less poetry, and the office of a courtier, had been; how still more ruinous his faithful adherence to the party, which, as a man of honour, he was bound to follow; wished to educate his beloved son to the law, a study, to which Boccacio, Petrarca, and Ariosto had also reluctantly devoted themselves, and which the inspirations of genius soon led them to abandon. It was the same with Tasso, as he himself has recorded: the natural bent of his mind, and a generous thirst for fame, weighing more with him than parental admonitions, he threw aside the Pandects and the Decretals; and the poem that he had begun in stealth, he afterwards finished with the approbation of a kind father, who now no longer opposed his wishes, at the recommendation of some of the first scholars of the day, the friends' of both. At the conclusion of his poem, Torquato, thus elegantly, and with a noble pride, alludes to some of these interesting particulars : "Così scherzando, io risonar già fea Di ristorar d'avversa sorte i danni: Giaccio ignoto ad altrui, grave a me stesso !" C. XII. st. 90. This poem, divided into twelve cantos, is of the metrical romance kind, not so much, however, so, that, as we shall see, our young poet did not dare to depart from it when it suited him. It would be tedious to give a complete analysis of the story, and our limits will not admit of it: we will, however, state, that Rinaldo, the hero of the poem, is a noble youth, who, smitten with a love of glory, leaves Paris, as the Rinaldo of the Gerusalemme leaves his aunt Maude, to go and fight the Saracens ; differing from the latter hero in birth, not being the son of Bertoldo, but of Amone, as the Rinaldo of Boiardo and Ariosto, and, consequently, cousin of Orlando. The young hero, being out in quest of the steed Baiardo, which he knows to be running wild in a certain wood, meets with Clarice, and falling in love with her, leaves her with reluctance, after having given her proofs of his valour; he masters Baiardo by seizing him by the two hinder legs, and throwing him on his back. Accompanied by Isoliero, who had become his friend, after an encounter, according to the custom of those days, Rinaldo arrives in a place where two statues were standing of Lancelot and Tristan, in the attitude of fighting; the statue of the latter gives him up his lance, as to a knight surpassing him in valour. The two knights proceeding on their way, meet Galerana with Clarice, who had been sought in marriage by Francardo, of Charlemagne, who was disposed to bestow her upon him. The two ladies were sailing down the river Seine, attended by a numerous train of gay damsels and gallant knights. Clarice, as the reader may imagine, was a beauty of the first order, and appeared still more beautiful in the midst of so many other charms which only served to heighten hers, "Qual nel seren d'oscura notte suole, Per le strade del cielo aperte e belle, Sul carro gir la suora alma del Sole, Con le sue ninfe leggiadrette e snelle Quando son l'onde più tranquille e chiare." C. IV. st. 7. Such, then, was Clarice. The love-lorn and youthful Rinaldo suspecting some scheme to deprive him of so much beauty, can bear it no longer, but, giving the signal to his companion, he puts his lance into the rest, challenges, and routs the whole escort of Queen Galerana and his beloved Clarice. "Come allor che nell' arsa ed arenosa Così dipinte di color di morte Dipinge il volto ancor vario colore.' C. IV. st. 30-1. The escort being at length put to flight, Rinaldo, with all the courteousness of a true knight, turns to the ladies, and after complimenting Galerana, seizes Clarice, mounts her on the horse of one of the slain knights, and, to calm her fears, makes himself known to her. Clarice was at first alarmed. "Come allor che tra nubi i rai lucenti Si tranquillâr nel tempestoso coré." C. IV. st. 50. But Rinaldo's joy was of short duration; for a knight (who, as it in the sequel appears, was the Magician Malagigi, his cousin) deprives him of his Clarice, and carries her off in a wonderful sort of a chariot. The young hero, parting with Isoliero, pursues the chariot in vain, and whilst he is proceeding on, brooding over his loss, he finds a shepherd, fair as Endymion, when Diana became enamoured of him, or— "Qual fuor dell' oceàn sovente apparve D'un candido splendor le gote accèse Che il giorno estinto innanzi tempo avviva," who was weeping bitterly. Florindo, (for that was the shepherd's name,) relates his misfortunes, which, it may be easily imagined, are the fruit of love; they pledge