At length thy long-lost liberty regain, Tear the strong tie, and break th' inglorious chain; Till love, the serpent that destroy'd thy ret, Crush'd by her hand, shall mourn his humbled crest. On the Death of POLITIAN, occasioned by a fall from a Stair-Case, as he was playing on his Lute. AN ELEGY on the Death of his Friend LORENZO DE' MEDICI; by the same. WHILST borne in sable-state, Lorenzo's Bier The tyrant death his proudest triumph brings, ·He mark'd a bard in agony severe, Smite with delirious hand the sounding strings. He stopt, he gaz'd: the storm of passion rag'd; And ev'ry god was call'd to his relief. The tyrant smil'd, and mindful of the hour, When from the shades his consort Orpheus led- He spoke, and speaking, launch'd the shaft of fate, Account of Books for 1795. The Life of Lorenzo de' Medici, called the Magnificent. By Wil. lium Roscoe, 4to. 2 vol. 1795. IT T was asserted, probably with justice, by Gibbon, that there is no scholar in Asia who might not. receive accessions to his knowledge from the perusal of the work of d'Herbelot, a native of the remote and unbelieving countries of the west. It might, perhaps, be affirmed, with equal propriety, that the most learned men of Ispahan and Constantinople would profit by the study of the oriental writings of Sir William Jones. We know with certainty that d'Anville was capable of instructing the inhabitants of the Banks of the Nile and the Euphrates, in the ancient geography of Egypt and Assyria. None of these triumphs of learned industry, however, over the obstacles of a foreign language of dissimilar manners, and of distance both in time and place, are in our opinion so striking as that which is exhibited in the work now before us. In all the instances to which we have alluded, the nations which suffered themselves to be surpassed in their own national literature, by foreigners, had declined from their ancient splendour. In some of the examples, those nations had become altogether rude and barbarous. I: excites no wonder that the scholars of Oxford and Gottingen should be more familiar with the history of Pericles, and more conversant with the writings of Thucydides, than the wretched and ignorant inhabitants of modern Athens: but that discoveries should be made in the literature of one of the most polite and learned nations of Europe, by a foreigner who had never visited that country, who was not professionally devoted to study, who did not enjoy the ease of lettered leisure, but who was immersed in the pursuits of an active and laborious profession, is a circumstance so singular and so wonderful, as to be of itself sufficient to confer no mean degree of interest and importance on the work of Mr. Roscoe. That Italian poems of the 15th century, unknown to the scholars of Italy in the present age, should be given to the public by an attor ney of Liverpool, is a fact which we believe to be unparalleled in the history of literature. The reader will naturally be curious to learn how a writer, in the circumstances of Mr. Roscoe, could have been encouraged to attempt a In the eye of Mahommedans-unbelieving. work not implying merely the addition of elegance and philosophy to the narrative of facts already known, which a Hume, a Robertson, or a Gibbon, might have bestowed in their closets, but containing valuable and important accessions to the stock of our historical knowledge. This curiosity will be best satisfied by the author himself,-Speaking of the labours of his predecessors, he says, Such being the attempts that had been made to exhibit to the pub lic the life and labours of Lorenzo de' Medici, I conceived that there could be no great degree of arrogance in endeavouring to give a more full and particular account of them: nor was I deterred from the undertaking by the consideration, that Providence had placed my lot beyond the limits of that favoured country. Lorenzo de' Medici, during the short but splendid æra of his life, as a common centre, and derived from him its invariable preservation and support. Under these impressions, I began to collect such scattered notices respecting him as fell in my way; and the Florentine histories of Macchiavelli and Amirato, the cri tical labours of Crescimbeni, Muratori, Bandini, and Tiraboschi, with other works of less importance, of which I then found myself possessed, supplied me with materials towards the execution of my plan. I had not however proceeded far, before I perceived that the subject deserved a more minute enquiry; for which purpose it would be uecessary to resort to contemporary authorities, and if possible to original documents. The impracticability of obtaining in this country the information of which I stood in need would perhaps have damped the ar "Ch' Appenin parte, e'l mar circonda dour of my undertaking, had not el' Alpe." "The truth is that, in a remote part of this remote kingdom, and deprived of the many advantages peculiar to seats of learning, I saw no difficulty in giving a more full, distinct, and accurate idea of the subject than could be collected from any performance I had then met with. For some years past, the works of the Italian writers had amused a portion of my leisure hours; a partiality for any particular object generally awakens the desire of obtaining far ther information respecting it, and from the perusal of the Italian poets, I was insensibly led to attend to the literary history of that cultivated nation. In tracing the rise of modern Literature, I soon perceived that every thing great and estimable in science and in art revolved round a circumstance presented itself in the highest degree favourable to my purpose. An intimate friend, with whom I had been many years united in studies and affections, had paid a visit to Italy, and had fixed his winter residence at Florence. I well knew that I had only to request his assistance, in order to obtain whatever information he had an opportunity of procuring, from the very spot which was to be the scene of my intended history. My inquiries were particularly directed towards the Laurentian and Riccardi libraries, which I was convinced would afford much original and interesting information. It would be unjust merely to say that my friend afforded me the assistance I required; he went far beyond even the hopes I had formed, and [*L 2] his his return to his native country was, if possible, renderd still more grateful to me, by the materials he had collected for my use. Among these, I