the academicians of la Crufca. They wrote an answer to the dialogue. The fpirit of party and the spirit of rival inftitutions, as dangerous in literature as in any art orfcience, prefided over the dispute. It is difficult, at this day, to believe, that fuch things were spoken of Taffo in the name of an academy, and in the face of all Italy. Taffo replied to this production, with a moderation and a modesty that brought the public over to his fide. Many champions entered the lifts for him, and many a lance was broken in his behalf, with these Florentines. Time produced its common effect; the criticifms and the attacks were forgotten, but the poem that had occafioned them, remained. The highest place was affigned to it in feveral parts of Italy, and no where was it ranked below the fecond. only, deftitute of perfpicuity, but involved in the profoundest obfcurity; in no place is it written with energy; in no place is it capable of awakening, far lefs of roufing, or of ftimulating the paffions; in The Jerufalem, fay the acade- every place it is tedious and withmicians, far from being a poem, is out tafte; it is every where ftuffed only a tedious and frigid compila-with words that are either pedantion. The unity that reigns in ittic, foreign, or provincial, and is dull and vulgar, like the dor- which for the most part are not mitory of a convent, while that of words, but barbarifs, &c.' the furiofo is lucid and elegant, like the facade of a palace. Tallo's plan is like a diminutive house, narrow and difproportioned, much too low for its length, and built, ⚫ or rather heaped on ancient walls, like the vile rubbish that we fee accumulated on the baths of Dioclefian. The author has only re'lated, in Italian rhymes, hitories that have been written in other languages: he is, therefore, not a poet, but a compiler in verfe of a itory not his own; and that ftory is more uncouth in the verfe he has thought proper to employ, than 'metaphyfics would be, if fung to the air of a jig. The web that .. Ariofto has woven is grand and 'magnificent; that of Taffo is not fo much a web as a belt; and if he takes offence at the comparifon, 'let him be told that his web is fo * long and fo narrow, that it is liker ' a mere thread than a belt. In his poem, if it deferves the name, the expreffions are fo contorted, harsh, forced, and disagreeable, that they are with difficulty understood. Afriofto conjoins brevity with perfpicuity; but the brevity of Taffo ought rather to be called conftipation. If he had meant to be concife, he would never have written fo many little conceits on imperti'nent fubjects, conceits fo irkfome to the reader, that he would al'moft fooner be put to the torture than read them again. This ftiff, rugged, and unequal poem, is not VOL. X. No. 58. Kk The most learned and most intelligent, declined pronouncing between the merits of Taflo and of Ariofto. Indeed their fubject, their genius, and their style, are fo very different, that there is hardly any thing in both that can be the object of comparifon. But it may truly be faid, that in their different walks they are both the firft. This was observed, and affirmed by Horace Ariosto, in the heat of the difpute; it has alfo been maintained by Metaftafio in later times; who, however, fays, that if he were obliged to decide between two fuch great men, his natural prepoffeffion in favour of order, regularity, and precifion, would make him incline, to the fide of Taffo. The fate of the Jerufalem was in fome measure happier in France than in Italy. Although at firft known there there only by wretched translations, it excite great admiration. It was ranked along with the Iliad and the Eneid, and towards the middle of the last century, it was even preferred to both. ed over the interests of good tafte, with the vigilance of a magiftrate and the ability of a legiflator, boldly attacked what he thought a literary herely; and launched the thunder of his fatire against it in a fingle Boileau, who at that time watch- verfe, Tous les jours à la cour, un fot de qualité Et le clinquant du Taffe à tout l'or de Virgile. This expreffion was feized on by theflections on Longinus. I would ' have begun by acknowledging, that Taflo's genius was fublime, inventive, and happily fuited to poetry, and to the higher poetry. But then, coming to the ufe which he made of his talents, I would have fhewn that judgment is not at all times with him a prominent feature; that in the greater part of his narrations, he is lefs anxious ' about what is neceffary than what ' is agreeable; that his defcriptions are almost always loaded with fu This precept is certainly dictated by found wildom; but unfortunately Boileau is now become one of thofe great men, whom we dare hardly cenfure, without exposing ourselves to the risk from which Quintilianperfluous ornaments; that in paintwould guard us. But let us endeavour to investigate the fenfe of the expreflion, before we examine its juftness; and for fear of being guided by prejudice, let us bring Boileau himself to be his own interpreter. Paffing over the more moderate opinion that he had formed of Taffo when he wrote his art of poetry, the following anecdote is handed down by the Abbé d'Olivet, in the history of the academy, at the article le ing the violent paffions, and in the midst of the diftrefs excited by them, he often degenerates into prettineffes which initantly annihilate the pathos of the fcene; that ' he is full of florid images, affected turns, and frivolous thoughts, which, far from being fuited to the fpirit of his poem, would have been more properly placed in