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TASMANIA 262 TASTE This naturally gave a great check to its prosperity, but for years it has now been fairly prosperous and progressing with moderate rapidity. TASMAN SEA, a name given to that part of the Pacific inclosed by Australia and Tasmania on the one side, and New Zealand and smaller islands on the other. TASSO, TORQUATO. an Italian epic poet; born in Sorrento, Italy, March 11, 1544. He was early sent to the school of the Jesuits at Naples, and subse- cp.iently pursued his studies under his father's superintendence at Rome, Ber- gamo, Urbino, Pessaro, and Venice. At the age of 16 he was sent to the Uni- versity of Padua to study law, but at this time, to the surprise of his friends, he produced the "Rinaldo," an epic poem in 12 cantos. The reputation of this poem procured for Torquato an invita- TORQUATO TASSO tion to the University of Bologna, which he accepted. Here he displayed an ap- titude for philosophy, and began to write his great poem of "Gierusalemme Liber- ata" (Jerusalem Delivered). While en- gaged on it he secured a patron in Car- dinal Louis d'Este, to whom he had dedi- cated his "Rinaldo." He was intro- duced by the cardinal to the court of Alfonso II. of Ferrara. Here he re- mained from 1565 to 1571, when he ac- companied the cardinal on an embassy from the Pope to Charles IX. of France. Having quarreled with his patron, Tasso returned to Ferrara, and in 1573 brought out the "Aminta," a pastoral, which was represented at the court. In 1575 he completed his epic of "Gerusa- lemme Liberata" (Jerusalem Deliv- ered). About this time he became a prey to morbid fancies, believed that he was persistently calumniated at court, and systematically misrepresented to the In- quisition. In 1577 he stabbed a domestic of the Duchess of Urbino, was impris- oned, but soon released. For some time afterward he acted in an irresponsible manner, and was finally by the duke's orders confined as a madman in the hos- pital of St. Anne, Ferrara. Here he re- mained from 1579 to 1586, till he was released at the solicitation of Vincent di Gonzaga. Broken in health and spirit, he retired to Mantua, and then to Na- ples. Finally, in 1595 he proceeded to Rome at the request of the Pope, who de- sired him to be crowned with laurel in the capitol, but the poet died on April 25, while the preparations for the cere- mony were being made. Tasso wrote numerous poemss but his fame rests chiefly on his "Rime," or lyrical poems, his "Aminta," and his "Jerusalem Deliv- ered." TASSONI, ALESSANDRO, an Italian poet; born in Modena in 1565; studied law in Bologna and Ferrara; became secretary of Cardinal Colonna in 1597; and accompanied him to Spain in 1600. In 1612 he entered the service of Carlo Emanuele of Savoy, for whom he had a high regard, but he was soon forced by the intrigues of his political enemies to give up his post. In 1626 he obtained the office of secretary to Cardinal Lodo- visio, and after the cardinal's death was appointed in 1632 chamberlain to Fran- cis I. of Modena. By his hostile "Con- siderazioni sopra le Rime del Petrarca" (Modena, 1609) he acquired the name of "Petrarchomastix"; in his "Pensieri Diversi" (Rome, 1612) he made a simi- lar attack on Homer and Aristotle, and maintained that in everything — in lit- erature as well as in science — the mod- erns had the pre-eminence; and in the "Secchia Rapita" (Paris, 1622), a mock- heroic poem ostensibly describing the contest that arose from the rape of a Bolognese bucket by the people of Mo- dena, he treats everything ancient as old-fashioned, and indulges in hilarious but cynical mockery of the general round of human life. His patriotism was severely wounded by the encroach- ments of the Spanish power, and in his "Filippiche" (Lat. ed. 1878), and his "Manifesto" (18B5), he laments the de- cay of Italian independence. He died in Modena in 1635. The "Secchia Ra- pita" is his most popular work ; it is reg- ularly reprinted from time to time. TASTE, one of the special senses. The parts of the mouth affected by sapid sub-