This is a translation from the Italian of

by Torquato Tasso (1544-1595). It was published in 1588 and the initials ‘T.K.’ are affixed to the title page. Thomas Kyd is generally accepted as the author of the work. This in some part also due to the reference in Thomas Nashe’s Preface to Robert Greene’s

of the “Kidde” that took to “intermeddle with Italian translations”. The dedicatee of the tract, one “Thomas Reade”, is as yet untraced.

The book is a short prose dialogue concerned with the management of the home and estate. It is prefaced by an index of the topics mentioned in the pamphlet. In common with Kyd’s translation of Robert Garnier’s Cornélie, this translation is not literal but interspersed with marginal comments and

152 words

Citation: Owens, Rebekah . "The Householder’s Philosophy". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 15 April 2009 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=24178, accessed 25 November 2024.]