Chapter Taprobana to Tasso and Leonora of T by Brewer's Readers Handbook

prostrate he cut off “her” head. The king was angry, but the vizier replied, “This is not the slave, but the enchanter. Fearing this might occur, I gave the slave a pass-word, which this deceiver did not give, and was thus betrayed. So perish all the enemies of Mahomet and Misnar his vicegerent upon earth!”—Sir C. Morell [J. Ridley]: Tales of the Genii, vi. (1751).

Tasnim, a fountain in Mahomet’s paradise; so called from its being conveyed to the very highest apartments of the celestial mansions.

They shall drink of pure wine … and the water mixed therewith shall be of Tasnim, a fountain whereof those shall drink who approach near unto the divine presence.—Al Korân, lvi.

Tasso and Leonora. When Tasso the poet lived in the court of Alfonso II. the reigning duke of F errara, he fell in love with Leonora d’Este the duke’s sister; but “she saw it not or viewed with disdain” his passion, and the poet, moneyless, fled half mad to Naples. After an absence of two years, in which the poet was almost starved to death by extreme poverty, his friends, together with Leonora, induced the duke to receive him back; but no sooner did he reach Ferrara than Alfonso sent him to an asylum, and here he was kept for seven years, when he was liberated by the instigation of the pope. But he died soon afterwards (1544–1595).