quite a character. He told me he had passed five years in England, and many more in France. In the days of Madame de Genlis, he was about the present Duke of Orleans, as one of his Instituteurs. He told me he understood English, and once translated Milton into Italian; he spoke with enthusiasm of the occupation of gardening, and showed me his library, which was also his bed-room; it looked more comfortable than any Italian bed-room I ever saw; though the bed was sufficiently miserable.

He had, he said, known the Duchess of Devonshire very well; "not this one," he said, "but the beautiful one who is dead. This one is too great a friend of an enemy of mine for me to know her; besides," he added, "I live out of the world now."

I wonder whether it can be true that this little dirty old man was intimate with the Duchess of Devonshire? Yet there have been more unlikely things than this; and perhaps he knows many a strange thing concerning that lady. But he would not speak of her again, though I endeavoured to make him do so.

I accompanied Lady W. B. in the afternoon to St. Onofrio. The beauty of the view is transcendent. It is somewhat less extensive than that seen from the St. Pietro in Montorio but the objects are presented nearly in the same

point of vision. The Tiber, St. Peter's, the Coliseum, the tomb of Cecilia Metella, the Palatine, etc., and the vast plain stretching around; these, seen from beneath the oak called Tasso's oak, acquire fresh interest from the idea that his eyes often contemplated the glorious scene, and that he received from it some of that inspiration which breathes throughout his muse. St. Onofrio is built on the summit of the Janiculum. It is small, but of a pleasing structure, and there is an air of devotion in its quiet cloister. But I believe I always think so of every gothic place of worship. It was built by Eugenius the IVth, for the hermits of St. Jerome, and finished, together with its contiguous convent, by the Roman family Di Cupis. The hermits continued to reside here, till Pius V obliged them to observe the rules of St. Augustine. In the portico, or rather corridor, before the church, is placed a virgin and child, painted in fresco, said to be by Leonardo da Vinci. The paintings in the first chapel to the right are by some early painter, the hand unknown; they are generally much damaged; but to judge of

* So called because on this tree, it is said, the crown was hung which never encircled his brows, but when death mocked at the triumph.

the parts still extant, they are of a fine order of design. Those above the cornice in a sort of cupola on the high altar, are by Pintorrichio ; those below by Peruzzi: both are good. But to a lover of poetry, the greatest interest excited by this spot is, its being the resting place of Tasso's remains. Here too he spent his last days, and here lie his ashes, beneath a plain stone, bearing this inscription.

D. O. M.

TORQUATI TASSI

OSSA

HIC JACET

HOC NE NESCIAS

ESSE HOSPES

FRES. HUIUS. ECCL.

P. P.

M. D. C. I.

OBIIT ANNO MDXLV.

Who can tread on the ashes of the honoured dead, and not feel the lesson that their silence breathes? But in the memory of this highly gifted mortal such lesson is more peculiarly touching. When fortune ceased to persecute him, health, and strength and vigour failed. In the rude blast, the flower shed its perfume; but

when the sun of fortune burst forth, that splendour proved too oppressive-it faded and died. The Pope gave Tasso a pension; he gained several lawsuits, and in fine, a glorious triumph awaited him. Fame wove a chaplet due to his talents; but death came with a rapid stride, and snatched it from him. The tomb opened beneath his feet;—he felt the doom awarded by Providence, and retired to this monastery of St. Onofrio, to contemplate that everlasting glory which mocks all earth-born greatness. Under this impression, he addressed a letter to Constantino, his faithful friend-and died.

In the first burst of feeling, the Cardinal Cintro thought of paying every mark of respect to the memory of his friend; and to this end, but with a vain and pompous sentiment, he caused the body of the deceased to be arrayed in a Roman toga, to be crowned with laurels, and to be publicly displayed and carried through the principal streets of Rome, attended by all the Palatine court; then carried back to St. Onofrio. It was deposited finally beneath the humble stone where it now lies. Funeral orations were prepared in Latin and Italian; and the Cardinal designed to have erected a magnificent mausoleum over his friend. But the grief of the Cardinal, it seems, soon subsided, many cares

The

superseded those which he felt for the departed, and his intentions remained unfulfilled. Marquis de Villa, going to Rome some time after Tasso's decease, hurt at the neglect which was shown to the memory of the great poet, when he discovered that there was no memorial to designate the place where he lay, was desirous himself of erecting a monument; but living vanity stepped forth again, to defraud the dead of their honour; and the Cardinal replied, "that was a duty which devolved upon him, and which he alone must fulfil." The Marquis de Villa, foreseeing that no monument was likely to be erected, requested the monks to place the simple inscription which has been given, and which designates the spot where lies the dust that once was intelligent with genius. After the expiration of eight years, the Cardinal Bevildegra, of Ferrara, seeing that the Cardinal Cintro still postponed the fulfilment of his pompous promise, erected a bust, which surmounts the inscription that records the life and death of Tasso.

"Così trapassa al trapassar d' un giorno."

On my return home, I found a letter from the Baron de S, dated Paris.