LEONORA D'ESTE.
Leonora d'Este, a princess of the proudest house in Europe, might have
wedded an emperor, and have been forgotten. The idea, true or false,
that she it was who broke the heart and frenzied the brain of Tasso, has
glorified her to future ages; has given her a fame, something like that
of the Greek of old, who bequeathed his name to immortality, by firing
the grandest temple of the universe.
The question of Tasso's attachment to the Princess Leonora, is, I
believe, set at rest by the acute researches and judicious reasoning of
M. Ginguene, and those who have followed in his steps. A body of
circumstantial evidence has been collected, which would not only satisfy
a court of love--but a court of law, with a Lord Chancellor, to boot,
"_perpending_" at the head of it. That which was once regarded as a
romance, which we wished to believe, if we _could_, is now an
established fact, which we cannot disbelieve if we would.
No poet perhaps ever owed so much to female influence as Tasso, or wrote
so much under the intoxicating inspiration of love and beauty. He paid
most dearly for such inspiration; and yet not _too_ dearly. The high
tone of sentiment, the tenderness, and the delicacy which pervade all
his poems, which prevail even in his most voluptuous descriptions, and
which give him such a decided superiority over Ariosto, cannot be owing
to any change of manners or increase of refinement produced by the lapse
of a few years. It may be traced to the tender influence of two elegant
women. He for many years read the cantos of the Gerusalemme, as he
composed them, to the Princesses Lucretia and Leonora, both of whom he
admired--one of whom he adored.
_Au reste_--the kiss, which he is said to have imprinted on the lips of
Leonora in a transport of frenzy, as well as the idea that she was the
primary cause of his insanity, and of his seven years' imprisonment at
St. Anne's, rest on no authority worthy of credit; yet it is not less
certain that she was the object of his secret and fervent admiration,
and that this hopeless passion conspired, with many other causes, to
fever his irritable temperament and unsettle his imagination, beyond
that "fine madness," which we are told _ought_ "to possess the poet's
brain."
When Tasso first visited Ferrara, in 1565, he was just one-and-twenty,
with all the advantages which a fine countenance, a majestic figure,
(for he was tall even among the tallest,) noble birth, and excelling
talents could bestow: he was already distinguished as the author of the
Rinaldo, his earliest poem, in which he had celebrated (as if
prophetically,) the Princesses d'Este--and chiefly Leonora.
Lucrezia Estense, e l'altra i cui crin d'oro,
Lacci e reti saran del casto amore.[120]
When Tasso was first introduced to her in her brother's court, Leonora
was in her thirtieth year; a disparity of age which is certainly no
argument against the passion she inspired. For a young man, at his first
entrance into life, to fall in love ambitiously--with a woman, for
instance, who is older than himself, or with one who is, or ought to be,
unattainable--is a common occurrence. Tasso, from his boyish years, had
been the sworn servant of beauty. He tells us, in grave prose, "che la
sua giovanezza fu tutta sotto-posta all' amorose leggi;"[121] but he was
also refined, even to fastidiousness, in his intercourse with women. He
had formed, in his own poetical mind, the most exalted idea of what a
female ought to be, and unfortunately, she who first realised all his
dreams of perfection, was a Princess--"there seated where he durst not
soar." Leonora was still eminently lovely, in that soft, artless,
unobtrusive style of beauty, which is charming in itself, and in a
princess irresistible, from its contrast with the loftiness of her
station and the trappings of her rank. Her complexion was extremely
fair; her features small and regular; and the form of her head
peculiarly graceful, if I may judge from a fine medallion I once saw of
her in Italy. Ill health, and her early acquaintance with the sorrows of
her unfortunate mother, had given to her countenance a languid and
pensive cast, and sicklied all the natural bloom of her complexion; but
"Paleur, qui marque une ame tendre, a bien son prix:" so Tasso thought;
and this "vago Pallore," which "vanquishes the rose, and makes the dawn
ashamed of her blushes," he has frequently and beautifully celebrated;
as in the pretty Madrigal--
Vita della mia Vita!
_O Rosa scolorita!_ &c.
and in those graceful lines,
Languidetta belta vinceva amore, &c.
applicable only to Leonora. Her eyes were blue; her mouth of peculiar
beauty, both in form and expression. In the seventh Sonnet, "Bella e la
donna mia," he says it was the most lovely feature in her face; in
another, still finer,[122] he styles this exquisite mouth "a crimson
shell"--
Purpurea conca, in cui si nutre
Candor di perle elette e pellegrine;
and he concludes it with one of those disguises under which he was
accustomed to conceal Leonora's name.
E di si degno cor tuo straLE ONORA.
She was negligent in her dress, and studious and retired in her habits,
seldom joining in the amusements of her brother's court, then the gayest
and most magnificent in Italy.[123] Her accomplished and unhappy mother,
Renee of France,[124] had early instilled into her mind a love of
literature, and especially of poetry. She was passionately fond of
music, and sang admirably. One of Tasso's most beautiful sonnets was
composed on some occasion when her physician had forbidden her to sing.
