vice of affectation in all its kinds, and the ways of avoiding it, are discussed with a delicacy of insight which would do credit to a Chesterfield of the present century, sending forth his son into society for the first time.  Castiglione goes so far as to condemn the pedantry of far-fetched words and the coxcombry of elaborate costumes, as dangerous forms of affectation.  His courtier must speak and write with force and freedom.  He need not be a purist in his use of language, but may use such foreign phrases and modern idioms as are current in good society, aiming only at simplicity and clearness.  He must add to excellence in arms polite culture in letters and sound scholarship, avoiding that barbarism of the French, who think it impossible to be a good soldier and an accomplished student at the same time.  Yet his learning should be always held in reserve, to give brilliancy and flavor to his wit, and not brought forth for merely erudite parade.  He must have a practical acquaintance with music and dancing; it would be well for him to sing and touch various stringed and keyed instruments, so as to relax his own spirits and to make himself agreeable to ladies.  If he can compose verses and sing them to his own accompaniment, so much the better.  Finally, he ought to understand the arts of painting and sculpture; for criticism, even though a man be neither poet nor artist, is an elegant accomplishment.  Such are the principal qualities of the Cortegiano.

[1] Italy, earlier than any other European nation, developed theoretical democracy.  Dante had defined true nobility to consist of personal excellence in a man or in his ancestors; he also called ‘nobilta’ sister of ‘filosofia.’  Poggio in his ’Dialogue De Nobilitate,’ into which he introduces Niccolo Niccoli and Lorenzo de’ Medici (Cosimo’s brother), decides that only merit constitutes true nobility.  Hawking and hunting are far less noble occupations than agriculture; descent from a long line of historic criminals is no honor.  French and English castle-life, and the robber-knighthood of Germany, he argues, are barbarous.  Lorenzo pleads the authority of Aristotle in favor of noble blood; Poggio contests the passage quoted, and shows the superiority of the Latin word ‘nobilitas’ (distinction) over the Greek term [Greek:  eugeneia] (good birth).  The several kinds of aristocracy in Italy are then discussed.  In Naples the nobles despise business and idle their time away.  In Rome they manage their estates.  In Venice and Genoa they engage in commerce.  In Florence they either take to mercantile pursuits or live upon the produce of their land in idleness.  The whole way of looking at the subject betrays a liberal and scientific spirit, wholly free from prejudice.  Machiavelli (’Discorsi,’ i. 55) is very severe on the aristocracy, whom he defines as ’those who live in idleness on the produce of their estates, without applying themselves to agriculture or to any other useful