the Aminta. Now, faid he, all this being opposed to the folidity, the gravity, the majesty of Virgil, what is it elfe but tinfel compared with gold? I was prefent at the converfation, adds the Abbé d'Olivet, and I am fenfible, that the defire of preferving the laft leffons of fo great a mafter, has made me wander from my own fubject, &c.' This opinion, formed of Taffo, after a recent reading, when the judgment and taste of Boileau had at tained their utmoft degree of perfection, and which the Abbe d'Olivet calls the leffon of a great mafter, I fhall endeavour to investigate. That Taffo's genius was fublime, inventive, and happily fuited to poetry, and to the higher poetry, is what I think cannot be doubted, when one has read his poem. The fubject of it is grand and elevated, the characters are noble and well fupported, the thoughts and fentiments are warm and forcible, the fpeeches eloquent, the defcriptions rich and varied; the plan is regular, without being monotonous, the incidents are unexpected, though naturally brought about, the epifodes are interefting, the file is rapid, harmonious, and poetical. We find the author all along full of bis fubject, and are obliged to acknowledge, that the enthufiasm which dictated the beginning of his poem, never leaves him till its conclufion. The fubject which he undertook to celebrate was at that time a popular one. The memory of the ancient crufades was by no means extinct; and a century had fcarcely paffed fince Pope Pius II. had projected a new one. Taffo was accordingly biaffed by the spirit of his age, and he endeavoured likewife, in imitation of Virgil and of Ariofto, to involve a particular intereft in the general one of his poem. As Virgil had fung the fabulous origin of the Auguftan race, Ariofto celebrated that of the house of Efte; and Taffo chofe for his hero one of the branches of the fame house, and took every opportunity of celebrating that Alphonfo, who paid as little regard to his praises as the Cardinal Hyppolito did to those of Ariosto. But while Taffo and Ariofto appropriated to themselves the adulatory fictions of Virgil, they were unable to annex to their imitations the fame degree of intereft. There was a great difference between the Em peror of the world, and the petty fovereign of Ferrara. Arioito gave himself little concern about this difference; the house of Elte he continually prefents to our view, and tho we are fometimes difgulted with the frequency of its appearance, we cannot help admiring the art of the poet in offering up his incenfe to fuch various ways. But as Taflo was writing a real epic poem, and not a romance, he contented himself with giving a place in his work, to a prince of the houfe of Efte, and of making him the Achilles of his new Iliad. He, therefore, fpeaks only once of the heroes of his race, and then dedicates to them but a few itanzas at the end of his feventeenth canto, As the actions of Achilles do not make the intrigue of the Iliad, but his abfence from the army of the Greeks, fo it is the absence of Rinaldo from the camp of the Christians, which prolongs the fiege of Jerufalem, and gives occafion to the incidents of the poem. Every thing previous to that abfence, is only a preparation for what is to follow; the confequences of this exile make his return defireable; he does return and all obstacles give way; the Chriftians now find nothing to oppofe them, Jerufalem is taken, and the poem. ends. The romantic fpirit which animates the whole work, furnishes the means for removing Rinaldo from the Chriftian army: the fame magic which forms the machinery and the marvellous of the poem, detains him far from the camp, and operates his return. Indeed, the greatest art is difplayed in the management of this part of the action. The whole poem is almost entirely conducted with the fame address; the incidents arise naturally out of one another, and concur to form a whole, which developes itself with the most lucid order. The poet proceeds rapidly towards his goal, and if he fometimes Kk 2 ftops Atops by the way, we are always pleased to stop with him. In a word, with regard to fable or plan, few poets are equal to him, and perhaps none fuperior. The diverfity of people, of religions, and of cuftoms, furnished him with an opportunity of drawing a great variety of portraits, and of characters. Of the perfons in the Chriftian army, he makes fome ftand out on the foreground of his canvas; while the others are thrown back to a greater diftance; but the whole perform their parts without embarrafiment or confufion. The principal perfonages in the Pagan army, are reprefented with heroic characters of different kinds, and are shewn to fo much advantage, that we fometimes think they eclipfe the Chriftian heroes. The Egyptian army, which appears at the end of the poem, to give additional eclat to the valour of the Chriftians, furnishes new cha racters, new incidents, and new defcriptions of foreign manners and cuftoms; and affords another proof of the fertile imagination of Taffo, and of the inventive powers of his genius. The evidence of its fublimity, may in some measure, be found over the whole poem. It may be found in the invocation addreffed to that mufe, who, not with fading laurel, en⚫ circleth her brow on the fabled Helicon, but with a golden crown, ftudded with inextinguishable ftars, among the celestial quires! We find it in the propofition of his fubject; in the look which the Eternal throws upon Syria and the Chriftian hoft, a look which penetrates the heart of all its chiefs; we find it in the abrupt and terrible annunciation of the