Volume I Part 14 (1/2)

Vola, com' un falcone che ha seco il vento!

Merely to compare his mistress to a rose, would have been common-place.

She is a rose ”unfolding her _paradise_ of leaves,”--a charming expression, which has been adopted, I think, by one of our living poets.

Mingled with the most rapturous praise of Alessandra's triumphant beauty, we have constantly the most delightful impression of her tenderness, her frank and courteous bearing, and the gladness which her presence diffuses through his heart, which, after the sentimental lamentations of former poets, are really a relief.

I can understand the self-congratulation, the secret enjoyment, with which Ariosto dwelt on the praises of Alessandra, celebrated her charms, and exulted in her love, while her name remained an impenetrable secret,

Nor pa.s.s'd his lips in holy silence seal'd!

But when once he had introduced her into the Orlando, he must have had a very modest idea of his own future renown, not to have antic.i.p.ated the consequences. A famous pa.s.sage in the 42d canto, is now universally admitted to be a description of Alessandra.[85] She is very strikingly introduced, and yet with the usual characteristic mystery; so that while nothing is omitted that can excite interest and curiosity, every means are taken to baffle and disappoint both. Rinaldo, while travelling in Italy, arrives at a splendid palace on the banks of the Po. It is minutely described, with all the prodigal magnificence of the Arabian Nights', and all the taste of an architect; and among other riches, is adorned with the statues of the most celebrated women of that age, all of whom are named at length; but among them stands the effigy of one so preminent in majesty, and beauty, and intellect, that though she is partly veiled, and habited in modest black, (alluding to her recent widowhood,) though she wears neither jewels nor chains of gold, she eclipses all the beauties around her, as the evening star outs.h.i.+nes all others.

Che sotto puro velo, in nera gonna Senza oro e gemme, in un vestire schietto, Fra le pi adorne non parea men bella Che sia tra l'altre la ciprigna stella![86]

At her side stands the image of one, who in humble strains had dared to celebrate her virtues and her beauty (meaning himself). ”But,” adds the poet modestly, ”I know not why he alone should be placed there, nor what he had done to be so honoured; of all the rest, the names were sculptured beneath; but of these two, the names remained unknown.”--No, not so! for those whom Love and Fame have joined together, who shall henceforth sunder?

The Orlando Furioso was completed and published shortly after Ariosto's visit to Florence; and this pa.s.sage must have been written apparently not only before his marriage with Alessandra, but before he was even secure of her affection; perhaps he read it aloud to her, and while his stolen looks and faltering voice betrayed the true object of this most beautiful and refined homage, she must have felt the delicacy which had suppressed her name. In such a moment, how little could she have heeded or thought of the voice of future fame, while the accents of her lover thrilled through her heart!

Alessandra removed from Florence to Ferrara, about 1519, and inhabited the Casa Strozzi, in the street of Santa Maria in Vado. The residence of Ariosto was in the Via Mirasole, at some distance. Both houses are still standing. She died in 1552, having survived the poet about nineteen years; and she was buried in the church of San Rocco at Ferrara.

She bore no children to Ariosto; and her son, by her first marriage (Count Guido Strozzi), died before her.

Ariosto left two sons, whom he tenderly loved, and had educated with extreme care. The eldest, Virginio, was the son of a beautiful Contadinella, whose name was Orsolina; the mother of the youngest, Giovanbattista, was also a girl of inferior rank; her name was Maria.

Neither are once mentioned or alluded to by Ariosto; but the mischievous industry of the poet's commentators has immortalized their names and their frailty.

FOOTNOTES:

[75]

----Non ebbe unqua pastore Di me pi lieto, o pi felice amore!

See the canzone to Ginevra, quoted by Baruffaldi. Vita, p. 148.

[76] Monti. Poesie varie, p. 88.

[77] Translated by a friend.

[78] Sonnet 27.

[79] Stewart Rose's translation.

[80] The 26th, 27th, and 28th.

[81] Lycurgus, King of Thrace.

[82] Ariosto. Rime.

[83] The proofs may be consulted in Baruffaldi, ”Vita di M. Ludovico Ariosto,” published in 1807; and also in Frizzi, ”Memorie della Famiglia Ariosto.”