness +and propriety." By "rude" is probably meant obsolete, and comparatively +unlearned. Correctness of interpretation and classical nicety of style +(as Mr. Panizzi observes) were the growths of a later age. + +Nothing is told us by his biographers of the person of Boiardo: and it is +not safe to determine a man's _physique_ from his writings, unless +perhaps with respect to the greater or less amount of his animal spirits; +for the able-bodied may write effeminately, and the feeblest supply the +defect of corporal stamina with spiritual. Portraits, however, seem to be +extant. Mazzuchelli discovered that a medal had been struck in the +poet's honour; and in the castle of Scandiano (though "the halls where +knights and ladies listened to the adventures of the Paladin are now +turned into granaries," and Orlando himself has nearly disappeared +from the outside, where he was painted in huge dimensions as +if "entrusted with the wardenship") there was a likeness of Boiardo +executed by Niccolo dell' Abate, together with the principal events of +the _Orlando Innamorato_ and the _AEneid_.But part of these +paintings (Mr. Panizzi tells us) were destroyed, and part removed from +the castle to Modena" to save them from certain loss;" and he does not +add whether the portrait was among the latter. + +From anecdotes, however, and from the poet's writings, we gather the +nature of the man; and this appears to have been very amiable. There is +an aristocratic tone in his poem, when speaking of the sort of people of +whom the mass of soldiers is wont to consist; and Foscolo says, that the +Count of Scandiano writes like a feudal lord. But common soldiers are not +apt to be the _elite_ of mankind; neither do we know with how goodnatured +a smile the mention of them may have been accompanied. People often give +a tone to what they read, more belonging to their own minds than the +author's. All the accounts left us of Boiardo, hostile as well as +friendly, prove him to have been an indulgent and popular man. According +to one, he was fond of making personal inquiries among its inhabitants +into the history of his native place; and he requited them so generously +for their information, that it was customary with them to say, when they +wished good fortune to one another, "Heaven send Boiardo to your house!" +There is said to have been a tradition at Scandiano, that having tried in +vain one day, as he was riding out, to discover a name for one of his +heroes, expressive of his lofty character, and the word _Rodamonte_ +coming into his head, he galloped back with a pleasant ostentation to his +castle, crying it out aloud, and ordering the bells of the place to be +rung in its holiour; to the astonishment of the good people, who took +"Rodamonte" for some newly-discovered saint. His friend Paganelli of +Modena, who wrote a Latin poem on the _Empire of Cupid_, extolled +the Governor of Reggio for ranking among the deity's most generous +vassals,--one who, in spite of his office of magistrate, looked with +an indulgent eye on errors to which himself was liable, and who was +accustomed to prefer the study of love-verses to that of the law. The +learned lawyer, his countryman Panciroli, probably in resentment, as +Panizzi says, of this preference, accused him of an excess of benignity, +and of being fitter for writing poems than punishing ill deeds; and in +truth, as the same critic observes, "he must have been considered crazy +by the whole tribe of lawyers of that age," if it be true that he +anticipated the opinion of Beccaria, in thinking that no crime ought to +be punished with death. + +The great work of this interesting and accomplished person, the _Orlando +Innamorato_, is an epic romance, founded on the love of the great Paladin +for the peerless beauty Angelica, whose name has enamoured the ears of +posterity. The poem introduces us to the pleasantest paths in that track +of reading in which Milton has told us that his "young feet delighted to +wander." Nor did he forsake it in his age. + + "Such forces met not, nor so wide a camp, + When Agrican with all his northern powers + Besieged Albracca, as romances tell, + The city of Gallaphrone, from whence to win + The fairest of her sex, Angelica." + + _Paradise Regained._ + +The _Orlando Innamorato_ may be divided into three principal +portions:-the search for Angelica by Orlando and her other lovers; the +siege of her father's city Albracca by the Tartars; and that of Paris +and Charlemagne by the Moors. These, however, are all more or less +intermingled, and with the greatest art; and there are numerous episodes +of a like intertexture. The fairies and fairy-gardens of British romance, +and the fabulous glories of the house of Este, now proclaimed for the +first time, were added by the author to the enchantments of Pulci, +together with a pervading elegance; and had the poem been completed, we +were to have heard again of the traitor Gan of Maganza, for the purpose +of exalting the imaginary founder of that house, Ruggero. + +This resuscitation of the Helen of antiquity, under a more seducing form, +was an invention of Boiardo's; so was the subjection of Charles's hero +Orlando to the passion of love; so, besides the heroine and her name, +was that of other interesting characters with beautiful names, which +afterwards figured in Ariosto. This inventive faculty is indeed so +conspicuous in every part of the work, on small as well as great +occasions, in fairy-adventures and those of flesh and blood, that +although the author appears to have had both his loves and his fairies +suggested to him by our romances of Arthur and the Round Table, it +constitutes, next to the pervading elegance above mentioned, his chief +claim to our admiration. Another of his merits is a certain tender +gallantry, or rather an honest admixture of animal passion with +spiritual, also the precursor of the like ingenuous emotions in Ariosto; +and he furthermore set his follower the example, not only of good +breeding, but of a constant heroical cheerfulness, looking with faith on +nature. Pulci has a constant cheerfulness, but not with so much grace and +dignity. Foscolo has remarked, that Boiardo's characters even surpass +those of Ariosto in truth and variety, and that his Angelica more engages +our feelings;[4] to which I will venture to add, that if his style is +less strong and complete, it never gives us a sense of elaboration. I +should take Boiardo to have been the healthier man, though of a less +determined will than Ariosto, and perhaps, on the whole, less robust. +You find in Boiardo almost which Ariosto perfected,--chivalry, battles, +combats, loves and graces, passions, enchantments, classical and romantic +fable, eulogy, satire, mirth, pathos, philosophy. It is like the first +sketch of a great picture, not the worse in some respects for being a +sketch; free and light, though not so grandly coloured. It is the morning +before the sun is up, and when the dew is on the grass. Take the stories +which are translated in the present volume, and you might fancy them all +written by Ariosto, with a difference; the _Death of Agrican_ perhaps +with minuter touches of nature, but certainly not with greater simplicity +and earnestness. In the _Saracen Friends_ there is just Ariosto's balance +of passion and levity; and in the story which I have entitled _Seeing and +Believing_, his exhibition of triumphant cunning. During the lives of +Pulci and Boiardo, the fierce passions and severe ethics of Dante had +been gradually giving way to a gentler and laxer state of opinion before +the progress of luxury; and though Boiardo's enamoured Paladin retains a +kind of virtue not common in any age to the heroes of warfare, the lord +of Scandiano, who appears to have recited his poem, sometimes to his +vassals and sometimes to the ducal circle at court, intimates a smiling +suspicion that such a virtue would be considered a little rude and +obsolete by his hearers. Pulci's wandering gallant, Uliviero, who in +Dante's time would have been a scandalous profligate, had become the +prototype of the court-lover in Boiardo's. The poet, however, in his most +favourite characters, retained and recommended a truer sentiment, as in +the instance of the loves of Brandimart and Fiordelisa; and there is +a graceful cheerfulness in some of his least sentimental ones, which +redeems them from grossness. I know not a more charming fancy in the +whole loving circle of fairy-land, than the female's shaking her long +tresses round Mandricardo, in order to furnish him with a mantle, when he +issues out of the enchanted fountain.[5] + +But Boiardo's poem was unfinished: there are many prosaical passages +in it, many lame and harsh lines, incorrect and even ungrammatical +expressions, trivial images, and, above all, many Lombard provincialisms, +which are not in their nature of a "significant or graceful" sort,[6] and +which shocked the fastidious Florentines, the arbiters of Italian taste. +It was to avoid these in his own poetry, that Boiardo's countryman +Ariosto carefully studied the Tuscan dialect, if not visited Florence +itself; and the consequence was, that his greater genius so obscured the +popularity of his predecessor, that a remarkable process, unique in the +history of letters, appears to have been thought necessary to restore +its perusal. The facetious Berni, a Tuscan wit full of genius, without +omitting any particulars of consequence, or adding a single story except +of himself, re-cast the whole poem of Boiardo, altering the diction of +almost every stanza, and supplying introductions to the cantos after the +manner of Ariosto; and the Florentine idiom and unfailing spirit of this +re-fashioner's verse (though, what is very curious, not till after a long +chance of its being overlooked itself, and a posthumous editorship which +has left doubts on the authority of the text) gradually effaced almost +the very mention of the man's name who had supplied him with the whole +staple commodity of his book, with all the heart of its interest, and +with far the greater part of the actual words. The first edition of Berni +was prohibited in consequence of its containing a severe attack on the +clergy; but even the prohibition did not help to make it popular. The +reader may imagine a similar occurrence in England, by supposing that +Dryden had re-written the whole of Chaucer, and that his reconstruction +had in the course of time as much surpassed the original in popularity, +as his version of the _Flower and the Leaf_ did, up to the beginning of +the present century. + +I do not mean to compare Chaucer with Boiardo, or Dryden with Berni. Fine +poet as I think Boiardo, I hold Chaucer to be a far finer; and spirited, +and in some respects admirable, as are Dryden's versions of Chaucer, they +do not equal that of Boiardo by the Tuscan. Dryden did not apprehend +the sentiment of Chaucer in any such degree as Berni did that of his +original. Indeed, Mr. Panizzi himself, to whom the world is indebted both +for the only good edition of Boiardo and for the knowledge of the most +curious facts respecting Berni's _rifacimento_, declares himself unable +to pronounce which of the two poems is the better one, the original +Boiardo, or the re-modelled. It would therefore not very well become a +foreigner to give a verdict, even if he were able; and I confess, after +no little consideration (and apart, of course, from questions of dialect, +which I cannot pretend to look into), I feel myself almost entirely at a +loss to conjecture on which side the superiority lies, except in point +of invention and a certain early simplicity. The advantage in those two +respects unquestionably belongs to Boiardo; and a great one it is, and +may not unreasonably be supposed to settle the rest of the question in +his favour; and yet Berni's fancy, during a more sophisticate period of +Italian manners, exhibited itself so abundantly in his own witty poems, +his pen at all times has such a charming facility, and he proved himself, +in his version of Boiardo, to have so strong a sympathy with the +earnestness and sentiment of his original in his gravest moments, that I +cannot help thinking the two men would have been each what the other was +in their respective times;--the Lombard the comparative idler, given more +to witty than serious invention, under a corrupt Roman court; and the +Tuscan the originator of romantic fictions, in a court more suited to him +than the one he avowedly despised. I look upon them as two men singularly +well matched. The nature of the present work does not require, and the +limits to which it is confined do not permit, me to indulge myself in a +comparison between them corroborated by proofs; but it is impossible not +to notice the connexion: and therefore, begging the reader's pardon for +the sorry substitute of affirmative for demonstrative criticism, I may be +allowed to say, that if Boiardo has the praise of invention to himself, +Berni thoroughly appreciated and even enriched it; that if Boiardo has +sometimes a more thoroughly charming simplicity, Berni still appreciates +it so well, that the difference of their times is sufficient to restore +the claim of equality of feeling; and finally, that if Berni strengthens +and adorns the interest of the composition with more felicitous +expressions, and with a variety of lively and beautiful trains of +thought, you feel that Boiardo was quite capable of them all, and might +have done precisely the same had he lived in Berni's age. In the greater +part of the poem the original is altered in nothing except diction, +and often (so at least it seems to me) for no other reason than the +requirements of the Tuscan manner. And this is the case with most of the +noblest, and even the liveliest passages. My first acquaintance, for +example, with the _Orlando Innamorato_ was through the medium of Berni; +and on turning to those stories in his version, which I have translated +from his original for the present volume, I found that every passage but +one, to which I had given a mark of admiration, was the property of the +old poet. That single one, however, was in the exquisitest taste, full of +as deep a feeling as any thing in its company (I have noticed it in the +translated passage). And then, in the celebrated introductions to his +cantos, and the additions to Boiardo's passages of description and +character (those about Rodamonte, for example, so admired by Foscolo), if +Berni occasionally spews a comparative want of faith which you regret, he +does it with a regret on his own part, visible through all his jesting. +Lastly, the singular and indignant strength of his execution often makes +up for the trustingness that he was sorry to miss. If I were asked, in +short, which of the two poems I should prefer keeping, were I compelled +to choose, I should first complain of being forced upon so hard an +alternative, and then, with many a look after Berni, retain Boiardo. The +invention is his; the first earnest impulse; the unmisgivings joy; the +primitive morning breath, when the town-smoke has not polluted the +fields, and the birds are singing their "wood-notes wild." Besides, after +all, one cannot be _sure_ that Berni could have invented as Boiardo did. +If he could, he would probably have written some fine serious poem of his +own. And Panizzi has observed, with striking and conclusive truth, that +"without Berni the _Orlando Innamorato_ will be read and enjoyed; without +Boiardo not even the name of the poem remains."[7] + +Nevertheless this conclusion need not deprive us of either work. Berni +raised a fine polished edifice, copied and enlarged after that of +Boiardo;--on the other hand, the old house, thank Heaven, remains; and +our best way of settling the question between the two is, to be glad that +we have got both. Let the reader who is rich in such possessions look +upon Berni's as one of his town mansions, erected in the park-like +neighbourhood of some metropolis; and Boiardo's as the ancient country +original of it, embosomed in the woods afar off, and beautiful as the +Enchanted Castle of Claude-- + + "Lone sitting by the shores of old romance." + + * * * * * + +[Footnote 1: The materials for the biography in this notice have been +gathered from Tiraboschi and others, but more immediately from the +copious critical memoir from the pen of Mr. Panizzi, in that gentleman's +admirable edition of the combined poems of Boiardo and Ariosto, in nine +volumes octavo, published by Mr. Pickering. I have been under obligations +to this work in the notice of Pulci, and shall again be so in that of +Boiardo's successor; but I must not a third time run the risk of omitting +to give it my thanks (such as they are), and of earnestly recommending +every lover of Italian poetry, who can afford it, to possess himself of +this learned, entertaining, and only satisfactory edition of either of +the Orlandos. The author writes an English almost as correct as it is +elegant; and he is as painstaking as he is lively.] + +[Footnote 2: She had taken a damsel in male attire for a man] + +[Footnote 3: Crescimbeni himself had not seen the translation from +Apuleius, nor, apparently, several others--_Commentari, &c_. vol. ii. +part ii. lib. vii. sect. xi.] + +[Footnote 4: Article on the _Narrative and Romantic Poems of the +Italians_, in the _Quarterly Review_, No. 62, p. 527.] + +[Footnote 5: + + "E' suoi capelli a se sciolse di testa, + Che n'avea molti la dama gioconda; + Ed, abbracciato il cavalier con festa, + Tutto il coperse de la treccia bionda: + Cosi, nascosi entrambi di tal vesta, + Uscir' di quella fonte e la bell' onda." + + Her locks she loosened from her lovely head, + For many and long had that same lady fair; + And clasping him in mirth as round they spread, + Covered the knight with the sweet shaken hair: + And so, thus both together garmented, + They issued from the fount to the fresh air. + +Readers of the _Faerie Queene_ will here see where Spenser has been, +among his other visits to the Bowers of Bliss.] + +[Footnote 6: Foscolo, _ut sup_. p. 528.] + +[Footnote 7: A late amiable man of wit, Mr. Stewart Rose, has given +a prose abstract of Berni's _Orlando Innamorato_, with occasional +versification; but it is hardly more than a dry outline, and was, indeed, +intended only as an introduction to his version of the _Furioso_. A good +idea, however, of one of the phases of Berni's humour may be obtained +from the same gentleman's abridgment of the _Animali Parlanti_ of Casti, +in which he has introduced a translation of the Tuscan's description of +himself and of his way of life, out of his additions to Boiardo's poem. +The verses in the prohibited edition of Berni's _Orlando_, in which he +denounced the corruptions of the clergy, have been published, for the +first time in this country, in the notes to the twentieth canto of Mr. +Panizzi's Boiardo. They have all his peculiar wit, together with a +_Lutheran_ earnestness; and shew him, as that critic observes, to have +been "Protestant at his heart." + +Since writing this note I have called to mind that a translation of +Berni's account of himself is to be found in Mr. Rose's prose abstract of +the _Innamorato._] + + +THE ADVENTURES OF ANGELICA. + +Argument. + +Angelica, daughter of Galafron, king of Cathay, the most beautiful of +womankind, and a possessor of the art of magic, comes, with her brother +Argalia, to the court of Charlemagne under false pretences, in order +to carry away his knights to the country of her father. Her immediate +purpose is defeated, and her brother slain; but all the knights, Orlando +in particular, fall in love with her; and she herself, in consequence of +drinking at an enchanted fountain, becomes in love with Rinaldo. On the +other hand, Rinaldo, from drinking a neighbouring fountain of a reverse +quality, finds his own love converted to loathing. Various adventures +arise out of these circumstances; and the fountains are again drunk, with +a mutual reversal of their effects. + +THE ADVENTURES OF ANGELICA + +It was the month of May and the feast of Pentecost, and Charlemagne had +ordained a great jousting, which brought into Paris an infinite number of +people, baptised and infidel; for there was truce proclaimed, in order +that every knight might come. There was King Grandonio from Spain, with +his serpent's face; and Ferragus, with his eyes like an eagle; and +Balugante, the emperor's kinsman; and Orlando, and Rinaldo, and Duke +Namo; and Astolfo of England, the handsomest of mankind; and the +enchanter Malagigi; and Isoliero and Salamone; and the traitor Gan, with +his scoundrel followers; and, in short, the whole flower of the chivalry +of the age, the greatest in the world. The tables at which they feasted +were on three sides of the hall, with the emperor's canopy midway at the +top; and at that first table sat crowned heads; and down the table on the +right sat dukes and marquises; and down the table on the left, counts and +cavaliers. But the Saracen nobles, after their doggish fashion, looked +neither for chair nor bench, but preferred a carpet on the floor, which +was accordingly spread for them in the midst. + +High sat Charlemagne at the head of his vassals and his Paladins, +rejoicing in the thought of all the great men of which they consisted, +and holding the infidels cheap as the sands which are scattered by the +tempest. To each of his lords, as they drank, he sent round, by his +pages, gifts of enamelled cups of exquisite workmanship; and to every +body some mark of his princely distinction; and so they were all sitting +and hearing music, and feasting off dishes of gold, and talking of lovely +things with low voices,[1] when suddenly there came into the hall four +enormous giants, in the midst of whom was a lady, and behind the lady +there followed a cavalier. She was a very lily of the field, and a rose +of the garden, and a morning-star; in short, so beautiful that the like +had never been seen. There was Galerana in the hall; there was Alda, +the wife of Orlando; and Clarice, and Armellina the kind-hearted, and +abundance of other ladies, all beautiful till she made her appearance; +but after that they seemed nothing. Every Christian knight turned his +face that way; and not a Pagan remained on the floor, but arose and got +as near to her as he could; while she, with a cheerful sweetness, and +a smile fit to enamour a heart of stone, began speaking the following +words: + +"High-minded lord, the renown of your worthiness, and the valour of these +your knights, which echoes from sea to sea, encourages me to hope, that +two pilgrims who have come from the ends of the world to behold you, will +not have encountered their fatigue in vain. And to the end that I may not +hold your attention too long with speaking, let me briefly say, that +this knight here, Uberto of the Lion, a prince renowned also for his +achievements, has been wrongfully driven from out his dominions; and that +I, who was driven out with him, am his sister, whose name is Angelica. +Fame has told us of the jousting this day appointed, and of the noble +press of knights here assembled, and how your generous natures care not +to win prizes of gold or jewels, or gifts of cities, but only a wreath of +roses; and so the prince my brother has come to prove his own valour, and +to say, that if any or all of your guests, whether baptised or infidel, +choose to meet him in the joust, he will encounter them one by one, in +the green meadow without the walls, near the place called the Horseblock +of Merlin, by the Fountain of the Pine. And his conditions are +these,--that no knight who chances to be thrown shall have license to +renew the combat in any way whatsoever, but remain a submissive prisoner +in his hands; he, on the other hand, if himself be thrown, agreeing to +take his departure out of the country with his giants, and to leave his +sister, for prize, in the hands of the conqueror." + +Kneeling at the close of these words, the lady awaited the answer of +Charlemagne, and every body gazed on her with astonishment. Orlando +especially, more than all the rest, felt irresistibly drawn towards her, +so that his heart trembled, and he changed countenance. But he felt +ashamed at the same time; and casting his eyes down, he said to himself, +"Ah, mad and unworthy Orlando! whither is thy soul being hurried? I am +drawn, and cannot say nay to what draws me. I reckoned the whole world as +nothing, and now I am conquered by a girl. I cannot get her sweet look +out of my heart. My soul seems to die within me, at the thought of being +without her. It is love that has seized me, and I feel that nothing will +set me free;--not strength, nor courage, nor my own wisdom, nor that of +any adviser. I see the better part, and cleave to the worse."[2] + +Thus secretly in his heart did the frank and noble Orlando lament over +his new feelings; and no wonder; for every knight in the hall was +enamoured of the beautiful stranger, not excepting even old white-headed +Duke Namo. Charlemagne himself did not escape. + +All stood for awhile in silence, lost in the delight of looking at +her. The fiery youth Ferragus was the first to exhibit symptoms in his +countenance of uncontrollable passion. He refrained with difficulty from +going up to the giants, and tearing her out of their keeping. Rinaldo +also turned as red as fire; while his cousin Malagigi the enchanter, who +had discovered that the stranger was not speaking truth, muttered softly, +as he looked at her, "Exquisite false creature! I will play thee such a +trick for this, as will leave thee no cause to boast of thy visit." + +Charlemagne, to detain her as long as possible before him, made a speech +in answer, in which he talked and looked, and looked and talked, till +there seemed no end of it. At length, however, the challenge was accepted +in all its forms; and the lady quitted the hall with her brother and the +giants. + +She had not yet passed the gates, when Malagigi the enchanter consulted +his books; and that no means might be wanting to complete the +counteraction of what he suspected, he summoned to his aid three spirits +out of the lower regions. But how serious his look turned, how his very +soul within him was shaken, when he discovered that the most dreadful +disasters hung over Charles and his court, and that the sister of the +pretended Uberto was daughter of King Galafron of Cathay, a beauty +accomplished in every species of enchantment, and sent there by her +father on purpose to betray them all! Her brother's name was not Uberto, +but Argalia. Galafron had given him a horse swifter than the wind, an +enchanted sword, a golden lance, also enchanted, which overthrew all whom +it touched,[3] and a ring of a virtue so extraordinary, that if put into +the mouth, it rendered the person invisible, and if worn on the finger, +nullified every enchantment. But beyond even all this, he gave him his +sister for a companion; rightly judging, that every body that saw her +would fall into the proposal of the joust; and trusting that, at the +close of it, she would bring him the whole court of France into Cathay, +prisoners in her hands. + +Such, Malagigi discovered, was the plot of the accursed infidel hound, +King Galafron.[4] + +Meantime the pretended Uberto had returned to his station at the +Horseblock of Merlin. He had had a beautiful pavilion pitched there; and +under this pavilion he lay down awhile to refresh himself with sleep. His +sister Angelica lay down also, but in the open air, under the great pine +by the fountain. The four giants kept watch: and as she lay thus asleep, +with her fair head on the grass, she appeared like an angel come down +from heaven. + +By this time Malagigi, borne by one of his demons, had arrived in the +same place. He saw the beauty asleep by the flowery water, and the four +giants all wide awake; and he said within his teeth,--" Brute scoundrels, +I will take every one of you into my net without a blow." + +Malagigi took his book, and cast a spell out of it; and in an instant +the whole four giants were buried in sleep. Then, drawing his sword, he +softly approached the young lady, intending to despatch her as quickly: +but seeing her look so lovely as she slept, he paused, and considered +within himself, and resolved to detain her in the same state by +enchantment, so long as it should please him. Laying down the naked sword +in the grass, he again took his book, and read and read on, and still +read on, and fancied he was locking up her senses all the while in a +sleep unwakeable. But the ring of which I have spoken was on her finger. +She had borrowed it of her brother; and a superior power rendered all +other magic of no avail. A touch from Malagigi to prove the force of his +spell awoke her, to the magician's consternation, with a great cry. She +fled into the arms of her brother, whom it aroused; and, by the help of +his sister's knowledge of enchantment, Argalia mastered and bound the +magician. The book was then turned against him, and the place was +suddenly filled with a crowd of his own demons, every one of them crying +out to Angelica, "What commandest thou?" + +"Take this man," said Angelica, "and bear him prisoner to the great city +between Tartary and India, where my father Galafron is lord. Present him +to him in my name, and say it was I that took him; and add, that having +so taken the master of the book, I care not for all the other lords of +the court of Charlemagne." + +At the end of these words, and at one and the same instant, the magician +was conveyed to the feet of Galafron in Cathay, and locked up in a rock +under the sea. + +In due time the enamoured knights, according to agreement, came to the +spot, for the purpose of jousting with the supposed Uberto, each anxious +to have the first encounter, particularly Orlando, in order that he might +not see the beauty carried off by another. But they were obliged to draw +lots; and thirty other names appeared before his, the first of which was +that of Astolfo the Englishman. + +Now Astolfo was son of the king of England; and as I said before, he was +the handsomest man in the world. He was also very rich and well bred, and +loved to dress well, and was as brave as he was handsome; but his success +was not always equal to his bravery. He had a trick of being thrown from +his horse, a failing which he was accustomed to attribute to accident; +and then he would mount again, and be again thrown from the saddle, in +the boldest manner conceivable. + +This gallant prince was habited, on the present occasion, in arms worth a +whole treasury. His shield had a border of large pearls; his mail was of +gold; on his helmet was a ruby as big as a chestnut; and his horse was +covered with a cloth all over golden leopards.[5] He issued to the +combat, looking at nobody and fearing nothing; and on his sounding +the horn to battle, Argalia came forth to meet him. After courteous +salutations, the two combatants rushed together; but the moment the +Englishman was touched with the golden lance, his legs flew over his +head. + +"Cursed fortune!" cried he, as he lay on the grass; "this is out of all +calculation. But it was entirely owing to the saddle. You can't but +acknowledge, that if I had kept my seat, the beautiful lady would have +been mine. But thus it is when Fortune chooses to befriend infidels!"[6] + +The four giants, who had by this time been disenchanted out of their +sleep by Angelica, took up the English prince, and put him in the +pavilion. But when he was stripped of his armour, he looked so handsome, +that the lovely stranger secretly took pity on him, and bade them shew +him all the courtesies that captivity allowed. He was permitted to walk +outside by the fountain; and Angelica, from a dark corner, looked at him +with admiration, as he walked up and down in the moonlight.[7] + +The violent Ferragus had the next chance in the encounter, and was thrown +no less speedily than Astolfo; but he did not so easily put up with the +mischance. Crying out, "What are the emperor's engagements to me?" he +rushed with his sword against Argalia, who, being forced to defend himself +unexpectedly, dismounted and set aside his lance, and got so much the +worse of the fight, that he listened to proposals of marriage from +Ferragus to his sister. The beauty, however, not feeling an inclination +to match with so rough and savage-looking a person, was so dismayed at +the offer, that, hastily bidding her brother meet her in the forest of +Arden, she vanished from the sight of both, by means of the enchanted +ring. Argalia, seeing this, took to his horse of swiftness, and dashed +away in the same direction; Ferragus, in distraction, pursued Argalia; +and Astolfo, thus left to himself, took possession of the golden lance, +and again issued forth--not, indeed, with quite his usual confidence of +the result, but determined to run all risks, in any thing that might +ensue, for the sake of the emperor. In fine, to cut this part of the +history short, Charlemagne, finding the lady and her brother gone, +ordered the joust to be restored to its first intention; and Astolfo, +who was as ignorant as the others of the treasure he possessed in the +enchanted lance, unhorsed all comers against him like so many children, +equally to their astonishment and his own. + +The Paladin Rinaldo now learnt the issue of the fight between Ferragus +and the stranger, and galloped in a loving agony of pursuit after +the fair fugitive. Orlando learnt the disappearance of Rinaldo, and, +distracted with jealousy, pushed forth in like manner; and at length all +three are in the forest of Arden, hunting about for her who is invisible. + +Now in this forest were two enchanted waters, the one a running stream, +and the other a built fountain; the first caused every body who tasted it +to fall in love, and the other (so to speak) to fall _out_ of love; say, +rather, to feel the love turned into hate. To the latter of these two +waters Rinaldo happened to come; and being flushed with heat and anxiety, +he dismounted from his horse, and quenched, in one cold draught, both his +thirst and his passion. So far from loving Angelica as before, or holding +her beauty of any account, he became disgusted with its pursuit, nay, +hated her from the bottom of his heart; and so, in this new state of +mind, and with feelings of lofty contempt, he remounted and rode away, +and happened to come on the bank of the running stream. There, enticed by +the beauty of the place, which was all sweet meadow-ground and bowers of +trees, he again quitted his saddle, and, throwing himself on the ground, +fell fast asleep. Unfortunately for the proud beauty Angelica, or rather +in just punishment for her contempt, her palfrey conducted her to this +very place. The water tempted her to drink, and, dismounting and tying +the animal to one of the trees, she did so, and then cast her eyes on the +sleeping Rinaldo. Love instantly seized her, and she stood rooted to the +spot. + +The meadow round about was all full of lilies of the valley and wild +roses. Angelica, not knowing what to do, at length plucked a quantity +of these, and with her white hand she dropped them on the face of the +sleeper. He woke up; and seeing who it was, not only received her +salutations with a change of countenance, but remounting his horse, +galloped away through the thickest part of the forest. In vain the +beautiful creature followed and called after him; in vain asked him what +she had done to be so despised, and entreated him, at any rate, to take +care how he went so fast. Rinaldo disappeared, leaving her to wring her +hands in despair; and she returned in tears to the spot on which she had +found him sleeping. There, in her turn, she herself lay down, pressing +the spot of earth on which he had lain; and so, weeping and lamenting, +yet blessing every flower and bit of grass that he had touched, fell +asleep out of fatigue and sorrow. + +As Angelica thus lay, the good or bad fortune of Orlando conducted him to +the same place. The attitude in which she was sleeping was so lovely +that it is not even to be conceived, much less expressed. The very grass +seemed to flower on all sides of her for joy; and the stream, as it +murmured along, to go talking of love.[8] Orlando stood gazing like a man +who had been transported to another sphere. "Am I on earth," thought he, +"or am I in paradise? Surely it is I myself that am sleeping, and this is +my dream." + +But his dream was proved to be none, in a manner which he little desired. +Ferragus, who had slain Argalia, came up raging with jealousy, and a +combat ensued which awoke the sleeper. Terrified at what she beheld, she +rushed to her palfrey; and while the fighters were occupied with one +another, fled away through the forest. + +Fast fled the beauty in the direction taken by Rinaldo; nor did she +cease travelling, by one conveyance or another, till she reached her own +country, whither she had sent Malagigi. Him she freed from his prison, +on condition that he would employ his art for the purpose of bringing +Rinaldo to a palace of hers, which she possessed in an island; and +accordingly Rinaldo was inveigled by a spirit into an enchanted barque, +which he found on a sea-shore, and which conveyed him, without any +visible pilot, into Joyous Palace (for so the island was called). + +The whole island was a garden, fifteen miles in extent. It was full of +trees and lawns; and on the western side, close to the sea, was the +palace, built of a marble so clear and polished, that it reflected the +landscape round about. Rinaldo, not knowing what to think of his strange +conveyance, lost no time in leaping to shore; upon which a lady made her +appearance, who invited him within. The house was a most beautiful house, +full of rooms adorned with azure and gold, and with noble paintings; +and within as well as without it were the loveliest flowers, the purest +fountains, and a fragrance fit to turn sorrow to joy. The lady led the +knight into an apartment painted with stories, and opening to the garden +through pillars of crystal with golden capitals. Here he found a bevy of +ladies, three of whom were singing in concert, while another played on +some foreign instrument of exquisite accord, and the rest were dancing +round about them. When the ladies beheld him coming, they turned the +dance into a circuit round about himself; and then one of them, in the +sweetest manner, said, "Sir knight, the tables are set, and the hour +for the banquet is come:" and with these words they all drew him, still +dancing, across the lawn in front of the apartment, to a table that was +spread with cloth of gold and fine linen, under a bower of damask roses, +by the side of a fountain.[9] + +Four ladies were already seated there, who rose and placed Rinaldo +at their head, in a chair set with pearls. And truly indeed was he +astonished. A repast ensued, consisting of viands the most delicate, and +wines as fragrant as they were fine, drunk out of jewelled cups; and +when it drew towards its conclusion, harps and lutes were heard in the +distance, and one of the ladies said in the knight's ear, "This house, +and all that you see in it, are yours. For you alone was it built, and +the builder is a queen; and happy indeed must you think yourself, for +she loves you, and she is the greatest beauty in the world. Her name is +Angelica." + +The moment Rinaldo heard the name he so detested, disgust and +wretchedness fell upon his heart, notwithstanding the joys around him. He +started up with a changed countenance, and, in spite of all that the lady +could say, broke off across the garden, and never ceased hastening till +he reached the place where he landed. He would have thrown himself into +the sea, rather than stay any longer in that island; but the enchanted +barque was still on the shore. He sprang into it, and attempted instantly +to push off, for he still saw nobody in it but himself; but the barque +for a while resisted his efforts; till, on his feeling a wish to drown +himself, or to do any thing rather than return to that detested house, it +suddenly loosed itself from its moorings, and dashed away with him over +the sea, as if in a fury. + +All night did the pilotless barque dash on, till it reached, in the +morning, a distant shore covered with a gloomy forest. Here Rinaldo, +surrounded by enchantments of a very different sort from those which he +had lately resisted, was entrapped into a pit. The pit belonged to a +castle which was hung with human heads, and painted red with blood; and +as the Paladin was calling upon God to help him, a hideous white-headed +old woman, of a spiteful countenance, made her appearance on the edge of +the pit, and told him that he must fight with a monster born of Death and +Desire. + +"Be it so," said the Paladin. "Let me but remain armed as I am, and I +fear nothing." For Rinaldo had with him his renowned sword Fusberta.[10] + +The old woman laughed in derision. Rinaldo remained in the den all night, +and next day was taken to a place where a portcullis was lifted up, and +the monster rushed forth. He was a mixture of hog and serpent, larger +than an ox, and not to be looked at without horror. He had eyes like a +traitor, the hands of a man, but clawed, a beard dabbled with blood, a +skin of coarse variegated colours, too hard to be cut through, and two +horns on his temples, which he could turn on all sides of him at his +pleasure, and which were so sharp that they cut like a sword. + +Rising on his hind-legs, and opening a mouth six palms in width, this +horrible beast fell heavily on Rinaldo, who was nevertheless quick enough +to give it a blow on the snout which increased its fury. Returning the +knight a tremendous cuff, it seized his coat of mail between breast and +shoulder, and tore away a great strip of it down to the girdle, +leaving the skin bare. Every successive rent and blow was of the like +irresistible violence; and though the Paladin himself never fought with +more force and fury, he lost blood every instant. The monster at length +tearing his sword out of his hand, the Paladin surely began to think that +his last hour was arrived. + +Looking about to see what might possibly help him, he observed overhead +a beam sticking out of a wall at the height of some ten feet. He took a +leap more than human; and reaching the beam with his hand, succeeded in +flinging himself up across it. Here he sat for hours, the furious brute +continually trying to reach him. Night-time then came on with a clear +starry sky and moonlight, and the Paladin could discern no way of +escaping, when he heard a sound of something, he knew not what, coming +through the air like a bird. Suddenly a female figure stood on the end of +the beam, holding something in her hand towards him, and speaking in a +loving voice. + +It was Angelica, come with means for destroying the monster, and carrying +the knight away. + +But the moment Rinaldo saw her, desperate as seemed to be his condition, +he renounced all offers of her assistance; and at length became so +exasperated with her good offices, especially when she opened her arms +and offered to bear him away in them, that he threatened to cast himself +down to the monster if she did not go away.[11] + +Angelica, saying that she would lose her life rather than displease him, +descended from the beam; and having given the monster a cake of wax which +fastened up his teeth, and then caught and fixed him in a set of nooses +she had brought for that purpose, took her miserable departure. Rinaldo +upon this got down from the beam himself; and having succeeded, though +with the greatest difficulty, in beating and squeezing the life out of +the monster, dealt such havoc among the people of the castle who +assailed him, that the horrible old woman, whose crimes had made her the +creature's housekeeper, and led her to take delight in its cruelty, threw +herself headlong from a tower. The Paladin then took his way forth, +turning his back on the castle and the sea-shore. + +Angelica returned to the capital of her father's dominion, Albracca; and +the pertinacity of others in seeking her love being as great as that of +hers for Rinaldo, she found King Galafron, in a short time, besieged +there for her sake, by the fierce Agrican, king of Tartary. + +In a short time a jealous feud sprang up between the loving friends +Rinaldo and Orlando; and Angelica, torn with conflicting emotions, from +her dread on her father's account as well as her own, and her aversion +to every knight but her detester, was at one time compelled to apply to +Orlando for assistance, and at another, being afraid that he would have +the better of Rinaldo in combat, to send him away on a perilous adventure +elsewhere, with a promise of accepting his love should he succeed.[12] +Orlando went, but not before he had slain Agrican and delivered Albracca. +Circumstances, however, again took him with her to a distance, as the +reader will see, ere he could bring her to perform her promise; and the +Paladins in general having again been scattered abroad, it happened that +Rinaldo a second time found himself in the forest of Arden; and here, +without expecting it, he became an altered man; for he now tasted a very +different stream from that which had given him his hate for Angelica; +namely, the one which had made her fall in love with himself. He was led +to do this by a very extraordinary adventure. + +In the thick of the forest he had come upon a mead full of flowers, in +which there was a naked youth, singing in the midst of three damsels, who +were naked also, and who were dancing round about him. They had bunches +of flowers in their hands, and garlands on their heads; and as they +were thus delighting themselves, with faces full of love and joy, they +suddenly changed countenance on seeing Rinaldo. "Behold," cried they, "the +traitor! Behold him, villain that he is, and the scorner of all delights! +He has fallen into the net at last." With these words they fell upon him +with the flowers like so many furies; and tender as such scourges might +be thought, every blow which the roses and violets gave him, every fresh +stroke of the lilies and the hyacinths, smote him to the very heart, and +filled his veins with fire. The flowers in the bands of the nymphs +being exhausted, the youth gave him a blow on the helmet with a tall +garden-lily, which felled him to the earth; and so, taking him by the +legs, and dragging him over the grass, his conqueror went the whole +circuit of the mead with him, the nymphs taking the very garlands off +their heads, and again scourging him with their white and red roses.[13] + +At the close of this discipline, which left him more exhausted than +twenty battles, his enemies suddenly developed wings from their +shoulders, the feathers of which were of white and gold and vermilion, +every feather having an eye in it, not like those in the peacock's +feathers, but one full of life and motion, being a female eye, lovely and +gracious. And with these wings they poised themselves a little, and so +sprung up to heaven.[14] + +The Paladin, more dead than alive, lay helpless among the flowers, when a +fourth nymph came up to him, of inexpressible beauty. She told him that +he had grievously offended the naked youth, who was no other than Love +himself; and added, that his only remedy was to be penitent, and to drink +of the waters of a stream hard by, which he would find running from the +roots of an olive-tree and a pine. With these words, she vanished in her +turn like the rest; and Rinaldo, dragging himself as well as he could to +the olive and pine, stooped down, and greedily drank of the water. Again +and again he drank, and wished still to be drinking, for it took not only +all pain out of his limbs, but all hate and bitterness out of his soul, +and produced such a remorseful and doating memory of Angelica, that he +would fain have galloped that instant to Cathay, and prostrated himself +at her feet. By degrees he knew the place; and looking round about him, +and preparing to remount his horse, he discerned a knight and a lady in +the distance. The knight was in a coat of armour unknown to him, and the +lady kneeling and drinking at a fountain, which was the one that had +formerly quenched his own thirst; to wit, the Fountain of Disdain. + +Alas! it was Angelica herself; and the knight was Orlando. She had +allowed him to bring her into France, ostensibly for the purpose of +wedding him at the court of Charlemagne, whither the hero's assistance +had been called against Agramant king of the Moors, but secretly with the +object of discovering Rinaldo. Rinaldo, behold! is discovered; but the +fatal averse water has been drunk, and Angelica now hates him in turn, as +cordially as he detested her. In vain he accosted her in the humblest and +most repentant manner, calling himself the unworthiest of mankind, and +entreating to be allowed to love her. Orlando, disclosing himself, +fiercely interrupted him; and a combat so terrific ensued, that Angelica +fled away on her palfrey till she came to a large plain, in which she +beheld an army encamped. + +The army was Charlemagne's, who had come to meet Rodamonte, one of the +vassals of Agramant. Angelica, in a tremble, related how she had left the +two Paladins fighting in the wood; and Charlemagne, who was delighted to +find Orlando so near him, proceeded thither with his lords, and parting +the combatants by his royal authority, suppressed the dispute between +them for the present, by consigning the object of their contention to the +care of Namo duke of Bavaria, with the understanding that she was to be +the prize of the warrior who should best deserve her in the approaching +battle with the infidels. + +[This is the last we hear of Angelica in the unfinished poem of Boiardo. +For the close of her history see its continuation by Ariosto in the +present volume.] + + +[Footnote 1: "Con parlar basso e bei ragionamenti."] + +[Footnote 2: _Video meliora, proboque, &c._ Writers were now beginning +to pride themselves on their classical reading. The present occasion, +it must be owned, was a very good one for introducing the passage from +Horace. The previous words have an affecting ingenuousness; and, indeed, +the whole stanza is beautiful: + + "Io non mi posso dal cor dipartire + La dolce vista del viso sereno, + Perch'io mi sento senza lei morire, + E 'l spirto a poco a poco venir meno. + Or non mi vale forza, ne l'ardire + Contra d' amor, the m' ha gia posto il freno; + Ne mi giova saper, ne altrui consiglio: + Il meglio veggio, ed al peggior m'appiglio." + + Alas! I cannot, though I shut mine eyes, + Lose the sweet look of that delightful face; + The very soul within me droops and dies, + To think that I may fail to gain her grace. + No strong limbs now, no valour, will suffice + To burst the spell that roots me to the place: + No, nor reflection, nor advice, nor force; + I see the better part, and clasp the worse.] + +[Footnote 3: + [Greek: Argureais logchaisi machou, kai panta krataeseis.] + + "Make war with silver spears, and you'll beat all." + +The reader will note the allegory or not, as he pleases. It is a very +good allegory; but allegory, by the due process of enchantment, becomes +matter of fact; and it is pleasant to take it as such.] + +[Footnote 4: "Re Galagron, il maledetto cane"] + +[Footnote 5: The lions in the shield of England were leopards in the +"olden time," and it is understood, I believe, ought still to be so,--as +Napoleon, with an invidious pedantry, once permitted himself to be angry +enough to inform us.] + +[Footnote 6: The character of Astolfo, the germ of which is in our own +ancient British romances, appears to have been completed by the lively +invention of Boiardo, and is a curious epitome of almost all which has +been discerned in the travelled Englishmen by the envy of poorer and the +wit of livelier foreigners. He has the handsomeness and ostentation of a +Buckingham, the wealth of a Beckford, the generosity of a Carlisle, the +invincible pretensions of a Crichton, the self-commitals and bravery of +a Digby, the lucklessness of a Stuart, and the _nonchalance_ "under +difficulties" of "_Milord What-then_" in Voltaire's _Princess of +Babylon_, where the noble traveller is discovered philosophically reading +the news-paper in his carriage after it was overturned. English beauty, +ever since the days of Pope Gregory, with his pun about Angles and +Angels, has been greatly admired in the south of Europe--not a little, +perhaps, on account of the general fairness of its complexion. I once +heard a fair-faced English gentleman, who would have been thought rather +effeminate looking at home, called an "Angel" by a lady in Genoa.] + +[Footnote 7: + + "Stava disciolto, senza guardia alcuna, + Ed intorno a la fonte sollazzava; + Angelica nel lume de la luna, + Quanto potea nascosa, lo mirava." + +There is something wonderfully soft and _lunar_ in the liquid monotony of +the third line.] + +[Footnote 8: + + "La qual dormiva in atto tanto adorno, + Che pensar non si puo, non ch'io lo scriva + Parea che l'erba a lei fiorisse intorno, + E d'amor ragionasse quella riva." + + Her posture, as she lay, was exquisite + Above all words--nay, thought itself above: + The grass seemed flowering round her in delight, + And the soft river murmuring of love.] + +[Footnote 9: Supremely elegant all this appears to me.] + +[Footnote 10: Sometimes called in the romances _Frusberta_ (query, from +_fourbir_, to burnish; or, _froisser_, to crush?). The meaning does not +seem to be known. I ought to have observed, in the notes to Pulci, that +the name of Orlando's sword, _Durlindana_ (called also _Durindana, +Durandal_, &c.), is understood to mean _Hardhitter_.] + +[Footnote 11: The force of aversion was surely never better imagined than +in this scene of the opened arms of beauty, and the knight's preference +of the most odious death.] + +[Footnote 12: Legalised, I presume, by a divorce from the hero's wife, +the fair Alda; who, though she is generally designated by that epithet, +seems never to have had much of his attention.] + +[Footnote 13: This violent effect of weapons so extremely gentle is +beautifully conceived.] + +[Footnote 14: The "female eye, lovely and gracious," is charmingly +painted _per se_, but of this otherwise thoroughly beautiful description +I must venture to doubt, whether _living_ eyes of any sort, instead of +those in the peacock's feathers, are in good taste. The imagination +revolts from life misplaced.] + + +THE + +DEATH OF AGRICAN + +Argument. + +Agrican king of Tartary, in love with Angelica, and baffled by the +prowess of the unknown Orlando in his attempts to bring the siege of +Albracca to a favourable conclusion, entices him apart from the battle +into a wood, in the hope of killing him in single combat. The combat is +suspended by the arrival of night-time; and a conversation ensues between +the warriors, which is furiously interrupted by Agrican's discovery of +his rival, and the latter's refusal to renounce his love. Agrican is +slain; and in his dying moments requests baptism at the hand of his +conqueror, who, with great tenderness, bestows it. + +THE + +DEATH OF AGRICAN. + +The siege of Albracca was going on formidably under the command of +Agrican, and the city of Galafron was threatened with the loss of the +monarch's daughter, Angelica, when Orlando, at his earnest prayer, came +to assist him, and changing at once the whole course of the war, threw +the enemy in his turn into transports of anxiety. Wherever the great +Paladin came, pennon and standard fell before him. Men were cut up and +cloven down, at every stroke of his sword; and whereas the Indians had +been in full rout but a moment before, and the Tartars ever on their +flanks, Galafron himself being the swiftest among the spurrers away, it +was now the Tartars that fled for their lives; for Orlando was there, and +a band of fresh knights were about him, and Agrican in vain attempted to +rally his troops. The Paladin kept him constantly in his front, forcing +him to attend to nobody else. The Tartar king, who cared not a button for +Galafron and all his army,[1] provided he could but rid himself of this +terrible knight (whom he guessed at, but did not know), bethought him of +a stratagem. He turned his horse, and made a show of flying in despair. +Orlando dashed after him, as he desired; and Agrican fled till he reached +a green place in a wood, with a fountain in it. + +The place was beautiful, and the Tartar dismounted to refresh himself at +the fountain, but without taking off his helmet, or laying aside any of +his armour. Orlando was quickly at his back, crying out, "So bold, and +yet such a fugitive! How could you fly from a single arm, and yet think +to escape? When a man can die with honour, he should be glad to die; for +he may live and fare worse. He may get death and infamy together." + +The Tartar king had leaped on his saddle the moment he saw his enemy; and +when the Paladin had done speaking, he said in a mild voice, "Without +doubt you are the best knight I ever encountered; and fain would I leave +you untouched for your own sake, if you would cease to hinder me from +rallying my people. I pretended to fly, in order to bring you out of the +field. If you insist upon fighting, I must needs fight and slay you; but +I call the sun in the heavens to witness, that I would rather not. I +should be very sorry for your death." + +The County Orlando felt pity for so much gallantry; and he said," The +nobler you shew yourself, the more it grieves me to think, that in dying +without a knowledge of the true faith, you will be lost in the other +world. Let me advise you to save body and soul at once. Receive baptism, +and go your way in peace." + +Agrican looked him in the face, and replied, "I suspect you to be the +Paladin Orlando. If you are, I would not lose this opportunity of +fighting with you, to be king of Paradise. Talk to me no more about your +things of the other world; for you will preach in vain. Each of us for +himself, and let the sword be umpire." + +No sooner said than done. The Tartar drew his sword, boldly advancing +upon Orlando; and a cut and thrust fight began, so long and so terrible, +each warrior being a miracle of prowess, that the story says it lasted +from noon till night. Orlando then, seeing the stars come out, was the +first to propose a respite. "What are we to do," said he, "now that +daylight has left us?" + +Agrican answered readily enough, "Let us repose in this meadow, and renew +the combat at dawn." + +The repose was taken accordingly. Each tied up his horse, and reclined +himself on the grass, not far from one another, just as if they had been +friends,--Orlando by the fountain, Agrican beneath a pine. It was a +beautiful clear night; and as they talked together, before addressing +themselves to sleep, the champion of Christendom, looking up at the +firmament, said, "That is a fine piece of workmanship, that starry +spectacle. God made it all,--that moon of silver, and those stars of +gold, and the light of day and the sun,--all for the sake of human kind." + +"You wish, I see, to talk of matters of faith," said the Tartar. "Now +I may as well tell you at once, that I have no sort of skill in such +matters, nor learning of any kind. I never could learn anything when +I was a boy. I hated it so, that I broke the man's head who was +commissioned to teach me; and it produced such an effect on others, that +nobody ever afterwards dared so much as shew me a book. My boyhood was +therefore passed as it should be, in horsemanship, and hunting, and +learning to fight. What is the good of a gentleman's poring all day over +a book? Prowess to the knight, and prattle to the clergyman. That is my +motto." + +"I acknowledge," returned Orlando, "that arms are the first consideration +of a gentleman; but not at all that he does himself dishonour by +knowledge. On the contrary, knowledge is as great an embellishment of the +rest of his attainments, as the flowers are to the meadow before us; and +as to the knowledge of his Maker, the man that is without it is no better +than a stock or a stone, or a brute beast. Neither, without study, can +he reach anything like a due sense of the depth and divineness of the +contemplation." + +"Learned or not learned," said Agrican, "you might skew yourself better +bred than by endeavouring to make me talk on a subject on which you have +me at a disadvantage. I have frankly told you what sort of person I am; +and I dare say, that you for your part are very learned and wise. You +will therefore permit me, if you say anything more of such things, to +make you no answer. If you choose to sleep, I wish you good night; but +if you prefer talking, I recommend you to talk of fighting, or of fair +ladies. And, by the way, pray tell me-are you, or are you not, may I ask, +that Orlando who makes such a noise in the world? And what is it, pray, +brings you into these parts? Were you ever in love? I suppose you must +have been; for to be a knight, and never to have been in love, would be +like being a man with no heart in his breast." + +The County replied, "Orlando I am, and in love I am.[2] Love has made me +abandon every thing, and brought me into these distant regions; and to +tell you all in one word, my heart is in the hands of the daughter of +King Galafron. You have come against him with fire and sword, to get +possession of his castles and his dominions; and I have come to help +him, for no object in the world but to please his daughter, and win her +beautiful hand. I care for nothing else in existence." + +Now when the Tartar king Agrican heard his antagonist speak in this +manner, and knew him to be indeed Orlando, and to be in love with +Angelica, his face changed colour for grief and jealousy, though it could +not be seen for the darkness. His heart began beating with such violence, +that he felt as if he should have died. "Well," said he to Orlando, "we +are to fight when it is daylight, and one or the other is to be left +here, dead on the ground. I have a proposal to make to you; nay, an +entreaty. My love is so excessive for the same lady, that I beg you to +leave her to me. I will owe you my thanks, and give up the fight myself. +I cannot bear that any one else should love her, and I live to see it. +Why, therefore, should either of us perish? Give her up. Not a soul shall +know it."[3] + +"I never yet," answered Orlando, "made a promise which I did not keep; +and, nevertheless, I own to you, that were I to make a promise like that, +and even swear to keep it, I should not. You might as well ask me to tear +away the limbs from my body, and the eyes out of my head. I could as soon +live without breath itself, as cease loving Angelica." + +Agrican bad scarcely patience enough to let the speaker finish, ere he +leaped furiously on horseback, though it was midnight. "Quit her," said +he, "or die!" + +Orlando, seeing the infidel getting up, and not being sure that he would +not add treachery to fierceness, had been hardly less quick in mounting +for the combat. "Never!" exclaimed he. "I never could have quitted her if +I would; and now I wouldn't if I could. You must seek her by other +means than these." + +Fiercely dashed their horses together, in the night-time, on the green +mead. Despiteful and terrible were the blows they gave and took by the +moonlight. There was no need of their looking out for one another, +night-time though it was. Their business was to take as sharp heed of +every movement, as if it had been noon-day.[4] + +Agrican fought in a rage: Orlando was cooler. And now the struggle had +lasted more than five hours, and dawn began to be visible, when the +Tartar king, furious to find so much trouble given him, dealt his enemy a +blow sharp and violent beyond conception. It cut the shield in two, as +if it had been a cheesecake; and though blood could not be drawn from +Orlando, because he was fated, it shook and bruised him, as if it had +started every joint in his body. + +His body only, however; not a particle of his soul. So dreadful was the +blow which the Paladin gave in return, that not only shield, but every +bit of mail on the body of Agrican, was broken in pieces, and three of +his left ribs cut asunder. + +The Tartar, roaring like a lion, raised his sword with still greater +vehemence than before, and dealt a blow on the Paladin's helmet, such as +he had never yet received from mortal man. For a moment it took away his +senses. His sight failed; his ears tinkled; his frightened horse turned +about to fly; and he was falling from the saddle, when the very action +of falling jerked his head upwards, and with the jerk he regained his +recollection. + +"O my God!" thought he, "what a shame is this! how shall I ever again +dare to face Angelica! I have been fighting, hour after hour, with this +man, and he is but one, and I call myself Orlando. If the combat last +any longer, I will bury myself in a monastery, and never look on sword +again." + +Orlando muttered with his lips closed and his teeth ground together; and +you might have thought that fire instead of breath came out of his nose +and mouth. He raised his sword Durindana with both his hands, and sent +it down so tremendously on Agrican's left shoulder, that it cut through +breast-plate and belly-piece down to the very haunch; nay, crushed the +saddle-bow, though it was made of bone and iron, and felled man and horse +to the earth. From shoulder to hip was Agrican cut through his weary +soul, and he turned as white as ashes, and felt death upon him. He called +Orlando to come close to him with a gentle voice, and said, as well as he +could, "I believe in Him who died on the Cross. Baptise me, I pray thee, +with the fountain, before my senses are gone. I have lived an evil life, +but need not be rebellious to God in death also. May He who came to save +all the rest of the world, save me! He is a God of great mercy." + +And he shed tears, did that king, though he had been so lofty and fierce. + +Orlando dismounted quickly, with his own face in tears. He gathered the +king tenderly in his arms, and took and laid him by the fountain, on +a marble cirque which it had; and then he wept in concert with him +heartily, and asked his pardon, and so baptised him in the water of the +fountain, and knelt and prayed to God for him with joined hands. + +He then paused and looked at him; and when he perceived his countenance +changed, and that his whole person was cold, he left him there on the +marble cirque by the fountain, all armed as he was, with the sword by his +side, and the crown upon his head. + + * * * * * + +I think I may anticipate the warm admiration of the reader for the whole +of this beautiful episode, particularly its close. "I think," says +Panizzi, "that Tasso had this passage particularly in view when he wrote +the duel of Clorinda and Tancredi, and her conversion and baptism before +dying. The whole passage, from stanza xii. (where Agrican receives his +mortal blow) to this, is beautiful; and the delicate proceeding of +Orlando in leaving Agrican's body armed, even with the sword in his hand, +is in the noblest spirit of chivalry."