The art of living long / a new and improved English version of the treatise by the celebrated Venetian centenarian Luidi Cornaro ; with essays by Joseph Addison, Lord Bacon, and Sir William Temple.

  • Cornaro, Luigi, 1475-1566.
Date:
1913
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The art of living long / a new and improved English version of the treatise by the celebrated Venetian centenarian Luidi Cornaro ; with essays by Joseph Addison, Lord Bacon, and Sir William Temple. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    has constructed at Covigliano [sic] at such an enormous ex- pense that it commands the admiration of all who see it; and even then he did not remain more than a day.” Oh, what were the quiet pleasures of a residence in such a place, to the ambi- tion of a Cardinal who was eligible to the papal chair! He abandoned even his Bishopric for Borne! Luigi Comaro, on the other hand, knew how to, and did, find such pleasures; and all the things he had built for him- self he enjoyed both heartily and for a great length of time. In 1542, remembering that he had always benefited “literati, musicians, architects, painters, sculptors, and others,” and that he had spent “many and many thousands of crowns in stately buildings and in many beautiful gardens,” to Speroni he prided himself that he knew how to enjoy every happiness in “such well-arranged habitations and beautiful gardens of his own creation.” And, though “many who attain these things do not generally enjoy them,” he promised himself that, thanks to his temperate life, he would yet continue to enjoy them many and many years — which promise he certainly fulfilled. Later, in his happy and industrious old age, he again expressed his satisfaction over it; and he delighted to tell how he divided his time between town and country. To this very circumstance we are indebted to him for some interesting points on the subject of our research. “I go,” he writes, “in April and May, and again in Sep- tember and October, to enjoy a country-seat of mine in the Euganean Hills, most beautifully situated, with its gardens and fountains, and especially its beautiful and comfortable dwelling. I sometimes go there, also, to take part in the pleasant and agreeable hunting, of the kind suitable to my age. I enjoy, for as many days, my villa in the plain, which is beautiful, with many pretty streets all meeting in a fine square, in the center of which stands its church, highly honored, as befits the importance of the place. The villa is divided by a wide and rapid branch of the river Brenta, on either side of which the