rament, with some
overcharge in the tendency to distrust and suspicion, which belongs, as
we learn from his biography, to the character of Tasso, and which again
was but the symptom and precursor of that insanity to which he fell a
prey. Both to relieve and develope this poetic character, we have its
opposite (the representative of the practical understanding) in Antonio
Montecatino, the secretary of state, the accomplished man of the world,
the successful diplomatist. It may be well to mention that the speeches
in the play given to Leonora d'Este, with whom Tasso is in love, are
headed _The Princess_; and it is her friend Leonora Sanvitale, Countess
of Scandiano, who speaks under the name of _Leonora_.

"ACT. I.--SCENE I.

_A garden in the country palace of Belriguardo, adorned with busts of
the epic poets. To the right, that of Virgil--to the left, that of
Ariosto._

PRINCESS, LEONORA.

"_Princess._--My Leonora, first you look at me
And smile, then at yourself, and smile again.
What is it? Let your friend partake. You seem
Very considerate, and much amused.

"_Leonora._--My Princess, I but smiled to see ourselves
Decked in these pastoral habiliments.
We look right happy shepherdesses both,
And what we do is still pure innocence.
We weave these wreaths. Mine, gay with many flowers,
Still swells and blushes underneath my hand;
Thou, moved with higher thought and greater heart,
Hast only wove the slender laurel bough.

"_Princess._--The bough which I, while wreathing thoughts, have
wreathed,
Soon finds a worthy resting-place. I lay it
Upon my Virgil's forehead.

[_Crowns the bust of Virgil._

"_Leonora._ And I mine,
My jocund garland, on the noble brow
Of Master Ludovico.

[_Crowns the bust of Ariosto._

Well may he,
Whose sportive verse shall never fade, demand
His tribute of the spring!

"_Princess._ 'Twas amiable
In the duke, my brother, to conduct us,
So early in the year, to this retreat.
Here we possess ourselves, here we may dream
Uninterrupted hours--dream ourselves back
Into the golden age which poets sing.
I love this Belriguardo; I have here
Pass'd many youthful, many happy days;
And the fresh green, and this bright sun, recall
The feelings of those times.

"_Leonora._ Yes, a new world
Surrounds us here. H