 Section 27 of the Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern, Volume 8. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Jacob Shumway. Library of the World's Best Literature, Ancient and Modern, Volume 8. Section 27. Excerts from the Writings of Lewis Carroll. Proceeded by a biographical note. Lewis Carroll, pen name of Charles Ludwig Dodgson, born 1832. That the author of the best nonsense writing in the language should be a professional mathematician and logician is not a paradox but a sequence. A gymnast cannot divert us by pretending to lose his balance unless perfectly able to keep his balance. Actors who counterfeit insanity must be acutely sane. Only a competent classical scholar can write good Macaronics. Only a good poet can write clever dogarole. The only ones who can use slang effectively are those who do not need to use it at all. Nor is the tone and temper of mind evinced by these dry and severe studies out of keeping with the arous play of fancy or the maddest fun. The one is indeed a frequent relief from the other and no intellectual bent is related in the least to any special temperament. Extravagant drullary can be mated to an aptitude for geometry or a passion for analysis as well as to a love of pictures or of horses. But the parentage of Alice in Wonderland and its fellows is closer to their creator's intellectual being even than this. A very slight glance at their matter and mechanism shows that they are the work of one trained to use words with the finest precision. To teach others to use them so. To criticize keenly any inconsistency or slovenliness in their use. And to mock mercilessly any vagueness or incoherence in thought or diction. The fantastic framework and inconsequence scenes of these wonder stories mask from the popular view the qualities which give them their superlative rank and enduring charm. The mere machinery, ingenious and amusing as it is would not entertain beyond a single reading. It can be and has often been imitated along with the incarnated nursery rhymes and old saws. Yet these grotesque emiras under Lewis Carroll's touch are as living to us as any characters in Dickens or the Inglesby legends and even more so to the elders than the children. Who does not know and delight in the king and queen and nave of hearts, the elegant white rabbit and the conceited and monosyllabic caterpillar, the Cheshire cat and the mock turtle, the March hare and the Hatter and the Dormouse, or the chess white king and the queens and the white knight, the walrus and the carpenter of looking-glass land. The very genesis of many of these is the logical analysis of a popular comparison into sober fact as grinning like a Cheshire cat, mad as a Hatter or March hare, sleeping like a Dormouse, etc. And a large part of their wit and fun consists in playing on ambiguous terms in current use like the classic jam every other day, French music and washing. The name of the song is called or in parodies on familiar verses or on the spirit of ballads rather than the wording as in Jabberwocky. Or in heaps of versified non sequiturs like the exquisite poem read at the trial of the nave of hearts. The analyst and the logician is as patent in Alice as in the class lectures the author gave or the technical works he has issued, only turning his criticism and his reducciones ad absurdum into bases for witty fooling instead of serious lessons or didactic works. Hence, while his wonder books are nominally for children and please the children through their cheaper and commoner qualities, their real audience is the most cultivated and keen-minded part of the mature world to whom indeed he speaks almost exclusively in such passages as the Rabelazian satire of the jury trial in Alice in Wonderland or the mob in Sylvie and Bruno yelling less bread, more taxes before the Lord Chancellor's house or the infinitely touching pathos of the outlandish watch. Alice in Wonderland appeared in 1865. It received universal admiration at once and was translated into many languages. By the rarest of good fortune it was illustrated by an artist, John Tenniel, who entered into its spirit so thoroughly that the characters in popular memory are as much identified with his pictures as with Lewis Carroll's text and no other representation of them would be endured. Through the looking glass followed in 1871. Its prose matter was almost equal to that of its predecessor. The chapter of the White Knight is fully equal to the best of the other and its verse is superior. Part of the first book was based on the game of cards. The whole setting of the second is based on chess moves and Alice's progress to queenship along the board. He has published several books of humorous prose in verse sense. Some of the verse equal to the best of his two best books but the prose generally spoiled by conscious didacticism as in Sylvie and Bruno which, however, contains some of his happiest nonsense verse. The hunting of the snark is a nonsense tale in verse but oddly the best things in it are his prose tags. Rhyme and Reason is a collection of verse some of it of high merit and its kind. The three voices is spun out and ill-ended but has some passages which deserve to be classic. Lewis Carroll is in fact the Reverend Charles Lutwidge Dodgson who, disliking publicity, lives in retirement at Oxford and the world knows little of him. He was born in 1833 and received his degree in Christchurch-Oxford with high honors in mathematics. In 1861 he took orders in the Church of England. From 1855 to 1881 he was a mathematical lecturer at Christchurch-Oxford. He has published several works on mathematics including Euclid and his modern rivals and Mathematica Curiosa, a very valuable work. A Tangled Tale, Pillow Problems and A Game of Logic are scientific and humorous but are only appreciated by experts in mathematics and logic. Delighted with Alice in Wonderland on its appearance Queen Victoria asked Mr. Dodgson for his other works and in response Lewis Carroll sent her his elementary treatise on determinants and other mathematical works. It is seldom that the dualism of a mind writing now nonsense so thoroughly and vigorously witty and now exploring the intricacies of higher mathematics has a more curious illustration. Certainly the illustration is seldom as diverting to the public. Alice, the Pig Baby and the Cheshire Cat from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Here you may nurse it a bit if you like said the duchess to Alice flinging the baby at her as she spoke. I must go and get ready to play croquet with the Queen and she hurried out of the room. The cook threw a frying pan after her as she went but it just missed her. Alice caught the baby with some difficulty as it was a queer-shaped little creature and held out its arms and legs in all directions just like a starfish, thought Alice. The poor little thing was snorting like a steam engine when she caught it and kept doubling itself up and straightening itself out again so that altogether for the first minute or two it was as much as she could do to hold it. As soon as she had made out the proper way of nursing it which was to twist it up into a sort of knot and then keep tight hold of its right ear and left foot to prevent its undoing itself she carried it out into the open air. If I don't take this child away with me, thought Alice, they're sure to kill it in a day or two. Wouldn't it be murder to leave it behind? She said the last words out loud and the little thing grunted in reply. It had left off sneezing by this time. Don't grunt, said Alice. That's not at all the proper way of expressing yourself. The baby grunted again and Alice looked very anxiously into its face to see what was the matter with it. There could be no doubt that it had a very turn-up nose much more like a snout than a real nose. Also, its eyes were getting extremely small for a baby. Altogether Alice did not like the look of the thing at all but perhaps it was only sobbing, she thought and looked into its eyes again to see if there were any tears. No, there were no tears. If you're going to turn into a pig, my dear, said Alice seriously, I'll have nothing more to do with you. Mind now! The poor little thing sobbed again or grunted it was impossible to say which and they went on for some while in silence. Alice was just beginning to think to herself now what am I to do with this creature when I get it home? When it grunted again so violently that she looked down into its face in some alarm this time there could be no mistake about it. It was neither more nor less than a pig and she felt that it would be quite absurd for her to carry it any further. So she set the little creature down and felt quite relieved to see it trot away quietly into the wood. If it had grown up, she said to herself it would have been a dreadfully ugly child but it makes rather a handsome pig, I think. And she began thinking over other children she knew who might do very well as pigs and was just saying to herself if one only knew the right way to change them when she was a little startled by seeing the Cheshire cat sitting on a bough of a tree a few yards off. When it only grinned when it saw Alice it looked good-natured, she thought still it had very long claws and a great many teeth so she felt it ought to be treated with respect. Cheshire puss, she began rather timidly as she did not at all know whether it would like the name however it only grinned a little wider comets please so far, thought Alice and she went on, would you tell me please which way I ought to walk from here? That depends a good deal on where you want to get to, said the cat. I don't much care where, said Alice. Then it doesn't matter which way you walk, said the cat. So long as I get somewhere Alice added as an explanation ooh you're sure to do that, said the cat if you only walk long enough. Alice felt that this could not be denied so she tried another question what sort of people live about here? In that direction the cat said waving its right paw around lives a hatter in that direction, waving the other paw lives a march hair visit either you like they're both mad but I don't want to go among mad people Alice remarked, ooh you can't help that, said the cat we're all mad here, I'm mad you're mad how do you know I'm mad, said Alice you must be, said the cat or you wouldn't have come here Alice didn't think that proved it at all however she