touched in some dim
way with the same feeling, to which, alas! they gave but sorry
expression, if the surmise be true.

The constant excitement of the court and his unending literary labors
commenced to tell upon the poet in 1575, when his health began to fail
and he grew irritable and restless, became subject to delusions, fancied
that he had been denounced by the Inquisition, and was in daily terror
of being poisoned. Then it was said that the poet was mad, and there are
some who have whispered that it was his unrequited love for the Princess
Leonora which brought about this calamity. However that may be, the
climax was reached in the year 1577, when Tasso, in the presence of
Lucrezia d'Este,--who was then Duchess of Urbino,--drew a knife upon one
of his servants. For this he was arrested, but soon after was given his
liberty on condition that he should go to a Franciscan monastery and
give himself that rest and attention which his failing health demanded.
Here, however, he was beset with the idea that the duke sought to take
his life, and he fled in disguise to his sister, who was then living at
Sorrento. Various explanations have been given for this sudden flight,
and some biographers have insinuated that the duke had discovered some
hidden intrigue between his sister Leonora and Tasso which had caused
the latter to fear for his safety. This supposition cannot be accepted
as true, however, for if the duke had known or had even strongly
suspected such a thing he would have promptly put the poet to death
without compunction, and such a course of action would have been
entirely justified by the public sentiment of the time. And if this
supposition were true, is it probable that Tasso would have been allowed
to return to Ferrara in a short time, as he did? Now, begins a confused
life, and the poet comes and goes, moved by a strange restlessness,
never happy away from Ferrara, yet never caring to stay there long.
Finally, on one occasion he thought himself so neglected at his return
that he made a most violent scene, and became so bitter and incoherent
in his complaints that he was pronounced insane and imprisoned by order
of the duke. There he remained for seven years, and the most of that
time he was in a well-lighted and well-furnished room, where he was
allowed to receive visitors and devote himself to literary work whenever
he so desired. At the end of this time, in which Tasso himself speaks of
his mental disorder,