" Memoir of William Roscoe^ Esq. 201 



works of art, were diligently employed to store his mind, or to 

 improve his taste, with the wisdom and art of former ages. 



In the year 1789, after much previous study of Italian litera- 

 ture, he began to devote himself to the object of his early ambi- 

 tion, the Life of Lorenzo tJie Magnificent. In the course of 

 that year he communicated his intention to his valued friend 

 William Clarke (who, on account of his health, in the autumn 

 of 1789, had fixed his residence at Fiesole, near Florence), and 

 requested his assistance in collecting manuscript documents re- 

 lating to the subject. The fruits of the friendly exertions of 

 that amiable man are best given in Roscoe's own words. 



— " An intimate friend, with whom I had been many years 

 united in studies and affection, 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 to the Laurentian and Ri- 

 cardi Libraries, which I was convinced would afford much ori- 

 ginal 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 his return 

 to his native country was, if possible, rendered still more grate- 

 ful to me, by the materials which he had collected for my use *.'" 



Of these documents several are published entire in the ap- 

 pendix to Roscoe's work, especially the poems of Lorenzo ; the 

 existence of which had escaped the knowledge of the former 

 biographers of the Princely Merchant, 



From a very early period, Mr Roscoe had taken a deep in- 

 terest in political matters. In the year 1788, he took an active 

 part at the meeting which, in Liverpool, as well as in other 

 parts of England, assembled to commemorate the centenary of 

 the Revolution that expelled the family of Stuart from the 

 throne of these kingdoms ; and he composed an ode, which was 

 recited on that occasion. 



In the following year the French Revolution broke out; and, 

 in common with many warm and generous spirits, he hailed its 

 fair and auspicious dawn with all the devotion of a friend to the 



* Preface to Lorenzo. 