went on and how do you know that you're mad? to begin with, said the cat a dog's not mad, you grant that? I suppose so, said Alice well then, the cat went on you see, a dog growls when it's angry and wags its tail when it's pleased now, I growl when I'm pleased and wag my tail when I'm angry therefore I'm mad I call it purring, not growling, said Alice call it what you like, said the cat do you play croquet with the queen today? I should like it very much, said Alice but I haven't been invited yet you'll see me there, said the cat and vanished Alice was not much surprised at this she was getting so well used to queer things happening while she was still looking at the place where it had been it suddenly appeared again by the by, what became of the baby? said the cat I'd nearly forgot to ask it turned into a pig Alice answered very quietly just as if the cat had come back in a natural way I thought it would, said the cat and vanished again Alice waited a little, half expecting to see it again but it did not appear and after a minute or two she walked on in the direction in which the marsh hare was said to live I've seen hat as before she said to herself, the marsh hare will be much the most interesting and perhaps as this is May it won't be raving mad at least not so mad as it was in March as she said this she looked up and there was the cat again sitting on a branch of a tree you say pig or fig said the cat I said pig, replied Alice and I wish you wouldn't keep appearing and vanishing so suddenly you make one quite giddy alright, said the cat and this time it vanished quite slowly beginning with the end of the tale and ending with the grin which remained some time after the rest of it had gone well, I've often seen a cat without a grin thought Alice but a grin without a cat it's the most curious thing I ever saw in all my life the mock turtle's education from Alice's adventures in Wonderland when we were little the mock turtle went on at last more calmly though still sobbing a little now and then we went to school in the sea the master was an old turtle we used to call him tortoise why did you call him tortoise if he wasn't one, Alice asked we called him tortoise because he tortoise said the mock turtle angrily really, you are very dull you want to be ashamed of yourself for asking such a simple question out of the griffin and then they both sat silent and looked at poor Alice who felt ready to sink into the earth at last the griffin said to mock turtle drive on old fellow don't be all day about it and he went on in these words yes, we went to school in the sea though you may not believe it I never said I didn't interrupted Alice you did, said the mock turtle with your tongue out of the griffin before Alice could speak again the mock turtle went on we had the best of educations in fact, we went to school every day I've been to a day school too said Alice you needn't be so proud as all that with extras asked the mock turtle little anxiously yes, said Alice, we learned French and music and washing, said the mock turtle certainly not, said Alice certainly then yours wasn't a really good school said the mock turtle in a tone of great relief now at ours they had at the end of the bill French, music and washing extra you couldn't have wanted it much, said Alice living at the bottom of the sea I couldn't afford to learn it said the mock turtle with a sigh I only took the regular course what was that, inquired Alice reeling and writhing of course to begin with, the mock turtle replied and then the different branches of arithmetic ambition distraction aglification and derision I never heard of aglification Alice ventured to say what is it? the griffin lifted up both its paws in surprise never heard of aglifying it exclaimed you know what to beautify is, I suppose yes, said Alice doubtfully it means to make anything prettier well then, the griffin went on if you don't know what to aglify is you are a simpleton Alice did not feel encouraged to ask any more questions about it so she turned to the mock turtle and said what else had you to learn well, there was mystery the mock turtle replied counting off the subjects on his flappers mystery, ancient and modern with seeography then, drawing the drawing master was an old conger eel once a week, he taught us drawing, stretching and fainting in coils what was that like, said Alice well, I can't show you myself the mock turtle said I'm too stiff and the griffin never learnt it hadn't time, said the griffin I went to the classical master though he was an old crab he was I never went to him the mock turtle said with a sigh he taught laughing and grief they used to say so he did, so he did said the griffin sighing in his turn and both creatures hid their faces in their paws and how many hours a day did you do lessons said Alice in a hurry to change the subject ten hours the first day said the mock turtle nine the next and so on what a curious plan, exclaimed Alice that's the reason they're called lessons, the griffin remarked because they lessened from day to day this was quite a new idea to Alice and she thought it over a little before she made her next remark then the eleventh day must have been a holiday of course it was said the mock turtle and how did you manage on the twelfth Alice went on eagerly that's enough about lessons the griffin interrupted in a very decided tone a clear statement from Alice in Wonderland they told me you had been to her and mentioned me to him she gave me a good character but said I could not swim he sent them word I had not gone we know it to be true if she should push the matter on what would become of you I gave her one, they gave him two you gave us three or more they all returned from him to you though they were mine before if I or she should chance to be involved in this affair he trusts to you to set them free exactly as we were my notion was that you had been before she had this fit but it came between him and ourselves and it don't let him know she liked them best for this must ever be a secret kept from all the rest between yourself and me the walrus and the carpenter from through the looking glass the sun was shining on the sea shining with all his might he did his very best to make the billows smooth and bright and this was odd because it was the middle of the night the moon was shining soulfully thought the sun had got no business to be there after the day was done it's very rude of him she said to come and spoil a fun the sea was wet as wet could be the sands were dry as dry you could not see a cloud because no cloud was in the sky no birds were flying overhead there were no birds to fly the walrus and the carpenter were walking close at hand they wept like anything to see such quantities of sand would be grand if seven maids with seven mops swept it for half a year do you suppose the walrus said that they could get it clear I doubt it said the carpenter and shed a bitter tear oh oysters come and walk with us the walrus did beseech a pleasant walk a pleasant talk along the briny beach we cannot do with more than four to give a hand to each the eldest oyster looked at him his eye and shook his heavy head meaning to say he did not choose to leave the oyster bad but four young oysters hurried up all eager for the treat their coats were brushed, their faces washed their shoes were clean and neat and this was odd because you know they hadn't any feet four other oysters followed them and yet another four and thick and fast they came at last and more and more and more all hopping through the frothy waves with the shore the walrus and the carpenter walked on a mile or so and then they rested on a rock conveniently low and all the little oysters stood and waited in a row the time has come the walrus said to talk of many things of shoes and ships and sealing wax of cabbages and kings and why the sea is boiling hot and whether pigs have wings but wait a bit before we have our chat for some of us are out of breath and all of us are fat no hurry said the carpenter they thanked him much for that a loaf of bread the walrus said is what we chiefly need pepper and vinegar beside are very good indeed now if you're ready oysters dear we can begin to feed but not on us the oysters cried turning a little blue after such kindness the night is fine the walrus said do you admire the view it was so kind of you to come and you are very nice the carpenter said nothing but cut us another slice I wish you were not quite so deaf I've had to ask you twice it seems a shame the walrus said to play them such a trick after we've brought them out so far and made them trot so quick the carpenter said nothing but are you thick I weep for you the walrus said I deeply sympathise with sobs and tears he sorted out those of the largest size holding his pocket handkerchief before his streaming eyes oh oysters said the carpenter you've had a pleasant run shall we be trotting home again but answer came there none and this was scarcely odd because they'd eaten every one the baker's tale the hunting of the snark they roused him with muffins they roused him with ice they roused him with mustard and cress they roused him with jam and judicious advice they set him conundrums to gas when at length he sat up and was able to speak his sad story he offered to tell and the bellman cried silence not even a shriek and excitedly tingled his bell there was silence supreme not a shriek not a scream but a groan as the man they called Ho told his story of woe in an anti-diluvian tone my father and mother were honest though poor skip all that cried the bellman in haste if it once becomes dark there's no chance of a snark we have hardly a minute to waste I skip forty years set the baker in tears and proceed without further remark to the day when you took me aboard of your ship to help you in hunting the snark a dear uncle of mine he named remarked when I bade him farewell oh skip your dear uncle the bellman exclaimed as he angrily tingled his bell he remarked to me then said that mildest of men if your snark be a snark that is right fetch it home by all means you may serve it with greens and it's handy for striking a light you may seek it with thimbles and seek it with care you may hunt it with forks and hope you may threaten its life with a railway share to the method the bellman bold in a hasty parenthesis cried that's exactly the way I've always been told that the capture of snarks