JXJLIA G0NZA6A, 313 



poets, of the real exiftence of this natural pattern of 

 beauty ! All the writers of the fixteenth century uni- 

 formly agree in this, that no eloquence has ever been 

 fufficient to give but a faint Iketch of her charms. She 

 k celebrated both in verfe and in profe. Among her en- 

 raptured admirers I find the greater!: and mofr, ac- 

 complimed men of her times. Ariofto fings of her ; 



Giulia Gonzaga, che dovunque il piede 

 Volge, dovunque i fereni occhi gira, 

 Non pur ogn altra di belta le cede, 

 Ma, come fcefa dal ciel dea, Tammira. 



Grl. furiofo, cant. xlvL ftanz. 8. 



Jacob Betuffi, in his fupplement to the celebrated 

 ladies of Boccaccio, fays : " Her beauty is the com- 

 <c pleteft that God ever intended to create of the kind, 

 f| The features and complexion of her face, and the 

 ' 6 whole ftrudture of her limbs, are fo finely propor- 

 " tioned, that envy itfelf can find nothing to difcom- 

 €( mend. 'No art is competent to exprefs, either in 

 *f words or colours, the vivacity of her eves, and the 

 * £ fweetnefs of her voice". We Ihall lee, as we pro- 

 ceed, that this beautiful body was inhabited by as 

 beautiful a foul ; and this is the verv rcafon that in- 



; T ' !*•*■#»'<.•'' ^ % "hit ft .if \ ' 



duced me to revive her memory by the collection of 

 thefe particulars. 



The marquis Lewis Gonzaga, count of Rodigo and 

 Sabiomia, and lord of feveral other places, and his lady 

 Francifca Fftfbhi, were her parents. The year of her 

 birth cannot he precifely aicertaincd. She had three 

 brothers, the molt famous of whom was Lewis, fur- 

 named Rodomonte, and as many lifters, Hippolyta, 

 faula, and Elconora ; the firft of whom was married 



to 



