But the Countess of Scandiano was more especially the object of his public adoration. It was a poetical passion, openly professed; and flattering, as it appears, both to the lady and to her husband, without in any degree implicating either her discretion or that of Tasso. Compare his verses to this young Countess--this _peregrina Fenice_,[130] as he fancifully styles her, who comes shining forth, not _to be consumed_, but _to consume_,--to the profound tenderness, the intense yet mournful feeling of some of the poems composed for the Princess d'Este, about the same time; when he must have daily contrasted the rich bloom, the smiling eyes, and sparkling graces of the youthful Countess, with the fading or faded beauty, the languid form, and pale cheek of his long-loved Leonora. See particularly the Sonnet Tre gran Donne vid' io, &c. "Three illustrious ladies did I behold,--I sung them all--_one only_ I loved," &c. And another equally beautiful and significant, Perchè 'n giovenil volto amor mi mostri Talor, Donna _Real_, rose e ligustri Oblio non pone in me, de' miei trilustri Affanni, o de miei spesi indarno inchiostri. E 'l cor, che s' invaghi degli onor vostri Da prima, e vostro fu poscia più lustri Reserba, amo in sè forme più illustri Che perle e gemme, e bei coralli ed ostri. Queste egli in suono di sospir sì chiari Farebbe udir, che d' amorosa face Accenderebbe i più gelati cori. Ma oltre suo costume è fatto avaro De' vostri pregi, suoi dolci tesori, Che in se medesmo gli vagheggia e _tace_! TRANSLATION. "Albeit in younger faces Love at times May show me where a fresher rose is set, Yet, _Royal_ Lady, can I not forget My fifteen years of pain and useless rhymes. This heart, so touch'd by all thy beauty bright, After so many years is still thine own, And still retaineth forms more exquisite Than pearls, or purple gems, or coral stone. All this my heart in soft sighs would make known, And thus with fire the coldest bosom fill, But that, unlike itself, that heart hath grown So covetous of thy sweet charms, and thee, (Its secret treasures,) that it aye doth flee Inwards, and dwells upon them, and is still."[131] Lastly, that most perfect Sonnet, so well known and so celebrated, that I should not insert it here, but that I am enabled to give, for the first time, a translation equally faithful to the sentiment and the poetry of the original. Negli anni acerbi tuoi, purpurea rosa Sembravi tu, ch' ai rai tepidi, all' ora Non apre 'l sen, ma nel suo verde ancora Verginella s' asconde, e vergognosa. O più tosto parei (che mortal cosa, Non s' assomiglia a te) celeste Aurora, Che le campagne imperla, e i monti indora, Lucida in ciel sereno e rugiadosa.