not even acknowledged. Wounded thus in
his deepest sensibilities, and bewailing the misfortunes of his
literary career, we need not wonder that he should have sent a reply
peremptorily commanding his son to give up poetry and stick to the
law. The young poet in his distress sought the intervention of some of
his father's literary friends, and through their mediation the destiny
of Torquato Tasso and of Italian poetry was accomplished, and the poem
of _Rinaldo_ was given to the world through the renowned press of the
Franceschi of Venice. No sooner was it published than it achieved an
extraordinary success, for Cervantes had not yet made this class of
fiction for ever ridiculous.

Notwithstanding that the public were surfeited with romantic poetry,
the merits of this new work, constructed upon different principles and
carried out in an original style, were such that the literary schools
were carried by storm, and the young Tasso, or Tassino, as he was now
called to distinguish him from his father, at once leapt into fame. So
great was his reputation, that the newly-restored University of
Bologna invited him to reside there, so that it might share in the
distinction conferred by his name. In this magnificent seat of
learning he remained, enjoying the advantage of literary intercourse
with the great scholars who then occupied the chairs of the
University, until the publication of some anonymous pasquinades,
reflecting severely upon the leading inhabitants, of which he was
falsely supposed to be the author. In his absence the Government
officials visited his rooms and seized his papers. The sensitive poet
regarded this suspicion as a stain upon his honour, and the outrage he
never forgave. Shaking the dust from his shoes, he departed from
Bologna, and for some time led an unsettled life, enjoying the
generous hospitality of the nobles whose names he had celebrated in
his _Rinaldo_. Returning at length to Padua, where he engaged in the
study of Aristotle and Plato, and delivered three discourses on Heroic
Poetry in the Academia degli Eterei, or the Ethereals--in which he
developed the whole theory of his poetical design--which were
afterwards published, the office of Laureate at the court of Ferrara
was offered to him by Cardinal Lewis of Este, to whom, as I have said,
he had dedicated his _Rinaldo_.

Torquato Tasso was now in the full bloom of opening manhood. He was
distinguished, like his father, for his personal beauty