Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 58.djvu/10

Ubaldini the fact that he compiled an account (since lost) of the repulse of the Spanish-Italian invasion of Kerry in the autumn of that year. In 1581 appeared his ‘Vita di Carlo Magno Imperadore,’ London, 4to (later edit.), 1599, a work interesting to bibliophiles as the first Italian book printed in England. He appears to have left England in the autumn—his passport is dated 31 Oct.—or winter of 1586, and resided for a time in the Low Countries (Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1586, p. 365). At any rate, it was at Antwerp that in 1588 appeared his ‘Descrittione del Regno di Scotia et delle Isole sue Adjacenti’ (fol.), dedicated to Sir Christopher Hatton, the Earl of Leicester, and Sir Francis Walsingham; it is a free translation of Hector Boece's Chronicle, a transcript of which, made by him in 1550 and dedicated to Lord Arundel in 1576, is in the British Museum, Royal MS. 13 A. viii. The manuscript of the ‘Descrittione’ is in the library of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, cod. ccxlvi. A handsome reprint appeared at Edinburgh (Bannatyne Club) in 1829, 4to. Ubaldini rendered into Italian in 1588 the narrative of the defeat of the Spanish Armada compiled for Lord Howard of Effingham, and added in the following year an original memoir in the manner of Sallust on the same subject, inspired by Drake and dedicated to Sir Christopher Hatton. The manuscripts of these works, entitled respectively ‘Commentario del successo dell' Armata Spagnola nell' assalir l'Inghilterra l'anno 1588,’ and ‘Commentario della Impresa fatta contra il regno d'Inghilterra dal Re Catholico l'anno 1588,’ are in the British Museum, Royal MS. 14 A. x–xi. A free translation of the former, entitled ‘A Discourse concerning the Spanish Fleet,’ was made by Augustine Ryther [q. v.], and formed the basis of Camden's narrative; it was reprinted in 1740, 8vo. The English original, preserved in Cottonian MS. Jul. F. x. ff. 111–17, has been recently edited by Professor Laughton in ‘State Papers relating to the Defeat of the Spanish Armada’ (Navy Rec. Soc. i. 1–18).

In 1591 appeared, with a dedication to the queen, to whom the manuscript had been presented in 1576, Ubaldini's ‘Vite delle Donne Illustri del Regno d'Inghilterra et del Regno di Scotia’ (London, 4to, 2nd edit. 1601; cf., Anecdotes of Painting, ed. Wornum, i. 169, and Macray's article on foreign authors' dedications in Bibliographica, 1897). In a small volume entitled ‘Parte Prima delle brevi Dimostrationi et Precetti Utilissimi, ne i quali si trattano diversi propositi morali, politici et iconomici,’ 1592, 4to, Ubaldini attempted the rôle of the sententious philosopher. In 1594 he laid before the queen a brief memoir on methods of taxation, which she graciously received and encouraged him to develop. It remains in Lansdowne MS. 98, art. 22. The same year appeared his ‘Stato delle Tre Corti. Altrimenti: Relationi di alcune Qualità Politiche con le loro dipendenze considerabili appresso di quei che dei governi delli stati si dilettano, ritrovate nelli stati della Corte Romana, nel Regno di Napoli, et nelli stati del Gran Duca di Thoscana; cagioni secondo la natura di quell genti sicurissime della fermezza di quei governi,’ 4to. ‘Scelta di alcune Attioni et di varii Accidenti occorsi tra alcune Nationi Differenti del Mondo; cavati della Selva dei casi diversi,’ 1595, 4to (a mere scrap-book), and ‘Militia del Gran Duca di Thoscana. Capitoli, ordini, et privilegii della Militia et Bande di sua Altezza Serenissima prima così ordinati dalla buona et felice memoria di Cosimo Primo Gran Duca di Thoscana; et di poi corroborati da i successori suoi figliuoli,’ 1597, 4to (a description of the military system of Tuscany) complete the tale of Ubaldini's prose works.

His ‘Rime,’ printed in 1596, 4to, evince a mastery of the technique of the sonnet and the canzone, but they possess no great originality, and are by no means free from conceits. Two of Ubaldini's letters are preserved in the Advocates' Library (Hist. MSS. Comm. 2nd Rep. App. p. 124); two others are in the Archivio Mediceo, 4185, at Florence.

The date of Ubaldini's death is uncertain. By his wife, Anne Lawrence (m. 21 Jan. 1565–6), he appears to have left issue a son Lodovico, who signed himself Lodovico Petrucci (Royal MS. 14 A. vii.), but must apparently be distinguished from Ludovico Petrucci [q. v.].

A few specimens of Ubaldini's skill in illumination and caligraphy are preserved in the Royal MSS.: viz., on vellum, 14 A. i. ‘Un Libro d'Essemplari’ (elegant extracts); 14 A. viii. ‘Un Libro della Forma et Regola dell' eleggere et coronare in Imperadori’ (dedicated, with two prefatory sonnets, to the queen); 17 A. xxiii. (mottoes from the gallery at Gorhambury, a chef d'œuvre given by Sir Nicholas Bacon to Lady Lumley); 2 B. ix. (Psalter from the Vulgate dedicated to the Earl of Arundel in 1565); on paper 14 A. xvi. ‘Un Libro d'Essemplari scritto l'anno 1550’ (fragments of correspondence and other scraps); 14 A. xix. ‘Le Vite et i Fatti di sei Donne Illustri,’ dedicated to the queen in 1577 (a distinct work from the ‘Vite delle Donne Illustre’ printed in 1591); 17 A. xxiv. (sentences, chiefly metaphysical and moral, collected from various authors for the use of Edward VI). Stowe MS. 30, a