He who had so often felt the magic of that enchanting voice, thus
describes its power and laments his loss:--
Ahi, ben e reo destin, ch' invidia, e toglie
Almondo il suon de' vostri chiari accenti,
Onde addivien che le terrene genti
De' maggior pregi, impoverisca e spoglie.
Ch' ogni nebbia mortal, che 'l senso accoglie,
Sgombrar potea dalle piu fosche menti
L' armonia dolce, e bei pensieri ardenti
Spirar d' onore, e pure e nobil voglie.
Ma non si merta qui forse cotanto;
E basta ben che i sereni occhi, e 'l riso
N' infiammin d' un piacer celeste e santo.
Nulla fora piu bello il Paradiso,
Se 'l mondo udisse, in voi d' angelo il canto,
Siccome vede in voi d' angelo il viso.
"O cruel--O envious destiny, that hast deprived the world of those
delicious accents, that hast made earth poor in what was dearest and
sweetest! No cloud ever gathered over the gloomiest mind, which the
melody of that voice could not disperse; it breathed but to inspire
noble thoughts and chaste desires.--But, no! it was more than mortals
could deserve to possess. Those soft eyes, that smile were enough to
inspire a sacred and sweet delight.--Nor would Paradise any longer excel
this earth, if in your voice we heard an angel sing, as we behold an
angel's beauty in your face!"
Leonora, to a sweet-toned voice, added a gift, which, unless thus
accompanied, loses half its value, and almost all its charm--she spoke
well; and her eloquence was so persuasive, that we are told she had
power to move her brother Alphonso, when none else could. Tasso says
most poetically,
E l'aura del parlar cortese e saggio,
Fra le rose spirar, s'udia sovente;
--meaning--for to translate literally is scarce possible,--that
"eloquence played round her lips, like the zephyr breathing over roses."
"I (he adds), beholding a celestial beauty walk the earth, closed my
eyes in terror, exclaiming, O rashness! O folly! for any to dare to gaze
on such charms! Alas! I quickly perceived that this was my least peril.
My heart was touched through my ears; her gentle wisdom penetrated
deeper than her beauty could reach."
With what emotions must a young and ardent poet have listened to his own
praises from a beautiful mouth, thus sweetly gifted! and it may be
added, that Leonora's eloquence, and the influence she possessed over
her brother, were ever employed in behalf of the deserving and
unfortunate. The good people of Ferrara had such an exalted idea of her
piety and benevolence, that when an earthquake caused a terrible
innundation of the Po, and the destruction of the surrounding villages,
they attributed the safety of their city entirely to her prayers and
intercession.
Leonora then was not unworthy of her illustrious conquest, either in
person, heart, or mind. To be summoned daily into the presence of a
Princess thus beautiful and amiable, to read aloud his verses to her, to
hear his own praises from her lips, to bask in her approving smiles, to
associate with her in her retirement, to behold her in all the graceful
simplicity of her familiar life,--was a dangerous situation for Tasso,
and surely not less so for Leonora herself. That she was aware of his
admiration, and perfectly understood his sentiments, and that a
mysterious intelligence existed between them, consistent with the utmost
reverence on his part, and the most perfect delicacy and dignity on
hers, is apparent from the meaning and tendency of innumerable passages
scattered through his minor poems--too significant in their application
to be mistaken. Though that application be not avowed, and even
disguised--the very disguise, when once detected, points to the object.
Leonora knew, as well as her lover, that a Princess "was no love-mate
for a bard." She knew far better than her lover, until _he_ too had been
taught by wretched experience, the haughty and implacable temper of her
brother Alphonso, who never was known to brook an injury or forgive an
offender. She must have remembered too well the twelve years'
imprisonment and the narrow escape from death, of her unfortunate mother
for a less cause. She was of a timid and reserved nature, increased by
the extreme delicacy of her constitution. Her hand had frequently been
sought by princes and nobles, whom she had uniformly rejected, at the
risk of displeasing her brother; and the eyes of a jealous court were
upon her. Tasso, on the other hand, was imprudent, hot-headed, fearless,
ardently attached. For both their sakes, it was necessary for Leonora to
be guarded and reserved, unless she would have made herself the fable of
all Italy. And in what glowing verse has Tasso described all the
delicious pain of such a situation! now proud of his fetters, now
execrating them in despair. In allusion to his ambitious passion, he is
Phaeton, Icarus, Tantalus, Ixion.
Se d' Icaro leggesti c di Fetonte, &c.
But though presumption flung to ruin Icarus and Phaeton, did not the
power of love bring even Dian down "from her amazing height?"
E che non puote
Amor, che con catena il ciel unisce?
Egli gia trae delle celeste rote
Di terrana belta Diana accesa,
E d'Ida il bel Fanciul[125] al' ciel rapisce.