--Edition of _Boiardo and Ariosto_, +vol. iii. page 357. + +The reader will find the original in the Appendix No. I. + +In the course of the poem (canto xix. stanza xxvi.) a knight, with the +same noble delicacy, who is in distress for a set of arms, borrows those +belonging to the dead body, with many excuses, and a kiss on its face. + + +[Footnote 1: + + "Che tutti insieme, e 'l suo Re Galafrone, + Non li stimava quanto un vil bottone."] + +[Footnote 2: Berni has here introduced the touching words, "Would I were +not so!" (Cosi non foss'io!)] + +[Footnote 3: This proposal is in the highest ingenuous spirit of the +absurd wilfulness of passion, thinking that every thing is to give way +before it, not excepting the same identical wishes in other people.] + +[Footnote 4: Very fine all this, I think.] + + +THE SARACEN FRIENDS. + +A FAIRY LOVE-TALE + +Argument. + +Prasildo, a nobleman of Babylon, to his great anguish, falls in love with +his friend's wife, Tisbina; and being overheard by her and her husband +threatening to kill himself, the lady, hoping to divert him from his +passion by time and absence, promises to return it on condition of his +performing a distant and perilous adventure. He performs the adventure; +and the husband and wife, supposing that there is no other way of her +escaping the consequences, resolve to take poison; after which the lady +goes to Prasildo's house, and informs him of their having done so. +Prasildo resolves to die with them; but hearing, in the mean time, that +the apothecary had given them a drink that was harmless, he goes and +tells them of their good fortune; upon which the husband is so struck +with his generosity, that he voluntarily quits Babylon for life and the +lady marries the lover. The new husband subsequently hears that his +friend's life is in danger, and quits the wife to go and deliver him from +it at the risk of his own, which he does. + +This story, which has resemblances to it in Boccaccio and Chaucer, is +told to Rinaldo while riding through a wood in Asia, with a damsel behind +him on the same horse. He has engaged to combat in her behalf with a band +of knights; and the lady relates it to beguile the way. + +The reader is to bear in mind, that the age of chivalry took delight in +mooting points of love and friendship, such as in after-times would +have been out of the question; and that the parties in this story are +Mahometans, with whom divorce was an easy thing, and caused no scandal. + +THE SARACEN FRIENDS. + +Iroldo, a knight of Babylon, had to wife a lady of the name of Tisbina, +whom he loved with a passion equal to that of Tristan for Iseult;[1] and +she returned his love with such fondness, that her thoughts were occupied +with him from morning till night. Among other pleasant circumstances +of their position, they had a neighbour who was accounted the greatest +nobleman in the city; and he deserved his credit, for he spent his great +riches in doing nothing but honour to his rank. He was pleasant in +company, formidable in battle, full of grace in love; an open-hearted, +accomplished gentleman. + +This personage, whose name was Prasildo, happened to be of a party one +day with Tisbina, who were amusing themselves in a garden, with a game in +which the players knelt down with their faces bent on one another's laps, +and guessed who it was that struck them. The turn came to himself, and +he knelt down to the lap of Tisbina; but no sooner was he there, than he +experienced feelings he had never dreamt of; and instead of trying to +guess correctly, took all the pains he could to remain in the same +position. + +These feelings pursued him all the rest of the day, and still more +closely at night. He did nothing but think and sigh, and find the soft +feathers harder than any stone. Nor did he get better as time advanced. +His once favourite pastime of hunting now ceased to afford him any +delight. Nothing pleased him but to be giving dinners and balls, to make +verses and sing them to his lute, and to joust and tournay in the eyes of +his love, dressed in the most sumptuous apparel. But above all, gentle +and graceful as he had been before, he now became still more gentle and +graceful--for good qualities are always increased when a man is in +love. Never in my life did I know them turn to ill in that case. So, in +Prasildo's, you may guess what a super-excellent person he became. + +The passion which had thus taken possession of this gentleman was not +lost upon the lady for want of her knowing it. A mutual acquaintance +was always talking to her on the subject, but to no purpose; she never +relaxed her pride and dignity for a moment. The lover at last fell ill; +he fairly wasted away; and was so unhappy, that he gave up all his +feastings and entertainments. The only pleasure he took was in a solitary +wood, in which he used to plunge himself in order to give way to his +grief and lamentations. + +It happened one day, early in the morning, while he was thus occupied, +that Iroldo came into the wood to amuse himself with bird-catching. He +had Tisbina with him; and as they were coming along, they overheard their +neighbour during one of his paroxysms, and stopped to listen to what he +said. + +"Hear me," exclaimed he, "ye flowers and ye woods. Hear to what a pass of +wretchedness I am come, since that cruel one will hear me not. Hear, O +sun that hast taken away the night from the heavens, and you, ye stars, +and thou the departing moon, hear the voice of my grief for the last +time, for exist I can no longer; my death is the only way left me to +gratify that proud beauty, to whom it has pleased Heaven to give a +cruel heart with a merciful countenance. Fain would I have died in her +presence. It would have comforted me to see her pleased even with that +proof of my love. But I pray, nevertheless, that she may never know it; +since, cruel as she is, she might blame herself for having shewn a scorn +so extreme; and I love her so, I would not have her pained for all her +cruelty. Surely I shall love her even in my grave." + +With these words, turning pale with his own mortal resolution, Prasildo +drew his sword, and pronouncing the name of Tisbina more than once with a +loving voice, as though its very sound would be sufficient to waft him +to Paradise, was about to plunge the steel into his bosom, when the lady +herself, by leave of her husband, whose manly visage was all in tears for +pity, stood suddenly before him. + +"Prasildo," said she, "if you love me, listen to me. You have often told +me that you do so. Now prove it. I happen to be threatened with nothing +less than the loss of life and honour. Nothing short of such a calamity +could have induced me to beg of you the service I am going to request; +since there is no greater shame in the world than to ask favours from +those to whom we have refused them. But I now promise you, that if you do +what I desire, your love shall be returned. I give you my word for it. I +give you my honour. On the other side of the wilds of Barbary is a garden +which has a wall of iron. It has four gates. Life itself keeps one; Death +another; Poverty the third; the fairy of Riches the fourth. He who goes +in at one gate must go out at the other opposite; and in the midst of the +garden is a tree, tall as the reach of an arrow, which produces pearls +for blossoms. It is called the Tree of Wealth, and has fruit of emeralds +and boughs of gold. I must have a bough of that tree, or suffer the most +painful consequences. Now, then, if you love me, I say, prove it. Prove +it, and most assuredly I shall love you in turn, better than ever you +loved myself." + +What need of saying that Prasildo, with haste and joy, undertook to do +all that she required? If she had asked the sun and stars, and the whole +universe, he would have promised them. Quitting her in spite of his love, +he set out on the journey without delay, only dressing himself before he +left the city in the habit of a pilgrim. + +Now you must know, that Iroldo and his lady had set Prasildo on that +adventure, in the hope that the great distance which he would have to +travel, and the change which it might assist time to produce, would +deliver him from his passion. At all events, in case this good end was +not effected before he arrived at the garden, they counted to a certainty +on his getting rid of it when he did; because the fairy of that garden, +which was called the Garden of Medusa, was of such a nature, that +whosoever did but look on her countenance forgot the reason for his going +thither; and whoever saluted, touched, and sat down to converse by her +side, forgot all that had ever occurred in his lifetime. + +Away, however, on his steed went our bold lover; all alone, or rather +with Love for his companion; and so, riding hard till he came to the Red +Sea, he took ship, and journeyed through Egypt, and came to the mountains +of Barca, where he overtook an old grey-headed palmer. + +Prasildo told the palmer the reason of his coming, and the palmer told +him what the reader has heard about the garden; adding, that he must +enter by the gate of Poverty, and take no arms or armour with him, +excepting a looking-glass for a shield, in which the fairy might behold +her beauty. The old man gave him other directions necessary for his +passing out of the gate of Riches; and Prasildo, thanking him, went on, +and in thirty days found himself entering the garden with the greatest +ease, by the gate of Poverty. + +The garden looked like a Paradise, it was so full of beautiful trees, and +flowers, and fresh grass. Prasildo took care to hold the shield over his +eyes, that he might avoid seeing the fairy Medusa; and in this manner, +guarding his approach, he arrived at the Golden Tree. The fairy, who was +reclining against the trunk of it, looked up, and saw herself in the +glass. Wonderful was the effect on her. Instead of her own white-and-red +blooming face, she beheld that of a dreadful serpent. The spectacle made +her take to flight in terror; and the lover, finding his object so far +gained, looked freely at the tree, and climbed it, and bore away a +bough[2]. + +With this he proceeded to the gate of Riches. It was all of loadstone, +and opened with a great noise. But he passed through it happily, for he +made the fairy who kept it a present of half the bough; and so he issued +forth out of the garden, with indescribable joy. + +Behold our loving adventurer now on his road home. Every step of the way +appeared to him a thousand. He took the road of Nubia to shorten the +journey; crossed the Arabian Gulf with a breeze in his favour; and +travelling by night as well as by day, arrived one fine morning in +Babylon. + +No sooner was he there, than he sent to tell the object of his passion +how fortunate he had been. He begged her to name her own place and time +for receiving the bough at his hands, taking care to remind her of her +promise; and he could not help adding, that he should die if she broke it. + +Terrible was the grief of Tisbina at this unlooked-for news. She threw +herself on her couch in despair, and bewailed the hour she was born. +"What on earth am I to do?" cried the wretched lady; "death itself is no +remedy for a case like this, since it is only another mode of breaking my +word. To think that Prasildo should return from the garden of Medusa! who +could have supposed it possible? And yet, in truth, what a fool I was to +suppose any thing impossible to love! O my husband! little didst thou +think what thou thyself advisedst me to promise!" + +The husband was coming that moment towards the room; and overhearing his +wife grieving in this distracted manner, he entered and clasped her in +his arms. On learning the cause of her affliction, he felt as though he +should have died with her on the spot. + +"Alas!" cried he, "that it should be possible for me to be miserable +while I am so dear to your heart. But you know, O my soul! that when love +and jealousy come together, the torment is the greatest in the world. +Myself--myself, alas! caused the mischief, and myself alone ought to +suffer for it. You must keep your promise. You must abide by the word you +have given, especially to one who has undergone so much to perform what +you asked him. Sweet face, you must. But oh! see him not till after I am +dead. Let Fortune do with me what she pleases, so that I be saved from a +disgrace like that. It will be a comfort to me in death to think that +I alone, while I was on earth, enjoyed the fond looking of that lovely +face. Nay," concluded the wretched husband, "I feel as though I should +die over again, if I could call to mind in my grave how you were taken +from me." + +Iroldo became dumb for anguish. It seemed to him as if his very heart had +been taken out of his breast. Nor was Tisbina less miserable. She was as +pale as death, and could hardly speak to him, or bear to look at him. At +length turning her eyes upon him, she said, "And do you believe I could +make my poor sorry case out in this world without Iroldo? Can he bear, +himself, to think of leaving his Tisbina? he who has so often said, that +if he possessed heaven itself, he should not think it heaven without her? +O dearest husband, there is a way to make death not bitter to either of +us. It is to die together. I must only exist long enough to see Prasildo! +Death, alas! is in that thought; but the same death will release us. It +need not even be a hard death, saving our misery. There are poisons so +gentle in their deadliness, that we need but faint away into sleep, and +so, in the course of a few hours, be delivered. Our misery and our folly +will then alike be ended." + +Iroldo assenting, clasped his wife in distraction; and for a long time +they remained in the same posture, half stifled with grief, and bathing +one another's cheeks with their tears. Afterwards they sent quietly for +the poison; and the apothecary made up a preparation in a cup, without +asking any questions; and so the husband and wife took it. Iroldo drank +first, and then endeavoured to give the cup to his wife, uttering not a +word, and trembling in every limb; not because he was afraid of death, +but because he could not bear to ask her to share it. At length, turning +away his face and looking down, he held the cup towards her, and she took +it with a chilled heart and trembling hand, and drank the remainder to +the dregs. Iroldo then covered his face and head, not daring to see her +depart for the house of Prasildo; and Tisbina, with pangs bitterer than +death, left him in solitude. + +Tisbina, accompanied by a servant, went to Prasildo, who could scarcely +believe his ears when he heard that she was at the door requesting to +speak with him. He hastened down to shew her all honour, leading her +from the door into a room by themselves; and when he found her in tears, +addressed her in the most considerate and subdued, yet still not unhappy +manner, taking her confusion for bashfulness, and never dreaming what a +tragedy had been meditated. + +Finding at length that her grief was not to be done away, he conjured +her by what she held dearest on earth to let him know the cause of it; +adding, that he could still die for her sake, if his death would do her +any service. Tisbina spoke at these words; and Prasildo then heard what +he did not wish to hear. "I am in your hands," answered she, "while I +am yet alive. I am bound to my word, but I cannot survive the dishonour +which it costs me, nor, above all, the loss of the husband of my heart. +You also, to whose eyes I have been so welcome, must be prepared for my +disappearance from the earth. Had my affections not belonged to another, +ungentle would have been my heart not to have loved yourself, who are so +capable of loving; but (as you must well know) to love two at once is +neither fitting nor in one's power. It was for that reason I never loved +you, baron; I was only touched with compassion for you; and hence the +miseries of us all. Before this day closes, I shall have learnt the taste +of death." And without further preface she disclosed to him how she and +her husband had taken poison. + +Prasildo was struck dumb with horror. He had thought his felicity at +hand, and was at the same instant to behold it gone for ever. She who was +rooted in his heart, she who carried his life in her sweet looks, even +she was sitting there before him, already, so to speak, dead. + +"It has pleased neither Heaven nor you, Tisbina," exclaimed the unhappy +young man, "to put my best feelings to the proof. Often have two lovers +perished for love; the world will now behold a sacrifice of three. Oh, +why did you not make a request to me in your turn, and ask me to free you +from your promise? You say you took pity on me! Alas, cruel one, confess +that you have killed yourself, in order to kill me. Yet why? Never did I +think of giving you displeasure; and I now do what I would have done at +any time to prevent it, I absolve you from your oath. Stay, or go this +instant, as it seems best to you." + +A stronger feeling than compassion moved the heart of Tisbina at these +words. "This indeed," replied she, "I feel to be noble; and truly could +I also now die to save you. But life is flitting; and how may I prove my +regard?" + +Prasildo, who had in good earnest resolved that three instead of two +should perish, experienced such anguish at the extraordinary position in +which he found all three, that even her sweet words came but dimly to his +ears. He stood like a man stupified; then begged of her to give him but +one kiss, and so took his leave without further ado, only intimating that +her way out of the house lay before her. As he spake, he removed himself +from her sight. + +Tisbina reached home. She found her husband with his head covered up as +she left him; but when she recounted what had passed, and the courtesy of +Prasildo, and how he had exacted from her but a single kiss, Iroldo got +up, and removed the covering from his face, and then clasping his hands, +and raising it to heaven, he knelt with grateful humility, and prayed God +to give pardon to himself, and reward to his neighbour. But before he had +ended, Tisbina sunk on the floor in a swoon. Her weaker frame was the +first to undergo the effects of what she had taken. Iroldo felt icy chill +to see her, albeit she seemed to sleep sweetly. Her aspect was not at all +like death. He taxed Heaven with cruelty for treating two loving hearts +so hardly, and cried out against Fortune, and life, and Love itself. + +Nor was Prasildo happier in his chamber. He also exclaimed against the +bitter tyrant "whom men call Love;" and protested, that he would gladly +encounter any fate, to be delivered from the worse evils of his false and +cruel ascendency. + +But his lamentations were interrupted. The apothecary who sold the potion +to the husband and wife was at the door below, requesting to speak with +him. The servants at first had refused to carry the message; but the old +man persisting, and saying it was a matter of life and death, entrance +for him into his master's chamber was obtained. "Noble sir," said the +apothecary, "I have always held you in love and reverence. I have +unfortunately reason to fear that somebody is desiring your death. This +morning a handmaiden of the lady Tisbina applied to me for a secret +poison; and just now it was told me, that the lady herself had been at +this house. I am old, sir, and you are young; and I warn you against the +violence and jealousies of womankind. Talk of their flames of love! Satan +himself burn them, say I, for they are fit for nothing better. Do not be +too much alarmed, however, this time: for in truth I gave the young woman +nothing of the sort that she asked for, but only a draught so innocent, +that if you have taken it, it will cost you but four or five hours' +sleep. So, in God's name, give up the whole foolish sex; for you may +depend on it, that in this city of ours there are ninety-nine wicked ones +among them to one good." + +You may guess how Prasildo's heart revived at these words. Truly might he +be compared to flowers in sunshine after rain; he rejoiced through all +his being, and displayed again a cheerful countenance. Hastily thanking +the old man, he lost no time in repairing to the house of his neighbours, +and telling them of their safety: and you may guess how the like joy was +theirs. But behold a wonder! Iroldo was so struck with the generosity +of his neighbour's conduct throughout the whole of this extraordinary +affair, that nothing would content his grateful though ever-grieving +heart, but he must fairly give up Tisbina after all. Prasildo, to do him +justice, resisted the proposition as stoutly as he could; but a man's +powers are ill seconded by an unwilling heart; and though the contest was +long and handsome, as is customary between generous natures, the husband +adhered firmly to his intention. In short, he abruptly quitted the city, +declaring that he would never again see it, and so left his wife to the +lover. And I must add (concluded the fair lady who was telling the story +to Rinaldo), that although Tisbina took his departure greatly to heart, +and sometimes felt as if she should die at the thoughts of it, yet since +he persisted in staying away, and there appeared no chance of his ever +doing otherwise, she did, as in that case we should all do, we at least +that are young and kind, and took the handsome Prasildo for second +spouse.[3] + +PART THE SECOND + +The conclusion of this part of the history of Iroldo and Prasildo was +scarcely out of the lady's mouth, when a tremendous voice was heard among +the trees, and Rinaldo found himself confronting a giant of a frightful +aspect, who with a griffin on each side of him was guarding a cavern +that contained the enchanted horse which had belonged to the brother of +Angelica. A combat ensued; and after winning the horse, and subsequently +losing the company of the lady, the Paladin, in the course of his +adventures, came upon a knight who lay lamenting in a green place by a +fountain. The knight heeding nothing but his grief, did not perceive the +new comer, who for some time remained looking at him in silence, till, +desirous to know the cause of his sorrow, he dismounted from his horse, +and courteously begged to be informed of it. The stranger in his turn +looked a little while in silence at Rinaldo, and then told him he had +resolved to die, in order to be rid of a life of misery. And yet, he +added, it was not his own lot which grieved him, so much as that of a +noble friend who would die at the same time, and who had nobody to help +him. + +The knight, who was no other than Tisbina's husband Iroldo, then briefly +related the events which the reader has heard, and proceeded to state how +he lead traversed the world ever since for two years, when it was his +misfortune to arrive in the territories of the enchantress Falerina, +whose custom it was to detain foreigners in prison, and daily give a +couple of them (a lady and a cavalier) for food to a serpent which kept +the entrance of her enchanted garden. To this serpent he himself was +destined to be sacrificed, when Prasildo, the possessor of his wife +Tisbina, hearing of his peril, set out instantly from Babylon, and rode +night and day till he came to the abode of the enchantress, determined +that nothing should hinder him from doing his utmost to save the life of +a friend so generous. Save it he did, and that by a generosity no less +devoted; for having attempted in vain to bribe the keeper of the prison, +he succeeded in prevailing on the man to let him substitute himself for +his friend; and he was that very day, perhaps that very moment, preparing +for the dreadful death to which he would speedily be brought. + +"I will not survive such a friend," concluded Iroldo. "I know I shall +contend with his warders to no purpose; but let the wretches come, if +they will, by thousands; I shall fight them to the last gasp. One comfort +in death, one joy I shall at all events experience. I shall be with +Prasildo in the other world. And yet when I think what sort of death he +must endure, even the release from my own miseries afflicts me, since it +will not prevent him from undergoing that horror." + +The Paladin shed tears to hear of a case so piteous and affectionate, and +in a tone of encouragement offered his services towards the rescue of his +friend. Iroldo looked at him in astonishment, but sighed and said, "Ah, +Sir, I thank you with all my heart, and you are doubtless a most noble +cavalier, to be so fearless and good-hearted; but what right have I to +bring you to destruction for no reason and to no purpose? There is not +a man on earth but Orlando himself, or his cousin Rinaldo, who could +possibly do us any good; and so I beg you to accept my thanks and depart +in safety, and may God reward you." + +"It is true," replied the Paladin, "I am not Orlando; and yet, for all +that, I doubt not to be able to effect what I propose. Nor do I offer my +assistance out of desire of glory, or of thanks, or return of any kind; +except indeed, that if two such unparalleled friends could admit me to be +a third, I should hold myself a happy man. What! you have given up the +woman of your heart, and deprived yourself of all joy and comfort; and +your friend, on the other hand, has become a prisoner and devoted to +death, for your sake; and can I be expected to leave two such friends in +a jeopardy so monstrous, and not do all in my power to save them? I would +rather die first myself, and on your own principle; I mean, in order to +go with you into a better world." + +While they were talking in this manner, a great ill-looking rabble, +upwards of a thousand strong, made their appearance, carrying a banner, +and bringing forth two prisoners to die. The wretches were armed after +their disorderly fashion; and the prisoners each tied upon a horse. One +of these hapless persons too surely was Prasildo; and the other turned +out to be the damsel who had told Rinaldo the story of the friends. +Having been deprived of the Paladin's assistance, her subsequent +misadventures had brought her to this terrible pass. The moment Rinaldo +beheld her, he leaped on his horse, and dashed among the villains. The +sight of such an onset was enough for their cowardly hearts. The whole +posse fled before him with precipitation, all except the leader, who was +a villain of gigantic strength; and him the Paladin, at one blow, clove +through the middle. Iroldo could not speak for joy, as he hastened to +release Prasildo. He was forced to give him tears instead of words. But +when speech at length became possible, the two friends, fervently and +with a religious awe, declared that their deliverer must have been divine +and not human, so tremendous was the death-blow he had given the ruffian, +and such winged and contemptuous slaughter he had dealt among the +fugitives. By the time he returned from the pursuit, their astonishment +had risen to such a pitch, that they fell on their knees and worshipped +him for the Prophet of the Saracens, not believing such prowess possible +to humanity, and devoutly thanking him for the mercy he had shewn them in +coming thus visibly from heaven. Rinaldo for the moment was not a little +disturbed at this sally of enthusiasm; but the singular good faith and +simplicity of it restored him to himself; and with a smile between +lovingness and humility he begged them to lay aside all such fancies, and +know him for a man like themselves. He then disclosed himself for the +Rinaldo of whom they had spoken, and made such an impression on them with +his piety, and his attributing what had appeared a superhuman valour to +nothing but his belief in the Christian religion, that the transported +friends became converts on the spot, and accompanied him thenceforth as +the most faithful of his knights. + + * * * * * + +The story tells us nothing further of Tisbina, though there can be no +doubt that Boiardo meant to give us the conclusion of her share in it; +for the two knights take an active part in the adventures of their new +friend Rinaldo. Perhaps, however, the discontinuance of the poem itself +was lucky for the author, as far as this episode was concerned; for it +is difficult to conceive in what manner he would have wound it up to the +satisfaction of the reader. + + +[Footnote 1: The hero and heroine of the famous romance of _Tristan de +Leonois_.] + +[Footnote 2: "Mr. Rose observes, that Medusa may be designed by Boiardo +as the 'type of conscience;' and he is confirmed in his opinion by the +circumstance mentioned in this canto (12, lib. i. stan. 39) of Medusa not +being able to contemplate the reflection of her own hideous appearance, +though beautiful in the sight of others. I fully agree with +him."--PANIZZI, _ut sup_. Vol. iii p. 333.] + +[Footnote 3: "Tisbina," says Panizzi, in a note on this passage, "very +wisely acted like Emilia (in Chaucer), who, when she saw she could not +marry Arcita, because he was killed, thought of marrying Palemone, rather +than 'be a mayden all hire lyf.' It is to be observed, that although she +regretted very much what had happened, and even fainted away, she did +not, however, stand on ceremonies, as the poet says in the next stanza, +but yielded immediately, and married Prasildo. This, at first, I thought +to be a somewhat inconsistent; but on consideration I found I was wrong. +Tisbina was wrong; because, having lost Iroldo, she did not know what +Prasildo would do; but so soon as the latter offered to fill up the +place, she nobly and magnanimously resigned herself to her fate."--_Ut +sup_. vol. iii. p. 336. + +It might be thought inconsistent in Tisbina, notwithstanding Mr. +Panizzi's pleasantry, to be so willing to take another husband, after +having poisoned herself for the first; but she seems intended by the poet +to exhibit a character of impulse in contradistinction to permanency of +sentiment. She cannot help shewing pity for Prasildo; she cannot help +poisoning herself for her husband; and she cannot help taking his friend, +when she has lost him. Nor must it be forgotten, that the husband was the +first to break the tie. We respect him more than we do her, because he +was capable of greater self-denial; but if he himself preferred his +friend to his love, we can hardly blame her (custom apart) for following +the example.] + + +SEEING AND BELIEVING. + +ARGUMENT + +A lady has two suitors, a young and an old one, the latter of whom wins +her against her inclinations by practising the artifice of Hippomanes in +his race with Atalanta. Being very jealous, he locks her up in a tower; +and the youth, who continued to be her lover, makes a subterraneous +passage to it; and pretending to have married her sister, invites the old +man to his house, and introduces his own wife to him as the bride. The +husband, deceived, but still jealous, facilitates their departure out of +the country, and returns to his tower to find himself deserted. + +This story, like that of the _Saracen Friends_, is told by a damsel to a +knight while riding in his company; with this difference, that she is the +heroine of it herself. She is a damsel of a nature still lighter than the +former; and the reader's sympathy with the trouble she brings on herself, +and the way she gets out of it, will be modified accordingly. On the +other hand, nobody can respect the foolish old man with his unwarrantable +marriage; and the moral of Boiardo's story is still useful for these +"enlightened times," though conveyed with an air of levity. + +In addition to the classics, the poet has been to the Norman fablers for +his story. The subterranean passage has been more than once repeated in +romance; and the closing incident, the assistance given by the husband +to his wife's elopement, has been imitated in the farce of _Lionel and +Clarissa._ + +SEEING AND BELIEVING. + +My father (said the damsel) is King of the Distant Islands, where the +treasure of the earth is collected. Never was greater wealth known, and I +was heiress of it all. + +But it is impossible to foresee what is most to be desired for us in this +world. I was a king's daughter, I was rich, I was handsome, I was lively; +and yet to all those advantages I owed my ill-fortune. + +Among other suitors for my hand there came two on the same day, one of +whom was a youth named Ordauro, handsome from head to foot; the other an +old man of seventy, whose name was Folderico. Both were rich and of noble +birth; but the greybeard was counted extremely wise, and of a foresight +more than human. As I did not feel in want of his foresight, the youth +was far more to my taste; and accordingly I listened to him with perfect +good-will, and gave the wise man no sort of encouragement. I was not at +liberty, however, to determine the matter; my father had a voice in it; +so, fearing what he would advise, I thought to secure a good result by +cunning and management. It is an old observation, that the craft of a +woman exceeds all other craft. Indeed, it is Solomon's own saying. But +now-a-days people laugh at it; and I found to my cost that the laugh is +just. I requested my father to proclaim, first, that nobody should have +me in marriage who did not surpass me in swiftness (for I was a damsel of +a mighty agility); and secondly, that he who did surpass me should be my +husband. He consented, and I thought my happiness secure. You must know, +I have run down a bird, and caught it with my own hand. + +Well, both my suitors came to the race; the youth on a large war-horse, +trapped with gold, which curvetted in a prodigious manner, and seemed +impatient for a gallop; the old roan on a mule, carrying a great bag at +his side, and looking already tired out. They dismounted on the place +chosen for the trial, which was a meadow. It was encircled by a world of +spectators; and the greybeard and myself (for his age gave him the first +chance) only waited for the sound of the trumpet to set off. + +I held my competitor in such contempt, that I let him get the start of +me, on purpose to make him ridiculous; but I was not prepared for his +pulling a golden apple out of his bag, and throwing it as far as he could +in a direction different from that of the goal. The sight of a curiosity +so tempting was too much for my prudence; and it rolled away so roundly, +and to such a distance, that I lost more time in reaching it than I +looked for. Before I overtook the old gentleman, he threw another apple, +and this again led me a chase after it. In short, I blush to say, that, +resolved as I was to be tempted no further, seeing that the end of our +course was now at hand, and my marriage with an old man instead of a +young man was out of the question, he seduced me to give chase to a +third apple, and fairly reached the goal before me. I wept for rage and +disgust, and meditated every species of unconjugal treatment of the old +fox. What right had he to marry such a child as I was? I asked myself the +question at the time; I asked it a thousand times afterwards; and I must +confess, that the more I have tormented him, the more the retaliation +delights me. + +However, it was of no use at the moment. The old wretch bore me off +to his domains with an ostentatious triumph; and then, his jealousy +misgiving him, he shut me up in a castle on a rock, where he endeavoured +from that day forth to keep me from the sight of living being. You may +judge what sort of castle it was by its name--_Altamura_ (lofty wall). It +overlooked a desert on three sides, and the sea on the fourth; and a man +might as well have flown as endeavoured to scale it. There was but one +path up to the entrance, very steep and difficult; and when you were +there, you must have pierced outwork after outwork, and picked the lock +of gate after gate. So there sat I in this delicious retreat, hopeless, +and bursting with rage. I called upon death day and night, as my only +refuge. I had no comfort but in seeing my keeper mad with jealousy, even +in that desolate spot. I think he was jealous of the very flies. + +My handsome youth, Ordauro, however, had not forgotten me; no, nor even +given me up. Luckily he was not only very clever, but rich besides; +without which, to be sure, his brains would not have availed him a pin. +What does he do, therefore, but take a house in the neighbourhood on the +sea-shore; and while my tormentor, in alarm and horror, watches every +movement, and thinks him coming if he sees a cloud or a bird, Ordauro +sets people secretly to work night and day, and makes a subterraneous +passage up to the very tower! Guess what I felt when I saw him enter! +Assuredly I did not show him the face which I shewed Folderico. I +die with joy this moment to think of my delight. As soon as we could +discourse of any thing but our meeting, Ordauro concerted measures for my +escape; and the greatest difficulty being surmounted by the subterraneous +passage, they at last succeeded. But our enemy gave us a frightful degree +of trouble. + +There was no end of the old man's pryings, peepings, and precautions. +He left me as little as possible by myself; and he had all the coast +thereabouts at his command, together with the few boats that ever touched +it. + +Ordauro, however, did a thing at once the most bold and the most +ingenious. He gave out that he was married; and inviting my husband to +dinner, who had heard the news with transport, presented me, to his +astonished eyes, for the bride. The old man looked as if he would have +died for rage and misery. + +"Horrible villain!" cried he," what is this?" + +Ordauro professed astonishment in his turn. + +"What!" asked he; "do you not know that the princess, your lady's sister, +is wonderfully like her, and that she has done me the honour of becoming +my wife? I invited you in order to do honour to yourself, and so bring +the good families together." + +"Detestable falsehood!" cried Folderico. "Do you think I'm blind, or a +born idiot? But I'll see to this business directly; and terrible shall be +my revenge." + +So saying, he flung out, and hastened, as fast as age would let him, to +the room in the tower, where he expected to find me not. But there he did +find me:--there was I, sitting as if nothing had happened, with my hand +on my cheek, and full of my old melancholy. + +"God preserve me!" exclaimed he; "this is astonishing indeed! Never could +I have dreamt that one sister could be so like another! But is it so, or +is it not? I have terrible suspicions. It is impossible to believe it. +Tell me truly," he continued; "answer me on the faith of a daring woman, +and you shall get no hurt by it. Has any one opened the portals for you +to-day? Who was it? How did you get out? Tell me the truth, and you shall +not suffer for it; but deceive me, and there is no punishment that you +may not look for." + +It is needless to say how I vowed and protested that I had never stirred; +that it was quite impossible; that I could not have done it if I would, +&c. I took all the saints to witness to my veracity, and swore I had +never seen the outside of his tremendous castle. + +The monster had nothing to say to this; but I saw what he meant to do--I +saw that he would return instantly to the house of Ordauro, and ascertain +if the bride was there. Accordingly, the moment he turned the key on me, +I flew down the subterraneous passage, tossed on my new clothes like +lightning, and sat in my lover's house as before, waiting the arrival of +the panting old gentleman. + +"Well," exclaimed he, as soon as he set eyes upon me, "never in all my +life--no--I must allow it to be impossible--never can my wife at home be +the lady sitting here." + +From that day forth the old man, whenever he saw me in Ordauro's house, +treated me as if I were indeed his sister-in-law, though he never had the +heart to bring the two wives together, for fear of old recollections. +Nevertheless, this state of things was still very perilous; and my new +husband and myself lost no time in considering how we should put an end +to it by leaving the country. Ordauro resorted, as before, to a bold +expedient. He told Folderico that the air of the sea-coast disagreed +with him; and the old man, whose delight at getting rid of his neighbour +helped to blind him to the deceit, not only expedited the movement, but +offered to see him part of the way on his journey! + +The offer was accepted. Six miles he rode forth with us, the stupid old +man; and then, taking his leave, to return home, we pushed our horses +like lightning, and so left him to tear his hair and his old beard with +cries and curses, as soon as he opened the door of his tower. + + + +ARIOSTO: + +Critical Notice of his Life and Genius. + +CRITICAL NOTICE + +OF + +ARIOSTO'S LIFE AND GENIUS.[1] + +The congenial spirits of Pulci and Boiardo may be said to have attained +to their height in the person of Ariosto, upon the principle of a +transmigration of souls, or after the fashion of that hero in romance, +who was heir to the bodily strengths of all whom he conquered. + +Lodovico Giovanni Ariosto was born on the 8th of September, 1474, in the +fortress at Reggio, in Lombardy, and was the son of Niccolo Ariosto, +captain of that citadel (as Boiardo had been), and Daria Maleguzzi, +whose family still exists. The race was transplanted from Bologna in the +century previous, when Obizzo the Third of Este, Marquess of Ferrara, +married a lady belonging to it, whose Christian name was Lippa. Niccolo +Ariosto, besides holding the same office as Boiardo had done, at Modena +as well as at Reggio, was master of the household to his two successive +patrons, the Dukes Borso and Ercole. He was also employed, like him, +in diplomacy; and was made a count by the Emperor Frederick the Third, +though not, it seems, with remainder to his heirs. + +Lodovico was the eldest of ten children, five sons and five daughters. +During his boyhood, theatrical entertainments were in great vogue at +court, as we have seen in the life of Boiardo; and at the age of twelve, +a year after the decease of that poet (who must have been well known to +him, and probably encouraged his attempts), his successor is understood +to have dramatised, after his infant fashion, the story of Pyramus and +Thisbe, and to have got his brothers and sisters to perform it. Panizzi +doubts the possibility of these precocious private theatricals; but +considering what is called "writing" on the part of children, and that +only one other performer was required in the piece, or at best a third +for the lion (which some little brother might have "roared like any +sucking-dove"), I cannot see good reason for disbelieving the story. Pope +was not twelve years old when he turned the siege of Troy into a play, +and got his school-fellows to perform it, the part of Ajax being given to +the gardener. Man is a theatrical animal ([Greek: zoon mimaetikon]), and +the instinct is developed at a very early period, as almost every family +can witness that has taken its children to the "playhouse." + +At fifteen the young poet, like so many others of his class, was +consigned to the study of the law, and took a great dislike to it. The +extreme mobility of his nature, and the wish to please his father, appear +to have made him enter on it willingly enough in the first instance;[2] +but as soon as he betrayed symptoms of disgust, Niccolo, whose affairs +were in a bad way, drove him back to it with a vehemence which must have +made bad worse.[3] At the expiration of five years he was allowed to give +it up. + +There is reason to believe that Ariosto was "theatricalising" during +no little portion of this time; for, in his nineteenth year, he is +understood to have been taken by Duke Ercole to Pavia and to Milan, +either as a writer or performer of comedies, probably both, since the +courtiers and ducal family themselves occasionally appeared on the stage; +and one of the poet's brothers mentions his having frequently seen him +dressed in character.[4] + +On being delivered from the study of the law, the young poet appears +to have led a cheerful and unrestrained life for the next four or five +years. + +He wrote, or began to write, the comedy of the _Cassaria_; probably +meditated some poem in the style of Boiardo, then in the height of his +fame; and he cultivated the Latin language, and intended to learn Greek, +but delayed, and unfortunately missed it in consequence of losing his +tutor. Some of his happiest days were passed at a villa, still possessed +by the Maleguzzi family, called La Mauriziana, two miles from Reggio. +Twenty-five years afterwards he called to mind, with sighs, the pleasant +spots there which used to invite him to write verses; the garden, the +little river, the mill, the trees by the water-side, and all the other +shady places in which he enjoyed himself during that sweet season of his +life "betwixt April and May."[5] To complete his happiness, he had a +friend and cousin, Pandolfo Ariosto, who loved every thing that he loved, +and for whom he augured a brilliant reputation. + +But a dismal cloud was approaching. In his twenty-first year he lost +his father, and found a large family left on his hands in narrow +circumstances. The charge was at first so heavy, especially when +aggravated by the death of Pandolfo, that he tells us he wished to die. +He took to it manfully, however, in spite of these fits of gloom; and he +lived to see his admirable efforts rewarded; his brothers enabled to seek +their fortunes, and his sisters properly taken care of. Two of them, it +seems, had become nuns. A third married; and a fourth remained long in +his house. It is not known what became of the fifth. + +In these family-matters the anxious son and brother was occupied for +three or four years, not, however, without recreating himself with his +verses, Latin and Italian, and recording his admiration of a number of +goddesses of his youth. He mentions, in particular, one of the name of +Lydia, who kept him often from "his dear mother and household," and +who is probably represented by the princess of the same name in the +_Orlando_, punished in the smoke of Tartarus for being a jilt and +coquette.[6] His friend Bembo, afterwards the celebrated cardinal, +recommended him to be blind to such little immaterial points as ladies' +infidelities. But he is shocked at the advice. He was far more of +Othello's opinion than Congreve's in such matters; and declared, that he +would not have shared his mistress' good-will with Jupiter himself.[7] + +Towards the year 1504, the poet entered the service of the unworthy +prince, Cardinal Ippolito of Este, brother of the new Duke of Ferrara, +Alfonso the First. His eminence, who had been made a prince of the church +at thirteen years of age by the infamous Alexander the Sixth (Borgia), +was at this period little more than one-and-twenty; but he took an active +part in the duke's affairs, both civil and military, and is said to +have made himself conspicuous in his father's lifetime for his vices and +brutality. He is charged with having ordered a papal messenger to be +severely beaten for bringing him some unpleasant despatches: which so +exasperated his unfortunate parent, that he was exiled to Mantua; and the +marquess of that city, his brother-in-law, was obliged to come to Ferrara +to obtain his pardon. But this was a trifle compared with what he +is accused of having done to one of his brothers. A female of their +acquaintance, in answer to a speech made her by the reverend gallant, had +been so unlucky as to say that she preferred his brother Giulio's eyes +to his eminence's whole body: upon which the monstrous villain hired two +ruffians to put out his brother's eyes; some say, was present at the +attempt. Attempt only it fortunately turned out to be, at least in part; +the opinion being, that the sight of one of the eyes was preserved.[8] + +Party-spirit has so much to do with stories of princes, and princes are +so little in a condition to notice them, that, on the principle of +not condemning a man till he has been heard in his defence, an honest +biographer would be loath to credit these horrors of Cardinal Ippolito, +did not the violent nature of the times, and the general character of the +man, even with his defenders, incline him to do so. His being a soldier +rather than a churchman was a fault of the age, perhaps a credit to the +man, for he appears to have had abilities for war, and it was no crime of +his if he was put into the church when a boy. But his conduct to Ariosto +shewed him coarse and selfish; and those who say all they can for him +admit that he was proud and revengeful, and that nobody regretted him +when he died. He is said to have had a taste for mathematics, as his +brother had for mechanics. The truth seems to be, that he and the duke, +who lived in troubled times, and had to exert all their strength to +hinder Ferrara from becoming a prey to the court of Rome, were clever, +harsh men, of no grace or elevation of character, and with no taste but +for war; and if it had not been for their connexion with Ariosto, nobody +would have heard of them, except while perusing the annals of the time. +Ippolito might have been, and probably was, the ruffian which the +anecdote of his brother Giulio represents him; but the world would have +heard little of the villany, had he not treated a poet with contempt. + +The admirers of our author may wonder how he could become the servant of +such a man, much more how he could praise him as he did in the great work +which he was soon to begin writing. But Ariosto was the son of a man who +had passed his life in the service of the family; he had probably been +taught a loyal blindness to its defects; gratuitous panegyrics of princes +had been the fashion of men of letters since the time of Augustus; and +the poet wanted help for his relatives, and was of a nature to take +the least show of favour for a virtue, till he had learnt, as he +unfortunately did, to be disappointed in the substance. It is not known +what his appointment was under the cardinal. Probably he was a kind of +gentleman of all work; an officer in his guards, a companion to amuse, +and a confidential agent for the transaction of business. The employment +in which he is chiefly seen is that of an envoy, but he is said also to +have been in the field of battle; and he intimates in his _Satires_, +that household attentions were expected of him which he was not quick +to offer, such as pulling off his eminence's boots, and putting on +his spurs.[9] It is certain that he was employed in very delicate +negotiations, sometimes to the risk of his life from the perils of roads +and torrents. Ippolito, who was a man of no delicacy, probably made use +of him on every occasion that required address, the smallest as well +as greatest,--an interview with a pope one day, and a despatch to a +dog-fancier the next. + +His great poem, however, proceeded. It was probably begun before he +entered the cardinal's service; certainly was in progress during the +early part of his engagement. This appears from a letter written to +Ippolito by his sister the Marchioness of Mantua, to whom he had sent +Ariosto at the beginning of the year 1509 to congratulate her on the +birth of a child. She gives her brother special thanks for sending his +message to her by "Messer Ludovico Ariosto," who had made her, she says, +pass two delightful days, with giving her an account of the poem he was +writing.[10] Isabella was the name of this princess; and the grateful +poet did not forget to embalm it in his verse.[11] + +Ariosto's latest biographer, Panizzi, thinks he never served under any +other leader than the cardinal; but I cannot help being of opinion with a +former one, whom he quotes, that he once took arms under a captain of the +name of Pio, probably a kinsman of his friend Alberto Pio, to whom he +addresses a Latin poem. It was probably on occasion of some early disgust +with the cardinal; but I am at a loss to discover at what period of time. +Perhaps, indeed, he had the cardinal's permission, both to quit his +service, and return to it. Possibly he was not to quit it at all, except +according to events; but merely had leave given him to join a party in +arms, who were furthering Ippolito's own objects. Italy was full of +captains in arms and conflicting interests. The poet might even, at some +period of his life, have headed a troop under another cardinal, his +friend Giovanni de' Medici, afterwards Leo the Tenth. He had certainly +been with him in various parts of Italy; and might have taken part in +some of his bloodless, if not his most military, equitations. + +Be this as it may, it is understood that Ariosto was present at the +repulse given to the Venetians by Ippolito, when they came up the river +Po against Ferrara towards the close of the year 1509; though he was away +from the scene of action at his subsequent capture of their flotilla, the +poet having been despatched between the two events to Pope Julius the +Second on the delicate business of at once appeasing his anger with the +duke for resisting his allies, and requesting his help to a feudatary of +the church. Julius was in one of his towering passions at first, but +gave way before the address of the envoy, and did what he desired. But +Ariosto's success in this mission was nearly being the death of him in +another; for Alfonso having accompanied the French the year following +in their attack on Vicenza, where they committed cruelties of the same +horrible kind as have shocked Europe within a few months past,[12] the +poet's tongue, it was thought, might be equally efficacious a second +time; but Julius, worn out of patience with his too independent vassal, +who maintained an alliance with the French when the pope had ceased to +desire it, was to be appeased no longer. He excommunicated Alfonso, and +threatened to pitch his envoy into the Tiber; so that the poet was fain +to run for it, as the duke himself was afterwards, when he visited Rome +to be absolved. Would Julius have thus treated Ariosto, could he have +foreseen his renown? Probably he would. The greater the opposition to the +will, the greater the will itself. To chuck an accomplished envoy into +the river would have been much; but to chuck the immortal poet there, +laurels and all, in the teeth of the amazement of posterity, would have +been a temptation irresistible. + +It was on this occasion that Ariosto, probably from inability to choose +his times or anodes of returning home, contracted a cough, which is +understood to have shortened his existence; so that Julius may have +killed him after all. But the pope had a worse enemy in his own +bosom--his violence--which killed himself in a much shorter period. He +died in little more than two years afterwards; and the poet's prospects +were all now of a very different sort--at least he thought so; for in +March 1513, his friend Giovanni de' Medici succeeded to the papacy, under +the title of Leo the Tenth. + +Ariosto hastened to Rome, among a shoal of visitants, to congratulate the +new pope, perhaps not without a commission from Alfonso to see what he +could do for his native country, on which the rival Medici family never +ceased to have designs. The poet was full of hope, for he had known Leo +under various fortunes; had been styled by him not only a friend, but a +brother; and promised all sorts of participations of his prosperity. Not +one of them came. The visitor was cordially received. Leo stooped from +his throne, squeezed his hand, and kissed him on both his cheeks; but "at +night," says Ariosto, "I went all the way to the Sheep to get my supper, +wet through." All that Leo gave him was a "bull," probably the one +securing to him the profits of his _Orlando;_ and the poet's friend +Bibbiena--wit, cardinal, and kinsman of Berni--facilitated the bull, but +the receiver discharged the fees. He did not get one penny by promise, +pope, or friend.[13] He complains a little, but all in good humour; and +good-naturedly asks what he was to expect, when so many hungry kinsmen +and partisans were to be served first. Well and wisely asked too, and +with a superiority to his fortunes which Leo and Bibbiena might have +envied. + +It is thought probable, however, that if the poet had been less a friend +to the house of Este, Leo would have kept his word with him, for their +intimacy had undoubtedly been of the most cordial description. But it is +supposed that Leo was afraid he should have a Ferrarese envoy constantly +about him, had he detained Ariosto in Rome. The poet, however, it is +admitted, was not a good hunter of preferment. He could not play the +assenter, and bow and importune: and sovereigns, however friendly they +may have been before their elevation, go the way of most princely flesh +when they have attained it. They like to take out a man's gratitude +beforehand, perhaps because they feel little security in it afterwards. + +The elevation to the papacy of the cheerful and indulgent son of Lorenzo +de' Medici, after the troublous reign of Julius, was hailed with delight +by all Christendom, and nowhere more so than in the pope's native place, +Florence. Ariosto went there to see the spectacles; and there, in the +midst of them, he found himself robbed of his heart by the lady whom he +afterwards married. Her name was Alessandra Benucci. She was the widow of +one of the Strozzi family, whom he had known in Ferrara, and he had long +admired her. The poet, who, like Petrarch and Boccaccio, has recorded the +day on which he fell in love, which was that of St. John the Baptist (the +showy saint-days of the south offer special temptations to that effect), +dwells with minute fondness on the particulars of the lady's appearance. +Her dress was black silk, embroidered with two grape-bearing vines +intertwisted; and "between her serene forehead and the path that went +dividing in two her rich and golden tresses," was a sprig of laurel in +bud. Her observer, probably her welcome if not yet accepted lover, beheld +something very significant in this attire; and a mysterious poem, in +which he records a device of a black pen feathered with gold, which he +wore embroidered on a gown of his own, has been supposed to allude to it. +As every body is tempted to make his guess on such occasions, I take the +pen to have been the black-haired poet himself, and the golden feather +the tresses of the lady. Beautiful as he describes her, with a face full +of sweetness, and manners noble and engaging, he speaks most of the +charms of her golden locks. The black gown could hardly have implied her +widowhood: the allusion would not have been delicate. The vine belongs to +dramatic poets, among whom the lover was at that time to be classed, the +_Orlando_ not having appeared. Its duplification intimated another self; +and the crowning laurel was the success that awaited the heroic poet and +the conqueror of the lady's heart.[14] + +The marriage was never acknowledged. The husband was in the receipt of +profits arising from church-offices, which put him into the condition of +the fellow of a college with us, who cannot marry so long as he retains +his fellowship: but it is proved to have taken place, though the date of +it is uncertain. Ariosto, in a satire written three or four years after +his falling in love, says he never intends either to marry or to take +orders; because, if he takes orders, he cannot marry; and if he marries, +he cannot take orders--that is to say, must give up his semi-priestly +emoluments. This is one of the falsehoods which the Roman Catholic +religion thinks itself warranted in tempting honest men to fall into; +thus perplexing their faith as to the very roots of all faith, and +tending to maintain a sensual hypocrisy, which can do no good to the +strongest minds, and must terribly injure the weak. + +Ariosto's love for this lady I take to have been one of the causes of +dissatisfaction between him and the cardinal. "Fortunately for the poet," +as Panizzi observes, Ippolito was not always in Ferrara. He travelled +in Italy, and he had an archbishopric in Hungary, the tenure of which +compelled occasional residence. His company was not desired in Rome, so +that he was seldom there. Ariosto, however, was an amusing companion; and +the cardinal seems not to have liked to go anywhere without him. In the +year 1515 he was attended by the poet part of the way on a journey to +Rome and Urbino; but Ariosto fell ill, and had leave to return. He +confesses that his illness was owing to an anxiety of love; and he even +makes an appeal to the cardinal's experience of such feelings; so that it +might seem he was not afraid of Ippolito's displeasure in that direction. +But the weakness which selfish people excuse in themselves becomes a +"very different thing" (as they phrase it) in another. The appeal to the +cardinal's experience might only have exasperated him, in its assumption +of the identity of the case. However, the poet was, at all events, left +this time to the indulgence of his love and his poetry; and in the +course of the ensuing year, a copy of the first edition of the _Orlando +Furioso_, in forty cantos, was put into the hands of the illustrious +person to whom it was dedicated. + +The words in which the cardinal was pleased to express himself on this +occasion have become memorable. "Where the devil, Master Lodovick," said +the reverend personage, "have you picked up such a parcel of trumpery?" +The original term is much stronger, aggravating the insult with +indecency. There is no equivalent for it in English; and I shall not +repeat it in Italian. "It is as low and indecent," says Panizzi, "as +any in the language." Suffice it to say that, although the age was not +scrupulous in such matters, it was one of the last words befitting the +lips of the reverend Catholic; and that, when Ippolito of Este +(as Ginguene observes) made that speech to the great poet, "he +uttered--prince, cardinal, and mathematician as he was--an +impertinence."[15] + +Was the cardinal put out of temper by a device which appeared in this +book? On the leaf succeeding the title-page was the privilege for its +publication, granted by Leo in terms of the most flattering personal +recognition.[16] So far so good; unless the unpoetical Este patron was +not pleased to see such interest taken in the book by the tasteful Medici +patron. But on the back of this leaf was a device of a hive, with the +bees burnt out of it for their honey, and the motto, "Evil for good" +(_Pro bono malum_). Most biographers are of opinion that this device was +aimed at the cardinal's ill return for all the sweet words lavished on +him and his house. If so, and supposing Ariosto to have presented the +dedication-copy in person, it would have been curious to see the faces of +the two men while his Eminence was looking at it. Some will think that +the good-natured poet could hardly have taken such an occasion of +displaying his resentment. But the device did not express at whom it was +aimed: the cardinal need not have applied it to himself if he did not +choose, especially as the book was full of his praises; and good-natured +people will not always miss an opportunity of covertly inflicting a +sting. The device, at all events, shewed that the honey-maker had got +worse than nothing by his honey; and the house of Este could not say they +had done any thing to contradict it. + +I think it probable that neither the poet's device nor the cardinal's +speech were forgotten, when, in the course of the next year, the parties +came to a rupture in consequence of the servant's refusing to attend his +master into Hungary. Ariosto excused himself on account of the state of +his health and of his family. He said that a cold climate did not agree +with him; that his chest was affected, and could not bear even the stoves +of Hungary; and that he could not, in common decency and humanity, leave +his mother in her old age, especially as all the rest of the family were +away but his youngest sister, whose interests he had also to take care +of. But Ippolito was not to be appeased. The public have seen, in a late +female biography, a deplorable instance of the unfeelingness with which +even a princess with a reputation for religion could treat the declining +health and unwilling retirement of a poor slave in her service, fifty +times her superior in every thing but servility. Greater delicacy was +not to be expected of the military priest. The nobler the servant, the +greater the desire to trample upon him and keep him at a disadvantage. It +is a grudge which rank owes to genius, and which it can only wave when +its possessor is himself "one of God Almighty's gentlemen." I do not mean +in point of genius, which is by no means the highest thing in the world, +whatever its owners may think of it; but in point of the highest of all +things, which is nobleness of heart. I confess I think Ariosto was wrong +in expecting what he did of a man he must have known so well, and in +complaining so much of courts, however good-humouredly. A prince occupies +the station he does, to avert the perils of disputed successions, and +not to be what his birth cannot make him--if nature has not supplied the +materials. Besides, the cardinal, in his quality of a mechanical-minded +man with no taste, might with reason have complained of his servant's +attending to poetry when it was "not in his bond;" when it diverted +him from the only attentions which his employer understood or desired. +Ippolito candidly confessed, as Ariosto himself tells us, that he not +only did not care for poetry, but never gave his attendant one stiver in +patronage of it, or for any thing whatsoever but going his journeys and +doing as he was bidden.[17] On the other hand, the cardinal's payments +were sorry ones; and the poet might with justice have thought, that he +was not bound to consider them an equivalent for the time be was expected +to give up. The only thing to have been desired in this case was, that he +should have said so; and, in truth, at the close of the explanation which +he gave on the subject to his friends at court, he did--boldly desiring +them, as became him, to tell the cardinal, that if his eminence expected +him to be a "serf" for what he received, he should decline the bargain; +and that he preferred the humblest freedom and his studies to a slavery +so preposterous.[18] The truth is, the poet should have attached himself +wholly to the Medici. Had he not adhered to the duller house, he might +have led as happy a life with the pope as Pulci did with the pope's +father; perhaps have been made a cardinal, like his friends Bembo and +Sadolet. But then we might have lost the _Orlando_. + +The only sinecure which the poet is now supposed to have retained, was a +grant of twenty-five crowns every four months on the episcopal chancery +of Milan: so, to help out his petty income, he proceeded to enter into +the service of Alfonso, which shews that both the brothers were not angry +with him. He tells us, that he would gladly have had no new master, could +he have helped it; but that, if he must needs serve, he would rather +serve the master of every body else than a subordinate one. At this +juncture he had a brief prospect of being as free as he wished; for an +uncle died leaving a large landed property still known as the Ariosto +lands (_Le Arioste_); but a convent demanded it on the part of one of +their brotherhood, who was a natural son of this gentleman; and a more +formidable and ultimately successful claim was advanced in a court of +law by the Chamber of the Duchy of Ferrara, the first judge in the cause +being the duke's own steward and a personal enemy of the poet's. Ariosto, +therefore, while the suit was going on, was obliged to content himself +with his fees from Milan and a monthly allowance which he received from +the duke of "about thirty-eight shillings," together with provisions +for three servants and two horses. He entered the duke's service in the +spring of 1518, and remained in it for the rest of his life. But it was +not so burden-some as that of the cardinal; and the consequence of the +poet's greater leisure was a second edition of the _Furioso_, in the year +1521, with additions and corrections; still, however, in forty cantos +only. It appears, by a deed of agreement,[19] that the work was printed +at the author's expense; that he was to sell the bookseller one hundred +copies for sixty livres (about 5_l_. 12_s_.) on condition of the book's +not being sold at the rate of more than sixteen sous (1_s_. 8_d_.); that +the author was not to give, sell, or allow to be sold, any copy of the +book at Ferrara, except by the bookseller; that the bookseller, after +disposing of the hundred copies, was to have as many more as he chose on +the same terms; and that, on his failing to require a further supply, +Ariosto was to be at liberty to sell his volumes to whom he pleased. +"With such profits," observes Panizzi, "it was not likely that the poet +would soon become independent;" and it may be added, that he certainly +got nothing by the first edition, whatever he may have done by the +second. He expressly tells us, in the satire which he wrote on declining +to go abroad with Ippolito, that all his poetry had not procured him +money enough to purchase a cloak.[20] Twenty years afterwards, when he +was dead, the poem was in such request, that, between 1542 and 1551, +Panizzi calculates there must have been a sale of it in Europe to the +amount of a hundred thousand copies.[21] + +The second edition of the _Furioso_ did not extricate the author from +very serious difficulties; for the next year he was compelled to apply +to either to relieve him from his necessities, or permit him to look for +some employment more profitable than the ducal service. The answer of +this prince, who was now rich, but had always been penurious, and who +never laid out a farthing, if he could help it, except in defence of his +capital, was an appointment of Ariosto to the government of a district in +a state of anarchy, called Garfagnana, which had nominally returned to +his rule in consequence of the death of Leo, who had wrested it from him. +It was a wild spot in the Apennines, on the borders of the Ferrarese and +papal territories. Ariosto was there three years, and is said to have +reduced it to order; but, according to his own account, he had very +doubtful work of it. The place was overrun with banditti, including the +troops commissioned to suppress them. It required a severer governor than +he was inclined to be; and Alfonso did not attend to his requisitions for +supplies. The candid and good-natured poet intimates that the duke might +have given him the appointment rather for the governor's sake than the +people's; and the cold, the loneliness and barrenness of the place, and, +above all, his absence from the object of his affections, oppressed him. +He did not write a verse for twelve months: he says he felt like a bird +moulting[22]. The best thing got out of it was an anecdote for posterity. +The poet was riding out one day with a few attendants--some say walking +out in a fit of absence of mind--when he found himself in the midst of +a band of outlaws, who, in a suspicious manner, barely suffered him +to pass. A reader of Mrs. Radcliffe might suppose them a band of +_condottieri_, under the command of some profligate desperado; and such +perhaps they were. The governor had scarcely gone by, when the leader of +the band, discovering who he was, came riding back with much earnestness, +and making his obeisance to the poet, said, that he never should have +allowed him to pass in that manner had he known him to be the Signor +Ludovico Ariosto, author of the _Orlando Furioso_; that his own name was +Filippo Pacchione (a celebrated personage of his order); and that his men +and himself, so far from doing the Signor displeasure, would have the +honour of conducting him back to his castle. "And so they did," says +Baretti, "entertaining him all along the way with the various excellences +they had discerned in his poem, and bestowing upon it the most rapturous +praises[23]." + +On his return from Garfagnana, Ariosto is understood to have made several +journeys in Italy, either with or without the duke his master; some of +them to Mantua, where it has been said that he was crowned with laurel by +the Emperor Charles the Fifth. But the truth seems to be, that he only +received a laureate diploma: it does not appear that Charles made him any +other gift. His majesty, and the whole house of Este, and the pope, and +all the other Italian princes, left that to be done by the imperial +general, the celebrated Alfonso Davallos, Marquess of Vasto, to whom he +was sent on some mission by the Duke of Ferrara, and who settled on him +an annuity of a hundred golden ducats; "the only reward," says Panizzi, +"which we find to have been conferred on Ariosto expressly as a +poet."[24] Davallos was one of the conquerors of Francis the First, +young and handsome, and himself a writer of verses. The grateful poet +accordingly availed himself of his benefactor's accomplishments to make +him, in turn, a present of every virtue under the sun. Caesar was not so +liberal, Nestor so wise, Achilles so potent, Nireus so beautiful, nor +even Ladas, Alexander's messenger, so swift.[25] Ariosto was now verging +towards the grave; and he probably saw in the hundred ducats a golden +sunset of his cares. + +Meantime, however, the poet had built a house, which, although small, was +raised with his own money; so that the second edition of the _Orlando_ +may have realised some profits at last. He recorded the pleasant fact in +an inscription over the door, which has become celebrated: + + "Parva, sed apta mihi; sed nulli obnoxia; sed non + Sordida; parta meo sed tamen acre domus." + Small, yet it suits me; is of no offence; + Was built, not meanly, at my own expense. + +What a pity (to compare great things with small) that he had not as long +a life before him to enjoy it, as Gil Blas had with his own comfortable +quotation over his retreat at Lirias![26] + +The house still remains; but the inscription unfortunately became +effaced; though the following one remains, which was added by his son +Virginio: + + "Sic domus haec Areostea + Propitios habeat deos, olim ut Pindarica." + + Dear to the gods, whatever come to pass, + Be Ariosto's house, as Pindar's was. + +This was an anticipation--perhaps the origin--of Milton's sonnet about +his own house, addressed to "Captains and Collonels," during the civil +war.[27] + +Davallos made the poet his generous present in the October of the year +1513; and in the same month of the year following the _Orlando_ was +published as it now stands, with various insertions throughout, chiefly +stories, and six additional cantos. Cardinal Ippolito had been dead some +time; and the device of the beehive was exchanged for one of two vipers, +with a hand and pair of shears cutting out their tongues, and the motto, +"Thou hast preferred ill-will to good" (_Dilexisti malitiam super +benignitatem_). The allusion is understood to have been to certain +critics whose names have all perished, unless Sperone (of whom we shall +hear more by and by) was one of them. The appearance of this edition was +eagerly looked for; but the trouble of correcting the press, and the +destruction of a theatre by fire which had been built under the poet's +direction, did his health no good in its rapidly declining condition; and +after suffering greatly from an obstruction, he died, much attenuated, on +the sixth day of June, 1533. His decease, his fond biographers have +told us, took place "about three in the afternoon;" and he was "aged +fifty-eight years, eight months, and twenty-eight days." His body, +according to his direction, was taken to the church of the Benedictines +during the night by four men, with only two tapers, and in the most +private and simple manner. The monks followed it to the grave out of +respect, contrary to their usual custom. + +So lived, and so died, and so desired humbly to be buried, one of the +delights of the world. + +His son Virginio had erected a chapel in the garden of the house built by +his father, and he wished to have his body removed thither; but the +monks would not allow it. The tomb, at first a very humble one, was +subsequently altered and enriched several times; but remains, I +believe, as rebuilt at the beginning of the century before last by his +grand-nephew, Ludovico Ariosto, with a bust of the poet, and two statues +representing Poetry and Glory. + +Ariosto was tall and stout, with a dark complexion, bright black eyes, +black and curling hair, aquiline nose, and shoulders broad but a little +stooping. His aspect was thoughtful, and his gestures deliberate. Titian, +besides painting his portrait, designed that which appeared in the +woodcut of the author's own third edition of his poem, which has been +copied into Mr. Panizzi's. It has all the look of truth of that great +artist's vital hand; but, though there is an expression of the, genial +character of the mouth, notwithstanding the exuberance of beard, it does +not suggest the sweetness observable in one of the medals of Ariosto, +a wax impression of which is now before me; nor has the nose so much +delicacy and grace.[28] + +The poet's temperament inclined him to melancholy, but his intercourse +was always cheerful. One biographer says he was strong and +healthy--another, that he was neither. In all probability he was +naturally strong, but weakened by a life full of emotion. He talks of +growing old at forty four, and of leaving been bald for some time.[29] He +had a cough for many years before he died. His son says he cured it by +drinking good old wine. Ariosto says that "vin fumoso" did not agree with +him; but that might only mean wine of a heady sort. The chances, under +such circumstances, were probably against wine of any kind; and Panizzi +thinks the cough was never subdued. His physicians forbade him all sorts +of stimulants with his food.[30] + +His temper and habits were those of a man wholly given up to love and +poetry. In his youth he was volatile, and at no time without what is +called some "affair of the heart." Every woman attracted him who had +modesty and agreeableness; and as, at the same time, he was very jealous, +one might imagine that his wife, who had a right to be equally so, would +have led no easy life. But it is evident he could practise very generous +self-denial; and probably the married portion of his existence, supposing +Alessandra's sweet countenance not to have belied her, was happy on both +sides. He was beloved by his family, which is never the case with the +unamiable. Among his friends were most Of the great names of the age, +including a world of ladies, and the whole graceful court of Guidobaldo +da Montefeltro, duke of Urbino, for which Catiglione wrote his book of +the _Gentleman (Il Cortegiano)_. Raphael addressed him a sonnet, and +Titian painted his likeness. He knew Vittoria Colonna, and Veronica da +Gambera, and Giulia Gonzaga (whom the Turks would have run away with), +and Ippolita Sforza, the beautiful blue-stocking, who set Bandello on +writing his novels, and Bembo, and Flaminio, and Berni, and Molza, and +Sannazzaro, and the Medici family, and Vida, and Macchiavelli; and nobody +doubts that he might have shone at the court of Leo the brightest of the +bright. But he thought it "better to enjoy a little in peace, than seek +after much with trouble."