CHAPTER IV 



RENAISSANCE 



" Un homme cherissoit epeidument sa chatte ; 

 II la trouvoit mignonne, et belle, et delicate, 

 Qui miauloit d'un ton fort doux : 

 II etoit plus fou que les fous." 



THE close of the sixteenth century saw- 

 western Europe undergoing a curious and 

 comfortable change. Civilization, with 

 her handmaid, luxury, and her schoolmaster, the 

 printing-press, had seduced the souls of men. War 

 was no longer a pastime for princes ; it was a seri- 

 ous and expensive business, frowned upon by finan- 

 ciers, and deferred as tediously as possible. Men 

 built themselves costly homes, bought pictures and 

 tapestries and vellum-bound books, and began slowly 