should be tried but oh be mish-nephew beware of the day if your snark be a bujum for then you will suddenly and softly vanish away and never be met with again it is this it is this that oppresses my soul when I think of my uncle's last words and my heart is like nothing so much as a bowl brimming over with quivering curds it is this we've had that before the bellman indignantly said and the baker replied let me say it once more it is this it is this that I dread I engage with this snark every night after dark in a dreamy delirious fight I serve it with greens in those shadowy scenes and I use it for striking a light but if ever I meet a bujum that day in a moment of this I am sure I shall softly and silently vanish away and the notion I cannot endure you are old Father William from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland you are old Father William the young man said and your hair has become very white and yet you incessantly stand on your head do you think at your age it is right in my youth Father William replied to his son I feared it might injure the brain but now that I am perfectly sure I have none why I do it again and again you are old said the youth as I mentioned before and have grown most uncommonly fat yet you turned a back somersault in at the door pray what is the reason of that in my youth said the sage as he shook his grey locks I kept all my limbs very supple by the use of this ointment one shilling the box allow me to sell you a couple you are old said the youth and your jaws are too weak for anything tougher than suet yet you finish the goose with the bones and the beak pray how did you manage to do it in my youth said his father I took to the law and argued each case with my wife and the muscular strength which it gave to my jaw has lasted the rest of my life you are old said the youth one would hardly suppose that your eye was as steady as ever yet you bounced an eel on the end of your nose what made you so awfully clever I have answered three questions and that is enough said his father don't give yourself airs do you think I can listen all day to such stuff be off or I'll kick you downstairs end of section 27 library of the world's best literature ancient and modern volume 8 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org recording by Rita Butros library of the world's best literature ancient and modern volume 8 section 28 biography of Casanova and Casanova's escape from the Ducal Palace Casanova Jean-Jacques Casanova de Saint-Gal 1725 to 1803 the unique figure of Casanova stands out as a type of all that was most vicious and most brilliant in the 18th century the pre-revolutionary philosophies filtering through society were weakening religious restraints and producing a hypocritical conformity to tradition and a new uncertainty which inclined people to present enjoyment and epicureanism but even the court aristocracy to whom self-indulgence was the rule of life were astounded at the unrestraint of Casanova's pleasure-seeking he professed himself a Christian but during all his vicious career was never influenced by a conscientious scruple in a period when social graces were extolled above all others when conversation was cultivated and art and when the salon was perhaps the greatest power in France he was preeminent for talent and charm his physical beauty fascinated both men and women his fearlessness often running into a mad bravado which lost no chance to fight won him the respect of men he could be witty in many tongues he was an adept in fashionable fads of the day to have a gift for mesmerism and to be something of a sorcerer he could adapt himself to any society appearing both as the idol of European courts and a boon companion in low taverns he had countless duels in love affairs and concluded one after another with the same cynical heartlessness always a gay soldier of fortune experimenting with his various talents now a diplomat now an abbey or popular preacher and now a writer of political essays when Casanova's father a man of gentle birth became an actor and married a pretty actress Zenetta Farusi the daughter of an Italian shoemaker he hopelessly alienated his family Jean-Jacques, their first child was born in Venice and during their professional travels was left there with his grandmother his desire was to educate the beautiful and precocious child and she economized from her scanty means until she was able to send him to the seminary of Saint Cyprian in Venice he passed his entrance examinations and studied there for a time exhibiting unusual ability then at sixteen he was expelled for a disgraceful intrigue which would have consigned him to prison but for his mother his influence secured him the protection of Cardinal Aquaviva and a position in his household which the boy soon resigned for a gayer life after this came a long series of adventurous years during which he visited Rome, Naples, Constantinople and other places and was admitted to many orders of chivalry during these wanderings he became acquainted with Rousseau and Voltaire the court of Frederick the Great went to Russia where he was smiled upon by the Empress Catherine II at Versailles where he was a familiar figure Louis XV honored him with a personal interview but even in a society disposed to be lenient to anyone who was amusing Casanova incurred disgrace after becoming notorious over Europe as a trickster at cards and for his dissipations he returned to Venice in 1755 there he was as gay and as dissolute as ever but in his intervals of spare time he wrote a refutation of a work by Amalot de la Hussée upon the condition of the Republic he had hoped it would reinstate him in public opinion but it failed to do so and before long he was denounced to the government as a spy and thrown into prison in the Recite Sacaptivite 1788 he himself has told the dramatic story of his confinement in the garret of a doccal palace and of his wonderful escape the hot Italian son beating down on the leaden roof added to his discomfort and he was too daring and too ingenious to suffer long in patience with the aid of an iron bolt which he had sharpened the wall of his cell and gained access to another prisoner father Balbi for a long time they plotted together and at last after many efforts and dangers they extricated themselves by way of the roofs this feat added greatly to his fame he was feted and courted everywhere and his extravagances set the fashions for years but in spite of the admiration he excited he was too dangerous and to be allowed long in a place he was expelled from Varsovia in consequence of a duel then Paris and later Madrid drove him away his life of excesses had broken his health when in 1782 he attached himself to the count of Waldstein a German prince whom he followed into Bohemia soon after he began the famous memoirs his chief literary achievement wrote several historical works a translation inverse of the Iliad and many political sketches others of his writing such as 80 years spent among the inhabitants of the interior of the globe show him possessed of a lively imagination but he evinced a special zest in the preparation of the memoir in a style as audacious as his life strong and sparkling with wit he told a strange story of his career he reflects the social habits of his time the contemporary point of view he lived on in Bohemia until he was 78 and then he died at Dux retaining to the end what Jeanine terms his marvelous instinct for vice and corruption Casanova's escape from the Ducal Palace from the escapes of Casanova and Latude from prison the greatest comfort to a man in suffering is the hope of a speedy release he sighs for the moment when he shall see the end of his woes he fancies that his wishes can hasten it on and would do anything on earth to know what hour is fixed for the cessation of his misery but no one can tell at what moment an event will happen which depends on the determination of another unless that person has announced it but the sufferer who is weak and impatient is predisposed to be superstitious God says he must know the very moment when my pain will cease and God may permit that it should be revealed to me never mind how when he has once fallen into this train of argument he no longer hesitates to try his fortune by any means his fancy may dictate if he is more or less inclined to believe in the revelations of the oracle he happens to select this frame of mind is not conspicuously unlike that of the greater number of those who were want to consult the pithia or the oaks of dodona or of those who even in our own day study the cabala or seek the revelation they hope for in a verse of the bible or a line of Virgil this indeed has made the sort Virgilians famous of which many writers tell us many of those who are firmly convinced that their difficulties will all be solved by the fortuitous or premeditated arrangement of a mere pack of cards I was in this state of mind but not knowing what means to employ to compel fate to reveal through the bible the end in store for me that is to say the hour at which I should recover the incomparable blessing of liberty I resolved to consult the divine poem which I knew by heart and in which I delighted up in my cell I worshiped the genius of that great poet and thought him far better fitted than Virgil to tell my fortune with this idea I wrote down a question addressed to the imaginary intelligence asking in which canto of Ariosto's poem I should find the day of my deliverance prophesied afterwards I composed an inverted pyramid of the numbers derived from the words in the question and by subtracting nine from each pair of figures I had nine for a remainder I concluded that the prophecy I sought must be in the ninth canto I pursued the same method to arrive at the line and stanza containing the oracle and I found seven as the number of the stanza and one for the line my heart beating as though I really had the most entire confidence in this oracle I opened it, turned over the leaves and read these words the perfect appropriateness of the line struck me as so remarkable that though I cannot say that I altogether believed in the oracle the reader will forgive me if I confess I did my utmost to verify it the curious part of the matter is that between the last of October and the beginning of November there is but the one instant of midnight and it was exactly as the clock struck midnight on the 31st