Know then, the fall you suffer'd in the fight, He said; and turn'd his courser from the place: 495 500 Ere far they rode, they heard a trampling sound, That all the forest seem'd to shake around: 505 They look, and soon a stately steed behold, 510 That through the woodland breaks his sounding course: One palfrey could but ill two riders bear, And fortune sends him to relieve our care. King Sacripant, alighting on the plain, Drew near, and thought secure to seize the rein; 515 Ver. 512.--Bayardo-] Many wonders are told in the romances of this horse. It is said that he was found by Malagigi in a grotto, together with a suit of armour and the sword Fusberta, all under the guard of a horrible serpent, and that by his magic art he got possession of, and gave them to Rinaldo. See Innamoramento di Rinaldo, C. iv. But swift as lightnings flash along the sky, Then to Angelica with easy pace 520 He moves, and humbly views her well-known face: 525 A Spaniel thus, domestic at the board, Fawns after absence, and surveys his lord. Wont at Albracca from her hands to feed, 530 Now boldly in her hand she took the rein, Still as a lamb, beside her gently stood, The watchful Pagan leap'd into the seat, And curb'd, with streighten'd reins, Bayardo's heat. Who gladly thus her former place regain'd. 535 Ver. 529. Wont at Albracca---] Malagigi, who was made prisoner by Angelica, (see General View, &c.) being released upon his parole, endeavoured to persuade Rinaldo to return her love; but all his arguments proving ineffectual, he, in revenge, by a magical illusion, decoyed his cousin from the Christian camp: Bayardo, being left behind, came into the possession of Astolpho, who, going to the siege of Albracca, in aid of Angelica, was overthrown before the walls of that city, when his horse was seized by Agrican; who being afterwards slain, Bayardo came into the hands of Orlando, who had lost his horse Brigliadoro. Orlando at last having recovered his own, and departing from Cathay on a new adventure, left Bayardo in Albracca with Angelica, who soon after sent him to his master Rinaldo. See Orlando Innam. in some degree, his studies; till death deprived him of so pleasing a companion. Yet all these disappointments did not so much damp the vigour of his genius, but that he gave signal proofs of an excellent vein of poetry. He had now attained the age of twenty-nine years, and had acquired an uncommon reputation for his Latin verses, and numerous poems and sonnets full of spirit and imagination. His conversation was coveted by men of the greatest learning and abilities; insomuch that Cardinal Hippolito of Este, whose court was a receptacle for the most admired personages of the age, received him into his service, where he continued fifteen years; during which time, his mind being always intent on the muses, he formed a design of writing a poem of the romance kind; in which no one had yet written with the dignity of which the subject was capable. The happy versatility of his genius was such, that he could equally adapt himself to every species of poetry; and an Italian writer of his life observes, that whatever he wrote, seemed, at the time, to be his particular study. At about thirty years of age, he began his Orlando ; and Cardinal Bembo, to whom he communicated his design, would have dissuaded him from writing in Italian, advising him to cultivate the Latin; to which Ariosto answered, that he would rather be the first among the Tuscan writers, than scarcely the second among the Latin. At the same time, it fortunately happened, that he had already written some stanzas of his Orlando; which communicating to several of his friends, he met with such encouragement, that he determined vigorously to prosecute his design. It may be here observed, that Dante, at first, intended to have written his poem in 3 Latin; and actually composed some initial lines in that language. He chose the subject of Boyardo, which was well known to all; and being left unfinished, had strongly excited the reader's curiosity to see the end of a story so artfully begun. In the same manner, Virgil, of whom Ariosto appears a great imitator, formed his Æneid as a kind of sequel to the Iliad and Odyssey. And it may be remarked, that by adopting the fictions of Boyardo, Ariosto had not only an opportunity of bringing the romance of the Count to a conclusion, but of celebrating, under the person of Rogero, the family of his patron. Ariosto had proposed to write a poem in terza rima* (like Dante), in praise of the House of Este, different from the Furioso; but not being satisfied with the work, he laid it aside, and pursued the design of his Furioso, in ottava rima. The intended poem began thus: Cantero l'armi, cantero 'gli affanni D'amor, che un cavalier sottenne gravi I sing of arms, and sing the pains of love, Long destin'd far o'er land and sea to rove, &c. In order to pursue his studies with less interruption, he chose the situation of Rheggio, retiring to a pleasant villa, belonging to Sigismundo Malaguzzi, his kinsman, where he spent his leisure in the prosecution of his * Of this terza rima of the Italians, the English reader will have a full idea, from the three cantos of the Inferno of Dante, translated with wonderful spirit and fidelity by Mr. Hayley, notwithstanding the confinement and difficulty of the metre. See Essay on Fpic poetry, Note to Epistle iii. principal design. In one of his satires he gives the following agreeable sketch of his retreat: Gia mi fur' dolci inviti a empir le carte La bella stanza, e 'l Rodano vicino, Si cinge intorno, il fresco rio che corre Le vigni, e i solchi del secondo Iacco, Blest be the time, when from the world retir'd, Satire iv. While he was busied in these literary pursuits, Alphonso, duke of Ferrara, having occasion to send ambassadors to Rome, in order to appease the anger of Pope Julius II. who prepared to make war against him, was, by his brother the cardinal, recommended to Ariosto, as a proper person to be entrusted with such a negociation. The duke, therefore, made choice of him; and he acquitted himself so well in his commission, that he returned with an answer much more favourable than was expected. However, the Pope, still continuing at enmity with the duke, made a league with the Venetians, and |