[31] He cared for none of the pleasures of the +great, except building, and that he was content to satisfy in Cowley's +fashion, with "a small house in a large garden." He was plain in his +diet, disliked ceremony, and was frequently absorbed in thought. His +indignation was roused by mean and brutal vices; but he took a large and +liberal view of human nature in general; and, if he was somewhat free in +his life, must be pardoned for the custom of the times, for his charity +to others, and for the genial disposition which made him an enchanting +poet. Above all, he was an affectionate son; lived like a friend with his +children; and, in spite of his tendency to pleasure, supplied the place +of an anxious and careful father to his brothers and sisters, who +idolized him. + + "Ornabat pietas et grata modestia vatem," + +wrote his brother Gabriel, + + "Sancta fides, dictique memor, munitaque recto + Justitia, et nullo patientia victa labore, + Et constans virtus animi, et elementia mitis, + Ambitione procul pulsa fastusque tumore; + Credere uti posses natum felicibus horis, + Felici fulgente astro Jovis atque Diones."[32] + + Devoted tenderness adorn'd the bard, + And grateful modesty, and grave regard + To his least word, and justice arm'd with right, + And patience counting every labour light, + And constancy of soul, and meekness too, + That neither pride nor worldly wishes knew. + You might have thought him born when there concur + The sweet star and the strong, Venus and Jupiter. + +His son Virginio, and others, have left a variety of anecdotes +corroborating points in his character. I shall give them all, for they +put us into his company. It is recorded, as an instance of his reputation +for honesty, that an old kinsman, a clergyman, who was afraid of being +poisoned for his possessions, would trust himself in no other hands; but +the clergyman was his own grand-uncle and namesake, probably godfather; +so that the compliment is not so very great. + +In his youth he underwent a long rebuke one day from his father without +saying a word, though a satisfactory answer was in his power; on which +his brother Gabriel expressing his surprise, he said that he was thinking +all the time of a scene in a comedy he was writing, for which the +paternal lecture afforded an excellent study. + +He loved gardening better than he understood it; was always shifting +his plants, and destroying the seeds, out of impatience to see them +germinate. He was rejoicing once on the coming up of some "capers," which +he had been visiting every day to see how they got on, when it turned out +that his capers were elder-trees! + +He was perpetually altering his verses. His manuscripts are full of +corrections. He wrote the exordium of the _Orlando_ over and over again; +and at last could only be satisfied with it in proportion as it was not +his own; that is to say, in proportion as it came nearer to the beautiful +passage in Dante from which his ear and his feelings had caught it.[33] + +He, however, discovered that correction was not always improvement. He +used to say, it was with verses as with trees. A plant naturally well +growing might be made perfect by a little delicate treatment; but +over-cultivation destroyed its native grace. In like manner, you might +perfect a happily-inspired verse by taking away any little fault of +expression; but too great a polish deprived it of the charm of the first +conception. It was like over-training a naturally graceful child. If it +be wondered how he who corrected so much should succeed so well, even to +an appearance of happy negligence, it is to be considered that the most +impulsive writers often put down their thoughts too hastily, then correct +and re-correct them in the same impatient manner; and so have to bring +them round, by as many steps, to the feeling which they really had at +first, though they were too hasty to do it justice. + +Ariosto would have altered his house as often as his verses, but did not +find it so convenient. Somebody wondering that he contented himself with +so small an abode, when he built such magnificent mansions in his poetry, +he said it was easier to put words together than blocks of stone.[34] + +He liked Virgil; commended the style of Tibullus; did not care for +Propertius; but expressed high approbation of Catullus and Horace. I +suspect his favourite to have been Ovid. His son says he did not study +much, nor look after books; but this may have been in his decline, or +when Virginio first took to observing him. A different conclusion as to +study is to be drawn from the corrected state of his manuscripts, and the +variety of his knowledge; and with regard to books, he not only mentions +the library of the Vatican as one of his greatest temptations to visit +Rome, but describes himself, with all the gusto of a book-worm, as +enjoying them in his chimney-corner.[35] + +To intimate his secrecy in love-matters, he had an inkstand with a +Cupid on it, holding a finger on his lips. I believe it is still in +existence.[36] He did not disclose his mistresses' names, as Dante did, +for the purpose of treating them with contempt; nor, on the other hand, +does he appear to have been so indiscriminately gallant as to be fond of +goitres.[37] The only mistress of whom he complained he concealed in a +Latin appellation; and of her he did not complain with scorn. He had +loved, besides Alessandra Benucci, a lady of the name of Ginevra; the +mother of one of his children is recorded as a certain Orsolina; and that +of the other was named Maria, and is understood to have been a governess +in his father's family.[38] + +He ate fast, and of whatever was next him, often beginning with the bread +on the table before the dishes came; and he would finish his dinner with +another bit of bread. "Appetiva le rape," says his good son; videlicet, +he was fond of turnips. In his fourth Satire, he mentions as a favourite +dish, turnips seasoned with vinegar and boiled _must_ (sapa), which +seems, not unjustifiably, to startle Mr. Panizzi.[39] He cared so little +for good eating, that he said of himself, he should have done very well +in the days when people lived on acorns. + +A stranger coming in one day at the dinner-hour, he ate up what was +provided for both; saying afterwards, when told of it, that the gentleman +should have taken care of himself. This does not look very polite; but of +course it was said in jest. His son attributed this carelessness at table +to absorption in his studies. + +He carried this absence of mind so far, and was at the same time so good +a pedestrian, that Virginio tells us he once walked all the way from +Carpi to Ferrara in his slippers, owing to his having strolled out of +doors in that direction. + +The same biographers who describe him as a brave soldier, add, that he +was a timid horseman and seaman; and indeed he appears to have eschewed +every kind of unnecessary danger. It was a maxim of his, to be the last +in going out of a boat. I know not what Orlando would have said to this; +but there is no doubt that the good son and brother avoided no pain in +pursuit of his duty. He more than once risked his life in the service of +government from the perils of travelling among war-makers and banditti. +Imagination finds something worthy of itself on great occasions, but is +apt to discover the absurdity of staking existence on small ones. Ariosto +did not care to travel out of Italy. He preferred, he says, going round +the earth in a map; visiting countries without having to pay innkeepers, +and ploughing harmless seas without thunder and lightning[40]. + +His outward religion, like the one he ascribed to his friend Cardinal +Bembo, was "that of other people." He did not think it of use to disturb +their belief; yet excused rather than blamed Luther, attributing his +heresy to the necessary consequences of mooting points too subtle for +human apprehension[41]. He found it impossible, however, to restrain his +contempt of bigotry; and, like most great writers in Catholic countries, +was a derider of the pretensions of devotees, and the discords and +hypocrisies of the convent. He evidently laughed at Dante's figments +about the other world; not at the poetry of them, for that he admired, +and sometimes imitated, but at the superstition and presumption. He +turned the Florentine's moon into a depository of non-sense; and found no +hell so bad as the hearts of tyrants. The only other people he put into +the infernal regions are ladies who were cruel to their lovers! He had +a noble confidence in the intentions of his Creator; and died ill the +expectation of meeting his friends again in a higher state of existence. + +Of Ariosto's four brothers, one became a courtier at Naples, another a +clergyman, another an envoy to the Emperor Charles the Fifth; and the +fourth, who was a cripple and a scholar, lived with Lodovico, and +celebrated his memory. His two sons, whose names were Virginio and +Gianbattista, and who were illegitimate (the reader is always to bear +in mind the more indulgent customs of Italy in matters of this nature, +especially in the poet's time), became, the first a canon in the +cathedral of Ferrara, and the other an officer in the army. It does not +appear that he had any other children. + +Ariosto's renown is wholly founded on the _Orlando Furioso_, though he +wrote satires, comedies, and a good deal of miscellaneous poetry, all +occasionally exhibiting a master-hand. The comedies, however, were +unfortunately modelled on those of the ancients; and the constant +termination of the verse with trisyllables contributes to render them +tedious. What comedies might he not have written, had he given himself up +to existing times and manners[42]! + +The satires are rather good-natured epistles to his friends, written with +a charming ease and straightforwardness, and containing much exquisite +sense and interesting autobiography. + +On his lyrical poetry he set little value; and his Latin verse is not of +the best order. Critics have expressed their surprise at its inferiority +to that of contemporaries inferior to him in genius; but the reason lay +in the very circumstance. I mean, that his large and liberal inspiration +could only find its proper vent in his own language; he could not be +content with potting up little delicacies in old-fashioned vessels. + +The _Orlando Furioso_ is, literally, a continuation of the _Orlando +Innamorato_; so much so, that the story is not thoroughly intelligible +without it. This was probably the reason of a circumstance that would be +otherwise unaccountable, and that was ridiculously charged against him as +a proof of despairing envy by the despairing envy of Sperone; namely, his +never having once mentioned the name of his predecessor. If Ariosto had +despaired of equalling Boiardo, he must have been hopeless of reaching +posterity, in which case his silence must have been useless; and, in +any case, it is clear that he looked on himself as the continuator of +another's narration. But Boiardo was so popular when he wrote, that +the very silence shews he must have thought the mention of his name +superfluous. Still it is curious that he never should have alluded to it +in the course of the poem. It could not have been from any dislike to the +name itself, or the family; for in his Latin poems he has eulogised the +hospitality of the house of Boiardo[43]. + +The _Furioso_ continued not only what Boiardo did, but what he intended +to do; for as its subject is Orlando's love, and knight-errantry in +general, so its object was to extol the house of Este, and deduce it from +its fabulous ancestor Ruggiero. Orlando is the open, Ruggiero the covert +hero; and almost all the incidents of this supposed irregular poem, +which, as Panizzi has shewn, is one of the most regular in the world, go +to crown with triumph and wedlock the originator of that unworthy race. +This is done on the old groundwork of Charlemagne and his Paladins, of +the treacheries of the house of Gan of Maganza, and of the wars of the +Saracens against Christendom. Bradamante, the Amazonian _intended_ of +Ruggiero, is of the same race as Orlando, and a great overthrower of +infidels. Ruggiero begins with being an infidel himself, and is kept from +the wars, like a second Achilles, by the devices of an anxious guardian, +but ultimately fights, is converted, and marries; and Orlando all the +while slays his thousands, as of old, loves, goes mad for jealousy, is +the foolishest and wisest of mankind (somewhat like the poet himself); +and crowns the glory of Ruggiero, not only by being present at his +marriage, but putting on his spurs with his own hand when he goes forth +to conclude the war by the death of the king of Algiers. + +The great charm, however, of the _Orlando Furioso_ is not in its +knight-errantry, or its main plot, or the cunning interweavement of its +minor ones, but in its endless variety, truth, force, and animal spirits; +in its fidelity to actual nature while it keeps within the bounds of the +probable, and its no less enchanting verisimilitude during its wildest +sallies of imagination. At one moment we are in the midst of flesh and +blood like ourselves; at the next with fairies and goblins; at the next +in a tremendous battle or tempest; then in one of the loveliest of +solitudes; then hearing a tragedy, then a comedy; then mystified in some +enchanted palace; then riding, dancing, dining, looking at pictures; then +again descending to the depths of the earth, or soaring to the moon, or +seeing lovers in a glade, or witnessing the extravagances of the great +jealous hero Orlando; and the music of an enchanting style perpetually +attends us, and the sweet face of Angelica glances here and there like +a bud: and there are gallantries of all kinds, and stories endless, and +honest tears, and joyous bursts of laughter, and beardings for all base +opinions, and no bigotry, and reverence for whatsoever is venerable, +and candour exquisite, and the happy interwoven names of "Angelica and +Medoro," young for ever. + +But so great a work is not to be dismissed with a mere rhapsody of +panegyric. Ariosto is inferior, in some remarkable respects, to his +predecessors Pulci and Boiardo. His characters, for the most part, do not +interest us as much as theirs by their variety and good fellowship; he +invented none as Boiardo did, with the exception, indeed, of Orlando's, +as modified by jealousy; and he has no passage, I thick, equal in pathos +to that of the struggle at Roncesvalles; for though Orlando's jealousy +is pathetic, as well as appalling, the effects of it are confined to one +person, and disputed by his excessive strength. Ariosto has taken all +tenderness out of Angelica, except that of a kind of boarding-school +first love (which, however, as here-after intimated, may have simplified +and improved her general effect), and he has omitted all that was amusing +in the character of Astolfo. Knight-errantry has fallen off a little +in his hands from its first youthful and trusting freshness; more +sophisticate times are opening upon us; and satire more frequently and +bitterly interferes. The licentious passages (though never gross in +words, like those of his contemporaries,) are not redeemed by sentiment +as in Boiardo; and it seems to me, that Ariosto hardly improved so much +as he might have done Upon his predecessor's imitations of the classics. +I cannot help thinking that, upon the whole, he had better have left them +alone, and depended entirely on himself. Shelley says, he has too much +fighting and "revenge,"[44]--which is true; but the revenge was only +among his knights. He was himself (like my admirable friend) one of the +most forgiving of men; and the fighting was the taste of the age, in +which chivalry was still flourishing in the shape of such men as Bayard, +and ferocity in men like Gaston de Foix. Ariosto certainly did not +anticipate, any more than Shakspeare did, that spirit of human +amelioration which has ennobled the present age. He thought only of +reflecting nature as he found it. He is sometimes even as uninteresting +as he found other people; but the tiresome passages, thank God, all +belong to the house of Este! His panegyrics of Ippolito and his ancestors +recoiled on the poet with a retributive dulness. + +But in all the rest there is a wonderful invigoration and enlargement. +The genius of romance has increased to an extraordinary degree in power, +if not in simplicity. Its shoulders have grown broader, its voice louder +and more sustained; and if it has lost a little on the sentimental side, +it has gained prodigiously, not only in animal vigour, but, above all, in +knowledge of human nature, and a brave and joyous candour in shewing it. +The poet takes a universal, an acute, and, upon the whole, a cheerful +view, like the sun itself, of all which the sun looks on; and readers are +charmed to see a knowledge at once so keen and so happy. Herein lies the +secret of Ariosto's greatness; which is great, not because it has the +intensity of Dante, or the incessant thought and passion of Shakspeare, +or the dignified imagination of Milton, to all of whom he is far inferior +in sustained excellence,--but because he is like very Nature herself. +Whether great, small, serious, pleasureable, or even indifferent, he +still has the life, ease, and beauty of the operations of the daily +planet. Even where he seems dull and common-place, his brightness and +originality at other times make it look like a good-natured condescension +to our own common habits of thought and discourse; as though he did it +but on purpose to leave nothing unsaid that could bring him within the +category of ourselves. His charming manner intimates that, instead of +taking thought, he chooses to take pleasure with us, and compare old +notes; and we are delighted that he does us so much honour, and makes, as +it were, Ariostos of us all. He is Shakspearian in going all lengths with +Nature as he found her, not blinking the fact of evil, yet finding a +"soul of goodness" in it, and, at the same time, never compromising the +worth of noble and generous qualities. His young and handsome Medoro is a +pitiless slayer of his enemies; but they were his master's enemies, and +he would have lost his life, even to preserve his dead body. His Orlando, +for all his wisdom and greatness, runs mad for love of a coquette, who +triumphs over warriors and kings, only to fall in love herself with an +obscure lad. His kings laugh with all their hearts, like common people; +his mourners weep like such unaffected children of sorrow, that they must +needs "swallow some of their tears."[45] His heroes, on the arrival of +intelligence that excites them, leap out of bed and write letters before +they dress, from natural impatience, thinking nothing of their "dignity." +When Astolfo blows the magic horn which drives every body out of the +castle of Atlantes, "not a mouse" stays behind;--not, as Hoole and such +critics think, because the poet is here writing ludicrously, but because +he uses the same image seriously, to give an idea of desolation, as +Shakspeare in _Hamlet_ does to give that of silence, when "not a mouse is +stirring." Instead of being mere comic writing, such incidents are in the +highest epic taste of the meeting of extremes,--of the impartial eye with +which Nature regards high and low. So, give Ariosto his hippogriff, and +other marvels with which he has enriched the stock of romance, and Nature +takes as much care of the verisimilitude of their actions, as if she had +made them herself. His hippogriff returns, like a common horse, to the +stable to which he has been accustomed. His enchanter, who is gifted with +the power of surviving decapitation and pursuing the decapitator so long +as a fated hair remains on his head, turns deadly pale in the face when +it is scalped, and falls lifeless from his horse. His truth, indeed, is +so genuine, and at the same time his style is so unaffected, sometimes so +familiar in its grace, and sets us so much at ease in his company, that +the familiarity is in danger of bringing him into contempt with the +inexperienced, and the truth of being considered old and obvious, because +the mode of its introduction makes it seem an old acquaintance. When +Voltaire was a young man, and (to Anglicise a favourite Gallic phrase) +fancied he had _profounded_ every thing deep and knowing, he thought +nothing of Ariosto. Some years afterwards he took him for the first of +grotesque writers, but nothing more. At last he pronounced him equally +"entertaining and sublime, and humbly apologised for his error." Foscolo +quotes this passage from the _Dictionnaire Philosophique_; and adds +another from Sir Joshua Reynolds, in which the painter speaks of a +similar inability on his own part, when young, to enjoy the perfect +nature of Raphael, and the admiration and astonishment which, in his +riper years, he grew to feel for it.[46] + +The excessive "wildness" attributed to Ariosto is not wilder than +many things in Homer, or even than some things in Virgil (such as the +transformation of ships into sea-nymphs). The reason why it has been +thought so is, that he rendered them more popular by mixing them with +satire, and thus brought them more universally into notice. One main +secret of the delight they give us is their being poetical comments, +as it were, on fancies and metaphors of our own. Thus, we say of +a suspicious man, that he is suspicion itself; Ariosto turns him +accordingly into an actual being of that name. We speak of the flights of +the poets; Ariosto makes them literally flights--flights on a hippogriff, +and to the moon. The moon, it has been said, makes lunatics; he +accordingly puts a man's wits into that planet. Vice deforms beauty; +therefore his beautiful enchantress turns out to be an old hag. Ancient +defeated empires are sounds and emptiness; therefore the Assyrian and +Persian monarchies become, in his limbo of vanities, a heap of positive +bladders. Youth is headstrong, and kissing goes by favour; so Angelica, +queen of Cathay, and beauty of the world, jilts warriors and kings, and +marries a common soldier. + +And what a creature is this Angelica! what effect has she not had upon +the world in spite of all her faults, nay, probably by very reason of +them! I know not whether it has been remarked before, but it appears to +me, that the charm which every body has felt in the story of Angelica +consists mainly in that very fact of her being nothing but a beauty and +a woman, dashed even with coquetry, which renders her so inferior in +character to most heroines of romance. Her interest is founded on nothing +exclusive or prejudiced. It is not addressed to any special class. She +might or might not have been liked by this person or that; but the world +in general will adore her, because nature has made them to adore beauty +and the sex, apart from prejudices right or wrong. Youth will attribute +virtues to her, whether she has them or not; middle-age be unable to help +gazing on her; old-age dote on her. She is womankind itself, in form and +substance; and that is a stronger thing, for the most part, than all our +figments about it. Two musical names, "Angelica and Medoro," have become +identified in the minds of poetical readers with the honeymoon of +youthful passion. + +The only false acid insipid fiction I can call to mind in the _Orlando +Furioso_ is that of the "swans" who rescue "medals" from the river of +oblivion (canto xxxv.). It betrays a singular forgetfulness of the poet's +wonted verisimilitude; for what metaphor can reconcile us to swans taking +an interest in medals? Popular belief had made them singers; but it was +not a wise step to convert them into antiquaries. + +Ariosto's animal spirits, and the brilliant hurry and abundance of his +incidents, blind a careless reader to his endless particular beauties, +which, though he may too often "describe instead of paint" (on account, +as Foscolo says, of his writing to the many), spew that no man could +paint better when he chose. The bosoms of his females "come and go, like +the waves on the sea-coast in summer airs."[47] His witches draw the fish +out of the water + + "With simple words and a pure warbled spell."[48] + +He borrows the word "painting" itself,--like a true Italian and friend +of Raphael and Titian, to express the commiseration in the faces of the +blest for the sufferings of mortality + + "Dipinte di pietade il viso pio."[49] + + Their pious looks painted with tenderness. + +Jesus is very finely called, in the same passage, "il sempiterno Amante," +the eternal Lover. The female sex are the + + "Schiera gentil the pur adorna il mondo."[50] + + The gentle bevy that adorns the world. + +He paints cabinet-pictures like Spenser, in isolated stanzas, with a +pencil at once solid and light; as in the instance of the charming one +that tells the story of Mercury and his net; how he watched the Goddess +of Flowers as she issued forth at dawn with her lap full of roses and +violets, and so threw the net over her "one day," and "took her;" + + "un di lo prese[51]." + +But he does not confine himself to these gentle pictures. He has many +as strong as Michael Angelo, some as intense as Dante. He paints the +conquest of America in five words + + "Veggio da diece cacciar mille."[52] + I see thousands + Hunted by tens. + +He compares the noise of a tremendous battle heard in the neighbourhood +to the sound of the cataracts of the Nile: + + "un alto suon ch' a quel s' accorda + Con che i vicin' cadendo il Nil assorda."[53] + +He "scourges" ships at sea with tempests--say rather the "miserable +seamen;" while night-time grows blacker and blacker on the "exasperated +waters."[54] + + +When Rodomont has plunged into the thick of Paris, and is carrying every +thing before him ("like a serpent that has newly cast his skin, and +goes shaking his three tongues under his eyes of fire"), he makes this +tremendous hero break the middle of the palace-gate into a huge "window," +and look through it with a countenance which is suddenly beheld by a +crowd of faces as pale as death: + + "E dentro fatto l' ha tanta finestra, + Che ben vedere e veduto esser puote + Dai visi impressi di color di morte[55]." + +The whole description of Orlando's jealousy and growing madness is +Shakspearian for passion and circumstance, as the reader may see even +in the prose abstract of it in this volume; and his sublimation of a +suspicious king into suspicion itself (which it also contains) is as +grandly and felicitously audacious as any thing ever invented by poet. +Spenser thought so; and has imitated and emulated it in one of his own +finest passages. Ariosto has not the spleen and gall of Dante, and +therefore his satire is not so tremendous; yet it is very exquisite, as +all the world have acknowledged in the instances of the lost things found +in the moon, and the angel who finds Discord in a convent. He does not +take things so much to heart as Chaucer. He has nothing so profoundly +pathetic as our great poet's _Griselda_. Yet many a gentle eye has +moistened at the conclusion of the story of Isabella; and to recur once +more to Orlando's jealousy, all who have experienced that passion will +feel it shake them. I have read somewhere of a visit paid to Voltaire by +an Italian gentleman, who recited it to him, and who (being moved perhaps +by the recollection of some passage in his own history) had the tears all +the while pouring down his cheeks. + +Such is the poem which the gracious and good Cardinal Ippolito designated +as a "parcel of trumpery." It had, indeed, to contend with more slights +than his. Like all originals, it was obliged to wait for the death of +the envious and the self-loving, before it acquired a popularity which +surpassed all precedent. Foscolo says, that Macchiavelli and Ariosto, +"the two writers of that age who really possessed most excellence, were +the least praised during their lives. Bembo was approached in a posture +of adoration and fear; the infamous Aretino extorted a fulsome letter of +praises from the great and the learned[56]." He might have added, that +the writer most in request "in the circles" was a gentleman of the name +of Bernardo Accolti, then called the _Unique_, now never heard of. +Ariosto himself eulogised him among a shoal of writers, half of whose +names have perished; and who most likely included in that half the men +who thought he did not praise them enough. For such was the fact! I +allude to the charming invention in his last canto, in which he supposes +himself welcomed home after a long voyage. Gay imitated it very +pleasantly in an address to Pope on the conclusion of his Homer. Some of +the persons thus honoured by Ariosto were vexed, it is said, at not being +praised highly enough; others at seeing so many praised in their company; +some at being left out of the list; and some others at being mentioned at +all! These silly people thought it taking too great a liberty! The poor +flies of a day did not know that a god had taken them in hand to give +them wings for eternity. Happily for them the names of most of these +mighty personages are not known. One or two, however, took care to make +posterity laugh. Trissino, a very great man in his day, and the would-be +restorer of the ancient epic, had the face, in return for the poet's +too honourable mention of him, to speak, in his own absurd verses, of +"Ariosto, with that _Furioso_ of his, which pleases the vulgar:" + + "L' Ariosto + Con quel _Furioso_ suo the piace al volgo." + +"_His_ poem," adds Panizzi, "has the merit of not having pleased any +body[57]." A sullen critic, Sperone (the same that afterwards plagued +Tasso), was so disappointed at being left out, that he became the poet's +bitter enemy. He talked of Ariosto taking himself for a swan and "dying +like a goose" (the allusion was to the fragment he left called the _Five +Cantos_). What has become of the swan Sperone? Bernardo Tasso, Torquato's +father, made a more reasonable (but which turned out to be an unfounded) +complaint, that Ariosto had established a precedent which poets would +find inconvenient. And Macchiavelli, like the true genius he was, +expressed a good-natured and flattering regret that his friend Ariosto +had left him out of his list of congratulators, in a work which was "fine +throughout," and in some places "wonderful[58]." + +The great Galileo knew Ariosto nearly by heart[59]. + +He is a poet whom it may require a certain amount of animal spirits to +relish thoroughly. The _air_ of his verse must agree with you before you +can perceive all its freshness and vitality. But if read with any thing +like Italian sympathy, with allowance for times and manners, and with a +_sense_ as well as _admittance_ of the different kinds of the beautiful +in poetry (two very different things), you will be almost as much charmed +with the "divine Ariosto" as his countrymen have been for ages. + + +[Footnote 1: The materials for this notice have been chiefly collected +from the poet's own writings (rich in autobiographical intimation) +and from his latest editor Panizzi. I was unable to see this writer's +principal authority, Baruffaldi, till I corrected the proofs and the +press was waiting; otherwise I might have added two or three more +particulars, not, however, of any great consequence. Panizzi is, as +usual, copious and to the purpose; and has, for the first time I believe, +critically proved the regularity and connectedness of Ariosto's plots, +as well as the hollowness of the pretensions of the house of Este to be +considered patrons of literature. It is only a pity that his _Life +of Ariosto is_ not better arranged. I have, of course, drawn my own +conclusions respecting particulars, and sometimes have thought I had +reason to differ with those who have preceded me; but not, I hope, with a +presumption unbecoming a foreigner.] + +[Footnote 2: See in his Latin poems the lines beginning, "Haec me +verbosas suasit perdiscere leges." +_De Diversis Amoribus._] + +[Footnote 3: + + "Mio padre mi caccio con spiedi e lancie," &c. + + _Satira_ vi. + +There is some appearance of contradiction in this passage and the one +referred to in the preceding note; but I think the conclusion in the test +the probable one, and that he was not compelled to study the law in the +first instance. He speaks more than once of his father's memory with +great tenderness, particularly in the lines on his death, entitled _De +Nicolao Areosto_.] + +[Footnote 4: His brother Gabriel expressly mentions it in his prologue to +the _Scholastica_.] + +[Footnote 5: + + "Gia mi fur dolci inviti," &c. + + _Satira_ v.] + +[Footnote 6: See, in the present volume, the beginning of _Astolfo's +Journey to the Moon_.] + +[Footnote 7: + + "Me potius fugiat, nullis mollita querelis, + Dum simulet reliquos Lydia dura procos. + Parte carere omni malo, quam admittere quemquam + In partem. Cupiat Juppiter ipse, negem." + + _Ad Petrum Bembum._] + +[Footnote 8: Panizzi, on the authority of Guicciardini and others. Giulio +and another brother (Ferrante) afterwards conspired against Alfonso and +Ippolito, and, on the failure of their enterprise, were sentenced to be +imprisoned for life. Ferrante died in confinement at the expiration of +thirty-four years; Giulio, at the end of fifty-three, was pardoned. He +came out of prison on horseback, dressed according to the fashion of the +time when he was arrested, and "greatly excited the curiosity of the +people."--_Idem_, vol. i. p xii.] + +[Footnote 9: + + "Che debbo fare io qui? + Agli usatti, agli spron (perch'io son grande) + Non mi posso adattar, per porne o trarne." + _Satira_ ii.] + +[Footnote 10: "Per la lettera de la S.V. Reverendiss. et a bocha da Ms. +Ludovico Ariosto ho inteso quanta leticia ha conceputa del felice parto +mio: il che mi e stato summamente grato, cussi lo ringrazio de la +visitazione, et particolarmente di havermi mandato il dicto Ms. Ludovico, +per che ultra che mi sia stato acetto, representando la persona de +la S.V. Reverendiss. lui anche per conto suo mi ha addutta gran +satisfazione, havendomi cum la narratione de l'opera the compone facto +passar questi due giorni non solum senza fastidio, ma cum piacer +grandissimo."--Tiraboschi, _Storia della Poesia Italiana_, Matthias' +edition, vol. iii. p. 197.] + +[Footnote 11: _Orlando Furioso_, canto xxix, st. 29.] + +[Footnote 12: See the horrible account of the suffocated Vicentine +Grottoes, in Sismondi, _Histoire des Republiques Italiennes_, &c vol. iv. +p. 48.] + +[Footnote 13: + + "Piegossi a me dalla beata sede; + La mano e poi le gote ambe mi prese, + E il santo bacio in amendue mi diede. + + Di mezza quella bolla anco cortese + Mi fu, della quale ora il mio Bibbiena + Espedito m'ha il resto alle mie spese. + + Indi col seno e con la falda piena + Di speme, ma di pioggia molle e brutto, + La notte andai sin al Montone a cena." _Sat_. iv.] + +[Footnote 14: See _canzone_ the first, "Non so s'io potro," &c. and the +_copitolo_ beginning "Della mia negra penna in fregio d'oro."] + +[Footnote 15: _Histoire Litteraire_, &c. vol. iv. p. 335.] + +[Footnote 16: +"Singularis tua et pervetus erga nos familiamque nostrum observantia, +egregiaque bonarum artium et litterarum doctrina, atque in studiis +mitioribus, praesertimque poetices elegans et praeclarum ingenium, jure +prope suo a nobis exposcere videntur, ut quae tibi usui futurae sint, +justa praesertim et honesta petenti, ea tibi liberaliter et gratiose +concedamus. Quamobrem," &c. . "On the same page," says Panizzi, "are +mentioned the privileges granted by the king of France, by the republic +of Venice, and other potentates;" so that authors, in those days, appear +to have been thought worthy of profiting by their labours, wherever they +contributed to the enjoyment of mankind. + +Leo's privilege is the one that so long underwent the singular obloquy of +being a bull of excommunication against all who objected to the poem! a +misconception on the part of some ignorant man, or misrepresentation by +some malignant one, which affords a remarkable warning against taking +things on trust from one writer after another. Even Bayle (see the +article "Leo X." in his Dictionary) suffered his inclinations to blind +his vigilance.] + +[Footnote 17: + + "Apollo, tua merce, tua merce, santo + Collegio delle Muse, io non mi trovo + Tanto per voi, ch'io possa farmi un manto + + E se 'l signor m'ha dato onde far novo + Ogni anno mi potrei piu d'un mantello, + Che mi abbia per voi dato, non approve. + + Egli l' ha detto." + _Satira_ ii.] + +[Footnote 18: + + "Se avermi dato onde ogni quattro mesi + Ho venticinque scudi, ne si fermi, + Che molte volte non mi sien contesi, + + Mi debbe incatenar, schiavo tenermi, + Obbligarmi ch'io sudi e tremi senza + Rispetto alcun, ch'io muoja o ch'io m'infermi, + + Non gli lasciate aver questa credenza + Ditegli, che piu tosto ch'esser servo, + Torro la povertade in pazienza" + + _Satira_ ii.] + +[Footnote 19: Panizzi, vol. i. p. 29. The agreement itself is in +Baruffaldi.] + +[Footnote 20: See the lines before quoted, beginning" Apollo, tua +merce."] + +[Footnote 21: _Bibliographical Notices of Editions of + +Ariosto_, prefixed to his first vol. p. 51.] + +[Footnote 22: + + "La novita del loco e stata tanta, + C' ho fatto come augel che muta gabbia, + Che molti giorni resta the non canta." + +For the rest of the above particulars see the fifth satire, beginning +"Il vigesimo giorno di Febbraio." I quote the exordium, because these +compositions are differently numbered in different editions. The one I +generally use is that of Molini--_Poesie Varie di Lodovico Ariosto, con +Annotazioni_. Firenze, 12mo, 1824.] + +[Footnote 23: _Italian Library_, p. 52. I quote Baretti, because he +speaks with a corresponding enthusiasm. He calls the incident "a very +rare proof of the irresistible powers of poetry, and a noble comment on +the fables of Orpheus and Amphion," &c. The words "noble comment" might +lead us to fancy that Johnson had made some such remark to him while +relating the story in Bolt Court. Nor is the former part of the sentence +unlike him: "A very rare proof, _sir_, of the irresistible powers of +poetry, and a noble comment," &c. Johnson, notwithstanding his classical +predilections, was likely to take much interest in Ariosto on account +of his universality and the heartiness of his passions. He had a secret +regard for "wildness" of all sorts, provided it came within any pale +of the sympathetic. He was also fond of romances of chivalry. On one +occasion he selected the history of Felixmarte of Hyrcania as his course +of reading during a visit.] + +[Footnote 24: The deed of gift sets forth the interest which it becomes +princes and commanders to take in men of letters, particularly poets, +as heralds of their fame, and consequently the special fitness of the +illustrious and superexcellent poet Lodovico Ariosto for receiving from +Alfonso Davallos, Marquess of Vasto, the irrevocable sum of, &c. &c. +Panizzi has copied the substance of it from Baruffaldi, vol. i. p. 67.] + +[Footnote 25: _Orlando Furioso_ canto xxxiii. st. 28.] + +[Footnote 26: + + "Inveni portum: spes et fortuna valete; + Sat me lusistis; Indite nune alios." + + My port is found: adieu, ye freaks of chance; + The dance ye led me, now let others dance.] + +[Footnote 27: + + "The great Emathian conqueror bade spare + The house of Pindarus, when temple and tower + went to the ground," &c.] + +[Footnote 28: This medal is inscribed "Ludovicus Ariost. Poet." and has +the bee-hive on the reverse, with the motto "Pro bono malum." Ariosto was +so fond of this device, that in his fragment called the _Five Cantos_ (c. +v. st. 26), the Paladin Rinaldo wears it embroidered on his mantle.] + +[Footnote 29: + + "Io son de' dieci il primo, e vecchio fatto + Di quaranta quattro anni, e il capo calvo + Da un tempo in qua sotto il cuffiotto appiatto." + + _Satira_ ii.] + +[Footnote 30: + + "Il vin fumoso, a me vie piu interdetto + Che 'l tosco, costi a inviti si tracanna, + E sacrilegio e non ber molto, e schietto. + +(He is speaking of the wines of Hungary, and of the hard drinking +expected of strangers in that country.) + + Tutti li cibi son con pope e canna, + Di amomo e d' altri aromati, che tutti + Come nocivi il medico mi danna." + + _Satira_ ii.] + +[Footnote 31: Pigna, _I Romanzi_, p. 119.] + +[Footnote 32: _Epicedium_ on his brother's death. It is reprinted +(perhaps for the first time since 1582) in Mr. Panizzi's Appendix to the +Life, in his first volume, p. clxi.] + +[Footnote 33: + + "Le donne, i cavalier, l' arme, gli amori, + Le cortesie, le audaci imprese, io canto," + +is Ariosto's commencement; + + Ladies, and cavaliers, and loves, and arms, + And courtesies, and daring deeds, I sing. + +In Dante's _Purgatory_ (canto xiv.), a noble Romagnese, lamenting the +degeneracy of his country, calls to mind with graceful and touching +regret, + + "Le donne, i cavalier, gli affanni e gli agi, + Che inspiravano amore e cortesia." + + The ladies and the knights, the cares and leisures, + Breathing around them love and courtesy.] + +[Footnote 34: The original is much pithier, but I cannot find equivalents +for the alliteration. He said, "Porvi le pietre e porvi le parole non e +il medesimo."--_Pigna_, p. 119. According to his son, however, his remark +was, that "palaces could be made in poems without money." He probably +expressed the same thing in different ways to different people.] + +[Footnote 35: Vide Sat. iii. "Mi sia un tempo," &c. and the passage in +Sat. vii. beginning "Di libri antiqui."] + +[Footnote 36: The inkstand which Shelley saw at Ferrara (_Essays and +Letters_, p. 149) could not have been this; probably his eye was caught +by a wrong one. Doubts also, after what we know of the tricks practised +upon visitors of Stratford-upon-Avon, may unfortunately be entertained +of the "plain old wooden piece of furniture," the arm-chair. Shelley +describes the handwriting of Ariosto as "a small, firm, and pointed +character, expressing, as he should say, a strong and keen, but +circumscribed energy of mind." Every one of Shelley s words is always +worth consideration; but handwritings are surely equivocal testimonies +of character; they depend so much on education, on times and seasons and +moods, conscious and unconscious wills, &c. What would be said by an +autographist to the strange old, ungraceful, slovenly handwriting of +Shakspeare?] + +[Footnote 37: See vol. i. of the present work, pp. 30, 202, and 216.] + +[Footnote 38: Baruffaldi, 1807; p. 105.] + +[Footnote 39: + + "In casa mia mi sa meglio una rapa + Ch'io cuoca, e cotta s' un stecco m' inforco, + E mondo, e spargo poi di aceto e sapa, + + Che all'altrui mensa tordo, starno, o porco + Selvaggio."] + +[Footnote 40: "Chi vuole andare," &c. _Satira_ iv.] + +[Footnote 41: + + "Se Nicoletto o Fra Martin fan segno + D' infedele o d' cretico, ne accuso + Il saper troppo, e men con lor mi sdegno: + + Perche salendo lo intelletto in suso + Per veder Dio, non de' parerci strano + Se talor cade giu cieco e confuso." + + _Satira_ vi. + +This satire was addressed to Bembo. The cardinal is said to have asked +a visitor from Germany whether Brother Martin really believed what he +preached; and to have expressed the greatest astonishment when told +that he did. Cardinals were then what augurs were in the time of +Cicero--wondering that they did not burst out a-laughing in one another's +faces. This was bad; but inquisitors are a million times worse. By the +Nicoletto here mentioned by Ariosto in company with Luther, we are to +understand (according to the conjecture of Molini) a Paduan professor of +the name of Niccolo Vernia, who was accused of holding the Pantheistic +opinions of Averroes.] + +[Footnote 42: Take a specimen of this leap-frog versification from the +prologue to the _Cassaria_:-- + + "Questa commedia, ch'oggi _recitatavi_ + Sara, se nol sapete, e la _Cassaria_, + Ch'un altra volta, gia vent'anni _passano_, + Veder si fece sopra questi _pulpiti_, + Ed allora assai piacque a tutto il _popolo_, + Ma non ne riposto gia degno _premio_, + Che data in preda a gl'importuni ed _avidi_ + Stampator fu," &c. + +This through five comedies in five acts!] + +[Footnote 43: In the verses entitled _Bacchi Statua_.] + +[Footnote 44: Essays and Letters, _ut sup._ vol. ii. p. 125.] + +[Footnote 45: + + "Le lacrime scendean tra gigli e rose, + La dove avvien ch' alcune se n' inghiozzi." + + Canto xii. st. 94. + +Which has been well translated by Mr. Rose + + And between rose and lily, from her eyes + Tears fall so fast, she needs must swallow some."] + +[Footnote 46: Essay on the _Narrative and Romantic Poems of the +Italians_, in the _Quarterly Review_, vol. xxi.] + +[Footnote 47: + + "Vengono e van, come onda al primo margo + Quando piacevole aura il mar combatte." + + Canto vii. st. 14.] + +[Footnote 48: + + "Con semplici parole e puri incanti." + + Canto vi. st. 38.] + +[Footnote 49: Canto xiv. st. 79.] + +[Footnote 50: Canto xxviii. st. 98.] + +[Footnote 51: Canto XV. st. 57.] + +[Footnote 52: _Id_. st. 23.] + +[Footnote 53: Canto xvi. st. 56.] + +[Footnote 54: Canto xviii. st. 142.] + +[Footnote 55: Canto XVII. st. 12.] + +[Footnote 56: _Essay_, as above, p.534.] + +[Footnote 57: _Boiardo and Ariosto_, vol. iv. p. 318.] + +[Footnote 58: _Life_, in Panizzi p. ix.] + +[Footnote 59: _Opere di Galileo_, Padova, 1744, vol. i. p. lxxii.] + + +THE + +ADVENTURES OF ANGELICA. + +Argument. + +PART I.--Angelica flies from the camp of Charlemagne into a wood, where +she meets with a number of her suitors. Description of a beautiful +natural bower. She claims the protection of Sacripant, who is overthrown, +in passing, by an unknown warrior that turns out to be a damsel. Rinaldo +comes up, and Angelica flies from both. She meets a pretended hermit, who +takes her to some rocks in the sea, and casts her asleep by magic. They +are seized and carried off by some mariners from the isle of Ebuda, where +she is exposed to be devoured by an orc, but is rescued by a knight on a +winged horse. He descends with her into a beautiful spot on the coast of +Brittany, but suddenly misses both horse and lady. He is lured, with the +other knights, into an enchanted palace, whither Angelica comes too. She +quits it, and again eludes her suitors. + +PART II.--Cloridan and Medoro, two Moorish youths, after a battle with +the Christians, resolve to find the dead body of their master, King +Dardinel, and bury it. They kill many sleepers as they pass through the +enemy's camp, and then discover the body; but are surprised, and left for +dead themselves. Medoro, however, survives his friend, and is cured of +his wounds by Angelica, who happens to come up. She falls in love with +and marries him. Account of their honeymoon in the woods. They quit them +to set out for Cathay, and see a madman on the road. + +PART III.--When the lovers had quitted their abode in the wood, Orlando, +by chance, arrived there, and saw every where, all round him, in-doors +and out-of-doors, inscriptions of "Angelica and Medoro." He tries in vain +to disbelieve his eyes; finally, learns the whole story from the owner of +the cottage, and loses his senses. What he did in that state, both in the +neighbourhood and afar off, where he runs naked through the country. His +arrival among his brother Paladins; and the result. + + +THE + +ADVENTURES OF ANGELICA. + +(CONTINUED BY ARIOSTO FROM BOIARDO[1].) + +Part the First. + +ANGELICA AND HER SUITORS. + +Angelica, not at all approving her consignment to the care of Namo by +Charlemagne, for the purpose of being made the prize of the conqueror, +resolved to escape before the battle with the Pagans. She accordingly +mounted her palfrey at once, and fled with all her might till she found +herself in a wood. + +Scarcely had she congratulated herself on being in a place of refuge, +when she met a warrior full armed, whom with terror she recognised to be +the once-loved but now detested Rinaldo. He had lost his horse, and was +looking for it. Angelica turned her palfrey aside instantly, and galloped +whithersoever it chose to carry her, till she came to a river-side, where +she found another of her suitors, Ferragus. She called loudly upon him +for help. Rinaldo had recognised her in turn; and though he was on foot, +she knew he would be coming after her. + +Come after her he did. A fight between the rivals ensued; and the beauty, +taking advantage of it, again fled away--fled like the fawn, that, having +seen its mother's throat seized by a wild beast, scours through the +woods, and fancies herself every instant in the jaws of the monster. +Every sweep of the wind in the trees--every shadow across her path--drove +her with sudden starts into the wildest cross-roads; for it made her feel +as if Rinaldo was at her shoulders.[2] + +Slackening her speed by degrees, she wandered afterwards she knew not +whither, till she came, next day, to a pleasant wood that was gently +stirring with the breeze. There were two streams in it, which kept the +grass always green; and when you listened, you heard them softly running +among the pebbles with a broken murmur. + +Thinking herself secure at last, and indeed feeling as if she were now a +thousand miles off from Rinaldo--tired also with her long journey, and +with the heat of the summer sun--she here determined to rest herself. +She dismounted; and having relieved her horse of his bridle, and let him +wander away in the fresh pasture, she cast her eyes upon a lovely natural +bower, formed of wild roses, which made a sort of little room by the +water's side. The bower beheld itself in the water; trees enclosed it +overhead, on the three other sides; and in the middle was room enough to +lie down on the sward; while the whole was so thickly trellised with the +leaves and branches, that the sunbeams themselves could not enter, much +less any prying sight. The place invited her to rest; and accordingly the +beautiful creature laid herself down, and so gathering herself, as it +were, together, went fast asleep[3]. + +She had not slept long when she was awakened by the trampling of a horse; +and getting up, and looking cautiously through the trees, she perceived +a cavalier, who dismounted from his steed, and sat himself down by the +water in a melancholy posture. It was Sacripant, king of Circassia, one +of her lovers, wretched at the thought of having missed her in the camp +of King Charles. Angelica loved Sacripant no more than the rest; but, +considering him a man of great conscientiousness, she thought he would +make her a good protector while on her journey home. She therefore +suddenly appeared before him out of the bower, like a goddess of the +woods, or Venus herself, and claimed his protection. + +Never did a mother bathe the eyes of her son with tears of such exquisite +joy, when he came home after news of his death in battle, as the Saracen +king beheld this sudden apparition with + + Cosi voto nel mezo, the concede + Fresca stanza fra l'ombre piu nascose: + E la foglie coi rami in modo e mista, + Che 'l Sol non v' entra, non che minor vista. + + Dentro letto vi fan tener' erbette, + Ch'invitano a posar chi s' appresenta. + La bella donna in mezo a quel si mette; + Ivi si scorca, et ivi s' addormenta." + + St.37.] + +An exquisite picture! Its divine face and beautiful manners.[4] He could +not help clasping her in his arms; and very different intentions were +coming into his head than those for which she had given him credit, when +the noise of a second warrior thundering through the woods made him +remount his horse and prepare for an encounter. The stranger speedily +made his appearance, a personage of a gallant and fiery bearing, clad in +a surcoat white as snow, with a white streamer for a crest. He seemed +more bent on having the way cleared before him than anxious about the +manner of it; so couching his lance as he came, while Sacripant did the +like with his, he dashed upon the Circassian with such violence as to +cast him on the ground; and though his own horse slipped at the same +time, he had it up again in an instant with his spurs; and so, +continuing his way, was a mile off before the Saracen recovered from his +astonishment. + +As the stunned and stupid ploughman, who has been stretched by a +thunderbolt beside his slain oxen, raises himself from the ground after +the lofty crash, and looks with astonishment at the old pine-tree near +him which has been stripped from head to foot, with just such amazement +the Circassian got up from his downfall, and stood in the presence of +Angelica, who had witnessed it. Never in his life had he blushed so red +as at that moment. + +Angelica comforted him in sorry fashion, attributing the disaster to his +tired and ill-fed horse, and observing that his enemy had chosen to risk +no second encounter; but, while she was talking, a messenger, with an +appearance of great fatigue and anxiety, came riding up, who asked +Sacripant if he had seen a knight in a white surcoat and crest. + +"He has this instant," answered the king, "overthrown me, and galloped +away. Who is he?" + +"It is no _he_," replied the messenger. "The rider who has overthrown +you, and thus taken possession of whatever glory you may have acquired, +is a damsel; and she is still more beautiful than brave. Bradalnante is +her illustrious name." And with these words the horseman set spurs to +his horse, and left the Saracen more miserable than before. He mounted +Angelica's horse without a word, his own having been disabled; and so, +taking her up behind him, proceeded on the road in continued silence.[5] + +They had just gone a couple of miles, when they again heard a noise, as +of some powerful body in haste; and in a little while, a horse without a +rider came rushing towards them, in golden trappings. It was Rinaldo's +horse, Bayardo.[6] The Circassian, dismounting, thought to seize it, +but was welcomed with a curvet, which made him beware how he hazarded +something worse. The horse then went straight to Angelica in a way as +caressing as a dog; for he remembered how she fed him in Albracca at the +time when she was in love with his ungracious master: and the beauty +recollected Bayardo with equal pleasure, for she had need of him. +Sacripant, however, watched his opportunity, and mounted the horse; so +that now the two companions had each a separate steed. They were about +to proceed more at their ease, when again a great noise was heard, and +Rinaldo himself was seen coming after them on foot, threatening the +Saracen with furious gestures, for he saw that he had got his horse; and +he recognised, above all, in a rage of jealousy, the lovely face beside +him. Angelica in vain implored the Circassian to fly with her. He asked +if she had forgotten the wars of Albracca, and all which he had done to +serve her, that thus she supposed him afraid of another battle. + +Sacripant endeavoured to push Bayardo against Rinaldo; but the horse +refusing to fight his master, he dismounted, and the two rivals +encountered each other with their swords. At first they went through +the whole sword-exercise to no effect; but Rinaldo, tired of the delay, +raised the terrible Fusberta,[7] and at one blow cut through the other's +twofold buckler of bone and steel, and benumbed his arm. Angelica turned +as pale as a criminal going to execution; and, without farther waiting, +galloped off through the forest, looking round every instant to see if +Rinaldo was upon her. + +She had not gone far when she met an old man who seemed to be a hermit, +but was in reality a magician, coming along upon an ass. He was of +venerable aspect, and seemed worn out with age and mortifications; yet, +when he beheld the exquisite face before him, and heard the lady explain +how it was she needed his assistance, even he, old as he really was, +began to fancy himself a lover, and determined to use his art for the +purpose of keeping his two rivals at a distance. Taking out a book, and +reading a little in it, there issued from the air a spirit in likeness +of a servant, whom he sent to the two combatants with directions to +give them a false account of Orlando's having gone off to France with +Angelica. The spirit disappeared; and the magician journeying with his +companion to the sea-coast, raised another, who entered Angelica's horse, +and carried her, to her astonishment and terror, out to sea, and so round +to some lonely rocks. There, to her great comfort at first, the old man +rejoined her; but his proceedings becoming very mysterious, and exciting +her indignation, he cast her into a deep sleep. + +It happened, at this moment, that a ship was passing by the rocks, bound +upon a tragical commission from the island of Ebuda. It was the custom of +that place to consign a female daily to the jaws of a sea-monster, for +the purpose of averting the wrath of one of their gods; and as it was +thought that the god would be appeased if they brought him one of +singular beauty, the mariners of the ship seized with avidity on the +sleeping Angelica, and carried her off, together with the old man. +The people of Ebuda, out of love and pity, kept her, unexposed to the +sea-monster, for some days; but at length she was bound to the rock where +it was accustomed to seek its food; and thus, in tears and horror, with +not a friend to look to, the delight of the world expected her fate. East +and west she looked in vain; to the heavens she looked in vain; every +where she looked in vain. That beauty which had made King Agrican come +from the Caspian gates, with half Scythia, to find his death from the +hands of Orlando; that beauty which had made King Sacripant forget both +his country and his honour; that beauty which had tarnished the renown +and the wisdom of the great Orlando himself, and turned the whole East +upside down, and laid it at the feet of loveliness, has now not a soul +near it to give it the comfort of a word. + +Leaving our heroine awhile in this condition, I must now tell you that +Ruggiero, the greatest of all the infidel warriors, had been presented by +his guardian, the magician Atlantes, with two wonderful gifts; the one +a shield of dazzling metal, which blinded and overthrew every one that +looked at it; and the other an animal which combined the bird with the +quadruped, and was called the Hippogriff, or griffin-horse. It had the +plumage, the wings, head, beak, and front-legs of a griffin, and the rest +like a horse. It was not made by enchantment, but was a creature of a +natural kind found but very rarely in the Riphaean mountains, far on the +other side of the Frozen Sea.[8] + +With these gifts, high mounted in the air, the young ward of Atlantes +was now making the grandest of grand tours. He had for some time been +confined by the magician in a castle, in order to save him from the +dangers threatened in his horoscope. From this he had been set free by +the lady with whom he was destined to fall in love; he had then been +inveigled by a wicked fairy into her tower, and set free by a good one; +and now he was on his travels through the world, to seek his mistress and +pursue knightly adventures. + +Casting his eyes on the coast of Ebuda, the rider of the hippogriff +beheld the amazing spectacle of the lady tied to the rock; and struck +with a beauty which reminded him of her whom he loved, he +resolved to deliver her from a peril which soon became too manifest. + +A noise was heard in the sea; and the huge monster, the Orc, appeared +half in the water and half out of it, like a ship which drags its way +into port after a long and tempestuous voyage.[9] It seemed a huge mass +without form except the head, which had eyes sticking out, and bristles +like a boar. Ruggiero, who had dashed down to the side of Angelica, and +attempted to encourage her in vain, now rose in the air; and the monster, +whose attention was diverted by a shadow on the water of a couple of +great wings dashing round and above him, presently felt a spear on his +Deck; but only to irritate him, for it could not pierce the skin. In vain +Ruggiero tried to do so a hundred times. The combat was of no more effect +than that of the fly with the mastiff, when it dashes against his eyes +and mouth, and at last comes once too often within the gape of his +snapping teeth. The orc raised such a foam and tempest in the waters with +the flapping of his tail, that the knight of the hippogriff hardly knew +whether he was in air or sea. He began to fear that the monster would +disable the creature's wings; and where would its rider be then? He +therefore had recourse to a weapon which he never used but at the last +moment, when skill and courage became of no service: he unveiled the +magic shield. But first he flew to Angelica, and put on her finger the +ring which neutralised its effect. The shield blazed on the water +like another sun. The orc, beholding it, felt it smite its eyes like +lightning; and rolling over its unwieldy body in the foam which it had +raised, lay turned up, like a dead fish, insensible. But it was not dead; +and Ruggiero was so long in making ineffectual efforts to pierce it, that +Angelica cried out to him for God's sake to release her while he had the +opportunity, lest the monster should revive. "Take Ime with you," she +said; "drown me; any thing, rather than let me be food for this horror." + +The knight released her instantly. He set her behind him on the winged +horse, and in a few minutes was in the air, transported with having +deprived the brute of his delicate supper. Then, turning as he went, he +imprinted on her a thousand kisses. He had intended to make a tour of +Spain, which was not far off; but he now altered his mind, and descended +with his prize into a lovely spot, on the coast of Brittany, encircled +with oaks full of nightingales, with here and there a solitary mountain. + +It was a little green meadow with a brook.[10] + +Ruggiero looked about him with transport, and was preparing to +disencumber himself of his hot armour, when the blushing beauty, casting +her eyes downwards, beheld on her finger the identical magic ring which +her father had given her when she first entered Christendom, and which +had delivered her out of so many dangers. If put on the finger only, it +neutralised all enchantment; but put into the mouth, it rendered the +wearer invisible. It had been stolen from her, and came into the hands of +a good fairy, who gave it to Ruggiero, in order to deliver him from +the wiles of a bad one. Falsehood to the good fairy's friend, his own +mistress Bradamante, now rendered him unworthy of its possession; and +at the moment when he thought Angelica his own beyond redemption, she +vanished out of his sight. In vain he knew the secret of the ring, and +the possibility of her being still present--the certainty, at all events, +of her not being very far off. He ran hither and thither like a madman, +hoping to clasp her in his arms, and embracing nothing but the air. In a +little while she was distant far enough; and Ruggiero, stamping about to +no purpose in a rage of disappointment, and at length resolving to +take horse, perceived he had been deprived, in the mean time, of his +hippogriff. It had loosened itself from the tree to which he had tied +it, and taken its own course over the mountains. Thus he had lost horse, +ring, and lady, all at once.[11] + +Pursuing his way, with contending emotions, through a valley between +lofty woods, he heard a great noise in the thick of them. He rushed to +see what it was; and found a giant combating with a young knight. The +giant got the better of the knight; and having cast him on the ground, +unloosed his helmet for the purpose of slaying him, when Ruggiero, to +his horror, beheld in the youth's face that of his unworthily-treated +mistress Bradamante. He rushed to assault her enemy; but the giant, +seizing her in his arms, took to his heels; and the penitent lover +followed him with all his might, but in vain. The wretch was hidden from +his eyes by the trees. At length Ruggiero, incessantly pursuing him, +issued forth into a great meadow, containing a noble mansion; and here he +beheld the giant in the act of dashing through the gate of it with his +prize. + +The mansion was an enchanted one, raised by the anxious old guardian of +Ruggiero for the purpose of enticing into it both the youth himself, and +all from whom he could experience danger in the course of his adventures. +Orlando had just been brought there by a similar device, that of the +apparition of a knight carrying off Angelica; for the supposed Bradamante +was equally a deception, and the giant no other than the magician +himself. There also were the knights Ferragus, and Brandimart, and +Grandonio, and King Sacripant, all searching for something they had +missed. They wandered about the house to no purpose; and sometimes +Ruggiero heard Bradamante calling him; and sometimes Orlando beheld +Angelica's face at a window.[12] + +At length the beauty arrived in her own veritable person. She was again +on horseback, and once more on the look-out for a knight who should +conduct her safely home--whether Orlando or Sacripant she had not +determined. The same road which had brought Ruggiero to the enchanted +house having done as much for her, she now entered it invisibly by means +of the ring. + +Finding both the knights in the place, and feeling under the necessity of +coming to a determination respecting one or the other, Angelica made up +her mind in favour of King Sacripant, whom she reckoned to be more at her +disposal. Contriving therefore to meet him by himself, she took the +ring out of her mouth, and suddenly appeared before him. He had hardly +recovered from his amazement, when Ferragus and Orlando himself came up; +and as Angelica now was visible to all, she took occasion to deliver them +from the enchanted house by hastening before them into a wood. They all +followed of course, in a frenzy of anxiety and delight; but the lady +being perplexed with the presence of the whole three, and recollecting +that she had again obtained possession of her ring, resolved to trust her +safe conduct to invisibility alone; so, in the old fashion, she left +them to new quarrels by suddenly vanishing from their eyes. She stopped, +nevertheless, a while to laugh at them, as they all turned their +stupefied faces hither and thither; then suffered them to pass her in a +blind thunder of pursuit; and so, gently following at her leisure on the +same road, took her way towards the East. + +It was a long journey, and she saw many places and people, and was now +hidden and now seen, like the moon, till she calve one day into a forest +near the walls of Paris, where she beheld a youth lying wounded on the +grass, between two companions that were dead. + +Part the Second. + +ANGELICA AND MEDORO. + +Now, in order to understand who the youth was that Angelica found lying +on the grass between the two dead companions, and how he came to be so +lying, you must know that a great battle had been fought there between +Charlemagne and the Saracens, in which the latter were defeated, and that +these three people belonged to the Saracens. The two that were slain were +Dardinel, king of Zumara, and Cloridan, one of his followers; and the +wounded survivor was another, whose name was Medoro. Cloridan and Medoro +had been loving and grateful servants of Dardinel, and very fast friends +of one another; such friends, indeed, that on their own account, as well +as in honour of what they did for their master, their history deserves a +particular mention. + +They were of a lowly stock on the coast of Syria, and in all the various +fortunes of their lord had shewn him a special attachment. Cloridan had +been bred a huntsman, and was the robuster person of the two. Medoro was +in the first bloom of youth, with a complexion rosy and fair, and a most +pleasant as well as beautiful countenance. He had black eyes, and hair +that ran into curls of gold; in short, looked like a very angel from +heaven. + +These two were keeping anxious watch upon the trenches of the defeated +army, when Medoro, unable to cease thinking of the master who had been +left dead on the field, told his friend that he could no longer delay to +go and look for his dead body, and bury it. "You," said he, "will remain, +and so be able to do justice to my memory, in case I fail." + +Cloridan, though he delighted in this proof of his friend's +noble-heartedness, did all he could to dissuade him from so perilous an +enterprise; but Medoro, in the fervour of his gratitude for benefits +conferred on him by his lord, was immovable in his determination to die +or to succeed; and Cloridan, seeing this, determined to go with him. + +They took their way accordingly out of the Saracen camp, and in a short +time found themselves in that of the enemy. The Christians had been +drinking over-night for joy at their victory, and were buried in wine and +sleep. Cloridan halted a moment, and said in a whisper to his friend, +"Do you see this? Ought I to lose such an opportunity of revenging our +beloved master? Keep watch, and I will do it. Look about you, and listen +on every side, while I make a passage for us among these sleepers with my +sword." + +Without waiting an answer, the vigorous huntsman pushed into the first +tent before him. It contained, among other occupants, a certain Alpheus, +a physician and caster of nativities, who had prophesied to himself a +long life, and a death in the bosom of his family. Cloridan cautiously +put the sword's point in his throat, and there was an end of his dreams. +Four other sleepers were despatched in like manner, without time given +them to utter a syllable. After them went another, who had entrenched +himself between two horses; then the luckless Grill, who had made himself +a pillow of a barrel which he had emptied. He was dreaming of opening +a second barrel, but, alas, was tapped himself. A Greek and a German +followed, who had been playing late at dice; fortunate, if they had +continued to do so a little longer; but they never counted a throw like +this among their chances. + +By this time the Saracen had grown ferocious with his bloody work, and +went slaughtering along like a wild beast among sheep. Nor could +Medoro keep his own sword unemployed; but he disdained to strike +indiscriminately--he was choice in his victims. Among these was a certain +Duke La Brett, who had his lady fast asleep in his arms. Shall I pity +them? That will I not. Sweet was their fated hour, most happy their +departure; for, embraced as the sword found them, even so, I believe, it +dismissed them into the other world, loving and enfolded. + +Two brothers were slain next, sons of the Count of Flanders, and +newly-made valorous knights. Charlemagne had seen them turn red with +slaughter in the field, and had augmented their coat of arms with his +lilies, and promised them lands beside in Friesland. And he would have +bestowed the lands, only Medoro forbade it. + +The friends now discovered that they had approached the quarter in +which the Paladins kept guard about their sovereign. They were afraid, +therefore, to continue the slaughter any further; so they put up their +swords, and picked their way cautiously through the rest of the camp into +the field where the battle had taken place. There they experienced so +much difficulty in the search for their master's body, in consequence of +the horrible mixture of the corpses, that they might have searched till +the perilous return of daylight, had not the moon, at the close of a +prayer of Medoro's, sent forth its beams right on the spot where the king +was lying. Medoro knew him by his cognizance, _argent_ and _gules_.The +poor youth burst into tears at the sight, weeping plentifully as he +approached him, only he was obliged to let his tears flow without noise. +Not that he cared for death--at that moment he would gladly have embraced +it, so deep was his affection for his lord; but he was anxious not to be +hindered in his pious office of consigning him to the earth. + +The two friends took up the dead king on their shoulders, and were +hasting away with the beloved burden, when the whiteness of dawn began to +appear, and with it, unfortunately, a troop of horsemen in the distance, +right in their path. + +It was Zerbino, prince of Scotland, with a party of horse. He was a +warrior of extreme vigilance and activity, and was returning to the camp +after having been occupied all night in pursuing such of the enemy as had +not succeeded in getting into their entrenchments[13]. + +"My friend," exclaimed the huntsman, "we must e'en take to our heels. Two +living people must not be sacrificed to one who is dead." + +With these words he let go his share of the burden, taking for granted +that the friend, whose life as well as his own he was thinking to secure, +would do as he himself did. But attached as Cloridan had been to his +master, Medoro was far more so. He accordingly received the whole burden +on his shoulders. Cloridan meantime scoured away, as fast as feet could +carry him, thinking his companion was at his side: otherwise he would +sooner have died a hundred times over than have left him. + +In the interim, the party of the Scottish prince had dispersed themselves +about the plain, for the purpose of intercepting the two fugitives, +whichever way they went; for they saw plainly they were enemies, by the +alarm they shewed. + +There was an old forest at hand in those days, which, besides being thick +and dark, was full of the most intricate cross-paths, and inhabited only +by game. Into this Cloridan had plunged. Medoro, as well as he could, +hastened after him; but hampered as he was with his burden, the more he +sought the darkest and most intricate paths, the less advanced he found +himself, especially as he had no acquaintance with the place. + +On a sudden, Cloridan having arrived at a spot so quiet that he became +aware of the silence, missed his beloved friend. "Great God!" he +exclaimed, "what have I done? Left him I know not where, or how!" The +swift runner instantly turned about, and, retracing his steps, came +voluntarily back on the road to his own death. As he approached the scene +where it was to take place, he began to hear the noise of men and horses; +then he discerned voices threatening; then the voice of his unhappy +friend; and at length he saw him, still bearing his load, in the midst of +the whole troop of horsemen. The prince was commanding them to seize him. +The poor youth, however, burdened as he was, rendered it no such easy +matter; for he turned himself about like a wheel, and entrenched himself, +now behind this tree and now behind that. Finding this would not do, +he laid his beloved burden on the ground, and then strode hither and +thither, over and round about it, parrying the horsemen's endeavours +to take him prisoner. Never did poor hunted bear feel more conflicting +emotions, when, surprised in her den, she stands over her offspring with +uncertain heart, groaning with a mingled sound of tenderness and rage. +Wrath bids her rush forward, and bury her nails in the flesh of their +enemy; love melts her, and holds her back in the middle of her fury, to +look upon those whom she bore.