The Romance of Biography Volume I Part 21

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 ill.u.s.trious 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 a.s.sociate with her in her retirement, to behold her in all the graceful simplicity of her familiar life,--was a dangerous situation for Ta.s.so, 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 pa.s.sages 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 const.i.tution. Her hand had frequently been sought by princes and n.o.bles, whom she had uniformly rejected, at the risk of displeasing her brother; and the eyes of a jealous court were upon her. Ta.s.so, 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 Ta.s.so described all the delicious pain of such a situation! now proud of his fetters, now execrating them in despair. In allusion to his ambitious pa.s.sion, he is Phaeton, Icarus, Tantalus, Ixion.

Se d' Icro 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 gi trae delle celeste rote Di terrana belt 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 pa.s.sion and of meaning breathes through the Sonnet which he has ent.i.tled "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 Avr da lei, se non conosce il male O medecina, o refrigerio almeno?

Tacer ben posso, e tacer! ch' io toglia Sangue alle piaghe, e luce al vivo foco Non brami gi; questa e impossibil voglia Troppo spinse pungenti a dentro i colpi, E troppo ardore accolse in picciol loco: S' apparir, natura, e s 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; Perch 'l mio si nasconda in mezzo 'l petto, N 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 Ta.s.so'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! poich fortuna empia mi nega Seguirvi, &c.

Al n.o.bil 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, oim! non sono Quel ch' altra volta fui, ma un Ombra mesta, Un lagrimevol suono, &c.

--the tone is too pa.s.sionate 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, Perch 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.

Ta.s.so accompanied Lucrezia d'Este, then d.u.c.h.ess of Urbino, to her villa of Castel Durante, where he remained for some time, partaking in all the amus.e.m.e.nts 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 a.s.sure 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 pi, bisogna che si renda e che dimanda merc." 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 Ta.s.so 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."

N la mia Donna, perch 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 Ta.s.so, 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 Ta.s.so'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 pi 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 pi 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 n.o.ble it is in its nature." (Agreed to, with exceptions, of which Ta.s.so himself might furnish the most prominent.) That "compa.s.sion in our s.e.x 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 pa.s.sed undisputed, or by acclamation.)

The 38th of these curious propositions, "L'uomo in sua natura amar pi 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 s.e.x, 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 n.o.bility and even the superior clergy of Ferrara crowded to witness it; and I doubt whether any lecture at the British Inst.i.tution, on mathematics, or electricity, or geology, was ever listened to by our fair bas-bleus with half as much interest as Ta.s.so's "Fifty Theses on Love" excited in Ferrara.

Several years after his first introduction to Leonora d'Este, and after some of the most impa.s.sioned 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 Ta.s.so 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. Ta.s.so 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,