availed himself in the Comedy of Errors; and Bembo, secretary of Leo X., famous for the fastidious preciseness of his literary taste. The ladies are represented by Elizabeth, Duchess of Urbino, and Donna Emilia, her principal attendant, who, in her wit and vivacity, seems to be modelled on Boccaccio's Pampinea, and to have furnished the model for Shakespeare's Beatrice. By command of the Duchess the company amuse themselves by proposing a subject for common discussion. After several suggestions have been made and rejected, one of the guests proposes "that our diversion of the night may be this, that one of the company be chosen to describe a perfect courtier, and explain all the conditions and particular qualities required of the man who deserves the character." Four nights are occupied in the discussion, which divides itself into four parts: (1) Of the Form and Manner of a Court Life; (2) of the Qualifications of a Courtier; (3) of the Accomplishments of a Court Lady; (4) of the Duty of a Prince. A representative orator is appointed on each night to conduct the main line of the discourse; the other guests criticise the chief speaker, and dispute among themselves on the points raised in the course of the argument.

The most interesting feature in the discussion of the character of the courtier is the evidence it affords of the deep roots which the institutions of chivalry had thrown into the life of the aristocracy of Europe, even in Italy. Thus, in the first place, we may observe that all the externals of knighthood, as regards prowess in arms and athletic exercises, are insisted on as the most indispensable accomplishment of the courtier. He must be "a perfect horseman in every respect"; and under this head the speaker notices that "we Italians are peculiarly famous for riding, running at the ring, and tilting, as the French are at tournaments and the Spaniards at running at the wild bull, and throwing the dart." The courtier should also be skilled in hunting, "as having a certain resemblance to war, well becoming the dignity of a nobleman and courtier, and as much in vogue with the

VOL. II

C

ancients."

He must also be able to swim, leap, and cast

the stone, and to play tennis.1

We may take it that this athletic training was as much a part of the discipline of a gentleman's education in every country of Europe in the sixteenth century as the exercises of the palæstra were in the education of the Greek youth. In the north of Europe we know that especial pains were given to the instruction of the young knights and squires in all the arts of the tilting yard, and so high was the standard of proficiency that the aspirant to knighthood was expected to be able in complete armour to mount a horse at full gallop. The system was a survival from the days of the Crusades, when chivalry reached its zenith. Then every castle was a school for knights, and knighthood itself had a practical aim. Now that authority was being centralised in the hands of sovereign princes, and life was ebbing away from the castle and flowing towards the Court, the leading features of the old chivalrous discipline were retained and carried to unexampled perfection, as the accomplishments naturally to be exted in those who were ambitious of being the companions of monarchs. Such, in fact, was the schooling to which Surrey alludes in his reflections in captivity on the happy days spent with the Duke of Richmond at Windsor.

But in the eyes of the Italians at least this merely martial discipline was inadequate for the development of the perfect courtier; the education of arms had to be accompanied by the education of letters. And here we see the first signs of the modifying influence introduced. into chivalry by the Renaissance. Castiglione blames the French for their distaste for literary refinement, and at the same time looks forward with hope to the accession of the Duke of Angoulême, who, in fact, as Francis I., transplanted to the French Court all the arts with which he had become acquainted in Italy. "We would have 1 Cortegiano, lib. i.

2 He says that the French "not only think nothing more detestable than literature, but that even the very name of men of letters is become hateful and odious among them."-Ibid. lib. i.

our courtier," says Castiglione in the person of Count Louis, "something more than passably learned, at least in those sciences which we call 'humane,' and that not only in the Latin, but in the Greek, for the sake of the excellent matter which is to be found beautifully expressed in both languages. Let him be well read in the poets as well as in the orators and historians, and also let him practise himself in writing in verse and prose, especially in the vulgar tongue. Besides the pleasure he will himself derive from this he will not fail to make himself hereby most agreeable to the ladies, who as a rule take delight in these pursuits." The courtier must also be acquainted with the theory of music, and be able to play upon the lute; he must even cultivate the art of painting. In all this we note the extremely clear and positive character of the Italian genius. Taste is to be cultivated not in the abstract, but as something which is valuable to the man of action. Letters, Castiglione says, must be added to the pursuit of arms which is the groundwork of all education; and in the admirable rules which he lays down for the cultivation of ste he is always guided by practical considerations. One of the company having maintained that the diction of the writer must be carefully separated from that of the speaker, and that the style of the former is to be so rigidly determined by literary authority that even archaic words are to be preserved, Count Louis of Canossa, whose business it is to describe the ideal courtier, replies:

