[161] Ep. Fam. i. 18, quoted by Tiraboschi.
[162] Gregorovius in his book on Lucrezia Borgia (pp. 228-239) has condensed the authorities. See, too, Dennistoun, Dukes of Urbino, vol. i. pp. 441-448.
[163] The minute descriptions furnished by Sanudo of these festivals read like the prose letterpress accompanying the Masks of our Ben Jonson.
[164] Il Lasca in his prologue to the Strega (ed. cit. p. 171) says: "Questa non è fatta da principi, nè da signori, nè in palazzi ducali e signorili; e però non avrà quella pompa d'apparato, di prospettiva, e d'intermedj che ad alcune altre nei tempi nostri s'è veduto."
[165] A fine example of the Italian Mask is furnished by El Sacrificio, played with great pomp by the Intronati of Siena in 1531 and printed in 1537. El Sacrificio de gli Intronati Celebrato ne i giuochi del Carnovale in Siena l'Anno MDXXXI. Full particulars regarding the music, mise en scène, and ballets on such ceremonial occasions, will be found in two curious pamphlets, Descrizione dell'Apparato fatto nel Tempio di S. Giov. di Fiorenza, etc. (Giunti, 1568), and Descrizione dell'Entrata della Serenissima Reina Giovanna d'Austria, etc. (Giunti, 1566). They refer to a later period, but they abound in the most curious details.
[166] See the details brought together by Campori, Notizie per la vita di Lodovico Ariosto, p. 74, Castiglione's letter on the Calandra at Urbino, the private representation of the Rosmunda in the Rucellai gardens, of the Orbecche in Giraldi's house, of the Sofonisba at Vicenza, of Gelli's Errore by the Fantastichi, etc.
[167] Stadt Rom, viii. 350.
[168] See the article "Fornovo" in my [Sketches and Studies in Italy].
[169] At this point, in illustration of what has been already stated, I take the opportunity of transcribing a passage which fairly represents the conditions of play-going in the cinque cento. Doni, in the Marmi, gives this description of two comedies performed in the Sala del Papa of the Palazzo Vecchio at Florence.[A] "By my faith, in Florence never was there anything so fine: two stages, one at each end of the Hall: two wonderful scenes, the one by Francesco Salviati, the other by Bronzino: two most amusing comedies, and of the newest coinage; the Mandragola and the Assiuola: when the first act of the one was over, there followed the first act of the other, and so forth, each play taking up the other, without interludes, in such wise that the one comedy served as interlude for the other. The music began at the opening, and ended with the close."
[A] Barbèra's edition, 1863, vol. i. p. 67.