The Private Library Part 9

The cup from which he drank was of crystal, or of some other precious stone. To see him at table--a perfect model of the men of old--was of a truth a charming sight. He always willed that the napkins set before him should be of the whitest, as well as all the linen." . . . . What distinguished Niccolo was the combination of refinement and humane breeding with open-handed generosity and devotion to the cause of culture. He knew how to bring forward men of promise and place them in positions of eminence.'[62]

'Lorenzo attracted to his villa the greatest scholars and most brilliant men of the time, a circle which included Poliziano, Landino, Ficino, Pico della Mirandola, Alberti, Pulci, and Michael Angelo. The interests of this circle, as of all similar Italian circles of the time, were largely absorbed in the philosophy and literature of Greece, and special attention was devoted to the teachings of Plato. Plato's writings were translated into Latin by Ficino, and the translation was printed in 1482, at the cost of Filippo Valvio. Ficino was too poor himself to undertake the publication of his works, and this was the case with not a few of the distinguished authors of the age. The presentation of books to the public required at this time what might be called the endowment of literature, and endowment which was supplied by the liberality of wealthy patrons possessed of literary appreciation or public-spirited ambition, or of both. As Symonds expresses it, "Great literary undertakings involved in that century the substantial a.s.sistance of wealthy men, whose liberality was rewarded by a notice in the colophon or in the t.i.tle-page." The formal dedication was an invention of a somewhat later date.'[63]

'Of Palla degli Strozzi's services in the cause of Greek learning I have already spoken. Beside the invitation which he caused to be sent to Manuel Chrysoloras, he employed his wealth and influence in providing books necessary for the prosecution of h.e.l.lenic studies. "Messer Palla,"

says Vespasiano, "sent to Greece for countless volumes, all at his own cost. The _Cosmography_ of Ptolemy, together with the picture made to ill.u.s.trate it, the _Lives_ of Plutarch, the works of Plato, and very many other writings of philosophers, he got from Constantinople. The _Politics_ of Aristotle were not in Italy until Messer Palla sent for them; and when Messer Lionardo of Arezzo translated them, he had the copy from his hands." In the same spirit of practical generosity Palla degli Strozzi devoted his leisure and his energies to the improvement of the _studio pubblico_ at Florence, giving it that character of humane culture which it retained throughout the age of the Renaissance. To him, again, belongs the glory of having first collected books for the express purpose of founding a public library. This project had occupied the mind of Petrarch, and its utility had been recognised by Coluccio de'

Salutati, but no one had as yet arisen to accomplish it. "Being pa.s.sionately fond of literature, Messer Palla always kept copyists in his own house and outside it, of the best who were in Florence, both for Greek and Latin books; and all the books he could find he purchased, on all subjects, being minded to found a most n.o.ble library in Santa Trinita, and to erect there a most beautiful building for the purpose.

He wished that it should be open to the public, and he chose Santa Trinita because it was in the centre of Florence, a site of great convenience to everybody. His disasters supervened and what he had designed he could not execute."'[64]

'Cosimo used to regret that "he had not begun to spend money upon public works ten years earlier than he did." Every costly building that bore his name, each library he opened to the public, and all the donations lavished upon scholars, served the double purpose of cementing the despotism of his house and of gratifying his personal enthusiasm for culture. . . . . Of his generosity to men of letters, the most striking details are recorded. When Niccolo de' Niccoli ruined himself, Cosimo opened for him an unlimited credit with the Medicean bank.'[65]

FOOTNOTES:

[59] Symonds, _The Revival of Learning_, pp. 174, 175.

[60] _Ibid._, pp. 172-7.

[61] Symonds, _Revival of Learning_, pp. 139, 140.

[62] Symonds, _Revival of Learning_, pp. 180-2.

[63] Putnam, _Books and their Makers_, vol. i., p. 338.

[64] Symonds, _Revival of Learning_, p. 167.

[65] _Ibid._, pp. 172-3.

