Excerpt from The Courtier: IL Cortegiano The C ourtier has appeared in a hundred and forty edi tions, in several languages. It was translated into English first by Thomas Hoby, in 1561 (second edition, then by Robert Samber in 1724, and by A. P. Castiglione in 1727. For this edition we have used Hoby's version, changing his spelling to modern form, for the ease of the reader, but retaining all his quaint ness of diction, which so admirably suits the subject and its treatment in the original. Dr. Samuel Johnson is reported by Boswell as saying: The best book that ever was written upon good breeding, ll Cortegicmo, by Castiglione, grew up at the little court of Urbino, and you should read it