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Article: A LITTLE ADVICE.(Review)
- Article from:
- Commonweal
- Article date:
- August 13, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 Commonweal Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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How to Do It
Guides to Good Living for
Renaissance Italians
Rudolph M. Bell
University of Chicago Press, $25, 374 pp.
This is the perfect book for a family vacation. Sitting in your summertime rocker, you can turn to the attendant spouse and say, "Listen to this! You want to know a recipe for male potency? Pietro Andrea Mattioli (1500-77) recommends nasturtiums eaten whole, seeds of nettle mixed with wine, or kidneys of saltwater lizard." Count Giovanni Maria Bonardo's jesting marriage advice (Compagnia della lesina, 1591): a big dowry and a small wife-you can economize by purchasing a smaller bed!
Worried about that surly adolescent lurking ...