but also of her saintly goodness, which was so great that a
single prayer of hers on one occasion was said to have rescued Ferrara
from the wrath of Heaven evinced in the inundation of the Po. In the
society of these ladies Tasso spent a great deal of his time; and
perhaps his intercourse with them, unconstrained by court
conventionalities, was not altogether free from those tender feelings
which the charms of a lovely and accomplished woman, whatever her
rank, might readily excite in a poetic temperament. The author of the
_Sorrows of Werther_ did not, therefore, perhaps draw exclusively upon
his imagination in picturing the rise and struggle of an unhappy
passion for Leonora d'Este in the bosom of the young poet. Whatever
may be said regarding this passion, however, there can be no doubt
that his heart was at this time enslaved by younger and humbler
beauties. He had much of the temperament of his father, who, although
exemplary in his single and married life, was distinguished for his
Platonic gallantry, and cherished a poetic attachment, according to
the fashion of the day, for various ladies throughout his career, such
as Genevra Malatesta, the beautiful Tullia of Arragon, and Marguerite
de Valois, sister of Henry III. These follies were but the froth of
his genius, however; and in this respect his son followed his example.
Lucrezia Bendidio, a young lady at court gifted with singular beauty
and musical talent, reigned for a while supreme over his affections.
But she had other suitors, including the author of the _Pastor Fido_,
and the poet Pigna, who was the secretary and favourite of the
reigning duke. The Princess Leonora tried to cure Tasso of this
passion by persuading him to illustrate the verses of his rival Pigna.
Nothing came of this first love, therefore, and the object of it soon
after married into the house of Machiavelli.

In the congenial atmosphere of the court of Ferrara, surrounded by the
flower of beauty and chivalry, stimulated by the associations of his
master Ariosto, which every object around recalled, and encouraged by
the praises of the sweetest lips in the palace, Tasso set himself
diligently to the composition of the great work of his life, the
_Gerusalemme Liberata_, the plan of which he had formed before he left
the University of Padua. Among the treasures of the Vatican Library I
have seen a sketch in the poet's own handwriting of the first three
cantos. This sketch he now modified and