Tasso and his Times. By William Boulting. (Methuen and Co.
10s. 6d. net.)—Of Tasso himself there is not much to be said, and what there is is mostly of a painful kind. The fifty-one years of his life (1544-91) were years of decline and corruption for Italy ; it was only a strong man who could hold his own among the despots and courtiers of the time, and Torquato Tasso was not strong. And he did not make a fortunate start in life. His father had attached himself to a losing cause, and dragged his family down with him,—Torquato had the distinction of being proscribed by name when he was but nine years of age. How far he was responsible for the failures and troubles that followed it is impossible to say. It is quite likely that the madness which showed itself unmistakably in his later years may have been long lurking in him. Mr. Boulting does a biographer's duty without partiality, and makes an effective picture of the man. The fables that have gathered about the poet's personality he dismisses. The hopeless passion for a great lady of the Court is a myth developed out of the conventional gallantry with which the poets of the day flattered the beauty or rank of the grandes dames of the ruling house. On Tasso's poetry Mr. Boulting gives us some excellent criticism; this is, we think, the best part of his book. Of the "times" he has much to say. He has gathered materials with unsparing industry, sometimes, it may be, going too far afield, and bringing back what it might have been better to leave behind. Still, he has written a very readable book.
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