Introduction to the Literature of Europe in the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries, Vol. 1

_Loss of Ancient Learning in the Fall of the Roman Empire--First Symptoms of its Revival--Improvement in the Twelfth Century--Universities and Scholastic Philosophy--Origin of M...

1. The new century did not begin very auspiciously for the literary credit of Italy. We may, indeed, consider the whole period between the death of Lorenzo in 1492, and the pont...

_Cultivation of Latin in Italy--Revival of Greek Literature--Vestiges of it during the Middle Ages--It is taught by Chrysoloras--his Disciples--and by learned Greeks--State of C...

1. The breach of faith towards Tartaglia, by which Cardan communicated to the world the method of solving cubic equations, having rendered them enemies, the injured party defied...

1. In the first part of the sixteenth century we have seen that the foundations of a solid structure of classical learning had been laid in many parts of Europe; the superiority...

such respectable authorities as Foscolo and Panizzi. Ginguéné, who does not go this length, thinks the death of Orlando, and his last prayer, both pathetic and sublime. I can se...

1. The reader is not to consider the year 1440 as a marked epoch in the annals of literature. It has sometimes been treated as such, by those who have referred the invention of...

1. Many Italian tragedies are extant, belonging to these fifty years, though not very generally known, nor can I speak of them except through Ginguéné and Walker, the latter of...

1. The singular grace of Ariosto’s poem had not less distinguished it than his fertility of invention and brilliancy of language. For the Italian poetry, since the days of Petra...

1. The separation of part of Europe from the church of Rome is the great event that distinguishes these thirty years. But as it is not our object to traverse the wide field of c...

Passerat, Ronsard, Nicolas Rapin, and Pasquier, tried their hands in this style. Rapin improved upon it by rhyming in Sapphics. The following stanzas are from his ode on the dea...

[1086] Dissertation on the Progress of Philosophy, p. 40. Stewart, however, thinks Bodin became so obscure that he makes an apology for the space he has allotted to the Republic...

12. The sorrows of Gaspara Stampa were of a different kind, but not less genuine than those of Rota. She was a lady of the Paduan territory, living near the small river Anaso, f...

_Progress of Protestantism--Reaction of the Catholic Church--The Jesuits--Causes of the Recovery of Catholicism--Bigotry of Lutherans-- Controversy on Free will--Trinitarian Con...

1. It must naturally be supposed that by far the greater part of what was written on moral obligations in the sixteenth century will be found in the theological quarter of ancie...

1. Italy, the genial soil where the literature of antiquity had been first cultivated, still retained her superiority in the fine perception of its beauties, and in the power of...

1. Under this head we shall comprehend not only what passes by the loose, yet not unintelligible, appellation metaphysics, but those theories upon the nature of things, which, r...

enemies they fear not--that argueth their courage. They are not apt to proffer injuries, not fit to take any; loth to pick quarrels, but longing to revenge them.” Lilly pays gre...

1. The first translation of Euclid from the Greek text was made by Zamberti of Venice, and appeared in 1505. It was republished at Basle in 1537. The Spherics of Theodosius and...

1. The authority of Aristotle, as the great master of dogmatic philosophy, continued generally predominant through the sixteenth century. It has been already observed that, besi...

authority of Bishop Hall and others, and a long list of his works. But, as he wanted a biographer, he has become obscure in comparison with Jewell, who probably was not at all h...

Reasons for omitting Mathematics 831 Academy del Cimento 831 Royal Society 832 Academy of Sciences at Paris 832 State of Chemistry 832 Becker 833 Boyle 833 His Metaphysical Work...

1. I am not aware that we can make any great distinction in the character of the Italian writers of this and the preceding period, though they are more numerous in the present....

1. The school of Petrarch, restored by Bembo, was prevalent in Italy at the beginning of this period. It would demand the use of a library, formed peculiarly for this purpose, a...

The year 1440 not chosen as an Epoch 71 Continual Progress of Learning 71 Nicolas V. 71 Justice due to his Character 72 Poggio on the Ruins of Rome 72 Account of the East, by Co...

Subjects of this Chapter 458 Aristotelians and Ramists 458 No improvement till near the End of the Century 459 Methods of the Universities 459 Scholastic Writers 459 Treatises o...

Page Retrospect of Learning in Middle Ages Necessary 1 Loss of learning in Fall of Roman Empire 1 Boethius--his Consolation of Philosophy 1 Rapid Decline of Learning in Sixth Ce...

Casuistical Writers 521 Importance of Confession 521 Necessity of Rules for the Confessor 521 Increase of Casuistical Literature 521 Distinction of subjective and objective Mora...

General Character of Italian Poets in this Age 318 Their usual Faults 318 Their Beauties 318 Character given by Muratori 318 Poetry of Casa 318 Of Costanzo 319 Baldi 319 Caro 31...

Zeal for Classical Literature in Italy 42 Poggio Bracciolini 42 Latin Style of that Age indifferent 43 Gasparin of Barziza 43 Merits of his Style 43 Victorin of Feltre 44 Leonar...

Soto, De Justitia 289 Hooker 290 His Theory of Natural Law 290 Doubts felt by others 290 Essays of Montaigne 290 Their Characteristics 290 Writers on Morals in Italy 293 In Engl...

Decline of the Italian Theatre 591 Filli de Sciro 592 Translations of Spanish Dramas 592 Extemporaneous Comedy 593 Spanish Stage 593 Calderon--Number of his Pieces 593 His Comed...