of October that I quitted my prison as the reader will presently learn the hour strikes hark the angel Sotodachi was about to fall on his face but I assured him that this was superfluous in three minutes the hole was pierced through the board fell at my feet and Father Balbi slid into my arms your task is done said I and now mine begins we embraced and he gave me my crowbar and a pair of scissors I desired Sotodachi to trim our beards but I could not help laughing as I saw the creature open mouth staring at this strange angel who looked more like a demon though utterly bewildered he cut our beards to perfection being impatient to survey the locality I desired the monk to remain with Sotodachi for I would not leave him alone and I went out I found the hole rather narrow however I got through I got above the cell in which the count lay I went down and cordially embraced the venerable gentleman I saw a man of a figure ill suited to surmount the difficulties of such an escape over a steep roof covered lead he asked me what my plan was and told me that he thought I had been rather heedless in my action I only want to go on said I step by step to liberty or death if you imagine said he that you can pierce the roof and find a way along the leads from which to you must get down I do not see how you can possibly succeed unless you have wings I have not courage enough to accompany you I shall stay where I am and pray to God for you I left him to inspect the outer roof getting as close as I could to the outer side of the loft having succeeded in touching the inside of the rafters at the part where it was lowest I perched myself on a beam such as are to be found under the roof of every large palace I poked at the rafters with the end of my bar and to my joy found them half rotten at each touch the wood fell in dust being sure therefore that I could make a large enough opening in less than an hour I returned to my cell and spent the next four hours in cutting up sheets counterpains and mattress covers to make ropes of I took care to tie all the knots myself to be sure of their firmness for a single knot badly tied would have cost us our life when all was done I found we had about a hundred yards of rope there are certain things of every great enterprise which are of the highest importance and for which a leader worthy of the name trust no one when the rope was finished I made a bundle of my coat my silk cloak some shirts stockings and handkerchiefs and we all three went into the count cell this worthy man first congratulated Soradacian having been so lucky as to be put in the same room with me and being so soon able to recover his freedom the man's stupid amazement almost made me laugh I no longer attempted any concealment for I had thrown off the mask of Tartuffe which I had found most inconvenient while this villain had compelled me to wear it I saw that he was convinced I had deceived him but he could not understand how for he could not imagine how I had communicated with the sham angel so as to make him come and go for the next six hours he was listening eagerly to the count who declared we were rushing on our fate and cowered that he was he was revolving in his mind a scheme for avoiding the perilous attempt I told the monk to collect his things while I went to make the hole in the roof of the loft at two hours after sunset the hole was finished I had worked the rafters to powder and the opening was twice as needful I could touch the sheet of lead outside I could not raise it single-handed because it was riveted the fryer helped me and by pushing the crowbar between the gutter and the sheet of lead I detached it then raising it on our shoulders we bent it up high enough to allow of our squeezing through the opening putting my head out to reconnoiter I saw with dismay how bright the moon was now in the first quarter it was a check which we must endure with patience and wait till midnight to escape when the moon would have gone to light up the antipodes on such a glorious night all Venice would be out on the piazza below and we dared not venture out on the roof our shadows cast on the ground would have attracted attention our extraordinary appearance up there would excite general curiosity and above all that of Messer grand and his spies the soul guards of Venice our fine scheme would soon have been disturbed by their odious interference I therefore decided positively that we were not to creep out till the moon had set it was time to be off the moon had set I hung half the rope round Balby's neck on one side and his bundle of clothes on the other shoulder I did the same for myself and both in our waistcoats with our hats on went to the opening in the roof and issuing forth we then beheld the stars Dante I crept out first Balby followed me Soradacci who had accompanied us to the roof was ordered to pull the sheet of lead down again and then to go and pray to his saint crawling on my knees on all fours I clutched my crowbar firmly and stretching as far as I could I slipped it obliquely between the points of the sheets then grasping the end of the sheet I had turned up I dragged myself up to the ridge of the roof the friar to follow me inserted the fingers of his right hand into the belt of my breeches thus I had the double task of a beast which drags and carries both at once and that on a steep roof made slippery by a dense fog halfway up this dreadful climb Balby bid stop for one of his parcels had fallen and he hoped it might not have gone further than the gutter my first impulse was to give him a kick and send him after his bundle but God be praised I had enough self-command not to do this for the punishment would have been too severe for both of us since I alone could never have escaped I asked him whether it was the packet of ropes but as he replied that it was only his bundle in which he had a manuscript he had found in the loft and which he had hoped would make his fortune I told him he must take patience for that a step backwards would be fatal the poor monk sighed and clinging still to my waistband we climbed on again after having got over 15 or 16 sheets of lead with immense difficulty we reached the ridge on which I perched myself astride and Balby we had our backs to the island of San Giorgio Maggiore and 200 yards in front of us we saw the numerous cupolas of the church of Saint Mark which is in fact part of the ducal palace for the church of Saint Mark is properly speaking no more than the doges chapel and certainly no sovereign can boast of a finer one I began by relieving myself of my load and desired my companion to follow my example he tucked his bundle of ropes under him as best he might but wanting to take off his hat which inconvenienced him he managed so badly that it rolled from ledge to ledge and went to join the bundle of clothes in the canal my poor comrade was in despair a bed omen he exclaimed here I am at once without a shirt without a hat and bereft of a precious manuscript containing a most curious and curious mystery of the festivals at the ducal palace I, less disposed to be fierce than I had been when I was climbing calmly assured him that these two little accidents had nothing so extraordinary about them as that a superstitious spirit should regard them as ominous that I did not think them so and that they did not in the least discourage me they should serve you my good fellow said I as a warning to be just to you that God certainly protects us for if your hat instead of tumbling to the right had slipped off to the left we should have been lost it would have fallen into the courtyard where the guards must have found it and it would of course have told them that there must be someone on the roof we should have been recaptured at once after sitting some minutes looking about me I desired the monk to remain motionless till I should return way forward shuffling along a stride on the roof without any difficulty my bolt in my hand I spent above an hour going about the roof examining and observing every corner but in vain nowhere did I see anything to which I could attach a cord I was in the greatest perplexity I could not for a moment think of the canal nor of the palace courtyard and among the many cupolas of the church leading to no open space to get beyond the church to the canonical I should have had to surmount such steep slopes that I had no hope of achieving it and it was natural that I should reject as impossible everything that did not seem feasible the situation in which I found myself required daring but absolutely no rashness it was such a dilemma as I imagine can have no parallel for difficulty any moral question however I had to come to some conclusion I must either get away or return to my cell never probably to leave it again or again throw myself into the canal in this predicament a great deal must be left to chance and I must begin somewhere I fixed my eyes on a dormer window on the side towards the canal and about two thirds of the way down it was far enough from the spot we had started from to make me think that the loft it lighted was not connected with the prison I had broken out of it could light only an attic inhabited or vacant over some room in the palace where when they should dawn the doors no doubt would be opened I was morally certain that the attendants in the palace even those of the doge himself who should happen to see us would be eager to favor our escape and place us in the hands of justice even if they had recognized us as the greatest of state criminals so horrible was the inquisition in their eyes with this idea I decided on inspecting that window so letting myself slip gently down I soon was astride on the little roof then resting my hands on the edge I stretched my head out and succeeded in seeing and touching a little barred grating behind which there was a window glazed with small panes set in lead the window did not trouble me but the grating, slight as it was seemed to me an insurmountable difficulty for without a file I could not get through the bars and I only had my crowbar I was checked and began to lose heart when a perfectly simple and natural incident revived my spirit it was the clock of saint marks at this moment striking midnight which roused my spirit and by a sudden shock brought me out of the perplexed frame of mind in which I found myself that clock reminded me that the morning about to dawn was that of all saint's