There was also a little daughter of the Marquis, of about ten, who writes Greek beautifully; and many other pupils, some of noble birth, attended them.' The medal struck by Pisanello in honor of Vittorino da Feltre bears the ensign of a pelican feeding her young from a wound in her own breast--a symbol of the master's self-sacrifice.[1] I hope to return in the second volume of this work to Vittorino.

It is enough here to remark that in this good school the Duke of Urbino acquired that solid culture which distinguished him through life.

In after years, when the cares of his numerous engagements fell thick upon him, we hear from Vespasiano that he still prosecuted his studies, reading Aristotle's Ethics, Politics, and Physics, listening to the works of S.Thomas Aquinas and Scotus read aloud, perusing at one time the Greek fathers and at another the Latin historians.[2] How profitably he spent his day at Urbino may be gathered from this account of his biographer: 'He was on horseback at daybreak with four or six mounted attendants and not more, and with one or two foot servants unarmed.

He would ride out three or four miles, and be back again when the rest of his court rose from bed.

After dismounting, he heard mass.