This at least is _clearly_ significant, however poetical the allusions;
but what a world of passion and of meaning breathes through the Sonnet
which he has entitled "The constrained Silence," ("_Il Silenzio
Imposto._")
"She is content that I should love her; yet, O what hard restraint of
galling silence has she imposed!"
Vuol che l' ami costei; ma duro freno
Mi pone ancor d' aspro silenzio; or quale
Avro da lei, se non conosce il male
O medecina, o refrigerio almeno?
....*....*....*....*
Tacer ben posso, e tacero! ch' io toglia
Sangue alle piaghe, e luce al vivo foco
Non brami gia; questa e impossibil voglia
Troppo spinse pungenti a dentro i colpi,
E troppo ardore accolse in picciol loco:
S' apparira, natura, e se n' incolpi.[126]
"Yes, I can, I will keep silence; but to command that the wound shall
not bleed nor the fire burn, is to command impossibility. Too, too deep
hath the blow been struck; too ardently glows the flame; and if
betrayed, the fault is in nature--not in me!"
And again, what can be more exquisitely tender, more beautiful in its
fervent simplicity of expression, than the effusion which follows? How
miserably does an inadequate prose translation halt after the glowing
poetry, the rhythmical music, the "linked sweetness" of the original!
Io non cedo in amar, Donna gentile
A' chi mostra di fuor l' interno affetto;
Perche 'l mio si nasconda in mezzo 'l petto,
Ne co' fior s' apra del mio nuovo Aprile,
Co' vaghi sguardi, e col sembiante umile,
Co' detti sparsi in variando aspetto
Altri si veggia al vostro amor soggetto,
E co' sospiri, e con leggiadro stile.
E quando gela il cielo, e quando infiamma,
E quando parte il sole, e quando riede,
Vi segua; come il can selvaggia damma.
Ch' io se nel cor vi cerco, altri noi vede,
E sol mi vanto di nascosa fiamma,
E sol mi glorio di secreta fede.[127]
"I yield not in love, O gentlest lady! to those who dare to show their
love more openly, though I conceal it within the centre of my heart, nor
suffer it to spread forth, like the other flowers of my spring. Let
others boast themselves subjects of love for your sake, and slaves of
your beauty, with admiring looks, with humble aspect, with sighs, with
eloquent words, with lofty verse! whether the winter freeze or the
summer burn,--at set of sun, and when he laughs again in heaven, let
them still pursue you, as dogs the shy and timid deer. But I--O, I seek
you in my own heart, where none else behold you! My hidden love be my
only boast: my secret faith, my only glory!"
Without multiplying quotations, which would extend this sketch from
pages into volumes, it is sufficient to trace through Tasso's verses the
little incidents which varied this romantic intercourse. The frequent
indisposition of Leonora, her absence when she went to visit her
brother, the Cardinal d'Este, at Tivoli, form the subjects of several
beautiful little poems; as the Sonnets
Dianzi al vostro languir, &c.
Donna! poiche fortuna empia mi nega
Seguirvi, &c.
Al nobil colle, ove in antichi marmi
Di Greco mano opre famose ammira
Vaga LEONORA il mio pensier mi gira.
Here he names her expressly; while in the little lament--
Lunge da voi, ben mio!
Non ho vita ne core! e non son io
Non sono, oime! non sono
Quel ch' altra volta fui, ma un Ombra mesta,
Un lagrimevol suono, &c.
--the tone is too passionate to allow of it. He finds her looking up one
night at the stars; it is sufficient to inspire that beautiful little
song,
Mentre, mia stella, miri
I bei celesti giri,
Il cielo esser vorrei,
Perche negli occhi mici
Fiso tu rivolgessi
Le tue dolci faville;
Io vagheggiar potessi
Mille bellezze tue, con luci mille![128]
He relates, in another little madrigal, that standing alone with her in
a balcony, he chanced, perhaps in the eagerness of conversation, to
extend his arm on hers. He asks pardon for the freedom, and she replies
with sweetness, "You offended not by placing your arm there, but by
withdrawing it." This little speech in a coquette would have been _sans
consequence_; from such a woman as Leonora, it spoke volumes; and her
lover felt it so. He breaks forth in a rapture at the tender
condescension,
O parolette amorose, &c.
Then comes a cloud, but whether of temper or jealousy, we know not. One
of those luckless trifles, perhaps,
--that move
Dissension between hearts that love.
Tasso accompanied Lucrezia d'Este, then Duchess of Urbino, to her villa
of Castel Durante, where he remained for some time, partaking in all the
amusements of her gay court, without once seeing Leonora. He then wrote
to her, and the letter fortunately has been preserved entire.
