Hyperion, illustr. from drawings by B. Foster

In John Lyly's Endymion, Sir Topas is made to say; "Dost thou know what a Poet is? Why, fool, a Poet is as much as one should say, - a Poet!" And thou, reader, dost thou know what a hero is? Why, a hero is as much as one should say, - a hero! Some romance-writers, however, say much more than this. Nay, the old Lombard, Matteo Maria Bojardo, set all the church-bells in Scandiano ringing, merely because he had found a name for one of his heroes.