Decline of Learning in Italy 125 Press of Aldus 125 His Academy 126 Dictionary of Calepio 126 Books printed in Germany 126 First Greek Press at Paris 126 Early Studies of Melanc...

Temporal Supremacy of Rome 422 Contest with Venice 423 Father Paul Sarpi 423 History of Council of Trent 424 Gallican Liberties--Richter 424 Perron 425 Decline of Papal Power 42...

Progress of Philology 231 First Editions of Classics 231 Change in Character of Learning 232 Cultivation of Greek 232 Principal Scholars--Turnebus 232 Petrus Victorius 233 Muret...

Low Estimation of the Seicentisti 566 Not quite so great as formerly 566 Praise of them by Rubbi 566 Also by Salfi 566 Adone of Marini 567 Its Character 567 And Popularity 567 S...

Poetry of Bembo 201 Its Beauties and Defects 202 Character of Italian Poetry 202 Alamanni 202 Vittoria Colonna 202 Satires of Ariosto and Alamanni 203 Alamanni 203 Rucellai 203...

Low State of Literature in Italy 809 Crescimbeni 810 Age of Louis XIV. in France 810 Fontenelle--his Character 810 His Dialogues of the Dead 811 Those of Fenelon 811 Fontenelle’...

Diet of Augsburg in 1555 259 Progress of Protestantism 259 Its Causes 260 Wavering of Catholic Princes 260 Extinguished in Italy and Spain 260 Reaction of Catholicity 260 Especi...

Decline of Taste in Italy 623 Style of Galileo 624 Bentivoglio 624 Boccalini’s News from Parnassus 624 His Pietra del Paragone 625 Terrante Pallavicino 625 Dictionary Delia Crus...

Words with missing or partially printed letters were completed. Obvious spelling errors were corrected. Capitalization of words was corrected, where appropriate. Obsolete and ar...

Logic included under this head 188 Slow Defeat of Scholastic Philosophy 188 It is sustained by the Universities and Regulars 188 Commentators on Aristotle 188 Attack of Vives on...

Tartaglia and Cardan 385 Algebra of Pelletier 385 Record’s Whetstone of Wit 385 Vieta 385 His Discoveries 386 Geometers of this Period 388 Joachim Rhœticus 388 Copernican Theory...

State of Science in 16th Century 645 Tediousness of Calculations 645 Napier’s Invention of Logarithms 645 Their Nature 645 Property of Numbers discovered by Stifelius 645 Extend...

Aristotelian Metaphysics 705 Their Decline. Thomas White 706 Logic 706 Stanley’s History of Philosophy 707 Gale’s Court of Gentiles 707 Cudworth’s Intellectual System 707 Its ob...

Italian Tragedy 350 Pastoral Drama 351 Aminta of Tasso 351 Pastor Fido of Guarini 352 Italian Opera 352 The National Taste revives in the Spanish Drama 353 Lope de Vega 353 His...

Improved Tone of Italian Poetry 776 Filicaja 777 Guidi 777 Menzini 778 Salvator Rosa--Redi 778 Other Poets 778 Christina’s Patronage of Letters 778 Society of Arcadians 778 La F...

Decline of Papal Influence 685 Dispute of Louis XIV. with Innocent XI. 686 Four Articles of 1682 686 Dupin on the ancient Discipline 686 Dupin’s Ecclesiastical Library 687 Fleur...

Italian Writers 369 Casa 369 Tasso 370 Firenzuola 370 Character of Italian Prose 370 Italian Letter Writers 370 Davanzati’s Tacitus 371 Jordano Bruno 371 French Writers--Amyot 3...

Aldrovandus 662 Clusius 662 Rio and Marcgraf 662 Jonston 662 Fabricius on the Language of Brutes 663 Botany--Columna 664 John and Gaspar Bauhin 664 Parkinson 664 Valves of the V...

Progress of the Reformation 171 Interference of Civil Power 171 Excitement of Revolutionary Spirit 172 Growth of Fanaticism 172 Differences of Luther and Zwingle 172 Confession...

Casuistry of the Jesuits 744 Pascal’s Provincial Letters 744 Their Truth questioned by some 744 Taylor’s Ductor Dubitantium 745 Its Character and Defects 745 Cudworth’s immutabl...

Superiority of Italy in Taste 157 Admiration of Antiquity 158 Sadolet 158 Bembo 159 Ciceronianus of Erasmus 159 Scaliger’s Invective against it 160 Editions of Cicero 160 Alexan...

Italian and Spanish Drama 793 Racine’s first Tragedies 793 Andromaque 794 Britannicus 795 Berenice 795 Bajazet 795 Mithridate 796 Iphigénie 796 Phédre 797 Esther 797 Athalie 797...

Geometrical Treatises 220 Fernel Rhœticus 220 Cardan and Tartaglia 220 Cubic Equations 220 Beauty of the Discovery 221 Cardan’s other Discoveries 221 Imperfections of Algebraic...

Learning of 17th Century less Philological 409 Popularity of Comenius 409 Decline of Greek Learning 410 Casaubon 410 Viger de Idiotismis 411 Weller’s Greek Grammar 411 Labbe and...

Predominance of Aristotelian Philosophy 279 Scholastic and genuine Aristotelians 280 The former class little remembered 280 The others not much better known 280 Schools of Pisa...

James Frederic Gronovius 678 James Gronovius 679 Grævius 679 Isaac Vossius 679 Decline of German Learning 679 Spanheim 679 Jesuit Colleges in France 679 Port-Royal Writers--Lanc...