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 NOTES TO THE SECOND BOOK OF THE COURTIER Auditor of the Ruota (see note 292), which office he continued to hold until he was created a cardinal in 1493. He was regarded as the most eminent jurist of his day. Note 254, page 142. Besides the mention of this NICOLETTO in the text, nothing more seems to be known of him beyond the following anecdote; "Of messer Nicoletto da Orvieto it is narrated that, being in the service of that very courteous pontiff Pope Leo, he once won the lasting favour of his Holi- ness with only four words; for one day, the talk turning upon a certain vacant benefice which was sought after by a member of the Vitelli family to whom it could be given, he said humourously: 'Holy Father, fitness requires that it be by all means conferred on Vitello (calf), the more because it has no nearer or closer kinsman than he is,' — playing on the word 'vacant,' which he seemed to derive from aacca (cow), the mother of the calf." Garzoni's L'Hos- pidale de' Paszi Incur abili, (Piacenza: 1586), page 142. Note 255, page 142. Antonio Cammelli, (born 1440; died 1502), called PISTOIA from the name of his birthplace, was a prolific writer of verse, chiefly sonnets of a humourous and satirical character, which have no small historical value. He spent the larger part of his life in the service of the d'Este at Ferrara, and in that of Duke Ludovico Sforza, of Milan, to whom he remained faithful in adversity. An edition of his verse was published at Turin by Renier in 1888. The Serafino here mentioned is identified by Cian as a now almost for- gotten lyric poet, Serafino Ciminelli, (born 1466; died 1500), who was a native of Aquila (fifty-five miles north-east of Rome), and a welcome guest at the courts of Naples, Rome, Urbino, Mantua and Milan. His verse was by some preferred to that of Petrarch, and the unbounded popularity which he enjoyed was doubtless due to the skill with which he improvised to his own accom- paniment on the lute. He was a short ugly man of elfish appearance. Note 256, page 142. Giovanni Gonzaga, (born 1474; died 1523), was the third son of the Marquess Federico of Mantua and Margarita of Bavaria. He married Laura Bentivoglio, fought in his youth against Charles VIII, and in 1512 was in the service of the Sforza family. He was employed also by his brother Gianfrancesco, Marquess of Mantua, in political negotiations. In 1519, on the death of Lucrezia Borgia, he wrote to his nephew, the new Marquess Federico of Mantua: "Lucrezia's death occasioned much grief throughout the city, and his Ducal Highness in particular displayed extreme distress. Men here tell wonderful things of her life: for the last ten years she wore a hair shirt; and for two years she has been in the habit of confessing every day, and of attending Communion three or four times a month." Note 257, page 142. Giovanni's son Alessandro Gonzaga was born in 1497, and died in 1527. Note 258, page 142. GlACOMO d'Atri (or d'Adria Picena) was made Count 373