Page:History of the Reign of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholic Vol. III.djvu/517

489 REVIEW OF THEIR ADMINISTRATION. 489 XXVI. With her whole court, breathed courage into every chapter heart. There was scarce a cavalier, who was not enamoured of some one or other of her ladies, the witness of his achievements, and who, as she presented him his weapons, or some token of her favor, admonished him to bear himself like a true knight, and show the strength of his passion by his valiant deeds. ^^^ What knight so craven, then," exclaims the chivalrous Venetian, " that he would not have been more than a match for the stoutest adversary ; or who would not sooner have lost his life a thousand times, than return dishonored to the lady of his love. In truth," he concludes, " this conquest may be said to have been achieved by love, rather than by arms."^^^ 148 Oviedo notices the existence of a lady-love, even with cavaliers who had passed their prime, as a thing of quite as imperative neces- sit3, in his day, as it was after- wards regarded by the gallant knight of La Mancha. " Costum- bre es en Espafia entre los senores de estado que venidos a la corte, aunque no est^n enamorados 6 que pasen de la mitad de la edad fingir que aman por servir y favorescer a alguna dama, y gastar como quien son en fiestas y otras cosas que se ofrescen de tales pasatiempos y amores, sin que les d6 pena Cupi- do." Quincuagenas, MS., bat. I, quinc. 1, dial. 28. 149 Viagsio, fol. 27. Andrea Navagiero, whose itine- rary has been of such frequent ref- erence in these pages, was a noble Venetian, born in 1483. He be- came very early distinguished, in his cultivated capital, for his schol- arship, poetical talents, and elo- quence, of which he has left speci- mens, especially in Latin verse, in the highest repute to this day with his countrymen. He was not, however, exclusively devoted to letters, but was employed in several foreign missions by the republic. It was on his visit to Spain, as minister to Charles V., soon after that monarch's accession, that he wrote his Travels ; and he filled the same office at the court of Francis I., when he died, at the premature age of forty-six, in 1529. (Tira- boschi, Letteratura Italiana, torn, vii. part. 3, p. 228, ed. 1785.) His death was universally lamented by the good and the learned of his time, and is commemorated by his friend, Cardinal Bembo, in two sonnets, breathing all the sensibili- ty of that tender and elegant poet. (Rime, Son. 109, 110.) Nava- giero becomes connected with Cas- tilian literature by the circumstance of Boscan's referring to his sug- gestion the innovation he so suc- cessfully made in the forms of the national verse. Obras, fol. 20, ed. 1543. VOL. III. 62