day that consequently of my saint's day if indeed I had a patron saint and my Jesuit confessors prophecy recurred to my mind but I own that what tended most to restore my courage and really increased my physical powers the profaner oracle of my beloved adiosto between the end of October and the beginning of November if a great misfortune sometimes makes a small mind devout it is almost impossible that superstition should not have some share in the matter the sound of the clock seemed to me a spoken charm which bad me act and promised me success lying flat on the roof with my head over the edge I pushed my bar in above the frame which held the grating determined to dislodge it bodily in a quarter of an hour I had succeeded the grating was in my hands unbroken and having laid it by the side of the dormer I had no difficulty in breaking in the window though the blood was flowing from a wound I had made in my left hand by the help of my bar I got back to the ridge of the roof in the same way as before and made my way back to where I had left my companion I found him desperate and raging he abused me fouly for having left him there so long he declared he was only waiting for seven to strike to go back to prison what did you think had become of me I thought you had fallen down some roof or wall and you have no better way of expressing your joy at my return than by abusing me what have you been doing all this time come with me and you will see having gathered up my bundles I made my way back to the window when we were just over it I explained to Belby exactly what I had done and consulted him as to how we were to get into the loft through the window the thing was quite easy for one of us the other could let him down but I did not see how the second man was to follow him as there was no way of fixing the rope above the window by going in and letting myself drop I might break my legs and arms for I did not know the height of the window above the floor to this wise argument spoken with perfect friendliness the brute replied in these words let me down at any rate and when I am in there you will have plenty of time to find out how you can follow me I confess that in my first impulse of indignation I was ready to stab him with my crowbar a good genius saved me from doing so and I did not even utter one word of reproach for his selfishness and baseness on the contrary I at once unrolled my bundle of rope and fastening it firmly under his armpits I made him lie flat on his face his feet outwards and then let him down onto the roof of the dormer when he was there I made him go over the edge and into the window as far as his hips on the sill I next slipped down to the little roof as I had done before lay down on my stomach and holding the rope firmly told the monk to let himself go without fear when he had landed on the floor of the attic he undid the rope and I pulling it up found that the height was above 50 feet to jump this was too great a risk as for the monk now he was safe after nearly 50 feet on a roof where I must own his situation was far from comfortable he called out to me to throw in the ropes and he would take care of them I as may be supposed took good care not to follow this absurd injunction not knowing what to do and awaiting some inspiration I clambered once more to the ridge and my eye falling on a spot near a cupola which I had not yet examined I made my way thither I saw a little terrace or platform covered with lead close to a large window closed with shutters there was here a tub full of wet mortar with a trowel and by the side a ladder which I thought would be long enough to enable me to get down into the attic where my comrade was this settled the question I slipped my rope through the top rung and dragged this awkward load as far as the window I then had to get the clumsy mass into the window it was above 12 yards long the difficulty I had in doing it made me repent of having deprived myself of Balbi's assistance I pushed the ladder along till one end was on the level of the dormer and the other projected by a third beyond the gutter then I slid down onto the dormer roof I drew the ladder close to my side and fastened the rope to the eighth rung which I again allowed it to slip till it was parallel with the window then I did all I could to make it slip into the window but I could not get it beyond the fifth rung because the end caught against the inner roof of the dormer and no power on earth could get it any further without breaking either the ladder or the roof there was nothing for it but to tilt the outer end then the slope would allow it to slide in by its own weight I might have placed the ladder across the window and have fastened the rope to it to let myself down without any risk but the ladder would have remained there and next morning would have guided the archers and Lorenzo to the spot where we might still be hiding I would not run the risk of losing by such an act of imprudence the fruit of so much labor and peril and to conceal all our traces the ladder must be got entirely into the window having no one to help me I decided on getting down to the gutter to tilt it and attain my end this in fact I did but it's so great a risk that but for a sort of miracle I should have paid for my daring with my life I ventured to let go of the cord that was attached to the ladder without any fear of its falling into the canal because it was caught on the gutter by the third rung I cautiously let myself slide down to the gutter by the side of the ladder the marble ledge was against my toes for I let myself down with my face to the roof in this attitude I found strength enough to lift the ladder a few inches and I had the satisfaction of seeing it go a foot further in as the reader will understand this diminished its weight very perceptively what I now wanted was to get it two feet further in by lifting it enough for after that I felt sure that by climbing up to the roof of the dormer once more I could with the help of the rope get it all the way in to achieve this I raised myself from my knees but the force I was obliged to use to succeed made me slip so that I suddenly found myself over the edge of the roof as far as my chest it was an awful moment which to this day I shudder to think of and which it is perhaps impossible to conceive of in all its horror the natural instinct of self-preservation made me almost unconsciously lean with all my weight supporting myself on my ribs and I succeeded miraculously I felt inclined to say taking care not to relax my hold I managed to raise myself with all the strength of my wrists leaning at the same time on my stomach happily there was nothing to fear for the ladder for the lucky or rather the unlucky push which had cost me so dear had sent it in more than three feet which fixed it firmly finding myself resting on the gutter literally on my wrists and my groin I found that by moving my right side I could raise first one knee and then the other onto the parapet then I should be safe however my troubles were not yet over for the strain I was obliged to exert in order to succeed gave me such a nervous spasm that a violent attack of painful cramps seemed to cripple me completely I did not lose my head and remained perfectly still till the spasm was over knowing that perfect stillness is the best cure for nervous cramps I had often found it so it was a frightful moment a few minutes after I gradually renewed my efforts I succeeded in getting my knees against the gutter and as soon as I had recovered my breath I carefully raised the ladder and at last got it to the angle where it was parallel with the window knowing enough of the laws of equilibrium and the lever I now picked up my crowbar and climbing in my old fashion I hauled myself up to the roof easily succeeded in tilting in the ladder which the monk below received in his arms I then flung in my clothes the ropes and the broken pieces and got down into the attic where Balbi received me very heartily and took care to remove the ladder arm in arm we surveyed the dark room in which we found ourselves it was 30 paces long by about 20 wide at one end we felt a double door formed of iron bars this was unpromising but laying my hand on the latch in the middle it yielded to the pressure and the door opened we first felt our way around this fresh room and then trying to cross it ran up against the table with arm chairs and stools around it we returned to the side where we had felt windows and having opened one by the dim starlight we could see nothing but steep between domes I did not for an instant think of escaping by the window I must know where I was going and I did not recognize the spot where we were so I closed the window and we went back to the first room where we had left our baggage quite worn out I let myself drop onto the floor and putting a bundle of rope under my head utterly bereft of all power of body or of mind to a sweet sleep I gave myself up to it so passively that even if I had known that death must be at the end of it I could not have resisted it and I remember distinctly that the pleasure of that sleep was perfectly delicious End of section 28 Library of the World's Best Literature Ancient and Modern Volume 8 This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Rita Butros Library of the World's Best Literature Ancient and Modern Volume 8 Section 29 Biography on Bartolomeo de la Casas and of the Island of Cuba Bartolomeo de la Casas 1474 to 1566 Bartolomeo de la Casas the Apostle of the Indians was one of the first to protest by speech and pen against the hideous cruelties inflicted upon native West Indians by the invading Spaniards and he left in his writings the record of a bondage compared with which Negro slavery was born. Bartolomeo, the son of Antonio de la Casas a companion of Columbus on his first voyage of discovery was born in Seville in 1474 while yet a student at the University of Salamanca he became interested in the natives through a young Indian whom he owned as slave he first visited the New World as one of the followers of the 1490 blank returning after some years with Nicholas de Ovando the governor of the Indies here his sympathies were fully aroused as he witnessed the savage treatment of the simple natives and the incessant butcheries and slavery in the mines which were rapidly depopulating the islands. In 1510 he took holy orders being probably the first priest