friendship, and set out together to find Charlemagne, from whose hands Florindo wishes to receive the sovereign order of knighthood. Rinaldo, arriving with his companion,- "all' almo terreno Ancor di riverenza e d'onor pieno," cannot withold his admiration, and the young Italian poet passes the following eulogy upon his native land : "Salve d'illustri palme e di trofei Provincia adorna e d'opre alte e leggiadre! D'arme e d'ingegni ancor feconda madre, C. VI. st. 3. Pleased with his address and gallant bearing, Charlemagne somewhat hastily bestows knighthood on Florindo : "Cavalier fèllo, àncor che non sapesse Dirgli appieno ond 'origine ei trasse." Meanwhile, our readers must acknowledge Florindo for a knight; in the sequel they will learn who he is. Rinaldo, desirous of breaking a lance with the doughtiest champions of Charlemagne's host, after having vanquished several, without making known his name, encounters Orlando, who "wearing a charmed life," as every one knows, that has read Boiardo and Ariosto, and they never tell a falsehood-cannot be wounded himself, but yet slightly wounds Rinaldo, who, unfortunately, had a skin like every body else; so, coming to the scratch with equal daring and bottom, Charlemagne, who has conceived a high esteem for the noble stranger, interrupts the set-to. Rinaldo, after exchanging marks of knightly courtesy with Orlando, refuses to reveal his quality, and sets out with Florindo, in quest of new adventures, and their mistresses. They arrive at a wood, as gloomy and drear as Ismeno's enchanted forest, in the Gerusalemme, and there find a transparent tomb, in which lay the corpse of a beautiful female. "Ell' era morta, e così morta ancora C. VII. st. 18. And round it stood some knights, weeping; one of whom, having defied Rinaldo, and being, as might be expected, mortally wounded, states, before breathing his last, that the corpse was that of his wife, whom he had accidentally slain, and that, in expiation of the dreadful deed, he had made a vow, to oblige every knight, that passed that way, to drink of a certain fountain, hard by, which made the unlucky wight, that tasted it, unable to move from the spot, where he was kept continually shedding tears, so potent was the spell that bound him. The spell being thus broken, after the usual compliments, every one left the spot by different roads. Rinaldo and Florindo are, however, left together, and go in quest of adventures until they reach a place where "Videro il mar tirren placido e piano Il bel lito ferir tacitamente," and where they find a garden, the equal of which was never before seen. Two beautiful creatures step up and invite them to a palace, and the adventurers soon find out that it is Pausilippo; such an invitation, from two such charming beings, could not be refused by any body, much less by knight-errants, who, as all the world know, are the most courteous fellows under the sun; therefore, walking on with the sweet fair ones, they reach the palace, which, they were told, was called the Palace of Courtesy, a place that certainly must be enchanted, where they found all the courteous folks that ever were to be met with upon earth, whom the ramblers did not see forthwith, as it was night. Being fully satisfied, in their own minds, that that was not the time for examining likenesses, they determined, that every one should betake himself to his bed. "Già svegliata l'aurora al dolce canto Dé lascivetti augei vaga sorgea; C. VIII. st. 1. When our heroes proceeded, the following morning, to look at the portraits; among which the hapless Tasso gives a prominent place to that of the execrable tyrant of Ferrara, who, afterwards, pent him up in a prison, or rather a mad-house, for upwards of seven years, and whose name has been “embalmed in hate and canonized in scorn," by Byron and Goethe. After viewing the portraits, the venturous knights embark, loaded with presents, on board an enchanted yacht, furnished by the courteous damsels, and which, without sail, oar, or steam, bears them whithersoever they will, in quest of new pleasures and perils, till they, at length, reach a haunt of ruffianly fellows belonging to the famous Mambrino, who hold, in durance vile, a number of damsels and unfortunate knights: these, Rinaldo and his companion chivalrously liberate, after killing a few dozens of the poor devils who had them in charge, and who had taken up the cudgels in defence of their leader, so unceremoniously sent to the other world by Rinaldo :— "Come s'avvêntan susurrando al viso L'irate pecchie insieme unitamente |