But Tasso had already begun to experience the uneasiness attending superiority; and, unfortunately, the strength of his mind was not equal to that of his genius.  He was of an ultra-sensitive temperament, and subject to depressing fits of sickness.  He could not calmly bear envy.  Sarcasm exasperated, and hostile criticism afflicted him.  The seeds of a suspicious temper were nourished by prosperity itself.  The author of the Armida and the Jerusalem began to think the attentions he received unequal to his merits; while with a sort of hysterical mixture of demand for applause, and provocation of censure, he not only condescended to read his poems in manuscript wherever he went, but, in order to secure the goodwill of the papal licenser, he transmitted it for revisal to Rome, where it was mercilessly criticised for the space of two years by the bigots and hypocrites of a court, which Luther had rendered a very different one from that in the time of Ariosto.

This new source of chagrin exasperated the complexional restlessness, which now made our author think that he should be more easy any where than in Ferrara; perhaps more able to communicate with and convince his critics; and, unfortunately, he permitted himself to descend to a weakness the most fatal of all others to a mind naturally exalted and ingenuous.  Perhaps it was one of the main causes of all which he suffered.  Indeed, he himself attributed his misfortunes to irresolution.  What I mean in the present instance was, that he did not disdain to adopt underhand measures.  He skewed a face of satisfaction with Alfonso, at the moment that he was taking steps to exchange his court for another.  He wrote for that purpose to his friend Scipio Gonzaga, now a prelate at the court of Rome, earnestly begging him, at the same time, not to commit him in their correspondence; and Scipio, who was one of his kindest and most indulgent friends, and who doubtless saw that the Duke of Ferrara and his poet were not of dispositions to accord, did all he could to procure him an appointment with one of the family of the Medici.

Most unhappily for this speculation (and perhaps even the good-natured Gonzaga took a little more pleasure in it on that account), Alfonso inherited all the detestation of his house for that lucky race; and it is remarkable, that the same jealousies which hindered Ariosto’s advancement with the Medici were still more fatal to the hopes of Tasso; for they served to plunge him into the deepest adversity.  In vain he had warnings given him, both friendly and hostile.  The princess, now Duchess of Urbino, who was his particular friend, strongly cautioned him against the temptation of going away.  She said he was watched.  He himself thought his letters were opened; and probably they were.  They certainly were at a subsequent period.  Tasso, however, persisted, and went to Rome.  Scipio Gonzaga introduced him to Cardinal Ferdinand de’ Medici, afterwards Grand Duke