ordained in the New World Las Casas at first was himself a slave owner willing to enrich himself by the toil of the red men though from the very beginning he sympathized with their sufferings but a sudden illumination came to him as he was preparing to preach a sermon on the Feast of Pentecost in 1514 taking for his text the 34th chapter of Ecclesiasticus verses 18 to 22 he awoke to the iniquity of slavery set free his own Indians and for 40 years thereafter devoted himself heart and soul to the interests of the red men it was at times a bitter task and made him many enemies among the invaders who thought themselves curtailed in their natural rights as the superior race happily for his cause Las Casas had powerful friends chief among whom was the emperor Charles V the good priest crossed the ocean a dozen times to see that monarch on Indian affairs following him even into Germany and Austria finally in 1547 when past his 70th year he settled down in Valladolid in Spain but still wrote and talked in behalf of the oppressed race while on an errand for them to Madrid in 1566 he died at the ripe age of 92 with bodily faculties unimpaired the earliest work of Las Casas a very short account of the ruin of the Indies written in 1542 first disclosed to Europe the cruelties practiced beyond the sea it was frequently reprinted and made a great impression other short treatises followed equally powerful and effective they were collected in 1552 and translated into several languages his chief work however is a general history of the Indies from 1492 to 1520 begun by him in 1527 unfinished in 1561 he ordered that no portion should be printed until 40 years after his death but it remained in manuscript for 300 years being published in Madrid in 1875 it has been called the cornerstone of the history of the American continent Las Casas possessed important documents among them the papers of Columbus now lost in his long life more over he knew many of the early discoverers and many statesmen as Columbus Cortez Zimenez Pedro Catenora and he was the contemporary of three sovereigns interested in the West Indies King Ferdinand the Catholic the Emperor Charles V and King Philip II of Spain Las Casas is sometimes taxed with having brought Negro slavery into America in his profound compassion for the Indians he maintained that the Negroes were better fitted for slave labor than the more delicate natives but the Portuguese had imported African slaves into the colonies long before Las Casas suggested it while he in time renounced his error and frankly confesses it in his history he was a large hearted large-brained man unprejudiced in an age of bigotry of unwirried industry and remarkable powers of physical endurance that enabled him to live a life of many-sided activities as priest and missionary, colonist man of business and man of letters as a historian he was a keen observer of men and of nature and chronicled with great exactness the social and physical conditions of the countries he traversed his merits are summed up in the following words by John Fisk in his Discovery of America he was one of the best historians of his time and wrote a most attractive Spanish style quaint, pithy and nervous a style which goes straight to the mark and rings like true metal I do not mean to be understood as calling it a literary style it is not graceful like that of great masters of expressions such as Pascal or Voltaire it is not seldom cumbersome and awkward usually through trying to say too much at once but in spite of this it is far more attractive than many a truly artistic literary style there is a great charm in reading what comes from a man brimful of knowledge and utterly unselfish and honest the crisp shrewdness the gleams of gentle humor and occasional sharp flashes of wit and the fervid earnestness in the books of Las Casas combined to make them very delightful it was the unfailing sense of humor which is so often wanting in reformers that kept Las Casas from developing into a fanatic in contemplating such a life as that of Las Casas all words of eulogy seem weak and frivolous the historian can only bow in reverent awe before a figure which is in some respects the most beautiful and sublime in the annals of Christianity since the apostolic age when now and then in the course of the centuries God's providence brings such a life into this world the memory of it must be cherished by mankind as one of its most precious and sacred possessions for the thoughts, the words the deeds of such men there is no death the sphere of their influence goes on widening forever they bud, they blossom they bear fruit from age to age of the island of Cuba from a relation of the first voyage by Bartolomeo de las Casas the Spaniards passed in the year 1511 into the island of Cuba which contains as much ground in length as from Valodolid to Rome there were formerly fine and flourishing provinces to be seen filled with vast numbers of people who met with no milder or kinder treatment from the Spaniards than the rest on the contrary they seem to have redoubled the cruelty upon those people there happened diverse things in this island that deserve to be remarked a rich and potent cacique named Hatbui was retired to the island of Cuba to avoid that slavery and death with which the Spaniards menaced him and being informed that his persecutors were upon the point of landing in this island he assembled all his subjects and domestics together to speak to him after this manner you know said he the report that is spread abroad that the Spaniards are ready to invade this island and you are not ignorant of the ill usage our friends and countrymen have met with at their hands and the cruelties they have committed at Haye so Hispaniola is called in their language they are now coming hither with a design to exercise the same outrages and persecutions upon us are you ignorant says he of the ill intentions of the people of whom I am speaking we know not say they all with one voice upon what account they come hither but we know they are a very wicked and cruel people I'll tell you then replied the cacique that these Europeans worship a very covetous sort of God so that it is difficult to satisfy him and to perform the worship they render to this idol they'll exact immense treasures of us and will use their utmost endeavor to reduce us to a miserable state of slavery or else to put us to death upon which he took a box full of gold and valuable jewels which he had with him and exposing it to their view here is says he the God of the Spaniards whom we must honor with our sports and dances to see if we can appease him and render him propitious to us that so he may command the Spaniards not to offer us any injury they all applauded the speech and fell a leaping and dancing round the box till they had quite tired and spent themselves after which the cacique had buoy resuming his discourse continued to speak with them in these terms if we keep this God says he till he's taken away from us he'll certainly cause our lives to be taken from us and therefore I am of the opinion it will be the best way to cast him into the river they all approved of this advice and went all together with one accord to throw this pretended God into the river the Spaniards were no sooner arrived in the Isle of Cuba but this cacique who knew him too well began to think of retreating to secure himself from their fury and resolved to defend himself by force of arms if he should happen to meet with them but he unfortunately fell into their hands and because he had taken all the precautions he could to avoid the persecutions of so cruel and impious a people and had taken arms to defend his own life as well as the lives of his subjects this was made a capital crime in him for he was burned alive while he was in the midst of the flames tied to a stake a certain Franciscan friar of great piety and virtue took upon him to speak to him of God and our religion and to explain to him some articles of the Catholic faith of which he had never heard a word before promising him eternal life if he would believe and threatening him with eternal torment if he continued obstinate in his infidelity Hattabui reflecting on the manner as much as the place and condition in which he was would permit ask the friar that instructed him whether the gate of heaven was opened to the Spaniards and being answered that such of them as were good men might hope for entrance there the cacique without any further deliberation told him he had no mind to go to heaven for fear of meeting with such cruel and wicked company as they were but would much rather choose to go to hell where he might be delivered from the troublesome sight of such kind of people to so great a degree have the wicked actions and cruelties of the Spaniards dishonored God and his religion in the minds of the Americans one day there came to us a great number of the inhabitants of a famous city situate about 10 leagues from the place where we lodged to compliment us and bring us all sort of provisions and refreshments which they presented us with great marks of joy caressing us after the most obliging manner they could but that evil spirit that possessed the Spaniards put him into such a sudden fury against him that they fell upon him and massacred above 3,000 of them both men and women upon the spot without having received the least offense and provocation from him I was an eyewitness of this barbarity and whatever endeavors were used to appease these inhuman creatures it was impossible to reduce them to reason so resolutely were they bent to satiate their brutal rage by this barbarous action soon after this I sent messengers to the most noted Indians of the province of Havan to encourage and engage them to continue in their country and not to trouble themselves to seek remote places to hide in and advise them to come to us with assurance of our protection they knew well enough what authority I had over the Spaniards and I gave them my word no injury should be offered them for the past cruelties and massacres their countrymen had suffered had spread fear and terror through all the country and this assurance I gave them was with the consent and advice of the captains and the officers when we entered into this province 2 and 20 of their chiefs came to us and the very next morning the commander of our troops without any regard to the promise that had been made them