[61] During the whole period of his Roman residence, Tasso, like his father in similar circumstances, hankered after ecclesiastical honors. His letters refer frequently to this ambition. He felt the parallel between himself and Bernardo Tasso: 'La mia depressa condizione, e la mia infelicità, quasi ereditaria' (vol. iv. p. 288).
[62] Manso op. cit. p. 215.
[63] This letter proves conclusively that, whatever was the nature of Tasso's malady, and however it had enfeebled his faculties as poet, he was in no vulgar sense a lunatic.
[64] Canto i. 17.
[65] Canto vi. 64-9.
[66] Canto iii. 40, 45.
[67] Canto ii. 22, iv. 28, 33.
[68] Rinaldo, cantos x. vii.
[69] Canto i. 25, 31, 41, 64.
[70] Rinaldo, Canto ii. 28, 44.