character of Argantes, when he fhakes his robe before the affembled Chriftians, and feems to let loofe from it fury, difcord, and war. The infernal counfel, though imitaced, and almost tranflated from Vida, the death of young Sueno; and his fpeech before the combat: the flight of Soliman; the defcription of the throne of the Eternal, and of that parching drought that brought the Chriftian army to the brink of deftruction; an infinite number of thoughts and fentiments, fometimes expreffed in the nobleft and moit poetical ftyle, as in the inftance of that fage who fhewed Rinaldo the true good, not in enchanted plains, amidit fountains and flowers, with nymphs and fyrens; but on the rugged top of that mountain where vittue dwells; fometimes merely indicated by the expreffion given to the features of the face, as when the fame Rinaldo, being informed of Godfrey's defign to feize him, fmiled contemptuoufly before he fpoke, and a dreadful rage fhewed itself in his fmile; in fhort, a thoufand circumftances every where through the poem are ftriking proofs of the eleva→ tion and fublimity of Taffo's genius. But let us fee whether all thefe beauties are not obfcured, by the faults which Boileau afcribes to the poem. In the first place, it must be obferved, that the Jerufalem delivered was begun when Taffo was ftill very young. As he finished a canto, he took pleasure in reading it to his friends; he lent it to them without fufpicion, and they copied it without referve. It was accordingly against his will, and before he was able to correct the different parts of it, that his poem was published and difperfed over Italy. A little time after its publication his misfortunes commenced, and put it out of his power to make the corrections he faw better than any body elfe it required. His opinion of its imperfections, and his intentions to remove them, appear in many of his own letters, and in those of his friends. Judge then if at this day, that poem can be confidered as faultlefs, the imperfections of which weze were feen and acknowledged by the author, and which at a more advanced period in life he used to call the pastime of his youth. But let us examine more particularly, whether the mafter and the friend of Racine has justly appreciated the merits of Taffo. 1. Judgment, fays he, is not at all times with him a prominent feature. By judgment, he means that which Horace fays is the foundation and fource of the art of writing well. It is that judgment which is an enemy to all extravagance, which is void of affectation,and of far fetchedthoughts, which always confines the molt exuberant genius and the moft fertile i magination within juft bounds. It fhines with a mild light in the works of all the good authors of antiquity, because the ancients lived nearer to nature, they confulted her alone, and in order to paint her, they borrowed no colours but thofe the herself furnished them with. But it is a quality found rarely among the moderns, because, in all nations, authors rather follow the taste of their own times than the voice of nature; and because that tafte, like the manners of the times, is but an abfurd compound of prejudice and barbarism. Few authors have courage enough to defpife the taste of their nation and their age. When Taff wrote, Italy was infefted with affectation and fcholaftic philofophy. Petrarch had introduced a fort of fpiritualism or mysticism in love, and his followers, who had not the genius of their original, imitated his faults, till their writings became totally unintelligible. They invented a number of far-fetched expreffions, which, perhaps, were at that time too frequent not to feem natural. The first poems of Taffo, notwithstanding the fuperiority of his understanding, fhew, that he was far from being able to guard against the falfe refinement of his age. When he began his Jerufalem, he undoubtedly meant to change his manner, and to imitate, both in ftyle and otherwife, Homer and Virgil, whom he inceffantly studied, and of whom he never spoke without a degree of enthufiafm. But we know the power of habit on the mind as wellas on the body. In fpite of all' his efforts, we but too often find, in the midft of the greatest beauties of his poem, the unhappy vestiges of his original habits. The heroic or epic romances, with which Italy had been teeming from the Morgante to the Orlando furiofo, had alfo crowded the language and imagination of the Italians, with expreffions and ideas irreconcileable with good fenfe or good tafte. Being fed, as it were, from his youth, with the reading of thofe works, and having himself, at the age of feventeen, figured as an author in that line, it was impoffible for Taffo, notwithstanding the juft notions he had acquired of the true Epopæe, to abftain from the faults. he had been accustomed to excufe, and even to imitate in the romances of chivalry. The philofophy of Taffo was that of Ariftotle, conjoined with that of Plato. He had learnt from the former, all the cunning and fubtilty of difputation, of which he takes advantage in his profe works. From Plato he had learnt to addict himself to contemplation, and his foul easily received the idea of that moral beau ty which the first of philofophers fo well conceived, and has fo eloquently expreffed. We difcover evident traces of platonism throughout his poem, in the ideal beauty of his thoughts and maxims; but we likewife difcover them in those metaphyfical expreffions of love which Petrarch had made fashionable, and which, in their pleasures, their pains, and their complaints, Taffo's lovers never fail to employ, inftead of the language |