The universities maintained themselves in a respectable position--far different, indeed, from that which they had held in the last century, yet not ignoble.

Much was being learned on many lines of study divergent from those prescribed by earlier humanists.

Padua, in particular, distinguished itself for medical researches.

This was the flourishing time, moreover, of Academies in which, notwithstanding nonsense talked and foolish tastes indulged, some solid work was done for literature and science.

The names of the Cimento, Delia Crusca and Palazzo Vernio at Florence remind us of not unimportant labors in physics, in the analysis of language, and in the formation of a new dramatic style of music.