Part 27 (1/2)

_Aretine_. The name of Pietro Aretino (1492-1556), an Italian satirist who called himself ”the scourge of princes,” was well known in England, but there was no translation of his works.

_Machiavel_. Nicolo Machiavelli (1468-1527), a Florentine statesman, whose name had an odious a.s.sociation because of the supposedly diabolical policy of government set forth in his ”Prince.” But this work was not translated till 1640. His ”Art of War” had been rendered into English in 1560 and his ”Florentine History” in 1595.

_Castiglione_, Balda.s.sare (1478-1529). ”Il Cortegiano,” setting forth the idea of a gentleman, was translated as ”The Courtier” by Thomas Hoby in 1561 and was very influential in English life.

_Ronsard_, Pierre de (1524-1585), the chief French lyric poet of the sixteenth century, whose sonnets had considerable vogue in England.

_Du Bartas_, Guillaume de Sal.u.s.te (1544-1590), author of ”La Semaine, ou la Creation du Monde” (1578), ”La Seconde Semaine” (1584), translated as the ”Divine Weeks and Works” (1592 ff.) by Joshua Sylvester.

P. 13. _Fortunate fields_. ”Paradise Lost,” III, 568.

_Prospero's Enchanted Island_. Eden's ”History of Travayle,” 1577, is now given as the probable source of Setebos, etc.

_Right well I wote_. ”Faerie Queene,” II, Introduction, 1-3.

P. 14. _Lear is founded_. Shakespeare's actual sources were probably Geoffrey of Monmouth's ”History of the Kings of Britain” (c. 1130) and Holinshed's ”Chronicle.”

_Oth.e.l.lo on an Italian novel_, from the ”Hecatommithi” of Giraldi Cinthio (1565).

_Hamlet on a Danish, Macbeth on a Scottish tradition_. The story of Hamlet is first found in Saxo Grammaticus, a Danish chronicler of the tenth century. Shakespeare probably drew it from the ”Histoires Tragiques” of Belleforest. ”Macbeth” was based on Holinshed's ”Chronicle of Scottish History.”

P. 15. _those bodiless creations_. ”Hamlet,” iii, 4, 138.

_Your face_. ”Macbeth,” i, 5, 63.

_Tyrrell and Forrest_, persons hired by Richard III to murder the young princes in the Tower. See ”Richard III,” iv, 2-3.

_thick and slab_. ”Macbeth,” iv, 1, 32.

_s.n.a.t.c.hed a_ [wild and] _fearful joy_. Gray's ”Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College.”

P. 16. _Fletcher the poet_. John Fletcher the dramatist died of the plague in 1625.

_The course of true love_. ”Midsummer Night's Dream,” i, 1, 34.

_The age of chivalry was not then quite gone._ Cf. Burke: ”Reflections on the French Revolution” (ed. Bohn, II, 348): ”But the age of chivalry is gone. That of sophisters, economists, and calculators, has succeeded; and the glory of Europe is extinguished forever.”

_fell a martyr_. Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586), poet, soldier, and statesman, received his mortal wound in the thigh at the battle of Zutphen because, in emulation of Sir William Pelham, he threw off his greaves before entering the fight.

_the gentle Surrey_. Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey (1518?-1547), was distinguished as an innovator in English poetry as well as for his knightly prowess.

_who prized black eyes_. ”Sessions of the Poets,” verse 20.

_Like strength reposing_. ”'Tis might half slumb'ring on its own right arm.” Keats's ”Sleep and Poetry,” 237.

P. 17. _they heard the tumult_. ”I behold the tumult and am still.”

Cowper's ”Task,” IV, 99.

_descriptions of hunting and other athletic games_. See ”Midsummer Night's Dream,” iv, 1, 107 ff., and ”Two n.o.ble Kinsmen,” iii.

_An ingenious and agreeable writer_. Nathan Drake (1766-1836), author of ”Shakespeare and his Times” (1817). In describing the life of the country squire Drake remarks: ”The luxury of eating and of good cooking were well understood in the days of Elizabeth, and the table of the country-squire frequently groaned beneath the burden of its dishes; at Christmas and at Easter especially, the hall became the scene of great festivity.” Chap. V.