-
Articles/Ads
Article REVIEW OF NEW PUBLICATIONS. ← Page 3 of 9 →
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Review Of New Publications.
amined and illustrated . Nor did Loreazo less encourage the study of architecture , at the Ivad of which was GuiliAno da San Gallo . . Attempts were made to renew the praftice of the Mosaic . Certain goldsmiths of Florence invented engraving on copper , while other artists of the same city revived the art of engiaving on gems and stone . Of the splendid aira of Leo X . Mr . Roscoe gives a brief but accurate- review ; and afterwards relates many particulars of the rest of his family , till
the election of Cosmo to be Duke of Tuscany .. ' Tims terminated the Florentine republic , which had subsisted , amidst the agitations of civil commotions and the shock of external attacks , for upwards of three centuries , and had produced , from its circumscribed territory , a . greater number of eminent men than any other country . This singular pre-eminence is chiefl y to be attributed to the nature of its government , which called forth the talents of every rank of citizensand admitted them
, , without distinction , to the chief offices of the state . But the splendor which the Florentines derived from examples of public virtue and efforts of superlative genius was frequently tarnished by the sanguinary contests of rival parties . The beneficent genius of Lorenzo de Medici for a . time removed this reproach , and combined a state of hi gh intelleCtual improvement with the tranquility of well-ordered government . The various pursuits in which he had himself engaged appearedindeedto have been Subservient only to the great
, , purpose , the humanizing and improving his countrymen . His premature death left the commonwealth without a pilot ; and , after a long series of agitation , the hapless wreck became a rich and unexpected prize to Cosmo de Medici . , With Cosmo , who afterwards assumed the title of Grand Duke , commences a dynasty of- sovereigns' succession until the early part of the present century , when the sceptre of Tuscany passed from the imbecile hands
Of Gaston de Medici into the stronger grasp of the family of Austria . During the government of Cosmo , the talents of" the Florentines , habituated to great exertions , but suddenly debarred from farther interference with the direction of the state , sought out new channels , and displayed themselves in works cf genius and of art , which threw a lustre on the sovereign , and gave additional credit to the new establishment ; but , as those who were born under the republic retired in the course of nature , the energies of the Florentines
gradually declined . Under the equalizing baud of Despotism , whilst the diffusion of literature was promoted , the exertions of real genius were suppressed . The numerous and illustrious families whose names bad , forages , been the glory of the republic , the Soderini , the Strozzi , the Ridoiphi , the Rucceiiai , the Valori , and the Capponi , who had negotiated with moilarchs , and operated , by their personal characters , on the politics of Europe , sunk at once to the uniform level of subjects , aud became the subordinate and
domestic officers of the ruling familv . From this time the history of Florence is the history of the alliances , the negotiations , the virtues , or the vices , of its reigning prince ; andeven ^ towards these , the annals of the times furnished but scanty documents . The Florentine historians , as if unwilling to perpetuate the records of their subjugation , have almost invariably closed their labours with the fall cf the republic ; and the desire of information fortunatel y terminates where the want of it begins . ' P . ' 310 . .
We have dwelt thus long on this excellent addition to the few good specimens of modern history j in which the happy choice and arrangement of materials is only exceeded by the judicious observations and deductions , and the chasteness of the style in which the whole is couched . A copious appendix and index are subjoined to ea £ l \ volume . The plates -are , portraits of Lorenzo , Cosmo , and Guillano de Medici , and of Leo X "; besides medals , medallions , and smaller subjeCts in vignettes .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Review Of New Publications.
amined and illustrated . Nor did Loreazo less encourage the study of architecture , at the Ivad of which was GuiliAno da San Gallo . . Attempts were made to renew the praftice of the Mosaic . Certain goldsmiths of Florence invented engraving on copper , while other artists of the same city revived the art of engiaving on gems and stone . Of the splendid aira of Leo X . Mr . Roscoe gives a brief but accurate- review ; and afterwards relates many particulars of the rest of his family , till
the election of Cosmo to be Duke of Tuscany .. ' Tims terminated the Florentine republic , which had subsisted , amidst the agitations of civil commotions and the shock of external attacks , for upwards of three centuries , and had produced , from its circumscribed territory , a . greater number of eminent men than any other country . This singular pre-eminence is chiefl y to be attributed to the nature of its government , which called forth the talents of every rank of citizensand admitted them
, , without distinction , to the chief offices of the state . But the splendor which the Florentines derived from examples of public virtue and efforts of superlative genius was frequently tarnished by the sanguinary contests of rival parties . The beneficent genius of Lorenzo de Medici for a . time removed this reproach , and combined a state of hi gh intelleCtual improvement with the tranquility of well-ordered government . The various pursuits in which he had himself engaged appearedindeedto have been Subservient only to the great
, , purpose , the humanizing and improving his countrymen . His premature death left the commonwealth without a pilot ; and , after a long series of agitation , the hapless wreck became a rich and unexpected prize to Cosmo de Medici . , With Cosmo , who afterwards assumed the title of Grand Duke , commences a dynasty of- sovereigns' succession until the early part of the present century , when the sceptre of Tuscany passed from the imbecile hands
Of Gaston de Medici into the stronger grasp of the family of Austria . During the government of Cosmo , the talents of" the Florentines , habituated to great exertions , but suddenly debarred from farther interference with the direction of the state , sought out new channels , and displayed themselves in works cf genius and of art , which threw a lustre on the sovereign , and gave additional credit to the new establishment ; but , as those who were born under the republic retired in the course of nature , the energies of the Florentines
gradually declined . Under the equalizing baud of Despotism , whilst the diffusion of literature was promoted , the exertions of real genius were suppressed . The numerous and illustrious families whose names bad , forages , been the glory of the republic , the Soderini , the Strozzi , the Ridoiphi , the Rucceiiai , the Valori , and the Capponi , who had negotiated with moilarchs , and operated , by their personal characters , on the politics of Europe , sunk at once to the uniform level of subjects , aud became the subordinate and
domestic officers of the ruling familv . From this time the history of Florence is the history of the alliances , the negotiations , the virtues , or the vices , of its reigning prince ; andeven ^ towards these , the annals of the times furnished but scanty documents . The Florentine historians , as if unwilling to perpetuate the records of their subjugation , have almost invariably closed their labours with the fall cf the republic ; and the desire of information fortunatel y terminates where the want of it begins . ' P . ' 310 . .
We have dwelt thus long on this excellent addition to the few good specimens of modern history j in which the happy choice and arrangement of materials is only exceeded by the judicious observations and deductions , and the chasteness of the style in which the whole is couched . A copious appendix and index are subjoined to ea £ l \ volume . The plates -are , portraits of Lorenzo , Cosmo , and Guillano de Medici , and of Leo X "; besides medals , medallions , and smaller subjeCts in vignettes .