Chiabrera was always an orthodox catholic, "a sinner," he expresses it, "but not without Christian devotion. He had Santa Lucia for his advocate, and during a space of sixty years, he never failed twice a day to devote himself to pious thoughts, which continued uppermost in his mind all his life." His moderate desires and temperate habits assisted to preserve him in uninterrupted good health. He died at the advanced age of eighty-six, and was buried in his own chapel in the church of San Giacomo.
[Footnote 44: There is no English word that gives the exact idea of a canzone; we call such lyrical poems; yet in Italian they form a class apart.]
[Footnote 45: _Per il Signor Giambattista Feo._
Uomo non è, che pervenuto a morte Non possa raccontar della sua vita Lunghi travagli. Il cavalier di Marte Dirà le piaghe, e lo splendor de' brandi, Ed il suon delle trombe: il condannato, Nelle gran Reggie, ad inchinar la fronte, De' Re scettrati, narrerà le frodi, Le lunghe invidie, ed i sofferti affanni Infra le schiere de' bugiardi amici. Io, che mi vissi in su spalmate prore, Potrei rappresentar l' orribil faccia Del mar irato, ed i rabbiosi sdegni E d'Austro e di Boöte. Anni cinquanta Commandai su galere a buon nocchieri: Dal gran Peloro all' Atlantei colonne Non sorge monte a gli occhi miei non noto, E gli ampj golfi veleggiai più volte: D' ogni nube, che in ciel fosse raccolta, Seppi la forza, onde marino orgoglio A' legni miei non valse fare oltraggio. Che nobil pompa non mirai sovente Su regie poppe? E pure io provo al fine, Che le disuguaglianze un' ora adegua. Tutti quaggiuso navighiamo in forse. Altri ha tempesta, ed altri ha calma, e poscia Nel porto della Morte ognun dà fondo.]
Alessandro Tassoni was born at Modena, in 1565, of a noble and ancient family. He was so unfortunate as to lose both parents in early childhood; nor had he any near relative to watch over his tender years and guard his interests. In consequence, scarcely had he emerged from boyhood, than his inheritance was attacked by lawsuits, and he was involved in the most annoying struggles with private enemies, while long and painful illnesses unfitted him to cope with these evils. Still a love of knowledge rose above the multiplied disasters that beset him, and from his earliest years he was a student. He learnt the Greek and Latin languages under Lazzaro Labadini, a learned and worthy man, but somewhat of the Dominie Sampson species: simple-hearted and abstracted, he was exposed to ridiculous mistakes; and his pupil records in his celebrated poem, how, when a servant informed him of the death of a cow, he sent to the apothecary's shop for drugs to cure her.[46] While yet under this master's tuition, he wrote a Latin poem named Errico, which displayed an extraordinary smoothness of versification and command of language. At the age of eighteen he took the degree of doctor of laws, and in 1585 he entered the university of Bologna, where he continued five years, applying himself to philosophy, under the most celebrated masters. He afterwards studied jurisprudence at Ferrara, and acquired a reputation for his learning and critical acumen.