_The Dukes of Urbino._

'Mr. Roscoe has observed that "by no circ.u.mstance in the character of an individual is the love of literature so strongly evinced as by the propensity for collecting together the writings of ill.u.s.trious scholars, and compressing the 'soul of ages past' within the narrow limits of a library." But it is not easy now to appreciate the obstacles attending such a pursuit in the age of Federigo. The science of bibliography can scarcely be said to have existed before the invention of printing, in consequence of the extreme difficulty of becoming acquainted with works of which there were but few copies, and these widely scattered, perhaps scarcely known. Great outlay was required, either to search out or transcribe ma.n.u.scripts, and even the laborious habits which then accompanied learning shrank from a task so beset by obstructions. Yet there was a bright exception in Thomas of Saranza, whose learning supplied the knowledge, and whose elevation to the triple tiara as Nicholas V. procured him the opportunities necessary for ama.s.sing a library. Not only did he found that of the Vatican, but he prepared for Cosimo, _Pater patrie_, a list of authors for the infant collection of S. Marco, at Florence, which, being recognised as a standard catalogue, was adopted by Count Federigo. The longer life allowed to the latter enabled him to outstrip these bibliomaniacs, and all contemporary acc.u.mulators, until the fame of his library stood unrivalled.

Accordingly Ruscelli, in his _Imprese Ill.u.s.tri_, avers it to be "notorious that the earliest and most famous collection formed out of the ruins of antiquity was that of Urbino, from whence many excellent authors were edited, and copies supplied."'[66]

'In no respect did he look to expense; and whenever he learned the existence of any desirable book in Italy, or abroad, he sent for it without heeding the cost. His librarian, Vespasiano, wrote, "It is now above fourteen years since he began to make this collection, and he has ever since at Urbino, Florence, and elsewhere, thirty-four transcribers, and has resorted to every means requisite for ama.s.sing a famous and excellent library."'[67]

'To the right and left of the carriage entrance into the great courtyard, are two handsome saloons, each about forty-five feet by twenty-two, and twenty-three in height. That on the left contained the famous library of ma.n.u.scripts collected by Count Federigo; the corresponding one received the printed books, which, gradually purchased by successive dukes, became under the last sovereign, a copious collection. Baldi, in his description of the palace, printed in Bianchini's work, dwells on the judicious adaptation of the former, its windows set high against the northern sky, admitting a subdued and steady light which invited to study; its air cool in summer, temperate in winter; its walls conveniently shelved; the character and objects of the place fittingly set forth in a series of rude hexameters inscribed on the cornices. Adjoining was a closet fitted up with inlaid and gilded panelling, beneath which Timoteo della Vite, a painter whose excellence we shall attest in our thirtieth chapter, depicted Minerva with her aegis, Apollo with his lyre, and the nine muses with their appropriate symbols. A similar small study was fitted up immediately over this one, set round with arm-chairs encircling a table, all mosaicked with _tarsia_, and carved by Maestro Giacomo of Florence, while on each compartment of the panelling was the portrait of some famous author, and an appropriate distich. One other article of furniture deserves special notice--a magnificent eagle of gilt bronze, serving as a lectern in the centre of the ma.n.u.script room. It was carried to Rome at the devolution of the duchy to the Holy See, but was rescued by Pope Clement XI. from the Vatican library, and restored to his native town, where it has long been used in the choir of the cathedral.'[68]

'Of Francesco Maria's literary pursuits we have various pleasing memorials. Not satisfied with the valuable library of MSS. that had descended to him from the Feltrian dukes, he formed another of standard printed works. Indeed, he became an a.s.siduous book-collector; and the letters of his librarian, Benedetto Benedetti, in the Oliveriana Library, are full of lists which his agents in Venice, Florence, and even Frankfort are urged to supply. In his own voluminous correspondence, we find constant offers from authors of dedications or copies of their productions, the tone of which is highly complimentary to his taste for letters. In 1603, the Archbishop of Monreale, in Spain, transmits him the regulations he proposed to prescribe in bequeathing his library to a seminary he had founded in his diocese, expressing a hope that they might prove useful to the Duke's collection, "at this moment without parallel in the world." Instead of quoting the vague testimony of courtly compliment, as to the use which this philosophic Prince made of these acquisitions, let us cite the brief records of his studies, preserved in his own Diary. In 1585, "terminated an inspection of the whole works of Aristotle, on which I have laboured no less than fifteen years, having had them generally read to me by Maestro Cesare Benedetti, of Pesaro."'[69]

'Francesco di Giorgio, in his _Treatise on Architecture_, mentions Duke Federigo as holding out inducements for the learned men at his court to ill.u.s.trate the works of cla.s.sic authors on architecture and sculpture.

