He died in 1569 at Ostiglia, so poor that his son could scarcely collect money enough to bury him after selling his effects.

Manso says that a couple of door-curtains, embroidered with the arms of Tasso and De'Rossi, passed on this occasion into the wardrobe of the Gonzaghi.

Thus it seems that the needy nobleman had preserved a scrap of his heraldic trophies till the last, although he had to patch his one pain of breeches in bed at Rome.

It may be added, as characteristic of Bernardo's misfortunes, that even the plain marble sarcophagus, inscribed with the words _Ossa Bernardi Tassi_ which Duke Guglielmo erected to his memory in S.Egidio at Mantua, was removed in compliance with a papal edict ordering that monuments at a certain height above the ground should be destroyed to save the dignity of neighboring altars! Such were the events of Bernardo Tasso's life.

I have dwelt upon them in detail, since they foreshadow and illustrate the miseries of his more famous son.