WOMAN'S LONG STRUGGLE 67 



indigo of certain seas, the liquid azure of certain eyes. 

 For more than a century the court of Urbino was regarded 

 as the supreme exemplar. In the seventeenth century, the 

 Hotel de Rambouillet was still striving to make itself a 

 copy of it; unluckily such things as these are not easily 

 copied. ' n 



We are not surprised, then, at being told that "men 

 moulded by Italian ladies" such ladies as graced the court 

 of Urbino "could be distinguished among a thousand. " 

 Still less are we surprised to note the immense difference 

 between the refined and brilliant discussions of The Cour- 

 tier as compared with the coarse tales of the Decameron 

 and Heptameron. And we can understand the marvelous 

 influence which Castiglione 's matchless work inspired by 

 the beloved Duchess Elizabetta had upon the masters of 

 English literature on Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Spenser, 

 Marlow, Shelley. 



Cardinal Bembo, who was one of the most assiduous fre- 

 quenters of this famous court, in writing of Elizabetta, does 

 not hesitate to declare : "I have seen many excellent and 

 noble women, and have heard of some who were as illus- 

 trious for certain qualities, but in her alone among women, 

 all virtues were united and brought together. I have never 

 seen nor heard of any one who was her equal, and know 

 very few who have even come near her. ' ' 



It was Castiglione 's experience at the court of Urbino, 

 where he was a daily witness of the irresistible influence of 

 Elizabetta, that made him give expression to the sentiment, 

 "Man has for his portion physical strength and external 

 activities ; all doing must be his, all inspiration must come 

 from woman." It was also this keen student of the mys- 

 terious workings of woman's genius and of her secret, all- 

 pervading influence, at times and in places least suspected, 

 who penned the notable statement worthy of the Renais- 



*The Women of the Renaissance, p. 290, by E. de Maulde la 

 Claviere, New York, 1901. 



