[1] This is doubtful. Serrassi believed that Bernardo's mother was also a Tasso.

[2] He speaks in his letters of the difficulty 'di sottrarre il collo all difficile noioso arduo giogo della servitù dei Principi.' Lettere Ined. Bologna, Romagnoli, p. 34.

[3] Lett. Ined. p. 100

[4] Letter di Torquato Tasso, February 15, 1556, vol. II. p. 157.

[5] 'Sentendo in me non so qual nuova insolita contentezza,' 'non so qual segreta divozione.' Lettere, vol. ii. p. 90.

[6] Bernardo's Letter to Cav. Giangiacopo Tasso, December 6, 1554.

[7] Dated February 13, 1556.

[8] See Opere, vol. iv. p. 100, for Tasso's description of the farewell to his mother, which he remembered deeply, even in later life.

[9] Lettere, vol. i. p. 6.

[10] Cardinal Ferdinando de'Medici succeeded in a like position to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. But Luigi d'Este did not survive his brother.

[11] See Lettere, vol. ii. p. 80: to Giacomo Buoncompagno.

[12] 'Egli mi disse, allor che suo mi fece: Tu canta, or che se' 'n ozio.'

[13] This is how he wrote in his Diary about Lucrezia. 'Finally the Duke decided upon his marriage with Donna Lucrezia d'Este, which took place, though little to his taste, for she was old enough to have been his mother.' 'The Duchess wished to return to Ferrara, where she subsequently chose to remain, a resolution which gave no annoyance to her husband; for, as she was unlikely to bring him a family, her absence mattered little.' 'February 15, 1598. Heard that Madame Lucrezia d'Este, Duchess of Urbino, my wife, died at Ferrara during the night of the 11th.' (Dennistoun's Dukes of Urbino, vol. iii. pp. 127, 146, 156.) Francesco Maria had been attached in Spain to a lady of unsuitable condition, and his marriage with Lucrezia was arranged to keep him out of a mésalliance.

[14] Lettere, vol. i, p. 47. The sonnet begins, 'Sdegno, debil guerrier.'

[15] Tasso consulted almost every scholar he could press into his service. But the official tribunal of correction was limited to the above named four acting in concert with Scipione Gonzaga.

[16] Lettere, vol. i. p. 114.

[17] Ib. vol. i. p. 192.

[18] Vol. i. pp. 55-215.

[19] Lettere, vol. iii. p. 41, iv. p. 332.

[20] Lettere, vol. iii. p. 164, v. p. 6.

[21] Ib. vol. iii. pp. 85, 86, 88, 163, iv. pp. 8, 166, v. p. 87.

[22] Letter to Fabio Gonzaga in 1590 (vol. iv. p. 296).

[23] Lettere, vol. iii. p. viii.

[24] Lettere, vol. iii. p. xxx. note 34.

[25] Guarino, in a sonnet, hinted at the second supposition. See Rosini's Saggio sugli Amori, &c. vol. xxxiii. of his edition of Tasso, p. 51.

[26] Lettere, vol. iii. p. xxxi.

[27] Lettere, vol. i. p. 139.

[28] Lettere, vol. i. p. 228.

[29] This is Rosini's hypothesis in the Essay cited above. The whole of his elaborate and ingenious theory rests upon the supposition that Alfonso at Belriguardo extorted from Tasso an acknowledgment of his liaison Leonora, and spared his life on the condition of his playing a fool's part before the world. But we have no evidence whatever adequate to support the supposition.

[30] Lettere, vol. i. 257-262.

[31] Those who adhere to the belief that all Tasso's troubles came upon him through his liaison with Leonora, are here of course justified in arguing that on this point he could not write openly to the Duke. Or they may question the integrity of the document.

[32] Rosini's edition of Tasso, vol. xxx. p. 144.

[33] Manso, ib. p. 46.

[34] Manso, ib. p. 147.

[35] Lettere, vol. i. p. 275.

[36] Lettere, vol. i. p. 278, ii. p. 26.

