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Leo X., upon which the pontiff presented him with a large empty purse, and said, "that as he could make gold, he knew how to fill it."

BAPTIST MANTUANUS, an Italian poet, born at Mantua, in 1448, was the illegitimate son of Spagnolo, a man of distinction. He entered among the Carmelites, of whose order he became general, but he quitted them in disgust, in 1515, and devoted himself to poetry and literature. He died in 1516, and was honoured with a marble statue, crowned with laurel. Although in some of his pieces he displays much zeal for religion and its ministers, yet he has satirized the corruptions of the church with a freedom that has given offence to some of his communion. His "Poetical Works" were published entire at Bologna, folio, 1502, and at Antwerp, four volumes, octavo, 1576. Parts of them have been printed separately.

ELISIO CALENTIUS, or CALENZIO, a modern Latin poet, a native of Apulia. He was tutor to prince Frederic, son of Ferdinand I., king of Naples, and endeavoured to inspire his royal pupil with sentiments of humanity and justice. He was inimical to capital punishments, and proposed various substitutes for them in different cases. He was a skilful and practical agriculturist. Being a spectator of the war carried on by Charles the Bold against the Swiss, he was urged to write the history of it, which he declined; observing, that it was not safe to speak ill of princes, and that an honest man ought not to publish falsehoods. He married very young, had a great affection for his wife, and had a numerous offspring. His circumstances were narrow, but he maintained a friendship with some of the most eminent scholars of his time, as Pontano, Altilio, and Sannazaro, and was a member with them of the famous Neapolitan academy. He died probably about 1500. The works of Calenzio consist of elegies, epigrams, satires, &c. and the "Battle of the Frogs and Mice," translated, or rather imitated, from Homer. There are also a number of letters in prose, mostly addressed to Hiaracus, by whom he means prince Frederic. There have been three editions of his works, one at Rome in 1503, and one at Basle in 1554. He was an elegant writer both in prose and verse.

WILLIAM ALEXIS, a Benedictine monk in the abbey of Lyra, afterwards prior of Bussi and Perche. He left various pieces of poetry. His principal works are―" Fourchants royaux, presented at the games du Puy at Rouen," in 4to. 2. "Le passetems de tout Homme et de toute Femme," Paris, in 8vo and 4to. The author informs us, that he translated it from a work of Innocent III. It is a moral work, on the miseries of man from the cradle to the grave. 3. "Le grand Blason des Faulses Amours," in 4to, Paris 1493; and in several editions of the farce de Patelin, and of the Fifteen joys of Marriage, Hague, 1726 and 1734, with notes by Jacob le Du

chat. It is a dialogue on the evils brought on by love. In all his works he preserves a becoming decency.

GABRIEL ALTILIO, a Latin poet, was born at Basilicata, in the kingdom of Naples. He was preceptor to prince Ferdinand, son of Alphonsus II. Altilio was appointed bishop of Policastro, in 1489, and died about 1501. The few specimens of his poetry that remain are of distinguished merit. The most admired is his epithalamium on the marriage of Isabella of Arragon, daughter of Alphonsus II., with John Galeas Sforza duke of Milan. This is published in the Carm. Illust. Poet. Ital. and with a few of his other pieces, at the close of the works of Sannazarius, by Comino, 1731, 4to, where numerous testimonies are collected of the merits of Altilio.

MARGARET ELEANOR CLOTILDE DE SURVILLE, a French poetess, who celebrated the heroic deeds of her country, and died at a great age, at the close of this century. Her language is obsolete, but she possessed great vigour of mind. Her poems were published at Paris, in 1803, prepared for the press by one of her descendants, Joseph Stephen de Surville, an officer, who after distinguishing himself in Corsica and in America, fell a victim to the French revolution in 1799. ANDREAS AMMON, an excellent Latin poet, born at Lucca in Italy, was sent by Pope Leo X., to England, in the character of prothonotary of the Apostolic See, and collectorgeneral of this kingdom. Being a man of singular genius and learning, he became acquainted with the principal literati of those times; particularly with Erasmus, Colet, Grocin, and others, for the sake of whose company he resided some time at Oxford. The advice which Erasmus gives him, in regard to pushing his fortune, has a great deal of humour in it, and was certainly a satire on the artful methods generally practised by the selfish and ambitious part of mankind. "In the first place," says he, "throw off all sense of shame; thrust yourself into every one's business, and elbow out whomsoever you can; neither love nor hate any one; measure every thing by your own advantage; let this be the scope and drift of all your actions. Give nothing but what is to be returned with usury, and be complaisant to every body. Have always two strings to your bow. Feign that you are solicited by many from abroad, and get every thing ready for your departure. Show letters inviting you elsewhere, with great promises." Ammon was Latin secretary to Henry VIII., but at what time he was appointed does not appear. In 1512, he was made canon and prebendary of the collegiate chapel of St. Stephen, in the palace of Westminster. He was likewise prebendary of Wells; and in 1514, was presented to the rectory of Dychial in that diocese. About the same time, by the king's special recommendation, he was also made prebendary of Salisbury. He died in 1517, and was buried in St. Stephen's chapel, Westminster. He was esteem

