*164), ANNUAL REGISTER, 1795. 
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 se- 
veral beautiful poems of Lorenzo 
de’: Medici, the originals of which 
afe deposited in the Laurentian Li- 
brary, although the former editors 
of his works appear not to have 
had the slightest information re- 
specting them. These poems, which 
have been copied with great accu- 
racy, and, where it was possible, 
collated witb different manuscripts, 
will for the first time be given to 
the public at the close of the pre- 
sent 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 re- 
gulations of the venerable Cano- 
nico Bandini, to whose labours the 
literary history of Italy is highly 
indebted, such arrangements have 
been adopted in the Laurentian Li- 
brary, that every difficulty which 
might retard research is effectually 
yemoved. Unlike the immense but 
ill-digested and almost prohibited 
collections of the Vatican, the li- 
braries of Florence are the common 
property of the learned of all na 
tions; and an institution founded by 
Casmo, 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 isintroductory. It containsa 
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 Tas 
citus be justly celebrated for having 
painted with so much force the ex- 
cesses 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: 
admirable picture of the vices which 
belong to a different state of soci- 
ety, of the rage of faction and 
ferocity of civil dissension, which. 
seem inseparable from extreme de- 
mocracy, of the banishments, pre- 
scriptions, 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 lite- 
rature. 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 diseovery 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 
