Before the hiftory proceeds it is neceffary to advert, to the conftitution of Florence, in which this family acted fo confpicuous a part. Amidst many fluctuations between the popular and Patrician parties, in which the Medici seem generally to have fided with the former, a government bordering upon the democratic form took its rife, in which a Gonfaloniere, or Standard Bearer, as chief magiftrate, and a number of Priori, fometimes fo few as fix, and never more than twelve, held the fovereign fway.

"The office of Gonfaloniere gave him almost unlimited authority; but the shortness of its duration (two months) rendered its power and its grandeur lefs offenfive and lefs formidable. This mode of government continued till the year 1532, when a new political system was introduced, and the Florentine republic, after repeated ftruggles, and painful agonies, breathed its laft convulfive figh in the arms of Aleffandro de Medici."

Among the individuals mentioned in this chapter, feveral paffed through life in perfect obfcurity. Of others nothing is recorded but the years in which they held the offices of Gonfaloniere or Priore; and but a few were distinguished for their fervices, their intrigues, or their misfortunes. Among the latter, Salveftro, who was chofen Gonfaloniere in the year 1378, was confpicuous for having moderated the fury of the people, whom in the main he favoured, after Michele Lando, a common woolcomber, had excited them to

This is the pedigree as we collect it from the work before us; but it differs in many refpects from that given in the great history of the Houfe of Medici, by Reguccio Galluzzi.

acts

acts of violence against the nobles. Veri, his eldest for, acted a no lefs able part, in refifting the encroachments of Tomafo d'Albizzi, an afpiring Patrician; against whom Antonio, the nephew of Salveftro, headed an unfuccefsful confpiracy, was torn from a fan&tuary, and led to execution. Giovanni, the eldeft fon of Bicci, laid the foundation of the greatnefs of the family. After returning from banifhment, he became equally eminent for his prudence and his opulence. He was elected Gonfaloniere in 1422; and by means of the influence he retained after the expiration of his high office, he fucceeded to temper the rage of parties, and bring about a peace with the Duke of Milan. Cofmo and Lorenzo, his two fons, were the founders of the two great branches of the Medici family; while from Giovenci, the fecond fon of Everard II, fprung a line not diftinguished for any perfonage of greater eminence than Leo XI, who fat 27 days on the papal throne.

Cofmo, whom we have just now named, was one of the brighteft ornaments of this illuftrious race, and more than one half of this firft chapter is taken up in relating his struggles with the Albizzi family; his honourable banishment; his recall by public acclamation; his difcharge of the office of Gonfaloniere, in the year 1435; his exertions in favour of Francesco Sforza, who aimed at the fovereignty of Milan; his territorial acquifitions, by which he extended and rounded the dominions of the Florentine Republic; and, laftly, his death, in 1464, after having many years virtually reigned in his native city; and by the rectitude of his conduct, and the vigour of his genius, which triumphed over the volatile and fickle difpofition of his fellow citizens, acquired the great and glorious title of Father of his Country. His character is given at large in the work before us, and a parallel is drawn between him and Peri cles, in which Cofmo appears to have the fuperiority, in the permanency of the happy effects derived from his adminiftration. The protection given by him to the learned who fled from Conftantinople, may be confidered as the first step towards the revival of letters in the West of Europe.

The vulgar error of the defcent of the Medicis, from a physician, first propagated by a French writer, is refuted in this chapter, by the authentic documents adduced of the real origin of the family and a paffage is quoted from Rofcoe, in which that elegant and fagacious writer expreffes the fame incredulity as to this gratuitous tale.

The IInd and IIIrd chapters are entirely literary, and embrace the carlieft period, down to the death of Cofmo; which will be allowed to claim no fmall celebrity, fince it com prifes the names of Dante, Petrarcha, and Boccacio. Here alfo

are

are given the characters of the most eminent among the first Greek refugees who brought the learning of the ancients into Italy, and among these are the champions of the Platonic philofophy; which, after much and vehement controversy, obtained for a while fuch faft hold of the minds of men, as to give rife to a Platonic academy at Florence. A fhort digref fion, at the end of the fecond chapter, on the modern Greek language, and the exaggerated mode of expreffion ftill in ufe among the Athenians, it it does not greatly inftru&t, will, at leaft, amuse the reader.

The IVth chapter treats of the arts; and what has ufually been denominated the Tufcan ftyle, is here traced up to the earlier periods. The Etrurian pottery, particularly that of Arezzo, is here celebrated. But the author feems to have had a foreboding, that the multitude of earthen vafes, found in Campania, Magna Græcia, and Sicily, would, on more careful confideration, turn out to be the works not of Tufcan, but moft probably of Greek artifts, who, perhaps in the first ages of Rome, reforted to thefe parts. Cimabue is the first who handled the pencil among the modern Florentines; but the progrefs of painting in this period, was flow and infignificant. Not fo the art of fculpture, fince it produced a Donatello, and a Lorenzo Ghiberti, whofe works are, to this day, the admiration of the most genuine connoiffeurs.

The Vth chapter continues the Medicean hiftory, from the death of Cofmo; and, in the progrefs of this narrative, it will be greatly conducive to keep an eye upon the following table of this pre-eminent branch of the family.

