Another work of Castiglione, to which we have already had occasion to refer, is his letter, written in Latin, to Henry VIII., containing an account of Guidobaldo's death, with a somewhat meagre sketch of his character. But there is in its composition an air of effort, a straining at rhetorical effect, which leave upon us the inevitable conclusion that he thought more of his style than his hero. These faults and deficiencies belong, however, in a still greater degree to that more ambitious disquisition, wherein Bembo has sought to honour the memory of the Duke and Duchess, whose favour he had amply enjoyed. His few fugitive poems well merit the preference accorded to them by Tiraboschi over most contemporary effusions, from force of sentiment not less than felicitous expression. It would be difficult to rival in the literature of any age the pathos of that ode wherein his beloved wife is supposed to sigh over his prolonged absence, and send him the sympathetic yearnings of her long-suppressed affection. Of this, however, and his Tirsis, we have already said enough.[77]

The courtly qualities of Count Baldassare are acknowledged wherever his native literature is known; that they were not inconsistent with his observance of parental feelings is proved by an interesting Latin letter addressed to his children the year before his death, which has been preserved by Negrini in his Elogii Historici of the Castiglione family.

"To my beloved children, Camillo, Anna, and Ippolita.

"It is my belief, dearest son Camillo, that you, above all things, desire my return home, for nature and the laws equally inculcate veneration for our parents next to God; and in your case there may be a special duty, since I, content with but one boy, would not have another to share with you my property and parental affection. That I may not have to repent of such a resolution, I shall own myself free of doubt as to yourself; yet would I have you aware that I look for such duty at your hands rather as a debt, than with the indifference of most parents. It will be easily paid, if you regard in the light of a father that excellent preceptor obtained by your friends, and implicitly follow his advice. From my prolonged absence, I have nothing to inculcate upon you beyond this line of Virgil, which I may without ostentation quote:

"From me, my son, learn worth and honest toil;
Fortune from others take."[78]

"And do you, Anna, who first endeared to me a daughter's name, so perfect yourself in moral graces, that whatever beauty your person may develop, shall be the handmaid of your virtues, and shall figure last in the compliments paid you. And you, Ippolita, reflect on my love for her whose name you bear; and how charming it would be for your merits to surpass your sister's as much as her years do yours. Go on both, as you are doing, and, having lost the mother who bore you before you could know her to be so, do you imitate her qualities, that all may remark how greatly you resemble her. Adieu.

"From Monzoni, the 13th July, 1528.

"Your father,

"Balthassar Castilion."