TASSO.

HISTORIANS relate, that Tasso gave very early proofs of his great genius, and that, at the age of six months, he not only spoke and pronounced his words clearly and distinctly, but that he thought, reasoned, expressed his wants, and answered questions; and that there was nothing childish in his words but the tone of his voice; that he seldom laughed or cried, and that even then, he gave certain proofs of that equality of temper which supported him in those trying misfortunes to which he was so unfortunate a victim. Towards the end of his third year, our poet's father was obliged to follow the Prince of Salerno into Germany, which journey was the source of all the sufferings of Tasso and his family. The cause of their journey was this: Don Pedro, of Toledo, Viceroy of Naples for the Emperor Charles V., had formed a design to establish the Inquisition in that city. The Neapolitans were alarmed at it, and resolved to send a deputation to the Emperor; and for that purpose, they made choice of the Prince of Salerno, who seemed most able, by his authority and riches, to make head against the Viceroy.

VOL. I.

Before Bernardo (his father) departed with the Prince on his embassy for Germany, he committed the care of his son to Angeluzzo, a man of learning; for he thought a boy could not be too soon put under the tuition of men. It is related, that, at three years of age, little Tasso began the study of grammar, and at four, was sent to the College of the Jesuits; where he made so rapid a progress, that, at seven, he was pretty well acquainted with the Latin and Greek languages, and, at the same age, made public orations, and wrote some pieces of poetry, of which the style is said to have retained nothing of puerility.

At the age of nine, he addressed the following lines to his mother, when he left Naples to follow the fortunes, or rather misfortunes, of his sire.

POETRY.

"Ma del sen de la madre empia fortuna
Pargoletto divelse, at di' que' baci

Ch'ella bagno di lagrime dolenti

Con sospir mi remembra, e de gli ardenti

Preghi che sen portar l'aure fugaci,

Che i'non dovea giunger piu volto à volto

Fra quelle braccia accolto

Con nodi cosi stretti, e si tenaci,

Lasso, e seguij con mal secure plante
Qual' Ascanio, o Camilla il padre errante.”

IN ENGLISH.

"Relentless fortune in my early years

Removes me from a tender mother's breast;
With sighs I call to mind the farewell tears

That bath'd her kisses when my lips she press'd!
I hear her pray'rs with ardour breath'd to heav'n,
Aside now wafted by the devious wind:

No more to her unhappy son 'tis giv'n

Th' endearments of maternal love to find!

No more her fondling arms shall round me spread;

Far from her sight reluctant I retire';

Like young Camilla or Ascanius,

led

To trace the footsteps of my wand'ring sire."

JAMES THE FIRST'S CONTEMPT OF PERSONAL

SATIRE.

It was never the practice of James to visit with severity, failures in the respect due to his person; for his temper, though subject to gusts of passion, was, with some exceptions, placable, and his genuine love of wit pleaded strongly in behalf of literary offenders. To this effect, Howell, the letter-writer, has given the following anecdote :

"As I remember some years since, there was

a very abusive satire, in verse, brought to our king; and as the passages were a reading before him, he often said, that if there were no more men in England, the rogue should hang for it. At last, being come to the conclusion, which was, after all his railing,

'Now God preserve the king, the queen, the peers, And grant the author long may wear his ears!'

"This pleased him so well, that he broke into a laughter, and said, 'By my soul, so thou shalt for me; thou art a bitter, but thou art a witty knave.""

GOLDSMITH.

EVERY thing which relates to men of genius is interesting to the admirers of science: even their abodes, though humble in the extreme, when contemplated, call forth the most lively emotions.

Who will not walk up the Break-neck Stairs, between Seacoal Lane and the Old Bailey, with the greater pleasure, when he knows that it will conduct him to Green Arbour Court, where Goldsmith wrote his "Vicar of Wakefield," and his "Traveller?" A friend of Goldsmith's once

paying him a visit in this place, (March, 1759,) found him in a lodging so poor and miserable, that he said he should not have thought it proper to mention the circumstance, had he not considered it the highest proof of Goldsmith's genius and talents, by the bare exertion of which, under every disadvantage, he gradually emerged from obscurity, not only to enjoy the comforts, but even the luxuries of life, and an introduction into the best societies in the metropolis.

At the time the Doctor was writing his "Inquiry into the present State of Polite Learning," he resided in a wretched dirty room, in which there was but one chair; and when he, from civility, offered it to a visitant, he was obliged to seat himself in the window. Such were the privations to which one of the first literary geniuses Ireland ever produced was heir to; but Goldsmith, more fortunate than many of his brethren, outlived them.

LADY JULIANA BERNERS,

on account of her being one of the earliest English poetesses, is entitled to honorable notice in this work. She is frequently called