Produced by Ted Garvin, Chuck Greif and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net RENAISSANCE IN ITALY _THE CATHOLIC REACTION_ In Two Parts BY JOHN ADDINGTON SYMONDS 'Deh! per Dio, donna, Se romper si potria quelle grandi ale? * * * * * Tu piangi e taci; e questo meglio parmi' SAVONAROLA: _De Ruina Ecclesia_ PART I NEW YORK HENRY HOLT AND COMPANY 1887 _AUTHOR'S EDITION_ PREFACE. At the end of the second volume of my 'Renaissance in Italy' I indulged the hope that I might live to describe the phase of culture which closed that brilliant epoch. It was in truth demanded that a work pretending to display the manifold activity of the Italian genius during the 15th century and the first quarter of the 16th, should also deal with the causes which interrupted its further development upon the same lines. This study, forming a logically-necessitated supplement to the five former volumes of 'Renaissance in Italy,' I have been permitted to complete. The results are now offered to the public in these two parts. So far as it was possible, I have conducted my treatment of the Catholic Revival on a method analogous to that adopted for the Renaissance. I found it, however, needful to enter more minutely into details regarding facts and institutions connected with the main theme of national culture. The Catholic Revival was by its nature reactionary. In order to explain its influences, I have been compelled to analyze the position of Spain in the Italian peninsula, the conduct of the Tridentine Council, the specific organization of the Holy Office and the Company of Jesus, and the state of society upon which those forces were brought to bear. In the list of books which follows these prefatory remarks, I have indicated the most important of the sources used by me. Special references will be made in their proper places to works of a subordinate value for the purposes of my inquiry. DAVOS PLATZ: _July_ 1886. _WORKS COMMONLY REFERRED TO IN THE TWO SUCCEEDING VOLUMES OF THIS BOOK_.