Though guarded in expression, it is throughout in the tone of a lover
piqued, and yet conscious that he has himself offended; and seeking,
with a sort of proud humility, the reconciliation on which his happiness
depends. He sends her a sonnet, which he admits is "far unlike the
elegant effusions he supposes her now in the habit of receiving." He
begs to assure her, that though it be in art and wit as poor as he is
himself in happiness, yet in his present pitiable condition, he could do
no better; (not that he was to all appearance so very much to be
pitied). He adds, "do not think, however, that in this vacancy of
thought, my heart has found leisure for love. The Sonnet is merely
composed at the request of a certain poor lover, who has for some time
past quarrelled with his mistress; and now no longer able to endure his
hard fortune, is obliged to yield, and sue for grace and pardon." "Il
quale essendo stato un pezzo in colera con la sua donna, ora non potendo
piu, bisogna che si renda e che dimanda merce." The Sonnet enclosed in
this letter, ("Sdegno, debil Guerrier,") appears to me one of the least
pleasing in the collection; as if his genius and his feelings were both
under some benumbing influence when he wrote it.
In the meanwhile, there was a report that Leonora was about to be united
to a foreign Prince. Her hand had been demanded of her brother with the
usual formalities. On this occasion Tasso wrote the fine Canzone,
Amor, tu vedi, e non hai duolo o sdegno, &c.
"Love! canst thou look on without grief or indignation, to see my gentle
lady bow her fair neck to the yoke of another?"
The expression in the 6th strophe is very unequivocal--
"Nor let my mistress, though she suffer her bosom to be invaded by a
newer flame, forget the _former_ bond."
Ne la mia Donna, perche scaldi il petto
Di nuovo amore, nodo _antico_ sprezzi.
In one of his Sonnets, this jealous pain is yet more strongly
expressed:--
Io sparso, ed altri miete! &c.
"I sow, another reaps! I water a lovely blossom, unworthy, alas! to tend
it; and another gathers the fruit. O rage!--yet must I, through coward
fear, lock my grief within my own bosom!" &c.
This intended marriage never took place; and Tasso, relieved from his
fears, and restored to the confidence of Leonora, was again
comparatively blessed. He sometimes ventured to name her openly in his
poems,--as in the little Madrigal,
Cantava in riva al fiume
Tirse di LEONORA,
E rispondean le selve, e l'onde, _onora_.
Sometimes he disguised her name as l'Aurora, l'Aura, Onor, le
onora,[129]
Dell' Onor simulacro e'l nome vostro.
To these the preceding Madrigal is a sort of _key_; or the better to
conceal the true object of his adoration, he carried his apparent
homage, and often his poetical gallantry, to the feet of other fair
ladies. Lucretia d'Este, the elder sister of Leonora; Tarquinia Molza, a
beauty and a poetess; and Lucretia Bendidio, another most accomplished
woman, who numbered all the poets and literati of Ferrara in her train,
frequently inspired him.
The mention of Lucretia Bendidio reminds me of an incident in Tasso's
early life, which, besides being characteristic of his times and genius,
is extremely _apropos_ to my present purpose and subject. In the days of
his first enthusiasm for Lucretia, when he and Guarini were rivals for
her favour, he undertook to maintain, publicly, fifty _theses_, or
difficult questions, in the "Science of Love." These "Conclusion!
amorosi" may be found in the third volume of the great folio edition of
his works; and some of them, it must be confessed, afforded matter for
much amusing and edifying discussion; for instance,--"Amore esser piu
nell' amata che nell' amante," "that love exists rather in the person
beloved than in the lover," which seems to involve a nice distinction in
metaphysics; and "Nessuna amata essere, o poter essere ingrata,"--"that
no woman truly beloved, is or can be ungrateful," which involves a
mystery--and a truth. And the 48th, "Se piu si patisca, o non ricevendo
alcun premio, o ricevendo minor del desiderio,"--"whether in love, it be
harder to receive no recompense whatever, or less than we desire,"--a
question so difficult to settle, and so depending on individual feeling,
that it should have been put to the vote. Others prove, that whatever
was the practice in those days, the received and philosophical theory of
love was sublime enough; for instance, the 14th, "That the more love is
regulated by reason, the more noble it is in its nature." (Agreed to,
with exceptions, of which Tasso himself might furnish the most
prominent.) That "compassion in our sex is never a sign of reciprocal
affection, but on the contrary." (True, generally.) The 34th, "That the
respect of the lover for her he loves increases the value and delight of
every favour she grants him." (I think this must have passed undisputed,
or by acclamation.)
The 38th of these curious propositions, "L'uomo in sua natura amar piu
intentamente e stabilmente che la donna,"--that "men by nature love more
intensely and more permanently than women," was opposed by Signora
Orsolina Cavaletta, a woman of singular accomplishments, and who
displayed, in defence of her sex, so much wit and talent, such various
learning, ingenuity, and eloquence, that the young disputant, perhaps
placed in a dilemma between his honour and his gallantry, came very
hardly off. This singular exhibition continued for three days, and was
conducted with infinite solemnity, in presence of the Court and the
Princesses; all the nobility and even the superior clergy of Ferrara
crowded to witness it; and I doubt whether any lecture at the British
Institution, on mathematics, or electricity, or geology, was ever
listened to by our fair bas-bleus with half as much interest as Tasso's
"Fifty Theses on Love" excited in Ferrara.
