r BRUNO ON MAUVISSlfeRE 29 



living by teaching children as readily as by lecturing 

 to students, by setting books in print as readily as by 

 writing them, was not likely to be an expensive 

 secretary, and it must have been pleasant to Bruno to 

 escape from the turmoil of scholastic strife and its 

 bitter antagonisms to the quiet haven of the Embassy. 

 His host was a well-meaning, kindly, but unfortunate 

 man, unequal to the great issues that were being 

 decided around him. Although it was a Catholic 

 family, and mass was frequently said in the house, 

 Bruno's religious freedom was respected. He attended 

 neither mass nor any of the preachings, on account of 

 his excommunication. If one may judge from Bruno's 

 enthusiasm, the wife and daughter of Mauvissiere must 

 have been charming companions, the one " endowed 

 with no mean beauty of form, both veiling and clothing 

 the spirit within, and also with the threefold blessing 

 of a discreet judgment, a pleasing modesty, and a kind 

 courtesy, holding in an indissoluble tie the mind of her 

 consort, and captivating all who come to know her" ; 

 the other, u who has scarcely seen six summers, and 

 from her speech you could not tell whether she be of 

 Italy, of France, or of England ; from her musical 

 play, whether she is of corporeal or incorporeal 

 substance ; from the ripe sweetness of her manners, 

 whether she is descended from heaven or risen from 

 earth." l For Mauvissiere himself, to whom the three 

 most important of the Italian dialogues are dedicated, 

 no words that Bruno can invent are too high praise. 

 In the dedication of the Causa, after comparing his 

 persevering zeal and delicate diplomatic powers to the 

 dropping of water upon hard stone, and his steadfast 

 support of Bruno in face of detractions of the ignorant 



1 Lag. z64, 20. 