[14] + +Cloridan was in an agony of perplexity what to do. He longed to rush +forth and die with his friend; he longed also still to do what he could, +and not to let him die unavenged. He therefore halted awhile before +he issued from the trees, and, putting an arrow to his bow, sent it +well-aimed among the horsemen. A Scotsman fell dead from his saddle. The +troop all turned to see whence the arrow came; and as they were raging +and crying out, a second stuck in the throat of the loudest. + +"This is not to be borne," cried the prince, pushing his horse towards +Medoro; "you shall suffer for this." And so speaking, he thrust his hand +into the golden locks of the youth, and dragged him violently backwards, +intending to kill him; but when he looked on his beautiful face, he +couldn't do it. + +The youth betook himself to entreaty. "For God's sake, sir knight!" cried +he, "be not so cruel as to deny me leave to bury my lord and master. He +was a king. I ask nothing for myself--not even my life. I do not care for +my life. I care for nothing but to bury my lord and master." + +These words were spoken in a manner so earnest, that the good prince +could feel nothing but pity; but a ruffian among the troop, losing sight +even of respect for his lord, thrust his lance into the poor youth's +bosom right over the prince's hand. Zerbino turned with indignation to +smite him, but the villain, seeing what was coming, galloped off; and +meanwhile Cloridan, thinking that his friend was slain, came leaping full +of rage out of the wood, and laid about him with his sword in mortal +desperation. Twenty swords were upon him in a moment; and perceiving +life flowing out of him, he let himself fall down by the side of his +friend.[15] + +The Scotsmen, supposing both the friends to be dead, now took their +departure; and Medoro indeed would have been dead before long, he bled so +profusely. But assistance of a very unusual sort was at hand. + +A lady on a palfrey happened to be coming by, who observed signs of life +in him, and was struck with his youth and beauty. She was attired with +great simplicity, but her air was that of a person of high rank, and her +beauty inexpressible. In short, it was the proud daughter of the lord of +Cathay, Angelica herself. Finding that she could travel in safety and +independence by means of the magic ring, her self-estimation had risen to +such a height, that she disdained to stoop to the companionship of the +greatest man living. She could not even call to mind that such lovers as +the County Orlando or King Sacripant existed and it mortified her beyond +measure to think of the affection she had entertained for Rinaldo. + +"Such arrogance," thought Love, "is not to be endured." The little archer +with the wings put an arrow to his bow, and stood waiting for her by the +spot where Medoro lay. + +Now, when the beauty beheld the youth lying half dead with his wounds, +and yet, on accosting him, found that he lamented less for himself than +for the unburied body of the king his master, she felt a tenderness +unknown before creep into every particle of her being; and as the +greatest ladies of India were accustomed to dress the wounds of their +knights, she bethought her of a balsam which she had observed in coming +along; and so, looking about for it, brought it back with her to the +spot, together with a herdsman whom she had met on horseback in search +of one of his stray cattle. The blood was ebbing so fast, that the poor +youth was on the point of expiring; but Angelica bruised the plant +between stones, and gathered the juice into her delicate hands, and +restored his strength with infusing it into the wounds; so that, in a +little while, he was able to get on the horse belonging to the herdsman, +and be carried away to the man's cottage. He would not quit his lord's +body, however, nor that of his friend, till he had seen them laid in the +ground. He then went with the lady, and she took up her abode with him in +the cottage, and attended him till he recovered, loving him more and more +day by day; so that at length she fairly told him as much, and he loved +her in turn; and the king's daughter married the lowly-born soldier. + +O County Orlando! O King Sacripant! That renowned valour of yours, say, +what has it availed you? That lofty honour, tell us, at what price is it +rated? What is the reward ye have obtained for all your services? Shew us +a single courtesy which the lady ever vouchsafed, late or early, for all +that you ever suffered in her behalf. + +O King Agrican! if you could return to life, how hard would you think it +to call to mind all the repulses she gave you--all the pride and aversion +and contempt with which she received your advances! O Ferragus! O +thousands of others too numerous to speak of, who performed thousands of +exploits for this ungrateful one, what would you all think at beholding +her in the arms of the courted boy! + +Yes, Medoro had the first gathering of the kiss off the lips of +Angelica--those lips never touched before--that garden of roses on +the threshold of which nobody ever yet dared to venture. The love was +headlong and irresistible; but the priest was called in to sanctify +it; and the brideswoman of the daughter of Cathay was the wife of the +cottager. The lovers remained upwards of a month in the cottage. Angelica +could not bear her young husband out of her sight. She was for ever +gazing on him, and hanging on his neck. In-doors and out-of-doors, day as +well as night, she had him at her side. In the morning or evening they +wandered forth along the banks of some stream, or by the hedge-rows of +some verdant meadow. In the middle of the day they took refuge from the +heat in a grotto that seemed made for lovers; and wherever, in their +wanderings, they found a tree fit to carve and write on, by the side of +fount or river, or even a slab of rock soft enough for the purpose, there +they were sure to leave their names on the bark or marble; so that, what +with the inscriptions in-doors and out-of-doors (for the walls of the +cottage displayed them also), a visitor of the place could not have +turned his eye in any direction without seeing the words + + "ANGELICA AND MEDORO" + +written in as many different ways as true-lovers' knots could run.[16] + +Having thus awhile enjoyed themselves in the rustic solitude, the Queen +of Cathay (for in the course of her adventures in Christendom she had +succeeded to her father's crown) thought it time to return to her +beautiful empire, and complete the triumph of love by crowning Medoro +king of it. + +She took leave of the cottagers with a princely gift. The islanders of +Ebuda had deprived her of every thing valuable but a rich bracelet, +which, for some strange, perhaps superstitious, reason, they left on her +arm. This she took off, and made a present of it to the good couple for +their hospitality; and so bade them farewell. + +The bracelet was of inimitable workmanship, adorned with gems, and had +been given by the enchantress Morgana to a favourite youth, who was +rescued from her wiles by Orlando. The youth, in gratitude, bestowed it +on his preserver; and the hero had humbly presented it to Angelica, who +vouchsafed to accept it, not because of the giver, but for the rarity of +the gift. + +The happy bride and bridegroom, bidding farewell to France, proceeded by +easy journeys, and crossed the mountains into Spain, where it was their +intention to take ship for the Levant. Descending the Pyrenees, they +discerned the ocean in the distance, and had now reached the coast, and +were proceeding by the water-side along the high road to Barcelona, when +they beheld a miserable-looking creature, a madman, all over mud and +dirt, lying naked in the sands. He had buried himself half inside them +for shelter from the sun; but having observed the lovers as they came +along, he leaped out of his hole like a dog, and came raging against +them. + +But, before I proceed to relate who this madman was, I must return to the +cottage which the two lovers had occupied, and recount what passed in it +during the interval between their bidding it adieu and their arrival in +this place. + +PART THE THIRD + +THE JEALOUSY OF ORLANDO. + +During the course of his search for Angelica, the County Orlando had just +restored two lovers to one another, and was pursuing a Pagan enemy to no +purpose through a wild and tangled wood, when he came into a beautiful +spot by a river's side, which tempted him to rest himself from the heat. +It was a small meadow, full of daisies and butter-cups, and surrounded +with trees. There was an air abroad, notwithstanding the heat, which made +the shepherds glad to sit without their jerkins, and receive the coolness +on their naked bodies: even the hard-skinned cattle were glad of it; and +Orlando, who was armed _cap-a-pie_, was delighted to take off his helmet, +and lay aside his buckler, and repose awhile in the midst of a scene so +refreshing. Alas! it was the unhappiest moment of his life. + +Casting his eyes around him, while about to get off his horse, he +observed a handwriting on many of the trees which he thought he knew. +Riding up to the trees, and looking more closely, he was sure he knew it; +and in truth it was no other than that of his adored mistress Angelica, +and the inscription one of those numerous inscriptions of which I have +spoken. The spot was one of the haunts of the lovers while they abode in +the shepherd's cottage. Wherever the County turned his eyes, he beheld, +tied together in true-lovers' knots, nothing but the words + + "ANGELICA AND MEDORO." + +All the trees had them--his eyes could see nothing else; and every letter +was a dagger that pierced his heart. + +The unhappy lover tried in vain to disbelieve what he saw. He endeavoured +to compel himself to think that it was some other Angelica who had +written the words; but he knew the handwriting too well. Too often had he +dwelt upon it, and made himself familiar with every turn of the letters. +He then strove to fancy that "Medoro" was a feigned name, intended for +himself; but he felt that he was trying to delude himself, and that the +more he tried, the bitterer was his conviction of the truth. He was like +a bird fixing itself only the more deeply in the lime in which it is +caught, by struggling and beating its wings. + +Orlando turned his horse away in his anguish, and paced it towards a +grotto covered with vine and ivy, which he looked into. The grotto, both +outside and in, was full of the like inscriptions. It was the retreat the +lovers were so fond of at noon. Their names were written on all sides of +it, some in chalk and coal,[17] others carved with a knife. + +The wretched beholder got off his horse and entered the grotto. The first +thing that met his eyes was a larger inscription in the Saracen lover's +own handwriting and tongue--a language which the slayer of the infidels +was too well acquainted with. The words were in verse, and expressed the +gratitude of the "poor Medoro," the writer, for having had in his arms, +in that grotto, the beautiful Angelica, daughter of King Galafron, whom +so many had loved in vain. The writer invoked a blessing on every part +of it, its shades, its waters, its flowers, its creeping plants; and +entreated every person, high and low, who should chance to visit it, +particularly lovers, that they would bless the place likewise, and take +care that it was never polluted by foot of herd. + +Thrice, and four times, did the unhappy Orlando read these words, trying +always, but in vain, to disbelieve what he saw. Every time he read, they +appeared plainer and plainer; and every time did a cold hand seem to be +wringing the heart in his bosom. At length he remained with his eyes +fixed on the stone, seeing nothing more, not even the stone itself. He +felt as if his wits were leaving him, so abandoned did he seem of all +comfort. Let those imagine what he felt who have experienced the same +emotions--who know, by their own sufferings, that this is the grief which +surpasses all other griefs. His head had fallen on his bosom; his look +was deprived of all confidence; he could not even speak or shed a +tear. His impetuous grief remained within him by reason of his +impetuosity--like water which attempts to rush out of the narrow-necked +bottle, but which is so compressed as it comes, that it scarcely issues +drop by drop. + +Again he endeavoured to disbelieve his eyes--to conclude that somebody +had wished to calumniate his mistress, and drive her lover mad, and so +had done his best to imitate her handwriting. With these sorry attempts +at consolation, he again took horse, the sun having now given way to the +moon, and so rode a little onward, till he beheld smoke rising out of +the tops of the trees, and heard the barking of dogs and the lowing of +cattle. By these signs he knew that he was approaching a village. He +entered it, and going into the first house he came to, gave his horse to +the care of a youth, and was disarmed, and had his spurs of gold taken +off, and so went into a room that was shewn him without demanding either +meat or drink, so entirely was he filled with his sorrow. + +Now it happened that this was the very cottage into which Medoro had been +carried out of the wood by the loving Angelica. There he had been cured +of his wounds--there he had been loved and made happy--and there, +wherever the County Orlando turned his eyes, he beheld the detested +writing on the walls, the windows, the doors. He made no inquiries about +it of the people of the house: he still dreaded to render the certainty +clearer than he would fain suppose it. + +But the cowardice availed him nothing; for the host seeing him unhappy, +and thinking to cheer him, came in as he was getting into bed, and opened +on the subject of his own accord. It was a story be told to every body +who came, and he was accustomed to have it admired; so with little +preface he related all the particulars to his new guest--how the youth +had been left for dead on the field, and how the lady had found him, and +had him brought to the cottage--and how she fell in love with him as he +grew well--and how she could be content with nothing but marrying him, +though she was daughter of the greatest king of the East, and a queen +herself. At the conclusion of his narrative, the good man produced the +bracelet which had been given him by Angelica, as evidence of the truth +of all that he had been saying. + +This was the final stroke, the last fatal blow, given to the poor hopes +of Orlando by the executioner, Love. He tried to conceal his misery, but +it was no longer to be repressed; so finding the tears rush into his +eyes, he desired to be alone. As soon as the man had retired, he let them +flow in passion and agony. In vain he attempted to rest, much less to +sleep. Every part of the bed appeared to be made of stones and thorns. + +At length it occurred to him, that most likely they had slept in that +very bed. He rose instantly, as if he had been lying on a serpent. The +bed, the house, the herdsman, every thing about the place, gave him such +horror and detestation, that, without waiting for dawn, or the light of +moon, he dressed himself, and went forth and took his horse from the +stable, and galloped onwards into the middle of the woods. There, as soon +as he found himself in the solitude, he opened all the flood-gates of his +grief, and gave way to cries and outcries. + +But he still rode on. Day and night did Orlando ride on, weeping and +lamenting. He avoided towns and cities, and made his bed on the hard +earth, and wondered at himself that he could weep so long. + +"These," thought he, "are no tears that are thus poured forth. They are +life itself, the fountains of vitality; and I am weeping and dying both. +These are no sighs that I thus eternally exhale. Nature could not supply +them. They are Love himself storming in my heart, and at once consuming +me and keeping me alive with his miraculous fires. No more--no more am I +the man I seem. He that was Orlando is dead and buried. His ungrateful +mistress has slain him. I am but the soul divided from his body--doomed +to wander here in this misery, an example to those that put their trust +in love." + +For the wits of the County Orlando were going; and he wandered all night +round and round in the wood, till he came back to the grotto where Medoro +had written his triumphant verses. Madness then indeed fell upon him. +Every particle of his being seemed torn up with rage and fury; and he +drew his mighty sword, and hewed the grotto and the writing, till the +words flew in pieces to the heavens. Woe to every spot in the place in +which were written the names of "Angelica and Medoro." Woe to the place +itself: never again did it afford refuge from the heat of day to sheep or +shepherd; for not a particle of it remained as it was. With arm and sword +Orlando defaced it all, the clear and gentle fountain included. He hacked +and hewed it inside and out, and cut down the branches of the trees that +hung over it, and tore away the ivy and the vine, and rooted up great +bits of earth and stone, and filled the sweet water with the rubbish, so +that it was never clear and sweet again; and at the end of his toil, not +having satisfied or being able to satisfy his soul with the excess of +his violence, he cast himself on the ground in rage and disdain, and lay +groaning towards the heavens. + +On the ground Orlando threw himself, and on the ground he remained, his +eyes fixed on heaven, his lips closed in dumbness; and thus he continued +for the space of three days and three nights, till his frenzy had mounted +to such a pitch that it turned against himself. He then arose in fury, +and tore off mail and breastplate, and every particle of clothing from +his body, till humanity was degraded in his heroical person, and he +became naked as the beasts of the field. In this condition, and his wits +quite gone, sword was forgotten as well as shield and helm; and he tore +up fir-tree and ash, and began running through the woods. The shepherds +hearing the cries of the strong man, and the crashing of the boughs, came +hastening from all quarters to know what it was; but when he saw them he +gave them chase, and smote to death those whom he reached, till the whole +country was up in arms, though to no purpose; for they were seized with +such terror, that while they threatened and closed after him, they +avoided him. He entered cottages, and tore away the food from the tables; +and ran up the craggy hills and down into the valleys; and chased beasts +as well as men, tearing the fawn and the goat to pieces, and stuffing +their flesh into his stomach with fierce will. + +Raging and scouring onwards in this manner, he arrived one day at a +bridge over a torrent, on which the fierce Rodomont had fixed himself for +the purpose of throwing any one that attempted to pass it into the water. +It was a very narrow bridge, with scarcely room for two horses. But +Orlando took no heed of its narrowness. He dashed right forwards against +man and steed, and forced the champion to wrestle with him on foot; and, +winding himself about him with hideous strength, he leaped backwards with +him into the torrent, where he left him, and so mounted the opposite +bank, and again rushed over the country. A more terrible bridge than +this was in his way--even a precipitous pass of frightful height over +a valley; but still he scoured onwards, throwing over it the agonised +passengers that dared, in their ignorance of his strength, to oppose +him; and so always rushing and raging, he came down the mountains by the +sea-side to Barcelona, where he cast his eyes on the sands, and thought, +in his idiot mind, to make himself a house in them for coolness and +repose; and so he grubbed up the sand, and laid himself down in it: and +this was the terrible madman whom Angelica and Medoro saw looking at them +as they were approaching the city. + +Neither of them knew him, nor did he know Angelica; but, with an idiot +laugh, he looked at her beauty, and liked her, and came horribly towards +her to carry her away. Shrieking, she put spurs to her horse and fled; +and Medoro, in a fury, came after the pursuer and smote him, but to no +purpose. The great madman turned round and smote the other's horse to the +ground, and so renewed his chase after Angelica, who suddenly regained +enough of her wits to recollect the enchanted ring. Instantly she put +it into her lips and disappeared; but in her hurry she fell from her +palfrey, and Orlando forgot her in the instant, and, mounting the poor +beast, dashed off with it over the country till it died; and so at last, +after many dreadful adventures by flood and field, he came running into +a camp full of his brother Paladins, who recognised him with tears; and, +all joining their forces, succeeded in pulling him down and binding him, +though not without many wounds: and by the help of these friends, and the +special grace of the apostle St. John (as will be told in another place), +the wits of the champion of the church were restored, and he became +ashamed of that passion for an infidel beauty which the heavenly powers +had thus resolved to punish. + +But Angelica and Medoro pursued the rest of their journey in peace, and +took ship on the coast of Spain for India; and there she crowned her +bridegroom King of Cathay. The description of Orlando's jealousy and +growing madness is reckoned one of the finest things in Italian poetry; +and very fine it surely is--as strong as the hero's strength, and +sensitive as the heart of man. The circumstances are heightened, one +after the other, with the utmost art as well as nature. There is a +scriptural awfulness in the account of the hero's becoming naked; and the +violent result is tremendous. I have not followed Orlando into his feats +of ultra-supernatural strength. The reader requires to be prepared +for them by the whole poem. Nor are they necessary, I think, to +the production of the best effect; perhaps would hurt it in an age +unaccustomed to the old romances. + + * * * * * + +[Footnote 1: See p. 58 of the present volume.] + +[Footnote 2: + + "Fugge tra selve spaventose e scure, + Per lochi inabitati, ermi e selvaggi. + Il mover de le frondi e di verzure + Che di cerri sentia, d' olmi e di faggi, + Fatto le avea con subite paure + Trovar di qua e di la strani viaggi; + Ch' ad ogni ombra veduta o in monte o in valle + Temea Rinaldo aver sempre alle spalle." + + Canto i. st. 33.] + +[Footnote 3: + + "Ecco non lungi un bel cespuglio vede + Di spin fioriti e di vermiglic rose, + Che de le liquide onde al specchio siede, + Chiuso dal Sol fra l' alte quercie ombrose; ] + +[Footnote 4: And how lovely is this! + + "E fuor di quel cespuglio oscuro e cieco + Fa di se bella et improvvisa mostra, + Come di selva o fuor d'ombroso speco + Diana in scena, o Citerea si mostra," &c. + + St. 52.] + +[Footnote 5: How admirable is the suddenness, brevity, and force of this +scene! And it is as artful and dramatic as off-hand; for this Amazon, +Bradamante, is the future heroine of the warlike part of the poem, and +the beauty from whose marriage with Ruggiero is to spring the house of +Este. Nor without her appearance at this moment, as Panizzi has shewn +(vol. i. p. cvi.), could a variety of subsequent events have taken place +necessary to the greatest interests of the story. All the previous +passages in romance about Amazons are nothing compared with this flash of +a thunderbolt.] + +[Footnote 6: From _bayard_, old French; _bay-colour._] + +Footnote 7: His famous sword, vide p. 48.] + +[Footnote 8: To richness and rarity, how much is added by remoteness! It +adds distance to the other difficulties of procuring it.] + +[Footnote 9: + + "Ecco apparir lo smisurato mostro + Mezo ascoso ne l'onda, e mezo sorto. + Come sospinto suol da Borca o d'Ostro + Venir lungo navilio a pigliar porto," + Canto x. st. 100. + +Improved from Ovid, _Metamorph_. lib. iv. 706 + + "Ecce velut navis praefixo concita rostro + Sulcat aquas, juvenum sudantibus acta lacertis; + Sic fera," &c. + + As when a galley with sharp beak comes fierce, + Ploughing the waves with many a sweating oar. + +Ovid is brisker and more obviously to the purpose; but Ariosto gives the +ponderousness and dreary triumph of the monster. The comparison of the +fly and the mastiff is in the same higher and more epic taste. The +classical reader need not be told that the whole ensuing passage, as far +as the combat is concerned, is imitated from Ovid's story of Perseus and +Andromeda.] + +[Footnote 10: + + "Sul lito un bosco era di querce ombrose, + Dove ogn' or par che Filomena piagna; + Ch'in mezo avea un pratel con una fonte, + + E quinci e quindi un solitario monte. + Quivi il bramoso cavalier ritenne + L'audace corso, e nel pratel discese." + St. 113. + +What a landscape! and what a charm beyond painting he has put into it +with his nightingales! and then what figures besides! A knight on a +winged steed descending with a naked beauty into a meadow in the thick of +woods, with "here and there a solitary mountain." The mountains make no +formal circle; they keep their separate distances, with their various +intervals of light and shade. And what a heart of solitude is given to +the meadow by the loneliness of these its waiters aloof!] + +[Footnote 11: Nothing can be more perfectly wrought up than this sudden +change of circumstances.] + +[Footnote 12: To feel the complete force of this picture, a reader should +have been in the South, and beheld the like sudden apparitions, at open +windows, of ladies looking forth in dresses of beautiful colours, and +with faces the most interesting. I remember a vision of this sort at +Carrara, on a bright but not too hot day (I fancied that the marble +mountains there cooled it). It resembled one of Titian's women, with its +broad shoulders, and boddice and sleeves differently coloured from the +petticoat; and seemed literally framed in the unsashed window. But I am +digressing.] + +[Footnote 13: Ariosto elsewhere represents him as the handsomest man in +the world; saying of him, in a line that has become famous, + + "Natura il fece, e poi roppe la stampa." + + Canto x. st. 84. + + --Nature made him, and then broke the mould. + +(The word is generally printed _ruppe_; but I use the primitive text +of Mr. Pannizi's edition.) Boiardo's handsomest man, Astolfo, was an +Englishman; Ariosto's is a Scotchman. See, in the present volume, the + note on the character of Astolfo, p. 41.] + +[Footnote 14: + + "Come orsa, che l'alpestre cacciatore + Ne la pietrosa tana assalita abbia, + Sta sopra i figli con incerto core, + E freme in suono di pieta e di rabbia: + Ira la 'nvita e natural furore + A spiegar l'ugne, e a insanguinar le labbia; + Amor la 'ntenerisce, e la ritira + A riguardare a i figli in mezo l'ira." + + Like as a bear, whom men in mountains start + In her old stony den, and dare, and goad, + Stands o'er her children with uncertain heart, + And roars for rage and sorrow in one mood; + Anger impels her, and her natural part, + To use her nails, and bathe her lips in blood; + Love melts her, and, for all her angry roar, + Holds back her eyes to look on those she bore. + +This stanza in Ariosto has become famous as a beautiful transcript of a +beautiful passage in Statius, which, indeed, it surpasses in style, but +not in feeling, especially when we consider with whom the comparison +originates: + + "Ut lea, quam saevo foetam pressere cubili + Venantes Numidae, natos erecta superstat + Mente sub incerta, torvum ac miserabile frendens + Illa quidem turbare globes, et frangere morsu + Tela queat; sed prolis amor crudelia vincit + Pectora, et in media catulos circumspicit ira." + + _Thebais_, x. 414.] + +[Footnote 15: This adventure of Cloridan and Medoro is imitated from the +Nisus and Euryalus of Virgil. An Italian critic, quoted by Panizzi, says, +that the way in which Cloridan exposes himself to the enemy is inferior +to the Latin poet's famous + + "Me, me (adsum qui feci), in me convertite ferrum." + + Me, me ('tis I who did the deed), slay me. + +And the reader will agree with Panizzi, that he is right. The +circumstance, also, of Euryalus's bequeathing his aged mother to the care +of his prince, in case he fails in his enterprise, is very touching; +and the main honour, both of the invention of the whole episode and its +particulars, remains with Virgil. On the other hand, the enterprise of +the friends in the Italian poet, which is that of burying their dead +master, and not merely of communicating with an absent general, is more +affecting, though it may be less patriotic; the inability of Zerbino to +kill him, when he looked on his face, is extremely so; and, as Panizzi +has shewn, the adventure is made of importance to the whole story of the +poem, and is not simply an episode, like that in the AEneid. It serves, +too, in a very particular manner to introduce Medoro worthily to the +affection of Angelica; for, mere female though she be, we should hardly +have gone along with her passion as we do, in a poem of any seriousness, +had it been founded merely on his beauty.] + +[Footnote 16: Canto xix. st. 34, &c. All the world have felt this to be +a true picture of first love. The inscription may be said to be that of +every other pair of lovers that ever existed, who knew how to write their +names. How musical, too, are the words "Angelica and Medoro!" Boiardo +invented the one; Ariosto found the match for it. One has no end to the +pleasure of repeating them. All hail to the moment when I first became +aware of their existence, more than fifty years ago, in the house of +the gentle artist Benjamin West! (Let the reader indulge me with this +recollection.) I sighed with pleasure to look on them at that time; I +sigh now, with far more pleasure than pain, to look back on them, for +they never come across me but with delight; and poetry is a world in +which nothing beautiful ever thoroughly forsakes us.] + +[Footnote 17: + + "Scritti, qual con carbone e qual con gesso." + + Canto xxiii. st. 106. + +Ariosto did not mind soiling the beautiful fingers of Angelica with coal +and chalk. He knew that Love did not mind it. + + * * * * * + +ASTOLFO'S JOURNEY TO THE MOON. + +Argument. + +The Paladin Astolfo ascends on the hippogriff to the top of one of the +mountains at the source of the Nile, called the Mountains of the Moon, +where he discovers the Terrestrial Paradise, and is welcomed by St. John +the Evangelist. The Evangelist then conveys him to the Moon itself, where +he is shewn all the things that have been lost on earth, among which is +the Reason of Orlando, who had been deprived of it for loving a Pagan +beauty. Astolfo is favoured with a singular discourse by the Apostle, and +is then presented with a vial containing the Reason of his great brother +Paladin, which he conveys to earth. + +ASTOLFO'S + +JOURNEY TO THE MOON + +When the hippogriff loosened itself from the tree to which Ruggiero had +tied it in the beautiful spot to which he descended with Angelica,[1] it +soared away, like the faithful creature it was, to the house of its own +master, Atlantes the magician. But not long did it remain there--no, nor +the house itself, nor the magician; for the Paladin Astolfo came with a +mighty horn given him by a greater magician, the sound of which overthrew +all such abodes, and put to flight whoever heard it; and so the house +of Atlantes vanished, and the enchanter fled; and the Paladin took +possession of the griffin-horse, and rode away with it on farther +adventures. + +One of these was the deliverance of Senapus, king of Ethiopia, from the +visitation of the dreadful harpies of old, who came infesting his table +as they did those of AEneas and Phineus. Astolfo drove them with his horse +towards the sources of the river Nile, in the Mountains of the Moon, and +pursued them with the hippogriff till they entered a great cavern, which, +by the dreadful cries and lamentings that issued from the depths within +it, the Paladin discovered to be the entrance from earth to Hell. + +The daring Englishman, whose curiosity was excited, resolved to penetrate +to the regions of darkness. "What have I to fear?" thought he; "the horn +will assist me, if I want it. I'll drive the triple-mouthed dog out of +the way, and put Pluto and Satan to flight."[2] + +Astolfo tied the hippogriff to a tree, and pushed forward in spite of a +smoke that grew thicker and thicker, offending his eyes and nostrils. It +became, however, so exceedingly heavy and noisome, that he found it would +be impossible to complete his enterprise. Still he pushed forward as far +as he could, especially as he began to discern in the darkness something +that appeared to stir with an involuntary motion. It looked like a dead +body which has hung up many days in the rain and sun, and is waved +unsteadily by the wind. It turned out to be a condemned spirit in this +first threshold of Hell, sentenced there, with thousands of others, for +having been cruel and false in love. Her name was Lydia, and she had been +princess of the country so called.[3] Anaxarete was among them, who, for +her hard-heartedness, became a stone; and Daphne, who now discovered how +she had erred in making Apollo "run so much;" and multitudes of other +women; but a far greater number of men--men being worthier of punishment +in offences of love, because women are proner to believe. Theseus and +Jason were among them; and Amnon, the abuser of Tamar; and he that +disturbed the old kingdom of Latinus.[4] + +Astolfo would fain have gone deeper into the jaws of Hell, but the smoke +grew so thick and palpable, it was impossible to move a step farther. +Turning about, therefore, he regained the entrance; and having refreshed +himself in a fountain hard by, and re-mounted the hippogriff, felt an +inclination to ascend as high as he possibly could in the air. The +excessive loftiness of the mountain above the cavern made him think that +its top could be at no great distance from the region of the Moon; and +accordingly he pushed his horse upwards, and rose and rose, till at +length he found himself on its table-land. It exhibited a region of +celestial beauty. The flowers were like beds of precious stones for +colour and brightness; the grass, if you could have brought any to earth, +would have been found to surpass emeralds; and the trees, whose leaves +were no less beautiful, were in fruit and flower at once. Birds of as +many colours were singing in the branches; the murmuring rivulets and +dumb lakes were more limpid than crystal: a sweet air was for ever +stirring, which reduced the warmth to a gentle temperature; and every +breath of it brought an odour from flowers, fruit-trees, and herbage all +at once, which nourished the soul with sweetness.[5] + +In the middle of this lonely plain was a palace radiant as fire. Astolfo +rode his horse round about it, constantly admiring all he saw, and filled +with increasing astonishment; for he found that the dwelling was thirty +miles in circuit, and composed of one entire carbuncle, lucid and +vermilion. What became of the boasted wonders of the world before this? +The world itself, in the comparison, appeared but a lump of brute and +fetid matter.[6] + +As the Paladin approached the vestibule, he was met by a venerable old +man, clad in a white gown and red mantle, whose beard descended on his +bosom, and whose aspect announced him as one of the elect of Paradise. +It was St. John the Evangelist, who lived in that mansion with Enoch and +Elijah, the only three mortals who never tasted death; for the place, as +the saint informed him, was the Terrestrial Paradise; and the inhabitants +were to live there till the angelical trumpet announced the coming of +Christ "on the white cloud." The Paladin, he said, had been allowed to +visit it, by the favour of God, for the purpose of fetching away to earth +the lost wits of Orlando, which the champion of the Church had been +deprived of for loving a Pagan, and which had been attracted out of his +brains to the neighbouring sphere, the Moon. + +Accordingly, after the new friends had spent two days in discourse, and +meals had been served up, consisting of fruit so exquisite that the +Paladin could not help thinking our first parents had some excuse for +eating it,[7] the Evangelist, when the Moon arose, took him into the car +which had borne Elijah to heaven; and four horses, redder than fire, +conveyed them to the lunar world. + +The mortal visitant was amazed to see in the Moon a world resembling his +own, full of wood and water, and containing even cities and castles, +though of a different sort from ours. It was strange to find a sphere so +large which had seemed so petty afar off; and no less strange was it to +look down on the world he had left, and be compelled to knit his brows +and look sharply before he could well discern it, for it happened at the +time to want light.[8] + +But his guide did not leave him much time to look about him. He conducted +him with due speed into a valley that contained, in one miraculous +collection, whatsoever had been lost or wasted on earth. I do not speak +only (says the poet) of riches and dominions, and such like gratuities of +Fortune, but of things also which Fortune can neither grant nor resume. +Much fame is there which Time has withdrawn--infinite prayers and vows +which are made to God Almighty by us poor sinners. There lie the tears +and the sighs of lovers, the hours lost in pastimes, the leisures of the +dull, and the intentions of the lazy. As to desires, they are so numerous +that they shadow the whole place. Astolfo went round among the different +heaps, asking what they were. His eyes were first struck with a huge +one of bladders which seemed to contain mighty sounds and the voices of +multitudes. These he found were the Assyrian and Persian monarchies, +together with those of Greece and Lydia.[9] One heap was nothing but +hooks of silver and gold, which were the presents, it seems, made to +patrons and great men in hopes of a return. Another consisted of snares +in the shape of garlands, the manufacture of parasites. Others were +verses in praise of great lords, all made of crickets which had burst +themselves with singing. Chains of gold he saw there, which were +pretended and unhappy love-matches; and eagles' claws, which were deputed +authorities; and pairs of bellows, which were princes' favours; and +overturned cities and treasuries, being treasons and conspiracies; and +serpents with female faces, that were coiners and thieves; and all sorts +of broken bottles, which were services rendered in miserable courts. A +great heap of overturned soup[10] he found to be alms to the poor, which +had been delayed till the giver's death. He then came to a great mount +of flowers, which once had a sweet smell, but now a most rank one. This +(_with submission_) was the present which the Emperor Constantine made to +good Pope Sylvester.[11] Heaps of twigs he saw next, set with bird-lime, +which, dear ladies, are your charms. In short there was no end to what he +saw. Thousands and thousands would not complete the list. Every thing +was there which was to be met with on earth, except folly in the raw +material, for that is never exported.[12] + +There he beheld some of his own lost time and deeds; and yet, if nobody +had been with him to make him aware of them, never would he have +recognised them as his.[13] + +They then arrived at something, which none of us ever prayed God to +bestow, for we fancy we possess it in superabundance; yet here it was in +greater quantities than any thing else in the place--I mean, sense. +It was a subtle fluid, apt to evaporate if not kept closely; and here +accordingly it was kept in vials of greater or less size. The greatest of +them all was inscribed with the following words: "The sense of Orlando." +Others, in like manner, exhibited the names of the proper possessors; and +among them the frank-hearted Paladin beheld the greater portion of his +own. But what more astonished him, was to see multitudes of the vials +almost full to the stopper, which bore the names of men whom he had +supposed to enjoy their senses in perfection. Some had lost them for +love, others for glory, others for riches, others for hopes from great +men, others for stupid conjurers, for jewels, for paintings, for all +sorts of whims. There was a heap belonging to sophists and astrologers, +and a still greater to poets.[14] + +Astolfo, with leave of the "writer of the dark Apocalypse," took +possession of his own. He had but to uncork it, and set it under his +nose, and the wit shot up to its place at once. Turpin acknowledges that +the Paladin, for a long time afterwards, led the life of a sage man, +till, unfortunately, a mistake which he made lost him his brains a second +time.[15] + +The Evangelist now presented him with the vial containing the wits of +Orlando, and the travellers quitted the vale of Lost Treasure. Before +they returned to earth, however, the good saint chewed his guest other +curiosities, and favoured him with many a sage remark, particularly on +the subject of poets, and the neglect of them by courts. He shewed him +how foolish it was in princes and other great men not to make friends of +those who can immortalise them; and observed, with singular indulgence, +that crimes themselves might be no hindrance to a good name with +posterity, if the poet were but feed well enough for spices to embalm the +criminal. He instanced the cases of Homer and Virgil. + +"You are not to take for granted," said he, "that AEneas was so pious +as fame reports him, or Achilles and Hector so brave. Thousands and +thousands of warriors have excelled them; but their descendents bestowed +fine houses and estates on great writers, and it is from their honoured +pages that all the glory has proceeded. Augustus was no such religious or +clement prince as the trumpet of Virgil has proclaimed him. It was his +good taste in poetry that got him pardoned his iniquitous proscription. +Nero himself might have fared as well as Augustus, had he possessed as +much wit. Heaven and earth might have been his enemies to no purpose, had +he known how to keep friends with good authors. Homer makes the Greeks +victorious, the Trojans a poor set, and Penelope undergo a thousand +wrongs rather than be unfaithful to her husband; and yet, if you would +have the real truth of the matter, the Greeks were beaten, and the +Trojans the conquerors, and Penelope was a --. [16] See, on the other +hand, what infamy has become the portion of Dido. She was honest to her +heart's core; and yet, because Virgil was no friend of hers, she is +looked upon as a baggage. + +"Be not surprised," concluded the good saint, "if I have expressed myself +with warmth on this subject. I love writers, and look upon their cause as +my own, for I was a writer myself when I lived among you; and I succeeded +so well in the vocation, that time and death will never prevail against +me. Just therefore is it, that I should be thankful to my beloved Master, +who procured me so great a lot. I grieve for writers who have fallen +on evil times--men that, with pale and hungry faces, find the doors of +courtesy closed against all their hardships. This is the reason there are +so few poets now, and why nobody cares to study. Why should he study? The +very beasts abandon places where there is nothing to feed them." + +At these words the eyes of the blessed old man grew so inflamed with +anger, that they sparkled like two fires. But he presently suppressed +what he felt; and, turning with a sage and gracious smile to the Paladin, +prepared to accompany him back to earth with his wonted serenity. + +He accordingly did so in the sacred car: and Astolfo, after receiving his +gentle benediction, descended on his hippogriff from the mountain, and, +joining the delighted Paladins with the vial, his wits were restored, as +you have heard, to the noble Orlando. + +The figure which is here cut by St. John gives this remarkable satire a +most remarkable close. His association of himself with the fraternity of +authors was thought a little "strong" by Ariosto's contemporaries. The +lesson read to the house of Este is obvious, and could hardly have been +pleasant to men reputed to be such "criminals" themselves. Nor can +Ariosto, in this passage, be reckoned a very flattering or conscientious +pleader for his brother-poets. Resentment, and a good jest, seem to have +conspired to make him forget what was due to himself. + +The original of St. John's remarks about Augustus and the ancient poets +must not be omitted. It is exquisite of its kind, both in matter and +style. Voltaire has quoted it somewhere with rapture. + + "Non fu si santo ne benigno Augusto + Come la tuba di Virgilio suona: + L'aver avuto in poesia buon gusto + La proscrizion iniqua gli perdona. + Nessun sapria se Neron fosse ingiusto, + Ne sua fama saria forse men buona, + Avesse avuto e terra e ciel nimici, + Se gli scrittor sapea tenersi amici. + + Omero Agamennon vittorioso, + E fe' i Trojan parer vili et inerti; + E che Penelopea fida al suo sposo + Da i prochi mille oltraggi avea sofferti: + E, se tu vuoi che 'l ver non ti sia ascoso, + Tutta al contrario l'istoria converti: + Che i Greci rotti, e che Troia vittrice, + E che Penelopea fu meretrice. + + Da l'altra parte odi che fama lascia + Elissa, ch'ebbe il cor tanto pudico; + Che riputata viene una bagascia, + Solo perche Maron non le fu amico." + + Canto xxxv. st. 26. ] + + * * * * * + +[Footnote 1: See p. 192.] + +[Footnote 2: Ariosto is here imitating Pulci, and bearding Dante. See +vol. i. p. 336.] + +[Footnote 3: I know of no story of a cruel Lydia but the poet's own +mistress of that name, whom I take to be the lady here "shadowed forth." +See Life, p. 114.] + +[Footnote 4: The story of Anaxarete is in Ovid, lib. xiv. Every body +knows that of Daphne, who made Apollo, as Ariosto says, "run so much" +(correr tanto). Theseus and Jason are in hell, as deserters of Ariadne +and Medea; Amnon, for the atrocity recorded in the Bible (2 Samuel, chap. +xiii.); and AEneas for interfering with Turnus and Lavinia, and taking +possession of places he had no right to. It is delightful to see the +great, generous poet going upon grounds of reason and justice in the +teeth of the trumped-up rights of the "pious AEneas," that shabby deserter +of Dido, and canting prototype of Augustus. He turns the tables, also, +with brave candour, upon the tyrannical claims of the stronger sex to +privileges which they deny the other; and says, that there are more +faithless men in Hell than faithless women; which, if personal infidelity +sends people there, most undoubtedly is the case beyond all comparison.] + +[Footnote 5: "Che di soaevita l'alma notriva" is beautiful; but the +passage, as a whole, is not well imitated from the Terrestrial Paradise +of Dante. It is not bad in itself, but it is very inferior to the one +that suggested it. See vol. i. p. 210, &c. Ariosto's Terrestrial Paradise +was at home, among the friends who loved him, and whom he made happy.] + +[Footnote 6: This is better; and the house made of one jewel thirty miles +in circuit is an extravagance that becomes reasonable on reflection, +affording a just idea of what might be looked for among the endless +planetary wonders of Nature, which confound all our relative ideas of +size and splendour. The "lucid vermilion" of a structure so enormous, and +under a sun so pure, presents a gorgeous spectacle to the imagination. +Dante himself, if he could have forgiven the poet his animal spirits +and views of the Moon so different from his own, might have stood in +admiration before an abode at once so lustrous and so vast.] + +[Footnote 7: + + "De' frutti a lui del Paradiso diero, + Di tal sapor, ch'a suo giudizio, sanza + Scusa non sono i due primi parenti, + Se pur quei fur si poco ubbidienti." + + Canto xxxiv. st. 60.] + +[Footnote 8: Modern astronomers differ very much both with Dante's and +Ariosto's Moon; nor do the "argent fields" of Milton appear better placed +in our mysterious satellite, with its no-atmosphere and no-water, and its +tremendous precipices. It is to be hoped (and believed) that knowledge +will be best for us all in the end; for it is not always so by the way. +It displaces beautiful ignorances.] + +[Footnote 9: Very fine and scornful, I think, this. Mighty monarchies +reduced to actual bladders, which, little too as they were, contained big +sounds.] + +[Footnote 10: Such, I suppose, as was given at convent-gates.] + +[Footnote 11: The pretended gift of the palace of St. John Lateran, the +foundation of the pope's temporal sovereignty. This famous passage was +quoted and translated by Milton. + + "Di varii fiori ad on gran monte passa + Ch'ebbe gia buon odore, or putia forte. + Questo era il dono (se pero dir lece) + Che Constantino al buon Silvestro fece." + + Canto xxxiv. st. 80. + + The lines were not so bold in the first edition. They stood thus + + "Ad un monte di rose e gigli passa, + Ch'ebbe gia buon odore, or putia forte, + Ch'era corrotto; e da Giovanni intese, + Che fu un gran don ch'un gran signor mal spese." + +"He came to a mount of lilies and roses, that once had a sweet smell, +but now stank with corruption; and be understood from John that it was a +great gift which a great lord ill expended." + +The change of these lines to the stronger ones in the third edition, as +they now stand, served to occasion a charge against Ariosto of having got +his privilege of publication from the court of Rome for passages which +never existed, and which he afterwards basely introduced; but, as Panizzi +observes, the third edition had a privilege also; so that the papacy +put its hand, as it were, to these very lines. This is remarkable; and +doubtless it would not have occurred in some other ages. The Spanish +Inquisition, for instance, erased it, though the holy brotherhood found +no fault with the story of Giocondo.] + + [Footnote 12: "Sol la pazzia non v'e, poca ne assai; + Che sta qua giu, ne se ne parte mai" + St. 78.] + +[Footnote 13: Part of this very striking passage is well translated by + Harrington + + "He saw some of his own lost time and deeds, + And yet he knew them not to be his own." + + I have heard these lines more than once repeated with touching +earnestness by Charles Lamb.] + +[Footnote 14: Readers need not have the points of this exquisite satire +pointed out to them. In noticing it, I only mean to enjoy it in their +company--particularly the passage about the men accounted wisest, and the +emphatic "I mean, sense" (Io dico, il senno).] + +[Footnote 15: Admirable lesson to frailty!] + +[Footnote 16: I do not feel warranted in injuring the strength of the +term here made use of by the indignant apostle, and yet am withheld from +giving it in all its force by the delicacy, real or false, of the times. +I must therefore leave it to be supplied by the reader according to the +requirements of his own feelings.] + + +ARIODANTE AND GINEVRA. + +Argument. + +The Duke of Albany, pretending to be in love with a damsel in the service +of Ginevra, Princess of Scotland, but desiring to marry the princess +herself, and not being able to compass his design by reason of her being +in love with a gentleman from Italy named Ariodante, persuades the +damsel, in his revenge, to personate Ginevra in a balcony at night, +and so make her lover believe that she is false. Ariodante, deceived, +disappears from court. News is brought of his death; and his brother +Lurcanio publicly denounces Ginevra, who, according to the laws of +Scotland, is sentenced to death for her supposed lawless passion. +Lurcanio then challenges the unknown paramour (for the duke's face had +not been discerned in the balcony); and Ariodante, who is not dead, is +fighting him in disguise, when the Paladin Rinaldo comes up, discloses +the whole affair, and slays the deceiver. + + +ARIODANTE AND GINEVRA.[1] + +Charlemagne had suffered a great defeat at Paris, and the Paladin Rinaldo +was sent across the Channel to ask succours of the King of England; but a +tempest arose ere he could reach the coast, and drove him northwards upon +that of Scotland, where he found himself in the Caledonian Forest, a +place famous of old for knightly adventure. Many a clash of arms had been +heard in its shady recesses--many great things had been done there by +knights from all quarters, particularly the Tristans and the Launcelots, +and the Gawains, and others of the Round Table of King Arthur. + +Rinaldo, bidding the ship await him at the town of Berwick, plunged into +the forest with no other companion than his horse Bayardo, seeking the +wildest paths he could find, in the hope of some strange adventure.[2] He +put up, for the first day, at an abbey which was accustomed to entertain +the knights and ladies that journeyed that way; and after availing +himself of its hospitality, he inquired of the abbot and his monks if +they could direct him where to find what he looked for. They said that +plenty of adventures were to be met with in the forest; but that, for the +most part, they remained in as much obscurity as the spots in which they +occurred. It would be more becoming his valour, they thought, to exert +itself where it would not be hidden; and they concluded with telling him +of one of the noblest chances for renown that ever awaited a sword. The +daughter of their king was in need of a defender against a certain baron +of the name of Lurcanio, who sought to deprive her both of life and +reputation. He accused her of having been found in the arms of a lover +without the license of the priest; which, by the laws of Scotland, was a +crime only to be expiated at the stake, unless a champion could be found +to disprove the charge before the end of a month. Unfortunately the month +had nearly expired, and no champion yet made his appearance, though the +king had promised his daughter's hand to anybody of noble blood who +should establish her innocence; and the saddest part of the thing was, +that she was accounted innocent by all the world, and a very pattern of +modesty. + +While this horrible story was being told him, the Paladin fell into a +profound state of thought. After remaining silent for a little while, +at the close of it he looked up, and said, "A lady then, it seems, is +condemned to death for having been too kind to one lover, while thousands +of our sex are playing the gallant with whomsoever they please, and +not only go unpunished for it, but are admired! Perish such infamous +injustice! The man was a madman who made such a law, and they are little +better who maintain it. I hope in God to be able to shew them their +error." + +The good monks agreed, that their ancestors were very unwise to make such +a law, and kings very wrong who could, but would not, put an end to it. +So, when the morning came, they speeded their guest on his noble purpose +of fighting in the lady's behalf. A guide from the abbey took him a short +cut through the forest towards the place where the matter was to be +decided; but, before they arrived, they heard cries of distress in a dark +quarter of the forest, and, turning their horses thither to see what it +was, they observed a damsel between two vagabonds, who were standing over +her with drawn swords. The moment the wretches saw the new comer, they +fled; and Rinaldo, after re-assuring the damsel, and requesting to know +what had brought her to a pass so dreadful, made his guide take her up +on his horse behind him, in order that they might lose no more time. The +damsel, who was very beautiful, could not speak at first, for the horror +of what she had expected to undergo; but, on Rinaldo's repeating his +request, she at length found words, and, in a voice of great humility, +began to relate her story. + +But before she begins, the poet interferes with an impatient remark.--"Of +all the creatures in existence," cries he, "whether they be tame or wild, +whether they are in a state of peace or of war, man is the only one that +lays violent hands on the female of his species. The bear offers no +injury to his; the lioness is safe by the side of the lion; the heifer +has no fear of the horns of the bull. What pest of abomination, what fury +from hell, has come to disturb, in this respect, the bosom of human kind? +Husband and wife deafen one another with injurious speeches, tear one +another's faces, bathe the genial bed with tears, nay, some times with +bloodshed. In my eyes the man who can allow himself to give a blow to a +woman, or to hurt even a hair of her head, is a violater of nature, and a +rebel against God; but to poison her, to strangle her, to take the soul +out of her body with a knife,--he that can do that, never will I believe +him to be a man at all, but a fiend out of hell with a man's face."[3] + +Such must have been the two villains who fled at the sight of Rinaldo, +and who had brought the woman into this dark spot to stifle her testimony +for ever. + +But to return to what she was going to say.-- + +"You are to know, sir," she began, "that I have been from my childhood in +the service of the king's daughter, the princess Ginevra. I grew up with +her; I was held in bonour, and I led a happy life, till it pleased the +cruel passion of love to envy me my condition, and make me think that +there was no being on earth to be compared to the Duke of Albany. He +pretended to love me so much, that, in return, I loved him with all my +heart. Unable, by degrees, to refuse him anything, I let him into the +palace at night, nay, into the room which of all others the princess +regarded as most exclusively her own; for there she kept her jewels, and +there she was accustomed to sleep during inclement states of the weather. +It communicated with the other sleeping-room by a covered gallery, which +looked out to some lonely ruins; and nobody ever passed that way, day or +night. + +"Our intercourse continued for several months; and, finding that I placed +all my happiness in obliging him, he ventured to disclose to me one day +a design he had upon the princess's hand; nay, did not blush to ask my +assistance in furthering it. Judge how I set his wishes above my own, +when I confess that I undertook to do so. It is true, his rank was nearer +to the princess's than to mine; and he pretended that he sought the +alliance merely on that account; protesting that he should love me more +than ever, and that Ginevra would be little better than his wife in name. +But, God knows, I did it wholly out of the excess of my desire to please +him. + +"Day and night I exerted all my endeavours to recommend him to the +princess. Heaven is my witness that I did it in real earnest, however +wrong it was. But my labour was to no purpose, for she was in love +herself. She returned in all its warmth the passion of a most +accomplished and valiant gentleman, who had come into Scotland with a +younger brother from Italy, and who had made himself such a favourite +with every body, my lover included, that the king himself had bestowed on +him titles and estates, and put him on a footing with the greatest lords +of the land. + +"Unfortunately, the princess not only turned a deaf ear to all I said +in the duke's favour, but grew to dislike him in proportion to my +recommendation; so that, finding there was no likelihood of his success, +his own love was secretly turned into hate and rage. He studied, little +as I dreamt he could be so base, how he could best destroy her prospect +of happiness. He resorted, for this purpose, to a most crafty expedient, +which I, poor fool, took for nothing but what he feigned it to be. He +pretended that a whim had come into his head for seeming to prosper in +his suit, out of a kind of revenge for his not being able to do so in +reality; and, in order to indulge this whim, he requested me to dress +myself in the identical clothes which the princess put off when she went +to bed that night, and then to appear in them at my usual post in the +balcony, and so let down the ladder as though I were her very self, and +receive him into my arms. + +"I did all that he desired, mad fool that I was; and out of the part +which I played has come all this mischief. I have intimated to you that +the duke and Ariodante (for such was the other's name) had been good +friends before Ginevra preferred hint to my false lover. Pretending +therefore to be still his friend, and entering on the subject of a +passion which he said he had long entertained for her, he expressed his +wonder at finding it interfered with by so noble a gentleman, especially +as it was returned by the princess with a fervour of which the other, if +he pleased, might have ocular testimony. "Greatly astonished at this news +was Ariodante. He had received all the proofs of his mistress's affection +which it was possible for chaste love to bestow, and with the greatest +scorn refused to believe it; but as the duke, with the air of a man who +could not help the melancholy communication, quietly persisted in his +story, the unhappy lover found himself compelled, at any rate, to let +him afford those proofs of her infidelity which he asserted to be in his +power. The consequence was, that Ariodante came with his brother to the +ruins I spoke of; and there the two were posted on the night when I +played my unhappy part in the balcony. He brought Lurcanio with him (that +was the brother's name), because he suspected that the duke had a design +on his life, not conceiving what he alleged against Ginevra to be +possible. Lurcanio, however, was not in the secret of his brother's +engagement with the princess. It had been disclosed hitherto neither to +him nor to any one, the lady not yet having chosen to divulge it to the +king himself. Ariodante, therefore, requested his brother to take his +station at a little distance, out of sight of the palace, and not to come +to him unless he should call: 'otherwise, my dear brother,' concluded he, +'stir not a step, if you love me.' "'Doubt me not,' said Lurcanio; and, +with these words, the latter entrenched himself in his post. + +"Ariodante now stood by himself, gazing at the balcony,--the only person +visible at that moment in all the place. In a few minutes the Duke +of Albany appeared below it, making the signal to which I had been +accustomed; and then I, in my horrible folly, became visible to the eyes +of both, and let down the ladder. + +"Meantime Lurcanio, beginning to be very uneasy at the mysterious +situation in which he found himself, and to have the most alarming fears +for his brother, had cautiously picked his way after him at a little +distance; so that he also, though still hidden in the shade of the lonely +houses, perceived all that was going on. + +"I was dressed, as I had undertaken to be, in the identical clothes which +the princess had put off that night; and as I was not unlike her in air +and figure, and wore the golden net with red tassels peculiar to ladies +of the royal family, and the two brothers, besides, were at quite +sufficient distance to be deceived, I was taken by both of them for her +very self. The duke impatiently mounted the ladder; I received him as +impatiently in my arms; and circumstances, though from very different +feelings, rendered the caresses that passed between us of unusual ardour. + +"You may imagine the grief of Ariodante. It rose at once to despair. He +did not call out; so that, had not his brother followed him, still worse +would have ensued than did; for he drew his sword, and was proceeding in +distraction to fall upon it, when Lurcanio rushed in and stopped him. +'Miserable brother!' exclaimed he, 'are you mad? Would you die for a +woman like this? You see what a wretch she is. I discern all your case +at once, and, thank God, have preserved you to turn your sword where it +ought to be turned, against the defender of such a pattern of infamy.' + +"Ariodante put up his sword, and suffered himself to be led away by his +brother. He even pretended, in a little while, to be able to review his +condition calmly, but not the less had he secretly resolved to perish. +Next day he disappeared, nobody knew whither; and about eight days +afterwards, news was secretly brought to Ginevra, by a pilgrim, that he +had thrown himself from a headland into the sea. + +"'I met him by chance,' said the pilgrim, 'and we happened to be standing +on the top of the headland, conversing, when he cried out to me, 'Relate +to the princess what you beheld on parting from me; and add, that the +cause of it was my having seen too much. Happy had it been for me had I +been blind!' And with these words,' concluded the pilgrim, 'he leaped +into the sea below, and was instantly buried beneath it.' + +"The princess turned as pale as death at this story, and for a while +remained stupefied. But, alas! what a scene was it my fate to witness, +when she found herself in her chamber at night, able to give way to her +misery. She tore her clothes, and her very flesh, and her beautiful +hair, and kept repeating the last words of her lover with amazement and +despair. + +The disappearance of Ariodante, and a rumour which transpired of his +having slain himself on account of some hidden anguish, surprised and +afflicted the whole court. But his brother Lurcanio evinced more and more +his impatience at it, and let fall the most terrible words. At length +he entered the court when the king was holding one of his fullest +assemblies, and laid open, as he thought, the whole matter; setting forth +how his unhappy brother had secretly, but honourably, loved the princess; +how she had professed to love him in return; and how she had grossly +deceived him, and played him impudently false before his own eyes. He +concluded with calling upon her unknown paramour to come forth, and shew +reasons against him with his sword why she ought not to die. + +"I need not tell you what the king suffered at hearing this strange and +terrible recital. He lost no time in sharply investigating the truth of +the allegation; and for this purpose, among other proceedings, he sent +for the ladies of his daughter's chamber. You may judge, sir,--especially +as, I blush to say it, I still loved the Duke of Albany,--that I could +not await an examination like that. I hastened to meet the duke, who was +as anxious to get me out of the way as I was to go; and to this end, +professing the greatest zeal for my security, he commissioned two men to +convey me secretly to a fortress he possessed in this forest. 'Tis at no +great distance from the place where Heaven sent you to my deliverance. +You saw, sir, how little those wretches intended to take me anywhere +except to my grave; and by this you may judge of the agonies and shame I +have endured in knowing what a dupe I have been to one of the cruelest of +men. But thus it is that Love treats his most faithful servants." + +The damsel here concluded her story; and the Paladin, rejoicing at having +become possessed of all that was required to establish the falsehood of +the duke, proceeded with her on his road to St. Andrews, where the lists +had been set up for the determination of the question. The king and his +court were anxiously praying at that instant for the arrival of some +champion to fight with the dreaded Lurcanio; for the month, as I have +stated, was nearly expired, and this terrible brother appeared to have +the business all his own way; so that the stake was soon to be looked for +at which the hapless Ginevra was to die. + +Fast and eagerly the Paladin rode for St. Andrews, with his squire and +the trembling damsel, who was now agitated for new reasons, though the +knight gave her assurances of his protection. They were not far from +the city when they found people talking of a champion who had certainly +arrived, but whose name was unknown, and his face constantly concealed by +his visor. Even his own squire, it seems, did not know him; for the +man had but lately been taken into his service. Rinaldo, as soon as +he entered the city, left the damsel in a place of security, and then +spurred his horse to the scene of action, when he found the accuser and +the champion in the very midst of the fight. The Paladin, whose horse, +notwithstanding the noise of the combat, had been heard coming like a +tempest, and whose sudden and heroical appearance turned all eyes towards +him, rode straight to the royal canopy, and, begging the king to stop the +combat, disclosed the whole state of the matter, to the enchantment of +all present, except the Duke of Albany; for the villain himself was on +horseback there in state as grand constable, and had been feasting his +miserable soul with the hope of seeing Ginevra condemned. The combatants +were soon changed. Instead of Lurcanio and the unknown champion (whom the +new comer had taken care to extol for his generosity), it was the Paladin +and the Duke that were opposed; and horribly did the latter's heart fail +him. But he had no remedy. Fight he must. Rinaldo, desirous to make short +work of him, took his station with fierce delight; and at the third sound +of the trumpets, the Duke was forced to couch his spear and meet him +at full charge. Sheer went the Paladin's ashen staff through the false +bosom, sending the villain to the earth eight feet beyond the saddle. The +conqueror dismounted instantly, and unlacing the man's helmet, enabled +the king to hear his dying confession, which he had hardly finished, when +life forsook him. Rinaldo then took off his own helmet; and the king, +who had seen the great Paladin before, and who felt more rejoiced at his +daughter's deliverance than if he had lost and regained his crown, lifted +up his hands to heaven, and thanked God for having honoured her innocence +with so illustrious a defender. + +The other champion, who, in the mean time, had been looking on through +the eyelets of his visor, was now entreated to disclose his own face. He +did so with peculiar emotion, and king and all recognised with transport +the face of the loved and, as it was supposed, lost Ariodante. The +pilgrim, however, had told no falsehood. The lover had indeed thrown +himself into the sea, and disappeared from the man's eyes; but (as +oftener happens than people suppose) the death which was desired when +not present became hated when it was so; and Ariodante, lover as he +was, rising at a little distance, struck out lustily for the shore, and +reached it.[4] He felt even a secret contempt for his attempt to kill +himself; yet putting up at an hermitage, became interested in the reports +concerning the princess, whose sorrow flattered, and whose danger, +though he could not cease to think her guilty, afflicted him. He grew +exasperated with the very brother he loved, when he found that Lurcanio +pursued her thus to the death; and on all these accounts he made his +appearance at the place of combat to fight him, though not to slay. His +purpose was to seek his own death. He concluded that Ginevra would then +see who it was that had really loved her, while his brother would mourn +the rashness which made him pursue the destruction of a woman. "Guilty +she is," thought he, "but no such guilt can deserve so cruel a +punishment. Besides, I could not bear that she should die before me. She +is still the woman I love, still the idol of my thoughts. Right or wrong, +I must die in her behalf." + +With this intention he purchased a suit of black armour, and obtained a +squire unknown in those parts, and so made his appearance in the lists. +What ensued there I need not repeat; but the king was so charmed with the +issue of the whole business, with the resuscitation of the favourite whom +he thought dead, and the restoration of the more than life of his beloved +daughter, that, to the joy of all Scotland, and at the special instance +of the great Paladin, he made the two lovers happy without delay; and the +bride brought her husband for dowry the title and estates of the man who +had wronged him. + + +[Footnote 1: The main point of this story, the personation of Ginevra by +one of her ladies, has been repeated by many writers--among others by +Shakspeare, in _Much Ado about Nothing_. The circumstance is said to have +actually occurred in Ferrara, and in Ariosto's own time. Was Ariosto +himself a party? "Ariodante" almost includes his name; and it is certain +that he was once in love with a lady of the name of Ginevra.] + +[Footnote 2: Rinaldo is an ambassador, and one upon very urgent business; +yet he halts by the way in search of adventures. This has been said to be +in the true taste of knight-errantry; and in one respect it is so. We +may imagine, however, that the ship is wind-bound, and that he meant to +return to it on change of weather. The Caledonian Forest, it is to be +observed, is close at hand.] + +[Footnote 3: All honour and glory to the manly and loving poet! + +"Lavezzuola," says Panizzi, "doubts the conjugal concord of beasts, more +particularly of bears. 