Italy distracted by the wars of

Francis I. of
France and
Charles V. of

belong to a fiend than to the most depraved of men. Principles which the most hardened ruffian would scarcely hint to his most trusted accomplice, or avow, without the disguise of some palliating sophism, even to his own mind, are professed without the slightest circumlocution, and assumed as the fundamental axioms of all political science." Machiavelli earnestly desired the unity of Italy; hence republicans of that country regard him as their precursor, a fact which accounts for the extraordinary enthusiasm shown dur- Germany. ing the celebration of his centenary at Florence, in 1869. Among other prose writers were the historian Francesco Guicciardini, Vasari, author of the wellknown "Lives of Italian Painters," Luigi da Porto, who wrote "Guilietta "— another form of "Romeo and Juliet❞—and Bandello, from whose works Shakespeare and other dramatists have frequently drawn.

IV. Spain. -Kingdom of Navarre: CHARLES III., -1425. BLANCHE and JOHN II., 1425-1479. ELEANOR, 1479. FRANCIS, 1479-1483. CATHERINE and JOHN D'ALBRET, 1483-1512.

Kingdom of Castile: HENRY III., -1406. JOHN II., 1406-1454. HENRY IV., 1454-1474. ISABELLA, 1474-1504. JOANNA, 1504Kingdom of Aragon: MARTIN, -1410.

FERDINAND THE JUST, 1412-1416. ALFONSO V., 1416-1458. JOHN II., 1458-1479. FERDINAND II., 1479-1516. CHARLES I., 1516-1556.

Introduction of printing in 1474: the first

Spain was a treatise on the

Conception of

the Virgin.
Discovery of
America by
Christopher

Columbus,
Isabella had

whom Queen

Golden Period of the Ballads.-Of the three great classes of Spanish ballads-over one thousand in number-the historic, which celebrate national he-printed book roes, as "Bernardo del Carpio," "Fernan Gonzalez," "The Seven Lords of Lara," "The Cid," "Don Roderick," and "The Paladin," those relating to Charlemagne and his peers were, for the most part, produced in the fifteenth century; but the Moorish, treating of Saracenic exploits and Mohammedan customs and manners, are thought by some critics to belong to the sixteenth or even seventeenth century. These ballads are characterized by extreme simplic-ion of Spa ity and a warlike spirit. They were written to be accompanied by the lyre or the guitar, and constitute 1516. Comalmost entirely the Spanish literature of the age.

assisted.

Vasco da Gama opens the searoute to India, 1498.

Spain

dom under Charles I.,

mencement of the most brili

iant period of Spanish history.

Circumnavigation of the

globe by Magellan, 15191521. Publication of the magnificent Polyglott Bible of Alcala, in five volumes, containing, in

Introduction of Italian Influence.-The national heroic lyrics of Spain, though forcible in diction, were somewhat hyperbolical in style; but, by contact with the Italians during the various wars waged in Italy between the rulers of Spain, France, and the German Empire, Spaniards became acquainted with their more elegant and classical style, and in the early part of the sixteenth century introduced into their triple columns, country that Italian influence which reigned supreme over Europe. Poetry assumed a more plaintive tone, and the use of the sonnet became prevalent, though unsuited to the Spanish tongue.

the Hebrew, Septuagint Greek, and Latin Vulgate texts, 15141517.

BOOKS OF REFERENCE.

Histories of England, by Knight, |
Green, Froude, Hume, Hallam,

F. A. Trollope's "History of the Com. monwealth of Florence."

etc.

George Eliot's "Romola."

Bulwer's "The Last of the Barons" Mrs. Oliphant's Makers of Flor

[Edward IV.'s reign]. Percy's "Reliques."

99 66

Shakespeare's dramas: "Henry IV.,"
"Henry V.," "Henry VI.," "Rich-
ard III.," 'Henry VIII."
Guizot's "Popular History of France."
Van Laun's "History of French Lit-
erature."

Jules Michelet's "Jeanne d'Arc."
W. Besant's" Biography of Rabelais."
Sir Walter Scott's Quentin Dur-
ward."

ence."

Signor Villari's "Life and Times of
Savonarola."

Mrs. Roscoe's "Life of Vittoria Co-
lonna."

Leigh Hunt's "Stories from the Italian Poets."

Lord Byron's translation of Canto I.

of Pulci's "Morgante Maggiore." W. S. Rose's translation of Ariosto's "Orlando Furiosa."

Macaulay's "Essay on Machiavelli."

D'Aubigné's "History of the Refor- Sweetser's "Michael Angelo." mation."

J. H. Treadwell's "Martin Luther and his Work."

Stein's "Count Erbach" (a story of

the Reformation), translated from the German by Helm.

Whittier's translation of Luther's
hymn, "Ein feste Berg ist unser
Gott."

John A. Symonds's "Renaissance in
Italy."

Roscoe's "Life of Lorenzo de' Med-
ici."

E. Muntz's "Raphael: his Life, Works, and Times."

Perkins's "Raphael and Michael Angelo."

M. D'Anvers's "Raphael."

W. H. Prescott's "Life of Ferdinand and Isabella."

Washington Irving's "Alhambra" and
"Fall of Grenada."

Robertson's "History of Charles V."
Ticknor's " History of Spanish Liter-

ature."

Rodd's "Spanish Ballads."