Several years after his first introduction to Leonora d'Este, and after
some of the most impassioned and least ambiguous of his verses were
written, the Court of Ferrara was embellished by the arrival of two of
the most beautiful women in all Italy,--Leonora di Sanvitali, Countess
of Scandiano, then a youthful bride, and her not less lovely
mother-in-law, Barbara, Countess of Sala. The Countess of Scandiano is
the _other_ LEONORA who has puzzled all the biographers, from the open
gallantry and avowed adoration with which Tasso has celebrated her; but
in strains,--O how different from the sentiment, the veneration, the
tenderness, and the mystery which breathe through his verses to Leonora
d'Este! A third Leonora was said to exist in the person of the
Countess's favourite attendant: but this is untrue. The name of
Leonora's waiting-maid was Laura. Tasso has addressed several little
poems to her; and there can be no doubt that she occasionally served as
a blind to his real attachment for her mistress. The Countess of
Scandiano's attendant was the fair Olympia, to whom is addressed that
exquisitely graceful Canzone,
O con le Grazie elette, e con gli amori.
The Duchess of Ferrara's maid, the beautiful Livia d'Arco, and even her
dwarf, are also immortalised in Tasso's verses, who poured forth his
courtly gallantry with an exhaustless and splendid prodigality, fitting
their praises to his lyre, as if it had never resounded to higher
themes.
At a court festival given by the Duke Alphonso, in honour of his
beautiful and illustrious visitors, the Countess of Sala appeared with
her fine hair wreathed round her head in the form of a coronet, which
with her grand style of beauty and majestic deportment, gave her the air
of a Juno. The young Countess of Scandiano, on the other hand, enchanted
by her Hebe-like graces, her smiles, and the unequalled beauty of a
pouting underlip;--nothing was talked of at Ferrara but these braided
tresses and this lovely lip; the poets and the young cavaliers were
divided into parties on the occasion. Tasso has celebrated both with the
same voluptuous elegance of style in which he described his Armida. To
the Countess of Scandiano he wrote,
Quel labbro, che le rose han colorito
Molle si sporge, e tumidetto in fuore, &c.
To the Countess of Sala,
Barbara! maraviglia de' tempi nostri.
But the Countess of Scandiano was more especially the object of his
public adoration. It was a poetical passion, openly professed; and
flattering, as it appears, both to the lady and to her husband, without
in any degree implicating either her discretion or that of Tasso.
Compare his verses to this young Countess--this _peregrina Fenice_,[130]
as he fancifully styles her, who comes shining forth, not _to be
consumed_, but _to consume_,--to the profound tenderness, the intense
yet mournful feeling of some of the poems composed for the Princess
d'Este, about the same time; when he must have daily contrasted the rich
bloom, the smiling eyes, and sparkling graces of the youthful Countess,
with the fading or faded beauty, the languid form, and pale cheek of his
long-loved Leonora. See particularly the Sonnet
Tre gran Donne vid' io, &c.
"Three illustrious ladies did I behold,--I sung them all--_one only_ I
loved," &c. And another equally beautiful and significant,
Perche 'n giovenil volto amor mi mostri
Talor, Donna _Real_, rose e ligustri
Oblio non pone in me, de' miei trilustri
Affanni, o de miei spesi indarno inchiostri.
E 'l cor, che s' invaghi degli onor vostri
Da prima, e vostro fu poscia piu lustri
Reserba, amo in se forme piu illustri
Che perle e gemme, e bei coralli ed ostri.
Queste egli in suono di sospir si chiari
Farebbe udir, che d' amorosa face
Accenderebbe i piu gelati cori.
Ma oltre suo costume e fatto avaro
De' vostri pregi, suoi dolci tesori,
Che in se medesmo gli vagheggia e _tace_!
TRANSLATION.
"Albeit in younger faces Love at times
May show me where a fresher rose is set,
Yet, _Royal_ Lady, can I not forget
My fifteen years of pain and useless rhymes.
This heart, so touch'd by all thy beauty bright,
After so many years is still thine own,
And still retaineth forms more exquisite
Than pearls, or purple gems, or coral stone.
All this my heart in soft sighs would make known,
And thus with fire the coldest bosom fill,
But that, unlike itself, that heart hath grown
So covetous of thy sweet charms, and thee,
(Its secret treasures,) that it aye doth flee
Inwards, and dwells upon them, and is still."[131]
Lastly, that most perfect Sonnet, so well known and so celebrated, that
I should not insert it here, but that I am enabled to give, for the
first time, a translation equally faithful to the sentiment and the
poetry of the original.
Negli anni acerbi tuoi, purpurea rosa
Sembravi tu, ch' ai rai tepidi, all' ora
Non apre 'l sen, ma nel suo verde ancora
Verginella s' asconde, e vergognosa.
O piu tosto parei (che mortal cosa,
Non s' assomiglia a te) celeste Aurora,
Che le campagne imperla, e i monti indora,
Lucida in ciel sereno e rugiadosa.
