BOOKS.

THE COURTIER.*

THERE is no number in Mr. Henley's valuable series of "Tudor Translations " better worth our study and appreciation than this famous Book of the Courtier, Englished by Sir Thomas Hoby. As Mr. Raleigh says in an introduction for whose grace and learning we have nothing but praise, it is a true book of the Renaissance,—not the greatest of its time, hardly among the greatest, yet in many ways the most representative. "When censure has said its last word," we quote from the introduction, "The Courtyer, as done into English by Sir Thomas Hoby, is still the book of a great age,—the age that made Shakespeare possible. It is rich in fine passages, and even its obscurest recesses are graced by broken and reflected light, thrown back upon it from the torches of those who passed this way and went onward, leading the English speech to a splendid destiny." So it is that we admire the book not only for the wisdom of its author, but for the skill of its translator, and nowhere else shall we discover the ideals of the sixteenth century set forth with a finer eloquence.

The Courtier of Castiglione, then, is a gracious and elegant book, which from the example of a small Court would point the way of excellence to the larger world. If ever a gentle- man composed a treatise fit for gentlemen, surely it was he at whose death Charles V. said : "I tell you one of the finest gentlemen is dead." But let it be understood at once that Castiglione's work is no mere guide to courtly manners or good behaviour. His prudence pierced far below the outside of things. The gentleman sketched by Castiglione is a courtier, to be sure, since in that age a gentleman had no career beyond the limits of a Court. But he is more than a mere courtier, brave in fight and wise in council; he is also a lover of learning and the fine arts. Thus he is separated at once from the medimval hero, and from the polished beau who presently took his place, and it is easy to argue that Castiglione's treatise is a handbook both to morals and the intelligence.

When, therefore, the lords and ladies of Urbino "took in hand to shape in woordes a good Courtyer," they essayed a task that was neither superfluous nor superficial. At the outset it was easy to discover the suitable qualities. "I wyll have this our Courtyer," says Count Lewis of Canossa, " to be a gentleman borne and of a good house," and this opinion he maintains despite the opposition of Lord Gaspar Pallavicin. Of course, " the principall and true profession of a Courtyer ought to be in feates of armes, the which above all I will have hym to practise lively, and to be knowen among others for his hardinesse, for his acheving of enterprises, and for his fidelitie toward him whom he serveth." Thus he must be always courageous, since the slur of cowardice to a man is like a taunt upon a woman's honour. But since courage is never noisy, the true courtier is ever circumspect and modest, when not upon the field of battle. And since an aurea mediocritas is the highest ideal, it is good for the courtier to be of a mean stature. "To come therefore to the qualitie of the person, I say he is well, if he bee neither of the least, nor of the greatest thee. For bothe the one and the other hath with it a certayne spytefull wonder, and ruche men are marveyled at, almoste, as muche as men marveile to behould monstrous thynges." A little hard upon the giants and pigmies, it is true; yet perhaps neither a pigmy nor a giant is best fitted to grace a Court. Then, again, the courtier must be " a perfects horseman for every saddle." He may also hunt, swim, leap, run, and play at tennis. But he may set aside " tumblyng, clytnynge upon a corde, and Bache other matters that taste somewhat of jugglers' crafts, and doe lytle beseeme a gentleman." Above all (and here Chesterfield closely followed the doctrine of Castiglione), a courtier must accompany all his doings, gestures, demeanours, and motions with a grace. " Who so hath grace is gracious." Nor have we yet crossed the threshold of the courtier's temple. He must, besides, be learned; he must cultivate music, and have a proper acquaintance with poets and historians. Style is as important to him as a dignified

• The Book of the Courtier. From the Italian of Count Baldassare Castiglione. Done Into English by Sir Thomas Hoby. With an Introduction by Walter Raleigh. "Tudor Translation Series." London: D. Nutt [1884

demeanour, and Castiglione urges his point in an admirable passage of criticism. "Speache is moste beautiful]," says he, "that is like unto beautif all writings," and so he professes an opinion the opposite to that which is popular to-day, that writing is only good when it is an echo of careless speech. His raiment should be quiet as befits a quiet demeanour. "I thinke a blacks colour hath a better grace in garmentes than any other,"—that is a sentiment which is echoed in all the books of courtesy unto this day.

