16th treats Of certain general precepts To all women; and of their ornaments, And their adventures. 17th, of their consolations. 18th, because sometimes They must know how to speak and converse And answer, and be in company, Here will be treated upon questions of love And courtesy and breeding. 19th treats Of certain motetts and messages[39] Of ladies to knights, And of other sorts Of women and men. The 20th treats Of certain orisons. And in this part is the conclusion Of the book; and how I carry this book To the Lady who is above-named,[40] And how she receives it; And how the Virtues Come before her.’ The promise here is rich indeed, and the performance also is rich; though it may fairly be said that various sections fall considerably below one’s expectations, and some of them are jejune enough. But, after every deduction has been made, the work fills a niche of its own, and without competitor. I add a few of the details most germane to our purpose. A young girl should drink but little, and that diluted. She must not loll at table, nor prop her arms thereon. Here she should speak even less than at other times. The daughters of Knights (Cavalier da Scudo), Judges, Physicians, or others of similar condition, had better learn the art of cooking, though possibly circumstances will not call upon them to put it in practice. A Princess approaching the marriageable age should not go out to church; as she ought, as far as possible, to avoid being seen about. (The marriageable age, be it understood, is very early by Barberino’s reckoning, being twelve years.) A woman should never go out alone. An unmarried young lady had better wear a topaz, which is proved by experience to be an antidote to carnal desire. A Provençal gentleman, who was praising his wife for her extreme simplicity in attire, was asked, ‘Why then does she comb her hair?’ He replied: ‘To show that she is a woman, whose very nature it is to be trim in person.’ A Lady’s-maid should not tell tales to her mistress of any peccadilloes of the husband: still less should she report to the husband anything against his wife, unless it be a grave and open misdoing. The section concerning Nurses (Part 13) contains much curious matter: especially as showing how much reliance was placed upon swaddling and other details of infant management, for the improvement of good looks, and correction of blemishes. Here we find also that the system against which Rousseau waged such earnest war, of mothers’ not suckling their own children, was already in full vigour in Barberino’s time. He enters no protest against it; but does recommend mothers to follow the more natural plan, if they can, and so please God, and earn the children’s love.[41]