plendid sonnet with which he responds to this
dedication, enhances the fame of Spenser by affecting to believe that
the great Italian, Petrarch, will be jealous of him in the grave. To
such an extent were the thoughts of the English poets occupied with
their Italian masters in the art of song.

It was at this time, again, that English literature was enriched by
translations of Ariosto and Tasso--the one from the pen of Sir John
Harrington, the other from that of Fairfax. Both were produced in the
metre of the original--the octave stanza, which, however, did not at
that period take root in England. At the same period the works of many
of the Italian novelists, especially Bandello and Cinthio and
Boccaccio, were translated into English; Painter's 'Palace of
Pleasure' being a treasure-house of Italian works of fiction. Thomas
Hoby translated Castiglione's 'Courtier' in 1561. As a proof of the
extent to which Italian books were read in England at the end of the
sixteenth century, we may take a stray sentence from a letter of
Harvey, in which he disparages the works of Robert Greene:--'Even
Guicciardine's silver histories and Ariosto's golden cantos grow out
of request: and the Countess of Pembroke's "Arcadia" is not green
enough for queasy stomachs; but they must have seen Greene's
"Arcadia," and I believe most eagerly longed for Greene's "Faery
Queen."'

Still more may be gathered on the same topic from the indignant
protest uttered by Roger Ascham in his 'Schoolmaster' (pp. 78-91, date
1570) against the prevalence of Italian customs, the habit of Italian
travel, and the reading of Italian books translated into English.
Selections of Italian stories rendered into English were extremely
popular; and Greene's tales, which had such vogue that Nash says of
them, 'glad was that printer that might be so blest to pay him dear
for the very dregs of his wit,' were all modelled on the Italian. The
education of a young man of good family was not thought complete
unless he had spent some time in Italy, studied its literature,
admired its arts, and caught at least some tincture of its manners.
Our rude ancestors brought back with them from these journeys many
Southern vices, together with the culture they had gone to seek. The
contrast between the plain dealing of the North and the refined
Machiavellism of the South, between Protestant earnestness in religion
and Popish scepticism, between the homely virtues of England and the
court