The first English translation, by Robert Peterson of Lincoln's Inn, appeared in 1576, as "Galateo of Maister Iohn Della Casa, Archebishop of Beneventa, or rather a Treatise of the Manners and Behaviours it behoveth a Man to use in his familiar Conversation;" and an edition of it, limited to one hundred copies, was privately printed by H. J. Reid in 1892. Peterson's rendering is based almost entirely on the anonymous French translation of 1573, although he occasionally refers to the Italian original on the opposite pages. Two proofs of his indebtedness will suffice: Where the Frenchman renders the single Italian word "mezzanamente" by the phrase "avec discretion et médiocrité," Peterson follows him with "by Discretion and Measure;" and again, the single word "questa" in Della Casa becomes "cette gracieuseté et courtoisie" in the French and "this civilitie and courtesie" in the English version.
At least five other English translations have been published. In 1616, Thomas Gainsford appended to his "Rich Cabinet" an "Epitome of Good Manners extracted from Archbp. J. de la Casa;" the treatise was paraphrased by N. W. as "The Refin'd Courtier" in 1663; in 1701, an English translation (from the Latin version of N. Chytraeus) was published "by several young Gentlemen educated at a private Grammar School near Hackney," under the title of "J. Casa his Galateus, or a Treatise of Manners;" a version entitled "Galateo of Manners" appeared in 1703; and still another version, entitled "Galateo, or a Treatise on Politeness and Delicacy of Manners," appeared in 1774. Della Casa was also the author of another treatise on conduct, "Trattato degli Uffici communi tra gli Amici superiori e inferiori," which was translated into English by Henry Stubbe in 1665, as "The Arts of Grandeur and Submission."
Peterson's version is reproduced in the present work. The proofs have been collated with the British Museum copy of the original 1576 edition by Mr. W. B. Owen, formerly scholar of St. Catharine's College, Cambridge. In deference to the insistence of the publisher and the general editor, a few passages "perfume our pages only in their native Italian."
J. E. S.
THIS VOLUME
WITH TITLE-PAGE BY T. M. CLELAND
WAS PRINTED BY D. B. UPDIKE
AT THE MERRYMOUNT PRESS
BOSTON, U.S.A.
MDCCCC
XIV
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