ed an elegant Latin writer, and an admirable poet. The epistles of Erasmus to Ammon, abound with encomiums on his genius and learning.

JEROME BENIVIENI, a poet of Florence, who died in 1512, aged 89. Following Lorenzo de Medici and Politian, he contributed essentially to the progress of Italian poetry. His principal subject is divine love. He was greatly esteemed for the purity of his manners and the extent of his talents. He was intimately acquainted with the celebrated John Pico de Mirandola, and was interred in the same grave with him. His Canzone dell' Amore celeste e divino, is in great esteem. His works were printed at Florence, 1519, 8vo.

JAMES SANNAZARIUS, in Latin, Actius Cincenis Sannazarius, a celebrated Latin and Italian poet, born at Naples, in 1458. He by his wit ingratiated himself into the favour of king Frederic; and, when that prince was dethroned, attended him into France, where he staid with him till his death, which happened in 1504. Sannazarius then returned into Italy, where he applied himself to polite literature, and particularly to Latin and Italian poetry. His gay and facetious humour made him be sought for by all companies; but he was so afflicted at the news that Philibert, prince of Orange, general of the emperor's army, had demolished his country house, that it threw him into an illness, of which he died in 1530. Being informed a few days before his death, that the prince of Orange was killed in battle, he called out, "I shall die contented, since Mars has punished this barbarous enemy of the Muses." He wrote a great number of Italian and Latin poems; among those in Latin his De Partu Virginus and Eclogues are chiefly esteemed; and the most celebrated of his Italian pieces is his Arcadia.

JOHN SKELTON, an English poet, was born in Cumberland, and educated at Oxford, where, in 1489, he was invested with a laurel, a kind of poetical degree, conferred on the favourite of the muses. He became rector of Diss, in Norfolk; but was suspended for writing satirical poems. He directed his attacks against Wolsey, and was obliged to fly to the sanctuary of Westminster, and the protection of abbot Islip. He died in 1509. His poems consist in satires, sonnets, &c. And also an attack on Lilly the grammarian. His genius, according to Warton, was suited to the low burlesque, and his poetry abounds not only with obscurity, but with coarse scurrility.

CONRAD CETTES, named also Protucius and Meissel, a modern Latin poet of some eminence, was born at Schweinfurt, in Franconia, in 1459. After having acquired a large stock of literary and scientific knowledge in his studies at Cologne and Heidelburg, he visited many of the German universities, and supported himself as a private lecturer. He was thus enabled to make a tour for improvement through all the principal cities