Or la men verde eta nulla a te toglie;
Ne te, benche negletta, in manto adorno
Giovinetta belta vince, o pareggia.
Cosi piu vago e 'l fior, poiche le foglie
Spiega odorate: e 'l sol nel mezzo giorno
Vie-piu, che nel mattin, luce e fiammeggia.
TRANSLATION.
"Thou, in thy unripe years, wast like the rose,
Which shrinketh from the summer dawn, afraid,
And with her green veil, like a bashful maid,
Hideth her bosom sweet, and scarcely blows:
Or rather,--(for what shape ever arose
From the dull earth like thee,) thou didst appear
Heavenly Aurora, who, when skies are clear,
Her dewy pearls o'er all the country sows.
Time stealeth nought: thy rare and careless grace
Surpasseth still the youthful bride when neatest,--
Her wealth of dress, her budding blooming face,
So is the full-blown rose for age the sweetest,
So doth the mid-day sun outshine the morn,
With rays more beautiful and brighter born!"[132]
Yet all this was too little. His minor lyrics, the unlaboured and
spontaneous effusions of leisure, of fancy, of sentiment, would have
been glory enough for any other poet, and fame enough for any other
woman: but Tasso had founded his hopes of immortality on his great poem,
The Jerusalem Delivered; and it was imperfect in his eyes unless Leonora
were shrined in it. To convert the pale, gentle, elegant invalid into a
heroine, seemed impossible: she was no model for his lovely amazon,
Clorinda; nor his exquisite sorceress, Armida; nor his love-sick
Erminia: for her, therefore, and to her honour, and to the eternal
memory of his love for her, he composed the episode in the second Canto,
where we have her portrait at full length as Sophronia.
Vergine era fra lor, di gia matura
Verginita, d'alta pensieri e regi,
D'alta Belta; ma sua belta non cura,
O tanto sol quant' onesta sen fregi;
E 'l suo pregio maggior che tra le mura
D'angusta casa, asconde i suoi gran pregi:
E da' vagheggiatori ella s'invola,
Alle lodi, agli sguardi, inculta e sola.
Non sai ben dir s'adorno, o se negletta,
Se caso od arte, il bel volto compose,
Di natura, d'amor, di cieli amici,
Le negligenze sue sono artifici.
Mirata da ciascun, passa, e non mira
L'altera donna!
TRANSLATION.
Among them dwelt a noble maid, matured
In loveliness, of thoughts serene and high,
And loftiest beauty;--beauty which herself
Esteem'd not more than modesty might own.
Within an humble dwelling did she hide
Her peerless charms, and shunning lovers' eyes,
From flattering words and glances, lived retired.
Whether 'tis curious care, or sweet neglect,
Or chance, or art, that have array'd her thus,
One scarce can tell: for each unstudied grace
Has been the work of Nature, heaven, and love.
And thus admired by all, unheeding all,
Forth steps the noble maid.
It is impossible to mistake, in this finished and exquisite portrait,
the matured beauty, the negligent attire, and love of solitude which
characterised Leonora: the resemblance was so perfect, as to be
universally recognised and acknowledged. But is it not, as M. Ginguene
remarks, equally certain that Tasso has pourtrayed himself as Olindo?
Ei che modesto e, com' essa e bella,
Brama, assai, poco spera, nulla chiede!
He, full of modesty and truth,
Loved much, hoped little, and desired nought!
Has he not in the verse
Ed o mia morte avventurosa appiena,
breathed forth all the smothered passion of his soul?--
Ed o mia morte avventurosa appiena!
Oh fortunati miei dolci martiri!
S'impetrero che giunto seno a seno
L'anima mia nella tuo bocca io spiri,
E venendo tu meco a un tempo meno
In me fuor mandi gli ultimi sospiri!
And O! how happy were my death! how blest
These tortures,--could I but the meed obtain,
That breast to breast, and lip to lip, our souls
Might flee together, and our latest sighs
Mingle in death.
This episode is critically a defect in the poem: it seems to stand
alone, unconnected in any way with the main action; he acknowledged
this; but he absolutely, and obstinately, refused to alter it, or strike
it out. He, who was in general amenable to criticism, even to a degree
of weakness, willed that it should stand an everlasting monument of his
tenderness, and of the virtues and the charms of her who inspired
it:--and thus it has been.
A cruel, and, as I think, a most unjust imputation rests on the memory
of the Princess Leonora. She is accused of cold-heartedness, in
suffering Tasso to remain so long imprisoned, without interceding in his
favour, or even vouchsafing any reply to his affecting supplications for
release, and for her mediation in his behalf. The excuse alledged by
those who would fain excuse her,--"That she feared to compromise herself
by any interference," is ten times worse than the accusation itself. But
though there exists, I suppose, no _written_ proof that Leonora pleaded
the cause of Tasso, or sought to mitigate his sufferings; neither is
there any proof of the contrary. We know little, or rather nothing, of
the private intrigues of Alphonso's palace: we have no "memoires
secretes" of that day; no diaries kept by prying courtiers, to enlighten
us on what passed in the recesses of the royal apartments: and upon mere
negative presumption, shall we brand the character of a woman, who
appears on every other occasion so blameless, so tender-hearted, and
beneficent, with the imputation of such barbarous selfishness? for the
honour of our sex, and human nature, I must believe it impossible.
