aiiAA(MW**v utAAftC- :**?>^ . a '■ "WV^- mm vt ?r* " VM- 9i :/ L I B RAR.Y OF THE U N IVERSITY Of ILLINOIS *£23 Rl4>cr *»H<^ <^^^vJ> <^ Z-*^e. - <_ /SJf. C R I C H T O N. VOL. I. Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2010 with funding from University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign http://www.archive.org/details/crichton01ains CRICHTON. BY W. HARRISON AINSWORTH, ESQ. AUTHOR OF " ROOKWOOD." Ergo, flos juvenum, Scotke spes, Palladis ingens, Ereptumque decus Musarum e dulcibus ulnis, Te ; qnamvis si leant alii, Crichtone, poetaa, Teque, tuamque neceni nuuquarn mea IMusa silebit. Abeknethy. Musa Cam-pest )\ IN THREE VOLUMES. VOL. I. LONDON: RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET. MDCCCXXXY1I. THOMAS CCRSON HAASARD, PATERNOST PR-BO W. xy-?3 ft-' (p C*s PREFACE. Le Baron. — De la patience, mesdames, monsieur consigners tputesses idees dans la preface de son ouvrage. La Vicomtesse. — Est-ce que vous faites une preface : Le Baron. — Les romantiques font tous des prefaces. A. Dumas. Antony : Acte IV. Scene VI. It may, perhaps, surprise Mr. Patrick Fraser Tytler (to whom we are indebted for the best life that has yet appeared of the Admirable Scot) to learn that the " unknown writer" of the affiche, recently discovered in the Cortegiano of Castiglione — " the earliest, and from the information it communicates the most valuable, of the a II PREFACE. contemporary accounts of Crichton*" — is a person of no less authority than the younger Aldus. Such, however, is the fact. The placard printed by the brothers Domenico and Battista Guerra, preserved by that worthy collector of rare imprints Messer Francisco Melchiori of Venice, detected, by Mr. G. Hibbert of Clapham, and cited by Mr. Fraser Tytler, is a surreptitious copy of a communication addressed by Aldus Manutius to the Duke of Sora. This asser- tion I shall presently substantiate by the pro- duction of the letter in question. During Crichton's residence in Venice in the autumn of the year 1580 ; when, as he himself has told us, Dum procul a Patrla Hadriuci prope litora Pan t i Consedi, when his eloquence had electrified the Doge and the assembled Signory — when • Tytler's Life of Crichton, p. 86. Second Edition. PREFACE. Ill he had disputed in utramque partem upon the subtle doctrines of the Thomists and Scotists (a parte rei, et a parte mentis) with the learned Padre Fiamma, e co)i molti altri valor osi prelati, in the pre- sence of the Cardinal Ludovico D'Este, the patron of Tasso, and the brother of Al- fonso II., Duke of Ferrara; had discussed with the Greek theologians, in the house of the Patriarch of Aquileia, the mysterious sub- ject of the procession of the Holy Ghost, overwhelming his opponents with the weight of authorities which he adduced ; had asto- nished the ready Italian improvisatore by a faculty more wonderful, than his own; had confounded the mathematician, the astro- loger and the cabalist; had foiled the most expert swordsman, and the most brilliant wit at their own weapons — when his grace and beauty had captivated many a fair a 2 iv PREFACE. signora, and his unequalled prowess in the revel and the masque had driven many a rival gallant to despair ; and when, at length, satiated with enjoyment, and crowned with success, to escape from the enervating allurements of the sea Phryne, he crossed her blue lagoons, and secluded himself in some villa on the Brenta, to prepare for that final triumph which he was destined so gloriously to achieve in the three days disputation held in the Chiesa San Gio- vanni e Paolo; then it was, that Aldus Manutius, prompted by his ardent ad- miration of the youthful Scot, or urged to the task by the curiosity of his noble corre- spondent, furnished Jacomo Buoncompagno, Duke of Sora, an eminent patron of men Oj letters, and brother to the reigning Pontiff Gregory XIII. with the following particu- lars of the mostro de mostri. PREFACE. V Relatione delta qualita di Jacomo di Cret- toxe /o^a da Aldo Manutio al Duca di Sora Adix Ottobre, 1581.* Lo Scozzese detto Jacomo di Crettone e giovane di xx anni, finiti alii 19 d'agosto passato, grande di statura, di pelo biondo, e d'aspetto bellissimo. Possiede diece lingue, la latina piu bella et pii\ pronta di quella di Monsignore Moretto,f la * Relatione delle qualita di Jacomo di Crettone fatta da Aldo Manutio all' Illustrimo ed eccelentissimo S. Jacomo Boncompagno Duca di Sora e Gover. Gen. di S. C. In Venegia, 31. DLXXXI. Appresso Aldo. t The famous Marcus Antonius Muretus, the friend of the Manutii, and one of the most profound scholars of his day. He was succeeded in the Roman chair of philosophy by the younger Aldus. The wonderful skill of Muretus in Latin versification will readily be conceived when it is stated that he palmed certain scenes of his own composition upon the learned Joseph Scaliger as fragments of two ancient comic- writers, Attius and Trabea, which that great philologist unhesitatingly introduced into his edition of Terentius Varro. This talent, however, remarkable as it is, does not seem to be confined to the scholastic wits of the sixteenth century. Certain pleasantries, equally ingenious, have been recently practised by our modern Muretus, Father Provt, whose latin verses would have imposed upon a Boxhorn, a Sigonio, or even old Scaliger himself. VI PREEACE. Francese ed Italiana in eccellenza, la Greca bellissima e ne fa epigrammi, l'Hebrea, la Caldea, la Spagnuola, la Fiamenga, Inglesa, Scozzesa, e intende la Tedesca. Possiede Filosofia, Theologia, Mathematica, ed Astrologia, e tiene tutti i calcoli fatti sin ad hoggi per falsi. Di Filosofia e Theo- logia ha disputato piu volte in questa Citta con li primi letterati di questa professione con stupore di tutti. Ha perfettissima cognitione della Cabala, e di memoria tale che non sa che cosa sia il dimenticarsi ed ogni oratione udita da lui recita a parola per parola. Fa versi all' improviso di tutti li metri, e di tutte le materie vulgare e latine e ne fa improvise e belle. Ragiona di cose di stato con fondamento. Cortegiano con maravigli e gratissimo nelle consultationi, soldato a tutta botta, e ha speso due anni in Francia alia guerra con carico assai honorato ; salta e balla per eccel- lenza ; armeggia e giuoca d'ogni sorta d'armi e ne ha fatto qui la prova ; maneggiatore aggarbato di cavalli, giostratore singolare, di sangue nobile anzi PREFACE. Vll per madre Regale Stuardo.* Ha disputato con greci in casa del Nuntio e del Patriarca d'Aquileia in materia della processione del Spirito Santo con grande applauso e con grandissima copia d'autorita de Dottori e consigli come Aristotele e com- mentatori alle mani recitando le facciate intiere * Compare the above description with the following passage from the Dedication to the Paradoxes of Cicero, subsequently published by Aldus : — Magna sunt ista pro- jector et inaudita : mediocria tamen, si cetera spectemus ; quod, scilicet decern linguarum, multorum idiomatum, omnium disci- plinarum cognitionem ante vigessimum primum