If a man might use in writing words which he would think improper for speaking, there would arise, in my opinion, a very great inconvenience, for licence would then be admissible in matters where the greatest exactness is required, while the pains given to this kind of writing would be rather of disservice than of advantage to him. It is certain, therefore, that whatever is allowable in writing ought also to be allowable in speaking, and that the most beautiful kind of speech is that which resembles elegant writing; indeed I think it even more necessary to be understood in writing than in speaking, because those that write

are not always in the presence of those that read, which is different in the case of conversation. I would accordingly recommend him (the courtier) not only to avoid all old and obsolete Tuscan words, but both in writing and speaking to make use of such words as are in vogue in Tuscany and in other parts of Italy to-day, and which have some grace and charm in themselves; and in my judgment whoever follows a different rule must inevitably fall into that stiffness and affectation which we have been all along condemning."1

This is precisely the principle usus which would have been approved by Cicero and Horace in the days when the Latin language attained its highest excellence.

We have seen how the qualifications of the courtier are in Castiglione's system largely determined by the ancient traditions of chivalry. The same principle is also followed in another most important particular. In the discourse on the conditions to be maintained in the intercourse between the sexes, it is interesting to note how carefully all the rules of the art of love have been preserved according to the code of the ancient Cours d'Amour, while at the same time they have been toned down and chastened so as to suit the rational requirements of a modern court. The following passage will be immediately recognised as an inheritance from the school of André le Chapelain :

They therefore who are too precipitate, and show a presumption, and as it were a mad pertinacity in their addresses, often miss their mark and that deservedly; for it is always displeasing to a noble lady to be so little esteemed, as that any one should, without due respect, require her love before he has done her due service. In my opinion the way that a courtier should declare his love to his mistress is by signs and tokens rather than by words. For without doubt more love is shown in a sigh, or in some mark of timidity or reverence, than can be shown in a thousand words; and the eyes may afterwards be made the faithful messengers of the heart, because they frequently declare, with more eloquence, the inward passion, than can open speech, or letter, or any other kind of message.2

We shall hereafter see this kind of sentimental

1 Cortegiano, lib. i.

2 Ibid. lib. iii. Cf. vol. i. pp. 173, 174.

analysis frequently illustrated in the poems of Wyatt, Surrey, and Sidney; and there is certainly much more of what is easy and agreeable in the manner, than in the elaborate style of romantic compliment which came into vogue in France under the régime of the Hôtel Rambouillet. Meantime it is to be observed that even a passion so spiritual and exalted as that of love is made the subject of analysis and rule, and this fact is symbolical of Castiglione's whole treatment of the character of the courtier. Everything in it is external and well defined, and so well adapted to its limited sphere of action, that no opportunity is found for the expansion of the nobler part of the spirit of chivalry. The author keeps his gaze fixed on the Court; of the aspirations in man's nature, of the duties owed by the individual to the family, to the city, the country, he takes no account. No mention is made of the moral virtues which make up the character of the knight as it is treated in the Faery Queen; and, for all that appears, the presence of the foreigner in Italy, which was so galling to the soul of patriotic Florentines, was a matter of perfect indifference to the polished guests of the Duke of Urbino. On the other hand, an error in manners or outward behaviour is in their eyes a deadly sin. There is, accordingly, a certain defective sense of proportion pervading the pages of Il Cortegiano. Nevertheless, the strict attention it devoted to form was beneficial, as far as it went, in establishing the standard of good taste and refinement essential to the conduct of a gentleman after the decay of the institution of knighthood. Carried to the north of Europe, and grafted on the still chivalrous manners of the English aristocracy, the ideal of Castiglione contributed to form the character of Sir Philip Sidney.

The element of passion and imagination, wanting in the Courtier, is abundantly present in the Discourses and the Prince of Machiavelli. Macaulay has forcibly expressed, in his well-known essay, the perplexity with which the English mind will probably always regard the writings of this extraordinary thinker. "The whole man