.. more indignation,' says the honest Gascon, 'than compassion, when I saw him at Ferrara in so piteous an estate, a living • shadow of himself, forgetful of himself and of his works.' Are we to understand that the forgetfulness was so complete as to have made him then insensible to this last dishonour ? Beyond the walls of Santa Anna, indeed, there was consolation for Tasso, could it have reached him through the din of chains, and shrieks, and maniac laughter, and through the distractions and perturbed visions which were settling upon his mind. He was becoming the madman that Alphonso had reported him to be. But while the poet himself languished in prison, his poem itself was read or recited in city and in country, in market-place and haven, in palace and in convent, on the populous highway, and in solitary glens, from the fountains of the Adige to the Straits of Messina, in the valleys of Savoy, and in the capitals of Spain and France. Men could not praise it enough. Fortunes were made by its sale. Two thousand copies of Ingegneri's edition were sold in a day or two. "Everywhere,' says Mr. R. Milman, “all over the country, nothing was to be heard but Tasso's echoes. The shepherd read it as he watched by his flocks on the ridgy Apennine. The boatman, rocking in the Campanian Gulf, hung over the verse of his exiled compatriot. The gondolier, waiting at the Venetian bridges, whiled away the hours with learning the stately and liquid stanzas. The brigand, lurking behind the rock in the wild passes of the Abruzzi, laid by his matchlock for the strains of love and valour. The merchant, in the inn, ceased thinking over his ships, and the sbopkeeper forgot his business, in the gardens of Armida, or the enchanted forest. The prelate and the monk hurried with the book into their cells, to visit in its pages the sacred walls and holy buildings of Jerusalem. The brave cavalier and fair maiden admired the knightly feats, or wept over the tender sorrows of the champions and their ladies, in hall or in shady bower. The scholar to whom the work bad been in part submitted, rushed eagerly to see how his criticisms had told. Nobles and princes, and their stately dames, in addition to the interest of the poem, desired to see the verse of the famous object of princely love and princely hate. The French knights panted to see their progenitors' deeds of pious valour blazoned anew to the world in the burning words of song.' · Tasso was released from his seven years' imprisonment in the Hospital of Santa Anna on the 5th or 6th of July, 1586. He was released from a life little less burdensome than imprisonment on the 25th of April, 1595. The strong man was bowed; the grave man had become saturpine: he had regained liberty but not repose. At the age of forty-two, with impaired vigour and extinguished hope, he was as much a pilgrim and an exile as when, at the age of twenty, he had entered the service of Alphonso, and offered his willing homage to the virtues and genius of Lucretia and Leonora. A few gleams of prosperity attended the last two years of his life. His fame pervaded Italy: it was proposed to crown Rinaldo's poet with Petrarch's laureate wreath; the noblest Houses of Italy aspired to become his patrons : but he had already put too much trust in princes, and his best consolations were the friendship of Manso and the hospitality of the good Benedictines of Mont Olivet. We must now close our imperfect sketches of the ethnic and the Christian poet. In the history of the former we have contemplated a career marked by few vicissitudes, and expressive, if not of the highest genius, yet of talents honourably exercised in extending the taste of a nation not naturally poetical, and ministering to the literary enjoyment of future ages. Philosophy was perhaps never more successfully applied in the regulation of character than it was by Horace; and external circumstances had favoured his happy nature. In an age of ostentation and excess he was simple, frugal, and contented. His early asperities had yielded to the gentle influences of friendship, experience, and self-knowledge. In the ancient world he stands forward prominently as the philosopher of good sense. The life of Tasso is a more tragic volume. Throughout his few and evil days he exemplified the remark of the ancient poet, that he who enters a tyrant's house, becomes a slave even if " he goes in a freeman. Yet the woes of Tasso, although in themselves it is difficult to consider them medicinal, fell upon a nature so chastened and elevated by endurance, that at the last we can contemplate the closing scene with feelings not purely painful. One by one the inherent imperfections of his disposition appear to have been corrected. His passion for praise, his proneness to take offence, his impatience, his jealousy, and his pride gradually left him. The great reconciler of wrongs, impartial and inexorable death, removed every cloud from his spiritual vision — Alphonso and Ferrara faded away upon the horizon of eternity: even the fame of his Gierusalemme had become of the earth' and indifferent to him ; and his failing senses admitted alone the echoes of the consoling hymn and the words of the parting benediction. In the church of the Monastery of St. Onofrio, at Rome, a small marble slab and a more stately monument inform the traveller that there, after his weary pilgrimage, rest the bones of Torquato Tasso. ters Templified ingic volumsopher of client No. CLXXXIX. will be published in January, 1851. • Æschylus, the Lyrical Dramas of, translated into English Verse,' by J. S. Blackie, review of, 173. See Blackie. Alburquerque, Don Juan Alonso, notice of his career, 143 et seq. See Pedro. Alphonso XI., King of Castile, notice of the reign of, 141-2. America, United States of, review of works relating to, 339—judgment and candour of Sir Charles Lyell's books upon the United States, ib.-his first geological visit, 339-40—his Second Visit, 341_his debarkation at Boston, ib. - Protestantism the basis of freedom in New England, ib. its religious sects, 342—its fanaticism, 343_- revivals,' 344-Millerites, ib.Mormons, 345-6 true religion essentially progressive, 346-7-policy of the congregational churches, 348-9— religious insincerity of Old England, 350-education question in Old and New England, 351-2general diffusion of education in New England, 353-extract from Mr. Matheson's letter on the morals, education, and religion of the United States, 353-4-and from Mr. Mackay's work on the same subjects, 354-religion free, education compulsory, 355-state religion, 356-zeal of the people in the cause of religion, 357schools for the Indians, 358—what the Americans may justly be proud of, 358-9-civilisation and security in New England, 360prospects of the federal government, 361-the slavery question, 362—Texas, Mexico, and California, 363-4—activity of the Church, 365-6— America not declining, but growing, 367— Webster on the press, 368-and on the duty of a representative, 369eulogium on the late writers on America, 370—difficulties which beset its government, 371. 10. B. Behetrias,' notice of the formation of, 140. Bernouilli, notice of his work on Probabilities, 9. Blackie, J. S., review of his . Lyrical Dramas of Æschylus, trans lated into English Verse,' 173-character of translations of classical authors from the time of the Restoration, ib.-difficulty of poetical translations affording satisfaction to the present age, 174-6—especially of translating Æschylus, 177-8—chief features of Mr. Sewell's translation of the 'Agamemnon,' 179-extract from Mr. Blackie's version of the “Agamemnon,' 180-his rendering of the ode from the Choephoræ,' 181-3-and of the close of the Per sians,' 183-4-a translator's choice of evils, 185-6—literary hedgings,' 186-extract illustrative of Mr. Blackie's power in Blackie's work, 188. -his establishment of the power of Pedro, 165—his quarrel with 239-40. Cesar, view of his character and political career, 79 et seq. See Merivale. collection of books, 385. Education, popular opinions on the subject, 94-5-extract from Bloomfield, illustrative of the altered relation of the labourer and education, 135-6. view of emigration, 498–our present want of system, 499—what England, New, Sir Charles Lyell's account of, 341 et seq. See America. articles on this subject, ib.-improvements in the illustration of its Language,' 294-origin of the Anglo-Saxon, ib.-rarity of the what was the effect of the Conquest, ib.-grammatical changes con,' ib, French the court and fashionable language, 311-ortho- M. Guizot, review of, 220 et seq. See Guizot. tion with India by steam, ib.--comparison of the various routes, |