"Donne e donzelle e giovanette accorte
rallegrando si vanno a le gran feste
d'amor si punte e deste
che par ciascuna che d'amar appaghi
e l'altre a punto in gonnellette corte
ginocano a l'ombra delle gran foreste,
tanto leggiadre e preste,
qual solean ninfe stare appresso i laghi
e in giovanetti vaghi
veggio seguire e donnear costoro
e talora danzare a mano a mano."
Translated these rhymes mean: "I behold lovely women and maidens as they joyfully hurry to the great feast. Struck and awakened by love they flourish with sweet desire. I see them at play in the shadows of the forest, and running with flowing garments, agile and graceful like nymphs at the border of the lakes. Bright young men follow these sweet women to amorous play. Here and there some of these happy couples disappear, wandering hand in hand."
It is difficult for us, to realize the great changes brought about by this movement in social manners as well as in the position of women. "To be a gentleman," so J. A. Symonds says in his book "Renaissance in Italy," meant at this epoch to be a man acquainted with the rudiments at least of scholarship, refined in diction, capable of corresponding or of speaking in choice phrases, open to the beauty of the arts, intelligently interested in archæology, taking for his models of conduct the great men of antiquity rather than the saints of the church. He was also expected to prove himself an adept in physical exercises and in the courteous observances which survived from chivalry."
What was expected of a lady of rank we learn from a very interesting booklet, written in 1514 by Count Baldassare Castiglione, entitled "Libro del Cortegiano." According to this "Manual for Courtiers" a lady should not be inferior to her husband in intellectual accomplishment and be able to read and write Latin. In classic literature as well as in music and arts she should be versed to such an extent as to have a correct judgment of her own; while she should possess individuality, her behavior should be easy but graceful and blameless. It was also expected that she should cultivate her personal merits and beauty. "Beauty," so the manual says, "is of far greater importance to a lady than to a gentleman, because it is a divine gift which loses its charm when connected with an unworthy person. In her whole appearance, in her words, actions and attitude a lady must remain different from man. While virility should distinguish him, a lady should
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