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remained in doubtful and anxious apprehension till reassured by a noble speech which that illustrious man addressed to them. Thus had Florence triumphed; and we may surely say that a people who could act so bravely in the day of adversity and so gently in the very flush of conquest, deserved to triumph. But, alas! she had now reached her culminating point; the faults of her constitution were about to develop themselves in all their fulness; and Florence, the noble, the glorious, and the free, was to become the degraded heirloom of a race of base-born and falsehearted tyrants.

We have already alluded to the struggles between the Florentine people and their ancient nobles, and the final triumph of the former and the utter prostration of the latter-a prostration so complete that the greater part of them were actually deprived of the rights of citizenship.

A different state of things now existed; the affairs of the commonwealth were conducted by the Uzzaneschi, under the presidency of the great family of the Albizzi, who held an influence somewhat similar to that possessed for two or three generations by the Alcmæonidæ at Athens.

Discontent had, however, arisen amongst the people, and dangers of various kinds were apprehended to the commonwealth, when the celebrated Maso degli Albizzi expired.

The bell that tolled his funeral knell was the saddest sound that Florence ever heard, for his death removed from the stage the firmest friend of Florentine freedom, and the only man who, from ability and standing, was able to cope successfully with the rising power of the Medici.

As has frequently been the case, the political crisis was hastened, or rather produced, by a financial one; and, as also has been the case, the man who paved the way for the ruin of his country came forward as a financial reformer.

"The Uzzaneschi had for a while monopolized all the offices of the state. Their aim," says Captain Napier, who is very impartial in his censure of everything approaching to aristocracy; "was to perpetrate despotism by repressing the middle and lower classes of artizans, and

5

5 The following observations, extracted from a later portion of the work, are very just. Speaking of the Revolution of 1494, he says:

"So ended for a season the Medician rule in Florence after sixty years' duration, but only to be revived with greater vigour, greater tyranny, and more fatal permanence for two-and-fifty years before had the exclusively Guelphic sway of the Albizzi endured, and thus two private families domincered over the Florentine republic for the long period of a hundred and twelve years. The Albizzi ruled with some consideration for public liberty in all that did not directly affect their political power, and certainly with less vindictiveness than the Medici; the latter with an incipient moderation that gradually swelled into a total contempt even of the meagré

subduing their leaders amongst the noble popolani; such, for instance, as the Rieci Alberti and others, but more especially the Medici, who had acquired a dangerous distinction by the reputation of Salvestro and Vieri, by popular attachment, and by the enmity of their political antagonists. This policy was for a while most rigidly pursued; but finally the confidence arising from undisputed power, disagreement amongst themselves, mutual jealousy, and, above all, the death of Maso degli Albizzi, altogether slackened their vigilance, and the Medici, who had gradually been increasing in opulence and public estimation, became again politically conspicuous, and were silently creeping into the highest official dignities, when, as it were to crown their triumph, Giovanni di Bicci appeared as gonfalonier of justice in 1421. This re-opened the door of public honours and employment to that family (and) ended, as Niccolo da Uzzano had foreseen, in the Albizzi's destruction and the ultimate downfall of their party."-p. 104.

At length the leaders of the Uzzaneschi decided on having recourse to a reactionary measure to check the growing power of the plebeians, protect their own exemptions, and perpetuate their own influence.

"Thus determined, they waited for a favorable occasion; and this came with the election of Lorenzo Ridolfi and Francesco Gianfiglazzi respectively as prior and gonfalonier of justice, in July, 1425. Seventy principal citizens of their party assembled, by permission of this chief magistrate, in St. Stephen's Church, where Rinaldo degli Albizzi, in a long oration, implored them to sink all former quarrels in oblivion and unite for the common good."

After expatiating on the evils arising from the continually increasing power of the mongrel-bred rabble, many of whom were not Florentines by birth, and none of whom had any stake in the republic, any interest in its welfare, or any sympathy with its greatness, he proceeded to propose a law which would, in his opinion, meet all the exigencies of the case.

"You know (said he) that the city is divided into three conditions of men, namely, the Scioperati", the merchants, and the artificers; you are likewise acquainted with the laws of your ancestors, which declare, that in the number of priors, there shall be two of the minor,. and the rest of the major arts and Scioperati, and the same in the

forms of liberty. The ambition of the first was to be chiefs of a republican community, to direct the energies of a free people, but not reduce them to servitude: they were a faction, but one of great vigour, great ability, and some real patriotism. The desire of the last was to become sovereign princes of Florence, and, for selfaggrandisement, the destroyers of its political liberty."

"The Scioperati were those who lived on their rents, or funded property, or ather means, without exercising any profession, trade, or official employment, for a livelihood."

colleges. But in the council of the people, where all votes centre and where all acts terminate, there are out of twenty-one trades, seven of the greater and fourteen of the lesser. Now take notice, that there, two parts out of the three are of the inferior arts, and the remaining third only of the superior; and thus the law is infringed. And so you will find every council in like manner corrupted, the law unheeded, your measures unsuccessful, and the people hating you, but with a majority of votes in their hands; and thus do you peril your own power and the public liberty! The remedy now sought for is, that these fourteen trades should be reduced to seven, and their place in the government be filled by the Scioperati and greater arts; for thus we shall exclude them from the magistracy, and none of your measures will be defeated. You know how our fathers strengthened themselves by reducing the two additional arts (in 1382); let us follow their example, and be ye sure, that if the reduction of two so helped them, what may not we expect from a diminution of seven? It will enable us to restore the old nobility, now no longer formidable, to their just place in the commonwealth, and thus increase our own power of keeping down the people, who can never stand against such union; and lastly, it is the province of reason and prudence, to make a various use of men in various times and circumstances; to our ancestors their abasement was expedient, and so to us is their restoration."-Vol. iii. pp. 110, 111.

