Yet the Papal capital did not wholly cease to be the resort of students and of artists.

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.