TOMB of Torquato Tasso, in Convent of S. Onofrio, Rome. Statue by De Fabris. "Peace to Torquato's injured shade! 't was his Childe Harold, Canto IV, stanza xxxix, p. 69. and the inkstand and chair, the tomb and the house of the latter. But, as misfortune has a greater interest for posterity, and little or noue for the cotemporary, the cell where Tasso was confined in the hospital of St. Anna attracts a more fixed attention than the residence or the monument of Ariosto at least it had this effect on me. There are two inscriptions, one on the outer gate, the second over the cell itself, inviting, unnecessarily, the wonder and the indignation of the spectator. Ferrara is much decayed, and depopulated: the castle still exists entire ; and I saw the court where Parisina and Hugo were beheaded, according to the annal of Gibbon. I Long years! It tries the thrilling frame to bear, Long years of outrage, calumny, and wrong; And the mind's canker in its savage mood, And bare, at once, Captivity display'd Stands scoffing through the never-open'd gate, Which nothing through its bars admits, save day, And tasteless food, which I have eat alone Till its unsocial bitterness is gone; And I can banquet like a beast of prey, Sullen and lonely, couching in the cave Which is my lair, and it may be my grave.1 How Salem's shrine was won, and how adored. II But this is o'er, my pleasant task is done: 2 Know, that my sorrows have wrung from me none. 1 Tasso was released after seven years of imprisonment. Thou too art ended what is left me now? For I have anguish yet to bear - and how? Of my own spirit shall be found resource. Nor cause for such: they call'd me mad — and why? Oh Leonora! wilt not thou reply? 1 I was indeed delirious in my heart That thou wert beautiful, and I not blind, The wretched are the faithful, 't is their fate As rapid rivers into ocean pour; But ours is fathomless, and hath no shore. III Above me, hark! the long and maniac cry And hark! the lash and the increasing howl, 1 Leonora d'Este, sister of Alfonso, by whom Tasso was imprisoned. The belief that his punishment was because of love for the Princess Leonora is no longer accepted. |