Page:Matteo Bandello - twelve stories (IA cu31924102029083).pdf/21

 less a part of his design; entertainment was all. Certainly, as a story-teller, as a cunning narrator who has absolutely mastered the mechanism of his craft, Bandello stands with the very first. If at times extravagant and verbose, he never disregards the architecture of the tale that he is narrating, but presents the incidents rapidly and with a picturesque vehemence that often lights imagination and not infrequently transports.

It has been said that he copied Boccaccio. His reverence for that writer's grace of form was indeed so deep that he took the pains to translate one of the Decamerone tales into Latin, while appropriating from this work many ornate expressions and melodious turns of phrase which had caught his fancy. But if somewhat clumsily he imitated Boccaccio's manner, the method of Bandello was essentially his own. He is far more direct. He relates his facts with greater brevity and speed, with a vigour and breadth of expression more impressive, more convincing in the main than a recital which depends upon the elaborate adjustment of words for its effect. The scholar may dislike his rugged, careless, impetuous Lombard style, but the student of manners, the humanist