[37] Manso, p. 147. Here again the believers in the Leonora liaison may argue that by prison he meant love-bondage, hopeless servitude to the lady from whom he could expect nothing now that her brother was acquainted with the truth.

[38] Lettere, vol. i. p. 233.

[39] Lettere, i. pp. 271-290.

[40] Lettere, ibid. p. 289.

[41] Lettere, ibid. p. 233.

[42] Tasso declares his inability to live outside the Court. 'Se fra i mali de l'animo, uno de'più gravi è l'ambizione, egli ammalò di questo male già molti anni sono, nè mai è risanato in modo ch'io abbia potuto sprezzare affatto i favori e gli onori del mondo, e chi può dargli' (Lettere, vol. iii. p. 56). 'Io non posso acquetarmi in altra fortuna di quella ne la quale già nacqui' (Ibid. p. 243).

[43] It is addressed to the Metaurus, and begins: 'O del grand, Apennino.'

[44] Op. cit. p. 143.

[45] Lettere, vol. i. p. 268.

[46] From the sonnet, Sposa regal (Opere vol. iii. p. 218).

[47] Lettere, vol. ii. p. 67.

[48] Lettere, vol. ii. 34.

[49] Ibid. pp. 7-62, 80-93.

[50] We are met here as elsewhere in the perplexing problem of Tasso's misfortunes with the difficulty of having to deal with mutilated documents. Still the mere fact that Tasso was allowed to correspond freely with friends and patrons, shows that Alfonso dreaded no disclosures, and confirms the theory that he only kept Tasso locked up out of harm's way.

[51] A letter written by Guarini, the old friend, rival and constant Court-companion of Tasso at Ferrara, upon the news of his death in 1595, shows how a man of cold intellect judged his case. 'The death by which Tasso has now paid his debt to nature, seems to me like the termination of that death of his in this world which only bore the outer semblance of life.' See Casella's Pastor Fido, p. xxxii. Guarini means that when Tasso's mind gave way, he had really died in his own higher self, and that his actual death was a release.

[52] Tasso's own letters after the beginning of 1579, and Manso's Life (op. cit. pp. 156-176), are the authorities for the symptoms detailed above. Tasso so often alludes to his infirmities that it is not needful to accumulate citations. I will, however, quote two striking examples. 'Sono infermo come soleva, e stanco della infermita, la quale è non sol malattia del corpo ma de la mente' (Lettere, vol. iii. p. 160). 'Io sono poco sano e tanto maninconico che sono riputato matto da gli altri e da me stesso' (Ib. p. 262).

[53] Op. cit. p. 155.

[54] Lacrime di diversi poeti volgari, &c. (Vicenza, 1585).

[55] Lettere, vol. ii. p. 103. The significance of this message to Panigarola is doubtful. Did Tasso mean that the contrast between past and present was too bitter? 'Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly.'

[56] All the letters written from Mantua abound in references to this neglect of duty.

[57] Lettere, vol. iv. p. 147.

[58] Ibid. p. 229.

[59] Lettere, vol. iv. p. 315.

[60] Yet he now felt that his genius had expired. 'Non posso più fare un verso: la vena è secca, e l'ingegno è stanco' (Lettere, vol. v. p. 90).

[61] During the whole period of his Roman residence, Tasso, like his father in similar circumstances, hankered after ecclesiastical honors. His letters refer frequently to this ambition. He felt the parallel between himself and Bernardo Tasso: 'La mia depressa condizione, e la mia infelicità, quasi ereditaria' (vol. iv. p. 288).

[62] Manso op. cit. p. 215.

[63] This letter proves conclusively that, whatever was the nature of Tasso's malady, and however it had enfeebled his faculties as poet, he was in no vulgar sense a lunatic.

[64] Canto i. 17.

[65] Canto vi. 64-9.

[66] Canto iii. 40, 45.

[67] Canto ii. 22, iv. 28, 33.

[68] Rinaldo, cantos x. vii.

[69] Canto i. 25, 31, 41, 64.