'Ho letto presso degno autore un orso aver cavato +un occhio ad un orsa con la zampa.' (I have read in an author worthy of +credit, that a bear once deprived a she-bear of an eye with a blow of his +paw.) The reader may choose between Ariosto and this nameless author, +which of them is to be believed. I, of course, am for my poet."--Vol. i. +p. 84. I am afraid, however, that Lavezzuola is right. Even turtle-doves +are said not to be always the models of tenderness they are supposed +to be. Brutes have even devoured their offspring. The violence is most +probably owing (at least in excessive cases) to some unnatural condition +of circumstances.] + +[Footnote 4: This is quite in Ariosto's high and bold taste for truth +under all circumstances. A less great and unmisgiving poet would have had +the lover picked up by a fisherman.] + + +SUSPICION [1] + +It is impossible to conceive a nobler thing in the world than a just +prince--a thoroughly good man, who shuns no part of the burden of his +duty, though it bend him double; who loves and cares for his people as a +father does for his children, and who is almost incessantly occupied in +their welfare, very seldom for his own. + +Such a man puts himself in front of dangers and difficulties in order +that he may be a shield to others; for he is not a mercenary, taking care +of none but himself when he sees the wolf coming; he is the right good +shepherd, staking his own life in that of his flock, and knowing the +faces of every one of them, just as they do his own. + +Such princes, in times of old, were Saturn, Hercules, Jupiter, and +others--men who reigned gently, yet firmly, equal to all chances that +came, and worthy of the divine honours that awaited them. For mankind +could not believe that they quitted the world in the same way as other +men. They thought they must be taken up into heaven to be the lords of +demigods. + +When the prince is good, the subjects are good, for they always imitate +their masters; or at least, if the subjects cannot attain to this height +of virtue, they at least are not as bad as they would be otherwise; and, +at all events, public decency is observed. Oh, blessed kingdoms that are +governed by such hearts! and oh, most miserable ones that are at the +mercy of a man without justice--a fellow-creature without feelings! + +Our Italy is full of such, who will have their reward from the pens of +posterity. Greater wretches never appeared in the shapes of Neros and +Caligulas, or any other such monsters, let them have been who they might. +I enter not into particulars; for it is always better to speak of the +dead than the living; but I must say, that Agrigentum never fared worse +under Phalaris, nor Syracuse under Dionysius, nor Thebes in the hand of +the bloody tyrant Eteocles, even though all those wretches were villains +by whose orders every day, without fault, without even charge, men were +sent by dozens to the scaffold or into hopeless exile. + +But they are not without torments of their own. At the core of their own +hearts there stands an inflicter of no less agonies. There he stands +every day and every moment--one who was born of the same mother with +Wrath, and Cruelty, and Rapine, and who never ceased tormenting his +infant brethren before they saw the light. His name is Suspicion.[2] + +Yes, Suspicion;--the cruelest visitation, the worst evil spirit and pest +that ever haunted with its poisonous whisper the mind of human being. +This is their tormentor by excellence. He does not trouble the poor and +lowly. He agonises the brain in the proud heads of those whom fortune +has put over the heads of their fellow-creatures. Well may the man hug +himself on his freedom who fears nobody because nobody hates him. Tyrants +are in perpetual fear. They never cease thinking of the mortal revenge +taken upon tormentors of their species openly or in secret. The fear +which all men feel of the one single wretch, makes the single wretch +afraid of every soul among them. + +Hear a story of one of these miserables, which, whatever you may think of +it, is true to the letter; such letter, at all events, as is written upon +the hearts of his race. He was one of the first who took to the custom +of wearing beards, for, great as he was, he had a fear of the race of +barbers! He built a tower in his palace, guarded by deep ditches and +thick walls. It had but one drawbridge and one bay-window. There was no +other opening; so that the very light of day had scarcely admittance, or +the inmates a place to breathe at. In this tower he slept; and it was his +wife's business to put a ladder down for him when he came in. A dog kept +watch at the drawbridge; and except the dog and the wife, not a soul was +to be discerned about the place. Yet he had such little trust in her, +that he always sent spies to look about the room before he withdrew for +the night. + +Of what use was it all? The woman herself killed him with his own sword, +and his soul went straight to hell. + +Rhadamanthus, the judge there, thrust him under the boiling lake, but was +astonished to find that he betrayed no symptoms of anguish. He did not +weep and howl as the rest did, or cry out, "I burn, I burn!" He evinced +so little suffering, that Rhadamanthus said, "I must put this fellow into +other quarters." Accordingly, he sent him into the lowest pit, where the +torments are beyond all others. + +Nevertheless, even here he seemed to be under no distress. At length they +asked him the reason. The wretch then candidly acknowledged, that hell +itself had no torments for him, compared with those which suspicion had +given him on earth. + +The sages of hell laid their heads together at this news. Amelioration of +his lot on the part of a sinner was not to be thought of in a place of +eternal punishment; so they called a parliament together, the result of +which was an unanimous conclusion, that the man should be sent back to +earth, and consigned to the torments of suspicion for ever. + +He went; and the earthly fiend re-entered his being anew with a subtlety +so incorporate, that their two natures were identified, and he became +SUSPICION ITSELF. Fruits are thus engrafted on wild stocks. One colour +thus becomes the parent of many, when the painter takes a portion of this +and of that from his palette in order to imitate flesh. + +The new being took up his abode on a rock by the sea-shore, a thousand +feet high, girt all about with mouldering crags, which threatened every +instant to fall. It had a fortress on the top, the approach to which was +by seven drawbridges, and seven gates, each locked up more strongly than +the other; and here, now this moment, constantly thinking Death is upon +him, Suspicion lives in everlasting terror. He is alone. He is ever +watching. He cries out from the battlements, to see that the guards are +awake below, and never does he sleep day or night. He wears mail upon +mail, and mail again, and feels the less safe the more he puts on; and is +always altering and strengthening everything on gate, and on barricado, +and on ditch, and on wall. And do whatever he will, he never seems to +have done enough. + + * * * * * + +Great poet, and good man, Ariosto! your terrors are better than Dante's; +for they warn, as far as warning can do good, and they neither afflict +humanity nor degrade God. + +Spenser has imitated this sublime piece of pleasantry; for, by a curious +intermixture of all which the mind can experience from such a fiction, +pleasant it is in the midst of its sublimity,--laughable with satirical +archness, as well as grand and terrible in the climax. The transformation +in Spenser is from a jealous man into Jealousy. His wife has gone to live +with the Satyrs, and a villain has stolen his money. The husband, in +order to persuade his wife to return, steals into the horde of the +Satyrs, by mixing with their flock of goats,--as Norandino does in a +passage imitated from Homer by Ariosto. The wife flatly refuses to do any +such thing, and the poor wretch is obliged to steal out again. + + "So soon as he the prison door did pass, + He ran as fast as both his feet could bear, + And never looked who behind him was, + Nor scarcely who before. Like as a bear + That creeping close among the hives, to rear + An honeycomb, the wakeful dogs espy, + And him assailing, sore his carcass tear, + That hardly he away with life does fly, + Nor stays till safe himself he see from jeopardy. + + Nor stay'd he till be came unto the place + Where late his treasure he entombed had; + Where, when he found it not (for Trompart base + Had it purloined for his master bad), + With extreme fury he became quite mad, + And ran away--ran with himself away; + That who so strangely had him seen bestad, + With upstart hair and staring eyes' dismay, + From Limbo-lake him late escaped sure would say. + + High over hills and over dales he fled, + As if the wind him on his wings had borne; + Nor bank nor bush could stay him, when he sped + His nimble feet, as treading still on thorn; + Grief, and Despite, and Jealousy, and Scorn, + Did all the way him follow hard behind; + And he himself himself loath'd so forlorn, + So shamefully forlorn of womankind, + That, as a snake, still lurked in his wounded mind. + + Still fled he forward, looking backward still; + Nor stay'd his flight nor fearful agony + Till that he came unto a rocky hill + Over the sea suspended dreadfully, + That living creature it would terrify + To look a-down, or upward to the height + From thence he threw himself dispiteously, + All desperate of his fore-damned spright, + That seem'd no help for him was left in living sight. + + But through long anguish and self-murd'ring thought, + He was so wasted and forpined quite, + That all his substance was consumed to nought, + And nothing left but like an airy sprite; + That on the rocks he fell so flit and light, + That he thereby received no hurt at all; + But chanced on a craggy cliff to light; + Whence he with crooked claws so long did crawl, + That at the last he found a cave with entrance small. + + Into the same he creeps, and thenceforth there + Resolved to build his baleful mansion, + In dreary darkness, and continual fear + Of that rock's fall, which ever and anon + Threats with huge ruin him to fall upon, + That he dare never sleep, but that one eye + Still ope he keeps for that occasion; + Nor ever rests he in tranquillity, + The roaring billows beat his bower so boisterously. + + Nor ever is he wont on aught to feed + But toads and frogs, his pasture poisonous, + Which in his cold complexion do breed + A filthy blood, or humour rancorous, + Matter of doubt and dread suspicious, + That doth with cureless care consume the heart, + Corrupts the stomach with gall vicious, + Cross-cuts the liver with internal smart, + And doth transfix the soul with death's eternal dart. + + Yet can he never die, but dying lives, + And doth himself with sorrow new sustain, + That death and life at once unto him gives, + And painful pleasure turns to pleasing pain; + There dwells he ever, miserable swain, + Hateful both to himself and every wight; + Where he, through privy grief and horror vain, + Is waxen so deformed, that he has quite + Forgot he was a man, and Jealousy is hight." + +Spenser's picture is more subtly wrought and imaginative than Ariosto's; +but it removes the man farther from ourselves, except under very special +circumstances. Indeed, it might be taken rather for a picture of +hypochondria than jealousy, and under that aspect is very appalling. But +nothing, under more obvious circumstances, comes so dreadfully home to us +as Ariosto's poor wretch feeling himself "the less safe the more he puts +on," and calling out dismally from his tower, a thousand feet high, to +the watchers and warders below to see that all is secure. + + +[Footnote 1: This daring and grand apologue is not in the _Furioso_, but +in a poem which Ariosto left unfinished, and which goes under the name +of the _Five Cantos_. The fragment, though bearing marks of want of +correction, is in some respects a beautiful, and altogether a curious +one, especially as it seems to have been written after the _Furioso_; +for it touches in a remarkable manner on several points of morals and +politics, and contains an extravagance wilder than any thing in Pulci,--a +whale _inhabited_ by knights! It was most likely for these reasons that +his friend Bembo and others advised him to suppress it. Was it written in +his youth? The apologue itself is not one of the least daring attacks on +the Borgias and such scoundrels, who had just then afflicted Italy. + +Did Ariosto, by the way, omit Macchiavelli in his list of the friends who +hailed the close of his great poem, from not knowing what to make of his +book entitled the _Prince?_ It has perplexed all the world to this day, +and is not unlikely to have made a particularly unpleasant impression on +a mind at once so candid and humane as Ariosto's.] + +[Footnote 2: A tremendous fancy this last! + + "Sta for la pena, de la qual dicea + Che nacque quando la brutt'Ira nacque, + La Crudeltade, e la Rapina rea; + E quantunque in un ventre con for giacque, + Di tormentarle mai non rimanea."] + + +ISABELLA.[1] + +Rodomont, King of Algiers, was the fiercest of all the enemies of +Christendom, not out of love for his own faith (for he had no piety), but +out of hatred to those that opposed him. He had now quarrelled, however, +with his friends too. He had been rejected by a lady, in favour of the +Tartar king, Mandricardo, and mortified by the publicity of the rejection +before his own lord paramount, Agramante, the leader of the infidel +armies. He could not bear the rejection; he could not bear the sanction +of it by his liege lord; he resolved to quit the scene of warfare and +return to Africa; and, in the course of his journey thither, he had come +into the south of France, where, observing a sequestered spot that suited +his humour, be changed his mind as to going home, and persuaded himself +he could live in it for the rest of his life. He accordingly took up his +abode with his attendants in a chapel, which had been deserted by its +clergy during the rage of war. + +This vehement personage was standing one morning at the door of the +chapel in a state of unusual thoughtfulness, when he beheld coming +towards him, through a path in the green meadow before it, a lady of +a lovely aspect, accompanied by a bearded monk. They were followed by +something covered with black, which they were bringing along on a great +horse. + +Alas! the lady was the widow of Zerbino, the Scottish prince, who spared +the life of Medoro, and who now himself lay dead under that pall. He +had expired in her arms from wounds inflicted during a combat with +Mandricardo; and she had been thrown by the loss into such anguish of +mind that she would have died on his sword but for the intervention of +the hermit now with her, who persuaded her to devote the rest of her days +to God in a nunnery. She had now come into Provence with the good man for +that purpose, and to bury the corpse of her husband in the chapel which +they were approaching. + +Though the lady seemed lost in grief, and was very pale, and had her hair +all about the ears, and though she did nothing but weep and lament, and +looked in all respects quite borne down with her misery, nevertheless she +was still so beautiful that love and grace appeared to be indestructible +in her aspect. The moment the Saracen beheld her, he dismissed from his +mind all the determinations he had made to hate and detest + + The gentle bevy, that adorns the world. + +He was bent solely on obtaining the new angel before him. She seemed +precisely the sort of person to make him forget the one that had rejected +him. Advancing, therefore, to meet her without delay, he begged, in as +gentle a manner as he could assume, to know the cause of her sorrow. + +The lady, with all the candour of wretchedness, explained who she was, +and how precious a burden she was conveying to its last home, and the +resolution she had taken to withdraw from a vain world into the service +of God. The proud pagan, who had no belief in a God, much less any +respect for restraints or fidelities of what kind soever, forgot his +assumed gravity when he heard this determination, and laughed outright at +the simplicity of such a proceeding. He pronounced it, in his peremptory +way, to be foolish and frivolous; compared it with the miser who, in +burying a treasure, does good neither to himself nor any one else; and +said, that lions and serpents might indeed be shut up in cages, but not +things lovely and innocent. + +The monk, overhearing these observations, thought it his duty to +interfere. He calmly opposed all which the other asserted, and then +proceeded to set forth a repast of spiritual consolation not at all to +the Saracen's taste. The fierce warrior interrupted the preacher several +times; told him that he had nothing to do with the lady, and that the +sooner he returned to his cell the better; but the hermit, nothing +daunted, went on with his advice till his antagonist lost all patience. +He laid hands on his sacred person; seized him by the beard; tore away +as much of it as he grasped; and at length worked himself up into such a +pitch of fury, that he griped the good man's throat with all the force of +a pair of pincers, and, swinging him twice or thrice round, as one might +a dog, flung him off the headland into the sea. + +What became of the poor creature I cannot say. Reports are various. Some +tell us that he was found on the rocks, dashed all to pieces, so that you +could not distinguish foot from head; others, that he fell into the +sea at the distance of three miles, and perished in consequence of not +knowing how to swim, in spite of the prayers and tears that he addressed +to Heaven; others again affirm, that a saint came and assisted him, and +drew him to shore before people's eyes. I must leave the reader to adopt +which of these accounts he looks upon as the most probable. + +The Pagan, as soon as he had thus disposed of the garrulous hermit, +turned towards Isabella (for that was the lady's name), and with a face +some what less disturbed, began to talk to her in the common language of +gallantry, protesting that she was his life and soul, and that he should +not know what to do without her; for the sweetness of her appearance +mollified even him; and indeed, with all his violence, he would rather +have possessed her by fair means than by foul. He therefore flattered +himself that, by a little hypocritical attention, he should dispose her +to return his inclinations. + +On the other hand, the poor disconsolate creature, who, in a country +unknown to her, and a place so remote from help, felt like a mouse in the +cat's claws, began casting in her mind by what possible contrivance she +could escape from such a wretch with honour. She had made up her mind to +perish by her own hand, rather than be faithless, however unwillingly, to +the dear husband that had died in her arms: but the question was, how she +could protect herself from the pagan's violence, before she had secured +the means of so doing; for his manner was becoming very impatient, and +his speeches every moment less and less civil. + +At length an expedient occurred to her. She told him, that if he would +promise to respect her virtue, she would put him in possession of a +secret that would redound far more to his honour and glory, than any +wrong which he could inflict on the innocent. She conjured him not to +throw away the satisfaction he would experience all the rest of his life +from the consciousness of having done right, for the sake of injuring one +unhappy creature. "There were thousands of her sex," she observed, "with +cheerful as well as beautiful faces, who might rejoice in his affection; +whereas the secret she spoke of was known to scarcely a soul on earth but +herself." + +She then told him the secret; which consisted in the preparation of a +certain herb boiled with ivy and rue over a fire of cypress-wood, and +squeezed into a cup by hands that had never done harm. The juice thus +obtained, if applied fresh every month, had the virtue of rendering +bodies invulnerable. Isabella said she had seen the herb in the +neighbourhood, as she came along, and that she would not only make the +preparation forth-with, but let its effects be proved on her own person. +She only stipulated, that the receiver of the gift should swear not to +offend her purity in deed or word. + +The fierce infidel took the oath immediately. It delighted him to think +that he should be enabled to have his fill of war and slaughter for +nothing; and the oath was the more easy to him, inasmuch as he had no +intention of keeping it. + +The poor Isabella went into the fields to look for her miraculous herb, +still, however, attended by the Saracen, who would not let her go out of +his sight. She soon found it; and then going with him into his house, +passed the rest of the day and the whole night in preparing the mixture +with busy solemnity,--Rodomont always remaining with her. + +The room became so hot and close with the fire of cypress-wood, that the +Saracen, contrary to his law and indeed to his habits, indulged himself +in drinking; and the consequence was, that, as soon as it was morning, +Isabella lost no time in proving to him the success of her operations. +"Now," she said, "you shall be convinced how much in earnest I have been. +You shall see all the virtue of this blessed preparation. I have only to +bathe myself thus, over the head and neck, and if you then strike me with +all your force, as though you intended to cut off my head,--which you +must do in good earnest,--you will see the wonderful result." + +With a glad and rejoicing countenance the paragon of virtue held forth +her neck to the sword; and the bestial pagan, giving way to his natural +violence, and heated perhaps beyond all thought of a suspicion with his +wine, dealt it so fierce a blow, that the head leaped from the shoulders. + +Thrice it bounded on the ground where it fell, and a clear voice was +heard to come out of it, calling the name of "Zerbino," doubtless in joy +of the rare way which its owner had found of escaping from the Saracen. + +O blessed soul, that heldest thy virtue and thy fidelity dearer to thee +than life and youth! go in peace, then soul blessed and beautiful. If any +words of mine could have force in them sufficient to endure so long, hard +would I labour to give them all the worthiness that art can bestow, so +that the world might rejoice in thy name for thousands and thousands of +years. Go in peace, and take thy seat in the skies, and be an example to +womankind of faith beyond all weakness. + + +[Footnote 1: The ingenious martyrdom in this story, which has been told +by other writers of fiction, is taken from an alleged fact related in +Barbaro's treatise _De Re Uxoria_.It is said, indeed, to have been +actually resorted to more than once; and possibly may have been so, even +from a knowledge of it; for what is more natural with heroical minds than +that the like outrages should produce the like virtues? But the colouring +of Ariosto's narration is peculiarly his own; and his apostrophe at the +close beautiful.] + + + +TASSO: + +Critical Notice of his Life and Genius. + +Critical Notice + +OF + +TASSO'S LIFE AND GENIUS. [1] + +The romantic poetry of Italy having risen to its highest and apparently +its most lawless pitch in the _Orlando Furioso_, a reaction took place in +the next age in the _Jerusalem Delivered_.It did not hurt, however, the +popularity of Ariosto. It only increased the number of poetic readers; +and under the auspices, or rather the control, of a Luther-fearing +Church, produced, if not as classical a work as it claimed to be, or +one, in the true sense of the word, as catholic as its predecessor, yet +certainly a far more Roman Catholic, and at the same time very delightful +fiction. The circle of fabulous narrative was thus completed, and a link +formed, though in a very gentle and qualified manner, both with Dante's +theocracy and the obvious regularity of the _Aeneid_, the oldest romance +of Italy. + +The author of this epic of the Crusades was of a family so noble and +so widely diffused, that, under the patronage of the emperors and the +Italian princes, it flourished in a very remarkable manner, not only in +its own country, but in Flanders, Germany, and Spain. There was a +Tasso once in England, ambassador of Philip the Second; another, like +Cervantes, distinguished himself at the battle of Lepanto; and a third +gave rise to the sovereign German house of Tour and Taxis. _Taxus_ is the +Latin of Tasso. The Latin word, like the Italian, means both a badger +and a yew-tree; and the family in general appear to have taken it in the +former sense. The animal is in their coat of arms. But the poet, or his +immediate relatives, preferred being more romantically shadowed forth by +the yew-tree. The parent stock of the race was at Bergamo in Lombardy; +and here was born the father of Tasso, himself a poet of celebrity, +though his fame has been eclipsed by that of his son. + +Bernardo Tasso, author of many elegant lyrics, of some volumes of +letters, not uninteresting but too florid, and of the _Amadigi_, an epic +romance now little read, was a man of small property, very honest and +good-hearted, but restless, ambitious, and with a turn for expense beyond +his means. He attached himself to various princes, with little ultimate +advantage, particularly to the unfortunate Sanseverino, Prince of +Salerno, whom he faithfully served for many years. The prince had a high +sense of his worth, and would probably have settled him in the wealth and +honours he was qualified to adorn, but for those Spanish oppressions in +the history of Naples which ended in the ruin of both master and servant. +Bernardo, however, had one happy interval of prosperity; and during this, +at the age of forty-six, he married Porzia di Rossi, a young lady of a +rich and noble family, with a claim to a handsome dowry. He spent some +delightful years with her at Sorrento, a spot so charming as to have been +considered the habitation of the Sirens; and here, in the midst of his +orange-trees, his verses, and the breezes of an aromatic coast, he had +three children, the eldest of whom was a daughter named Cornelia, and the +youngest the author of the _Jerusalem Delivered_. the other child died +young. The house distinguished by the poet's birth was restored from a +dilapidated condition by order of Joseph Bonaparte when King of Naples, +and is now an hotel. + +Torquato Tasso was born March the 11th, 1544, nine years after the death +of Ariosto, who was intimate with his father. He was very devoutly +brought up; and grew so tall, and became so premature a scholar, that +at nine, he tells us, he might have been taken for a boy of twelve. At +eleven, in consequence of the misfortunes of his father, who had been +exiled with the Prince of Salerno, he was forced to part from his mother, +who remained at home to look after a dowry which she never received. Her +brothers deprived her of it; and in two years' time she died, Bernardo +thought by poison. Twenty-four years afterwards her illustrious son, in +the midst of his own misfortunes, remembered with sighs the tears with +which the kisses of his poor mother were bathed when she was forced to +let him go.[2] + +The little Torquato following, as he says, like another Ascanius, the +footsteps of his wandering father, joined Bernardo in Rome. After two +years' study in that city, partly under an old priest who lived with +them, the vicissitudes of the father's lot took away the son first to +Bergamo, among his relations, and then to Pesaro, in the duchy of Urbino, +where his education was associated for nearly two years with that of the +young prince, afterwards Duke Francesco Maria the Second (della Rovere), +who retained a regard for him through life. In 1559 the boy joined his +father in Venice, where the latter had been appointed secretary to the +Academy; but next year he was withdrawn from these pleasing varieties +of scene by the parental delusion so common in the history of men of +letters--the study of the law; which Bernardo intended him to pursue +henceforth in the city of Padua. He accordingly arrived in Padua at the +age of sixteen and a half, and fulfilled his legal destiny by writing the +poem of _Rinaldo_, which was published in the course of less than two +years at Venice. The goodnatured and poetic father, convinced by this +specimen of jurisprudence how useless it was to thwart the hereditary +passion, permitted him to devote himself wholly to literature, which he +therefore went to study in the university of Bologna; and there, at the +early age of nineteen, he began his _Jerusalem Delivered_; that is to +say, he planned it, and wrote three cantos, several of the stanzas of +which he retained when the poem was matured. He quitted Bologna, however, +in a fit of indignation at being accused of the authorship of a satire; +and after visiting some friends at Castelvetro and Correggio, returned +to Padua on the invitation of his friend Scipio Gonzaga, afterwards +cardinal, who wished him to become a member of an academy he had +instituted, called the _Eterei_(Ethereals). Here he studied his favourite +philosopher, Plato, and composed three Discourses on Heroic Poetry, +dedicated to his friend. He now paid a visit to his father in Mantua, +where the unsettled man had become secretary to the duke; and here, it is +said, he fell in love with a young lady of a distinguished family, whose +name was Laura Peperara; but this did not hinder him from returning to +his Paduan studies, in which he spent nearly the whole of the following +year. He was then informed that the Cardinal of Este, to whom he had +dedicated his _Rinaldo_, and with whom interest had been made for the +purpose, had appointed him one of his attendants, and that he was +expected at Ferrara by the 1st of December. Returning to Mantua, in order +to prepare for this appointment with his father, he was seized with a +dangerous illness, which detained him there nearly a twelvemonth longer. +On his recovery he hastened to Ferrara, and arrived in that city on the +last day of October, 1565, the first of many years of glory and misery. + +The cardinal of Este was the brother of the reigning Duke of Ferrara, +Alfonso the Second, grandson of the Alfonso of Ariosto. It is curious +to see the two most celebrated romantic poets of Italy thrown into +unfortunate connexion with two princes of the same house and the same +respective ranks. Tasso's cardinal, however, though the poet lost his +favour, and though very little is known about him, left no such bad +reputation behind him as Ippolito. It was in the service of the duke that +the poet experienced his sufferings. + +This prince, who was haughty, ostentatious, and quarrelsome, was, at the +time of the stranger's arrival, rehearsing the shows and tournaments +intended to welcome his bride, the sister of the Emperor Maximilian the +Second. She was his second wife. The first was a daughter of the rival +house of Tuscany, which he detested; and the marriage had not been happy. +The new consort arrived in the course of a few weeks, entering the city +in great pomp; and for a time all went happily with the young poet. He +was in a state of ecstasy with the beauty and grandeur he beheld around +him--obtained the favourable notice of the duke's two sisters and the +duke himself--went on with his _Jerusalem Delivered_, which, in spite of +the presence of Ariosto's memory, he was resolved to load with praises of +the house of Este; and in this tumult of pride and expectation, he beheld +the duke, like one of the heroes of his poem, set out to assist the +emperor against the Turks at the head of three hundred gentlemen, armed +at all points, and mantled in various-coloured velvets embroidered with +gold. + +To complete the young poet's happiness, or commence his disappointments, +he fell in love, notwithstanding the goddess he had left in Mantua, with +the beautiful Lucrezia Bendidio, who does not seem, however, to have +loved in return; for she became the wife of a Macchiavelli. Among his +rivals was Guarini, who afterwards emulated him in pastoral poetry, and +who accused him on this occasion of courting two ladies at once. + +Guarini's accusation has been supposed to refer to the duke's sister +Leonora, whose name has become so romantically mixed up with the poet's +biography; but the latest inquiries render it probable that the allusion +was to Laura Peperara.[3] The young poet, however, who had not escaped +the influence of the free manners of Italy, and whose senses and vanity +may hitherto have been more interested than his heart, rhymed and +flattered on all sides of him, not of course omitting the charms of +princesses. In order to win the admiration of the ladies in a body, he +sustained for three days, in public, after the fashion of the times, +_Fifty Amorous Conclusions_; that is to say, affirmations on the subject +of love; doubtless to the equal delight of his fair auditors and himself, +and the creation of a good deal of jealousy and ill-will on the part of +such persons of his own sex as had not wit or spirits enough for the +display of so much logic and love-making. + +In 1569, the death of his father, who had been made governor of Ostiglia +by the Duke of Mantua, cost the loving son a fit of illness; but the +continuation of his _Jerusalem_, an _Oration_ spoken at the opening of +the Ferrarese academy, the marriage of Leonora's sister Lucrezia with the +Prince of Urbino, and the society of Leonora herself, who led the retired +life of a person in delicate health, and was fond of the company of men +of letters, helped to divert him from melancholy recollections; and a +journey to France, at the close of the year following, took him into +scenes that were not only totally new, but otherwise highly interesting +to the singer of Godfrey of Boulogne. The occasion of it was a visit of +the cardinal, his master, to the court of his relative Charles the Ninth. +It is supposed that his Eminence went to confer with the king on matters +relative to the disputes which not long afterwards occasioned the +detestable massacre of St. Bartholomew. + +Before his departure, Tasso put into the hands of one of his friends a +document, which, as it is very curious, and serves to illustrate perhaps +more than one cause of his misfortunes, is here given entire. + +_Memorial left by Tasso on his departure to France._ + +"Since life is frail, and it may please Almighty God to dispose of me +otherwise in this my journey to France, it is requested of Signor Ercole +Rondinelli that he will, in that case, undertake the management of the +following concerns: + +"In the first place, with regard to my compositions, it is my wish that +all my love-sonnets and madrigals should be collected and published; but +with regard to those, whether amatory or otherwise, _which I have written +for any friend_, my request is, that _they should be buried with myself_, +save only the one commencing "_Or che l'aura mia dolce altrove spira_." I +wish the publication of the _Oration_ spoken in Ferrara at the opening of +the academy, of the four books on _Heroic Poetry_, of the six last cantos +of the _Godfrey_ (the _Jerusalem_), and of those stanzas of the two first +which shall seem least imperfect. All these compositions, however, are to +be submitted to the review and consideration of Signor Scipio Gonzaga, of +Signor Domenico Veniero, and of Signor Battista Guarini, who, I persuade +myself, will not refuse this trouble, when they consider the zealous +friendship I have entertained for themselves. + +"Let them be informed, too, that it was my intention that they should +cut and hew without mercy whatever should appear to them defective or +superfluous. With regard to additions or changes, I should wish them +to proceed more cautiously, since, after all, the poem would remain +imperfect. As to my other compositions, should there be any which, to +the aforesaid Signor Rondinelli and the other gentlemen, might seem not +unworthy of publication, let them be disposed of according to their +pleasure. + +"In respect to my property, I wish that such part of it as I have +_pledged to Abram --_ for twenty-five lire, and seven pieces of arras, +which are _likewise in pledge to Signor Ascanio for thirteen scudi_, +together with whatever I have in this house, should be sold, and that the +overplus of the proceeds should go to defray the expense of the following +epitaph to be inscribed on a monument to my father, whose body is in St. +Polo. And should any impediment take place in these matters, I entreat +Signor Ercole _to have recourse to the favour of the most excellent +Madame Leonora, whose liberality I confide in, for my sake._ + +"I, Torquato Tasso, have written this, Ferrara, 1570." + +I shall have occasion to recur to this document by and by. I will merely +observe, for the present, that the marks in it, both of imprudence in +money-matters and confidence in the goodwill of a princess, are very +striking. "Abram" and "Signor Ascanio" were both Jews. The pieces of +arras belonged to his father; and probably this was an additional reason +why the affectionate son wished the proceeds to defray the expense of the +epitaph. The epitaph recorded his father's poetry, state-services, and +vicissitudes of fortune. + +Tasso was introduced to the French king as the poet of a French hero and +of a Catholic victory; and his reception was so favourable (particularly +as the wretched Charles, the victim of his mother's bigotry, had himself +no mean poetic feeling), that, with a rash mixture of simplicity and +self-reliance (respect makes me unwilling to call it self-importance), +the poet expressed an impolitic amount of astonishment at the favour +shewn at court to the Hugonots--little suspecting the horrible design it +covered. He shortly afterwards broke with his master the cardinal; and +it is supposed that this unseasonable escape of zeal was the cause. He +himself appears to have thought so.[4] Perhaps the cardinal only wanted +to get the imprudent poet back to Italy; for, on Tasso's return to +Ferrara, he was not only received into the service of the duke with +a salary of some fifteen golden scudi a-month, but told that he was +exempted from any particular duty, and might attend in peace to his +studies. Balzac affirms, that while Tasso was at the court of France, he +was so poor as to beg a crown from a friend; and that, when he left it, +he had the same coat on his back that he came in.[5] The assertions of a +professed wit and hyperbolist are not to be taken for granted; yet it is +difficult to say to what shifts improvidence may not be reduced. + +The singer of the house of Este would now, it might have been supposed, +be happy. He had leisure; he had money; he had the worldly honours that +he was fond of; he occupied himself in perfecting the _Jerusalem_; and he +wrote his beautiful pastoral, the _Aminta_, which was performed before +the duke and his court to the delight of the brilliant assembly. The +duke's sister Lucrezia, princess of Urbino, who was a special friend of +the poet, sent for him to read it to her at Pesaro; and in the course of +the ensuing carnival it was performed with similar applause at the +court of her father-in-law. The poet had been as much enchanted by the +spectacle which the audience at Ferrara presented to his eyes, as the +audience with the loves and graces with which he enriched their stage. +The shepherd Thyrsis; by whom he meant himself, reflected it back upon +them in a passage of the performance. It is worth while dwelling on this +passage a little, because it exhibits a brief interval of happiness in +the author's life, and also chews us what he had already begun to +think of courts at the moment he was praising them. But he ingeniously +contrives to put the praise in his own mouth, and the blame in another's. +The shepherd's friend, Mopsus (by whom Tasso is thought to have meant +Speroni), had warned him against going to court + + "Pero, figlio, + Va su l'avviso," &c. + + "Therefore, my son, take my advice. Avoid + The places where thou seest much drapery, + Colours, and gold, and plumes, and heraldries, + And such new-fanglements. But, above all, + Take care how evil chance or youthful wandering + Bring thee upon the house of Idle Babble." + "What place is that?" said I; and he resumed;-- + "Enchantresses dwell there, who make one see + Things as they are not, ay and hear them too. + That which shall seem pure diamond and fine gold + Is glass and brass; and coffers that look silver, + Heavy with wealth, are baskets full of bladders.[6] + + * * * * * + + The very walls there are so strangely made, + They answer those who talk; and not in syllables, + Or bits of words, like echo in our woods, + But go the whole talk over, word for word, + With something else besides, that no one said[7]. + The tressels, tables, bedsteads, curtains, lockers, + Chairs, and whatever furniture there is + In room or bedroom, all have tongues and speech, + And are for ever tattling. Idle Babble + Is always going about, playing the child; + And should a dumb man enter in that place, + The dumb would babble in his own despite. + And yet this evil is the least of all + That might assail thee. Thou might'st be arrested + In fearful transformation to a willow, + A beast, fire, water,--fire for ever sighing, + Water for ever weeping."--Here he ceased: + And I, with all this fine foreknowledge, went + To the great city; and, by Heaven's kind will, + Came where they live so happily. The first sound + I heard was a delightful harmony, + Which issued forth, of voices loud and sweet;--Sirens, + and swans, and nymphs, a heavenly noise + Of heavenly things;--which gave me such delight, + That, all admiring, and amazed, and joyed, + I stopped awhile quite motionless. There stood + Within the entrance, as if keeping guard + Of those fine things, one of a high-souled aspect, + Stalwart withal, of whom I was in doubt + + Whether to think him better knight or leader.[8] + He, with a look at once benign and grave, + In royal guise, invited me within; + He, great and in esteem; me, lorn and lowly. + Oh, the sensations and the sights which then + Shower'd on me! Goddesses I saw, and nymphs + Graceful and beautiful, and harpers fine + As Linus or as Orpheus; and more deities, + All without veil or cloud, bright as the virgin + Aurora, when she glads immortal eyes, + And sows her beams and dew-drops, silver and gold. + +In the summer of 1574, the Duke of Ferrara went to Venice to pay his +respects to the successor of Charles the Ninth, Henry the Third, then on +his way to France from his kingdom of Poland. Tasso went with the duke, +and is understood to have taken the opportunity of looking for a printer +of his _Jerusalem_, which was now almost finished. Writers were anxious +to publish in that crafty city, because its government would give no +security of profit to books printed elsewhere. Alfonso, who was in +mourning for Henry's brother, and to whom mourning itself only suggested +a new occasion of pomp and vanity, took with him to this interview five +hundred Ferrarese gentlemen, all dressed in long black cloaks; who +walking about Venice (says a reporter) "by twos and threes," wonderfully +impressed the inhabitants with their "gravity and magnificence."[9] The +mourners feasted, however; and Tasso had a quartan fever, which delayed +the completion of the _Jerusalem_ till next year. This was at length +effected; and now once more, it might have been thought, that the writer +would have reposed on his laurels. + +But Tasso had already begun to experience the uneasiness attending +superiority; and, unfortunately, the strength of his mind was not equal +to that of his genius. He was of an ultra-sensitive temperament, and +subject to depressing fits of sickness. He could not calmly bear envy. +Sarcasm exasperated, and hostile criticism afflicted him. The seeds of a +suspicious temper were nourished by prosperity itself. The author of the +_Armida_ and the _Jerusalem_ began to think the attentions he received +unequal to his merits; while with a sort of hysterical mixture of demand +for applause, and provocation of censure, he not only condescended to +read his poems in manuscript wherever he went, but, in order to secure +the goodwill of the papal licenser, he transmitted it for revisal to +Rome, where it was mercilessly criticised for the space of two years by +the bigots and hypocrites of a court, which Luther had rendered a very +different one from that in the time of Ariosto. + +This new source of chagrin exasperated the complexional restlessness, +which now made our author think that he should be more easy any where +than in Ferrara; perhaps more able to communicate with and convince +his critics; and, unfortunately, he permitted himself to descend to a +weakness the most fatal of all others to a mind naturally exalted +and ingenuous. Perhaps it was one of the main causes of all which he +suffered. Indeed, he himself attributed his misfortunes to irresolution. +What I mean in the present instance was, that he did not disdain to adopt +underhand measures. He skewed a face of satisfaction with Alfonso, at the +moment that he was taking steps to exchange his court for another. He +wrote for that purpose to his friend Scipio Gonzaga, now a prelate at the +court of Rome, earnestly begging him, at the same time, not to commit him +in their correspondence; and Scipio, who was one of his kindest and most +indulgent friends, and who doubtless saw that the Duke of Ferrara and his +poet were not of dispositions to accord, did all he could to procure him +an appointment with one of the family of the Medici. + +Most unhappily for this speculation (and perhaps even the good-natured +Gonzaga took a little more pleasure in it on that account), Alfonso +inherited all the detestation of his house for that lucky race; and it is +remarkable, that the same jealousies which hindered Ariosto's advancement +with the Medici were still more fatal to the hopes of Tasso; for they +served to plunge him into the deepest adversity. In vain he had warnings +given him, both friendly and hostile. The princess, now Duchess of +Urbino, who was his particular friend, strongly cautioned him against the +temptation of going away. She said he was watched. He himself thought his +letters were opened; and probably they were. They certainly were at a +subsequent period. Tasso, however, persisted, and went to Rome. Scipio +Gonzaga introduced him to Cardinal Ferdinand de' Medici, afterwards Grand +Duke of Tuscany; and Ferdinand made him offers of protection so handsome, +that they excited his suspicion. The self-tormenting poet thought they +savoured more of hatred to the Este family, than honour to himself.[10] +He did not accept them. He did nothing at Rome but make friends, in order +to perplex them; listen to his critics, in order to worry himself; +and perform acts of piety in the churches, by way of shewing that the +love-scenes in the _Jerusalem_ were innocent. For the bigots had begun to +find something very questionable in mixing up so much love with war. The +bloodshed they had no objection to. The love bearded their prejudices, +and excited their envy. + +Tasso returned to Ferrara, and endeavoured to solace himself +with eulogising two fair strangers who had arrived at Alfonso's +court,--Eleonora Sanvitale, who had been newly married to the Count of +Scandiano (a Tiene, not a Boiardo, whose line was extinct), and Barbara +Sanseverino, Countess of Sala, her mother-in-law. The mother-in-law, who +was a Juno-like beauty, wore her hair in the form of a crown. The still +more beautiful daughter-in-law had an under lip such as Anacreon or Sir +John Suckling would have admired,--pouting and provoking,--[prokaloymenon +phileama]. Tasso wrote verses on them both, but particularly to the lip; +and this Countess of Scandiano is the second, out of the three Leonoras, +with whom Tasso was said by his friend Manso to have been in love. The +third, it is now ascertained, never existed; and his love-making to the +new, or second Leonora, goes to shew how little of real passion there was +in the praises of the first (the Princess Leonora), or probably of +any lady at court. He even professed love, as a forlorn hope, to the +countess's waiting-maid. Yet these gallantries of sonnets are exalted +into bewilderments of the heart. + +His restlessness returning, the poet now condescended to craft a second +time. Expecting to meet with a refusal, and so to be afforded a +pretext for quitting Ferrara, he applied for the vacant office of +historiographer. It was granted him; and he then disgusted the Medici by +pleading an unlooked-for engagement, which he could only reconcile to his +applications for their favour by renouncing his claim to be believed. If +he could have deceived others, why might he not have deceived them? + +All the lurking weakness of the poet's temperament began to display +itself at this juncture. His perplexity excited him to a degree of +irritability bordering on delirium; and circumstances conspired to +increase it. He had lent an acquaintance the key of his rooms at court, +for the purpose (he tells us) of accommodating some intrigue; and +he suspected this person of opening cabinets containing his papers. +Remonstrating with him one day in the court of the palace, either on that +or some other account, the man gave him the lie. He received in return +a blow on the face, and is said by Tasso to have brought a set of his +kinsmen to assassinate him, all of whom the heroical poet immediately put +to flight. At one time he suspected the duke of jealousy respecting +the dedication of his poem, and at another, of a wish to burn it. He +suspected his servants. He became suspicious of the truth of his friend +Gonzaga. He doubted, even, whether some praises addressed to him by +Orazio Ariosto, the nephew of the great poet, which, one would have +thought, would have been to him a consummation of bliss, were not +intended to mystify and hurt him. At length he fancied that his +persecutors had accused him of heresy to the Inquisition; and, as he had +gone through the metaphysical doubts, common with most men of reflection +respecting points of faith and the mysteries of creation, he feared that +some indiscreet words had escaped him, giving colour to the charge. He +thus beheld enemies all around him. He dreaded stabbing and poison; and +one day, in some paroxysm of rage or horror, how occasioned it is not +known, ran with a knife or dagger at one of the servants of the Duchess +of Urbino in her own chamber. + +Alfonso, upon this, apparently in the mildest and most reasonable manner, +directed that he should be confined to his apartments, and put into the +hands of the physician. These unfortunate events took place in the summer +of 1577, and in the poet's thirty-third year. + +Tasso shewed so much affliction at this treatment, and, at the same time, +bore it so patiently, that the duke took him to his beautiful country +seat of Belriguardo; where, in one of his accounts of the matter, the +poet says that he treated him as a brother; but in another, he accuses +him of having taken pains to make him criminate himself, and confess +certain matters, real or supposed, the nature of which is a puzzle with +posterity. Some are of opinion (and this is the prevailing one), that he +was found guilty of being in love with the Princess Leonora, perhaps of +being loved by herself. Others think the love out of the question, and +that the duke was concerned at nothing but his endeavouring to transfer +his services and his poetic reputation into the hands of the Medici. +Others see in the duke's conduct nothing but that of a good master +interesting himself in the welfare of an afflicted servant. + +It is certain that Alfonso did all he could to prevent the surreptitious +printing of the _Jerusalem Delivered_ in various towns of Italy, the +dread of which had much afflicted the poet; and he also endeavoured, +though in vain, to ease his mind on the subject of the Inquisition; +for these facts are attested by state-papers and other documents, not +dependent either on the testimony of third persons or the partial +representations of the sufferer. But Tasso felt so uneasy at Belriguardo, +that he requested leave to retire a while into a convent. He remained +there several days, apparently so much to his satisfaction, that he wrote +to the duke to say that it was his intention to become a friar; and, yet +he had no sooner got into the place, than he addressed a letter to the +Inquisition at Rome, beseeching it to desire permission for him to come +to that city, in order to clear himself from the charges of his enemies. +He also wrote to two other friends, requesting them to further his +petition; and adding that the duke was enraged with him in consequence of +the anger of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, who, it is supposed, had accused +Tasso of having revealed to Alfonso some indecent epithet which his +highness had applied to him.[11] These letters were undoubtedly +intercepted, for they were found among the secret archives of Modena, +the only principality ultimately remaining in the Este family; so that, +agreeably to the saying of listeners hearing no good of themselves, if +Alfonso did not know the epithet before, he learnt it then. The reader +may conceive his feelings. Tasso, too, at the same time, was plaguing +him with letters to similar purpose; and it is observable, that while +in those which he sent to Rome he speaks of Cosmo de' Medici as "Grand +Duke," he takes care in the others to call him simply the "Duke of +Florence." Alfonso had been exasperated to the last degree at Cosmo's +having had the epithet "Grand" added by the Pope to his ducal title; +and the reader may imagine the little allowance that would be made by +a haughty and angry prince for the rebellious courtesy thus shewn to a +detested rival. Tasso, furthermore, who had not only an infantine hatred +of bitter "physic," but reasonably thought the fashion of the age +for giving it a ridiculous one, begged hard, in a manner which it is +humiliating to witness, that he might not be drenched with medicine. The +duke at length forbade his writing to him any more; and Tasso, whose +fears of every kind of ill usage had been wound up to a pitch unbearable, +watched an opportunity when he was carelessly guarded, and fled at once +from the convent and Ferrara. + +The unhappy poet selected the loneliest ways he could find, and directed +his course to the kingdom of Naples, where his sister lived. He was +afraid of pursuit; he probably had little money; and considering his ill +health and his dread of the Inquisition, it is pitiable to think what he +may have endured while picking his long way through the back states of +the Church and over the mountains of Abruzzo, as far as the Gulf of +Naples. For better security, he exchanged clothes with a shepherd; and as +he feared even his sister at first, from doubting whether she still +loved him, his interview with her was in all its circumstances painfully +dramatic. Cornelia Tasso, now a widow, with two sons, was still residing +at Sorrento, where the poet, casting his eyes around him as he +proceeded towards the house, must have beheld with singular feelings of +wretchedness the lovely spots in which he had been a happy little boy. He +did not announce himself at once. He brought letters, he said, from the +lady's brother; and it is affecting to think, that whether his sister +might or might not have retained otherwise any personal recollection +of him since that time (for he had not seen her in the interval), his +disguise was completed by the alterations which sorrow had made in his +appearance. For, at all events, she did not know him. She saw in him +nothing but a haggard stranger who was acquainted with the writer of the +letters, and to whom they referred for particulars of the risk which +her brother ran, unless she could afford him her protection. These +particulars were given by the stranger with all the pathos of the real +man, and the loving sister fainted away. On her recovery, the visitor +said what he could to reassure her, and then by degrees discovered +himself. Cornelia welcomed him in the tenderest manner. She did all that +he desired; and gave out to her friends that the gentleman was a cousin +from Bergamo, who had come to Naples on family affairs. + +For a little while, the affection of his sister, and the beauty and +freshness of Sorrento, rendered the mind of Tasso more easy: but his +restlessness returned. He feared he had mortally offended the Duke of +Ferrara; and, with his wonted fluctuation of purpose, he now wished to be +restored to his presence for the very reason he had run away from it. He +did not know with what vengeance he might be pursued. He wrote to the +duke; but received no answer. The Duchess of Urbino was equally silent. +Leonora alone responded, but with no encouragement. These appearances +only made him the more anxious to dare or to propitiate his doom; and he +accordingly determined to put himself in the duke's hands. His sister +entreated him in vain to alter his resolution. He quitted her before the +autumn was over; and, proceeding to Rome, went directly to the house of +the duke's agent there, who, in concert with the Ferrarese ambassador, +gave his master advice of the circumstance. Gonzaga, however, and another +good friend, Cardinal Albano, doubted whether it would be wise in the +poet to return to Ferrara under any circumstances. They counselled him +to be satisfied with being pardoned at a distance, and with having his +papers and other things returned to him; and the two friends immediately +wrote to the duke requesting as much. The duke apparently acquiesced in +all that was desired; but he said that the illness of his sister, the +Duchess of Urbino, delayed the procuration of the papers, which, it +seems, were chiefly in her hands. The upshot was, that the papers did not +come; and Tasso, with a mixture of rage and fear, and perhaps for more +reasons than he has told, became uncontrollably desirous of retracing the +rest of his steps to Ferrara. + +Love may have been among these reasons--probably was; though it does not +follow that the passion must have been for a princess. The poet now, +therefore, petitioned to that effect; and Alfonso wrote again, and said +he might come, but only on condition of his again undergoing the ducal +course of medicine; adding, that if he did not, he was to be finally +expelled his highness's territories. + +He was graciously received--too graciously, it would seem, for his +equanimity; for it gave him such a flow of spirits, that the duke appears +to have thought it necessary to repress them. The unhappy poet, at this, +began to have some of his old suspicions; and the unaccountable detention +of his papers confirmed them. He made an effort to keep the suspicions +down, but it was by means, unfortunately, of drowning them in wine and +jollity; and this gave him such a fit of sickness as had nearly been his +death. He recovered, only to make a fresh stir about his papers, and +a still greater one about his poems in general, which, though his +_Jerusalem_ was yet only known in manuscript, and not even his _Aminta_ +published, he believed ought to occupy the attention of mankind. People +at Ferrara, therefore, not foreseeing the respect that posterity would +entertain for the poet, and having no great desire perhaps to encourage a +man who claimed to be a rival of their countryman Ariosto, now began to +consider their Neapolitan guest not merely an ingenious and pitiable, but +an overweening and tiresome enthusiast. The court, however, still seemed +to be interested in its panegyrist, though Tasso feared that Alfonso +meant to burn his _Jerusalem_. Alfonso, on the other hand, is supposed to +have feared that he would burn it himself, and the ducal praises with it. +The papers, at all events, apparently including the only fair copy of the +poem, were constantly withheld; and Tasso, in a new fit of despair, +again quitted Ferrara. This mystery of the papers is certainly very +extraordinary. + +The poet's first steps were to Mantua, where he met with no such +reception as encouraged him to stay. He then went to Urbino, but did not +stop long. The prince, it is true, was very gracious; and bandages for +a cautery were applied by the fair hands of his highness's sister; but, +though the nurse enchanted, the surgery frightened him. The hapless poet +found himself pursued wherever he went by the tormenting beneficence +of medicine. He escaped, and went to Turin. He had no passport; and +presented, besides, so miserable an appearance, that the people at the +gates roughly refused him admittance. He was well received, however, at +court; and as he had begun to acknowledge that he was subject to humours +and delusions, and wrote to say as much to Cardinal Albano, who returned +him a most excellent and affecting letter, full of the kindest regard +and good counsel, his friends entertained a hope that he would become +tranquil. But he disappointed them. He again applied to Alfonso for +permission to return to Ferrara--again received it, though on worse than +the old conditions--and again found himself in that city in the beginning +of the year 1579, delighted at seeing a brilliant assemblage from all +quarters of Italy on occasion of a new marriage of the duke's (with a +princess of Mantua). He made up his mind to think that nothing could be +denied him, at such a moment, by the bridegroom whom he meant to honour +and glorify. + +Alas! the very circumstance to which he looked for success, tended to +throw him into the greatest of his calamities. Alfonso was to be married +the day after the poet's arrival. He was therefore too busy to attend to +him. The princesses did not attend to him. Nobody attended to him. He +again applied in vain for his papers. He regretted his return; became +anxious to be any where else; thought himself not only neglected but +derided; and at length became excited to a pitch of frenzy. He broke +forth into the most unmeasured invectives against the duke, even in +public; invoked curses on his head and that of his whole race; retracted +all he had ever said in the praise of any of them, prince or otherwise; +and pronounced him and his whole court "a parcel of ingrates, rascals, +and poltroons."[12] The outbreak was reported to the duke; and the +consequence was, that the poet was sent to the hospital of St. Anne, +an establishment for the reception of the poor and lunatic, where he +remained (with the exception of a few unaccountable leave-days) upwards +of seven years. This melancholy event happened in the March of the year +1579. + +Tasso was stunned by this blow as much as if he had never done or +suffered any thing to expect it. He could at first do nothing but wonder +and bewail himself, and implore to be set free. The duke answered, that +he must be cured first. Tasso replied by fresh entreaties; the duke +returned the same answers. The unhappy poet had recourse to every friend, +prince, and great man he could think of, to join his entreaties; he +sought refuge in composition, but still entreated; he occasionally +reproached and even bantered the duke in some of his letters to his +friends, all of which, doubtless, were opened; but still he entreated, +flattered, adored, all to no purpose, for seven long years and upwards. +In time he became subject to maniacal illusions; so that if he was not +actually mad before, he was now considered so. He was not only visited +with sights and sounds, such as many people have experienced whose brains +have been over-excited, but he fancied himself haunted by a sprite, and +become the sport of "magicians." The sprite stole his things, and the +magicians would not let him get well. He had a vision such as Benvenuto +Cellini had, of the Virgin Mary in her glory; and his nights were so +miserable, that he ate too much in order that he might sleep. When he +was temperate, he lay awake. Sometimes he felt "as if a horse had thrown +himself on him." "Have pity on me," he says to the friend to whom he +gives these affecting accounts; "I am miserable, because the world is +unjust."[13] + +The physicians advised him to leave off wine; but he says he could not do +that, though he was content to use it in moderation. In truth he required +something to support him against the physicians themselves, for they +continued to exhaust his strength by their medicines, and could not +supply the want of it with air and freedom. He had ringings in the ears, +vomits, and fluxes of blood. It would be ludicrous, if it were not +deplorably pathetic, to hear so great a man, in the commonest +medical terms, now protesting against the eternal drenches of these +practitioners, now humbly submitting to them, and now entreating like a +child, that they might at least not be "so bitter." The physicians, with +the duke at their head, were as mad for their rhubarbs and lancets as the +quacks in Moliere; and nothing but the very imagination that had nearly +sacrificed the poet's life to their ignorance could have hindered +him from dashing his head against the wall, and leaving them to the +execrations of posterity. It is the only occasion in which the noble +profession of medicine has not appeared in wise and beneficent connexion +with the sufferings of men of letters. Why did Ferrara possess no +Brocklesby in those days? no Garth, Mead, Warren, or Southwood Smith? + +Tasso enabled himself to endure his imprisonment with composition. He +supported it with his poetry and his poem, and what, alas! he had been +too proud of during his liberty, the praises of his admirers. His genius +brought him gifts from princes, and some money from the booksellers: +it supported him even against his critics. During his confinement the +_Jerusalem Delivered_ was first published; though, to his grief, from +a surreptitious and mutilated copy. But it was followed by a storm of +applause; and if this was succeeded by as great a storm of objection and +controversy, still the healthier part of his faculties were roused, and +he exasperated his critics and astonished the world by shewing how coolly +and learnedly the poor, wild, imprisoned genius could discuss the most +intricate questions of poetry and philosophy. The disputes excited by his +poem are generally supposed to have done him harm; but the conclusion +appears to be ill founded. They diverted his thoughts, and made him +conscious of his powers and his fame. I doubt whether he would have +been better for entire approbation: it would have put him in a state of +elevation, unfit for what he had to endure. He had found his pen +his great solace, and he had never employed it so well. It would be +incredible what a heap of things he wrote in this complicated torment of +imprisonment, sickness, and "physic," if habit and mental activity had +not been sufficient to account for much greater wonders. His letters +to his friends and others would make a good-sized volume; those to his +critics, another; sonnets and odes, a third; and his Dialogues after +the manner of Plato, two more. Perhaps a good half of all he wrote was +written in this hospital of St. Anne; and he studied as well as composed, +and had to read all that was written at the time, _pro_ and _con_, in the +discussions about his _Jerusalem_, which, in the latest edition of his +works, amount to three out of six volumes octavo! Many of the occasions, +however, of his poems, as well as letters, are most painful to think +of, their object having been to exchange praise for money. And it is +distressing, in the letters, to see his other little wants, and the +fluctuations and moods of his mind. Now he is angry about some book not +restored, or some gift promised and delayed. Now he is in want of some +books to be lent him; now of some praise to comfort him; now of a little +fresh linen. He is very thankful for visits, for respectful letters, for +"sweetmeats;" and greatly puzzled to know what to do with the bad sonnets +and panegyrics that are sent him. They were sometimes too much even for +the allowed ultra courtesies of Italian acknowledgment. His compliments +to most people are varied with astonishing grace and ingenuity; his +accounts of his condition often sufficient to bring the tears into +the manliest eyes; and his ceaseless and vain efforts to procure his +liberation mortifying when we think of himself, and exasperating when we +think of the petty despot who detained him in so long, so degrading, and +so worse than useless a confinement. + +Tasso could not always conceal his contempt of his imprisoner from the +ducal servants. Alfonso excelled the grandiloquent poet himself in his +love of pomp and worship; and as he had no particular merits to warrant +it, his victim bantered his love of titles. He says, in a letter to the +duke's steward, "If it is the pleasure of the Most Serene Signor Duke, +Most Clement and Most Invincible, to keep me in prison, may I beg that he +will have the goodness to return certain little things of mine, which +his Most Invincible, Most Clement, and Most Serene Highness has so often +promised me.[14] + +But these were rare ebullitions of gaiety, perhaps rather of bitter +despair. A playful address to a cat to lend him her eyes to write by, +during some hour in which he happened to be without a light (for it +does not appear to have been denied him), may be taken as more probable +evidence of a mind relieved at the moment, though the necessity for +the relief may have been very sad. But the style in which he generally +alludes to his situation is far different. He continually begs his +correspondents to pity him, to pray for him, to attribute his errors to +infirmity. He complains of impaired memory, and acknowledges that he has +become subject to the deliriums formerly attributed to him by the enemies +that had helped to produce them. Petitioning the native city of his +ancestors (Bergamo) to intercede for him with the duke, he speaks of the +writer as "this unhappy person;" and subscribes himself,-- + +"Most illustrious Signors, your affectionate servant, Torquato Tasso, a +prisoner, and infirm, in the hospital of St. Anne in Ferrara." + +In one of his addresses to Alfonso, he says most affectingly: + +"I have sometimes attributed much to myself, and considered myself as +somebody. But now, seeing in how many ways imagination has imposed on +me, I suspect that it has also deceived me in this opinion of my own +consequence. Indeed, methinks the past has been a dream; and hence I am +resolved to rely on my imagination no longer." + +Alfonso made no answer. + +The causes of Tasso's imprisonment, and its long duration, are among +the puzzles of biography. The prevailing opinion, notwithstanding the +opposition made to it by Serassi and Black, is, that the poet made love +to the Princess Leonora--perhaps was beloved by her; and that her brother +the duke punished him for his arrogance. This was the belief of his +earliest biographer, Manso, who was intimately acquainted with the poet +in his latter days; and from Manso (though he did not profess to receive +the information from Tasso, but only to gather it from his poems) it +spread over all Europe. Milton took it on trust from him;[15] and so have +our English translators Hoole and Wiffen. The Abbe de Charnes, however, +declined to do so;[16] and Montaigne, who saw the poet in St. Anne's +hospital, says nothing of the love at all. He attributes his condition +to poetical excitement, hard study, and the meeting of the extremes of +wisdom and folly. The philosopher, however, speaks of the poet's having +survived his reason, and become unconscious both of himself and his +works, which the reader knows to be untrue. He does not appear to have +conversed with Tasso. The poet was only shewn him; probably at a sick +moment, or by a new and ignorant official.[17] Muratori, who was in the +service of the Este family at Modena, tells us, on the authority of +an old acquaintance who knew contemporaries of Tasso, that the "good +Torquato" finding himself one day in company with the duke and his +sister, and going close to the princess in order to answer some question +which she had put to him, was so transported by an impulse "more than +poetical," as to give her a kiss; upon which the duke, who had observed +it, turned about to his gentlemen, and said, "What a pity to see so great +a man distracted!" and so ordered him to be locked up.[18] But this +writer adds, that he does not know what to think of the anecdote: he +neither denies nor admits it. Tiraboschi, who was also in the service of +the Este family, doubts the truth of the anecdote, and believes that +the duke shut the poet up solely for fear lest his violence should do +harm.[19] Serassi, the second biographer of Tasso, who dedicated his +book to an Este princess inimical to the poet's memory, attributes the +confinement, on his own shewing, to the violent words he had uttered +against his master.