Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 5.djvu/355

 9* s. v. APRIL 28, im] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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NOTES ON BOOKS, &c. The Book of the Courtier. By Baldassare Castiglione.

Done into English by Sir Thomas Hoby, anno

1561. With an Introduction by Walter Raleigh.

(Nutt.)

HOBY'S translation of ' The Courtier ' of Castiglione has been added to Mr. Henley's happily conceived and admirably executed collection of "Tudor Translations," and constitutes one of the most interesting and valuable volumes of the series. The vogue ' The Courtier' once enjoyed is past, and modern scholars, when they mention the work, do little more than echo the praises of their prede- cessors. Among the writers of the Italian Renais- sance, however, Castiglione occupies a distinguished place, and his book is far more diversified in interest than is generally conceived. Its main purpose is, doubtless, to paint the life at an Italian Court at the beginning of the sixteenth century. Rather optimistic is the view taken, and it is scarcely supported by evidence derived from other quarters. The views of Castiglione, however, won acceptance. Great admiration nas been expressed for the per- fection of his style, while the praise of the man is contained in the words uttered concerning his death by the Emperor Charles V., to whom he had been sent on a mission by Pope Clement VII. : " lo vos digo que es muerto uno de los me j ores caballeros del mondo " (" There has died, I tell you, one of the best cavaliers of the world "). It is natural to com- pare Castiglione with Boccaccio, the conduct of his work having some resemblance to the passages of conversation by which the separate tales in ' The Decameron' are linked. Castiglione is, moreover, himself a story-teller, or at least a narrator of jests, few of which are likely to have much prosperity in the ear of the modern reader. Some of the jests survive, however, and the student of comparative folk-lore will find matter of interest. It is pleasing to see the female sex treated with a reverence not common among Italian story-tellers. It is true that the Lord Gaspar speaks somewhat satirically of women, and is very severe upon some of their fail- ings. But his criticisms do not pass unchecked, and his heresy that woman, like " frutes that never ripen," may be said to be "a creature brought furth at a chaunce and by happe," is answered sagely, philosophically, and at length by the Lord Julian. The views as to what is continency on the part of a woman are singularly naive, but are, of course, characteristic of the epoch. We are asked, "What will you say of an other? that for sixe months almost nightlye lave with a moste deere lover of herres, yet in a gardein full of most savoury fruites, tempted with her owne most fervent long- inge and with the petitions and tears of him that was moore deere to her than her owne selfe, refrayned from tastinge of them. And for all she was wrapped and tyed in the streict chaine of those beloved armes, yet never yelded she herselfe as vanquished, but preserved undefined the floure of her hones tie." Naiveties and quaintnesses of this kind abound, and the book, though it is scarcely one to be read through at a breath, may be dipped into with the certainty of amusement, satisfaction, and delight.

Mr. W alter Raleigh, who dedicates the volume to Mr. George Wyndham, gives a most scholarly

and interesting introduction concerning the book, its author, and its translator. Castiglione's position with regard to the Italian Renaissance is admirably shown, and the whole is a capital piece of literary criticism. The discourse on jests is compared favourably with Poggio's 'Facetiae' and with the less-known 'Detti e Fatti Piacevoli e Gravi,' &c., of Guicciardini. Mr. Raleigh speaks of Sir John Harington as incurring wrath on account of his " ingenious and ill-famed ' Metamorphosis of Ajax.' " This is, of course, accurate, and the book, though scarcely on account of its indecency, almost took Harington to the Star Chamber. His translation of the story of Giocondo, which forms the twenty-eighth book of the ' Orlando Furioso,' had brought him previously into trouble scarcely less serious. Hoby's translation is republished from the first edition, 1561, a copy of which has been put at Mr. Raleigh's dis position by the President and Fellows of Worcester College, Oxford. It was often reprinted, and en- joyed in its day great popularity. An aftermath of success with scholars may be hoped from the issue of this excellent reprint.

The Chartulary of Cockersand Abbey of the Pre- mon-stratensian Order. Transcribed and edited by William Farrer. Vol. I.; Vol. II. Part I. (Chetham Society.)

THE White Canons were founded by St. Norbert of Cleves, Archbishop of Magdeburg. As their first house was at Premontre, in the diocese of Laon, they acquired the name of Premonstratensians. The order is said to date from 1120. Their first English foundation was at Newhouse, in Lincoln- shire. The order was very popular, and its houses were soon dotted about in most of the shires of England. Little has as yet been done to illustrate the history of the White Canons in this country. So far as we remember, the very meagre notices in the 'Monasticon' are pretty nearly all that the student can find regarding Cockersand, which was for upwards of three centuries and a half one of the chief agents engaged in spreading civilization in Lancashire. Like many another religious house, Cockersand is obscure in origin. On a treeless stretch of land by the seashore, near the mouth of the river Lune, which had once been barren moss, a hermit named Hugh established himself at some period when the reign of the second Henry was fast drawing to a close. Who he was or whence he came is unknown. A sixteenth-century authority calls him Hugh Garthe. This may possibly be the record of a vague tradition ; but there are good reasons for questioning its truthfulness. Whether the hermit Hugh had any sort of claim to the land whereon he took up his abode, or whether he was a mere squatter, we shall probably never know. There may well have been some sort of a hermitage on the spot from a remote time ; but, if so, its exist- ence is unrecorded. Every one admired asceticism in those days, just as Orientals do now ; so Hugh the hermit drew towards himself the reverence of his neighbours. They helped him with their alms, not only in the maintenance of himself and his humble abode, but also in the support of a hospital which he had established for lepers and other infirm persons. The great man in those parts, the second William de Lancaster, had for wife Hawise de Stutevill, whom he had dowered with a large estate. Through her influence the hermit was endowed with lands and a fishery on the Lune. When the good man died we are