THE GATE OF SORRENTO.

once among

The children gathering shells along the shore,
One laughed and played, unconscious of his fate;
His to drink deep of sorrow, and, through life,
To be the scorn of them that knew him not,
Trampling alike the giver and his gift.
The gift a pearl precious, inestimable,
A lay divine, a lay of love and war,

To charm, ennoble, and, from age to age,
Sweeten the labour, when the oar was plied
Or on the Adrian or the Tuscan Sea.*

Rogers.

HE fame of Sorrento is "antithetically mixed," a composition of sweet poetry and sour wine, Tasso's strains and the vinum Surrentinum.. Regarding the first element of celebrity there is no difference of opinion amongst persons of taste; but the tastes of persons are not agreed upon the merits of the second. The poets, those revellers in fiction, have extolled the vintage of Surrentum in good set terms; but Tiberius, who was a lover of plain prose, and a matter-of-fact man, affirmed that it was only a shade better than diluted vinegar. The town of Sorrento, anciently called Syrentum, from its local beauties, and afterwards Surrentum, is situated high above the sea, on the south-western promontory of the bay of Naples. It was probably built by the Phoenicians; although Strabo affirms that it was founded by Ulysses, and a certain priest of Sorrento, desirous to "outHerod Herod," even attributes its origin to Shem the son of Noah. Frontinus says that it was colonized by Augustus, but mentions also that it was once occupied by the Greeks. After the fall

Torquato Tasso, the son of Bernardo Tasso, a poor though noble native of Bergamo, was born at Sorrento, March the 11th, 1544, nine years after the death of Ariosto. The father of the poet was the author of many elegant lyrics, and of some volumes of letters. He possessed an ardent, restless temperament that descended to his son, whose misfortunes were mainly owing to this hereditary disposition, excited and acted upon by those brilliant powers of imagination which, whilst they won for their possessor a barren wreath from posterity, were destined to torment him through life like a consuming fire. Bernardo attached himself to the fortunes of Sanseverino, prince of Salerno, and when Spanish oppression had ruined his patron, and made himself an exile, he sought refuge in Rome. Thither his son Torquato followed him, and the young poet's parting embrace with his mother, who remained behind to look after a dowry which she had never received, forms a beautiful incident in one of his fragmentary pieces. After two years

of Rome, Sorrento appertained to the duchy of Naples and shared its political fortunes. Some of the defences of the middle ages are fast approaching the condition of the Roman ruins. The turretted fort in our view, presents within the walls a melancholy aspect of decay. It stands close beside the eastern gate, which is surmounted by a statue of San Antonino, regarding whose exaltation as the patron saint of Sorrento, an amusing story is told. When Sicardo, prince of Beneventum, besieged the citadel, in 836, the inhabitants, it is said, were reduced to great straits and perplexities, and were led, from despair of earthly succour, to intreat the assistance of San Antonino. They prudently They prudently accompanied their intreaties with substantial bribes, which last found their way to the treasury of the church, and by consequence to the favour of the saint. San Antonino appeared at the moment of need, armed with a cudgel that might have carried the prize at Donnybrook, and let fall upon the head and shoulders of the luckless Sicardo such a succession of convincing blows that the prince was brought to his knees, whence he arose with the prudent resolve to take to his heels. After this interposition in favour of the Sorrentines, San Antonino reigned paramount in Sorrento, and he has continued to do so to the present day.

study in Rome, Bernardo removed his son first to Bergamo, amongst his relations, and afterwards to Pesaro, in the duchy of Urbino, where he pursued his education in fellowship with the young prince, who subsequently became duke Francesco Maria the Second. In 1559, the boy repaired to Venice, where his father had been appointed secretary to the academy; and in the following year, parental solicitude devoted him to the study of the law. Arriving in Padua, between sixteen and seventeen years of age, he commenced his legal studies by writing the poem of Rinaldo, which was published in less than two years at Venice. The poetic father, deeming it useless to thwart the bias of his son's disposition, kindly and wisely permitted him to devote himself to literature. He therefore entered the university of Bologna; and there, at the early age of nineteen, he began his Jerusalem Delivered. Leaving Bologna, he returned to Padua, where he continued his studies; and afterwards repaired to Mantua, to visit his father. During this brief leisure he fell in love, but not so desperately as to prevent his returning to Padua. About this time the cardinal d'Este, to whom he had dedicated his Rinaldo, invited him to the court of Alfonso the Second, duke of Ferrara. A dangerous illness detained him nearly a twelvemonth at Mantua; and it was not until the last day of October, 1565, that he arrived in the ducal city.

at once.

