Giovanni Boccaccio, a Biographical Study

PREFACE

It might seem proper, in England at least, to preface any book dealing frankly with the author of the _Decameron_ with an apology for, and perhaps a defence of, its subject. I shall do nothing of the kind. Indeed, this is not the place, if any be, to undertake the defence of Boccaccio. His life, the facts of his life, his love, his humanity, and his labours, plentifully set ...