would need sentencing to be burnt pretending it was best to put these people to death because they might one time or other use some strategy to surprise and destroy us and I had all the difficulty in the world to prevent them from throwing them into the fire the Indians of Havan seeing themselves reduced to a state of severe slavery and that there was no remedy left but they were irrecoverably undone began to take refuge in the deserts and mountains to secure themselves if possible from death some strangled themselves in despair parents hanged themselves together with their children to put the speedier end to their misery by death above 200 Indians perished here after this manner to avoid the cruelty of the Spaniards and abundance of them afterwards voluntarily condemn themselves to this kind of death hoping thus in a moment to put a period to the miseries their persecutors inflicted on them a certain Spaniard who had the title of sovereign in this island and had 300 Indians in his service destroyed 160 of them in less than three months by the excessive labor he continually exacted of them the recruits he took to fill up their places were destroyed after the same manner and he would in a short time have unpeopled the whole island if death which took him out of the way very happily for those poor wretches had not sheltered him from his cruelties I saw with my own eyes above 6,000 children die in the space of three or four months their parents being forced to abandon them being condemned to the mines after this the Spaniards took up a resolution to pursue those Indians that were retired into the mountains and massacred multitudes of them so that this island was depopulated and laid waste in a very little time and it is a most lamentable spectacle to see so fine a country thus miserably ruined and unpeopled and of section 29 the interest to be found in the literary work of Il Conte Baldessare Castiglione in the one prose volume he wrote Il Corteggiano, the courtier arises not only from the historical value it now has but from its representing the charming character of a gentleman and it does this not merely by intentionally describing the ideal gender but from its character of a gentleman intentionally describing the ideal gentleman of the 15th century but by unconsciously revealing the character of its author Castiglione was himself distinctively a gentleman without eminent abilities or position his life unmarked by any remarkable deeds or any striking events he yet deserves remembrance as making vivid to us those admirable qualities and conditions which are the result in individuals of the long moral and intellectual cultivation of a large group of men and women he was one of the group that made famous the court of Urbino not at the time of its greatest glory under Duke Frederick II but just afterward when the Duchy was ruled by Frederick's son Guido Baldo an estimable invalid and the court was presided over by Guido Baldo's wife the much-beloved and admired Duchess Elizabetha one of the great Gonzaga family Castiglione's own sketch of this court see translation below renders any other delineation of it super erogatory but his silence regarding himself personally makes it necessary to gather knowledge of his life from other sources his person is made known to us Raphael's interesting portrait of him now in the Louvre painted in 1515 it is a portrait by a friend Raphael was only five years younger than Castiglione and their affectionate relations were of long standing Castiglione was the son of a valorous soldier who fought by the side of the Marquis Francesco Gonzaga of Machua but his early youth was spent not at Machua but at Milan where he received from famous scholars the matril Calcondele and his peers a brilliant classical education rather than the training one would look for in his father's son his father's death in 1494 obliged him in those troubleous times to seek a protector as his mother was distantly connected with his father's friends the rulers of Machua it was to them that his eyes turned and in 1499 he was one of the suite of the Marquis on the occasion of the triumphal entrance of Louis XII of France into Milan after his conquest in three weeks of the Duchy a triumph followed by the hideous ten years caging of Lodovico Il Moro Milan's Duke such spectacles as this triumph and this imprisonment in 1821 now beheld were to be familiar to him all his life the king-like pope Alexander VI and his son Caesar Borgia the warrior Julius II the Medici Leo X the soon dead Adrian VI and the irresolute Clement VII successively ruled in Rome or rather dwelt in Rome the cloaca maxima of Italy and sapped the strength of all the land the sack of Rome in 1527 was among the last of the long series of Italian woes Castiglione witnessed he was not in Italy at that moment the last five years of his life were spent at Madrid as papal nuncio at the court of Charles V he went thither on the eve of the battle of Pavia and the imprisonment there of Francis I the first soon followed an imprisonment that seems a terrible echo of that of the enemy of France a quarter of a century before Il Cortagiano was written in the intervals of military and diplomatic services rendered first to Guidobaldo of Urbino and later to Frederick of Manchua the son of Francesco the book was begun probably about 1514 it received the last touches of 1524 but it was not published until 1528 the dialogues that compose the book are feigned to have occurred in the winter of 1506-07 at that time the author was in England an envoy from the Duke of Urbino to Henry VII sent as the Duke's proxy to be installed as companion of the garter he carried with him splendid gifts of falcons, beautiful horses and a picture by Raphael St. George and the Dragon in which St. George wears the garter Castiglione's public labours had made him well known when between him and his high-born friends there was talk of his marriage with the daughter of the House of Medici but political influences caused her to be given by preference to Astrati had this alliance been formed Castiglione would have found himself in later years the nephew of two popes and the uncle of a queen of France but better luck was in keeping for him in 1516 he had the singular good fortune to make a marriage of tender affection but his wife died only four years later from that time his chief pleasure was in the society of his friends they numbered all the most distinguished Italians of his day men whose intellectual powers found artistic expression alike in words or the painter's canvas or the sculptor's marble or the architect's stone and it is the reflection of this wide and varied companionship that gives charm and also weight to the pages of Il Cortagiano a more delicate delightfulness comes from the tone of liberal refinement with which the impression is conveyed of singularly ennobling intercourse with women Castiglione was the contemporary and the friend of the famous Marchioness of Pescara Vittoria Colonna of the brilliant Isabella d'Este Marchioness of Manchua whose daughter the beautiful Duchess of Urbino is immortalized by Titian's many portraits of her both as she was in youth and in age but also as in youth he saw her idealized this Duchess of Urbino was the niece of Castiglione's own Duchess Elizabetha and by marriage with the nephew of Guido Baldo she became the successor of Elizabetha these great ladies were involved by family ties in all the stirring events of their times Isabella d'Este was the ant of Constable Bourbon the sister-in-law of Lucrezia Borgia Vittoria Colonna's husband was the cousin of the famous Alfonso Davalos Marquis del Vasto of Spain and in the entangled interests of these personages and of the rulers of Urbino Castiglione was constantly concerned and occupied his councils were also sought by Giuliano de Medici styled like his father Il Magnifico sitting now ever in helpless dignity on his San Lorenzo tomb Mentre che il danno e la vergogna dura and by the unfortunate doge of Genoa Ottaviano Fregoso or by the participants in the learned discussions carried on by Cardinal Bembo with whom he made a gay excursion to Tivoli in 1516 in company with Raphael and the illustrious Venetian Andrei and his friend Agostino Biazzano whose portraits on the same canvas are one of Raphael's masterpieces another ecclesiastical friend was Cardinal Bibiana who appears nowhere to more advantage than in a letter to the Martianess of Mantua describing Castiglione's grief and that of his friends at the news that the Martianess herself had sent them of the death of Castiglione's wife the same year the Cardinal himself died it was the year of Raphael's death also and Castiglione felt himself greatly bereft the Italian Bishop of Beurre Lodovico Canossa Papal Nuncio in France and French Ambassador at Venice was a cousin of Castiglione's mother and in constant relations with the son and it is to him that in what may be called the drama of Il Quattagiano is Gaely assigned the task of making the first sketch of the perfect courtier from such social relations came Castiglione's wide familiarity and sound judgment respecting the various worlds of men, of women, and of art the higher qualities his book gives evidence of the love of simplicity purity, sincerity serenity, kindness courtesy, moderation, modesty the appreciation of what is graceful, gay, delicate these qualities were truly his own we know not whence he derived them something should be said of the style in which the book is written its author tells us that one of the principal criticisms made upon a toilet circulated for many years in manuscript was that its language was not the language of Boccaccio who was then accepted as the model for Italian prose writers Castiglione did not bind himself to the manner of the Tuscan speech he was of Lombard birth and habit and he chose, in the faith of which Montaigne is the great defender the words, the phrases, the constructions that best fitted his thought no matter whence he gathered them if only they were familiar and expressive he thus gained the force of freedom and the grace of variety while the customary elegance and the habitual long-windedness of all Italian writers molds his sentences and makes them difficult of translation there have been few translations made of his book none published as yet of any literary value and Castiglione has not been much known out of Italy one of the