When Rinaldo had concluded with the words "Let us to work, then; let what is uppermost in the mind be efficiently carried out, so that liberty may yet remain to the commonwealth and its citizens," all eyes were turned on Niccolo da Uzzano, whose age, wisdom, and experience stamped him as their Nestor in times of difficulty. Niccolo approved the project, but advised that an attempt should be immediately made to gain over Giovanni de Medici, without whose consent it would be difficult, if not impossible, to carry the measure. Rinaldo himself undertook the mission: Giovanni, however, was immoveable; he enlarged on the liberal measures of Maso degli Albizzi; and exhorted Rinaldo to follow in his father's steps, telling him that, as unequal taxation was the cause, so a system of just imposts would be the only cure for discontent.

The plebeians, who heard of what was going on, rallied round Giovanni, beseeching him to take the lead at once and rule the commonwealth. He was, however, too politic to attempt any thing of the sort, but slowly and quietly he and his son Cosimo, and nephew Averardo, moved forward in their course of crafty. ambition-a cowardly species of treason, which is far more dangerous to the state than an avowed aim at rebellion or usur

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pation. It cannot however be denied that Giovanni did confer one great boon on Florence in the Catasto, which was mainly carried through his influence, backed by the whole voice of the poorer citizens.

"The Catasto was a property tax measured by the income, at the rate of half per cent. on capital: whoever possessed 100 florins of property, above the cost of living, paid half a florin; whoever had 1000 paid five florins; seven florins of declared income being settled as the representative of a hundred of principal, either in goods or money, and fourteen florins of untaxed income were allowed as the estimated cost of maintenance for each individual, but subject to some after modification, according to age and circumstances."-Vol. iii. p. 118.

And now commenced in earnest the rise of the Medici-a family which, like many others, has been saved from the infamy which it deserves by the specious qualities and brilliant accomplishments of some of its members. Weighed in the balance of the sanctuary, or judged of even by the simplest rules of morality, that evil race will find little to recommend it. Cosimo, the son of Giovanni, was cold, crafty, and vindictive; Lorenzo, the magnificent, was a mere epicurean; Piero, his son, was weak and wilful, devoid at once of the peculiar faults and talents of his race; Leo X. was a disgrace to the Church over which he presided; Clement VII. a blot on Christianity itself; nay, if we wish for examples of every most revolting crime under heaven, we have but to turn to the cardinals and princes of the Medician race. In fine, can the varmest admirer of that family point out one amongst its distinguished members, with the exception of Giovanni, whose piety has ever been suspected, or whose profligacy has once been questioned? Is it wise, is it right, is it seemly, is it decent to hold up such a race as this to public admiration, because their manners were pleasing, their taste refined, and their patronage of· the arts munificent?

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"Giovanni and Cosimo di Medici moved onward with increasing power until 1428, when the health of the former began to decline. (at length in 1429) feeling the approach of death, Giovanni assembled his friends and kindred, and addressed. . . (his two sons) Cosimo and Lorenzo (in an exhortation to the practice of prudence, virtue, and domestic affection). To your care (said he, in conclusion) I commend Nannina, my wife and your mother; see that my death diminish not her accustomed honours and respect; and when I am no more, do you, my children, pray to God that he may be the salvation of my soul; and now take my paternal blessing; and thou, Cosimo, be kind to Lorenzo ; and thou Lorenzo be obedient to Cosimo, as if he were thy father.' Having concluded this discourse, after a few hours he died. Giovanni must be considered as the founder of Medicean greatness; before his time, although an illustrious, influential family and occasionally distin

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guished in national politics, they were, with the exception of Salvestro and Vieri, historically unimportant. After Giovanni their star shone with fitful but enduring brightness. . His ambition was, perhaps, less personal than prospective; less for himself than his posterity; for he well knew the talents of Cosimo. .. His own interests were apparently so identified with the public good that his measures were generally popular, and he thus laid the foundations of that edifice of family greatness which Cosimo was destined to erect and Lorenzo to finish." -pp. 135-138.

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A doubt rests on the motives and character of Giovanni de Medici; and looking at the long and dark list of his descendants, we may well give him the advantage of that doubt, and believe, with his great enemy Niccolo da Uzzano, that his virtues were genuine and his patriotism sincere: though no party or sophistry can conceal the fact that every other feeling or principle was held in subordination to the wicked ambition of his hear,

After his death Cosimo used his utmost endeavours to ruin Uzzano, but without success. At length that wise and good oll man expired in the year 1432. And now the contest began; Rinaldo degli Albizzi, no longer restrained by the prudent and peaceful counsels of his old friend, determined on crushing the rising power of the Medici, and succeeded in obtaining their banishment according to the form of the constitution, but in opposition to the passionate will of the populace.

Rinaldo now attempted to restore to the nobles the right of citizenship, but this wise project was defeated by the eloquence of Mariotto Baldovinetti, one of his nominal adherents, who had been bribed by Cosimo.

The triumph of the Constitutional party was however of short duration. Cosimo had not been quite a year in exile, when, in September, 1434, the new seignory was found to be composed entirely of his partisans. Various measures were proposed and abandoned by the Albizzi and their party; and the return of the Medici was voted in a numerous Balia almost by acclamation.

Rinaldo and his followers had laid down the arms which they at first took up, under the promise of a general amnesty; but when did either mob or tyrant-the polycephalous and monocephalous species of the same genus-ever allow faith, prudence, or mercy, to come between them and their desires. Rinaldo and many others were exiled at once.

"And these proscriptions were renewed from time to time, after the month of November, when Cosimo was already returned, and a new seignory drawn, or rather selected by his party for their rabid, persecuting violence and vindictive character. Near eighty citizens were

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