Inquiry into the Difufe of Dialogue-writing. 
after its author had attained to full ma- 
turity of years and experience; after he 
hhad converfed much with books, and in 
fcenes of warfare, of folemn political bu- 
finefs, of gallant and courtly gaiety, very 
much with men. He intended it as a 
fond memorial of the court of Urbino, in 
which he had fpent many of his earlier 
years. The accomplifhed male and fe- 
male characters which he has attempted 
to delineate, were meant by him to ex- 
hibit the copied excellencies of the fair, 
the gallant, and the wile, whofe fociety 
he had there enjcyed. The fafhion of 
literary compofition in dialogue was, at 
that time, even to a ridiculous degree, 
prevalent in Italy. So very prevalent was 
it, that hiftory, of which I poffefs a par- 
ticular f{pecimen, was then written in 
dialogues. _Caftiglione, of courfe, and 
with the happieit propriety, was induced 
to frame His work in this fafhionable 
form. Itisreprefented as the fubttance 
of feveral different converfations, which 
pafled, on fo many fucceflive evenings, in 
the prefence of the duke and duchefs of 
Urbino. The fubject, and its difcuffion, 
are chofen at the pleafure of a lady, as an 
amuiement after fupper, which might for 
once be preferred to queftions and com- 
mands, or-crofs purpofes, or any ether. 
more common and le{s refined means of 
recreation. Firft, on one, and then, to 
relieve him, on feveral others in fuccef- 
fion, is impofed the tafk of defcribing the 
character, and enumerating the qualifi- 
eations of the accomplifhed courtier. 
From the accomplifhed gentleman, the 
progrefs of the converfation at length 
pafles, by a very natural tranfition, to 
the accomplifhed lady. The perfons in 
the company, and particularly thofe who 
take a fhare in the dialogue, are men and 
- women of the higheft rank, and the moft 
illuftrious perfonal chara&ter, which were 
in that age known in Italy.. The tedi- 
oufnefs of a continued harangue from the 
mouth of one perfen, is avoided, by ob- 
jeStions, from time to time, gaily urged 
‘againit the opinions of the principal 
fpeakers, and from frequent explanatiens 
demanded from them. Men, who were 
themfelves confeffedly eminent in thofe 
accemplifhments which are enumerated, 
are the {peakers from whofe mouths the 
defcriptions of the different qualifications 
required, are made refpeftively to flow. 
One rich ftream of mellifluent eloquence 
and wifdom runs through the whole fe- 
ries of the difcourfe, from its opening to 
itsvery clofe.. It is enlivened, not only . 
with the flowers and figures of eloquence, 
‘«Monrury Mas, No. xxz, 
255 
but with a multitude of fmart and ftriking 
witticifms, and with many entertaining 
anecdotes, which the fpcakers relate, to 
illuftrate their pofitions, and which the 
author muft have intended, alfo, to-pre- 
vent wearinefs in his reader. | The pecu- 
liar paffions, humours, habits, and ta- 
lents of every different fpeaker, are, with 
great dramatic power, expreffed in thofe 
parts of ‘the dialogue which aré refpec- 
tively attributed toeach. Every literary 
compofition, whatever be its fubject, muit 
neceflarily difplay, in its illuftvations, 
and allufions, mere or lefs of the cuftoms 
and manners of the age and country in 
which it is written; and muft be, with: 
more or lefS care, modelled tot the 
common level of the tafte and intelligence: 
of thofe contemporaries, to whom it is by 
the author addrefied. But, I have never 
met with any work, in which there was , 
a more copious, a more difcriminating,: 
amore picturefque and faithful difplay, 
of the manners and cuftoms, amid which: 
it was compofed, than that which occurs. 
in ‘¢ J/ Cortegieno:”” or with any in which: 
fuch a difplay was introduced with a 
happier fubferviercy to the principal 
{cope of the compolition. Caftiglione’s 
Diaiogue-feems to prefent, as it were, a 
grand hiftorical painting of the court of 
Duke Guido Ubaldo, in the perfect co/- 
tume of the age, in which he lived in 
that prince’s fervice. Reading fuch a 
work, one is interefted much as if fome 
ancient city, that had heen fiddenly ovem-. 
whelmed by a volcanic eruption; fheuld 
be unexpectedly cleared from all the fu- 
perincumbent matter, and expofed to our 
view, and we fhould behold apartments, 
perfons, drefles, utenfils, ornaments, fuch 
as were peculiar to the period of the fatal 
dehige oi fire, all grouped together in the 
varicus aflemblages of the bufinels, or 
amufements of real.and ative life. Ihe 
exordia, or introduétcry paragraphs in 
Cicera’s ** Philofephical Dialogues,’’. are 
often exquifite moriels of delicate, tender, 
or animated compofition. But none of 
all thefe appears to to excel the ex- 
ordia, particularly of the firft and the 
fourth book of *‘ i! Cortegiano.”’ For that 
dramatic contexture and effe&t to which 
dialogue-writing owes almeft ali its pe- 
culiar advantages, I frould, without he- 
fitation, prefer Caftiglione’s work to any 
treatife in the form of dialogue, whether 
ancient or modern, and however highiy 
celebrated. Caftiglione lived’ and wrote 
in the end of the fifteenth century, and 
the beginning of the fixteenth, the very 
golden age of Italian ligerature.-His ftyle, 
Ll although 
mea 
aii 
