o,
whose work he regarded as, in its own department, incapable of being
excelled, or even equalled. In reply to the generous letter of
Ariosto's nephew, who wrote him a letter of congratulation, he said,
"The crown you would honour me with already adorns the head of the
poet to whom you are related, from whence it would be as easy to
snatch it as to wrest the club from the hand of Hercules. I would no
more receive it from your hand than I would snatch it myself."

But in spite of the altogether different nature of the two poems, and
in spite of the distinct disavowals of Tasso, the critics persisted in
accusing him of the presumption of entering the lists with Ariosto.
And in this idea they were strengthened by the injudicious praises of
Camillo Pellegrini, who in a dialogue entitled _Caraffa_ or _Epic
Poetry_, likened the _Orlando Furioso_ to a palace, the plan of which
is defective, but which contains superb rooms splendidly adorned, and
is therefore very captivating to the simple and ignorant; while the
_Gerusalemme Liberata_ resembles a smaller palace, whose architecture
is perfect, and whose rooms are suitable and elegant without being
gaudy, delighting the true masters of art. This squib was published in
Florence, and at once aroused the hostility of the Della Cruscans.
They were already prejudiced against Tasso on account of his
connection with the court of Ferrara, between which and the court of
Florence there was a bitter rivalry; and that offence was intensified
by the unguarded way in which he spoke of the Florentines as being
under the yoke of the Medici, whom he denounced as tyrants. The
Academy, which at the time enjoyed the patronage of the Grand Duke of
Tuscany, was therefore too glad to seize upon Pellegrini's squib as a
pretext for a vehement attack upon Tasso's epic. Ariosto was dead, had
passed among the immortals, and was therefore beyond all envy; but
here was a _living_ poet, who belonged to a court which had cruelly
treated the daughter of their ruler, Lucrezia de Medici, the first
wife of Alfonso of Ferrara, and was a mere youth, who was guilty of
the sacrilege of seeking to dethrone their favourite. Ariosto had
greatly admired Florence, and celebrated its beauties in one of his
finest poems; and was it to be borne that this young upstart, who had
presumed to speak disparagingly of their city, should be preferred to
him? It would be a useless waste of time to go over in detail the
absurd critic