ned with many monuments to their skill. Here it was that
Piero della Francesca had written his celebrated work on the science of
perspective, Francesco di Giorgio his _Trattato d'Architettura_, and
Giovanni Santi his poetical account of the artists of his time; and here
it was in the first days of the sixteenth century that Elizabetta was
the centre of a group which was all sweetness and light when compared
with the prevailing habits of life.

In this circle were to be found, among others, Bernardo Bibbiena, the
patron of Berni, of whom Raphael has left us a portrait which is now in
the Pitti Palace; Giuliano de' Medici, whose marble statue by Michael
Angelo may still be seen in San Lorenzo at Florence; Cardinal Pietro
Bembo, who had in his youth fallen a victim to the charms of Lucrezia
Borgia when she first went to Ferrara; Emilia Pia, the wife of Antonio
da Montefeltro, who is described as "a lady of so lively wit and
judgment, that she seems to govern the whole company"; and last, but far
from least, Baldassare Castiglione, that model courtier and fine wit,
who has left a picture of Urbino in his celebrated book _Il Cortegiano_,
which was long known in Italy as _Il Libro d'Oro_. This volume is an
elaborate discussion of the question, What constitutes a perfect
courtier; and it was for a long time a most comprehensive and final
compendium, handbook, and guide for all who wished to perfect
themselves in courtly grace. What interests us most in the book,
however, is the fact that Castiglione has put this discussion of polite
manners into the form of a conversation which he supposes to have taken
place in the drawing room of the Countess of Urbino, that being the most
likely spot in all Europe for such a discussion at such a time, for
Guidobaldo's court was "confessedly the purest and most elevated in all
Italy." Castiglione was one of Elizabetta's most ardent admirers, and he
says of her that no one "approached but was immediately affected with
secret pleasure, and it seemed as if her presence had some powerful
majesty, for surely never were stricter ties of love and cordial
friendship between brothers than with us."

Count Guidobaldo early became a cripple and an invalid, too ardent
devotion to books and to athletic pursuits at the same time having
undermined a constitution that was never strong; therefore, it was his
custom to retire for the night at an early hour; but it was in the
evening that the countess held co