[70] Rinaldo, Canto ii. 28, 44.

[71] Canto ii. 3-11.

[72] Canto vii. 16-51.

[73] Canto vii. 3-11.

[74] Canto iv. 47.

[75] Canto v. 12-57.

[76] I may incidentally point out how often this motive has supplied the plot to modern ballets.

[77] Giov. Imperiale in the Museum Historicum describes him thus: 'Perpetuo moerentis et altius cogitantis gessit aspectum, gracili mento, facie decolori, conniventibus cavisque oculis.'

[78] 'La mia fiera malinconia' is a phrase which often recurs in his letters.

[79] 'Questo segno mi ho proposto: piacere ed onore' (Lettere, vol. v. p. 87).

[80] It should be said that as a man of letters he bore with fools gladly, and showed a noble patience. Of this there is a fine example in his controversy with Della Cruscans. He was not so patient with the publishers and pirates of his works. No wonder, when they robbed him so!

[81] Tasso's diffuse paraphrase of the Stabat Mater might be selected to illustrate the sentimental tenderness rather than strength of his religious feeling.

[82] The numerous plaintive requests for a silver cup, a ring, a silk cloak and such trifles in his later letters indicate something quite childish in his pre-occupations.

[83] Carducci, in his essay Dello Svolgimento della Letteratura Nazionale, and Quinet, in his Révolutions d'ltalie.

[84] The final case drawn up against Bruno as heresiarch makes it appear that his record included even these boyish errors. See the letter of Gaspar Schopp in Berti.

[85] See 'Vita di Don Pietro di Toledo' (Arch. Stov. vol. ix. p. 23)

[86] See the passage on polygamy in the Spaccio della Bestia. I may here remark that Campanella, though more orthodox than Bruno, published opinions upon the relations of the sexes analogous to those of Plato's Republic in his Citta del Sole. He even recommended the institution of brothels as annexes to schools for boys, in order to avoid the worse evil of unnatural vice in youth.

[87] On the city, university and Inquisition of Toulouse in the sixteenth century see Christie's Etiennne Dolet—a work of sterling merit and sound scholarship.

[88] The 'Cena delle Ceneri,' Op. It. vol. i. pp. 137-151

[89] Signor Berti conjectures that Bruno may have met Sidney first at Milan. But Bruno informs us that he did not become acquainted with him till he came to London: 'Tra' quali è tanto conosciuto, per fama prima quanbo eravamo in Milano et in Francia, e poi per experienza or che siamo ne la sua patria' (Op. It. vol. i. p. 145).

[90] Preface to 'Lo Spaccio della Bestia' (Op. It. vol. ii. p. 108).

[91] Op. It. vol. i. p. 150.

[92] Op. It. vol. i. p. 123.

[93] See Wood, Ath. Oxon. p. 300.

[94] Op. It. vol. i. p. 179.

[95] Printed in the Explicatio triginta Sigillarum.

[96] Op. It. vol. i. p. 267.

[97] Loc. cit. p. 267.

[98] It is a curious fact that the single copy of Campanella's poems on which Orelli based his edition of 1834, came from Wolfenbüttel.

[99] They were published at Frankfort, and dedicated to the friendly Prince of Wolfenbüttel.

[100] Britanno's Deposition, Berti's Vita di G.B. p. 337.

[101] Sarpi mentions the return of Ciotto from the fair (Lettere, vol. i. p. 527).

[102] Ciotto, before the Inquisition, called the book De Minimo Magno et Mensura. It may therefore have been the De Triplici Minimo et Mensura, and not the De Monade (Vita di G.B. p. 334).

[103] Mocenigo told Ciotto: I wish first to see what I can get from him of those things which he promised me, so as not wholly to lose what I have given him, and afterwards I mean to surrender him to the censure of the Holy Office' (Berti, p. 335).

[104] Mere correspondence with heretics exposed an Italian to the Inquisition. Residence in heretical lands, except with episcopal license, was forbidden. The rules of the Index proscribed books in which the name of a heretic was cited with approval.