had the pleasure to find several beautiful poems of Lorenzo de' Medici, the originals of which are deposited in the Laurentian Li. brary, although the former editors of his works appear not to have had the slightest information respecting them. These poems, which have been copied with great accuracy, and, where it was possible, collated with different manuscripts, will for the first time be given to the public at the close of the present volume. The munificence of the late Great Duke Leopald, and the liberality of the Marquis Ric. cardi had laid open the inestimable treasures of their collections to every inquirer; and under the regulations of the venerable Canonico Bandini, to whose labours the literary history of Italy is highly indebted, such arrangements have been adopted in the Laurentian Library, that every difficulty which might retard research is effectually removed. Unlike the immense but ill-digested and almost prohibited collections of the Vatican, the libraries of Florence are the common property of the learned of all nations; and an institution founded by Cosmo, and promoted by Lorenzo de' Medici, yet subsists, the noblest monument of their glory, the most authentic depository of their fame." The first chapter of this valuable work is introductory. It contains a slight sketch of the history of the Republic of Florence and of the House of Medici, till the time of Cosmo de' Medici, the grandfather of Lorenzo, of whose life it presents us with a full and interesting account. The History of Florence had indeed been delineated in a manner so masterly by Machiavel, that it would have been prudent in any modern author, to have abstained from it, even if it had a natural connexion with his subject. It is perhaps the most instructive work which has appeared in modern times, on the nature and causes of those convulsions that are incident to popular governments. If Tacitus be justly celebrated for having painted with so much force the excesses of regal tyranny, and the atrocious cruelty that lurks beneath the exterior of polished manners, among nations who are advanced from refinement into corruption, the Florentine History of Machiavel deserves similar praise for an equally admitable picture of the vices which belong to a different state of society, of the rage of faction and ferocity of civil dissension, which seem inseparable from extreme democracy, of the banishments, prescriptions, and confiscations, which have but too uniformly characterized that species of government. The account of the House of Medici is scarcely interesting till, under Cosmo, the history of that family becomes the history of literature. From that period, indeed, the remark of Lipsius is justified, that they seem to have been a race particularly destined by Providence for the restoration and protection of polite letters. There is perhaps nothing more interesting in literary annals, than the discovery of ancient manuscripts by those learned men who were patronized by Cosmo de' Medici. What cultivator or admirer of literature will not, even now, feel some agitation, when he re flects that fifty years more of neglect might have destroyed the works of Lucretius and Quintilian; and who can help feeling the most poignant regret, when he considers that, at that critical and interesting period, a little more early or more fortunate search might have preserved the Decades of Livy? Though, how. ever the more early history of the house of Medici does not possess so general an interest, it is not without important political instruction. We find that this family, which at length acquired absolute power in the republic of which they were citizens, paved the way to that despotic authority by being champions for popular privileges and leaders of the democratic party. This is the path which, in almost every age, has been trodden by those who have shackled the liberties of their country. It was from the shoulders of the rabble that Pisistratus, Cæsar, and Cromwell, mounted the throne: and the patrons of licentiousness have almost uniformly proved to be only candidates for tyranny. Far be it from us to make any inference from these facts which might discourage great and generous minds from exertions in the defence of liberty, the noblest exercise of the human faculties in the service of mankind; and equally distant is it from our wishes to impede the progress of such minds, and to defraud them of that glory which is their just reward, by diffusing a base, ignoble, and harassing distrust of their purity: but, if our voice could have any authority or effect, we should never cease to inculcate on the citizens of free states the necessity of suspecting the honestly of violent men, of detecting the tyrant in the disguise of the demagogue, and of perpetually distinguishing those who contend for the laws, the constitution, and the li berties of their country, from those who would sacrifice that constitution and those laws under pretext of vi sionary philanthropy, but often merely for the purposes of interested ambition:-Homines non tam commutandarum quam evertendarum ṛerum cupidi. The second chapter of Mr. Ros coe's work is employed in describ ing the early periods of the life of Lorenzo, and the administration of Pierro de' Medici, who was inferior in abilities both to his father Cosmo and his son Lorenzo; and whose life is distinguished by little else. than that patronage of literature which was hereditary in his family. In the third chapter, we find Lorenzo himself, as the first citizen of Florence, without any name or appearance of supreme magistracy, called to the administration of the affairs of the republic; with a singular and undefinable species of authority, somewhat similar to that which Pericles enjoyed at Athens, and which satisfied the ambition of Pompey, at Rome. The authority and ascendancy of a powerful citizen guided the public affairs, without violating the forms of a free constitution. Salva Libertate Po tens. Several curious subjects are treated in this chapter. The city of Florence is perhaps the only one of which the " Merchants" literally became "Princes." Mr. Roscoe has presented us with some very striking proofs of the wealth of the house of Medici. In a period of only thirty-seven years, they had expended, in works of charity or public utilty, a sum of not less than 663,755 fiorths; and if we take into the account the value of money 360 years ago, this sum will appear [*L 3] almost |