But no testimony to his literary habits can be more satisfactory than that of his librarian, Vespasiano, to the following purpose. The Duke was a ready Latin scholar, and extremely fond of ancient history. As a logician he had attained considerable apt.i.tude, having studied Aristotle's _Ethics_ along with Maestro Lazzaro, a famous theologian, who became Bishop of Urbino, discussing with him the most intricate pa.s.sages. By the like process he mastered the Stagirite's politics, physics, and other treatises; and having acquired more philosophy than any contemporary prince, his thirst for new sources of knowledge induced him to devote himself to theology with equal zeal. The princ.i.p.al works of St. Thomas Aquinas and Duns Scotus were habitually read to him; he preferred the former as more clear, but admitted that the latter displayed more subtlety in argument. He was well acquainted with the Bible, as well as the commentaries of Saints Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine, and Gregory; also with the writings of the Greek fathers, such as Saints Basil, Chrysostom, Gregory n.a.z.iazen, Nicetas, Athanasius, and Cyril.

Among the cla.s.sic authors whom he was in the habit of reading or listening to were Livy, Sall.u.s.t, Quintus Curtius, Justin, Caesar, Plutarch, aelius Spartia.n.u.s, aemylius Protus, Tacitus, Suetonius, Eusebius. All men of letters visiting Urbino were hospitably entertained, and several were always attached to his court. His largesses to such were at all times liberal. He spent above 1500 ducats in this way when at Florence, and remitted similar bounties to Rome and Naples. He gave 1000 ducats to the learned Campano, professor of belles-lettres at Perugia in 1455, who aided him in collecting ancient MSS., and became Bishop of Teramo.'[70]

FOOTNOTES:

[66] Dennistoun, _Memoirs of the Dukes of Urbino_, vol. i., p. 155.

[67] _Ibid._, vol. i., pp. 156-7.

[68] _Memoirs of the Dukes of Urbino_, vol. i., pp. 153-5.

[69] _Ibid._, vol. i., p. 154.

_Pieresc._

'When any library was to be sold by public outcry, he took care to buy the best books, especially if they were of some neat edition that he did not already possess. He bound his books in red morocco, with his cypher or initials in gold. One binder always lived in the house, and sometimes several were employed at once "when the books came rolling in on every side."' 'Your house and library' (says the dedication of a book to Pieresc) 'are a firmament wherein the stars of learning shine; the desks are lit with starlight, and the books are in constellations, and you sit like the sun in the midst, embracing and giving light to them all.' 'The library is to be open to all the world without the exception of any living soul; readers were to be supplied with chairs and writing materials, and the attendants will fetch all books required in any language or department of learning, and will change them as often as is necessary.'[71]

'Bouchard states, in his funeral oration on Pieresc, "To this his shop and storehouse of wisdom and virtue, Peireskius did not only courteously admit all travellers, studious of art and learning, opening to them all the treasures of his library, but he would keep them there a long time, with free and liberal entertainment; and at their departure, would give them books, coins, and other things, which seemed most suitable to their studies; also he freely gave them at his own expense, whatever things they wanted, most liberally, even as to all other learned men, who were absent, and whose names he had only heard of; whatever he had among his books or relics of antiquity, which he thought might a.s.sist them in their writings, he would send it them of his own accord, not only without their desiring the same, but many times when they were ignorant of such things.'[72]

FOOTNOTES:

[70] _Memoirs of the Dukes of Urbino_, pp. 219, 220.

[71] Elton, _Great Book Collectors_, pp. 180-4.

[72] _The Library_, July, 1895.

_Mr. Ruskin's Advice._

'I say first we have despised literature. What do we, as a nation, care about books? How much do you think we spend altogether on our libraries, public or private, as compared with what we spend on our horses? If a man spends lavishly on his library, you call him mad--a biblio-maniac.

But you never call any one a horse maniac, though men ruin themselves every day by their horses, and you do not hear of people ruining themselves by their books. Or, to go lower still, how much do you think the bookshelves of the United Kingdom, public and private, would fetch, as compared with the contents of its wine-cellars? What position would its expenditure on literature take as compared with its expenditure on luxurious eating? We talk of food for the mind, as of food for the body: now a good book contains such food inexhaustibly; it is a provision for life, and for the best part of us; yet how long most people would look at the best book before they would give the price of a large turbot for it!'[73]

'It will be long yet before that comes to pa.s.s. Nevertheless, I hope it will not be long before royal or national libraries will be founded in every considerable city, with a royal series of books in them; the same series in every one of them, chosen books, the best in every kind, prepared for that national series in the most perfect way possible; their text printed all on leaves of equal size, broad of margin, and divided into pleasant volumes, light in the hand, beautiful and strong, and thorough as examples of binder's work.'[73]