CASTIGLIONE, BALDASSARE Italian diplomatist and author of Il Cortegiano, was born at Casanatico near Mantua, and was educated at Milan under the famous pro fessors Merula and Chalcondyles. In 1496 he entered the service of Lodovico Sforza, duke of Milan, returning to Mantua in 1500 when Lodovico was carried prisoner into France. In 1504 he was attached to the court of Guidobaldo Malatesta, duke of Urbino, and in 1506 he was sent by that prince on a mission to Henry VII. of England. He also served Malatesta's successor, Francesco Maria della Rovere, for whom he obtained the command of the papal troops. Charged with the arrangement of the dispute be tween Clement VII. (Medici) and Charles V., Castiglione crossed, in 1524, into Spain, where he was received with honour, being afterwards naturalized, and made bishop of Avila. In 1527, how ever, Rome was seized and sacked by the Imperialists under Bour bon, and in July of the same year the surrender of the castle of Sant' Angelo placed Clement in their hands. Castiglione had been tricked by the emperor, but there were not wanting accusations of treachery against himself. He had, however, placed fidelity highest among the virtues of his ideal "courtier," and when he died at Toledo on Feb. 7, 1529 it was said that he had died of grief and shame at the imputation. The emperor mourned him as "one of the world's best cavaliers." Castiglione wrote little, but that little is of rare merit. His verses, in Latin and Italian, are elegant in the extreme ; his letters (Padua, are full of grace and finesse. But the book by which he is best remembered is the famous treatise, Il Cortegiano, written in 1514, published at Venice by Aldus in 1528, and translated into English by Thomas Hoby, the Courtyer of Count Baldessar Castilio as early as This book, called by the Italians Il Libro d'oro, is one of the great books of 16th century European prose literature ; it describes the Italian gentle man of the Renaissance under his brightest and fairest aspect, and gives a charming picture of the court of Guidobaldo, duke of Urbino, "confessedly the purest and most elevated court in Italy." In the form of a discussion held in the duchess's drawing room—with Elizabeth Gonzaga, Pietro Bembo, Bernardo Bib biena, Giuliano de' Medici, Emilia Pia, and Ceretino the Unique among the speakers—the question, what constitutes a perfect courtier, is debated. With but few differences, the type deter mined on is the ideal gentleman of the present day.