In no other instance was the homage which Tasso loved to pay to
high-born beauty repaid with ingratitude; all his life he seems to have
been an object of affectionate interest to women. They, in his misery,
stood not aloof, but ministered to him the oil and balm, which soothed
his vexed and distempered spirit. The Countesses of Sala and Scandiano
never forgot him. Lucretia Bendidio, who had married into the
Marchiavelli family, sent him in his captivity all the consolation she
could bestow, or he receive. The Duchess of Urbino (Lucretia d'Este,)
was munificently kind to him. The young Princess of Mantua, she for whom
he wrote his "Torrismondo," loaded him with courtesy and proofs of her
regard. He was ill at the Court of Mantua, after his release from
Ferrara; and her exertions to procure him a copy of Euripides, which he
wished to consult, (an anecdote cited somewhere, as a proof of the
rarity of the book at that time,) is also a proof of the interest and
attention with which she regarded him. It happened when he was at the
Court of the Duke of Urbino, that he had to undergo a surgical
operation; and the sister of the Duke, the young and beautiful Lavinia
di Rovera, prepared the bandages, and applied them with her own fair and
princely hands;--a little instance of affectionate interest, which Tasso
has himself commemorated. If then we do not find Leonora publicly
appearing as the benefactress of Tasso, and using her influence over her
brother in his behalf, is it not a presumption that she was implicated
in his punishment? What comfort or kindness she could have granted,
must, under such circumstances, have been bestowed with infinite
precaution; and, from gratitude and discretion, as carefully concealed.
We know, that after the first year of his confinement, Tasso was removed
to a less gloomy prison; and we know that Leonora died a few weeks
afterwards; but what share she might have had in procuring this
mitigation of his suffering, we do not know; nor how far the fate of
Tasso might have affected her so as to hasten her own death. If we are
to argue upon probabilities, without any preponderating proof, in the
name of womanhood and charity, let it be on the side of indulgence; let
us not believe Leonora guilty, but upon such authority as never has
been,--and I trust never can be produced.
* * * * *
About two years after the completion of the Jerusalem Delivered, and
four years after the first representation of the Aminta;--when all
Europe rung with the poet's fame, Tasso fled from the Court of Ferrara,
in a fit of distraction. His frenzy was caused partly by religious
horrors and scruples; partly by the petty but accumulated injuries which
malignity and tyranny had heaped upon him; partly by a long-indulged and
hopeless passion; and with these, other moral and physical causes
combined. He fled, to hide himself and his sorrows in the arms of his
sister Cornelia. The brother and sister had not met since their childish
years; and Tasso, wild with misery, forlorn, and penniless, knew not
what reception he was to meet with. When arrived within a league of his
birthplace, Sorrento,[133] he changed clothes with a shepherd, and in
this disguise appeared before his sister, as one sent with tidings of
her brother's misfortunes. The recital, we may believe, was not coldly
given. Cornelia, who appears to have inherited with the personal beauty,
the sensibility and strong domestic affections of her mother,
Portia,[134] was so violently agitated by the eloquence of the feigned
messenger, that she fainted away; and Tasso was obliged to hasten the
denouement by discovering himself. In the same moment he was clasped in
her affectionate arms, and bathed with her tears. How often, when I have
stood on my balcony at Naples, have I looked towards the white buildings
of Sorrento, glittering afar upon the distant promontory, and thought
upon this scene! and felt, how that which is already surpassingly
beautiful to the eye, may be hallowed to the imagination by such
remembrances as these!
Tasso resided with his sister for three years, the object of her
unwearied and tender attention. It was on his return to Ferrara,
(recalled, as Manso says, by the tenor of Leonora's letters[135]) that
he was imprisoned as a lunatic at St. Anne's. They show to travellers
the cell in which he was confined. Over the entrance of the gallery
leading to it, is written up in large letters, "Ingresso alla Prigione
di Torquato Tasso," as if to blazon, in the eye of the stranger, what is
at once the renown and disgrace of that fallen city. The cell itself is
small, dark and low. The abhorred grate,
Marring the sun-beams with its hideous shade,
is a semicircular window, strongly cross-barred with iron; it looks into
a court-yard, so built up, if I remember rightly, that the noon-day sun
could scarce reach it. Even without the hallowed associations connected
with the spot, it would have chilled and saddened me. With them, the
very air had a suffocating weight; and the cold dark walls, and
low-bowed roof, struck a shivering awe through the blood. Upon the
plaster outside the grated window, I observed several names written in
pencil; among the rest, those of Byron and Rogers. I must observe here,
that the "Lament of Tasso" is, in fact, a cento taken from Tasso's minor
poems. Almost every sentiment there expressed, may be found in the
Italian; but the soul of the poet has been transfused with such a
glowing impulse into its new mould, it never seems to have been adapted
to another; the precious metal is the same, only the impress is
different, and it has been stamped by a kindred and a master spirit.
