i THE "CANDELAIO" 19 



the Copernican theory is not, as Berti says, absent from 

 the Parisian writings, rather it is forced obtrusively into 

 them. 1 



In Paris was published also the " Compendious DC 

 Architecture " (De Compendiosd Architecture! et Com- 

 flemento Artis Lullii\ 1582, dedicated to Giovanni tur ^ ttc 

 Moro, the Venetian Ambassador in Paris. It is the 

 earliest of the Lullian works in which Bruno expounds 

 or comments upon the art of Raymond Lully, a logical 

 calculus and mnemonic scheme in one, that attracted 

 many imitators up to and after Bruno's time. In the 

 same year appeared a work of a very different stamp, // 

 Candelaio^ or u The Torchbearer," " a comedy by Bruno 

 of Nola, Academico di nulla academia, detto il fastidito : 

 In tristitia hilaris, hilaritate tristis" It is a satire 

 upon some of the chief vices of the age in the fore- 

 front pedantry, superstition, and sordid love. Without 

 great dramatic power the characters are personified 

 types, not individuals it has been judged to be second 

 to none of the comedies of the time, in spirit, wit, and 

 pert comedy. It certainly excels in many respects the 

 Cortegiana of Aretino, to which it is similar in character. 

 It is equally realistic in the sense that it " calls a spade 

 a spade," and does not shrink from representing vice 

 as speaking in its own language. Bruno is not, how- 

 ever, to be blamed for an obscenity which was de 

 rigueur in the literature of the time. But although 

 the humour is broad and occasionally amusing, there is 

 no grace, no lighter touch ; the picture is all dark. 

 The attack upon the pedant, however, strikes a key- 

 note of Bruno's life ; in him he saw the greatest enemy 

 his teaching had to face, and therefore he struck at him 

 whenever the opportunity offered. 



1 Introd. to De Umbris. 