Thus the characters in Castiglione's comedy go through all the qualities which help in the making of the gentleman, until at last Bembo adds a panegyric of Platonic love. This panegyric has been condemned by some critics as inapposite, but as Mr. Raleigh rightly says, " it is in perfect keeping— and even essential to the scheme." And he sets forth the argument in an admirable passage :-

"It is not good for man to sit brooding on his own character, or to play the fancier to his own virtues. Nothing great was ever accomplished by one whose ruling passion was self-improve- ment, who busied himself chiefly about the cultivation of his own mind or the condition of his own soul. The harassed, self- conscious, preoccupied air of the apostle of culture compares ill with the forthright look of the sailor, whose mind is fixed on out- ward things. It was perhaps a sense of this danger that led Castiglione, as his book was approaching completion, to give over the attempt to illuminate his model from the inside ; he sought a cause, an opportunity of whole-hearted devotion, a religion, in which even the perfect courtier might lose himself, and be abased. Where, in his own country and ago, should he find this if not in the religion of Love and Beauty P And so, when the time seemed come to knit up all and make an end, we stumble suddenly on a greater matter than all the rest—the Platonism of the Renaissance."

That is a good criticism both of life and letters, which helps to give to Castiglione's book a fitting and a coherent end.

But Castiglione was not a mere Professor formulating doctrine. He was, besides, a writer of humour and imagina- tion. His book is raised high above all others of its class by its fine background, and its excellent sense of drama. The per- sonages of the play are well described and separated ; they hold fast by their opinions and by the style of their discourse. Naturally they suggest the garden of Boccaccio, but they are inspired by a loftier gravity than Boccaccio, and their gaiety is an interlude rather than the main purpose of the book. But they, too, have their tales to tell. They, too, illustrate their meaning with wise saws and ancient instances. For, indeed,

nothing more clearly points out The Courtier as a book of the Renaissance than the assiduity wherewith the lords and ladies of Urbino quote the classics. Plutarch, of course, is their favourite, and the argument is pleasantly beguiled with

familiar anecdotes. That the book should have travelled instantly across Europe is not surprising ; it is as little sur- prising that it should have become the type of courtly litera- ture. In all countries the example of Castiglione has been

fervently followed. Such works as The Compleat Gentleman and The Courtier's Calling may be counted by the hundred, and consciously or unconsciously they all reproduce the views of Castiglione. Here, for instance, is a flower concern- ing dress culled from The Courtier's Calling : "A courtier of our time said, that a gentleman was fine enough, when he

was black, new, and neat." And so on until the time of Chesterfield. Indeed, Francis Oeborne and Chesterfield in their advice to their sons preserve a memory of Castiglione. But they possess neither his real sentiment of life nor his love of sport. Of course, it may be said in their favour that it was not their business to teach a serious lesson of gravity or intelligence. But there is no arguing against their horror of the chase. "Eat game," says Chesterfield, " but do not be your own butcher and kill it"; while Osborne cannot put too great a scorn upon their folly who would " bring home a raskall deere, or a few rotten conneyes."

However, Castiglione did not share the narrow views of his imitators, and his book remains a masterpiece of humane literature. And worthy it was of so finely skilled a trans- lator as Thomas Hoby, a scholar and a gentleman after Ascham's own heart, who, despite rare lapses in sense

and expression, composed a version which will keep fresh unto the end of time. Let those who believe that style is of secondary importance compare Hoby's version with that made in 1727 by a kinsman of Castiglione. The later is no doubt the correcter trans- lation; yet in its neat, precise style the charm and beauty of the Italian's book are lost. Nor has Mr. Raleigh fallen an inch below his opportunity. His introduction is informed with the best learning of all,—the learning which does not obtrude itself, and yet is ever present. He has given us a history not only of the book, but of the time which produced it ; he has made excellent use of Hoby's imprinted journals; he has contrasted in a few pregnant sentences the age of the courtiers with our own prosaic time ; and he has written every page of the introduction with the taste and tact weicb we expect of him. Therefore, we thank both him and the editor of the series for restoring to English letters a distin- guished work which might have run the risk of forgetfulness.