[20] Walker, the author of the _Memoir on Italian +Tragedy_, says, that the life by Serassi himself induced him to credit +the love-story:[21] so does Ginguene.[22] Black, forgetting the age and +illnesses of hundreds of enamoured ladies, and the distraction of lovers +at all times, derides the notion of passion on either side; because, he +argues, Tasso was subject to frenzies, and Leonora forty-two years of +age, and not in good health.[23] What would Madame d'Houdetot have said +to him? or Mademoiselle L'Espinasse? or Mrs. Inchbald, who used to walk +up and down Sackville Street in order that she might see Dr. Warren's +light in his window? Foscolo was a believer in the love;[24] Sismondi +admits it;[25] and Rosini, the editor of the latest edition of the poet's +works, is passionate for it. He wonders how any body can fail to discern +it in a number of passages, which, in truth, may mean a variety of other +loves; and he insists much upon certain loose verses (_lascivi_) which +the poet, among his various accounts of the origin of his imprisonment, +assigns as the cause, or one of the causes, of it. [26] + +I confess, after a reasonable amount of inquiry into this subject, that +I can find no proofs whatsoever of Tasso's having made love to Leonora; +though I think it highly probable. I believe the main cause of the duke's +proceedings was the poet's own violence of behaviour and incontinence +of speech. I think it very likely that, in the course of the poetical +love-making to various ladies, which was almost identical in that age +with addressing them in verse, Torquato, whether he was in love or not, +took more liberties with the princesses than Alfonso approved; and it is +equally probable, that one of those liberties consisted in his indulging +his imagination too far. It is not even impossible, that more gallantry +may have been going on at court than Alfonso could endure to see alluded +to, especially by an ambitious pen. But there is no evidence that such +was the case. Tasso, as a gentleman, could not have hinted at such a +thing on the part of a princess of staid reputation; and, on the other +hand, the "love" he speaks of as entertained by her for him, and +warranting the application to her for money in case of his death, was +too plainly worded to mean any thing but love in the sense of friendly +regard. "Per amor mio" is an idiomatical expression, meaning "for my +sake;" a strong one, no doubt, and such as a proud man like Alfonso might +think a liberty, but not at all of necessity an amatory boast. If it was, +its very effrontery and vanity were presumptions of its falsehood. The +lady whom Tasso alludes to in the passage quoted on his first confinement +is complained of for her coldness towards him; and, unless this was +itself a gentlemanly blind, it might apply to fifty other ladies besides +the princess. The man who assaulted him in the streets, and who is +supposed to have been the violator of his papers, need not have found any +secrets of love in them. The servant at whom he aimed the knife or the +dagger might be as little connected with such matters; and the sonnets +which the poet said he wrote for a friend, and which he desired to be +buried with him, might be alike innocent of all reference to Leonora, +whether he wrote them for a friend or not. Leonora's death took +place during the poet's confinement; and, lamented as she was by the +verse-writers according to custom, Tasso wrote nothing on the event. This +silence has been attributed to the depth of his passion; but how is the +fact proved? and why may it not have been occasioned by there having been +no passion at all? + +All that appears certain is, that Tasso spoke violent and contemptuous +words against the duke; that he often spoke ill of him in his letters; +that he endeavoured, not with perfect ingenuousness, to exchange his +service for that of another prince; that he asserted his madness to have +been pretended in the first instance purely to gratify the duke's whim +for thinking it so (which was one of the reasons perhaps why Alfonso, +as he complained, would not believe a word be said); and finally, that, +whether the madness was or was not so pretended, it unfortunately became +a confirmed though milder form of mania, during a long confinement. +Alfonso, too proud to forgive the poet's contempt, continued thus to +detain him, partly perhaps because he was not sorry to have a pretext for +revenge, partly because he did not know what to do with him, consistently +either with his own or the poet's safety. He had not been generous enough +to put Tasso above his wants; he had not address enough to secure his +respect; he had not merit enough to overlook his reproaches. If Tasso had +been as great a man as he was a poet, Alfonso would not have been reduced +to these perplexities. The poet would have known how to settle quietly +down on his small court-income, and wait patiently in the midst of his +beautiful visions for what fortune had or had not in store for him. But +in truth, he, as well as the duke, was weak; they made a bad business of +it between them; and Alfonso the Second closed the accounts of the +Este family with the Muses, by keeping his panegyrist seven years in a +mad-house, to the astonishment of posterity, and the destruction of his +own claims to renown. + +It does not appear that Tasso was confined in any such dungeon as they +now exhibit in Ferrara. The conduct of the Prior of the Hospital is more +doubtful. His name was Agostino Mosti; and, strangely enough, he was +the person who had raised a monument to Ariosto, of whom he was an +enthusiastic admirer. To this predilection has been attributed his +alleged cruelty to the stranger from Sorrento, who dared to emulate the +fame of his idol;--an extraordinary, though perhaps not incredible, mode +of skewing a critic's regard for poetry. But Tasso, while he laments +his severity, wonders at it in a man so well bred and so imbued with +literature, and thinks it can only have originated in "orders."[27] +Perhaps there were faults of temper on both sides; and Mosti, not liking +his office, forgot the allowance to be made for that of a prisoner and +sick man. His nephew, Giulio Mosti, became strongly attached to the poet, +and was a great comfort to him. + +At length the time for liberation arrived. In the summer of 1586, Don +Vincenzo Gonzaga, Prince of Mantua, kinsman of the poet's friend Scipio, +came to Ferrara for the purpose of complimenting Alfonso's heir on his +nuptials. The whole court of Mantua, with hereditary regard for Tasso, +whose father had been one of their ornaments, were desirous of having +him among them; and the prince extorted Alfonso's permission to take him +away, on condition (so hard did he find this late concession to humanity, +and so fearful was he of losing the dignity of jailor) that his deliverer +should not allow him to quit Mantua without obtaining leave. A young and +dear friend, his most frequent visitor, Antonio Constantini, secretary +to the Tuscan ambassador, went to St. Anne's to prepare the captive by +degrees for the good news. He told him that he really might look for his +release in the course of a few days. The sensitive poet, now a premature +old man of forty-two, was thrown into a transport of mingled delight and +anxiety. He had been disappointed so often that he could scarcely believe +his good fortune. In a day or two he writes thus to his visitor + +"Your kindness, my dear friend, has so accustomed me to your precious and +frequent visits, that I have been all day long at the window expecting +your coming to comfort me as you are wont. But since you have not yet +arrived, and in order not to remain altogether without consolation, I +visit you with this letter. It encloses a sonnet to the ambassador, +written with a trembling hand, and in such a manner that he will not, +perhaps, have less difficulty in reading it than I had in writing." + +Two days afterwards, the prince himself came again, requested of the poet +some verses on a given subject, expressed his esteem for his genius and +virtues, and told him that, on his return to Mantua, he should have the +pleasure of conducting him to that city. Tasso lay awake almost all +night, composing the verses; and next day enclosed them, with a letter, +in another to Constantini, ardently begging him to keep the prince in +mind of his promise. The prince had not forgotten it; and two or three +days afterwards, the order for the release arrived, and Tasso quitted his +prison. He had been confined seven years, two months, and several days. +He awaited the prince's departure for a week or two in his friend's +abode, paying no visits, probably from inability to endure so much +novelty. Neither was he inclined or sent for to pay his respects to the +duke. Two such parties could hardly have been desirous to look on each +other. The duke must especially have disliked the thought of it; though +Tasso afterwards fancied otherwise, and that he was offended at his +non-appearance. But his letters, unfortunately, differ with themselves on +this point, as on most others. About the middle of July 1586, the poet +quitted Ferrara for ever. + +At Mantua Tasso was greeted with all the honours and attentions which his +love of distinction could desire. The good old duke, the friend of his +father, ordered handsome apartments to be provided for him in the palace; +the prince made him presents of costly attire, including perfumed silken +hose (kindred elegancies to the Italian gloves of Queen Elizabeth); the +princess and her mother-in-law were declared admirers of his poetry; the +courtiers caressed the favourite of their masters; Tasso found literary +society; he pronounced the very bread and fruit, the fish and the flesh, +excellent; the wines were sharp and brisk ("such as his father was fond +of"); and even the physician was admirable, for he ordered confections. +One might imagine, if circumstances had not proved the cordial nature of +the Gonzaga family, and the real respect and admiration entertained for +the poet's genius by the greatest men of the time, in spite of the rebuke +it had received from Alfonso, that there had been a confederacy to mock +and mystify him, after the fashion of the duke and duchess with Don +Quixote (the only blot, by the way, in the book of Cervantes; if, indeed, +he did not intend it as a satire on the mystifiers). + +For a while, in short, the liberated prisoner thought himself happy. +He corrected his prose works, resumed and finished the tragedy of +_Torrismond_, which he had begun some years before, corresponded with +princes, and completed and published a narrative poem left unfinished by +his father. Torquato was as loving a son as Mozart or Montaigne. Whenever +he had a glimpse of felicity, he appears to have associated the idea of +it with that of his father. In the conclusion of his fragment, "O del +grand' Apennino," he affectingly begs pardon of his blessed spirit for +troubling him with his earthly griefs.[28] + +But, alas, what had been an indulgence of self-esteem had now become the +habit of a disease; and in the course of a few months the restless poet +began to make his old discovery, that he was not sufficiently cared for. +The prince had no leisure to attend to him; the nobility did not "yield +him the first place," or at least (he adds) they did not allow him to be +treated "externally as their equal;" and he candidly confessed that he +could not live in a place where such was the custom.[29] He felt also, +naturally enough, however well it might have been intended, that it was +not pleasant to be confined to the range of the city of Mantua, attended +by a servant, even though he confessed that he was now subject to +"frenzy." He contrived to stay another half-year by help of a brilliant +carnival and of the select society of the prince's court, who were +evidently most kind to him; but at the end of the twelvemonth he was in +Bergamo among his relations. The prince gave him leave to go; and the +Cavaliere Tasso, his kinsman, sent his chariot on purpose to fetch him. + +Here again he found himself at a beautiful country-seat, which the family +of Tasso still possesses near that city; and here again, in the house of +his father, he proposed to be happy, "having never desired," he says, +"any journey more earnestly than this." He left it in the course of a +month, to return to Mantua. + +And it was only to wander still. Mantua he quitted in less than two +months to go to Rome, in spite of the advice of his best friends. +He vindicated the proceeding by a hope of obtaining some permanent +settlement from the Pope. He took Loretto by the way, to refresh himself +with devotion; arrived in a transport at Rome; got nothing from the Pope +(the hard-minded Sixtus the Fifth); and in the spring of the next year, +in the triple hope of again embracing his sister, and recovering the +dowry of his mother and the confiscated property of his father, he +proceeded to Naples. + +Naples was in its most beautiful vernal condition, and the Neapolitans +welcomed the poet with all honour and glory; but his sister, alas, was +dead; he got none of his father's property, nor (till too late) any of +his mother's; and before the year was out, he was again in Rome. He +acquired in Naples, however, another friend, as attached to him and +as constant in his attentions as his beloved Constantini, to wit, +Giambattista Manso, Marquis of Villa, who became his biographer, and who +was visited and praised for his good offices by Milton. In the society of +this gentleman he seemed for a short while to have become a new man. He +entered into field-sports, listened to songs and music, nay, danced, says +Manso, with "the girls." (One fancies a poetical Dr. Johnson with the two +country damsels on his knees.) In short, good air and freedom, and no +medicine, had conspired with the lessons of disappointment to give him, +before he died, a glimpse of the power to be pleased. He had not got rid +of all his spiritual illusions, even those of a melancholy nature; but he +took the latter more quietly, and had grown so comfortable with the race +in general, that he encouraged them. He was so entirely freed from his +fears of the Inquisition and of charges of magic, that whereas he had +formerly been anxious to shew that he meant nothing but a poetical fancy +by the spirit which he introduced as communing with him in his dialogue +entitled the _Messenger_, he now maintained its reality against the +arguments of his friend Manso; and these arguments gave rise to the most +poetical scene in his history. He told Manso that he should have ocular +testimony of the spirit's existence; and accordingly one day while they +were sitting together at the marquis's fireside, "he turned his eyes," +says Manso, "towards a window, and held them a long time so intensely on +it, that, when I called him, he did not answer. At last, 'Behold,' said +he, 'the friendly spirit which has courteously come to talk with me. Lift +up your eyes, and see the truth.' I turned my eyes thither immediately +(continues the marquis); but though I endeavoured to look as keenly as I +could, I beheld nothing but the rays of the sun, which streamed through +the panes of the window into the chamber. Whilst I still looked around, +without beholding any object, Torquato began to hold, with this unknown +something, a most lofty converse. I heard, indeed, and saw nothing but +himself; nevertheless his words, at one time questioning, at another +replying, were such as take place between those who reason strictly on +some important subject. And from what was said by the one, the reply of +the other might be easily comprehended by the intellect, although it was +not heard by the ear. The discourses were so lofty and marvellous, +both by the sublimity of their topics and a certain unwonted manner of +talking, that, exalted above myself in a kind of ecstasy, I did not dare +to interrupt them, nor ask Tasso about the spirit, which he had announced +to me, but which I did not see. In this way, while I listened between +stupefaction and rapture, a considerable time had elapsed; till at last +the spirit departed, as I learned from the words of Torquato; who, +turning to me, said, 'From this day forward all your doubts will have +vanished from your mind.' 'Nay,' said I, 'they are rather increased; +since, though I have heard many things worthy of marvel, I have seen +nothing of what you promised to shew me to dispel them.' He smiled, and +said, 'You have seen and heard more of him than perhaps --,' and here +he paused. Fearful of importuning him with new questions, the discourse +ended; and the only conclusion I can draw is, what I before said, that +it is more likely his visions or frenzies will disorder my own mind than +that I shall extirpate his true or imaginary opinion."[30] + +Did the "smile" of Tasso at the close of this extraordinary scene, and +the words which he omitted to add, signify that his friend had seen and +heard more, perhaps, than the poet _would have liked_ to explain? Did he +mean that he himself alone had been seen and heard, and was author of the +whole dialogue? Perhaps he did; for credulity itself can impose;--can +take pleasure in seeing others as credulous as itself. On the other +hand, enough has become known in our days of the phenomena of morbid +perception, to render Tasso's actual belief in such visions not at +all surprising. It is not uncommon for the sanest people of delicate +organisation to see faces before them while going to sleep, sometimes +in fantastical succession. A stronger exercise of this disposition in +temperaments more delicate will enlarge the face to figure; and there can +be no question that an imagination so heated as Tasso's, so full of the +speculations of the later Platonists, and accompanied by a state of body +so "nervous," and a will so bent on its fancies, might embody whatever +he chose to behold. The dialogue he could as easily read in the vision's +looks, whether he heard it or not with ears. If Nicholay, the Prussian +bookseller, who saw crowds of spiritual people go through his rooms, had +been a poet, and possessed of as wilful an imagination as Tasso, he might +have gifted them all with _speaking countenances_ as easily as with coats +and waistcoats. Swedenborg founded a religion on this morbid faculty; and +the Catholics worship a hundred stories of the like sort in the Lives of +the Saints, many of which are equally true and false; false in reality, +though true in supposition. Luther himself wrote and studied till he +saw the Devil; only the great reformer retained enough of his naturally +sturdy health and judgment to throw an inkstand at Satan's head,--a thing +that philosophy has been doing ever since. + +Tasso's principal residence while at Naples had been in the beautiful +monastery of Mount Olivet, on which the good monks begged he would write +them a poem; which he did. A cold reception at Rome, and perhaps the +difference of the air, brought back his old lamentations; but here again +a monastery gave him refuge, and he set himself down to correct his +former works and compose new ones. He missed, however, the comforts of +society and amusement which he had experienced at Naples. Nevertheless, +he did not return thither. He persuaded himself that it was necessary to +be in Rome in order to expedite the receipt of some books and manuscripts +from Bergamo and other places; but his restlessness desired novelty. He +thus slipped back from the neighbourhood of Rome to the city itself, and +from the city back to the monastery, his friends in both places being +probably tired of his instability. He thought of returning to Mantua; but +a present from the Grand Duke of Tuscany, accompanied by an invitation to +his court, drew him, in one of his short-lived transports, to Florence. +He returned, in spite of the best and most generous reception, to Rome; +then left Rome for Mantua, on invitation from his ever-kind deliverer +from prison, now the reigning duke; tired again, even of him; returned to +Rome; then once more to Naples, where the Prince of Conca, Grand Admiral +of the kingdom, lodged and treated him like an equal; but he grew +suspicious of the admiral, and went to live with his friend Manso; +quitted Manso for Rome again; was treated with reverence on the way, like +Ariosto, by a famous leader of banditti; was received at Rome into the +Vatican itself, in the apartments of his friend Cintio Aldobrandino, +nephew of the new pope Clement the Eighth, where his hopes now seemed to +be raised at once to their highest and most reasonable pitch; but fell +ill, and was obliged to go back to Naples for the benefit of the air. +A life so strangely erratic to the last (for mortal illness was +approaching) is perhaps unique in the history of men of letters, and +might be therefore worth recording even in that of a less man than Tasso; +but when we recollect that this poet, in spite of all his weaknesses, and +notwithstanding the enemies they provoked and the friends they cooled, +was really almost adored for his genius in his own time, and instead +of refusing jewels one day and soliciting a ducat the next, might have +settled down almost any where in quiet and glory, if he had but possessed +the patience to do so, it becomes an association of weakness with power, +and of adversity with the means of prosperity, the absurdity of which +admiration itself can only drown in pity. + +He now took up his abode in another monastery, that of San Severino, +where he was comforted by the visits of his friend Manso, to whom he had +lately inscribed a dialogue on _Friendship_; for he continued writing +to the last. He had also the consolation, such as it was, of having the +law-suit for his mother's dowry settled in his favour, though under +circumstances that rendered it of little importance, and only three +months before his death. So strangely did Fortune seem to take delight in +sporting with a man of genius, who had thought both too much of her and +too little; too much for pomp's sake, and too little in prudence. Among +his new acquaintances were the young Marino, afterwards the corrupter of +Italian poetry, and the Prince of Venosa, an amateur composer of music. +The dying poet wrote madrigals for him so much to his satisfaction, that, +being about to marry into the house of Este, he wished to reconcile him +with the Duke of Ferrara; and Tasso, who to the last moment of his life +seems never to have been able to resist the chance of resuming old +quarters, apparently from the double temptation of renouncing them, wrote +his old master a letter full of respects and regrets. But the duke, who +himself died in the course of the year, was not to be moved from his +silence. The poet had given him the last possible offence by recasting +his _Jerusalem_, omitting the glories of the house of Este, and +dedicating it to another patron. Alfonso, who had been extravagantly +magnificent, though not to poets, had so weakened his government, that +the Pope wrested Ferrara from the hands of his successor, and reduced +the Este family to the possession of Modena, which it still holds and +dishonours. The duke and the poet were thus fading away at the same time; +they never met again in this world; and a new Dante would have divided +them far enough in the next.[31] + +The last glimpse of honour and glory was now opening in a very grand +manner on the poet--the last and the greatest, as if on purpose to give +the climax to his disappointments. Cardinal Cintio requested the Pope to +give him the honour of a coronation. It had been desired by the poet, it +seems, three years before. He was disappointed of it at that time; and +now that it was granted, he was disappointed of the ceremony. Manso says +he no longer cared for it; and, as he felt himself dying, this is not +improbable. Nevertheless he went to Rome for the purpose; and though the +severity of the winter there delayed the intention till spring, wealth +and honours seemed determined to come in floods upon the poor expiring +great man, in order to take away the breath which they had refused to +support. The Pope assigned him a yearly pension of a hundred scudi; and +the withholders of his mother's dowry came to an accommodation by which +he was to have an annuity of a hundred ducats, and a considerable sum +in hand. His hand was losing strength enough to close upon the money. +Scarcely was the day for the coronation about to dawn, when the poet felt +his dissolution approaching. Alfonso's doctors had killed him at last by +superinducing a habit of medicine-taking, which defeated its purpose. +He requested leave to return to the monastery of St. Onofrio--wrote a +farewell letter to Constantini--received the distinguished honour of a +plenary indulgence from the Pope--said (in terms very like what Milton +might have used, had he died a Catholic), that "this was the chariot upon +which he hoped to go crowned, not with laurel as a poet into the capitol, +but with glory as a saint to heaven"--and expired on the 25th of April, +1575, and the fifty-first year of his age, closely embracing the +crucifix, and imperfectly uttering the sentence beginning, "Into thy +hands, O Lord!"[32] + +Even after death, success mocked him; for the coronation took place on +the senseless dead body. The head was wreathed with laurel; a magnificent +toga delayed for a while the shroud; and a procession took place through +the city by torchlight, all the inhabitants pouring forth to behold it, +and painters crowding over the bier to gaze on the poet's lineaments, +from which they produced a multitude of portraits. The corpse was then +buried in the church of St. Onofrio; and magnificent monuments talked of, +which never appeared. Manso, however, obtained leave to set up a modest +tablet; and eight years afterwards a Ferrarese cardinal (Bevilacqua) made +what amends he could for his countrymen, by erecting the stately memorial +which is still to be seen. + +Poor, illustrious Tasso! weak enough to warrant pity from his +inferiors--great enough to overshadow in death his once-fancied +superiors. He has been a by-word for the misfortunes of genius: but +genius was not his misfortune; it was his only good, and might have +brought him all happiness. It is the want of genius, as far as it +goes, and apart from martyrdoms for conscience' sake, which produces +misfortunes even to genius itself--the want of as much wit and balance +on the common side of things, as genius is supposed to confine to the +uncommon. + +Manso has left a minute account of his friend's person and manners. He +was tall even among the tall; had a pale complexion, sunken cheeks, +lightish brown hair, head bald at the top, large blue eyes, square +forehead, big nose inclining towards the mouth, lips pale and thin, white +teeth, delicate white hands, long arms, broad chest and shoulders, legs +rather strong than fleshy, and the body altogether better proportioned +than in good condition; the result, nevertheless, being an aspect of +manly beauty and expression, particularly in the countenance, the dignity +of which marked him for an extraordinary person even to those who did not +know him. His demeanour was grave and deliberate; he laughed seldom; +and though his tongue was prompt, his delivery was slow; and he was +accustomed to repeat his last words. He was expert in all manly +exercises, but not equally graceful; and the same defect attended his +otherwise striking eloquence in public assemblies. His putting to flight +the assassins in Ferrara gave him such a reputation for courage, that +there went about in his honour a popular couplet + + "Colla penna e colla spada + Nessun val quanto Torquato." + + For the sword as well as pen + Tasso is the man of men. + +He was a little eater, but not averse to wine, particularly such as +combined piquancy with sweetness; and he always dressed in black. Manso's +account is still more particular, and yet it does not tell all; for Tasso +himself informs us that he stammered, and was near-sighted;[33] and a +Neapolitan writer who knew him adds to the near-sightedness some visible +defect in the eyes.[34] I should doubt, from what Tasso says in his +letters, whether he was fond of speaking in public, notwithstanding his +_debut_ in that line with the _Fifty Amorous Conclusions_.Nor does he +appear to have been remarkable for his conversation. Manso has left a +collection of one hundred of his pithy sayings--a suspicious amount, and +unfortunately more than warranting the suspicion; for almost every one of +them is traceable to some other man. They come from the Greek and Latin +philosophers, and the apothegms of Erasmus. The two following have the +greatest appearance of being genuine: + +A Greek, complaining that he had spoken ill of his country, and +maintaining that all the virtues in the world had issued out of it, the +poet assented; with the addition, that they had not left one behind them. + +A foolish young fellow, garnished with a number of golden chains, coming +into a room where he was, and being overheard by him exclaiming, "Is this +the great man that was mad?" Tasso said, "Yes; but that people had never +put on him more than one chain at a time." + +His character may be gathered, but not perhaps entirely, from what has +been written of his life; for some of his earlier letters shew him to +have been not quite so grave and refined in his way of talking as readers +of the _Jerusalem_ might suppose. He was probably at that time of life +not so scrupulous in his morals as he professed to be during the greater +part of it. His mother is thought to have died of chagrin and impatience +at being separated so long from her husband, and not knowing what to do +to save her dowry from her brothers; and I take her son to have combined +his mother's ultra-sensitive organisation with his father's worldly +imprudence and unequal spirits. The addition of the nervous temperament +of one parent to the aspiring nature of the other gave rise to the poet's +trembling eagerness for distinction; and Torquato's very love for them +both hindered him from seeing what should have been corrected in the +infirmities which he inherited. Falling from the highest hopes of +prosperity into the most painful afflictions, he thus wanted solid +principles of action to support him, and was forced to retreat upon an +excess of self-esteem, which allowed his pride to become a beggar, and +his naturally kind, loving, just, and heroical disposition to condescend +to almost every species of inconsistency. The Duke of Ferrara, he +complains, did not believe a word he said;[35] and the fact is, that, +partly from disease, and partly from a want of courage to look his +defects in the face, he beheld the same things in so many different +lights, and according as it suited him at the moment, that, without +intending falsehood, his statements are really not to be relied on. He +degraded even his verses, sometimes with panegyrics for interest's sake, +sometimes out of weak wishes to oblige, of which he was afterwards +ashamed; and, with the exception of Constantini, we cannot be sure that +any one person praised in them retained his regard in his last days. His +suspicion made him a kind of Rousseau; but he was more amiable than +the Genevese, and far from being in the habit of talking against old +acquaintances, whatever he might have thought of them. It is observable, +not only that he never married, but he told Manso he had led a life of +entire continence ever since he entered the walls of his prison, being +then in his thirty-fifth year.[36] Was this out of fidelity to some +mistress? or the consequence of a previous life the reverse of continent? +or was it from some principle of superstition? He had become a devotee, +apparently out of a dread of disbelief; and he remained extremely +religious for the rest of his days. The two unhappiest of Italian poets, +Tasso and Dante, were the two most superstitious. + +As for the once formidable question concerning the comparative merits +of this poet and Ariosto, which anticipated the modern quarrels of the +classical and romantic schools, some idea of the treatment which Tasso +experienced may be conceived by supposing all that used to be sarcastic +and bitter in the periodical party-criticism among ourselves some thirty +years back, collected into one huge vial of wrath, and poured upon the +new poet's head. Even the great Galileo, who was a man of wit, bred up +in the pure Tuscan school of Berni and Casa, and who was an idolator +of Ariosto, wrote, when he was young, a "review" of the _Jerusalem +Delivered_, which it is painful to read, it is so unjust and +contemptuous.[37] But now that the only final arbiter, posterity, has +accepted both the poets, the dispute is surely the easiest thing in the +world to settle; not, indeed, with prejudices of creeds or temperaments, +but before any judges thoroughly sympathising with the two claimants. Its +solution is the principle of the greater including the less. For Ariosto +errs only by having an unbounded circle to move in. His sympathies are +unlimited; and those who think him inferior to Tasso, only do so in +consequence of their own want of sympathy with the vivacities that +degrade him in their eyes. Ariosto can be as grave and exalted as Tasso +when he pleases, and he could do a hundred things which Tasso never +attempted. He is as different in this respect as Shakspeare from Milton. +He had far more knowledge of mankind than Tasso, and he was superior in +point of taste. But it is painful to make disadvantageous comparisons of +one great poet with another. Let us be thankful for Tasso's enchanted +gardens, without being forced to vindicate the universal world of his +predecessor. Suffice it to bear in mind, that the grave poet himself +agreed with the rest of the Italians in calling the Ferrarese the "divine +Ariosto;" a title which has never been popularly given to his rival. + +The _Jerusalem Delivered_ is the history of a Crusade, related with +poetic license. The Infidels are assisted by unlawful arts; and the +libertinism that brought scandal on the Christians, is converted into +youthful susceptibility, led away by enchantment. The author proposed +to combine the ancient epic poets with Ariosto, or a simple plot, and +uniformly dignified style, with romantic varieties of adventure, and +the luxuriance of fairy-land. He did what he proposed to do, but with a +judgment inferior to Virgil's; nay, in point of the interdependence of +the adventures, to Ariosto, and with far less general vigour. The mixture +of affectation with his dignity is so frequent, that, whether Boileau's +famous line about Tasso's tinsel and Virgil's gold did or did not mean to +imply that the _Jerusalem_ was nothing but tinsel, and the _AEneid_ all +gold, it is certain that the tinsel is so interwoven with the gold, as to +render it more of a rule than an exception, and put a provoking distance +between Tasso's epic pretensions and those of the greatest masters of the +art. People who take for granted the conceits because of the "wildness" +of Ariosto, and the good taste because of the "regularity" of Tasso, just +assume the reverse of the fact. It is a rare thing to find a conceit in +Ariosto; and, where it does exist, it is most likely defensible on some +Shakspearian ground of subtle propriety. Open Tasso in almost any part, +particularly the love-scenes, and it is marvellous if, before long, you +do not see the conceits vexatiously interfering with the beauties. + + "Oh maraviglia! Amor, the appena e nato, + Gia grande vola, e gia trionfa armato." Canto i. St. 47. + + Oh, miracle! Love is scarce born, when, lo, + He flies full wing'd, and lords it with his bow! + + "Se 'l miri fulminar ne l'arme avvolto, + Marte lo stimi; Amor, se scopre il volto." St. 58. + + Mars you would think him, when his thund'ring race + In arms he ran; Love, when he shew'd his face. + +Which is as little true to reason as to taste; for no god of war could +look like a god of love. The habit of mind would render it impossible. +But the poet found the prettiness of the Greek Anthology irresistible. + +Olindo, tied to the stake amidst the flames of martyrdom, can say to his +mistress + + "Altre fiamme, altri nodi amor promise." Canto ii. st. 34. + + Other flames, other bonds than these, love promised. + +The sentiment is natural, but the double use of the "flames" on such an +occasion, miserable. + +In the third canto the fair Amazon Clorinda challenges her love to single +combat. + + "E di due morti in un punto lo sfida." St. 23. + + "And so at once she threats to kill him twice." _Fairfax_. + +That is to say, with her valour and beauty. + +Another twofold employment of flame, with an exclamation to secure our +astonishment, makes its appearance in the fourth canto + + "Oh miracol d'amor! che le faville + Tragge del pianto, e'i cor' ne l'acqua accende." St. 76. + + Oh, miracle of love! that draweth sparks + Of fire from tears, and kindlest hearts in water! + +This puerile antithesis of _fire_ and _water, fire_ and _ice, light_ +in _darkness, silence_ in _speech_, together with such pretty turns as +_wounding one's-self in wounding others_, and the worse sacrifice of +consistency and truth of feeling,--lovers making long speeches on the +least fitting occasions, and ladies retaining their rosy cheeks in the +midst of fears of death,--is to be met with, more or less, throughout +the poem. I have no doubt they were the proximate cause of that general +corruption of taste which was afterwards completed by Marino, the +acquaintance and ardent admirer of Tasso when a boy. They have been laid +to the charge of Petrarch; but, without entering into the question, how +far and in what instances conceits may not be natural to lovers haunted, +as Petrarch was, with one idea, and seeing it in every thing they behold, +what had the great epic poet to do with the faults of the lyrical? And +what is to be said for his standing in need of the excuse of bad example? +Homer and Milton were in no such want. Virgil would not have copied the +tricks of Ovid. There is an effeminacy and self-reflection in Tasso, +analogous to his Rinaldo, in the enchanted garden; where the hero wore +a looking-glass by his side, in which he contemplated his sophisticated +self, and the meretricious beauty of his enchantress.[38] Agreeably to +this tendency to weakness, the style of Tasso, when not supported by +great occasions (and even the occasion itself sometimes fails him), is +too apt to fall into tameness and common-place,--to want movement and +picture; while, at the same time, with singular defect of enjoyment, it +does not possess the music which might be expected from a lyrical and +voluptuous poet. Bernardo prophesied of his son, that, however he might +surpass him in other respects, he would never equal him in sweetness; +and he seems to have judged him rightly. I have met with a passage in +Torquato's prose writings (but I cannot lay my hands on it), in which he +expresses a singular predilection for verses full of the same vowel. +He seems, if I remember rightly, to have regarded it, not merely as a +pleasing variety, which it is on occasion, but as a reigning principle. +Voltaire (I think, in his treatise on _Epic Poetry_) has noticed the +multitude of _o_'s in the exordium of the _Jerusalem_.This apparent +negligence seems to have been intentional. + + "Canto l'armi pietose e 'l capitano + Che 'l gran Sepolero libero di Cristo; + Molto egli opro col senno e con la mano, + Molto soffri nel glorioso acquisto; + E invan l'inferno a lui s'oppose; e invano + S'armo d'Asia e di Libia il popol misto; + Che il ciel gli die favore, e sotto ai santi + Segni ridusse i suoi compagni erranti." + +The reader will not be surprised to find, that he who could thus confound +monotony with music, and commence his greatest poem with it, is too often +discordant in the rest of his versification. It has been thought, that +Milton might have taken from the Italians the grand musical account to +which he turns a list of proper names, as in his enumerations of realms +and deities; but I have been surprised to find how little the most +musical of languages appears to have suggested to its poets anything of +the sort. I am not aware of it, indeed, in any poets but our own. All +others, from Homer, with his catalogue of leaders and ships, down to +Metastasio himself, though he wrote for music, appear to have overlooked +this opportunity of playing a voluntary of fine sounds, where they had no +other theme on which to modulate. Its inventor, as far as I am aware, is +that great poet, Marlowe.[39] + +There are faults of invention as well as style in the _Jerusalem_. The +Talking Bird, or bird that sings with a human voice (canto iv. 13), is a +piece of inverisimilitude, which the author, perhaps, thought justifiable +by the speaking horses of the ancients. But the latter were moved +supernaturally for the occasion, and for a very fine occasion. Tasso's +bird is a mere born contradiction to nature and for no necessity. The +vulgar idea of the devil with horns and a tail (though the retention +of it argued a genius in Tasso very inferior to that of Milton) is +defensible, I think, on the plea of the German critics, that malignity +should be made a thing low and deformed; but as much cannot be said for +the storehouse in heaven, where St. Michael's spear is kept with which +he slew the dragon, and the trident which is used for making earthquakes +(canto vii. st. 81). The tomb which supernaturally comes out of the +ground, inscribed with the name and virtues of Sueno (canto viii. st. +39), is worthy only of a pantomime; and the wizard in robes, with +beech-leaves on his head, who walks dry-shod on water, and superfluously +helps the knights on their way to Armida's retirement (xiv. 33), is +almost as ludicrous as the burlesque of the river-god in the _Voyage_ of +Bachaumont and Chapelle. + +But let us not wonder, nevertheless, at the effect which the _Jerusalem_ +has had upon the world. It could not have had it without great nature and +power. Rinaldo, in spite of his aberrations with Armida, knew the path +to renown, and so did his poet. Tasso's epic, with all its faults, is a +noble production, and justly considered one of the poems of the world. +Each of those poems hit some one great point of universal attraction, +at least in their respective countries, and among the givers of fame in +others. Homer's poem is that of action; Dante's, of passion; Virgil's, of +judgment; Milton's, of religion; Spenser's, of poetry itself; Ariosto's, +of animal spirits (I do not mean as respects gaiety only, but in strength +and readiness of accord with the whole play of nature); Tasso looked +round with an ultra-sensitive temperament, and an ambition which required +encouragement, and his poem is that of tenderness. Every thing inclines +to this point in his circle, with the tremulousness of the needle. Love +is its all in all, even to the design of the religious war which is +to rescue the sepulchre of the God of Charity from the hands of the +unloving. His heroes are all in love, at least those on the right side; +his leader, Godfrey, notwithstanding his prudence, narrowly escapes the +passion, and is full of a loving consideration; his amazon, Clorinda, +inspires the truest passion, and dies taking her lover's hand; his +Erminia is all love for an enemy; his enchantress Armida falls from +pretended love into real, and forsakes her religion for its sake. An old +father (canto ix.) loses his five sons in battle, and dies on their +dead bodies of a wound which he has provoked on purpose. Tancred cannot +achieve the enterprise of the Enchanted Forest, because his dead mistress +seems to come out of one of the trees. Olindo thinks it happiness to be +martyred at the same stake with Sophronia. The reconciliation of Rinaldo +with his enchantress takes place within a few stanzas of the close of +the poem, as if contesting its interest with religion. The _Jerusalem +Delivered_, in short, is the favourite epic of the young: all the lovers +in Europe have loved it. The French have forgiven the author his conceits +for the sake of his gallantry: he is the poet of the gondoliers; and +Spenser, the most luxurious of his brethren, plundered his bowers of +bliss. Read Tasso's poem by this gentle light of his genius, and you pity +him twentyfold, and know not what excuse to find for his jailer. + +The stories translated in the present volume, though including war and +magic, are all love-stories. They were not selected on that account. They +suggested themselves for selection, as containing most of the finest +things in the poem. They are conducted with great art, and the characters +and affections happily varied. The first (_Olindo and Sophronia_) is +perhaps unique for the hopelessness of its commencement (I mean with +regard to the lovers), and the perfect, and at the same time quite +probable, felicity of the conclusion. There is no reason to believe that +the staid and devout Sophronia would have loved her adorer at all, but +for the circumstance that first dooms them both to a shocking death, +and then sends them, with perfect warrant, from the stake to the altar. +Clorinda is an Amazon, the idea of whom, as such, it is impossible for +us to separate from very repulsive and unfeminine images; yet, under the +circumstances of the story, we call to mind in her behalf the possibility +of a Joan of Arc's having loved and been beloved; and her death is a +surprising and most affecting variation upon that of Agrican in Boiardo. +Tasso's enchantress Armida is a variation of the Angelica of the same +poet, combined with Ariosto's Alcina; but her passionate voluptuousness +makes her quite a new character in regard to the one; and she is as +different from the painted hag of the _Orlando_ as youth, beauty, and +patriotic intention can make her. She is not very sentimental; but all +the passion in the world has sympathised with her; and it was manly and +honest in the poet not to let her Paganism and vehemence hinder him from +doing justice to her claims as a human being and a deserted woman. Her +fate is left in so pleasing a state of doubt, that we gladly avail +ourselves of it to suppose her married to Rinaldo, and becoming the +mother of a line of Christian princes. I wish they had treated her poet +half so well as she would infallibly have treated him herself. + +But the singer of the Crusades can be strong as well as gentle. You +discern in his battles and single combats the poet ambitious of renown, +and the accomplished swordsman. The duel of Tancred and Argantes, in +which the latter is slain, is as earnest and fiery writing throughout as +truth and passion could desire; that of Tancred and Clorinda is also +very powerful as well as affecting; and the whole siege of Jerusalem is +admirable for the strength of its interest. Every body knows the grand +verse (not, however, quite original) that summons the devils to council, +"Chiama gli abitator," &c.; and the still grander, though less original +one, describing the desolations of time, "Giace l'alta Cartago."[40] The +forest filled with supernatural terrors by a magician, in order that the +Christians may not cut wood from it to make their engines of war, is one +of the happiest pieces of invention in romance. It is founded in as true +human feeling as those of Ariosto, and is made an admirable instrument +for the aggrandizement of the character of Rinaldo. Godfrey's attestation +of all time, and of the host of heaven, when he addresses his army in the +first canto, is in the highest spirit of epic magnificence. So is the +appearance of the celestial armies, together with that of the souls of +the slain Christian warriors, in the last canto, where they issue forth +in the air to assist the entrance into the conquered city. The classical +poets are turned to great and frequent account throughout the poem; +and yet the work has a strong air of originality, partly owing to the +subject, partly to the abundance of love-scenes, and to a certain +compactness in the treatment of the main story, notwithstanding the +luxuriance of the episodes. The _Jerusalem Delivered_ is stately, +well-ordered, full of action and character, sometimes sublime, always +elegant, and very interesting-more so, I think, as a whole, and in +a popular sense, than any other story in verse, not excepting the +_Odyssey_. For the exquisite domestic attractiveness of the second +Homeric poem is injured, like the hero himself, by too many diversions +from the main point. There is an interest, it is true, in that very +delay; but we become too much used to the disappointment. In the epic +of Tasso the reader constantly desires to learn how the success of the +enterprise is to be brought about; and he scarcely loses sight of any of +the persons but he wishes to see them again. Even in the love-scenes, +tender and absorbed as they are, we feel that the heroes are fighters, or +going to fight. When you are introduced to Armida in the Bower of Bliss, +it is by warriors who come to take her lover away to battle. + +One of the reasons why Tasso hurt the style of his poem by a manner too +lyrical was, that notwithstanding its deficiency in sweetness, he was one +of the profusest lyrical writers of his nation, and always having his +feelings turned in upon himself. I am not sufficiently acquainted with +his odes and sonnets to speak of them in the gross; but I may be allowed +to express my belief that they possess a great deal of fancy and feeling. +It has been wondered how he could write so many, considering the troubles +he went through; but the experience was the reason. The constant +succession of hopes, fears, wants, gratitudes, loves, and the necessity +of employing his imagination, accounts for all. Some of his sonnets, such +as those on the Countess of Scandiano's lip ("Quel labbro," &c.); the one +to Stigliano, concluding with the affecting mention of himself and his +lost harp; that beginning + + "Io veggio in cielo scintillar le stelle," + +recur to my mind oftener than any others except Dante's "Tanto gentile" +and Filicaia's _Lament on Italy_; and, with the exception of a few of the +more famous odes of Petrarch, and one or two of Filicaia's and Guidi's, I +know of none in Italian like several of Tasso's, including his fragment +"O del grand' Apennino," and the exquisite chorus on the _Golden Age_, +which struck a note in the hearts of the world. + +His _Aminta_, the chief pastoral poem of Italy, though, with the +exception of that ode, not equal in passages to the _Faithful +Shepherdess_ (which is a Pan to it compared with a beardless shepherd), +is elegant, interesting, and as superior to Guarini's more sophisticate +yet still beautiful _Pastor Fido_ as a first thought may be supposed to +be to its emulator. The objection of its being too elegant for shepherds +he anticipated and nullified by making Love himself account for it in a +charming prologue, of which the god is the speaker: + + "Queste selve oggi ragionar d'Amore + S'udranno in nuova guisa; e ben parassi, + Che la mia Deita sia qui presente + In se medesma, e non ne' suoi ministri. + Spirero nobil sensi a rozzi petti; + Raddolciro nelle lor lingue il suono: + Perche, ovunque i' mi sia, io sono Amore + Ne' pastori non men che negli eroi; + E la disagguaglianza de' soggetti, + Come a me piace, agguaglio: e questa e pure + Suprema gloria, e gran miracol mio, + Render simili alle piu dotte cetre + Le rustiche sampogne." + + After new fashion shall these woods to-day + Hear love discoursed; and it shall well be seen + That my divinity is present here + In its own person, not its ministers. + I will inbreathe high fancies in rude hearts; + I will refine and render dulcet sweet + Their tongues; because, wherever I may be, + Whether with rustic or heroic men, + There am I Love; and inequality, + As it may please me, do I equalise; + And 'tis my crowning glory and great miracle + To make the rural pipe as eloquent + Even as the subtlest harp. + +I ought not to speak of Tasso's other poetry, or of his prose, for I +have read little of either; though, as they are not popular with his +countrymen, a foreigner may be pardoned for thinking his classical +tragedy, _Torrismondo_, not attractive--his _Sette Giornate_ (Seven +Days of the Creation) still less so--and his platonical and critical +discourses better filled with authorities than reasons. Tasso was a +lesser kind of Milton, enchanted by the Sirens. We discern the weak parts +of his character, more or less, in all his writings; but we see also the +irrepressible elegance and superiority of the mind, which, in spite of +all weakness, was felt to tower above its age, and to draw to it the +homage as well as the resentment of princes. + + +[Footnote 1: My authorities for this notice are, Black's _Life of Tasso_ +(2 vols. 4to, 1810), his original, Serassi, _Vita di Torquato Tasso_ (do. +1790), and the works of the poet in the Pisan edition of Professor Rosini +(33 vols. 8vo, 1332). I have been indebted to nothing in Black which I +have not ascertained by reference to the Italian biographer, and quoted +nothing stated by Tasso himself but from the works. Black's Life, which +is a free version of Serassi's, modified by the translator's own opinions +and criticism, is elegant, industrious, and interesting. Serassi's was +the first copious biography of the poet founded on original documents; +and it deserved to be translated by Mr. Black, though servile to +the house of Este, and, as might be expected, far from being always +ingenuous. Among other instances of this writer's want of candour is the +fact of his having been the discoverer and suppresser of the manuscript +review of Tasso by Galileo. The best summary account of the poet's life +and writings which I have met with is Ginguene's, in the fifth volume +of his _Histoire Litteraire_, &c. It is written with his usual grace, +vivacity, and acuteness, and contains a good notice of the Tasso +controversy. As to the Pisan edition of the works, it is the completest, +I believe, in point of contents ever published, comprises all the +controversial criticism, and is, of course, very useful; but it contains +no life except Manso's (now known to be very inconclusive), has got a +heap of feeble variorum comments on the _Jerusalem_, no notes worth +speaking of to the rest of the works, and, notwithstanding the claim +in the title-page to the merit of a "better order," has left the +correspondence in a deplorable state of irregularity, as well as totally +without elucidation. The learned Professor is an agreeable writer, and, I +believe, a very pleasant man, but he certainly is a provoking editor.] + +[Footnote 2: In the beautiful fragment beginning, _O del grand'Apennino:_ + + "Me dal sen della madre empia fortuna + Pargoletto divelse. Ah! di que' baci, + Ch'ella bagno di lagrime dolenti, + Con sospir mi rimembra, e degli ardenti + Preghi, che sen portar l'aure fugaci, + Ch'io giunger non dovea piu volto a volto + Fra quelle braccia accolto + Con nodi cosi stretti e si tenaci. + Lasso! e seguii con mal sicure piante, + Qual Ascanio, o Camilla, il padre errante." + + Me from my mother's bosom my hard lot + Took when a child. Alas! though all these years + I have been used to sorrow, + I sigh to think upon the floods of tears + which bathed her kisses on that doleful morrow: + + I sigh to think of all the prayers and cries + She wasted, straining me with lifted eyes: + For never more on one another's face + was it our lot to gaze and to embrace! + Her little stumbling boy, + Like to the child of Troy, + Or like to one doomed to no haven rather, + Followed the footsteps of his wandering father.] + +[Footnote 3: Rosini, _Saggio sugli Amori di Torquato Tasso_, &c., in the +Professor's edition of his works, vol. xxxiii.] + +[Footnote 4: _Lettere Inedite_, p. 33, in the _Opere_, vol. xvii.] + +[Footnote 5: _Entretiens_, 1663, p.169 quoted by Scrassi, pp. 175, 182.] + +[Footnote 6: Suggested by Ariosto's furniture in the Moon.] + +[Footnote 7: This was a trick which he afterwards thought he had reason +to complain of in a style very different from pleasantry.] + +[Footnote 8: Alfonso. The word for "leader" in the original, _duce_, made +the allusion more obvious. The epithet "royal," in the next sentence, +conveyed a welcome intimation to the ducal car, the house of Este being +very proud of its connexion with the sovereigns of Europe, and very +desirous of becoming royal itself.] + +[Footnote 9: Serassi, vol i. p. 210.] + +(Footnote 10: "Alla lor magnanimita e convenevole il mostrar, ch'amor +delle virtu, non odio verso altri, gli abbia gia mossi ad invitarmi con +invito cosi largo." _Opere_, vol. xv. p. 94.] + +[Footnote 11: The application is the conjecture of Black, vol. i. p. 317. +Serassi suppressed the whole passage. The indecent word would have been +known but for the delicacy or courtliness of Muratori, who substituted an +_et-cetera_ in its place, observing, that he had "covered" with it "an +indecent word not fit to be printed" ("sotto quell'_et-cetera_ ho io +coperta un'indecente parola, che non era lecito di lasciar correre alle +stampe." _Opere del Tasso,_ vol. xvi. p. 114). By "covered" he seems to +have meant blotted out; for in the latest edition of Tasso the _et-cetera +is_ retained.] + +[Footnote 12: Black's version (vol. ii. p. 58) is not strong enough. The +words in Serassi are "una ciurma di poltroni, ingrati, e ribaldi." ii. p. +33.] + +[Footnote 13: _Opere_, vol xiv. pp. 158, 174, &c.] + +[Footnote 14: "Prego V. Signoria the si contenti, se piace al Serenissimo +Signor Duca, Clementissimo ed Invitissimo, the io stia in prigione, di +farmi dar le poche robicciole mie, the S.A. Invitissima, Clementissima, +Serenissima m' ha promesse tante volte," &c. _Opere_, vol. xiv. p. 6.] + +[Footnote 15: "Altera Torquatum cepit Leonora poetam," &c.] + +[Footnote 16: _Vie du Tasse,_ 1695, p. 51.] + +[Footnote 17: In the Apology _for Raimond de Sebonde_; Essays, +vol. ii. ch. 12.] + +[Footnote 18: In his _Letter to Zeno,--Opere del + +Tasso_, xvi. p. 118.] + +[Footnote 19: _Storia della Poesia Italiana_ (Mathias's edition), vol. +iii. part i. p 236.] + +[Footnote 20: Serassi is very peremptory, and even abusive. He charges +every body who has said any thing to the contrary with imposture. "Egli +non v' ha dubbio, che le troppe imprudenti e temerarie parole, che il +Tasso si lascio uscir di bocca in questo incontro, furone la sola cagione +della sua prigionia, e ch' e mera favola ed _impostura_ tutto cio, che +diversamente e stato affermato e scritto da altri in tale proposito." +Vol. ii. p. 33. But we have seen that the good Abbe could practise a +little imposition himself.] + +[Footnote 21: Black, ii. 88.] + +[Footnote 22: _Hist. Litt. d'Italie_, v. 243, &c.] + +[Footnote 23: Vol. ii. p. 89.] + +[Footnote 24: Such at least is my impression; but I cannot call the +evidence to mind.] + +[Footnote 25: _Literature of the South of Europe_ (Roscoe's translation), +vol. ii. p. 165. To shew the loose way in which the conclusions of a +man's own mind are presented as facts admitted by others, Sismondi says, +that Tasso's "passion" was the cause of his return to Ferrara. There is +not a tittle of evidence to shew for it.] + +[Footnote 26: _Saggio sugli Amori_, &c. ut sup p. 84, and passim. As +specimens of the learned professor's reasoning, it may be observed that +whenever the words _humble, daring, high, noble_, and _royal_, occur in +the poet's love-verses, he thinks they _must_ allude to the Princess +Leonora; and he argues, that Alfonso never could have been so angry with +any "versi lascivi," if they had not had the same direction.] + +[Footnote 27: _Opere_, vol. xvii. p.32.] + +[Footnote 28: + + "Padre, o buon padre, che dal ciel rimiri, + Egro e morto ti piansi, e ben tu il sai; + E gemendo scaldai + La tomba e il letto. Or che negli altri giri + Tu godi, a te si deve onor, non lutto: + A me versato il mio dolor sia tutto." + + O father, my good father, looking now + On thy poor son from heaven, well knowest thou + What scalding tears I shed + Upon thy grave, upon thy dying bed; + But since thou dwellest in the happy skies, + 'Tis fit I raise to thee no sorrowing eyes + Be all my grief on my own head.] + +[Footnote 29: + + " Non posso viver in citta, ove tutti i nobili, o non mi +concedano i primi luoghi, o almeno non si contentino the la cosa in +quel the appartiene a queste esteriori dimostrazioni, vada del pari." + _Opere,_, vol. xiii. p. 153.] + +[Footnote 30: Black, vol. ii. p. 240.] + +[Footnote 31: The world in general have taken no notice of Tasso's +reconstruction of his _Jerusalem_, which he called the _Gerusalemme +Conquistata_. It never "obtained," as the phrase is. It was the mere +tribute of his declining years to bigotry and new acquaintances; and +therefore I say no more of it.] + +[Footnote 32: _In manus tuas, Domine_. One likes to know the actual +words; at least so it appears to me.] + +[Footnote 33: Serassi, ii. 276.] + +[Footnote 34: "Quem _cernis_, quisquis es, procera statura virum, +_luscis_ oculis, &c. hic Torquatus est."--Cappacio, _Illustrium Literis +Virorum Elogia et Judici_, quoted by Serassi, ut sup. The Latin word +_luscus_, as well as the Italian _losco_, means, I believe, near-sighted; +but it certainly means also a great deal more; and unless the word +_cernis_ (thou beholdest) is a mere form of speech implying a foregone +conclusion, it shews that the defect was obvious to the spectator.] + +[Footnote 35: "Il Signor Duca non crede ad alcuna mia parola." + _Opere_, xiv. 161.] + +[Footnote 36: "Fui da bocca di lui medesimo rassicurato, che dal tempo +del suo ritegno in sant'Anna, ch'avenne negli anni trentacinque della sua +vita e sedici avanti la morte, egli intieramente fu casto: degli anni +primi non mi favello mai di modo ch' io possa alcuna cosa di certo qui +raccontare." + _Opere_, xxxiii. 235.] + +[Footnote 37: It is to be found in the collected works, _ut supra_; both +of the philosopher and the poet.] + +[Footnote 38: It is an extraordinary instance of a man's violating, in +older life, the better critical principles of his youth,--that Tasso, in +his _Discourses on Poetry_, should have objected to a passage in Ariosto +about sighs and tears, as being a "conceit too lyrical," (though it was +warranted by the subtleties of madness, see present volume, p. 219), and +yet afterwards not in the same conceits when wholly without warrant.] + +[Footnote 39: [Greek: + + Dardanion aut aerchen, eus pais Agchisao, + Aineias ton hup Agchisae teke di Aphroditae + Idaes en knaemoisi, thea brotps eunaetheisa + Ouk oios hama toge duo Antaenoros uie, + Archilochos t, Akamas te machaes en eidute pasaes. + + _Iliad_, ii. 819.] + +It is curious that these five lines should abound as much in _a_'s +Tasso's first stanza does in o's. Similar monotonies are strikingly +observable in the nomenclatures of Virgil. See his most perfect poem, the + _Georgics_: + + "Omnia secum + `Armentarius `Afer agit, tectumque, Laremque, + `Armaque, `Amyclaeumque canem, Cressamque pharetram." + Lib. iii. 343. + +It is clear that Dante never thought of this point. See his Mangiadore, +Sanvittore, Natan, Raban, &c. at the end of the twelfth canto of the +_Paradiso_. Yet in his time poetry was _recitatived_ to music. So it was +in Petrarch's, who was a lutenist, and who "tried" his verses, to see +how they would go to the instrument. Yet Petrarch could allow himself to + write such a quatrain as the following list of rivers + + "Non Tesin, Po, Varo, Arno, Adige e Tebro, + Eufrate, Tigre, Nilo, Ermo, Indo c Gange, + Tana, Istro, Alfeo, Garrona, e 'l mar the frange, + Rodano, Ibero, Ren, Senna, _Albia, Era, Ebro!_" + +In Tasso's _Sette Giornate_, to which Black thinks Milton indebted for +his grand use of proper names, the following is the way in which the poet +writes + + "Di Silvani + Di Pani, e d' Egipani, e d' altri erranti, + Ch'empier le solitarie inculte selve + D'antiche maraviglie; e quell'accolto + Esercito di Bacco in oriente + Ond'egli vinse, e trionfo degl'Indi, + Tornando glorioso ai Greci lidi, + Siccom'e favoloso antico grido." + +The most diversified passage of this kind (as far as I an, aware) is +Ariosto's list of his friends at the close of the _Orlando_; and yet such +writing as follows would seem to shew that it was an accident: + + "Io veggio il Fracastoro, il Bevazzano, + Trifon Gabriel, e il Tasso piu lontano; + Veggo Niccolo Tiepoli, e con esso + Niccolo Amanio in me affissar le ciglia; + Auton Fulgoso, ch'a vedermi appresso + Al lito, mostra gaudio e maraviglia. + Il mio Valerio e quel che la s'e messo + Fuor de le donne," &c. + + Even Metastasio, who wrote expressly for singers, and often with +exquisite modulation, especially in his songs, forgets himself when he +comes to the names of his dramatis persome,--"`Artaserse, `Artabano, +`Arbace, Mandane, Semira, Megabise,"--all in one play. + + "Gran cose io temo. Il mio germano `Arbace + Parte pria de l'aurora. Il padre armato + Incontro, e non mi parla. `Accusa il cielo + `Agitato `Artaserse, e m'abbandona." + + Atto i. se. 6. + +I am far from intending to say that these reiterations are not sometimes +allowable, nay, often beautiful and desirable. Alliteration itself may be +rendered an exquisite instrument of music. I am only speaking of monotony +or discord in the enumeration of proper names.] + +[Footnote 40: See them both in the present volume, pp. 420 and 445.] + + +OLINDO AND SOPHRONIA. + +Argument. + +The Mahomedan king of Jerusalem, at the instigation of Ismeno, a +magician, deprives a Christian church of its image of the Virgin, and +sets it up in a mosque, under a spell of enchantment, as a palladium +against the Crusaders. The image is stolen in the night; and the king, +unable to discover who has taken it, orders a massacre of the Christian +portion of his subjects, which is prevented by Sophronia's accusing +herself of the offence. Her lover, Olindo, finding her sentenced to the +stake in consequence, disputes with her the right of martyrdom. He is +condemned to suffer with her. The Amazon Clorinda, who has come to fight +on the side of Aladin, obtains their pardon in acknowledgment of her +services; and Sophronia, who had not loved Olindo before, now returns his +passion, and goes with him from the stake to the marriage-altar. + +OLINDO AND SOPHRONIA. + +Godfrey of Boulogne, the leader of the Crusaders, was now in full march +for Jerusalem with the Christian army; and Aladin, the old infidel king, +became agitated with wrath and terror. He had heard nothing but accounts +of the enemy's irresistible advance. There were many Christians within +his walls whose insurrection he dreaded; and though he had appeared to +grow milder with age, he now, in spite of the frost in his veins, felt as +hot for cruelty, as the snake excited by the fire of summer. He longed +to stifle his fears of insurrection by a massacre, but dreaded the +consequence in the event of the city's being taken. He therefore +contented himself, for the present, with laying waste the country round +about it, destroying every possible receptacle of the invaders, +poisoning the wells, and doubly fortifying the only weak point in his +fortifications. + +At this juncture the renegade Ismeno stood before him--a bad old man who +had studied unlawful arts. He could bind and loose evil spirits, and draw +the dead out of their tombs, restoring to them breath and perception. +This man told the king, that in the church belonging to his Christian +subjects there was an altar underground, on which stood a veiled image of +the woman whom they worshipped--the mother, as they called her, of their +dead and buried God. A dazzling light burnt for ever before it; and the +walls were hung with the offerings of her credulous devotees. If this +image, he said, were taken away by the king's own hand, and set up in a +mosque, such a spell of enchantment could be thrown about it as should +render the city impregnable so long as the idol was kept safe. + +Aladin proceeded instantly to the Christian temple, and, treating the +priests with violence, tore the image from its shrine and conveyed it to +his own place of worship. The necromancer then muttered before it his +blasphemous enchantment. But the light of morning no sooner appeared in +the mosque, than the official to whose charge the palladium had been +committed missed it from its place, and in vain searched every other to +find it. In truth it never was found again; nor is it known to this +day how it went. Some think the Christians took it; others that Heaven +interfered in order to save it from profanation. And well (says the +poet) does it become a pious humility so to think of a disappearance so +wonderful. + +The king, who fell into a paroxysm of rage, not doubting that some +Christian was the offender, issued a proclamation setting a price on +the head of any one who concealed it. But no discovery was made. The +necromancer resorted to his art with as little effect. The king then +ordered a general Christian massacre. His savage wrath hugged itself on +the reflection, that the criminal would be sure to perish, perish else +who might. + +The Christians heard the order with an astonishment that took away all +their powers of resistance. The suddenness of the presence of death +stupified them. They did not resort even to an entreaty. They waited, +like sheep, to be butchered. Little did they think what kind of saviour +was at hand. + +There was a maiden among them of ripe years, grave and beautiful; one who +took no heed of her beauty, but was altogether absorbed in high and holy +thoughts. If she thought of her beauty ever, it was only to subject it to +the dignity of virtue. The greater her worth, the more she concealed it +from the world, living a close life at home, and veiling herself from all +eyes. + +But the rays of such a jewel could not but break through their casket. +Love would not consent to have it so locked up. Love turned her very +retirement into attraction. There was a youth who had become enamoured +of this hidden treasure. His name was Olindo; Sophronia was that of the +maiden. Olindo, like herself, was a Christian; and the humbleness of his +passion was equal to the worth of her that inspired it. He desired much, +hoped little, asked nothing.[1] He either knew not how to disclose his +love, or did not dare it. And she either despised it, or did not, or +would not, see it. The poor youth, up to this day, had got nothing by his +devotion, not even a look. + +The maiden, who was nevertheless as generous as she was virtuous, fell +into deep thought how she might save her Christian brethren. She soon +came to her resolve. She delayed the execution of it a little, only out +of a sense of virgin decorum, which, in its turn, made her still more +resolute. She issued forth by herself, in the sight of all, not muffling +up her beauty, nor yet exposing it. She withdrew her eyes beneath a veil, +and, attired neither with ostentation nor carelessness, passed through +the streets with unaffected simplicity, admired by all save herself. She +went straight before the king. His angry aspect did not repel her. She +drew aside the veil, and looked him steadily in the face. + +"I am come," she said, "to beg that you will suspend your wrath, and +withhold the orders given to your people. I know and will give up the +author of the deed which has offended you, on that condition." + +At the noble confidence thus displayed, at the sudden apparition of so +much lofty and virtuous beauty, the king's countenance was confused, and +its angry expression abated. Had his spirit been less stern, or the look +she gave him less firm in its purpose, he would have loved her. But +haughty beauty and haughty beholder are seldom drawn together. Glances +of pleasure are the baits of love. And yet, if the ungentle king was not +enamoured, he was impressed. He was bent on gazing at her; he felt an +emotion of delight. + +"Say on," he replied; "I accept the condition." + +"Behold then," said she, "the offender. The deed was the work of this +hand. It was I that conveyed away the image. I am she whom you look for. +I am the criminal to be punished." + +And as she spake, she bent her head before him, as already yielding it to +the executioner. + +Oh, noble falsehood! when was truth to be compared with thee?