THE STORY OF GIANBATISTA'S MARRIAGE. 205 



really had paid court to some young ladies, who objected 

 against his deformity. In all this Jerome willingly saw 

 reason; yet there was nothing in it but deceit. 



In the mean time, the beloved son spent freely his 

 father's money, kept his own horse and his own famulus, 

 indulged in the luxuries of life and in its lusts. Three 

 centuries ago, in Italy, and in a part of Italy familiar 

 with the license of the camp, morality as between man 

 and woman was extremely low. I leave the reader to 

 take this one fact for granted. Jerome himself was not 

 only prone, but, even beyond the age of seventy, prompt 

 to lust, and I do not find that in those days even arch- 

 bishops lived more purely than their neighbours. 



One day, when Cardan and his household were at 

 breakfast, a person came in to them who said that Gian- 

 batista was intending to go out that morning and get 

 married. 



" Marry whom ?" Jerome inquired. The person did 

 not know. 



Then Cardan, turning to his son, said, " Why did 

 you wish to conceal this from me ?" It occurred to 

 him to remember four damsels, two of whom he 

 knew that his son loved, and all good matches, therefore 

 he said to the youth, naming them, " If it be one of 

 those four, take which of them you will. If any other 

 lady is to come into the house, I beg that you will first 



