La Tour D'Auvergne; iij. barry of six, gules and or, a chief ermine, for ?); iv. bendy gules and or, for Turenne, inclosed in a wreath, with a riband noué at top. The last miniature represents the author presenting his work to a lady very richly babited, and to her the envoi to which the painting is prefixed, is addressed. For these reasons, and the following, we believe the poem to have been composed, and this manuscript to have been executed for a lady of the illustrious house of DE FOIX, CAPTAL DE BUCHE, nearly connected with the Royal Family of France, and the author himself to have been of high rank, if not of the same family. In the envoi he says— 'C'est donc à vous ma cousine et maistresse Que vous teniez c' este œuvre par moy faicte Et la monstrez, celez ou excusez. Faictes au Roy entendre la substance Pour à ces troys donner juste sentence.' He alludes to her great influence with the king, and yet addresses her Ou ne ueosrez iamais nul changement.' The manuscript is very beautifully written, and the paintings are finished with great delicacy; the annexed outline (see the plate) is taken from one of the incidents of the poem. The volume is in the finest possible preservation. 354 LERIANO ET LAUREole. Ce liure a este translate de langaige tusquain florentin en francoys et traicte de l'amour de Leriano et de Laureole fille du Roy de macedoine." A MAGNIFICENT MANUSCRIPT ON VELLUM, EXECUTED ABOUT 1525, for Françoise D'ALENÇON, Duchess of Longueville and of Vendome, THE DIRECT ANCESTRESS OF THE ROYAL FAMILY of France, WITH NINETEEN LARGE ILLUMINATIONS, OF WHICH THE FIRST REPRESENTS THE TRANSLATOR PRESENTING HIS BOOK TO THE DUCHESS, folio, bound in rich old red morocco, enclosed 841. in a case, The Spanish Original of this Romance, under the name of 'Carcel de Amor,' was written about 1450-60, by Diego de San Pedro, a Senator of Valladolid, and was dedicated by him to Don Diego Hernandez, 'Alcayde de los Donzeles.' (San Pedro also wrote a poem, entitled 'de los Llantos.') The work treats of the Loves of Leriano, son of the Duke Guercio and of the Duchess Colleria, with Laureola, daughter of Gaulo, king of Macedonia; but, as is usual with many of the old romances, the foundation of the story is taken from a family legend. From a similar source, or from historical facts more or less distorted into fable, nearly all the old romances are derived; and there are few in which some vestiges of truth, however faint, cannot be discerned. In some the truth preponderates over the fable; and of this Romance, in particular, the story is taken from events which really occurred at Naples, in the reign of Ferdinand and Isabella, and which are strictly adhered to by the author. To this circumstance, perhaps, much of the popularity it quickly obtained was owing, though now we may be unable to identify the characters, and to enjoy the scandal presented under the veil of fiction, with the same zest as the original readers of the work. The Romance soon obtained great favour abroad, and was translated into Italian by Lelio di Manfredi, a native of Ferrara, who inscribed his work to Isabella Estense da Gonzaga, Marchioness of Mantua. Manfredi's translation was first printed in 1521. This French version was made from the Italian, and is dedicated to the above-named French Princess in the following terms:-" Rememorant en quante servitute et obligation estoye envers toy tres vertueuse et tres prudante dame, lietenu et astrainct pour les graces et bienfaitz qu'il ta pleu moctroyer, lesquelz touttefoys, comme jay peu apperceuoir, nont este correspondens a ton mananime vouloir, l'importunité du temps et saison neantmoins nay este nesius ignorant de ta bonne et liberallissime voulente, laquelle en cest endroit justemens prens pour effect, pensant pour iceux quelque remuneration te faire, no de bies terrestres, car dame fortune men a tresmal muny, mais de ce petit liuret, jadis conuerty de langue castillane et espagnolle en tousquã florētin p' ung ferraroys mō bon et singulier amy, des mains duquel en ce p'mier voiaige, q' le tres xian Roy francoys, p'mier de ce nō, mon souuerain seigne'r a faict en lobardie po'r la coqu'ste de sō estat ultramōtain, ay recouuert, et voiat q' dassez belles matieres trectoit mesmes pour ieunes dames, lay entrepris mectre et translater du d'ytaliē, en n're vernacule et familière langue francoise, et le te dedier." On the leaf facing this dedication is a large illumination of the arms of Bourbon-Vendôme, France, charged with a bendlet gu, bearing three lions passant arg. impaling Bourbon-Alençon, France, within a border gu. charged with nine silver byzants, surmounted by the proper coronet, and in the large illuminated initial at the commencement of the dedication the arms of Vendôme are repeated. Now the only intermarriage between these two branches of the blood-royal of France, was that, in 1513, of Charles de Bourbon, first Duke of Vendôme, with Françoise d'Alençon, widow of François