and universities of Italy. The reputation he thus gained, was the means of introducing him to the elector of Saxony; and the emperor Frederic III., to whom he was recommended by the elector, and who conferred upon him the poetical laurel at Nuremberg, in 1494. Having terminated his rambles, he settled at Vienna; where he was made professor of eloquence and poetry, and librarian to the emperor Maximilian. Here he died, in 1508. Cettes deserves to be ranked among the restorers of polite literature in Germany. Of all the various writings which he left, the poetical were the most distinguished. Whilst he possessed some vigour of imagination and brilliancy of expression, he was deficient in good taste and correct judgment. HENRY ALKMAR, or AĽKMAER, a native of the town of Alkmar, in Holland, was the author of the celebrated fable of "Reynard the Fox," a poem written in Low Dutch, in the fifteenth century, which under the allegory of a society of animals, satirizes the different vices of mankind. The good sense and ingenuity of this performance rendered it so popular, that it was translated into all the languages of Europe. Mr. Gothsched has given a fine edition of it in German, adorned with figures, and enriched with learned dissertations. All that is known of Alkmar is, that he lived about the year 1470, and was governor or preceptor to one of the dukes of Lorrain. The first edition of Reynard was printed at Lubeck in 1498, and it was frequently reprinted at Rostock, Francfort, and Hamburgh; and as the name of H. d' Alkmar, occurs in the preface of the Lubeck edition, which was long considered to be the first, he has as uniformly passed for the author of the poem. There is, however, in the library of the city of Lubeck, a copy of a work with the same title, and nearly the same contents, but more full, and in prose, which was printed at Delft, in 1485; and one has been discovered still older, printed at Goudes or Tergou, by Gerard Leew, in 1479. These two Reynards are exactly the same. Alkmar then seems to have done no more than to versify and enlarge the fictions of the old Reynard. He says himself, in the preface, that he translated the present work from the Welsh and the French. Whatever may be the case with the Welsh, as he mentions the French, his evidence accords with known facts, and with the opinion of Le Grand d' Aussay, in his "Notices et Extraits des manuscrits de la Bibliotheque de Paris," namely, that the poem of Reynard is of French origin, and that Pierre de St. Cloud was the author.

JOHN MAROT, a French poet, was born near Caen, in Normandy, in 1463. He was in low circumstances, but his talents and character caused him to be noticed by Anne of Bretagne, afterwards queen of France. She made him her poet; and sent him with Lewis XII., to Genoa and Venice, in order that he might draw up a relation of those travels. He was after

wards in the service of Francis I., and died in 1523. His poems are to be found in the later edition of the works of his son Clement Marot.

ANTONIO TEBALDEO, an Italian poet, was born at Ferrara, in 1463. Although brought up to the medical profession, he chiefly devoted himself to poetry, and it was his custom to accompany his verses with his lute. Of these, which were much admired, a collection was published by his cousin Jacopo, in 1499, and often reprinted. In Latin verse he succeeded better than in those of his native language; and it is said, that Pope Leo X. gave him 500 gold ducats for a single epigram. After the death of Leo, whose favour he enjoyed, he was reduced to the necessity of begging 30 florins of Bembo. He died at Rome in the year 1537. Specimens of his compositions in both languages are given in Mr. Roscoe's life of Leo X.

WILLIAM DUNBAR, a Scotch poet, was a native of Salton, in East Lothian, about 1465. He was the author of several good poems for that age; as the Thistle and Rose, in 1503; the Friers of Berwick, &c. He died about 1530. His poems were published, with notes, by Sir David Dalrymple.

JOHN PHILOTHEUS ACHILLINI, a brother of Alexander Achillini, was the author of a poem, entitled "II Viridario," in which are found the eulogy of several Italian literati, and various lessons of morality. It was printed at Bologna, in 1513. He was born at Bologna in 1466, and died in 1538. He was a man of talents and erudition, and conversant with the Latin and Greek classics, with music, philosophy, theology, and antiquities; of which last he has made ample collections.

SERAFINO AQUILANO, who derived his name from being a native of Aquila, in Abruzzo, was born in 1466. He obtained great fame as an improvisatore, or extemporaneous maker of verses, which he recited with enthusiasm, and accompanied with the strains of his lute. He was patronized by many Italian princes, who successively entertained him at their courts, and treated him with great distinction; and his success gave rise to a multitude of imitators. He not only pleased in these exhibitions, but his written poems gained considerable applause. A collection of them was published at Rome, in 1503, consisting of sonnets, eclogues, epistles, &c. Of these, the sonnets are judged to have the most merit, and they have by some been preferred even to those of Petrarch; but his works seem at present to have sunk into oblivion. He died at Rome, in 1500. WILLIAM DE LA MARE, or MARA, a modern Latin, poet, was born of noble parentage, in Normandy. He became rector of the university of Caen, and canon of the church of Coutances. He died about 1520. He was the author of some poems, which are, Chimæra, printed at Paris, in 1514, quarto; De tribus fugiendus venere, ventre et pluma, 1512, quarto. ANDREW BERNARD, poet-laureat of Henry VII. and

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