From the arrival of Tasso at Ferrara we must date that mingled career of glory and misery which constitutes the greater portion of the poet's life. He appeared at court at the very moment when preparations were making for the reception of the ducal bride. He was in raptures with the beauty and grandeur he saw around him; the duke and his two sisters, one of the latter the Leonora of his verse, regarded him courteously; and he worked enthusiastically upon his Jerusalem Delivered, loading it with praises of the house of Este. Forgetful of his Mantuan goddess, Tasso fell in love with the beautiful Lucrezia Bendidio; and Guarini, one of his rivals, accused him of courting two ladies In 1569, the poet lost his father, and his filial grief produced a severe illness; from this, however, he recovered, and again joined the circle of courtly festivities. He shortly afterwards visited France; but before setting out made his will in due form, the articles of bequest being his poems, and certain properties pawned to two Jews. But the most interesting point in the document is the confidence with which he refers his prospective executor to the favour of the princess Leonora for any necessary assistance in carrying out the provisions of his testament. The strong expression which Tasso uses on this occasion, in referring to the princess-per amor mio, "for my sake❞— is employed as an argument by those who connect his subsequent misfortunes with his presumptuous and too openly manifested passion for the princess. Tasso met with a favourable reception from the French king (Charles), and soon after returned to Ferrara. At this period the poet was approaching the zenith of his fame, and was in the enjoy ment of a happiness destined to be brief. He occupied himself in perfecting the Jerusalem, and wrote his beautiful pastoral, the Aminta, which was performed before the court during the carnival, to the delight of a brilliant assembly. In 1574, he accompanied the duke of Ferrara to Venice, where he sought a printer for his Jerusalem, which after the delay of a year, occasioned by the illness of the poet, issued from the press to confirm the fame of its author. It

The promontory of Surrentum once bore a temple of Minerva, consecrated to that goddess by Ulysses. Pollius Felix, the friend of Statius, had a villa at Surrentum; and of the temple of Hercules which he enlarged, some ruins remain to this day. The ruined temples of Neptune and Diana are also still existing; and the reservoir, repaired by Antoninus Pius in gratitude for the benefits derived from a residence at Surrentum, continues to supply the modern town with water. The extraordinary ravines by which Sorrento is nearly surrounded are amongst the striking features of this singular and beautiful locality. The lofty arches that cross the gorge in our view, are of Roman construction, and over them lies the approach to the eastern gate of the town Near the bottom of the ravine a steep and narrow path leads

to the sea-shore

Sorrento enjoys the most temperate climate in Italy, and during the summer months it is crowded with visitants, chiefly English, who make it their head-quarters for excursions to Pæstum, Salerno, Capri, and other interesting localities. To the gifted few who can appreciate genius, and who delight to trace its "whereabouts," the house of Tasso must be the chief attraction of Sorrento. This edifice is beautifully situated on the lofty rocks overlooking the bay of Naples. It was restored from a dilapidated condition by order of Joseph Bonaparte when king of Naples. This house, the tourists tell us exultingly, is now a palace. When Tasso dwelt there it was a temple!

might be thought that Tasso had now achieved all that ambition could desire, and would have reposed on his laurels; but at this time commenced those fits of depression which ultimately, through the malignity of hostile criticism, and unworthy neglect, overthrew a mind too sensitive to endure calmly the rude treatment to which it was exposed. Whilst much of his mental anguish may undoubtedly be referred to his own ardent temperament, there can be no doubt that the house of Este assumed a cold demeanour towards him, and that impotent malice decried his genius; and how fearfully these vexations must have wrought upon the mind of Tasso, let kindred genius-though less than the thousandth part of his declare. Many inconsistencies of conduct marked the future career of the poet. Alternately imprecating wrath upon his patron, and suing for re-admission to his presence, his position was truly humiliating. At length, a frenzied outbreak gave Alfonso the power, and with some show of justice, of consigning him to a lunatic hospital, where he remained, from 1579 till 1586, the companion of maniacs. Indeed, he had been driven mad, and frequently during his confinement he exhibited the hallucinations of a confirmed Bedlamite. Upon his liberation from the hospital, Tasso left Ferrara for ever, and repaired to the Mantuan court, where he was received with honour, and began to think himself once more happy. He corrected his prose works, finished his tragedy of Torrismond, and completed and published a narrative poem left unfinished by his father. But his peace of mind was soon interrupted; he felt that he was now subject to frenzy, and he confessed it. He left Mantua, and wandered from place to place, returning frequently to the same locality only again to leave it. A mortal illness was approaching; and at this moment, as if in mockery, the Pope granted to Tasso the honour of being crowned in Rome. The poet had three years before desired that honour, and now that it was conceded, he set forward to the capital; but before the ceremony could be arranged, he felt his end approaching, and desired permission to retire to the monastery of St. Onofrio, where he expired on the 25th April, 1595, in the fifty-first year of his age. After his death, the ceremony of the coronation proceeded; his lifeless brow received the laurel wreath, and his body, wrapped in a magnificent toga, was carried by torch-light in solemn procession through the streets of Rome.