But why should any one desire to have such verses buried in his grave?
The hypothesis which has been strongly urged by those who believe in the gravity of Tasso's _liaison_ with Leonora, is that he used this phrase to indicate love-poems which might compromise his mistress.

We cannot, however, do more than speculate upon the point.
There is nothing to confirm or to refute conjecture in the evidence before us.
Tasso met with his usual fortunes at the Court of Charles IX.

That is to say, he was petted and caressed, wrote verses, and paid compliments.

It was just two years before the Massacre of S.Bartholomew, and France presented to the eyes of earnest Catholics the spectacle of truly horrifying anarchy.

Catherine de'Medici inclined to compromise matters with the Huguenots.