discussed, Petrarch and
his friends, Guarini and Perotti, and Valla with his enemy Poggio; among
the others we notice Alexander ab Alexandro, a most learned antiquarian
from Naples, of whom Erasmus once said: 'He seems to have known
everybody, but nobody knows who he is.' The chief treasure of the place
was a Bible, illuminated in 1478 by a Florentine artist, which the Duke
caused to be bound 'in gold brocade most richly adorned with silver.'
'Shortly before he went to the siege of Ferrara,' says his librarian, 'I
compared his catalogue with those that he had procured from other
places, such as the lists from the Vatican, Florence, Venice, and Pavia,
down to the University of Oxford in England, and I found that all except
his own were deficient or contained duplicate volumes.' His son, Duke
Guidubaldo, was a celebrated Greek scholar; and the eulogies of Bembo and
Castiglione on his Duchess, Elizabeth Gonzaga, attest the literary
distinction of her Court. Francesco, the third Duke, lost his dominions
to Leo X.; but he showed his good taste in stipulating that the books
were to be reserved as his personal effects. Some of the early-printed
books are still in the palace at Urbino; others are at Castel Durante, or
in the College of the Sapienza at Rome; and the splendid MSS. form one of
the principal attractions of the Vatican.

Among private collectors the name of Cardinal Domenico Capranica should
be commemorated. Though continually engaged in war and diplomacy, he
found time to surround himself with books. On his death in 1458 he gave
his palace and library towards the endowment of a new College at Rome,
and his plans were carried out with some alterations by his brother
Angelo Capranica. Two Greeks of the imperial House of Lascaris took
important places in the history of the Italian renaissance. Constantine
had found a refuge at Milan after the conquest of his country, and here
he became tutor to the Lady Hippolyta Sforza, and published a grammar
which was the first book printed in Greek. He afterwards lectured at
Messina, where he formed a large collection of MSS., which he bequeathed
to the citizens. In a later age it was taken to Spain by Philip II. and
placed on the shelves of the Escorial. John Lascaris belonged to a
younger generation. He was protected by Leo X., and may be regarded as
the true founder of the Greek College at Rome. In matters of literature
he was the ambassador of Lorenzo de' Medici, and was twice