Piero Giovanni Juliano Lucrezia Madalena Conteflina drowned 1504 fince Leo X

Lorenzo Clarice"

Julio

m. Salviati

2. Cibe

m. Ridolfi

fince ClementVII

Ippolito

* See Italinski's defcriptions of a collection of ancient vases in the poffeffion of Sir William Hamilton.

Giovanni

Giovanni died in 1463, and was greatly lamented by his father, whose best hopes centered in this favourite fon. Piero, after having ftruggled for a few years, without much ability, against the factions of the Pitti, Acciajuoli, and Soderini, died in the year 1471. His fons, Lorenzo and Juliano, were left infants; and the affalfination of the latter, in the Pazzi Confpiracy, committed to the former the arduous task of fupporting alone, among various and inveterate parties, in the midst of deceit, treachery, daggers, and poison, the precarious afcendancy his house had, by this time, acquired among a people, of all others the moft turbulent and jealous of its real or imaginary freecom. His life has been fo univerfally read in a late valuable publication, that we shall not dwell upon it here. This, however, we must observe, that neither Mr. Roscoe, nor the present author, feem to have at all developed the policy by which the influence of the Medicis was either acquired or maintained. Mr. T. indeed fpeaks of the conftitutional authority of the Medicean houfe; but if we reflect on the outline we have given of the conftitution of the republic, it will be found, that no authority could lawfully be vefted in any particular family or individual. Lorenzo is never named as one of the magiftrates*; and we are left to conjecture, that the mere popularity acquired by wealth and engaging manners, was the engine that infured the fuperiority; and that this private, but munificent citizen was in fact an able, and perhaps a wellmeaning demagogue, with whom none of his countrymen could cope, either in conduct or liberality. Except the foregoing confpiracy, very little is mentioned in this chapter of the political concerns of Lorenzo. The greatest part relates to his own literary merits, and the encouragement he gave to letters; of which the particulars, especially thofe relating to the warm difputes concerning the Platonic philofophy, are given at length. Lorenzo's friend, Angelo Politiano, is one of the molt confpicuous characters in this period of literary history. The factious Dominican, Savonarolo, is equally eminent as a political, and as a literary character. Pico. of Mirandola, muft not be here omitted. His public execution has not, to this day, and even among Proteftants, deprived him of the reputation of uncommon fanctity and zeal in the cause of true religion.

Chapter VI, after an enumeration of the principal artists of the time of Lorenzo, among whom Michael Angelot blazes as

A complaint of his even appears, that his enemies, by placing his family in the rank of nobles, had excluded it from any offices. + Or Michel Agnolo, as he is called here, and by Mr. Roscoe..

a ftar

a ftar of the first magnitude, we are about the middle of this chapter brought back to Lorenzo himself; where his amiable character is delineated with warmth, his talents are extolled with fervour; and his death is lamented with pathetic fenfibility. The promifing talents of his brother Juliano, alfo receive a tribute of due praife. Piero, the elder fon of Lorenzo, is cenfured on account of his miftaken policy, with regard to the neighbouring powers; particularly his mean fubfer viency to the French monarch, which produced his expulfion and banishment. Bianca and Giovanna, fifters of Lorenzo, having married into the families of Pazzi and Rucellai, we find here ample digreffions on their defcendants, for several generations.

More than one half of the VIIth chapter, which begins the fecond volume, is taken up with the life of Giovanni de Medici, who became fo eminent under the name of Leo the Xth; and with a circumftantial and impartial account of the restora tion of the Medici family, at Florence, by his means, and the important tranfactions that brought on the Reformation. The latter part of this chapter relates wholly to men of letters. We have long wifhed to fee this period of history, one of the moft brilliant in the annals of the world, particularly the influence of Leo's reign, on learning and the arts, treated by a masterly hand. The materials collected in the work now before us, would, we are perfuaded, be of effential service towards fuch an undertaking.

The first part of the VIIIth chapter, is chiefly dedicated to the hiftory of the arts, where Raffaele and Leonardo da Vinci, lead the host of eminent names. Towards the clofe, mention is made of a few tranfactions, which relate to Juliano, brother to Leo X, whom the King of France created Duke of Nemours. Of Lucrezia, Madalena, and Conteffina, the daughters of Lorenzo, the first wedded a Salviati, the fecond a Cibo, and the third a Ridolfi; which affords opportunity for a few remarks on fome of the defcendants of thefe intermarriages.

Julio, the natural fon of Juliano, brother of Lorenzo, who, under the name of Clement VII, in most turbulent and difficult times, filled the papal chair during eleven years, is the fubject of by far the greateft part of the IXth chapter; only a few literary characters being introduced at the close of it.

Of Lorenzo, the fon of Piero, and grandfon of the Magnificent, little more is mentioned in the Xth chapter, except his marriage, his acceffion to the Dutchy of Urbino, and his death. But Clarice, his fifter, affords a more ample narrative, and a striking example of fuperior energy in a female. " She

Dd

BRIT, CRIT. VOL. XI. APRIL, 1798.