[2] + +The king was struck dumb. He did not fall into his accustomed transports +of rage. When he recovered from his astonishment, he said, "Who advised +you to do this? Who was your accomplice?" + +"Not a soul," replied the maiden. "I would not have allowed another +person to share a particle of my glory. I alone knew of the deed; I alone +counselled it; I alone did it." + +"Then be the consequence," cried he, "on your own head!" + +"'Tis but just," returned Sophronia. "Mine was the sole honour; mine, +therefore, should be the only punishment." + +The tyrant at this began to feel the accession of his old wrath. "Where," +he said, "have You hidden the image?" + +"I did not hide it," she replied, "I burnt it. I thought it fit and +righteous to do so. I knew of no other way to save it from the hands of +the unbelieving. Ask not for what will never again be found. Be content +with the vengeance you have before you." + +Oh, chaste heart! oh, exalted soul! oh, creature full of nobleness! think +not to find a forgiving moment return. Beauty itself is thy shield no +longer. + +The glorious maiden is taken and bound. The cruel king has condemned her +to the stake. Her veil, and the mantle that concealed her chaste bosom, +are torn away, and her soft arms tied with a hard knot behind her. She +said nothing; she was not terrified; but yet she was not unmoved. Her +bosom heaved in spite of its courage. Her lovely colour was lost in a +pure white. + +The news spread in an instant, and the city crowded to the sight, +Christians and all, Olindo among them. He had thought within himself, +"What if it should be Sophronia!" But when he beheld that it was she +indeed, and not only condemned, but already at the stake, he made +way through the crowd with violence, crying out, "This is not the +person,--this poor simpleton! She never thought of such a thing; she had +not the courage to do it; she had not the strength. How was she to carry +the sacred image away? Let her abide by her story if she dare. I did it." + +Such was the love of the poor youth for her that loved him not. + +When he came up to the stake, he gave a formal account of what he +pretended to have done. "I climbed in," he said, "at the window of your +mosque at night, and found a narrow passage round to the image, where +nobody could expect to meet me. I shall not suffer the penalty to be +usurped by another. I did the deed, and I will have the honour of doing +it, now that it comes to this. Let our places be changed." + +Sophronia had looked up when she heard the youth call out, and she gazed +on him with eyes of pity. "What madness is this!" exclaimed she. "What +can induce an innocent person to bring destruction on himself for +nothing? Can I not bear the thing by myself? Is the anger of one man so +tremendous, that one person cannot sustain it? Trust me, friend, you are +mistaken. I stand in no need of your company." + +Thus spoke Sophronia to her lover; but not a whit was he disposed to +alter his mind. Oh, great and beautiful spectacle! Love and virtue at +strife;--death the prize they contend for;--ruin itself the salvation of +the conqueror! But the contest irritated the king. He felt himself set at +nought; felt death itself despised, as if in despite of the inflictor. +"Let them be taken at their words," cried be; "let both have the prize +they long for." + +The youth is seized on the instant, and bound like the maiden. Both are +tied to the stake, and set back to back. They behold not the face of one +another. The wood is heaped round about them; the fire is kindled. + +The youth broke out into lamentations, but only loud enough to be heard +by his fellow-sufferer. "Is this, then," said he, "the bond which I hoped +might join us? Is this the fire which I thought might possibly warm two +lovers' hearts?[3] Too long (is it not so?) have we been divided, and now +too cruelly are we united: too cruelly, I say, but not as regards me; +for since I am not to be partner of thy existence, gladly do I share thy +death. It is thy fate, not mine, that afflicts me. Oh! too happy were it +to me, too sweet and fortunate, if I could obtain grace enough to be +set with thee heart to heart, and so breathe out my soul into thy lips! +Perhaps thou wouldst do the like with mine, and so give me thy last +sigh." + +Thus spoke the youth in tears; but the maiden gently reproved him. + +She said: "Other thoughts, my friend, and other lamentations befit a time +like this. Why thinkest thou not of thy sins, and of the rewards which +God has promised to the righteous? Meet thy sufferings in his name; so +shall their bitterness be made sweet, and thy soul be carried into the +realms above. Cast thine eyes upwards, and behold them. See how beautiful +is the sky; how the sun seems to invite thee towards it with its +splendour." + +At words so noble and piteous as these, the Pagans themselves, who stood +within hearing, began to weep. The Christians wept too, but in voices +more lowly. Even the king felt an emotion of pity; but disdaining to give +way to it, he turned aside and withdrew. The maiden alone partook not of +the common grief. She for whom every body wept, wept not for herself. + +The flames were now beginning to approach the stake, when there appeared, +coming through the crowd, a warrior of noble mien, habited in the arms of +another country. The tiger, which formed the crest of his helmet, drew +all eyes to it, for it was a cognizance well known. The people began to +think that it was a heroine instead of a hero which they saw, even the +famous Clorinda. Nor did they err in the supposition. + +A despiser of feminine habits had Clorinda been from her childhood. She +disdained to put her hand to the needle and the distaff. She renounced +every soft indulgence, every timid retirement, thinking that virtue could +be safe wherever it went in its own courageous heart; and so she armed +her countenance with pride, and pleased herself with making it stern, but +not to the effect she looked for, for the sternness itself pleased. While +yet a child her little right hand would control the bit of the charger, +and she wielded the sword and spear, and hardened her limbs with +wrestling, and made them supple for the race; and then as she grew up, +she tracked the footsteps of the bear and lion, and followed the trumpet +to the wars; and in those and in the depths of the forest she seemed a +wild creature to mankind, and a man to the wildest creature. She had now +come out of Persia to wreak her displeasure on the Christians, who had +already felt the sharpness of her sword; and as she arrived near this +assembled multitude, death was the first thing that met her eyes, but in +a shape so perplexing, that she looked narrowly to discern what it was, +and then spurred her horse towards the scene of action. The crowd gave +way as she approached, and she halted as she entered the circle round the +stake, and sat gazing on the youth and maiden. She wondered to see the +male victim lamenting, while the female was mute. But indeed she saw that +he was weeping not out of grief but pity; or at least, not out of grief +for himself; and as to the maiden, she observed her to be so wrapt up +in the contemplation of the heavens at which she was gazing, that she +appeared to have already taken leave of earth. + +Pity touched the heart of the Amazon, and the tears came into her eyes. +She felt sorry for both the victims, but chiefly for the one that said +nothing. She turned to a white-headed man beside her, and said, "What is +this? Who are these two persons, whom crime, or their ill fortune, has +brought hither?" + +The man answered her briefly, but to the purpose; and she discerned at +once that both must be innocent. She therefore determined to save them. +She dismounted, and set the example of putting a stop to the flames, and +then said to the officers, "Let nobody continue this work till I have +spoken to the king. Rest assured he will hold you guiltless of the +delay." The officers obeyed, being struck with her air of confidence and +authority; and she went straight towards the king, who had heard of her +arrival, and who was coming to bid her welcome. + +"I am Clorinda," she said. "Thou knowest me? Then thou knowest, sir, one +who is desirous to defend the good faith and the king of Jerusalem. I am +ready for any duty that may be assigned me. I fear not the greatest, nor +do I disdain the least. Open field or walled city, no post will come +amiss to the king's servant." + +"Illustrious maiden," answered the king, "who knoweth not Clorinda? What +region is there so distant from Asia, or so far away out of the paths of +the sun, to which the sound of thy achievements has not arrived? Joined +by thee and by thy sword I fear nothing. Godfrey, methinks, is too slow +to attack me. Dost thou ask to which post thou shalt be appointed? To the +greatest. None else becomes thee. Thou art lady and mistress of the war." + +Clorinda gave the king thanks for his courtesy, and then resumed. +"Strange is it, in truth," she said, "to ask my reward before I have +earned it; but confidence like this reassures me. Grant me, for what I +propose to do in the good cause, the lives of these two persons. I wave +the uncertainty of their offence; I wave the presumption of innocence +afforded by their own behaviour. I ask their liberation as a favour. And +yet it becomes me, at the same time, to confess, that I do not believe +the Christians to have taken the image out of the mosque. It was an +impious thing of the magician to put it there. An idol has no business in +a Mussulman temple, much less the idols of unbelievers; and my opinion +is, that the miracle was the work of Mahomet himself, out of scorn and +hatred of the contamination. Let Ismeno prefer his craft, if he will, to +the weapons of a man; but let him not take upon himself the defence of a +nation of warriors." + +The warlike damsel was silent; and the king, though he could with +difficulty conquer his anger, yet did so, to please his guest. "They are +free," said he; "I can deny nothing to such a petitioner. Whether it be +justice or not to absolve them, absolved they are. If they are innocent, +I pronounce them so; if guilty, I concede their pardon." + +At these words the youth and the maiden were set free. And blissful +indeed was the fortune of Olindo; for love, so proved as his, awoke love +in the noble bosom of Sophronia; and so he passed from the stake to +the marriage-altar, a husband, instead of a wretch condemned--a lover +beloved, instead of a hopeless adorer. + + +[Footnote 1: "Brama assai, poco spera, e nulla chiede." Canto ii. st. 16. +A line justly famous.] + +[Footnote 2: + + "Magnanima menzogna! or quando e il vero + Si bello, che si possa a te preporre?"] + +[Footnote 3: This conceit is more dwelt upon in the original, coupled +with the one noticed at p. 362.] + + +TANCRED AND CLORINDA. + +Argument. + +The Mussulman Amazon Clorinda, who is beloved by the Christian chief +Tancred, goes forth in disguise at night to burn the battering tower of +the Christian army. She effects her purpose; but, in retreating from its +discoverers, is accidentally shut out of the gate through which she had +left the city. She makes her way into the open country, trusting to get +in at one of the other gates; but, having been watched by Tancred, who +does not know her in the armour in which she is disguised, a combat +ensues between them, in which she is slain. She requests baptism in her +last moments, and receives it from the hands of her despairing lover. + +TANCRED AND CLORINDA + +The Christians, in their siege of Jerusalem, had brought a huge rolling +tower against the walls, from which they battered and commanded the city +with such deadly effect, that the generous Amazon Clorinda resolved to go +forth in disguise and burn it. She disclosed her design to the chieftain +Argantes, for the purpose of recommending to him the care of her damsels, +in case any misfortune should happen to her; but the warrior, jealous of +the glory of such an enterprise, insisted on partaking it. The old king, +weeping for gratitude, joyfully gave them leave; and the Soldan of Egypt, +with a generous emulation, would fain have joined them. Argantes was +about to give him a disdainful refusal, when the king interposed, and +persuaded the Soldan to remain behind, lest the city should miss too many +of its best defenders at one time; adding, that the risk of sallying +forth should be his, in case the burners of the tower were pursued on +their return. Argantes and the Amazon then retired to prepare for the +exploit, and the magician Ismeno compounded two balls of sulphur for the +work of destruction. + +Clorinda took off her beautiful helmet, and her surcoat of cloth of +silver, and laid aside all her haughty arms, and dressed herself (hapless +omen!) in black armour without polish, the better to conceal herself from +the enemy. Her faithful servant, the good old eunuch Arsetes, who had +attended her from infancy, and was now following her about as well as he +could with his accustomed zeal, anxiously noticed what she was doing, +and guessing it was for some desperate enterprise, entreated her, by his +white hairs and all the love he had shewn her, to give it up. Finding his +prayers to no purpose, he requested with great emotion that she would +give ear to certain matters in her family history, which he at length +felt it his duty to disclose. "It would then," he said, "be for herself +to judge, whether she would persist in the enterprise or renounce it." +Clorinda, at this, looked at the good man, and listened with attention. + +"Not long ago," said he, "there reigned in Ethiopia, and perhaps is still +reigning, a king named Senapus, who in common with his people professed +the Christian religion. They are a black though a handsome people, and +the king and his queen were of the salve colour. The king loved her +dearly, but was unfortunately so jealous, that he concealed her from +the sight of mankind. Had it been in his power, I think he would have +hindered the very eyes of heaven from beholding her. The sweet lady, +however, was wise and humble, and did every thing she could to please +him. + +"I was not a Christian myself. I was a Pagan slave, employed among the +women about the queen, and making one of her special attendants. + +"It happened, that the royal bed-chamber was painted with the story of a +holy knight saving a maiden from a dragon;[1] and the maiden had a face +beautifully fair, with blooming cheeks. The queen often prayed and +wept before this picture; and it made so great an impression on her, +particularly the maiden's face, that when she bore a child, she saw with +consternation that the infant's skin was of the same fair colour. This +child was thyself. [2] + +"Terrified with the thoughts of what her husband would feel at such a +sight, what a convincing proof he would hold it of a faith on her part +the reverse of spotless,[3] she procured a babe of her own colour by +means of a confidant; and before thou wert baptised (which is a ceremony +that takes place in Ethiopia later than elsewhere) committed thee to my +care to be brought up at a distance. Who shall relate the tears which +thy mother poured forth, and the sighs and sobs with which they were +interrupted? How many times, when she thought she had given thee the +last embrace, did she not gather thee to her bosom once more! At length, +raising her eyes to heaven, she said, 'O Thou that seest into the hearts +of mortals, and knowest in this matter the spotlessness of mine, dark +though it be otherwise with frailty and with sin, save, I pray thee, +this innocent creature who is denied the milk of its mother's breast. +Vouchsafe that she resemble her hapless parent in nothing but a chaste +life. And thou, celestial warrior, that didst deliver the maiden out of +the serpent's mouth, if I have ever lit humble taper on thine altar, and +set before thee offerings of gold and incense, be, I implore thee, her +advocate. Be her advocate to such purpose, that in every turn of fortune +she may be enabled to count on thy good help.' Here she ceased, torn to +her very heart-strings, with a face painted of the colour of death; and +I, weeping myself, received thee, and bore thee away, hidden in a sweet +covering of flowers and leaves. + +"I journeyed with thee along a forest, where a tiger came upon us with +fury in its eyes. I betook me, alas, to a tree, and left thee lying on +the ground, such terror was in me; and the horrible beast looked down +upon thee. But it fell to licking thee with its dreadful tongue, and thou +didst smile to it, and put thy little hand to its jaws; and, lo, it gave +thee suck, being a mother itself; and then, wonderful to relate, it +returned into the woods, leaving me to venture down from the tree, and +bear thee onward to my place of refuge. There, in a little obscure +cottage, I had thee nursed for more than a year; till, feeling that I +grew old, I resolved to avail myself of the riches the queen had given +me, and go into my own country, which was Egypt. I set out for it +accordingly, and had to cross a torrent where thieves threatened me on +one side, and the fierce water on the other. I plunged in, holding thee +above the torrent with one hand, till I came to an eddy that tore thee +from me. I thought thee lost. What was my delight and astonishment, on +reaching the bank, to find that the water itself had tossed thee upon it +in safety! + +"But I had a dream at night, which seemed to shew me the cause of +thy good fortune. A warrior appeared before me with a threatening +countenance, holding a sword in my face, and saying in an imperious +voice, 'Obey the commands of the child's mother and of me, and baptise +it. She is favoured of Heaven, and her lot is in my keeping. It was I +that put tenderness in the heart of the wild beast, and even a will to +save her in the water. Woe to thee, if thou believest not this vision. It +is a message from the skies.' + +"The spirit vanished, and I awoke and pursued my journey; but thinking my +own creed the true one, and therefore concluding the dream to be false, I +baptised thee not; I bred thee what I was myself, a Pagan; and thou didst +grow up, and become great and wonderful in arms, surpassing the deeds +of men, and didst acquire riches and lands; and what thy life has been +since, then knowest as well as I; ay, and thou knowest mine own ways too, +how I have followed and cautiously waited on thee ever, being to thee +both as a servant and father. + +"Now yesterday morning, as I lay heavily asleep, in consequence of my +troubled mind, the same figure of the warrior made its appearance, but +with a countenance still more threatening, and speaking in a louder +voice. 'Wretch,' it exclaimed, 'the hour is approaching when Clorinda +shall end both her life and her belief. She is mine in despite of thee. +Misery be thine.' With these words it darted away as though it flew. + +"Consider then, delight of my soul, what these dreams may portend. They +threaten thee terrible things; for what reason I know not. Can it be, +that mine own faith is the wrong one, and that of thy parents the right? +Ah! take thought at least, and repress this daring courage. Lay aside +these arms that frighten me." + +Tears hindered the old man from saying more. Clorinda grew thoughtful, +and felt something of dread, for she had had a like kind of dream. At +length, however, cheerfully looking up, she said, "I must follow the +faith I was bred in; the faith which thou thyself bred'st me in, +although thy words would now make me doubt it. Neither can I give up the +enterprise that calls me forth. Such a withdrawal is not to be expected +of an honourable soul. Death may put on the worst face it pleases. I +shall not retreat." + +The intrepid maiden, however, did her best to console her good friend; +but the time having arrived for the adventure, she finally bade him be of +good heart, and so left him. + +Silently, and in the middle of the night, Argantes and Clorinda took +their way down the hills of Jerusalem, and, quitting the gates, went +stealthily towards the site of the tower. But its ever-watchful guards +were alarmed. They demanded the watch-word; and, not receiving it, cried +out, "To arms! to arms!" The dauntless adventurers plunged forwards with +their swords; they dashed aside every assailant, pitched the balls of +sulphur into the machine, and in a short time, in the midst of a daring +conflict, had the pleasure of seeing the smoke and the flame arise, and +the whole tower blazing to its destruction. A terrible sight it was to +the Christians. Waked up, they came crowding to the place; and the two +companions, notwithstanding their skill and audacity, were compelled to +make a retreat. The besieged, with the king at their head, now arrived +also, crowding on the walls; and the gate was opened to let the +adventurers in. The Soldan issued forth at the same moment to cover the +retreat. Argantes was forced through the gate by Clorinda in spite of +himself; and she, but for a luckless antagonist, would have followed him; +but a soldier aiming at her a last blow, she rushed back to give the man +his death; and, in the confusion of the moment, the warders, believing +her to have entered, shut up the gate, and the heroine was left without. + +Behind Clorinda was the gate--before and round about her was a host of +foes; and surely at that moment she thought that her life was drawing to +its end. Finding, however, that her dark armour befriended her in +the tumult, she mingled with the enemy as though she had been one of +themselves, and so, by degrees, picked her way through the confusion +caused by the fire. As the wolf, with its bloody mouth, seeks covert +in the woods, even so Clorinda got clear out of the multitude into the +darkness and the open country. + +Not, however, so clear, alas, but that Tancred perceived her--Tancred, +her foe in creed, but her adoring lover, whose heart she had conquered in +the midst of strife, and whose passion for her she knew. But now she knew +not that he had seen her; nor did he, poor valiant wretch, know that +the knight in black armour whom he pursued, was a woman, and Clorinda. +Tancred had seen the warrior strike down the assailant at the gate; he +had watched him as he picked his way to escape; and Clorinda now heard +the unknown Tancred coming swiftly on horseback behind her as she was +speeding round towards another gate in hopes of being let in. + +The heroine at length turned, and said, "How now, friend?--what is thy +business?" + +"Death!" answered the pursuer. + +"Thou shalt have it," replied the maiden. + +The knight, as his enemy was on foot, dismounted, in order to render +the combat equal; and their swords are drawn in fury, and the fight +begins.[4] + +Worthy of the brightest day-time was that fight--worthy of a theatre full +of valiant be-holders. Be not displeased, O. Night! that I draw it out of +thy bosom, and set it in the serene light of renown: the splendour will +but the more exhibit the great shade of thy darkness. + +No trial was this of skill--no contest of warding and traversing and +taking heed--no artful interchange of blows now pretended, now given in +earnest, now glancing. Night-time and rage flung aside all consideration. +The swords horribly clashed and hammered on one another. Not a cut +descended in vain--not a thrust was without substance. Shame and fury +aggravated one another. Every blow became fiercer than the last. They +closed--they could use their blades no longer; they dashed the pummels of +their swords at one another's faces; they butted and shouldered with helm +and buckler. Three times the man threw his arms round the woman with +other embraces than those of love--three times they returned to their +swords, and cut and slashed one another's bleeding bodies; till at length +they were obliged to hold back for the purpose of taking breath. + +Tancred and Clorinda stood fronting one another in the darkness, leaning +on their swords for want of strength. The last star in the heavens was +fading in the tinge of dawn; and Tancred saw that his enemy had lost more +blood than himself, and it made him proud and joyful. Oh, foolish mind of +us humans, elated at every fancy of success! Poor wretch! for what dost +thou rejoice? How sad will be thy victory! What a misery to look back +upon, thy delight! Every drop of that blood will be paid for with worlds +of tears! + +Dimly thus looking at one another stood the combatants, bleeding a while +in peace. At length Tancred, who wished to know his antagonist, said, "It +hath been no good fortune of ours to be compelled thus to fight where +nobody can behold us; but we have at least become acquainted with the +good swords of one another. Let me request, therefore (if to request any +thing at such a time be not unbecoming), that I may be no stranger to thy +name. Permit me to learn, whatever be the result, who it is that shall +honour my death or my victory." + +"I am not accustomed," answered the fierce maiden, "to disclose who I am; +nor shall I disclose it now. Suffice to hear, that thou seest before thee +one of the burners of the tower." + +Tancred was exasperated at this discovery. "In an evil moment," cried he, +"hast thou said it. Thy silence and thy speech alike disgust me." Into +the combat again they dash, feeble as they were. Ferocious indeed is the +strife in which skill is not thought of, and strength itself is dead; in +which valour rages instead of contends, and feebleness becomes hate and +fury. Oh, the gates of blood that were set open in wounds upon wounds! +If life itself did not come pouring forth, it was only because scorn +withheld it. + +As in the AEgean Sea, when the south and north winds have lost the +violence of their strength, the billows do not subside nevertheless, but +retain the noise and magnitude of their first motion; so the continued +impulse of the combatants carried them still against one another, +hurling them into mutual injury, though they had scarcely life in their +bodies.[5] + +And now the fatal hour has come when Clorinda must die. The sword of +Tancred is in her bosom to the very hilt. The stomacher under the cuirass +which enclosed it is filled with a hot flood. + +Her legs give way beneath her. She falls--she feels that she is +departing. The conqueror, with a still threatening countenance, prepares +to follow up his victory, and treads on her as she lies. + +But a new spirit had come upon her--the spirit which called the beloved +of Heaven to itself; and, speaking in a sorrowing voice, she thus uttered +her last words: + +"My friend, thou hast conquered--I forgive thee. Forgive thou me, not for +my body's sake, which fears nothing, but for the sake, alas, of my soul. +Baptise me, I beseech thee." + +There was something in the voice, as the dying person spake these words, +that went, he knew not why, to the heart of Tancred. The tears forced +themselves into his eyes. Not far off there was a little stream, and the +conqueror went to it and filled his helmet; and returning, prepared for +the pious office by unlacing his adversary's helmet. His hands trembled +when he first beheld the forehead, though he did not yet know it; but +when the vizor was all down, and the face disclosed, he remained without +speech and motion. + +Oh, the sight! oh, the recognition! + +He did not die. He summoned up all the powers within him to support his +heart for that moment. He resolved to hold up his duty above his misery, +and give life with the sweet water to her whom he had slain with sword. +He dipped his fingers in it, and marked her forehead with the cross, and +repeated the words of the sacred office; and while he was repeating them, +the sufferer changed countenance for joy, and smiled, and seemed to say, +in the cheerfulness of her departure, "The heavens are opening--I go in +peace." A paleness and a shade together then came over her countenance, +as if lilies had been mixed with violets. She looked up at heaven, and +heaven itself might be thought for very tenderness to be looking at her; +and then she raised a little her hand towards that of the knight (for she +could not speak), and so gave it him in sign of goodwill; and with his +pressure of it her soul passed away, and she seemed asleep. + +But Tancred no sooner beheld her dead, than all the strength of mind +which he had summoned up to support him fell flat on the instant. He +would have given way to the most frantic outcries; but life and speech +seemed to be shut up in one point in his heart; despair seized him like +death, and he fell senseless beside her. And surely he would have died +indeed, had not a party of his countrymen happened to come up. They were +looking for water, and had found it, and they discovered the bodies at +the same time. The leader knew Tancred by his arms. The beautiful body of +Clorinda, though he deemed her a Pagan, he would not leave exposed to +the wolves; so he directed them both to be carried to the pavilion of +Tancred, and there placed in separate chambers. + +Dreadful was the waking of Tancred--not for the solemn whispering around +him--not for his aching wounds, terrible as they were,--but for the agony +of the recollection that rushed upon him. He would have gone staggering +out of the pavilion to seek the remains of his Clorinda, and save them +from the wolves; but his friends told him they were at hand, under the +curtain of his own tent. A gleam of pleasure shot across his face, and be +staggered into the chamber; but when he beheld the body gored with his +own hand, and the face, calm indeed, but calm like a pale night without +stars, he trembled so, that he would have sunk to the ground but for his +supporters. + +"O sweet face!" he exclaimed; "thou mayst be calm now; but what is to +calm me? O hand that was held up to me in sign of peace and forgiveness! +to what have I brought thee? Wretch that I am, I do not even weep. Mine +eyes are as cruel as my hands. My blood shall be shed instead." + +And with these words he began tearing off the bandages which the surgeons +had put upon him; and he thrust his fingers into his wounds, and would +have slain himself thus outright, had not the pain made him faint away. + +He was then taken back to his own chamber. Godfrey came in the mean +time with the venerable hermit Peter; and when the sufferer awoke, they +addressed him in kind words, which even his impatience respected; but it +was not to be calmed till the preacher put on the terrors of religion, +remonstrating with him as an ingrate to God, and threatening him with the +doom of a sinner. The tears then crept into his eyes, and he tried to be +patient, and in some degree was so--only breaking out ever and anon, now +into exclamations of horror, and now into fond lamentations, talking as +if with the shade of his beloved. + +Thus lay Tancred for days together, ever woful; till, falling asleep one +night towards the dawn, the shade of Clorinda did indeed appear to him, +more beautiful than ever, and clad in light and joy. She seemed to stoop +and wipe the tears from his eyes; and then said, "Behold how happy I am. +Behold me, O beloved friend, and see how happy, and bright, and beautiful +I am; and consider that it is all owing to thyself. 'Twas thou that +took'st me out of the false path, and made me worthy of admission among +saints and angels. There, in heaven, I love and rejoice; and there I look +to see thee in thine appointed time; after which we shall both love the +great God and one another for ever and ever. Be faithful, and command +thyself, and look to the end; for, lo, as far as it is permitted to a +blessed spirit to love mortality, even now I love thee!" + +With these words the eyes of the vision grew bright beyond mortal beauty; +and then it turned and was hidden in the depth of its radiance, and +disappeared. + +Tancred slept a quiet sleep; and when he awoke, he gave himself patiently +up to the will of the physician; and the remains of Clorinda were +gathered into a noble tomb.[6] + + +[Footnote 1: St. George.] + +[Footnote 2: This fiction of a white Ethiop child is taken from the Greek +romance of Heliodorus, book the fourth. The imaginative principle on +which it is founded is true to physiology, and Tasso had a right to use +it; but the particular and excessive instance does not appear happy in +the eyes of a modern reader acquainted with the history of _albinos._] + +[Footnote 3: The conceit is more antithetically put in the original + + "Ch'egli avria del candor che in te si vede + Argomentato in lei non bianca fede." + + Canto xii. st. 24.] + +[Footnote 4: The poet here compares his hero and heroine to two jealous + +"bulls," no happy comparison certainly. + + "Vansi a ritrovar non altrimenti + Che duo tori gelosi." St. 53.] + +[Footnote 5: + + "Qual l'alto Egeo, perche Aquilone o Noto + Cessi, che tutto prima il volse e scosse, + Non s'accheta pero, ma 'l suono e 'l moto + Ritien de l'onde anco agitate e grosse; + Tal, se ben manca in lor col sangue voto + Quel vigor che le braccia ai colpi mosse, + Serbano ancor l'impeto primo, e vanno + Da quel sospinti a giunger danno a danno." + Canto xii. st. 63.] + +[Footnote 6: This tomb, Tancred says, in an address which he makes to it, + + "has his flames inside of it, and his tears without:" + "Che dentro hai le mie fiamme, e fuori il pianto." St. 96.] + +I am loath to disturb the effect of a really touching story; but if I do +not occasionally give instances of these conceits, my translations will +belie my criticism.] + + +RINALDO AND ARMIDA: + +WITH THE + +ADVENTURES OF THE ENCHANTED FOREST. + +Argument. + +PART I.--Satan assembles the fiends in council to consider the best means +of opposing the Christians. Armida, the niece of the wizard king of +Damascus, is incited to go to their camp under false pretences, and +endeavour to weaken it; which she does by seducing away many of the +knights, and sowing a discord which ends in the flight of Rinaldo. + +PART II.--Armida, after making the knights feel the power of her magic, +dismisses them bound prisoners for Damascus. They are rescued on their +way by Rinaldo. Armida pursues him in wrath, but falls in love with him. + +PART III.--The magician Ismeno succeeds in frightening the Christians in +their attempt to cut wood from the Enchanted Forest. Rinaldo is sent for, +as the person fated to undo the enchantment. + +PART IV.--Rinaldo and Armida, in love with each other, pass their time in +a bower of bliss. He is fetched away by two knights, and leaves her in +despair. + +PART V.--Rinaldo disenchants the forest, and has the chief hand in the +taking of Jerusalem. He meets and reconciles Armida. RINALDO AND ARMIDA, +ETC. + +Part the First + +ARMIDA IN THE CHRISTIAN CAMP. + +The Christians had now commenced their attack on Jerusalem, and brought a +great rolling tower against the walls, built from the wood of a forest in +the neigbbourhood; when the Malignant Spirit, who has never ceased his +war with Heaven, cast in his mind how he might best defeat their purpose. +It was necessary to divide their forces; to destroy their tower; to +hinder them from building another; and to make one final triumphant +effort against the whole progress of their arms. + +Forgetting how the right arm of God could launch its thunderbolts, the +Fiend accordingly seated himself on his throne, and ordered his powers to +be brought together. The Tartarean trumpet, with its hoarse voice, called +up the dwellers in everlasting darkness. The huge black caverns trembled +to their depths, and the blind air rebellowed with the thunder. The bolt +does not break forth so horribly when it comes bursting after the flash +out of the heavens; nor had the world before ever trembled with such an +earthquake.[1] + +The gods of the abyss came thronging up on all sides through the +gates;--terrible-looking beings with unaccountable aspects, dispensers of +death and horror with their eyes;--some stamping with hoofs, some rolling +on enormous spires,--their faces human, their hair serpents. There were +thousands of shameless Harpies, of pallid Gorgons, of barking Scyllas, +of Chimeras that vomited ashes, and of monsters never before heard or +thought of, with perverse aspects all mixed up in one. + +The Power of Evil sat looking down upon them, huger than a rock in the +sea, or an alp with forked summits. A certain horrible majesty augmented +the terrors of his aspect. His eyes reddened; his poisonous look hung in +the air like a comet; the mouth, as it opened in the midst of clouds of +beard, seemed an abyss of darkness and blood; and out of it, as from a +volcano, issued fires, and vapours, and disgust. + +Satan laid forth to his dreadful hearers his old quarrel with Heaven, +and its new threats of an extension of its empire. Christendom was to be +brought into Asia; their worshippers were to perish; souls were to be +rescued from their devices, and Satan's kingdom on earth put an end to. +He exhorted them therefore to issue forth once for all and prevent this +fatal consummation by the destruction of the Christian forces. Some of +the leaders he bade them do their best to disperse, others to slay, +others to draw into effeminate pleasures, into rebellion, into the ruin +of the whole camp, so that not a vestige might remain of its existence. + +The assembly broke up with the noise of hurricanes. They issued forth +to look once more upon the stars, and to sow seeds every where of +destruction to the Christians. Satan himself followed them, and entered +the heart of Hydraotes, king of Damascus. + +Hydraotes was a wizard as well as a king, and held the Christians in +abhorrence. But he was wise enough to respect their valour; and with +Satan's help he discerned the likeliest way to counteract it. He had a +niece, who was the greatest beauty of the age. He had taught her his art: +and he concluded, that the enchantments of beauty and magic united would +prove irresistible. He therefore disclosed to her his object. He told her +that every artifice was lawful, when the intention was to serve one's +country and one's faith; and he conjured her to do her utmost to separate +Godfrey himself from his army, or in the event of that not being +possible, to bring away as many as she could of his noblest captains. + +Armida (for that was her name), proud of her beauty, and of the unusual +arts that she had acquired, took her way the same evening, alone, and by +the most sequestered paths,--a female in gown and tresses issuing forth +to conquer an army.[2] + +She had not travelled many days ere she came in sight of the Christian +camp, the outskirts of which she entered immediately. The Frenchmen all +flocked to see her, wondering who she was, and who could have sent them +so lovely a messenger. Armida passed onwards, not with a misgiving air, +not with an unalluring, and yet not with an immodest one. Her golden +tresses she suffered at one moment to escape from under her veil, and +at another she gathered them again within it. Her rosy mouth breathed +simplicity as well as voluptuousness. Her bosom was so artfully draped, +as to let itself be discerned without seeming to intend it. And thus she +passed along, surprising and transporting every body. Coming at length +among the tents of the officers, she requested to be shewn that of the +leader; and Eustace eagerly stepped forward to conduct her. + +Eustace was the younger brother of Godfrey. He had all the ardour of his +time of life, and the gallantry, in every respect, of a Frenchman. After +paying her a profusion of compliments, and learning that she was a +fugitive in distress, he promised her every thing which his brother's +authority and his own sword could do for her; and so led her into +Godfrey's presence. + +The pretended fugitive made a lowly obeisance, and then stood mute and +blushing, till the general re-assured her. She then told him, that she +was the rightful queen of Damascus, whose throne was usurped by an uncle; +that her uncle sought her death, from which she had been saved by the man +who was bribed to inflict it; and that although her creed was Mahometan, +she had brought her mind to conclude, that so noble an enemy as Godfrey +would take pity on her condition, and permit some of his captains to aid +the secret wishes of her people, and seat her on the throne. Ten selected +chiefs would overcome, she said, all opposition; and she promised in +return to become his grateful and faithful vassal. + +The leader of the Christian army sat a while in deliberation. His heart +was inclined to befriend the lady, but his prudence was afraid of a Pagan +artifice. He thought also that it did not become his piety to turn aside +from the enterprise which God had favoured. He therefore gave her a +gentle refusal; but added, that should success attend him, and Jerusalem +be taken, he would instantly do what she required. + +Armida looked down, and wept. A mixture of indignation and despair +appeared to seize her; and exclaiming that she had no longer a wish to +live, she accused, she said, not a heart so renowned for generosity as +his, but Heaven itself which had steeled it against her. What was she to +do? She could not remain in his camp. Virgin modesty forbade that. She +was not safe out of its bounds. Her enemies tracked her steps. It was fit +that she should die by her own hand. + +An indignant pity took possession of the French officers. They wondered +how Godfrey could resist the prayers of a creature so beautiful; and +Eustace openly, though respectfully, remonstrated. He said, that if ten +of the best of his captains could not be spared, ten others might; +that it especially became the Christians to redress the wrongs of the +innocent; that the death of a tyrant, instead of being a deviation from +the service of God, was one of the directest means of performing it; and +that France would never endure to hear, that a lady had applied to her +knights for assistance, and found her suit refused. + +A murmur of approbation followed the words of Eustace. His companions +pressed nearer to the general, and warmly urged his request. + +Godfrey assented to a wish expressed by so many, but not with perfect +goodwill. He bade them remember, that the measure was the result of their +own opinion, not his; and concluded by requesting them at all events, for +his sake, to moderate the excess of their confidence. The transported +warriors had scarcely any answer to make but that of congratulations to +the lady. She, on her side, while mischief was rejoicing in her heart, +first expressed her gratitude to all in words intermixed with smiles and +tears, and then carried herself towards every one in particular in the +manner which she thought most fitted to ensnare. She behaved to this +person with cordiality, to that with comparative reserve; to one with +phrases only, to another with looks besides, and intimations of secret +preference. The ardour of some she repressed, but still in a manner to +rekindle it. To others she was all gaiety and attraction; and when others +again had their eyes upon her, she would fall into fits of absence, and +shed tears, as if in secret, and then look up suddenly and laugh, and put +on a cheerful patience. And thus she drew them all into her net. + +Yet none of all these men confessed that passion impelled them; every +body laid his enthusiasm to the account of honour--Eustace particularly, +because he was most in love. He was also very jealous, especially of the +heroical Rinaldo, Prince of Este; and as the squadron of horse to which +they both belonged--the greatest in the army--had lately been deprived of +its chief, Eustace cast in his mind how he might keep Rinaldo from going +with Armida, and at the same time secure his own attendance on her, by +advancing him to the vacant post. He offered his services to Rinaldo for +the purpose, not without such emotion as let the hero into his secret; +but as the latter had no desire to wait on the lady, he smilingly +assented, agreeing at the same time to assist the wishes of the lover. +The emissaries of Satan, however, were at work in all quarters. If +Eustace was jealous of Rinaldo as a rival in love, Gernando, Prince of +Norway, another of the squadron that had lost its chief, was no less +so of his gallantry in war, and of his qualifications for being his +commander. Gernando was a haughty barbarian, who thought that every sort +of pre-eminence was confined to princes of blood royal. He heard of +the proposal of Eustace with a disgust that broke into the unworthiest +expressions. He even vented it in public, in the open part of the camp, +when Rinaldo was standing at no great distance; and the words coming to +the hero's ears, and breaking down the tranquillity of his contempt, +the latter darted towards him, sword in hand, and defied him to single +combat. Gernando beheld death before him, but made a show of valour, and +stood on his defence. A thousand swords leaped forth to back him, mixed +with as many voices; and half the camp of Godfrey tried to withhold the +impetuous youth who was for deciding his quarrel without the general's +leave. But the hero's transport was not to be stopped; he dashed through +them all, forced the Norwegian to encounter him, and after a storm of +blows that dazzled the man's eyes and took away his senses, ran his sword +thrice through the prince's body. He then sent the blade into its sheath +reeking as it was, and, taking his way back to his tent, reposed in the +calmness of his triumph. + +The victor had scarcely gone, when the general arrived on the ground. He +beheld the slain Prince of Norway with acute feelings of regret. What was +to become of his army, if the leaders thus quarrelled among themselves, +and his authority was set at nought? The friends of the slain man +increased his anger against Rinaldo, by charging him with all the blame +of the catastrophe. The hero's friend, Tancred, assuaged it somewhat by +disclosing the truth, and then ventured to ask pardon for the outbreak. +But the wise commander skewed so many reasons why such an offence could +not be overlooked, and his countenance expressed such a determination to +resent it, that the gallant youth hastened secretly to his friend, and +urged him to quit the camp till his services should be needed. Rinaldo at +first called for his arms, and was bent on resisting every body who came +to seize him, had it been even Godfrey himself; but Tancred shewing +him how unjust that would be, and how fatal to the Christian cause, he +consented with an ill grace to depart. He would take nobody with him but +two squires; and he went away raging with a sense of ill requital for +his achievements, but resolving to prove their value by destroying every +infidel prince that he could encounter. + +Armida now tried in vain to make an impression on the heart of Godfrey. +He was insensible to all her devices; but she succeeded in quitting the +camp with her ten champions. Lots were drawn to determine who should go; +and all who failed to be in the list--Eustace among them--were so jealous +of the rest, that at night-time, after the others had been long on +the road, they set out to overtake them, each by himself, and all in +violation of their soldierly words. The ten opposed them as they came up, +but to no purpose. Armida reconciled them all in appearance, by feigning +to be devoted to each in secret; and thus she rode on with them many a +mile, till she came to a castle on the Dead Sea, where she was accustomed +to practise her unfriendliest arts. + +Meanwhile news came to Godfrey that his Egyptian enemies were at hand +with a great fleet, and that his caravan of provisions had been taken by +the robbers of the desert. His army was thus threatened with ruin from +desertion, starvation, and the sword. He maintained a calm and even a +cheerful countenance; but in his thoughts he had great anxiety. + +Part the Second. + +ARMIDA'S HATE AND LOVE. + +The castle to which Armida took her prisoners occupied an island close to +the shore in the loathsome Dead Sea. They entered it by means of a narrow +bridge; but if their pity had been great at seeing her forced to take +refuge in a spot so desolate and repulsive, how pleasingly was it changed +into as great a surprise at finding a totally different region within the +walls! The gardens were extensive and lovely; the rivulets and fountains +as sweet as the flowery thickets they watered; the breezes refreshing, +the skies of a sapphire blue, and the birds were singing round about them +in the trees. Her riches astonished them no less. The side of the castle +that looked on the gardens was all marble and gold; a banquet awaited +them beside a water on a shady lawn, consisting of the exquisitest viands +on the costliest plate; and a hundred beautiful maidens attended them +while they feasted. The enchantress was all smiles and delight; and such +was her art, that although she bestowed no favour on any body beyond his +banquet and his hopes, every body thought himself the favoured lover. + +But no sooner was the feast over, than the greatest and worst of their +astonishments ensued. The lady quitted them, saying she should return +presently. She did so with a troubled and unfriendly countenance, having +a book in one hand, and a little wand in the other. She read in the book +in a low voice, and while she was reading shook the little wand; and the +guests, altering in every part of their being, and shrinking into minute +bodies, felt an inclination, which they obeyed, to plunge into the water +beside them. They were fish. In a little while they were again men, +looking her in the face with dread and amazement. She had restored them +to their humanity. She regarded them with a severe countenance, and said +"You have tasted my power; I can exercise it far more terribly--can put +you in dungeons for ever--can turn you to roots in the ground--to flints +within the rock. Beware of my wrath, and please me; quit your faiths for +mine, and fight against the blasphemer Godfrey." + +Every Christian but one rejected her alternative with abhorrence. Him she +made one of her champions; the rest were tied and bound, and after being +kept a while in a dungeon were sent off as a present to the King of +Egypt, with an escort that came from Damascus to fetch them. + +Exulting was left the fair and bigoted magician; but she little guessed +what a new fortune awaited them on the road. The discord with which the +powers of evil had seconded her endeavours to weaken the Christian camp, +had turned in this instance against herself. It had made Rinaldo a +wanderer; it had brought his wanderings into this very path; and he now +met the prisoners, and bade defiance to the escort. A battle ensued, in +which the hero won his accustomed victory. The Christians, receiving the +armour of their foes, joyfully took their way back to the camp; and one +of the escort, who escaped the slaughter, returned to Armida with news of +the deliverance of her captives. + +The mortified enchantress took horse and went in pursuit of Rinaldo, with +wrath and vengeance in her heart. She tracked him from place to place, +till she knew he must arrive on the banks of the Orontes; and there, +making a stealthy circuit, she cast a spell, and lay in wait for him in a +little island which divided the stream in two.[3] + +Rinaldo came up with his squires; he beheld on the bank a pillar of white +marble, and beside it on the water a little boat. The pillar presented +an inscription, inviting travellers to cross to the island and behold a +wonder of the world. The hero accepted the invitation; but as the boat +was too small to hold more than one person, and the circumstance probably +an appeal to his courage, he bade his squires wait for him, and proceeded +by himself. + +On reaching the island and casting his eyes eagerly round about, the +adventurer could discern nothing but trees and grottos, flowers and +grass, and water. He thought himself trifled with; but as the spot was +beautiful and refreshing, he took off his helmet, resolving to stay a +little and repose. He crossed to the farther side of the island, and lay +down on the river-side. On a sudden he observed the water bubble and +gurgle in a manner that was very strange; and presently the top of a head +arose with beautiful hair, then the face of a damsel, then the bosom. +The fair creature stood half out of the stream, and warbled a song so +luxurious and so lulling, that the little wind there was seemed to +fall in order to listen; and the young warrior was so drowsed with the +sweetness, that languor crept through all his senses, and he slept. +Armida came from out a thicket and looked on him. She had resolved that +he should perish. But when she saw how placidly he breathed, and what an +intimation of beautiful eyes there was in his very eyelids, she hung over +him, still looking. + +In a little while she sat down by his side, always looking. She hung over +him as Narcissus did over the water, and indignation melted out of her +heart. She cooled his face with her veil; she made a fan of it; she gave +herself up to the worship of those hidden eyes. Of an enemy she became a +lover.[4] + +Armida gathered trails of roses and lilies from the thickets around her, +and cast a spell on them, and made bands with which she fettered his +sleeping limbs; and then she called her nymphs, and they put him into her +ear, and she went away with him through the air far off, even to one of +the Fortunate Islands in the great ocean, where her jealousy, assisted by +her art, would be in dread of no visitors, no discovery. She bore him to +the top of a mountain, and cast a spell about the mountain, to make the +top lovely and the sides inaccessible. She put shapes of wild beasts +and monsters in the woods of the lowest region, and heaps of ice in the +second, and alluring and betraying shapes and enchantments towards the +summit; and round the summit she put walls and labyrinths of inextricable +error; and in the heart of these was a palace by a lake, and the +loveliest of gardens. + +Mere Rinaldo was awaked by love and beauty; and here for the present he +is left. + +Part the Third. + +THE TERRORS OF THE ENCHANTED FOREST. + +Meantime the siege of the Holy City had gone on, with various success on +either side, but chiefly to the loss of the Christians. The machinations +of Satan were prevailing. Rinaldo, in his absence, was thought to have +been slain by the contrivance of Godfrey, which nearly produced a revolt +of the forces. Godfrey was himself wounded in battle by Clorinda: and now +the great wooden tower was burnt, and Clorinda slain in consequence (as +you have heard in another place), which oppressed the courage of Tancred +with melancholy. + +On the other hand, the Powers of Evil were far from being as prosperous +as they wished. They had lost the soul of Clorinda. They had seen Godfrey +healed by a secret messenger from Heaven, who dropt celestial balsam +into his wound. They had seen the return of Armida's prisoners, who had +arrived just in time to change the fortune of a battle, and drive the +Pagans back within their walls. And worse than all, they had again felt +the arm of St. Michael, who had threatened them with worse consequences +if they reappeared in the contest. + +The fiends, however, had colleagues on earth, who plotted for them +meanwhile. The Christians had set about making another tower; but in +this proceeding they were thwarted by the enchanter Ismeno, who cast his +spells to better purpose this time than he had done in the affair of the +stolen image. The forest in which the Christians obtained wood for these +engines lay in a solitary valley, not far from the camp. It was very old, +dark, and intricate; and had already an evil fame as the haunt of impure +spirits. No shepherd ever took his flock there; no Pagan would cut a +bough from it; no traveller approached it, unless he had lost his way: +he made a large circuit to avoid it, and pointed it out anxiously to his +companions. + +The necessity of the Christians compelled them to defy this evil repute +of the forest; and Ismeno hastened to oppose them. He drew his line, and +uttered his incantations, and called on the spirits whom St. Michael had +rebuked, bidding them come and take charge of the forest--every one of +his tree, as a soul of its body. The spirits delayed at first, not only +for dread of the great angel, but because they resented the biddings of +mortality, even in their own cause. The magician, however, persisted; and +his spells becoming too powerful to be withstood, presently they came +pouring in by myriads, occupying the whole place, and rendering the very +approach to it a task of fear and labour. The first party of men that +came to cut wood were unable to advance when they beheld the trees, but +turned like children, and became the mockery of the camp. Godfrey sent +them back, with a chosen squadron to animate them to the work; but the +squadron themselves, however boldly they affected to proceed, lead no +sooner approached the spot, than they found reason to forgive the fears +of the woodcutters. The earth shook; a great wind began rising, with a +sound of waters; and presently, every dreadful noise ever heard by man +seemed mingled into one, and advancing to meet them--roarings of lions, +hissings of serpents, pealings and rolls of thunder. The squadron went +back to Godfrey, and plainly confessed that it had not courage enough to +enter such a place. + +A leader, of the name of Alcasto, shook his head at this candour with a +contemptuous smile. He was a man of the stupider sort of courage, without +mind enough to conceive danger. "Pretty soldiers," exclaimed he, "to be +afraid of noises and sights! Give the duty to me. Nothing shall stop +Alcasto, though the place be the mouth of hell." + +Alcasto went; and he went farther than the rest, and the trembling +woodcutters once more prepared their axes; but, on a sudden, there sprang +up between them and the trees a wall of fire which girded the whole +forest. It had glowing battlements and towers; and on these there +appeared armed spirits, with the strangest and most bewildering aspects. +Alcasto retired--slowly indeed, but with shame and terror; nor had he the +courage to re-appear before his commander. Godfrey had him brought, but +could hardly get a word from his lips. The man talked like one in a +dream. + +At last Tancred went. He would have, gone before; but he had neither +thought the task so difficult, nor did he care for any thing that was +going forward. His mind was occupied with the dead Clorinda. He had now +work that aroused him; and he set out in good earnest for the forest, not +unmoved in his imagination, but resolved to defy all appearances. + +Arrived at the wall of fire, Tancred halted a moment, and looked up at +the visages on its battlements, not without alarm. Many reflections +passed swiftly through his mind, some urging him forward, others +withholding; but he concluded with stepping right through the fire. It +did not resist him: he did not feel it. + +The fire vanished; and, in its stead, there poured down a storm of hail +and rain, black as midnight. This vanished also. + +Tancred stood amazed for an instant, and then passed on. He was soon in +the thick of the wood, and for some time made his way with difficulty. On +a sudden, he issued forth into a large open glade, like an amphitheatre, +in which there was nothing but a cypress-tree that stood in the middle. +The cypress was marked with hieroglyphical characters, mixed with some +words in the Syrian tongue which he could read; and these words requested +the stranger to spare the fated place, nor trouble the departed souls who +were there shut up in the trees. Meantime the wind was constantly moaning +around it; and in the moaning was a sound of human sighs and tears. + +Tancred's heart, for a moment, was overcome with awe and pity; but +recollecting himself, and resolving to make amends for his credulity, +he smote with all his might at the cypress. The blow, wonderful to see, +produced an effusion of blood, which dyed the grass about the root. +Tancred's hair stood on end. He smote, however, again, with double +violence, resolving to see the end of the marvel; and then he heard a +woful voice issuing as from a tomb. + +"Hast thou not hurt me," it said, "Tancred, enough already? Hast thou +slain the human body which I once joyfully inhabited; and now must thou +cut and rend me, even in this wretched enclosure? My name was Clorinda. +Every tree which thou beholdest is the habitation of some Christian or +Pagan soul; for all come hither that are slain beneath the walls of the +city, compelled by I know not what power, or for what reason. Every bough +in the forest is alive; and when thou cuttest down a tree, thou slayest a +soul." + +As a sick man in a dream thinks, and yet thinks not, that he sees some +dreadful monster, and, notwithstanding his doubt, wishes to fly from the +horrible perplexity; so the trembling lover, though suspecting what he +beheld, had so frightful an image before his thoughts of Clorinda weeping +and wailing after death, and bleeding in her very soul, that he had +not the heart to do more, or to remain in the place. He returned in +bewildered sorrow to Godfrey, and told him all. "It is not in my power," +he said, "to touch another bough of that forest."[5] + +The astonished leader of the Christians now made up his mind to go +himself; and so, with prayer and valour united, bring this appalling +adventure to some conclusion. But the hermit Peter dissuaded him. The +holy man, in an ecstacy of foreknowledge, beheld the coming of the only +champion fated to conclude it; and Godfrey himself the same night had a +vision from heaven, bidding him grant the petition of those who should +sue him next day for the recall of Rinaldo from exile--Rinaldo, the right +hand of the army, as Godfrey was its head. + +The petition was made as soon as daylight appeared; and two knights, +Carlo and Ubaldo, were despatched in search of the fated hero. + +Part the Fourth + +THE LOVES OF RINALDO AND ARMIDA. + +The knights, with information procured on the road from a good wizard, +struck off for the sea-coast, and embarking in a pinnace which +miraculously awaited them, sailed along the shores of the Mediterranean +for the retreat of Armida. They saw the Egyptian army assembled at Gaza, +but hoped to return with Rinaldo before it could effect anything at +Jerusalem. They passed the mouths of the Nile, and Alexandria, and +Cyrene, and Ptolemais, and the cities of the Moors, and the dangers of +the Greater and Lesser Whirlpools, and their pilot showed them the spot +where Carthage stood,--Carthage, now a dead city, whose grave is scarcely +discernible. For cities die; kingdoms die;--a little sand and grass +covers all that was once lofty in them and glorious. And yet man, +forsooth, disdains that he is mortal! Oh, mind of ours, inordinate and +proud![6] + +After looking towards the site of Carthage, they passed Algiers, and +Oran, and Tingitana, and beheld the opposite coast of Spain, and +then they cleared the narrow sea of Gibraltar, and came out into the +immeasurable ocean, leaving all sight of land behind them; and so +speeding ever onward in the billows, they beheld at last a cluster of +mountainous and beautiful islands; the larger ones inhabited by a simple +people, the smaller quite wild and desolate. So at least they appeared. +But in one of these smaller islands was the mountain, on the top of +which, in the indulgence of every lawless pleasure, lay the champion of +the Christian faith. This the pilot shewed to the two knights, and then +steered the pinnace into its bay; and here, after a voyage of four days +and nights, it dropped its sails without need of anchor, so mild and +sheltered was the port, with natural moles curving towards the entrance, +and evergreen woods overhead. + +It was evening, with a beautiful sunset. The knights took leave of the +pilot, and setting out instantly on their journey, well furnished with +all advices how to proceed, slept that night at the foot of the mountain; +for they were not to begin to scale it till sunrise. With the first beams +of the sun they arose and ascended. They had not climbed far, when a +serpent rushed out upon the path, entirely stopping it, but fled at the +sound of a slender rod, which Ubaldo whisked as he advanced. A lion, for +all his cavernous jaws, did the same; nor was greater resistance made by +a whole herd of monsters. They now mounted with great labour the region +of ice and snow; but, at the top of it, emerged from winter-time into +summer. The air was full of sweet odours, yet fresh; they sauntered (for +they could not walk fast) over a velvet sward, under trees, by the side +of a shady river; and a bewitching pleasure began to invite their senses. +But they knew the river, and bore in mind their duty. It was called the +River of Laughter.[7] A little way on, increasing in beauty as it went, +it formed a lucid pool in a dell; and by the side of this pool was a +table spread with every delicacy, and in the midst of it two bathing +damsels, talking and laughing. Sometimes they sprinkled one another, then +dived, then partly came up without spewing their faces, then played a +hundred tricks, pretending all the while not to see the travellers. Then +they became quiet, and sunk gently; and, as they reappeared, one of them +rose half into sight, sweetly as the morning star when it issues from the +water, dewy and dropping, or as Venus herself arose out of the froth of +the sea. Such looked this damsel, and so did the crystal moisture +go dropping from her tresses. Then she turned her eyes towards the +travellers, and feigning to behold them for the first time, shrunk within +herself. She hastened to undo the knot in which her tresses were tied up, +and shook them round about her, and down they fell to the water thick and +long, enclosing that beautiful sight; and yet the enclosure itself was +not less beautiful. So, hid in the pool below, and in her tresses above, +she glanced at the knights through her hair, with a blushing gladness. +She blushed and she laughed at the same time; and the blushing was more +beautiful for the laughter, and the laughter for the blushing; and then +she said, in a voice which would alone have conquered any other hearers, +"You are very happy to be allowed to come to this place. Nothing but +delight is here. Our queen must have chosen you from a great number. But +be pleased first to rid you of the dust of your journey, and to refresh +yourselves at this table." + +So spake the one; and the other accompanied her speech with accordant +looks and gestures, as the dance accompanies the music. + +Nor was the allurement unfelt. + +But the companions passed on, taking no notice; and the bathers went +sullenly under the water.[8] + +The knights passed through the gates of the park of Armida, and entered a +labyrinth made with contrivance the most intricate. Here their path would +have been lost, but for a map traced by one who knew the secret. By +the help of this they threaded it in safety, and issued upon a garden +beautiful beyond conception. Every thing that could be desired in +gardens was presented to their eyes in one landscape, and yet without +contradiction or confusion,--flowers, fruits, water, sunny hills, +descending woods, retreats into corners and grottos: and what put the +last loveliness upon the scene was, that the art which did it all was no +where discernible.[9] You might have supposed (so exquisitely was the +wild and the cultivated united) that all had somehow happened, not been +contrived. It seemed to be the art of Nature herself; as though, in a fit +of playfulness, she had imitated her imitator. But the temperature of the +place, if nothing else, was plainly the work of magic, for blossoms and +fruit abounded at the same time. The ripe and the budding fig grew on the +same bough; green apples were clustered upon those with red cheeks; the +vines in one place had small leaves and hard little grapes, and in the +next they laid forth their richest tapestry in the sun, heavy with +bunches full of wine. At one time you listened to the warbling of birds; +and a minute after, as if they had stopped on purpose, nothing was heard +but the whispering of winds and the fall of waters. It seemed as if every +thing in the place contributed to the harmony and the sweetness. The +notes of the turtle-dove were deeper here than any where else; the hard +oak, and the chaste laurel, and the whole exuberant family of trees, +the earth, the water, every element of creation, seemed to have been +compounded but for one object, and to breathe forth the fulness of its +bliss.[10] + +The two messengers, hardening their souls with all their might against +the enchanting impression, moved forward silently among the trees; till, +looking through the branches into a little opening which formed a bower, +they saw--or did they but think they saw?--no, they saw indeed the hero +and his Armida reclining on the grass.[11] Her dress was careless, +her hair loose in the summer-wind. His head lay in her bosom; a smile +trembled on her lips and in her eyes, like a sunbeam in water; and as she +thus looked on him with passionate love, he looked up at her, face to +face, and returned it with all his soul. + +Now she kissed his lips, now his eyes; and then they looked again at one +another with their ever-hungry looks; and then she kissed him again, and +he gave a sigh so deep you would have thought his soul had gone out of +him, and passed into hers. The two warriors from their covert gazed on +the loving scene. + +At the lover's side there hung a strange accoutrement for a warrior, +namely, a crystal mirror. He rose a little on his elbow, and gave it into +Armida's hands: and in two different objects each beheld but one emotion, +she hers in the glass, and he his own in her eyes. But he would not +suffer her to look long at any thing but himself; and then they spake +loving and adoring words; and after a while Armida bound up her hair, and +put some flowers into it, as jewels might be put upon gold, and added a +rose or two to the lilies of her bosom, and adjusted her veil. And never +did peacock look so proudly beautiful when he displays the pomp of his +eyed plumes; nor was ever the rainbow so sweetly coloured when it curves +forth its dewy bosom against the light.[12] But lovely above all was the +effect of a magic girdle which the enchantress had made with her whole +art, and which she never laid aside day or night. Spirit in it had taken +substance; the subtlest emotions of the soul a shape and palpability. +Tender disdains were in it, and repulses that attracted, and levities +that endeared, and contentments full of joy, and smiles, and little +words, and drops of delicious tears, and short-coming sighs, and soft +kisses. All these she had mingled together, and made one delight out +of many, and wound it about her heart, and wore it for a charm +irresistible.[13] + +And now she kissed him once more, and begged leave of a little absence +(for love is courteous ever), and so went as usual to her books and her +magic arts. Rinaldo remained where he was, for he had no power to wish +himself out of the sweet spot; only he would stray a while among the +trees, and amuse himself with the birds and squirrels, and so be a loving +hermit till she returned. And at night they retired under one roof, still +in the midst of the garden. + +But no sooner had Armida gone, than the two warriors issued from their +hiding-place, and stood before the lover, glittering in their noble arms. + +As a war-horse, that has been taken from the wars, and become the +luxurious husband of the stud, wanders among the drove in the meadows in +vile enjoyment; should by chance a trumpet be heard in the place, or a +dazzling battle-axe become visible, he turns towards it on the instant, +and neighs, and longs to be in the lists, and vehemently desires the +rider on his back who is to dash and be dashed at in the encounter;--even +so turned the young hero when the light of the armour flashed upon him, +even so longed for the war, even so shook himself up out of his bed of +pleasure, with all his great qualities awaked and eager. + +Ubaldo saw the movement in his heart, and held right in his face the +shield of adamant, which had been brought for the purpose. It was a +mirror that shewed to the eyes of every one who looked into it the very +man as he was. + +But when Rinaldo beheld himself indeed,--when he read his transformation, +not in the flattering glass of the enchantress, but by the light of +this true, and simple, and severe reflector,--his hair tricked out with +flowers and unguents, his soft mantle of exquisitest dye, and his very +sword rendered undistinguishable for what it was by a garland,--shame and +remorse fell upon him. He felt indeed like a dreamer come to himself. He +looked down. He could not speak. He wished to hide himself in the bottom +of the sea. + +Ubaldo raised his voice and spoke. "All Europe and Asia," said he, "are +in arms. Whoever desires fame, or is a worshipper of his Saviour, is a +fighter in the land of Syria. Thou only, O son of Bertoldo, remainest +out of the high way of renown--in luxury--in a little corner; thou only, +unmoved with the movement of the world, the champion of a girl. What +dream, what lethargy can have drowned a valour like thine? What vileness +have had attraction for thee? Up, up, and with us. The camp, the +commander himself calls for thee; fortune and victory await thee. Come, +fated warrior, and finish thy work; see the false creed which thou hast +shaken, laid low beneath thy inevitable sword." + +On hearing these words the noble youth remained for a time without +speaking, without moving. At length shame gave way to a passionate sense +of his duty. With a new fire in his cheeks, he tore away the effeminate +ornaments of his servitude, and quitted the spot without a word. In a few +moments he had threaded the labyrinth: he was outside the gate. Ere long +he was descending the mountain. + +But meantime Armida had received news of the two visitors; and coming to +look for them, and casting her eyes down the steep, she beheld--with his +face, alas, turned no longer towards her own--the hasty steps of her hero +between his companions. She wished to cry aloud, but was unable. She +might have resorted to some of her magic devices, but her heart forbade +her. She ran, however--for what cared she for dignity?