The ‘Divine Comedy’ 312 Petrarch as a painter of the soul 314 Boccaccio and the Fiammetta 315 Feeble development of tragedy 315 Scenic splendour, the enemy of the drama 316 The intermezzo and the ballet 317 Comedies and masques 320 Compensation afforded by music 321 Epic romances 321 Necessary subordination of the descriptions of character 323 Pulci and Bojardo 323 Inner law of their compositions 324 Ariosto and his style 325 Folengo and parody 326 Contrast offered by Tasso 327 CHAPTER V. BIOGRAPHY. Advance of Italy on the Middle Ages 328 Tuscan biographers 330 Biography in other parts of Italy 332 Autobiography; Æneas Sylvius 333 Benvenuto Cellini 333 Girolamo Cardano 334 Luigi Cornaro 335 CHAPTER VI. THE DESCRIPTION OF NATIONS AND CITIES. The ‘Dittamondo’ 339 Descriptions in the sixteenth century 339 CHAPTER VII. DESCRIPTION OF THE OUTWARD MAN. Boccaccio on Beauty 344 Ideal of Firenzuola 345 His general definitions 345 CHAPTER VIII. DESCRIPTIONS OF LIFE IN MOVEMENT. Æneas Sylvius and others 349 Conventional bucolic poetry from the time of Petrarch 350 Genuine poetic treatment of country life 351 Battista Mantovano, Lorenzo Magnifico, Pulci 352 Angelo Poliziano 353 Man, and the conception of humanity 354 Pico della Mirandola on the dignity of man 354 PART V. _SOCIETY AND FESTIVALS._ CHAPTER I. THE EQUALISATION OF CLASSES. Contrast to the Middle Ages 359 Common life of nobles and burghers in the cities 359 Theoretical criticism of noble birth 360