few mentions of him in English literature is to be found in Don Satire 5 and it touches on a characteristic page of his book for it notes he which did lay rules to make courtiers he being understood may make good courtiers but who courtiers good freeze from the sting of jests all who in extreme Castiglione's fame has always been considerable Ariosto, to whose brother Alfonso Miser Alfonso Carissimo the four books of Il Cortegiano are dedicated and at whose desire it was written Ariosto in his great poem speaks of Castiglione more than once but the passage in Tassel's dialogue De le Corte does him fit honour I do not deem that Castiglione wrote for the men of his own day only the beauty of his writings deserves that in all ages they should be read and praised and as long as courts shall endure as long as princes, ladies and noble gentlemen shall meet together as long as valor and courtesy shall abide in our hearts the name of Castiglione will be valued of the court of Urbino from Il Cortegiano on the slopes of the Apennines towards the Adriatic Sea almost in the centre of Italy there lies, as everyone knows the little city of Urbino although surrounded by mountains and rougher ones than perhaps some others that we see in many places it has yet enjoyed such favour of heaven that the country round about is very fertile and rich in crops so that besides the solubility of the air great abundance of everything needful for human life but among the greatest blessings that can be attributed to it this I think to be the chief that for a long time it has ever been ruled by the best of lords in so much that in the universal calamities of the wars of Italy it still for a space remained exempt but without seeking further we can give good proof of this in the glorious memory of the Duke Federigo who in his day was the light of Italy nor is there lack of credible and abundant witnesses who are still living to his prudence, humanity, justice liberality, unconquered courage and military discipline which are conspicuously attested by his numerous victories his capture of impregnable places the sudden swiftness of his expeditions the consistency with which he put to flight large and formidable armies by means of a very small force and by his loss of no single battle whatever so that we may not unreasonably compare him to many famous ancients among his other praise worthy deeds the Duke Federigo built on the rugged site of Urbino a palace regarded by many as the most beautiful to be found in all Italy and he so well furnished it with every suitable thing that it seemed not a palace but a city in the form of a palace and not merely with what is ordinarily used such as silver vases hangings of the richest cloth of gold and silk and other similar things but for ornament he added an infinity of antique statues in marble and bronze pictures, most choice musical instruments of every sort nor would he admit anything there that was not very rare and excellent then at very large cost he collected a great number of most excellent and rare books in Greek, Latin and Hebrew all of which he adorned with gold and with silver esteeming this to be the supreme excellence of his great palace following at last the course of nature already sixty-five years old he died as he had lived gloriously and he left as his successor a little motherless boy of ten years his only son Guido Baldo heir to his father's state he seemed to be heir also to all his father's virtues and soon his noble nature gave such promise as seemed not to be hoped for from mortal man so that men esteemed none extraordinary deeds of the Duke Federigo to be greater than to have begotten such a son but envious of so much virtue fortune thwarted this glorious beginning with all her might so that before Duke Guido reached the age of twenty years he fell ill of the gout which grew upon him with grievous pain and in a short space of time so crippled all his limbs that he could neither stand upon his feet nor move and thus one of the most beautiful and active forms in the world was disfigured and spoiled in tender youth and not yet content with this fortune was so adverse to him in all his plans that he could seldom carry to a conclusion anything that he desired and although he was most wise of counsel and unconquered in spirit it seemed that what he undertook both in war and in everything else whether small or great always ended ill for him and proof of this is given in his many and diverse calamities which he ever bore with such strength of mind that his spirit was never vanquished by fortune nay, scorning her assaults with unbroken courage he lived in weakness so strong and in adversity as though fortunate with perfect dignity and universal esteem so that although he was thus infirm of body he fought with most honourable rank in the service of their serene highnesses the kings of Naples Alfonso and Fernando the Younger later with Pope Alexander the Sixth and with the Venetian and Florentine nobles in the succession of Julius the Second to the Pontificate he was made captain of the church at which time following his accustomed style above all else he took care to fill his household with very noble and valiant gentlemen with whom he lived most familiarly delighting in their conversation wherein the pleasure he gave to others was not less than he received from others he being well versed in both the learned languages and uniting affability and agreeableness to a knowledge of things without number and besides this the greatness of his spirit so animated him that although he could not practice in person the exercises of horsemanship as he once had done yet he took the utmost pleasure in seeing them in others and by his words now correcting now praising to dessert he clearly showed how much judgment he had in those matters wherefore in justs and tournaments in riding in the handling of every sort of weapon as well as in past times games and music in short in all the exercises proper to noble gentlemen everyone strove so to carry himself as to merit being deemed worthy of such noble fellowship all the hours of the day were assigned to honorable and pleasant exercises as well for the body as for the mind but since my lord Duke was always wont by reason of his infirmity to retire to sleep very early after supper everyone usually betook himself at that hour to the presence of my lady duchess where also was ever to be found my lady Emilia Pia who was endowed with such lively wit and sound judgment that as you know she seemed the mistress of us all and that everyone gained wisdom and worth from her here then gentle discussions and innocent pleasantries were heard and on the face of everyone a jockened gaiety was seen depicted so that the house could truly be called the very abode of mirth nor ever elsewhere I think was so relished as once was here how great may be the sweetness of dear and cherished companionship for apart from the honour it was to each of us to serve such a lord as he of whom I have just spoken there was born in the hearts of all a supreme contentment every time we came into the presence of my lady duchess and it seemed as though this contentment were a chain that held us all united in love so that never was concord of will or cordial love between brothers greater than that which here was between us all the same was it among the ladies with whom there was intercourse most free and honourable for everyone was permitted to talk, sit jest and laugh with whom he pleased but such was the reverence paid to the wish of my lady duchess that this same liberty was a very great check nor was there anyone who did not esteem it the utmost pleasure he could have in the world to please her and the utmost pain to displease her and thus most decorous manners were here joined with the greatest liberty and games and laughter in her presence were seasoned not only with keenest wit but with gracious and sober dignity for that purity and loftiness which governed all the acts words and gestures of my lady duchess bantering and laughing were such that she would have been known for a lady of noblest rank by anyone who saw her even but once and impressing herself thus upon those about her she seemed to attune us all to her own quality and pitch accordingly each strove to follow this example taking as it were a pattern of beautiful behavior from the bearing of so great and virtuous a lady whose highest qualities I do not now purpose to recount they not being my theme and being well known to all the world and far more because I could not express them with either tongue or pen and those that perhaps might have been somewhat hid fortune as though wondering at such rare virtue chose to reveal through many adversities and stings of calamity so as to give proof that in the tender breast of a woman in company with singular beauty there may abide prudence and strength of soul and all those virtues that even among stern men are very rare but continuing I say that the custom of all gentlemen of the household was to be take themselves straight way after supper to my Lady Duchess where along the other pleasant pastimes and music and dancing that continually were practiced sometimes entertaining questions were proposed sometimes ingenious games were devised with one or another as arbiter in which under various disguises the company disclosed their thoughts figuratively to whomsoever pleased the best sometimes other discussions arose about different matters or biting retorts past lightly back and forth often imprecé as we now call them were displayed and in these verbal contests there was wonderful diversion the household being as I have said full of very noble talents among whom as you know the most famous were my Lord Ottaviano Freigoso his brother Messer Federigo the Magnifico Giuliano de' Medici Messer Pietro Bembo Messer Cesare Gonzaga the Count Lodovico de Canosa my Lord Gaspar Pellevicino my Lord Lodovico Pio my Lord Morello da Artona Pietro de Napoli Messer Roberto de Bari and countless other very noble gentlemen moreover there were many who though usually they did not remain there constantly yet spent most of the time there like Messer Bernardo Bibiana the Unico Aratino Joan Cristoforo Romano Pietro Monte Terpandro Messer Nicolo Fricio so that they're always flawed whether poets, musicians and all kinds of agreeable men and the most eminent inability that were to be found in Italy End of section 30