d'Orleans, first of the name, Duke of Longueville; for that lady, therefore, this translation was made, and this manuscript expressly executed. It is from this Duke and Duchess of Vendôme that the whole of the present royal family of France, including the branch of Bourbon-Condé, are lineally descended; for their son Antoine married Jeanne d'Albret the famous heiress of Navarre, by whom he was father of Henry IV. In the first illumination, at the head of the Dedication, the Duchess is depicted receiving the work from the hands of the translator; and this painting is of very great interest, as representing the ancestress of a long line of kings. It does not appear who the French translator was; from his particularising that he obtained the original in the first visit of Francis I. into Italy, it is probable he did not translate it till after that monarch's second passage. A French translation was printed by Galliot du Pré, in 1526, as La Prison d'Amours,' which by La Croix du Maine is attributed to Gilles Corrozet; but as this author was but sixteen years of age in 1526, it is hardly probable he was the translator even of that edition of the work; and he certainly could not be the author of this version, which, as we have seen, was made from a copy given by Lelio di Manfredi to his friend, whoever he may be, in 1515, the date of Francis' first passage into Italy. It is not improbable that this version was made by some person of rank for the sole use of the Duchess, the terms tres vertueuse et tres prudante dame' are unaccompanied by any expression indicative of the more humble rank of the writer, even though the lady was of the blood-royal of France. It is certain every pains were taken to render the volume worthy of her acceptance. The manuscript is written in a bold Gothic character, and the numerous illuminations are very richly painted. Independent of the interest attached to the representation of the Duchess, the paintings afford a good view of the costume, and in some degree they illustrate the manners of the chivalrous court of Francis I. An illuminated MS. of this translation, but of far inferior beauty to this, was in the library of the Duke de la Vallière. The engraving (see the plate) refers to one of the events in the Romance, but in the accessories the artist seems to have intended some reference to the historical foundation of the story, for the canopy is studded with the three balls of Lombardy, now degraded to be the pawnbroker's sign. The Romance was early put into an English dress by Lord Berners, the well-known translator of Froissart, at the instance of the lady Elizabeth Carew: his version was printed by Robert Wyer, without date, as The Castle of Loue.' This MS. seems to have passed from its royal possessors into the noble family of Lauzun: it was afterwards in the magnificent collection of illuminated MSS. of Count Alexis Golowkin, and from his library it was procured. There accompany this splendid volume fine copies of the original Spanish (printed at Venice in 1531) and of the Italian translation by Lelio di Manfredi (printed, also at Venice, in 1533): both these volumes have curious wood-cuts. 355 Discorso d'Amore dell Clarmo. S. Camillo Baldi. MANUSCRIPT, folio, 8s. Baldi, a native of Bologna, was born in 1547, and was Professor of Logic in that University. By Bumaldi, a cotemporary writer, he is styled 'nostrorum temporum Aristides, in collegiis suis Vice Cancellarius Studii, id est Vicarius Archidiaconi.' Nine several works by him have been printed, but this is unpublished. It is mentioned by Mazzuchelli as existing in MS. in the Library of the Monastery of Classe at Ravenna. 356 Le Dolenti Giornate di Laodamia nella partita del suo caro sposo Protesilao, con tre Sonetti in lode di Pio V. MANUSCRIPT, of the sixteenth century, folio.-ECCLESIÆ ANGLICANE TROPHEA, sive sanctorum Martyrum, qui pro Christo Catholicæque fidei veritate asserenda, antiquo recentiorique Persecutionum tempore, mortem in Anglia subierunt, Passiones; Romæ in Collegio Anglico per Nicolarun Circinianum depictæ, nuper autem per Jo. Bap. de Cauallerijs æneis typis repræsentatæ. Romæ, ex off. Bart. Grassi, 1583, in one volume, folio, half-bound in morocco, 61. 16s. 6d. The manuscript is very neatly written within a printed Arabesque border. The other portion of the volume contains a very curious series of plates, representing the cruelties purported to have been exercised upon the English Papists, especially under Elizabeth; the subjects are taken from the lying frescoes in the church of the English College of the Holy Trinity at Rome, painted at the instance of Gregory XIII. whose intention is well defined in the following inscription which is at the bottom of one of the plates :-- Cum anglis toto terrarum orbē unicum templum Catholicum relictum sit, idq. Romæ Sme. Trinitati Sacrum, cuius in summa ara hæc tabula conspicitur, meritò in illo suorum cum priscæ, tum huius ætatis martyrum certamina exprimi cu |