--she ran down +the mountain, hoping still by her beauty and her tears to arrest the +fugitive; but his feet were too strong, even for love: she did not reach +him till he had arrived on the sea-shore. Where was her pride now? where +the scorn she had exhibited to so many suitors? where her coquetry and +her self-sufficiency--her love of being loved, with the power to hate the +lover? The enchantress was now taught what the passion was, in all its +despair as well as delight. She cried aloud. She cared not for the +presence of the messengers. "Oh, go not, Rinaldo," she cried; "go not, or +take me with thee. My heart is torn to pieces. Take me, or turn and kill +me. Stop, at least, and be cruel to me here. If thou hast the heart to +fly me, it will not be hard to thee to stay and be unkind." + +Even the messengers were moved at this, or seemed to be moved. Ubaldo +told the fugitive that it would be heroical in him to wait and hear what +the lady had to say, with gentleness and firmness. + +His conquest over himself would then be complete. + +Rinaldo stopped, and Armida came up breathless and in tears--lovelier +than ever. She looked earnestly at him at first, without a word. He gave +her but a glance, and looked aside. + +As a fine singer, before he lets loose his tongue in the lofty utterance +of his emotion, prepares the minds of his hearers with some sweet +prelude, exquisitely modulating in a lower tone,--so the enchantress, +whose anguish had not deprived her of all sense of her art, breathed a +few sighs to dispose the soul of her idol to listen, and then said: "I +do not beg thee to hear me as one that loves me. We both loved once; but +that is over. I beg thee to hear, even though as one that loves me not. +It will cost thy disdain nothing to grant me that. Perhaps thou hast +discovered a pleasure in hating me. Do so. I come not to deprive thee of +it. If it seem just to thee, just let it be. I too once hated. I hated +the Christians--hated even thyself. I thought it right to do so: I was +bred up to think it. I pursued thee to do thee mischief; I overtook thee; +I bore thee away; and worse than all--for now perhaps thou loathest me +for it--I loved thee. I loved thee, for the first time that I loved any +one; nay, I made thee love me in turn; and, alas, I gave myself into +thine arms. It was wrong. I was foolish; I was wicked. I grant that I +have deserved thou shouldst think ill of me, that thou shouldst punish +me, and quit me, and hate to have any remembrance of this place which I +had filled with delights. Go; pass over the seas; make war against my +friends and my country; destroy us all, and the religion we believe in. +Alas! _'we'_ do I say? The religion is mine no longer--O thou, the cruel +idol of my soul. Oh, let me go with thee, if it be but as thy servant, +thy slave. Let the conqueror take with him his captive; let her be +mocked; let her be pointed at; only let her be with thee. I will cut off +these tresses, which no longer please thee: I will clothe myself in other +attire, and go with thee into the battle. I have courage and strength +enough to bear thy lance, to lead thy spare-horse, to be, above all, +thy shield-bearer--thy shield. Nothing shall touch thee but through +me--through this bosom, Rinaldo. Perhaps mischance may spare thee for +its sake. Not a word? not a little word? Do I dare to boast of what thou +hadst once a kind word for, though now thou wilt neither look upon me nor +speak to me?" + +She could say no more: her words were suffocated by a torrent of tears. +But she sought to take his hand, to arrest him by his mantle--in vain. +He could scarcely, it is true, restrain his tears: but he did. He looked +sorrowful, but composed; and at length he said: "Armida, would I could do +as thou wishest; but I cannot. I would relieve thee instantly of all this +tumult of emotion. No hate is there in him that must quit thee; no such +disdain as thou fanciest; nothing but the melancholy and impetuous sense +of his duty. Thou hast erred, it is true--erred both in love and hate; +but have I not erred with thee? and can I find excuse which is not found +for thyself? Dear and honoured ever wilt thou be with Rinaldo, whether in +joy or sorrow. Count me, if it please thee, thy champion still, as far as +my country and my faith permit; but here, in this spot, must be buried +all else--buried, not for my sake only, but for that of thy beauty, thy +worthiness, thy royal blood. Consent to disparage thyself no longer. +Peace be with thee. I go where I have no permission to take thee with me. +Be happy; be wise." While Rinaldo was speaking in this manner, Armida +changed colour; her bosom heaved; her eyes took a new kind of fire; scorn +rose upon her lip. When he finished, she looked at him with a bitterness +that rejected every word he had said; and then she exclaimed: "Thou hast +no such blood in thine own veins as thou canst fear to degrade. Thy +boasted descent is a fiction: base, and brutish, and insensible was thy +stock. What being of gentle blood could quit a love like mine without +even a tear--a sigh? What but the mockery of a man could call me his, and +yet leave me? vouchsafe me his pardon, as if I had offended him? excuse +my guilt and my tenderness; he, the sage of virtue, and me, the wretch! O +God! and these are the men that take upon them to slaughter the innocent, +and dictate faiths to the world! Go, hard heart, with such peace as thou +leavest in this bosom. Begone; take thine injustice from my sight for +ever. My spirit will follow thee, not as a help, but as a retribution. +I shall die first, and thou wilt die speedily: thou wilt perish in the +battle. Thou wilt lie expiring among the dead and bleeding, and wilt call +on Armida in thy last moments, and I shall hear it--yes, I shall hear it; +I shall look for that." + +Down fell Armida on the ground, senseless; and Rinaldo stood over her, +weeping at last. Open thine eyes, poor wretch, and see him. Alas, the +heavens deny thee the consolation! What will he do? Will he leave thee +lying there betwixt dead and alive? Or will he go--pitying thee, but +still going? He goes; he is gone; he is in the bark, and the wind is in +the sail; and he looks back--ever back; but still goes: the shore begins +to be out of sight. + +Armida woke, and was alone. She raved again, but it was for vengeance. +In a few days she was with the Egyptian army, a queen at the head of her +vassals, going against the Christians at Jerusalem. + +Part the Fifth. + +THE DISENCHANTMENT OF THE FOREST, AND THE TAKING OF JERUSALEM, &c. + +Rinaldo arrived without loss of time in the Christian camp before +Jerusalem. Every body rejoiced to see the right hand of the army. Godfrey +gladly pardoned him; the hermit Peter blessed him; he himself retired to +beg the forgiveness and favour of Heaven; and then he went straight to +the Enchanted Forest. + +It was a beautiful morning, and the forest, instead of presenting its +usual terrors, appeared to him singularly tranquil and pleasing. On +entering it he heard, not dreadful thunder-claps, but harmonies made +up of all sorts of gentle and lovely sounds--brooks, whispering winds, +nightingales, organs, harps, human voices. He went slowly and cautiously, +and soon came to a beautiful river which encircled the heart of the wood. +A bridge of gold carried him over. He had no sooner crossed it, than the +river higher up suddenly swelled and rushed like a torrent, sweeping +the bridge away. The harmony meanwhile had become silent. Admiring, but +nothing daunted, the hero went on. + +Every thing as he advanced appeared to start into fresh beauty. His steps +produced lilies and roses; here leaped up a fountain, and there came +falling a cascade; the wood itself seemed to grow young as with sudden +spring; and he again heard the music and the human voices, though he +could see no one. + +Passing through the trees, he came into a glade in the heart of the wood, +in the centre of which he beheld a myrtle-tree, the largest and most +beautiful ever seen: it was taller than a cypress or palm, and seemed the +queen of the forest. Looking around him, he observed to his astonishment +an oak suddenly cleave itself open, and out of it there came a nymph. A +hundred other trees did the same, giving birth to as many nymphs. They +were all habited as we see them in theatres; only, instead of bows and +arrows, each held a lute or guitar. Coming towards the hero with joyful +eyes, they formed a circle about him, and danced; and in their dancing +they sang, and bade him welcome to the haunt of their mistress, their +loving mistress, of whom he was the only hope and joy. Looking as they +spoke towards the myrtle, Rinaldo looked also, and beheld, issuing out of +it--Armida. + +Armida came sweetly towards him, with a countenance at once grieving and +rejoicing, but expressing above all infinite affection. "And do I indeed +see thee again?" she said; "and wilt thou not fly me a second time? am +I visited to be consoled, or to be treated again as an enemy? is poor +Armida so formidable, that thou must needs close up thine helmet when +thou beholdest her? Thou mightest surely have vouchsafed her once more a +sight of thine eyes. Let us be friends, at least, if we may be nothing +more. Wilt thou not take her hand?" + +Rinaldo's answer was, to turn away as from a cheat, to look towards the +myrtle-tree, to draw his sword, and proceed with manifest intentions of +assailing it. She ran before him shrieking, and hugged it round. "Nay, +thou wilt not," she said, "thou wilt not hurt my tree--not cut and slay +what is bound up with the life of Armida? Thy sword must pass first +through her bosom." + +Armida writhed and wailed; Rinaldo nevertheless raised his sword, and it +was coming against the tree, when her shape, like a thing in a dream, +was metamorphosed as quick as lightning. It became a giant, a Briareus, +wielding a hundred swords, and speaking in a voice of thunder. Every +one of the nymphs at the same instant became a Cyclops; tempest and +earthquake ensued, and the air was full of ghastly spectres. + +Rinaldo again raised his arm with a more vehement will; he struck, and +at the same instant every horror disappeared. The sky was cloudless; the +forest was neither terrible nor beautiful, but heavy and sombre as of +old--a natural gloomy wood, but no prodigy. + +Rinaldo returned to the camp, his aspect that of a conqueror; the silver +wings of his crest, the white eagle, glittering in the sun. The hermit +Peter came forward to greet him; a shout was sent up by the whole camp; +Godfrey gave him high reception; nobody envied him. Workmen, no longer +trembling, were sent to the forest to cut wood for the machines of war; +and the tower was rebuilt, together with battering-rams and balistas, and +catapults, most of them an addition to what they had before. The tower +also was now clothed with bulls-hides, as a security against being set on +fire; and a bridge was added to the tower, from which the besiegers could +at once step on the city-walls. + +With these long-desired invigorations of his strength, the commander of +the army lost no time in making a general assault on Jerusalem; for +a dove, supernaturally pursued by a falcon, had brought him letters +intended for the besieged, informing them, that if they could only hold +out four days longer, their Egyptian allies would be at hand. The Pagans +beheld with dismay the resuscitated tower, and all the new engines coming +against them. They fought valiantly; but Rinaldo and Godfrey prevailed. +The former was the first to scale the walls, the latter to plant his +standard from the bridge. The city was entered on all sides, and the +enemy driven, first into Solomon's Temple, and then into the Citadel, or +Tower of David. Before the assault, Godfrey had been vouchsafed a sight +of armies of angels in the air, accompanied by the souls of those who had +fallen before Jerusalem; the latter still fighting, the former rejoicing; +so that there was no longer doubt of triumph; only it still pleased +Heaven that human virtue should be tried. + +And now, after farther exploits on both sides, the last day of the war, +and the last hope of the Infidels, arrived at the same time; for the +Egyptian army came up to give battle with the Christians, and to restore +Jerusalem, if possible, to its late owners, now cramped up in one corner +of it--the citadel. The besiegers in their narrow hold raised a shout of +joy at the sight; and Godfrey, leaving them to be detained in it by an +experienced captain, went forth to meet his new opponents. Crowns of +Africa and of Persia were there, and the king of the Indies; and in the +midst of all, in a chariot surrounded by her knights and suitors, was +Armida. + +The battle joined, and great was the bravery and the slaughter on both +sides. It seemed at first all glitter and gaiety--its streamers flying, +its arms flashing, drums and trumpets rejoicing, and horses rushing with +their horsemen as to the tournament. Horror looked beautiful in the +spectacle. Out of the midst of the dread itself there issued a delight. +But soon it was a bloody, and a turbulent, and a raging, and a groaning +thing:--pennons down, horses and men rolling over, foes heaped upon one +another, bright armour exchanged for blood and dirt, flesh trampled, and +spirit fatigued. Brave were the Pagans; but how could they stand against +Heaven? Godfrey ordered every thing calmly, like a divine mind; Rinaldo +swept down the fiercest multitudes, like an arm of God. The besieged in +the citadel broke forth, only to let the conquerors in. Jerusalem was won +before the battle was over. King after king fell, and yet the vanquished +did not fly. Rinaldo went every where to hasten the rout; and still had +to fight and slay on. Armida beheld him coming where she sat in the midst +of her knights; he saw her, and blushed a little: she turned as cold as +ice, then as hot as fire. Her anger was doubled by the slaughter of her +friends; and with her woman's hand she sent an arrow out of her bow, +hoping, and yet even then hoping not, to slay or to hurt him. The arrow +fell on him like a toy; and he turned aside, as she thought, in disdain. +Yet he disdained not to smite down her champions. Hope of every kind +deserted her. Resolving to die by herself in some lonely spot, she got +down from her chariot to horse, and fled out of the field. Rinaldo saw +the flight; and though one of the knights that remained to her struck him +such a blow as made him reel in his saddle, he despatched the man with +another like a thunderbolt, and then galloped after the fugitive. + +Armida was in the act of putting a shaft to her bosom, in order to die +upon it, when her arm was arrested by a mighty grasp; and turning round, +she beheld with a shriek the beloved face of him who had caused the ruin +of her and hers. She closed her disdainful eyes and fainted away. Rinaldo +supported her; he loosened her girdle; he bathed her bosom and her +eyelids with his tears. Coming at length to herself, still she would +not look at him. She would fain not have been supported by him. She +endeavoured with her weak fingers to undo the strong ones that clasped +her; she wept bitterly, and at length spoke, but still without meeting +his eyes. + +"And may I not," she said, "even die? must I be followed and tormented +even in my last moments? What mockery of a wish to save me is this! I +will not be watched; I believe not a syllable of such pity; and I will +not be made a sight of, and a by-word. I ask my life of thee no longer; +I want nothing but death; and death itself I would not receive at such +hands; they would render even that felicity hateful. Leave me. I could +not be hindered long from putting an end to my miseries, whatever +barbarous restraint might be put upon me. There are a thousand ways of +dying; and I will be neither hindered, nor deceived, nor flattered--oh, +never more!" + +Weeping she spoke--weeping always, and sobbing, and full of wilful words. +But yet she felt all the time the arm that was round her. + +"Armida," said Rinaldo, in a voice full of tenderness, "be calm, and know +me for what I am--no enemy, no conqueror, nothing that intends thee shame +or dishonour; but thy champion, thy restorer--he that will preserve thy +kingdom for thee, and seat thee in house and home. Look at me--look in +these eyes, and see if they speak false. And oh, would to Heaven thou +wouldst indeed be as I am in faith. There isn't a queen in all the East +should equal thee in glory." + +His tears fell on her eyelids as he spoke--scalding tears; and she looked +at him, and her heart re-opened to its lord, all love and worship; and +Armida said, "Behold thy handmaid; dispose of her even as thou wilt." + +And that same day Godfrey of Boulogne was lord of Jerusalem, and paid his +vows on the sepulchre of his Master. + + +[Footnote 1: + + "Chiama gli abitator' de l'ombre eterne + Il rauco suon de la tartarea tromba. + Treman le spaziose atre caverne, + E l'aer cieco a quel romor rimbomba. + Ne si stridendo mai da le superne + Regioni del cielo il folgor piomba: + Ne si scossa gia mai trema la terra, + Quando i vapori in sen gravida serra." + Canto iv. st. 3. + + The trump of Tartarus, with iron roar, + Called to the dwellers the black regions under: + Hell through its caverns trembled to the core, + And the blind air rebellowed to the thunder: + Never yet fiery bolt more fiercely tore + The crashing firmament, like rocks, asunder; + Nor with so huge a shudder earth's foundations + Shook to their mighty heart, lifting the nations. + +The tone of this stanza (suggested otherwise by Vida) was caught from a +fine one in Politian, the passage in which about the Nile I ought to have +called to mind at page 168. + + "Con tal romor, qualor l'aer discorda, + Di Giove il foco d'alta nube piomba: + Con tal tumulto, onde la gente assorda, + Da l'alte cataratte il Nil rimbomba: + Con tal orror del Latin sangue ingorda + Sono Megera la tartarea tromba." + +_Fragment on the Jousting of Giuliano de' Medici_. + + Such is the noise, when through his cloudy floor + The bolt of Jove falls on the pale world under; + So shakes the land, where Nile with deafening roar + Plunges his clattering cataracts in thunder; + Horribly so, through Latium's realm of yore, + The trump of Tartarus blew ghastly wonder.] + +[Footnote 2: + + "La bella Armida, di sua forma altiera, + E de' doni del sesso e de l'etate, + L' impresa prende: e in su la prima sera + Parte, e tiene sol vie chiuse e celate: + E 'n treccia e 'n gonna femminile spera + Vincer popoli invitti e schiere armate." + Canto iv. st. 27.] + +[Footnote 3: + + "That sweet grove + Of Daphne by Orontes." +_Parad. Lost_, b. iv. + +It was famous for the most luxurious worship of antiquity. Vide Gibbon, +vol. iii. p. 198.] + +[Footnote 4: I omit a point about "fires" of love, and "ices" of the +heart; and I will here observe, once for all, that I omit many such in +these versions of Tasso, for the reason given in the Preface.] + +[Footnote 5: In the original, an impetuous gust of wind carries away the +sword of Tancred; a circumstance which I mention because Collins admired +it (see his Ode on the Superstitions of the Highlands). I confess I +cannot do so. It seems to me quite superfluous; and when the reader +finds the sword conveniently lying for the hero outside the wood, as he +returns, the effect is childish and pantomimic. If the magician wished +him not to fight any more, why should he give him the sword back? And if +it was meant as a present to him from Clorinda, what gave her the +power to make the present? Tasso retained both the particulars in the +_Gerusalemme Conquistata_.] + +[Footnote 6: + + "Giace l'alta Cartago: appena i segni + De l'alte sue ruine il lido serba. + + Muoiono le citta: muoiono i regni: + Copre i fasti e le pompe arena ed erba: + E l'uom d'esser mortal par che si sdegni. + Oh nostra mente cupida e superba!" + + Canto xv. st. 20. + + Great Carthage is laid low. Scarcely can eye + Trace where she stood with all her mighty crowd + For cities die; kingdoms and nations die; + A little sand and grass is all their shroud; + Yet mortal man disdains mortality! + O mind of ours, inordinate and proud! + +Very fine is this stanza of Tasso; and yet, like some of the finest +writing of Gray, it is scarcely more than a cento. The commentators call +it a "beautiful imitation" of a passage in Sannazzaro; and it is; but the +passage in Sannazzaro is also beautiful. It contains not only the "Giace +Cartago," and the "appena i segni," &c., but the contrast of the pride +with the mortality of man, and, above all, the "dying" of the cities, +which is the finest thing in the stanza of its imitator. + + "Qua devictae Carthaginis arces + Procubuere, jacentque infausto in littore turres + Eversae; quantum ille metus, quantum illa laborum + Urbs dedit insultans Latio et Laurentibus arvis! + Nunc passim vix reliquias, vix nomina servans, + Obruitur propriis non agnoscenda ruinis. + Et querimur genus infelix, humana labare + Membra aevo, cum regna palam moriantur et urbes." + + _De Partu Virginis_, lib. ii. + +The commentators trace the conclusion of this passage to Dante, where he +says that it is no wonder families perish, when cities themselves "have +their terminations" (termin hanuo): but though there is a like germ of +thought in Dante, the mournful flower of it, the word "death," is not +there. It was evidently suggested by a passage (also pointed out by the +commentators) in the consolatory letter of Sulpicius to Cicero, on the +death of his daughter Tullia;--"Heu nos homunculi indignamur, si quis +nostrum interiit, aut occisus est, quorum vita brevior esse debet, cum +uno loco tot oppidorum cadavera projecta jaceant." (Alas! we poor human +creatures are indignant if any one of us dies or is slain, frail as are +the materials of which we are constituted; and yet we can see, lying +together in one place, the dead bodies of I know not how many cities!) +The music of Tasso's line was indebted to one in Petrarch's _Trionfo del +Tempo, v. 112 + + _" Passan le signorie, passano i regni;" + +and the fine concluding verse, "Oh nostra mente," to another perhaps +in his _Trionfo della Divinita, v. 61_, not without a recollection of +Lucretius, lib. ii. v. 14: + + "O miseras hominum menteis! o pectora caeca!"] + +[Footnote 7: A fountain which caused laughter that killed people is in +Pomponius Mela's account of the Fortunate Islands; and was the origin of +that of Boiardo; as I ought to have noticed in the place.] + +[Footnote 8: All this description of the females bathing is in the +highest taste of the voluptuous; particularly the latter part: + + "Qual mattutina stella esce de l'onde + Rugiadosa e stillante: o come fuore + Spunto nascendo gia da le feconde + Spume de l'ocean la Dea d'Amore: + Tale apparve costei: tal le sue bionde + Chiome stillavan cristallino umore. + Poi giro gli occhi, e pur allor s'infinse + Que' duo vedere, e in se tutta si strinse: + + E 'l crin the 'n cima al capo avea raccolto + In un sol nodo, immantinente sciolse; + Che lunghissimo in giu cadendo, e folto, + D'un aureo manto i molli avori involse. + Oh che vago spettacolo e lor tolto! + Ma mon men vago fu chi loro il tolse. + Cosi da l'acque e da capelli ascosa, + A lor si volse, lieta e vergognosa. + + Rideva insieme, e insieme ella arrossia; + Ed era nel rossor piu bello il riso, + E nel riso il rossor, the le copria + Insino al mento il delicato viso." + Canto xv. st. 60. + +Spenser, among the other obligations which it delighted him to owe to +this part of Tasso's poem, has translated these last twelve lines: + + "With that the other likewise up arose, + And her fair locks, which formerly were bound + Up in one knot, she low adown did loose, + Which, flowing long and thick, her cloth'd around, + And th' ivory in golden mantle gown'd: + So that fair spectacle from him was reft; + Yet that which reft it, no less fair was found. + So hid in locks and waves from looker's theft, + Nought but her lovely face she for his looking left. + + Withal she laughed, and she blush'd withal; + That blushing to her laughter gave more grace, + And laughter to her blushing." + Fairy Queen, book ii. canto 12, St. 67. + +Tasso's translator, Fairfax, worthy both of his original and of Spenser, +has had the latter before him in his version of the passage, not without +a charming addition of his own at the close of the first stanza: + + "And her fair locks, that in a knot were tied + High on her crown, she 'gan at large unfold; + Which falling long and thick, and spreading wide, + The ivory soft and white mantled in gold: + Thus her fair skin the dame would clothe and hide; + And that which hid it, no less fair was hold. + Thus clad in waves and locks, her eyes divine + From them ashamed would she turn and twine. + + Withal she smiled, and she blush'd withal; + Her blush her smiling, smiles her blushing graced."] + +[Footnote 9: + + "E quel che 'l bello e 'l caro accresce a l'opre, + L'arte, the tutto fa, nulla si scopre. + + Stimi (si misto il culto e col negletto) + Sol naturali e gli ornamenti e i siti. + Di natura arte par, the per diletto + L'imitatrice sua scherzando imiti." + +The idea of Nature imitating Art, and playfully imitating her, is in +Ovid; but that of a mixture of cultivation and wildness is, as far as I +am aware, Tasso's own. It gives him the honour of having been the first +to suggest the picturesque principle of modern gardening; as I ought +to have remembered, when assigning it to Spenser in a late publication +(_Imagination and Fancy, p. 109_). I should have noticed also, in the +same work, the obligations of Spenser to the Italian poet for the passage +before quoted about the nymph in the water.] + +[Footnote 10: + + "Par che la dura quercia e 'l casto alloro, + E tutta la frondosa ampia famiglia, + Par the la terra e l'acqua e formi e spiri + Dolcissimi d'amor sensi e sospiri." + St. 16. + +Fairfax in this passage is very graceful and happy (in the first part of +his stanza he is speaking of a bird that sings with a human voice--which +I have omitted): + + "She ceased: and as approving all she spoke, + The choir of birds their heavenly tunes renew; + The turtles sigh'd, and sighs with kisses broke; + The fowls to shades unseen by pairs withdrew; + It seem'd the laurel chaste and stubborn oak, + And all the gentle trees on earth that grew, + It seem'd the land, the sea, and heaven above, + All breath'd out fancy sweet, and sigh'd out love."] + +[Footnote 11: + + "Ecco tra fronde e fronde il guardo avante + Penetra, e vede, o pargli di vedere, + Vede per certo," &c. + St. 17.] + +[Footnote 12: The line about the peacock, + + "Spiega la pompa de l'occhiute piume," + Opens wide the pomp of his eyed plumes, + +was such a favourite with Tasso, that he has repeated it from the +_Aminta_, and (I think) in some other place, but I cannot call it to +mind.] + +[Footnote 13: + + "Teneri sdegni, e placide e tranquille + Repulse, e cari vezzi, e liete paci, + Sorrisi, e parolette, e dolci stille + Di pianto, e sospir' tronchi, e molli baci." St. 5 + +This is the cestus in Homer, which Venus lends to Juno for the purpose of +enchanting Jupiter + +Greek: N kai apo staethesphin elusato keston himanta + Poikilon' entha de ohi thelktaeria panta tetukto' + Enth' heni men philotaes, en d' himeras, en d' oaristus, + Parphasis, hae t' eklepse noon puka per phroneonton.] + + Iliad, lib. xiv. 214. + + She said; and from her balmy bosom loosed + The girdle that contained all temptinguess-- + Love, and desire, and sweet and secret talk + Lavish, which robs the wisest of their wits.] + + + +APPENDIX + + * * * * * + +No. I. + +THE DEATH OF AGRICAN. + +BOIARDO. + + Orlando ed Agricane un' altra fiata + Ripreso insieme avean crudel battaglia, + La piu terribil mai non fu mirata, + L'arme l'un l'altro a pezzo a pezzo taglia. + Vede Agrican sua gente sbarattata, + Ne le puo dar aiuto, che le vaglia. + Pero che Orlando tanto stretto il tiene, + Che star con seco a fronte gli conviene. + + Nel suo segreto fe questo pensiero, + Trar fuor di schiera quel Conte gagliardo; + E poi Che ucciso l'abbia in su 'l sentiero, + Tornare a la battaglia senza tardo; + Pero che a lui par facile e leggiero + Cacciar soletto quel popol codardo; + Che tutti insieme, e 'l suo Re Galafrone, + Non li stimava quanto un vil bottone. + + Con tal proposto si pone a fuggire, + Forte correndo sopra la pianura; + Il Conte nulla pensa a quel fallire, + Anzi crede che 'l faccia per paura. + Senz' altro dubbio se 'l pone a seguire, + E gia son giunti ad una selva scura + Appunto in mezzo a quella selva piana, + Era un bel prato intorno a una fontana. + + Fermossi ivi Agricane a quella fonte, + E smonto de l'arcion per riposare, + Ma non si tolse l'elmo da la fronte, + Ne piastra, o scudo si volse levare; + E poco dimoro, che giunse 'l Conte, + E come il vide a la fonte aspettare, + Dissegli: Cavalier, tu sei fuggito, + E si forte mostravi e tanto ardito! + + Come tanta vergogna puoi soffrire, + A dar le spalle ad un sol cavaliero! + Forse credesti la morte fuggire, + Or vedi che fallito hai il pensiero; + Chi morir puo onorato dee morire; + Che spesse volte avviene e di leggiero, + Che, per durar in questa vita trista, + Morte e vergogna ad un tratto s'acquista. + + Agrican prima rimonto in arcione, + Poi con voce soave rispondia + Tu sei per certo il piu franco Barone, + Ch'io mai trovassi ne la vita mia, + E pero del tuo scampo fia cagione + La tua prodezza e quella cortesia, + Che oggi si grande al campo usato m'hai, + Quando soccorso a mia gente donai. + + Pero ti voglio la vita lasciare, + Ma non tornasti piu per darmi inciampo. + Questo la fuga mi fe simulare, + Ne v'ebbi altro partito a darti scampo. + Se pur ti piace meco battagliare, + Morto ne rimarrai su questo campo; + Ma siami testimonio il cielo e 'l sole, + Che darti morte mi dispiace e duole. + + Il Conte gli rispose molto umano, + Perche avea preso gia di lui pietate; + Quanto sei, disse, piu franco e soprano, + Piu di te mi rincresce in veritate, + Che sarai morto, e non sei Cristiano, + Ed anderai tra l'anime dannate; + Ma se vuoi il corpo e l'anima salvare, + Piglia battesmo, e lascierotti andare. + + Disse Agricane, e riguardollo in viso: + Se tu sei Cristiano, Orlando sei. + Chi mi facesse Re del Paradiso, + Con tal ventura non la cangierei; + Ma sin or ti ricordo e dotti avviso, + Che non mi parli de' fatti de' Dei, + Perche potresti predicar invano; + Difenda it suo ciascun co 'l brando in mano. + + Ne piu parole; ma trasse Tranchera, + E verso Orlando con ardir s'affronta. + Or si comincia la battaglia fiera, + Con aspri colpi, di taglio e di ponta; + Ciascun e di prodezza una lumiera, + E sterno insieme, com'il libro conta, + Da mezzo giorno insino a notte scura, + Sempre piu franchi a la battaglia dura. + + Ma poi che 'l sol avea passato il monte + E cominciossi a far il ciel stellato, + Prima verso del Re parlava it Conte; + Che farem, disse, the 'l giorno n'e andato? + Disse Agricane, con parole pronte: + Ambi ci poseremo in questo prato, + E domattina, come il giorno appare, + Ritorneremo insieme a battagliare. + + Cosi d'accordo il partito si prese; + Lega il destrier ciascun come gli piace, + Poi sopra a l'erba verde si distese: + Come fosse tra loro antica pace, + L'uno a l'altro vicino era e palese. + Orlando presso al fonte isteso giace, + Ed Agricane al bosco piu vicino + Stassi colcato, a l'ombra d'un gran pino. + + E ragionando insieme tutta via + Di cose degne e condecenti a loro, + Guardava il Conte il ciel, poscia dicia: + Questo the ora veggiamo, e un bel lavoro, + Che fece la divina Monarchia, + La luna d'argento e le stelle d'oro, + E la luce del giorno e 'l sol lucente, + Dio tutto ha fatto per l'umana gente. + + Disse Agricane: Io comprendo per certo, + Che to vuoi de la fede ragionare; + Io di nulla scienza son esperto, + Ne mai sendo fanciul, volsi imparare; + E ruppi il capo al maestro mio per merto; + Poi non si pote un altro ritrovare, + Che mi mostrasse libro, ne scrittura, + Tanto ciascun avea di me paura. + + E cosi spesi la mia fanciullezza, + In caccie, in giochi d'arme e in cavalcare; + Ne mi par che convenga a gentilezza, + Star tutto il giorno ne' libri a pensare; + Ma la forza del corpo e la destrezza + Conviensi al cavaliero esercitare; + Dottrina al prete, ed al dottor sta bene; + Io tanto saccio quanto mi conviene. + + Rispose Orlando: Io tiro teco a un seguo, + Che l'armi son del'uomo il primo onore; + Ma non gia che 'l saper faccia un men degno, + Anzi l'adorna com' un prato il fiore; + Ed e simile a un bove, a un sasso, a un legno, + Che non pensa a l'eterno Creatore; + Ne ben si puo pensar, senza dottrina, + La somma maestade, alta e divina. + + Disse Agricane: Egli e gran scortesia + A voler contrastar con avvantaggio. + Io t' ho scoperto la natura mia, + E to conosco, the sei dotto e saggio; + Se piu parlassi, io non risponderia; + Piacendoti dormir, dormiti ad aggio; + E se meco parlar hai pur diletto, + D'arme o d' amor a ragionar t' aspetto. + + Ora ti prego, che a quel ch' io domando + Risponda il vero, a fe d' uomo pregiato; + Se in se' veramente quell' Orlando, + Che vien tanto nel mondo nominato; + E perche qui sei giunto, e come, e quando; + E se mai fosti ancora innamorato; + Perche ogni cavalier, ch'e senza amore, + Se in vista e vivo, vivo senza core. + + Rispose il Conte: Quell' Orlando sono, + Che uccise Almonte e'l suo fratel Troiano; + Amor m' ha posto tutto in abbandono, + E venir fammi in questo luogo strano. + E perche teco piu largo ragiono, + Voglio the sappi che 'l mio cor e in mano + De la figliuola del Re Galafrone, + Che ad Albracca dimora nel girone. + + Tu fai co 'l padre guerra a gran furore, + Per prender suo paese e sua castella; + Ed io qua son condotto per amore, + E per piacer a quella damisella; + Molte fiate son stato per onore + E per la fede mia sopra la sella; + Or sol per acquistar la bella dama + Faccio battaglia, e d'altro non ho brama. + + Quando Agrican ha nel parlare accolto, + Che questo e Orlando, ed Angelica amava, + Fuor di misura si turbo nel volto, + Ma per la notte non lo dimostrava; + Piangeva sospirando come un stolto, + L'anima e 'l petto e 'l spirto gli avvampava, + E tanto gelosia gli batte il core, + Che non e vivo, e di doglia non more. + + Poi disse a Orlando: Tu debbi pensare, + Che come il giorno sara dimostrato, + Debbiamo insieme la battaglia fare, + E l'uno o l'altro rimarra su 'l prato. + Or d'una cosa ti voglio pregare, + Che, prima che vegnamo e cotal piato, + Quella donzella, che 'l tuo cor disia, + Tu l'abbandoni e lascila per mia. + + Io non potria patire, essendo vivo, + Che altri con meco amasse il viso adorno: + O l'uno o l'altro al tutto sara privo + Del spirto e de la dama al novo giorno; + Altri mai non sapra, che questo rivo + E questo bosco, ch'e quivi d'intorno, + Che l'abbi rifiutata in cotal loco + E in cotal tempo, che sara si poco. + + Diceva Orlando al Re: Le mie promesse + Tutte ho servate, quante mai ne fei; + Ma se quel che or mi chiedi io promettesse + E s'io il giurassi, io non l'attenderei; + Cosi poria spiccar mie membra istesse + E levarmi di fronte gli occhi miei, + E viver senza spirto e senza core, + Come lasciar d' Angelica l'amore. + + Il Re Agrican, che ardeva oltre misura, + Non puote tal risposta comportare; + Benche sia 'l mezzo de la notte scura, + Prese Bajardo e su v' ebbe a montare, + Ed orgoglioso, con vista sicura, + Isgrida al Conte, ed ebbel a sfidare, + Dicendo: Cavalier, la dama gaglia + Lasciar convienti, o far meco battaglia. + + Era gia il Conte in su l' arcion salito, + Perche, come si mosse il Re possente, + Temendo dal Pagan esser tradito, + Salto sopra 'l destrier subitamente; + Onde rispose con animo ardito: + Lasciar colei non posso per niente; + E s'io potess, ancora io non vorria; + Avertela convien per altra via. + + Come in mar la tempesta a gran fortuna, + Cominciarno l' assalto i cavalieri + Nel verde prato, per la notte bruna, + Con sproni urtarno addosso i buon destrieri; + E si scorgeano al lume de la luna, + Dandosi colpi dispietati e fieri, + Ch' era ciascun difor forte ed ardito + Ma piu non dico; il Canto e qui finito. + +ARIOSTO. + + Seguon gli Scotti ove la guida loro + Per l'alta selva alto disdegno mena, + Poi che lasciato ha l'uno e l'altro Moro, + L'un morto in tutto, e l'altro vivo a pena. + Giacque gran pezzo il giovine Medoro, + Spicciando il sangue da si larga vena, + Che di sua vita al fin saria venuto, + Se non sopravenia chi gli die aiuto. + + Gli sopravenne a caso una donzella, + Avvolta in pastorale et umil veste, + Ma di real presenzia, e in viso bella, + D'alte maniere e accortamente oneste. + Tanto e ch'io non ne dissi piu novella, + Ch'a pena riconoscer la dovreste; + Questa, se non sapete, Angelica era, + Del gran Can del Catai la figlia altiera. + + Poi che 'l suo annello Angelica riebbe, + Di the Brunel l'avea tenuta priva, + In tanto fasto, in tanto orgoglio crebbe, + Ch'esser parea di tutto 'l mondo schiva: + Se ne va sola, e non si degnerebbe + Compagno aver qual piu famoso viva; + Si sdegna a rimembrar the gia suo amante + Abbia Orlando nomato, o Sacripante. + + E, sopra ogn'altro error, via piu pentita + Era del ben che gia a Rinaldo volse. + Troppo parendole essersi avvilita, + Ch'a riguardar si basso gli occhi volse. + Tant'arroganzia avendo Amor sentita, + Piu lungamente comportar non volse. + Dove giacea Medor, si pose al varco, + E l'aspetto, posto lo strale all'arco. + + Quando Angelica vide il giovinetto + Languir ferito, assai vicino a morte, + Che del suo Re che giacea senza tetto, + Piu che del proprio mal, si dolea forte, + Insolita pietade in mezo al petto + Si senti entrar per disusate porte, + Che le fe' il duro cor tenero e molle; + E piu quando il suo caso egli narrolle. + + E rivocando alla memoria l'arte + Ch'in India imparo gia chirurgia, + (Che par che questo studio in quella parte + Nobile e degno e di gran laude sia; + E, senza molto rivoltar di carte, + Che 'l patre a i figli ereditario il dia) + Si dispose operar con succo d'erbe, + Ch'a piu matura vita lo riserbe. + + E ricordossi che passando avea + Veduta un'erba in una piaggia amena; + Fosse dittamo, o fosse panacea, + O non so qual di tal effetto piena, + Che stagna il sangue, e de la piaga rea + Leva ogni spasmo e perigliosa pena, + La trovo non lontana, e, quella colta, + Dove lasciato avea Medor, die volta. + + Nel ritornar s'incontra in un pastore, + Ch'a cavallo pel bosco ne veniva + Cercando una iuvenca, che gli fuore + Duo di di mandra e senza guardia giva. + Seco lo trasse ove perdea il vigore + Medor col sangue che del petto usciva; + E gia n'avea di tanto il terren tinto, + Ch'era omai presso a rimanere estinto. + + Del palafreno Angelica giu scese, + E scendere il pastor seco fece anche. + Pesto con sassi l'erba, indi la presse, + E succo ne cavo fra le man bianche: + Ne la piaga n'infuse, e ne distese + E pel petto e pel ventre e fin a l'anche; + E fu di tal virtu questo liquore, + Che stagno il sangue e gli torno il vigore: + + E gli die forza, che pote salire + Sopra il cavallo the 'l pastor condusse. + Non pero volse indi Medor partire + Prima ch'in terra il suo signor non fosse, + E Cloridan col Re fe' sepelire; + E poi dove a lei piacque si ridusse; + Et ella per pieta ne l'umil case + Del cortese pastor seco rimase. + + Ne, fin che nol tornasse in sanitade, + Volea partir: cosi di lui fe' stima: + Tanto se inteneri de la pietade + Che n'ebbe, come in terra il vide prima. + Poi, vistone i costumi e la beltade, + Roder si senti il cor d'ascosa lima; + Roder si senti il core, e a poco a poco + Tutto infiammato d'amoroso fuoco. + + Stava il pastore in assai buona e bella + Stanza, nel bosco infra duo monti piatta, + Con la moglie e co i figli; et avea quella + Tutta di nuovo e poco inanzi fatta. + Quivi a Medoro fu per la donzella + La piaga in breve a sanita ritratta; + Ma in minor tempo si senti maggiore + Piaga di questa avere ella nel core. + + Assai piu larga piaga e piu profonda + Nel cor senti da non veduto strale, + Che da' begli occhi e da la testa bionda + Di Medoro avvente l'arcier c'ha l'ale. + Arder si sente, e sempre il fuoco abonda, + E piu cura l'altrui che 'l proprio male. + Di se non cura; e non e ad altro intenta, + Ch'a risanar chi lei fere e tormenta. + + La sua piaga piu s'apre e piu incrudisce, + Quanto piu l' altra si restringe e salda. + Il giovine si sana: ella languisce + Di nuova febbre, or agghiacciata or calda. + Di giorno in giorno in lui belta fiorisce: + La misera si strugge, come falda + Strugger di nieve intempestiva suole, + Ch'in loco aprico abbia scoperta il sole. + + Se di disio non vuol morir, bisogna + Che senza indugio ella se stessa aiti: + E ben le par che, di quel ch' essa agogna, + Non sia tempo aspettar ch' altri la 'nviti. + Dunque, rotto ogni freno di vergogna, + La lingua ebbe non men che gli occhi arditi; + E di quel colpo domando mercede, + Che, forse non sapendo, esso le diede. + + O Conte Orlando, o Re di Circassia, + Vestra inclita virtu, dite, che giova? + Vostro alto onor, dite, in che prezzo sia? + O che merce vostro servir ritruova? + Mostratemi una sola cortesia, + Che mai costei v'usasse, o vecchia o nuova, + Per ricompensa e guidardone e merto + Di quanto avete gia per lei sofferto. + + Oh, se potessi ritornar mai vivo, + Quanto ti parria duro, o Re Agricane! + Che gia mostro costei si averti a schivo + Con repulse crudeli et inumane. + O Ferrau, o mille altri ch'io non scrivo, + Ch'avete fatto mille pruove vane + Per questa ingrata, quanto aspro vi fora + S'a costu' in braccio voi la vedesse ora! + + Angelica a Medor la prima rosa + Coglier lascio, non ancor tocca inante; + Ne persona fu mai si avventurosa, + Ch'in quel giardin potesse por le piante. + Per adombrar, per onestar la cosa, + Si celebro con cerimonie sante + Il matrimonio, ch'auspice ebbe Amore, + E pronuba la moglie del pastore. + + Fersi le nozze sotto all'umil tetto + Le piu solenni che vi potean farsi; + E piu d'un mese poi stero a diletto + I duo tranquilli amanti a ricrearsi. + Piu lunge non vedea del giovinetto + La donna, ne di lui potea saziarsi: + Ne, per mai sempre pendegli dal cello, + Il suo disir sentia di lui satollo. + + Se stava all'ombra, o se del tetto usciva, + Avea di e notte il bel giovine a lato: + Matino e sera or questa or quella riva + Cercando andava, o qualche verde prato: + Nel mezo giorno un antro li copriva, + Forse non men di quel commodo e grato + Ch'ebber, fuggendo l'acque, Enea e Dido, + De' lor secreti testimonio fido. + + Fra piacer tanti, ovunque un arbor dritto + Vedesse ombrare o fonte o rivo puro, + V'avea spillo o coltel subito fitto; + Cosi, se v'era alcun sasso men duro. + Et era fuori in mille luoghi scritto, + E cosi in casa in altri tanti il muro, + Angelica e Medoro, in varii modi + Legati insieme di diversi nodi. + + Poi che le parve aver fatto soggiorno + Quivi piu ch'a bastanza, fe' disegno + Di fare in India del Catai ritorno, + E Medor coronar del suo bel regno. + Portava al braccio un cerchio d'oro, adorno + Di ricche gemme, in testimonio e segno + Del ben che 'l Conte Orlando le volea; + E portato gran tempo ve l'avea. + + Quel dono gia Morgana a Ziliante, + Nel tempo the nel lago ascoso il tenne; + Et esso, poi ch'al padre Monodante + Per opra e per virtu d'Orlando venne, + Lo diede a Orlando: Orlando ch'era amante, + Di porsi al braccio it cerchio d'or sostenne, + Avendo disegnato di donarlo + Alla Regina sua di ch'io vi parlo. + + Non per amor del Paladino, quanto + Perch'era ricco e d'artificio egregio, + Caro avuto l'avea la donna tanto + Che piu non si puo aver cosa di pregio. + Se lo serbo ne l'Isola del pianto, + Non so gia dirvi con the privilegio, + La dove esposta al marin mostro nuda + Fu da la gente inospitale e cruda. + + Quivi non si trovando altra mercede, + Ch'al buon pastore et alla moglie dessi, + Che serviti gli avea con si gran fede + Dal di che nel suo albergo si fur messi; + Levo dal braccio il cerchio, e gli lo diede, + E volse per suo amor che lo tenessi; + Indi saliron verso la montagna + Che divide la Francia da la Spagna. + + Dentro a Valenza o dentro a Barcellona + Per qualche giorno avean pensato porsi, + Fin che accadesse alcuna nave buona, + Che per Levante apparecchiasse a sciorsi. + Videro il mar scoprir sotto a Girona + Ne lo smontar giu de i montani dorsi; + E, costeggiando a man sinistra il lito, + A Barcellona andar pel camin trito. + + Ma non vi giunser prima ch'un uom pazzo + Giacer trovaro in su l'estreme arene, + Che, come porco, di loto e di guazzo + Tutto era brutto, e volto e petto e schene. + Costui si scaglio lor, come cagnazzo + Ch' assalir forestier subito viene; + E die for noia e fu per far lor scorno. + + * * * * * + + The troop then follow'd where their chief had gone, + Pursuing his stern chase among the trees, + And leave the two companions there alone, + One surely dead, the other scarcely less. + Long time Medoro lay without a groan, + Losing his blood in such large quantities, + That life would surely have gone out at last, + Had not a helping hand been coming past. + + There came, by chance, a damsel passing there, + Dress'd like a shepherdess in lowly wise, + But of a royal presence, and an air + Noble as handsome, with clear maiden eyes. + 'Tis so long since I told you news of her, + Perhaps you know her not in this disguise. + This, you must know then, was Angelica, + Proud daughter of the Khan of great Cathay. + + You know the magic ring and her distress? + Well, when she had recover'd this same ring, + It so increas'd her pride and haughtiness, + She seem'd too high for any living thing. + She goes alone, desiring nothing less + Than a companion, even though a king + She even scorns to recollect the flame + Of one Orlando, or his very name. + + But, above all, she hates to recollect + That she had taken to Rinaldo so; + She thinks it the last want of self-respect, + Pure degradation, to have look'd so low. + "Such arrogance," said Cupid, "must be check'd." + The little god betook him with his bow + To where Medoro lay; and, standing by, + Held the shaft ready with a lurking eye. + + Now when the princess saw the youth all pale, + And found him grieving with his bitter wound, + Not for what one so young might well bewail, + But that his king should not be laid in ground,-- + She felt a something strange and gentle steal + Into her heart by some new way it found, + Which touch'd its hardness, and turn'd all to grace; + And more so, when he told her all his case. + + And calling to her mind the little arts + Of healing, which she learnt in India, + (For 'twas a study valued in those parts + Even by those who were in sovereign sway, + And yet so easy too, that, like the heart's, + 'Twas more inherited than learnt, they say), + She cast about, with herbs and balmy juices, + To save so fair a life for all its uses. + + And thinking of an herb that caught her eye + As she was coming, in a pleasant plain + (Whether 'twas panacea, dittany, + Or some such herb accounted sovereign + For stanching blood quickly and tenderly, + And winning out all spasm and bad pain), + She found it not far off, and gathering some, + Returned with it to save Medoro's bloom. + + In coming back she met upon the way + A shepherd, who was riding through the wood + To find a heifer that had gone astray, + And been two days about the solitude. + She took him with her where Medoro lay, + Still feebler than he was with loss of blood; + So much he lost, and drew so hard a breath, + That he was now fast fading to his death. + + Angelica got off her horse in haste, + And made the shepherd get as fast from his; + She ground the herbs with stones, and then express'd + With her white hands the balmy milkiness; + Then dropp'd it in the wound, and bath'd his breast, + His stomach, feet, and all that was amiss + And of such virtue was it, that at length + The blood was stopp'd, and he look'd round with strength. + + At last he got upon the shepherd's horse, + But would not quit the place till he had seen + Laid in the ground his lord and master's corse; + And Cloridan lay with it, who had been + Smitten so fatally with sweet remorse. + He then obey'd the will of the fair queen; + And she, for very pity of his lot, + Went and stay'd with him at the shepherd's cot. + + Nor would she leave him, she esteem'd him so, + Till she had seen him well with her own eye; + So full of pity did her bosom grow, + Since first she saw him faint and like to die. + Seeing his manners now, and beauty too, + She felt her heart yearn somehow inwardly; + She felt her heart yearn somehow, till at last + 'Twas all on fire, and burning warm and fast. + + The shepherd's home was good enough and neat, + A little shady cottage in a dell + The man had just rebuilt it all complete, + With room to spare, in case more births befell. + There with such knowledge did the lady treat + Her handsome patient, that he soon grew well; + But not before she had, on her own part, + A secret wound much greater in her heart. + + Much greater was the wound, and deeper far, + Which the sweet arrow made in her heart's strings; + 'Twas from Medoro's lovely eyes and hair; + 'Twas from the naked archer with the wings. + She feels it now; she feels, and yet can bear + Another's less than her own sufferings. + She thinks not of herself: she thinks alone + How to cure him by whom she is undone. + + The more his wound recovers and gets ease, + Her own grows worse, and widens day by day. + The youth gets well; the lady languishes, + Now warm, now cold, as fitful fevers play. + His beauty heightens, like the flowering trees; + She, miserable creature, melts away + Like the weak snow, which some warm sun has found + Fall'n, out of season, on a rising ground. + + And must she speak at last, rather than die? + And must she plead, without another's aid? + She must, she must: the vital moments fly + She lives--she dies, a passion-wasted maid. + At length she bursts all ties of modesty: + Her tongue explains her eyes; the words are said + And she asks pity, underneath that blow + Which he, perhaps, that gave it did not know. + + O County Orlando! O King Sacripant! + That fame of yours, say, what avails it ye? + That lofty honour, those great deeds ye vaunt,-- + Say, what's their value with the lovely she + Shew me--recall to memory (for I can't)-- + Shew me, I beg, one single courtesy + That ever she vouchsafed ye, far or near, + For all you've done and have endured for her. + + And you, if you could come to life again, + O Agrican, how hard 'twould seem to you, + Whose love was met by nothing but disdain, + And vile repulses, shocking to go through! + O Ferragus! O thousands, who, in vain, + Did all that loving and great hearts could do, + How would ye feel, to see, with all her charms, + This thankless creature in a stripling's arms? + + The young Medoro had the gathering + Of the world's rose, the rose untouch'd before; + For never, since that garden blush'd with spring, + Had human being dared to touch the door. + To sanction it--to consecrate the thing-- + The priest was called to read the service o'er, + (For without marriage what can come but strife?) + And the bride-mother was the shepherd's wife. + + All was perform'd, in short, that could be so + In such a place, to make the nuptials good; + Nor did the happy pair think fit to go, + But spent the month and more within the wood. + The lady to the stripling seemed to grow. + His step her step, his eyes her eyes pursued; + Nor did her love lose any of its zest, + Though she was always hanging on his breast. + + In doors and out of doors, by night, by day, + She had the charmer by her side for ever; + Morning and evening they would stroll away, + Now by some field or little tufted river; + They chose a cave in middle of the day, + Perhaps not less agreeable or clever + Than Dido and AEneas found to screen them, + When they had secrets to discuss between them. + + And all this while there was not a smooth tree, + That stood by stream or fountain with glad breath, + Nor stone less hard than stones are apt to be, + But they would find a knife to carve it with; + And in a thousand places you might see, + And on the walls about you and beneath, + ANGELICA AND MEDORO, tied in one, + As many ways as lovers' knots can run. + + And when they thought they had outspent their time, + Angelica the royal took her way, + She and Medoro, to the Indian clime, + To crown him king of her great realm, Cathay.[1] + +[Footnote 1: This version of the present episode has appeared in print +before. So has a portion of the _Monks and the Giants_, in the first +volume.] + + * * * * * + +No. III. + +THE JEALOUSY OF ORLANDO. + +THE SAME. + + Feron camin diverso i cavallieri, + Di qua Zerbino, e di la il Conte Orlando. + Prima che pigli il Conte altri sentieri, + All'arbor tolse, e a se ripose il brando; + E, dove meglio col Pagan pensosse + Di potersi incontrare, il destrier mosse. + + Lo strano corso the tenne il cavallo + Del Saracin pel bosco senza via, + Fece ch'Orlando ando duo giorni in fallo, + Ne lo trovo, ne pote averne spia. + Giunse ad un rivo, che parea cristallo, + Ne le cui sponde un bel pratel fioria, + Di nativo color vago e dipinto, + E di molti e belli arbori distinto. + + Il merigge facea grato l'orezo + Al duro armento et al pastore ignudo; + Si che ne Orlando sentia alcun ribrezo, + Che la corazza avea, l'elmo e lo scudo. + Quivi egli entro, per riposarsi, in mezo; + E v'ebbe travaglioso albergo e crudo, + E, piu che dir si possa, empio soggiorno, + Quell'infelice e sfortunato giorno. + + Volgendosi ivi intorno, vidi scritti + Molti arbuscelli in su l'ombrosa riva. + Tosto the fermi v'ebbe gli occhi e fitti, + Fu certo esser di man de la sua Diva. + Questo era un di quei lochi gia descritti, + Ove sovente con Medor veniva + Da casa del pastore indi vicina + La bella donna del Catai Regina. + + Angelica e Medor con cento nodi + Legati insieme, e in cento lochi vede. + Quante lettere son, tanti son chiodi + Co i quali Amore il cor gli punge e fiede. + Va col pensier cercando in mille modi + Non creder quel ch'al suo dispetto crede: + Ch'altra Angelica sia, creder si sforza, + Ch'abbia scritto il suo nome in quella scorza. + + Poi dice: Conosco io pur queste note; + Di tal io n'he tante e vedute e lette. + Finger questo Medoro ella si puote; + Forse ch'a me questo cognome mette. + Con tali opinion dal ver remote + Usando fraude a se medesmo, stette + Ne la speranza il mal contento Orlando, + Che si seppe a se stesso ir procacciando. + + Ma sempre piu raccende e piu rinuova, + Quanto spenger piu cerca, il rio sospetto; + Come l'incauto augel che si ritrova + In ragna o in visco aver dato di petto, + Quanto piu batte l'ale e piu si prova + Di disbrigar, piu vi si lega stretto. + Orlando viene ove s'incurva il monte + A guisa d'arco in su la chiara fonte. + + Aveano in su l'entrata il luogo adorno + Coi piedi storti edere e viti erranti. + Quivi soleano al piu cocente giorno + Stare abbracciati i duo felici amanti. + V'aveano i nomi lor dentro e d'intorno + Piu che in altro de i luoghi circonstanti, + Scritti, qual con carbone e qual con gesso, + E qual con punte di coltelli impresso. + + Il mesto Conte a pie quivi discese; + E vide in su l'entrata de la grotta + Parole assai, che di sua man distese + Medoro avea, che parean scritte allotta. + Del gran piacer che ne la grotta prese, + Questa sentenzia in versi avea ridotta: + Che fosse culta in suo linguaggio io penso; + Et era ne la nostra tale in senso: + + Liete piante, verdi erbe, limpide acque, + Spelunca opaca e di fredde ombre grata, + Dove la bella Angelica, che nacque + Di Galafron, da molti in vano amata, + Spesso ne le mie braccia nuda giacque; + De la commodita che qui m'e data, + Io povero Medor ricompensarvi + D'altro non posso, che d'ognior lodarvi: + + E di pregare ogni signore amante + E cavallieri e damigelle, e ognuna + Persona o paesana o viandante, + Che qui sua volonta meni o Fortuna, + Ch'all'erbe, all'ombra, all'antro, al rio, alle piante + Dica: Benigno abbiate e sole e luna, + E de le nimfe il coro che provveggia, + Che non conduca a voi pastor mai greggia. + + Era scritta in Arabico, che 'l Conte + Intendea cosi ben, come Latino. + Fra molte lingue e molte ch'avea pronte + Prontissima avea quella il Paladino + E gli schivo piu volte e danni et onte, + Che si trovo tra il popul Saracino. + Ma non si vanti, se gia n'ebbe frutto; + Ch'un danno or n'ha, che puo scontargli il tutto. + + Tre volte, e quattro, e sei, lesse lo scritto + Quello infelice, e pur cercando in vano + Che non vi fosse quel che v'era scritto; + E sempre lo vedea piu chiaro e piano; + Et ogni volta in mezo il petto afflitto + Stringersi il cor sentia con fredda mano. + Rimase il fin con gli occhi e con la mente + Fissi nel sasso, al sasso indifferente. + + Fu allora per uscir del sentimento; + Si tutto in preda del dolor si lassa. + Credete a chi n'ha fatto esperimento, + Che questo e 'l duol che tutti gli altri passa. + Caduto gli era sopra il petto il mento, + La fronte priva di baldanza, e bassa; + Ne pote aver (che 'l duol l'occupo tanto) + Alle querele voce, o umore al pianto. + + L'impetuosa doglia entro rimase, + Che volea tutta uscir con troppa fretta. + Cosi veggian restar l'acqua nel vase, + Che largo il ventre e la bocca abbia stretta; + Che, nel voltar che si fa in su la base, + L'umor, che vorria uscir, tanto s'affretta, + E ne l'angusta via tanto s'intrica, + Ch'a goccia a goccia fuore esce a fatica. + + Poi ritorna in se alquanto, e pensa come + Possa esser che non sia la cosa vera: + Che voglia alcun cosi infamare il nome + De la sua donna e crede e brama e spera, + O gravar lui d'insopportabil some + Tanto di gelosia, che se ne pera; + Et abbia quel, sia chi si voglia stato, + Molto la man di lei bene imitato. + + In cosi poca, in cosi debol speme + Sveglia gli spirti, e gli rifranca un poco; + Indi al suo Brigliadoro il dosso preme, + Dando gia il sole alla sorella loco. + Non molto va, che da le vie supreme + De i tetti uscir vede il vapor del fuoco, + Sente cani abbaiar, muggiare armento; + Viene alla villa, e piglia alloggiamento. + + Languido smonta, e lascia Brigliadoro + A un discreto garzon che n'abbia cura. + Altri il disarma, altri gli sproni d'oro + Gli leva, altri a forbir va l'armatura. + Era questa la casa ove Medoro + Giacque ferito, e v'ebbe alta avventura. + Corcarsi Orlando e non cenar domanda, + Di dolor sazio e non d'altra vivanda. + + Quanto piu cerca ritrovar quiete, + Tanto ritrova piu travaglio e pene; + Che de l'odiato scritto ogni parete, + Ogni uscio, ogni finestra vede piena. + Chieder ne vuol: poi tien le labra chete; + Che teme non si far troppo serena, + Troppo chiara la cosa, che di nebbia + Cerca offuscar, perche men nuocer debbia. + + Poco gli giova usar fraude a se stesso; + Che senza domandarne e chi ne parla. + Il pastor, che lo vede cosi oppresso + Da sua tristrizia, e che vorria levarla, + L'istoria nota a se the dicea spesso + Di quei duo amanti a chi volea ascoltarla, + Ch'a molti dilettevole fu a udire, + Gl'incomincio senza rispetto a dire: + + Come esso a prieghi d'Angelica bella, + Portato avea Medoro alla sua villa; + Ch'era ferito gravemente, e ch'ella + Curo la piaga, e in pochi di guarilla; + Ma che nel cor d'una maggior di quella + Lei feri amor: e di poca scintilla + L'accese tanto e si cocente fuoco, + Che n'ardea tutta, e non trovava loco. + + E, sanza aver rispetto ch'ella fosse + Figlia del maggior Re ch'abbia il Levante, + Da troppo amor constretta si condusse + A farsi moglie d'un povero fante. + All'ultimo l'istoria si ridusse, + Che 'l pastor fe' portar la gemma inante, + Ch'alla sua dipartenza, per mercede + Del buono albergo, Angelica gli diede. + + Questa conclusion fu la secure + Che 'l capo a un colpo gli levo dal collo, + Poi che d'innumerabil battiture + Si vide il manigoldo Amor satollo. + Celar si studia Orlando il duolo; e pure + Quel gli fa forza, e male asconder puollo; + Per lacrime e suspir da bocca e d'occhi + Convien, voglia o non voglia, al fin che scocchi. + + Poi ch'allagare il freno al dolor puote + (Che resta solo, e senza altrui rispetto), + Giu da gli occhi rigando per le gote + Sparge un fiume di lacrime su 'l petto: + Sospira e geme, e va con spesse ruote + Di qua di la tutto cercando il letto; + E piu duro ch'un sasso, e piu pungente + Che se fosse d'urtica, se lo sente. + + In tanto aspro travaglio gli soccorre, + Che nel medesmo letto in che giaceva + L'ingrata donna venutasi a porre + Col suo drudo piu volte esser doveva. + Non altrimenti or quella piuma abborre + Ne con minor prestezza se ne leva, + Che de l'erba il villan, che s'era messo + Per chiuder gli occhi, e vegga il serpe appresso. + + Quel letto, quella casa, quel pastore + Immantinente in tant'odio gli casca, + Che senza aspettar luna, o che l'albore + Che va dinanzi al nuovo giorno, nasca, + Piglia l'arme e il destriero, et esce fuore + Per mezo il bosco alla piu oscura frasca; + E quando poi gli e avviso d'esser solo, + Con gridi et urli apre le porte al duolo. + + Di pianger mai, mai di gridar non resta; + Ne la notte ne 'l di si da mai pace; + Fugge cittadi e borghi, e alla foresta + Su 'l terren duro al discoperto giace. + Di se si maraviglia ch'abbia in testa + Una fontana d'acqua si vivace, + E come sospirar possa mai tanto; + E spesso dice a se cosi nel pianto: + + Queste non son piu lacrime, che fuore + Stillo da gli occhi con si larga vena. + Non suppliron le lacrime al dolore; + Finir, ch'a mezo era il dolore a pena. + Dal fuoco spinto ora il vitale umore + Fugge per quella via ch'a gli occhi mena; + Et e quel che si versa, e trarra insieme + E 'l dolore e la vita all'ore estreme. + + Questi, ch'indizio fan del mio tormento, + Sospir non sono; ne i sospir son tali. + Quelli han triegua talora; io mai non sento + Che 'l petto mio men la sua pena esali. + Amor, che m'arde il cor, fa questo vento, + Mentre dibatte intorno al fuoco l'ali. + Amor, con che miracolo lo fai, + Che 'n fuoco il tenghi, e nol consumi mai? + + Non son, non sono io quel che paio in viso; + Quel, ch'era Orlando, e morto, et e sotterra; + La sua donna ingratissima l'ha ucciso; + Si, mancando di fe, gli ha fatto guerra. + Io son lo spirito suo da lui diviso, + Ch'in questo inferno tormentandosi erra, + Accio con l'ombra sia, che sola avanza, + Esempio a chi in amor pone speranza. + + Pel bosco erro tutta la notte il Conte; + E allo spuntar della diurna fiamma + Lo torno il suo destin sopra la fonte, + Dove Medoro insculse l'epigramma. + Veder l'ingiuria sua scritta nel monte + L'accese si, ch'in lui non resto dramma + Che non fosse odio, rabbia, ira e furore; + Ne piu indugio, che trasse il brando fuore. + + Taglio lo scritto e 'l sasso, e sin al cielo + A volo alzar fe'le minute schegge. + Infelice quell'antro, et ogni stelo + In cui Medoro e Angelica si legge! + Cosi restar quel di, ch'ombra ne gielo + A pastor mai non daran piu, ne a gregge: + E quella fonte gia si chiara e pura, + Da cotanta ira fu poco sicura: + + Che rami, e ceppi, e tronchi, e sassi, e zolle + Non cesso di gittar ne le bell'onde, + Fin che da sommo ad imo si turbolle + Che non furo mai piu chiare ne monde; + E stanco al fin, e, al fin di sudor molle, + Poi che la lena vinta non risponde + Allo sdegno, al grave odio, all'ardente ira, + Cade sul prato, e verso il ciel sospira. + + Afflitto e stanco al fin cade ne l'erba, + E ficca gli occhi al cielo, e non fa motto; + Senza cibo e dormir cosi si serba, + Che 'l sole esce tre volte, e torna sotto. + Di crescer non cesso la pena acerba, + Che fuor del senno al fin l'ebbe condotto. + Il quarto di, da gran furor commosso, + E maglic e piastre si straccio di dosso. + + Qui riman l'elmo, e la riman lo scudo; + Lontan gli arnesi, e piu lontan l'usbergo + L'arme sue tutte, in somma vi concludo, + Avean pel bosco differente albergo. + E poi si squarcio i panni, e mostro ignudo + L'ispido ventre, e tutto 'l petto e 'l tergo; + E comincio la gran follia, si orrenda, + Che de la piu non sara mai ch'intenda. + + In tanta rabbia, in tanto furor venne, + Che rimase offuscato in ogni senso. + Di tor la spada in man non gli sovvenne, + Che fatte avria mirabil cose, penso. + Ma ne quella ne scure ne bipenne + Era bisogno al suo vigore immenso. + Quivi fe' ben de le sue prove eccelse; + Ch'un alto pine al primo crollo svelse; + + E svelse dopo il primo altri parecchi, + Come tosser finocchi, ebuli o aneti; + E fe' il simil di querce e d'olmi vecchi, + Di faggi e d' orni e d' illici a d' abeti; + Quel ch'un uccellator, the s'apparecchi + Il campo mondo, fa, per por le reti, + De i giunchi e de le stoppie e de l'urtiche, + Facchi de cerri e d' altre piante antiche. + + I pastor, che sentito hanno il fracasso, + Lasciando il gregge sparso alla foresta, + Chi di qua, chi di la, tutti a gran passo + Vi vengono a veder che cosa e questa. + + * * * * * + +The poet breaks off here, and enters afterwards at large into the +consequences of the madness of Orlando; omitted in this work, for the +reasons mentioned at page 224. + + * * * * * + +No. IV. + +THE DEATH OF CLORINDA. + + TASSO. + + Ma, ecco omai l'ora fatale e giunta + Che 'l viver di Clorinda al suo fin deve. + Spinge egli il ferro nel bel sen di punta, + Che vi s'immerge, e 'l sangue avido beve; + E la veste che d'or vago trapunta + Le mammelle stringea tenera e leve + L'empie d'un caldo fiume. Ella gia sente + Morirsi, e 'l pie le manea egro e languente. + + Quel segue la vittoria, e la trafitta + Vergine minacciando incalza e preme: + Ella, mentre cadea, la voce afitta + Movendo, disse le parole estreme: + Parole ch'a lei novo on spirto ditta, + Spirto di fe, di carita, di speme: + Virtu ch'or Dio le infonde; e se rubella + In vita fu, la vuole in morte ancella: + + Amico, hai vinto; io ti perdon: perdona + Tu ancora, al corpo no, che nulla pave, + All'alma si: deh! per lei prega: e dona + Battesmo a me ch'ogni mia colpe lave. + In queste voci languide risuona + Un non so che di flebile e soave, + Che al cor gli serpe, ed ogni sdegno ammorza, + E gli occhi a lagrimar gl' invoglia e sforza. + + Poco quindi lontan nel sen del monte + Scaturia mormorando an picciol rio: + Egli v'accorse, e l'elmo empie nel fonte, + E torno mesto al grande ufficio e pio. + Tremar senti la man, mentre la fronte, + Non conosciuta ancor, sciolse e scoprio. + La vide, e la conobbe; e resto senza + E voce, e moto. Ahi vista! ahi cognoscenza! + + Non mori gia; che sue virtuti accolse + Tutte in quel punto, e in guardia al cor le mise; + E, premendo il suo affanno, a dar si volse + Vita coll'acqua a chi col ferro uccise. + Mentre egli il suon de' sacri detti sciolse, + Colei di gioia trasmutossi, e rise: + E in atto di morir lieto e vivace, + Dir parea; S'apre il cielo; io vado in pace. + + D'un bel pallore ha il bianco volto asperso, + Come a gigli sarian miste viole; + E gli occhi al cielo affisa, e in lei converso + Sembra per la pietate il cielo e 'l sole; + E la man nuda e fredda alzando verso + Il cavaliero, in vece di parole, + Gli da pegno di pace. In questa forma + Passa la bella donna, e par che dorma. + + Come l'alma gentile uscita ei vede, + Rallenta quel vigor ch'avea raccolto, + E l'imperio di se libero cede + Al duol gia fatto impetuoso e stolto, + Ch' al cor si stringe, e chiusa in breve sede + La vita, empie di morte i sensi e 'l volto. + Gia simile all' estinto il vivo langue + Al colore, al silenzio, agli atti, al sangue. + + E ben la vita sua sdegnosa e schiva, + Spezzando a sforza il suo ritegno frale, + La bell'anima sciolta alfin seguiva, + Che poco innanzi a lei spiegava l'ale; + Ma quivi stuol de' Franchi a caso arriva, + Cui trae bisogno d' acqua, o d'altro tale; + E con la donna il cavalier ne porta, + In se mal vivo, e morto in lei ch'e morta. + + * * * * * + +No V. + +TANCRED IN THE ENCHANTED FOREST. + +THE SAME. + + Era in prence Tancredi intanto sorto + A seppellir la sua diletta amica; + E, benche in volto sia languido e smorto, + E mal atto a portar elmo e lorica, + Nulladimen, poi che 'l bisogno ha scorto, + Ei non ricusa il rischio o la fatica; + Che 'l cor vivace il suo vigor trasfonde + Al corpo si, che par ch'esso n'abbonde. + + Vassene il valoroso in se ristretto, + E tacito e guardingo al rischio ignoto + E sostien della selva il fero aspetto, + E 'l gran romor del tuono e del tremoto; + E nulla sbigottisce; e sol nel petto + Sente, ma tosto il seda, un picciol moto. + Trapassa; ed ecco in quel silvestre loco + Sorge improvvisa la citta del foco. + + Allor s' arretra, e dubbio alquanto resta, + Fra se dicendo: Or qui che vaglion l'armi? + Nelle fauci de' mostri, e 'n gola a questa + Divoratrice fiamma andro a gettarmi? + Non mai la vita, ove cagione onesta + Del comun pro la chieda, altri risparmi; + Ma ne prodigo sia d' anima grande + Uom denso; e tale e ben chi qui la spande. + + Pur l'oste che dira, s'indarno io riedo? + Qual altra selva ha di troncar speranza? + Ne intentato lasciar vorra Goffredo + Mai questo varco. Or, s'oltre alcun s'avanza, + Forse l'incendio, che qui sorto i' vedo, + Fia d'effetto minor che sembianza; + Ma seguane che puote. E in questo dire + Dentro saltovvi: oh memorando ardire! + + Ne sotto l'arme gia sentir gli parve + Caldo o fervor come di foco intenso; + Ma pur, se fosser vere fiamme o larve, + Mal pote giudicar si tosto il senso: + Perche repente, appena tocco, sparve + Quel simulacro, e giunse un nuvol denso, + Che porto notte e verno; e 'l verno ancora + E l'ombra dileguossi in picciol'ora. + + Stupido si, ma intrepido rimane + Tancredi; e poiche vede il tutto cheto, + Mette securo il pie nelle profane + Soglie, e spia della selva ogni secreto. + Ne piu apparenze inusitate e strane, + Ne trova alcun per via scontro o divieto, + Se non quanto per se ritarda il bosco + La vista e i passi, inviluppato e fosco. + + Alfine un largo spazio in forma scorge + D'anfiteatro, e non e pianta in esso, + Salvo che nel suo mezzo altero sorge, + Quasi eccelsa piramide, un cipresso. + Cola si drizza, e nel mirar s' accorge + Ch' era di varj segni il tronco impresso, + Simil a quei, che in vece uso di scritto + L'antico gia misterioso Egitto. + + Fra i segni ignoti alcune note ha scorte + Del sermon di Soria, ch'ei ben possiede: + O tu, che dentro ai chiostri della morte + Osasti por, guerriero audace, il piede, + Deh! se non sei crudel, quanto sei forte, + Deh! non turbar questa secreta sede. + Perdona all'alme omai di luce prive: + Non dee guerra co' morti aver chi vive. + + Cosi dicea quel motto. Egli era intento + Delle brevi parole ai segni occulti. + Fremere intanto udia continuo il vento + Tra le frondi del bosco e tra i virgulti; + E trarne un suon che flebile concento + Par d'umani sospiri e di singulti; + E un non so che confuso instilla al core + Di pieta, di spavento e di dolore. + + Pur tragge alfin la spada, e con gran forza + Percote l'alta pianta. Oh maraviglia! + Manda fuor sangue la recisa scorza, + E fa la terra intorno a se vermiglia. + Tutto si raccapriccia; e pur rinforza + Il colpo, e 'l fin vederne ei si consiglia. + Allor, quasi di tomba, uscir ne sente + Un indistinto gemito dolente; + + Che poi distinto in voci: Ahi troppo, disse, + M' hai tu, Tancredi, offesso: or tanto basti: + Tu dal corpo, che meco e per me visse, + Felice albergo gia, mi discacciasti. + Perche il misero tronco, a cui m'affisse + Il mio duro destino, ancor mi guasti? + Dopo la morte gli avversarj tuoi, + Crudel, ne' lor sepolcri offender vuoi? + + Clorinda fui: ne sol qui spirto umano + Albergo in questa pianta rozza e dura; + Ma ciascun altro ancor, Franco o Pagano, + Che lassi i membri a pie dell'alte mura, + Astretto e qui da novo incanto e strano, + Non so s' io dica in corpo o in sepoltura. + Son di sensi animati i rami e i tronchi; + E micidial sei tu, se legno tronchi. + + Qual infermo talor, ch'in sogno scorge + Drago, o cinta di fiamme alta Chimera, + Sebben sospetta, o in parte anco s'accorge + Che simulacro sia non forma vera, + Pur desia di fuggir, tanto gli porge + Spavento la sembianza orrida e fera: + Tale il timido amante appien non crede + Ai falsi inganni: e pur ne teme, e cede: + + E dentro il cor gli e in modo tal conquiso + Da varj affetti, che s' agghiaccia e trema; + E nel moto potente ed improvviso + Gli cade il ferro: e 'l manco e in lui la tema. + Va fuor di se. Presente aver gli e avviso + L' offesa donna sua, che plori e gema: + Ne puo soffrir di rimirar quel sangue, + Ne quei gemiti udir d'egro che langue. + + Cosi quel contra morte audace core + Nulla forma turbo d' alto spavento; + Ma lui, che solo e fievole in amore, + Falsa imago deluse e van lamento. + Il suo caduto ferro instanto fuore + Porto del bosco impetuoso vento, + Sicche vinto partissi; e in sulla strada + Ritrovo poscia, e ripiglio la spada. + + Pur non torno, ne ritentando ardio + Spiar di novo le cagioni ascose; + E poi che, giunto al sommo Duce, unio + Gli spirti alquanto, e l'animo compose, + Incomincio: Signor, nunzio son io + Di non credute e non credibil cose. + Cio che dicean dello spettacol fero, + E del suon paventoso, e tutto vero. + + Maraviglioso foco indi m'apparse, + Senza materia in un istante appreso; + Che sorse, e, dilatando un muro farse + Parve, e d' armati mostri esser difeso. + Pur vi passai; che ne l'incendio m' arse, + Ne dal ferro mi fu l'andar conteso: + Verno in quel punto, ed annotto: fe' il giorno + E la serenita poscia ritorno. + + Di piu diro; ch'agli alberi da vita + Spirito uman, che sente e che ragiona. + Per prova sollo: io n'ho la voce udita, + Che nel cor flebilmente anco mi suona. + Stilla sangue de' tronchi ogni ferita, + Quasi di molle carne abbian persona. + No, no, piu non potrei (vinto mi chiamo) + Ne corteccia scorzar, ne sveller ramo. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Stories from the Italian Poets: With +Lives of the Writers, Vol. 2, by Leigh Hunt + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ITALIAN POETS *** + +***** This file should be named 10635.txt or 10635.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/6/3/10635/ + +Produced by Stan Goodman, Jayam Subramanian and PG Distributed +Proofreaders + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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