selves as the protectors of learning and the arts. Their travels abroad had both familiarized them with the Y Italian example, and at the same time destroyed their prejudices against foreigners which existed among other classes in England. Without mentioning the numerous literary men in the time of Shakespeare who lived under the friendly protection of great noblemen, among Italians in England, Pietro Bizari dedicated his History to the Earl of Bedford, Saviolo his Practise to the Earl of Essex, "whose encouragement of letters has won for him the title of the Students' Macenas.” Among Florio's patrons likewise were the Earls of Rutland and Southampton, and Lucy, Countess of Bedford, while he in his praise of Leicester, his first protector, called him thrice fortunate in having had such a herald of his virtues as Edmund Spenser. "Courteous Lord, Courteous Spenser, I know not which hath purchased more fame, either he in deserving well of so famous a scholar, or so famous a scholar in being so thankful without hope of requital to so famous a lord." 1

In other ways as well Italian examples were followed in England. The English courtier, in the sixteenth century, like his Italian brother, desired to shine in the cultivation of letters. It is only necessary to glance at the names of those who then wrote verse and were in fact known as "courtly makers." The Earl of Surrey, Sir Thomas Wyatt, Lord Rochford, Lord Morley, Lord Oxford, Sir Thomas Sackville, Sir Philip

1 Second Fruites, preface.

Sidney and Sir Walter Raleigh were only some of the better known courtier poets. What deserves especially to be noticed is not so much the poetical faculty, possessed by a few imitators for the most part of Italian models, as the vast spread of education among the classes who previously had despised it. A literary taste had been awakened in them by the study of foreign models, and they now endeavored to accomplish in England what had already been done in Italy.

The rapid spread of education in the Renaissance, no less than its transformation, deserves to rank among the most marked features of the age. Especially in Italy, a universality of knowledge had characterized the greater minds of the sixteenth century. Later, in England, this same broad ideal of cultivation can also be found in such men as Crichton and Raleigh. The new humanism in all its breadth, no longer confined to any narrow group of scholars, left its mark in the education of Italian women. In England, as well, women, no longer satisfied to remain in their former sphere and anxious to follow the example of their Italian sisters, desired to shine in the pursuit of letters. Lady Jane Grey still passes for a wonder of erudition, and Queen Elizabeth is said to have known eight languages. Women like the Countesses of Bedford and Pembroke were the friends and patrons of literary In many ways the great change which had come over womanhood in the Renaissance was apparent. To give a single illustration. In 1550, Anne Cooke, who

men.

later became the mother of Francis Bacon, translated into English some of the sermons of the famous Sienese preacher, Bernardino Ochino, then a refugee in England. Her mother, it appeared, had often reproved her for her pursuit of Italian, considering it a godless study, and, therefore, a waste of time. This book was intended to prove the contrary, in revealing the spiritual side of the Italian nature. It showed, however, another side as well, a touch of conscious pride in the idea that it was by a woman's work that the book had been translated. Although it were more fitting, she wrote, for "doctors of divinity" to meddle with such matters than young girls, yet now," through the honest travail of a well-occupied gentlewoman and virtuous maiden, they speak in English.... .. If ought be erred in the translation, remember 'tis a woman's, yea, a gentlewoman's, who commonly are wonted to live idly, a maiden who never gadded farther than her father's house to learn the language."

In the age of Elizabeth men and women alike were to receive the benefit of Italian humanism as it spread through Europe. The olden days, when the upper classes could afford to live in ignorance, had given way to a new age, when learning was taught from childhood. Even in the sixteenth century, merit meant more and birth less than is commonly supposed. Cardinal Wolsey, Thomas Cromwell Earl of Essex, and Lord Burleigh were all of ordinary extraction. Education, however, often took the place of genius, in raising those of low descent to the highest places in

I

the land. At one time even the king complained. that positions of great responsibility had to be intrusted to those of low origin, who alone were fitted for them, on account of the lack of education on the part of the nobles. It was to remedy this and preserve their former ascendency that noblemen sought its benefits; while to the commoner, who obtained an education, it went far to remove differences of rank, to level class distinctions, and place him on an equality with those who were his superiors by position. In England, as in Italy, it came to be acknowledged that scholarship was a noble profession, and that by virtue of it scholars were gentlemen.1 Every one was now interested in learning. There was a time, wrote Richard Willes, when logic and astrology so wearied the minds of scholars that true philosophy was almost forgotten, eloquence defaced, the languages exiled; that time was past. Not long since, happy was he who had any skill in Greek; while if he could make a Greek verse, he was thought a great scholar. "Nowadays who studieth not rather the Hebrew language?" All ranks and classes bore witness to this new zeal for education, which had swept over the English nation and placed side by side with the old feudal distinctions a new field of honor in learning.

1 Segar, Honor and Arms, p. 36.

2 Anglerius, History of Travel, 1577, preface.

CHAPTER III

THE TRAVELLER

I

THE first recorded description of Italy by an Englishman is in Sir Richard Guylforde's diary of 1506.' This was written entirely in the spirit of the Middle Ages and failed to take into account the new Renaissance civilization. Its author passed through Verona and Mantua on his way to Palestine, scarcely making a comment on what he saw. In Venice he was most impressed by the munitions of war stored in the arsenal. He went on excursions to Moryan [Murano] where he remarked that glass was made, and saw "many houses of religion that stand in the sea." He was present, moreover, at the Doge's marriage to the Adriatic, which he described very briefly. "And so they rowed in to the sea with the assistance of their Patriarch, and there spoused the sea with a ring. . . The Duke let fall the ring into the sea, the process and the ceremonies whereof were too long to write." He expressed some surprise, it is true, at the beauty of Venetian buildings, but failed altogether to observe any difference between the life of Italy and that of England, still half in the Middle Ages.

1 Camden Society, 1851.