a kind of scaffolding. In the class of illustrated books two sorts
are at present most in demand. The ancient woodcuts and engravings,
often the work of artists like Holbein and Durer, can never lose
their interest. Among old illustrated books, the most famous, and
one of the rarest, is the "Hypnerotomachia Poliphili," "wherein all
human matters are proved to be no more than a dream." This is an
allegorical romance, published in 1499, for Francesco Colonna, by
Aldus Manucius. Poliam Frater Franciscus Columna peramavit.
"Brother Francesco Colonna dearly loved Polia," is the inscription
and device of this romance. Poor Francesco, of the order of
preachers, disguised in this strange work his passion for a lady of
uncertain name. Here is a translation of the passage in which the
lady describes the beginning of his affection. "I was standing, as
is the manner of women young and fair, at the window, or rather on
the balcony, of my palace. My yellow hair, the charm of maidens,
was floating round my shining shoulders. My locks were steeped in
unguents that made them glitter like threads of gold, and they were
slowly drying in the rays of the burning sun. A handmaid, happy in
her task, was drawing a comb through my tresses, and surely these of
Andromeda seemed not more lovely to Perseus, nor to Lucius the locks
of Photis. {6} On a sudden, Poliphilus beheld me, and could not
withdraw from me his glances of fire, and even in that moment a ray
of the sun of love was kindled in his heart."

The fragment is itself a picture from the world of the Renaissance.
We watch the blonde, learned lady, dreaming of Perseus, and Lucius,
Greek lovers of old time, while the sun gilds her yellow hair, and
the young monk, passing below, sees and loves, and "falls into the
deep waters of desire." The lover is no less learned than the lady,
and there is a great deal of amorous archaeology in his account of