[105] Bruno speaks himself of 'arte della memoria et inventiva' (op. cit. p. 339). Ciotto mentions 'la memoria et altre scientie' (ib. p. 334).

[106] Op. cit. p. 335.

[107] They remind us of the blasphemies imputed to Christopher Marlowe.

[108] Op. cit. p. 352.

[109] Ibid. p. 355.

[110] Ibid. p. 362.

[111] Op. cit. p. 349

[112] Ibid. p. 384

[113] Ibid. p. 364

[114] Ibid. p. 363

[115] Op. cit. p. 378.

[116] These years were not all spent at Rome. From the Records of the Inquisition, it appears that he arrived in Rome on February 27, 1598, and that his trial in form began in February 1599. The Pope ratified his sentence of death on January 20, 1600; this was publicly promulgated on February 8, and carried into effect on the subsequent 17th. Where Bruno was imprisoned between January 1593, and February 1598 is not known.

[117] Doubts have recently been raised as to whether Bruno was really burned. But these are finally disposed of by a succinct and convincing exposition of the evidence by Mr. R.C. Christie, in Macmillan's Magazine, October 1885. In addition to Schoppe and Kepler, we have the reference to Bruno's burning published by Mersenne in 1624; but what is far more important, the Avviso di Roma for February 19,1600, records this event as having occurred upon the preceding Thursday. To Signor Berti's two works, Documenti intorno a G. Bruno (Roma, 1880), and Copernico e le vicende, etc. (Roma, 1876), we owe most of the material which has been lucidly sifted by Mr. R.C. Christie.

[118] 'Londinam perfectus, libellum istic edit de Bestia triumphante, h.e. de Papa. quem vestri honoris causa bestiam appellare solent.'

[119] We may remember that while a novice at Naples, he first got into trouble by keeping the crucifix as the only religious symbol which he respected, when he parted with images of saints.

[120] These pregnant words are in Berti's Vita di G.B. p. 299.

[121] He well deserves this name, in spite of his recantation at Venice; for it seems incredible that he could not by concessions have purchased his life. As Breugger wrote with brutal crudity to Kepler: 'What profit did he gain by enduring such torments? If there were no God to punish crimes, as he believed, could he not have pretended any thing to save his life?' We may add that the alternative to death for a relapsed apostate was perpetual incarceration; and seven years of prison may well have made Bruno prefer death with honor.

[122] op. cit. p. 70.

[123] Both Berti and Quinet have made similar remarks, which, indeed, force themselves upon a student of the sixteenth century.

[124] This theological conception of history inspired the sacred drama of the Middle Ages, known to us as Cyclical Miracle Plays.

[125] It was my intention to support the statements in this paragraph by translating the passages which seem to me to justify them; and I had gone so far as to make English versions of some twenty pages in length, when I found that this material would overweight my book. A study of Bruno as the great precursor of modern thought in its more poetical and widely synthetic speculation must be left for a separate essay. Here I may remark that the most faithful and pithily condensed abstract of Bruno's philosophy is contained in Goethe's poem Proemium zu Gott und Welt. Yet this poem expresses Goethe's thought, and it is doubtful whether Goethe had studied Bruno except in the work of his disciple Spinoza.

[126] Spaventa in his Saggi di Critica.

[127] We may remind our readers of Henri IV.'s parting words to Joseph Scaliger: 'Est-il vrai que vous avez été de Paris à Dijon sans aller à la selle?'

[128] Lettere, vol. i. p. 239.

[129] It was under the supervision of the Servites that Sarpi gained the first rudiments of education. Thirst for knowledge may explain his early entrance into their brotherhood. Like Virgil and like Milton, he received among the companions of his youthful studies the honorable nickname of 'The Maiden.' Gross conversation, such as lads use, even in convents, ceased at his approach. And yet he does not seem to have lost influence among his comrades by the purity which marked him out as exceptional.

[130] Lettere, vol. i. p. 237.