Lord Byron says,
Yes, Leonora! it shall be our fate
To be entwined for ever; but too late!
Tasso had said, that his name and that of Leonora should be united and
soar to fame together.
"Ella a miei versi, ed io
Circondava al suo nome altere piume,
E l'un per l'altro ando volando a prova;"
--and a long list of corresponding passages and sentiments might easily
be pointed out.
The inscription on the door of Tasso's cell, _lies_, I believe, like
many other inscriptions. Tasso was _not_ confined in this cell for seven
years; but here it was that he addressed that affecting Canzone to
Leonora and her sister Lucrezia, which begins "Figlie di
Renata,"--"daughters of Renee!" Thus in the very commencement, by this
delicate and tender apostrophe, bespeaking their compassion, by
awakening the remembrance of their mother, like him so long a wretched
prisoner. He reminds them of the years he spent at their side--"their
noble servant and their dear companion,"
Gli anni miei tra voi spese,--
Qual son,--qual fui,--che chiedo--ove mi trovo![136]
He was, after the first year, removed to a larger cell, with better
accommodations. Here he made a collection of his smaller poems lately
written, and dedicated them to the two Princesses. But Leonora was no
longer in a state to be charmed by the verses, or flattered or touched
by the admiring devotion of her lover,--her poet,--her faithful
servant: she was dying. A slow and cureless disease preyed on her
delicate frame, and she expired in the second year of Tasso's
imprisonment. When the news of her danger was brought to him, he
requested his friend Pignarola to kiss her hand in his name, and ask her
whether there was any thing which, in his sad state, he could do for her
ease or pleasure? We do not know how this tender message was received or
answered; but it was too late. Leonora died in February 1581, after
lingering from the November previous.
Thus perished, of a premature decay, the woman who had been for
seventeen years the idol of a poet's imagination--the worship of a
poet's heart; she who was not unworthy of being enshrined in the rich
tracery-work of sweet thoughts and bright fancies she had herself
suggested. The love of Tasso for the Princess Leonora might have
appeared, in his own time, something like the "desire of the night-moth
for the star;" but what is it _now_? what was it _then_ in the eyes of
her whom he adored? How far was it permitted, encouraged, repaid in
secret? This we cannot know; and perhaps had we lived at the time,--in
the very Court, and looked daily into her own soft eyes, practised to
conceal,--we had been no wiser. Yet one more observation.
When Leonora died, all the poets of Ferrara pressed forward with the
usual tribute of elegy and eulogium; but the voice of Tasso was not
heard among the rest. He alone flung no garland on the bier of her,
whose living brow he had wreathed with the brightest flowers of song.
This is adduced by Serassi as a proof that he had never loved her.
Ginguene himself can only account for it, by the presumption that he was
piqued by that coldness and neglect, which I have shown was merely
supposititious. Strange reasoning! as if Tasso, while his heart bled
over his loss, in his solitary cell, could have deigned to join this
crowd of courtly mourners! as if, under such circumstances, in such a
moment, the greatness of his grief could have burst forth in any terms
that must not have exposed himself to fresh rigours, and the fame, at
least the discretion, of her he had loved, to suspicion! No! nothing
remained to him but silence;--and he was silent.
FOOTNOTES:
[120] See the Rinaldo, c. 8.
[121]
----From my very birth
My soul was drunk with love, &c.
LAMENT OF TASSO.
[122]
Rose, che l' arte invidiosa mira. &c.
[123]
Alteremente umile
Te chiudi ne' tuoi cari alti soggiorni.
[124] The daughter of Louis XII. She was closely imprisoned during
twelve years, on suspicion of favouring the early reformers.
[125] Ganymede.
[126] Sonnet 37.
[127] Sonnet 29.
[128] I am told the original idea is in Plato; prettier, however, than
either, was the speech of a modern lover, whose mistress was gazing
pensively on a star: "Ne la regardez pas tant, chere amie!--je ne puis
pas te la donner!"
[129] The Canzono which is, I believe, esteemed the finest of those
addressed to Leonora,
Mentre ch' a venerar muovon le gente,
concludes with this play upon her name--
Costei LE ONORA col bel nome sante.
She does them HONOUR by her sacred name.
[130] "Foreign Phoenix."
[131] Translated by a friend.
[132] Translated by a friend.
[133] Near Naples: thus, in his pathetic Canzone on himself,--
Sassel la gloriosa alma Sirena
Appresso il cui sepolcro, ebbi la cuna!
[134] The wife of Bernardo Tasso. See an account of her in Black's Life
of Tasso.
[135] Manso, Vita di T. Tasso.
[136] Part of this Canzone has been elegantly translated by Mr. Wiffen
in his Life of Tasso, p. 83.