Age of Leo X. Ariosto "very nearly if not quite supreme" (Saintsbury). Orlando Furioso. Ariosto's similes, sonnet. Italian Mystery and Miracle plays. Ballads. Carnival songs. Lorenzo de' Medici as a poet. Italian prose. Machiavelli, history, plays, poems, fiction, "a universal genius" (Garnett). Guicciardini, history, reminiscences. Vasari--Lives of the Painters. Italian fiction, Ariente, Luigi da Porto, Illicini, Machiavelli's "Belphagor." Cinthio. Bandello. Licentious stories intended to lessen license. Autobiography of Benevenuto Cellini, Castiglione's "Cortigiano" not the "Autobiography," the symbol of the century's thought and philosophy of life {xvii} CHAPTER III FRENCH LITERATURE 462 Villon. Prince Charles of Orleans. Clement Marot. Francis I as an author. Margaret of Navarre. "The Marguerites" of Marguerite. A French poetess of passion. Melin de Saint Gelais' epigrams. The Pleiades. Ronsard's "Prince and Peasant." Joachim du Bellay. French prose, Comines, Amyot's translations. Rabelais' misunderstood genius, his life, evidence for tolerance of time, modern studies and influence. Embodiment of French Renaissance CHAPTER IV SPANISH AND PORTUGUESE LITERATURE 476 Queen Isabella's letters. St. Teresa's mystical writings. The Tales of Chivalry. Amadis de Gaul. Tales of Roguery, Celestina, Lazarillo de Tormes. Mystical writers, John of Avila, Luis de Granada and Luis de Leon. Spanish poetry--Boscan and Garcilaso de la Vega. Camöens "greatest of modern epic poets" (Schlegel). Shorter poems. Love sonnets. CHAPTER V ENGLISH LITERATURE 485 English dramatic literature-- "Everyman," Passion and Nativity Plays, Interludes. "Marriage of Witte and Science" first play marked off into acts and scenes. Dramatic quality of the Morality Plays. John Skelton's work. John Heywood's Interludes, "The Four P's," illustrative passage. Social and religious satire, "Ralph Royster Doyster." Percy's "Reliques," "Ancient Ballad of Chevy Chase." Malory's "Morte d' Arthur," Caxton's Translations. Scotch poetry. James I. "The King's Quair." Blind Harry, Robert Henryson, Gawin Douglas and William Dunbar. English poetry, Howard Earl of Surrey and Sir Thomas Wyeth. More's place in English prose. Life of Edward V. Berner's translation of Froissart. Collects of the English prayer-book. Tyndale and Coverdale's Translations of the Scriptures. CHAPTER VI SCHOLARSHIP IN ITALY 501 Italy Alma Mater Studiorum. The New Learning. AEneas Sylvius (Pope Pius II). Cardinal Bessarion. {xviii}