The majority of proper names being Italian, are written in that language, excepting such as, like those of places, and titles of popes and sovereigns, have long been familiar to English ears in a different orthography. In such matters uniformity of practice is the main object to be attended to, and having to choose between names as they were actually used and their English synonyms, we have preferred Giacomo Piccinino, Giulio Romano, and Lorenzo de' Medici, to James the Little Fellow, Julius the Roman, and Lawrence of the Medici.[8] There will often be mentioned districts and divisions of Italy which are defined by no exact political or geographical limits; it may therefore be well here to explain in what sense these somewhat convertible terms are employed. CENTRAL ITALY may be considered to contain the papal territory and the three Tuscan duchies; UPPER and LOWER ITALY include all the Peninsula, respectively to the north and the south of these states. Again, LOMBARDY is used as a generic term for the whole basin of the PO, the POLESINE being that portion of its delta, north of the river, which belonged to the Dukes of Ferrara. ROMAGNA stretches from the Po to the Metauro, from the Apennines to the Adriatic; LA MARCA, or the March of Ancona, continues the same sea-board to the Tronto: these two districts were long the cradle of Italian prowess, the allotment-land of petty princes; both were partially comprehended within the more ancient landmarks of UMBRIA, a mountain province lying east of the Tiber. The lower basin of this classic stream contained SABINA on the east, and the PATRIMONY of St. Peter on the west; the COMARCA lying south of the Teverone stream, and the whole wide plain around Rome being called the CAMPAGNA. TUSCANY, including the Sienese, ran northwards from the Patrimony, beginning below Orbetello; and Naples is familiarly called by Italians THE KINGDOM, having, until a recent date, been the only royal state in their fatherland. [Footnote 8: The case is stated by ROSCOE in his Preface to _Leo X._, and we approve of his decision, notwithstanding the objections taken to it in vol. VII., p. 356, of the _Edinburgh Review_.] Our chronology also requires the use of certain conventional terms, which ought to be defined. Assuming the close of the fifteenth century as the zenith of Italy's glory in letters and arts, in politics and arms, the only word specifically indicating that period is _cinque-cento_; but seeing that its lustre was attained under military and civil institutions, and was rendered permanent by studies and artistic creations, derived from the middle ages and breathing their spirit, the phrase _mediæval_ is extended to include that period. * * * * *