thus banished, fined, imprisoned, tortured, or otherwise punished by the vindictiveness of faction."

For thirty years Cosimo de' Medici had governed Florence with absolute rule-Piero, his son, succeeded to his influence in 1464, and, despite of some opposition, retained it until his death in December, 1469. But as his sons Lorenzo and Giuliano were young at that time, it was proposed to give the supreme power to Tommaso Soderini; he however declined the honour and supported the claims of his friend's children.

"He pointed out the advantages of continuing the chief citizenship in the same family, and conjured them to place that confidence in Lorenzo and Giuliano that they had already given to Piero and Cosimo.

"While the Medici were contented to remain as simple citizens with more extensive influence and authority than the rest of their countrymen, the adverse families could fearlessly and legitimately oppose them, either in council or in arms; and the supreme magistracy being to a certain extent free, it was not until one party had completely gained the ascendant that their opponents had any personal cause of alarm; it was an open struggle of faction against faction for supremacy, without treason against the government. But after Piero's victory in 1466, when the sovereign authority became restricted and placed completely in the hands of his family by the dictatorial power of a Balia, and then by the still narrower council of five Accoppiatori, who, as will be hereafter seen, had the privilege of choosing the priors and gonfalonier without consulting any body; when, therefore, supreme power thus fell into the hands of the Medici, it was no longer an equal struggle or a safe opposition; the forms of a republic remained, but the substance was absolute monarchy."-Vol. iii. p. 387.

Hence arose the formidable conspiracy of the Pazzi family, who having been excluded by this measure from all share in the government, determined to strike one bold and unscrupulous blow for the freedom of their country. Lorenzo and his brother Giuliano were accordingly attacked in the cathedral during the celebration of the mass; Giuliano was murdered, but his brother was saved by the devotion of his followers; several of the conspirators were summarily executed, and the populace rose in defence of Medician authority, and attacked with fury those who had relied upon it for support. Every unsuccessful attempt gainst an arbitrary government serves but to strengthen its authority, and Lorenzo de' Medici remained virtual lord of Florence till his death in 1492.

"Piero de' Medici was but twenty-one years of age when his father died, therefore ineligible to the offices held by the former; but such was Lorenzo's authority, and so tempered was the free spirit of Florence,

that he instantly succeeded to every public employment, and to him were addressed, and by him received, the condolence and congratulation of foreign ambassadors, as if he had ascended an hereditary throne; but as talent is not hereditary, the different characters and abilities of father and son were soon apparent to the world."—Vol. iii. p. 490.

A determined opposition to his authority began to manifest itself in Florence, until at length a seignory was chosen on the 1st of November, 1494, all of whom, with, one exception, were hostile to Piero. He attempted to put down his opponents by force; but the people soon manifested their altered feelings, and the seignory, encouraged by their demonstrations, immediately tolled the Campana. The Florentines rose en masse at the summons, and the Medici, after a dominion of sixty years fled through the gates of that city which had dared to vindicate its rights

once more.

The leader of this revolution was Piero di Gino di Neri Capponi -a worthy descendant of his illustrious ancestor; but amidst the many who in various ways had assisted in the good work, none was more eminent than Girolamo Savonarola whose intense love of virtue and freedom, combined with a bitter hatred of all that pollutes or debases human nature, made him the determined and dangerous enemy of every species of tyranny. He had hated Lorenzo; and he felt even greater animosity against the weak and licentious Piero. His fate is too well known to require either narrative or comment—one of the numberless victims to that awful power which dares to assume the attributes of God, whilst defiling His truth, defying His Word, and trampling on His Church".

Taking advantage of the commotions which disturbed the peace and divided the strength of her conquerors, Pisa once more threw off the Florentine yoke, and succeeded in maintaining her independence for nearly fifteen years; she was however again reduced to subjection, after a long and well contested siege, on the 8th of June, 1509. The terms of capitulation were liberal in the extreme, and faithfully executed by the victors; but so deeply rooted was the hereditary antipathy of the Pisans to Florentine rule, that the great majority preferred emigration to living under the dominion of their ancient rivals.

Florence was not however destined long to survive her. In the year 1512 she found herself assailed by a powerful league, comprising the Pope, the Emperor, the King of Spain, and their allies;

"Like the Calvin of after days, Savonarola bent the public mind to is, by working on their superstition; but Calvin and his followers

i

nary bigots, unjust, unmerciful, intolerant, and severe; wher the Ite a was 1 enlightened well-meaning enthusiast, and no persecutor."

who demanded the restoration of the Medici. Deserted by France there was little hope of resistance. Florence however prepared for defence.

Whilst negotiations were going on, an event happened which precipitated matters; the Spanish army, which was almost starving before the Florentine town of Prato, after making an insignificant and easily defended breach, boldly stormed it on the 29th of August, 1512. The horrors of that storm were conspicuous even amongst scenes of the same kind, standing forth with an accursed pre-eminence :

"Neither sacred virgins, nor cradled infants, nor wives, nor youths, nor maidens, nor children from seven years old and upwards, were spared from the most odious violation or from death; the wells were filled with mangled bodies; a fat priest was actually cut to pieces and boiled; and thunder, and lightning, and pelting rain poured down in torrents, as if heaven had made its indignation manifest! The sacred host was scattered and trampled on; houses and churches 'were plundered, and their inmates cruelly tortured to discover imaginary treasures, or work on the pity of friends and relatives for payment of a heavier ransom. .. These horrors continued more or less for oneand-twenty days, and there is no cruelty that has ever been related, or that can even be conceived of man; no lust, violence, or wanton barbarity, nothing that can enter into the most diabolical imagination, which was not here committed by the Spaniards ... and during all this time, says Cambi, the Cardinal de' Medici, the future pope Leo X., looked on without an altempt to arrest the hand of murder, or stop the hellish scene."—Vol. iv. p. 168.

The terror inspired by this catastrophe, combined with that jealousy which exalted merit always, sooner or later, obtains in a republic, united to produce the fall of Piero di Tommaso di Soderini, after a mild, just, and able government of nine years and a half; and the Medici and their followers were suffered to return as private citizens. Piero had died in exile; but his son Lorenzo, and cousin Giuliano, were still living. Giuliano entered the city

"unattended by any strangers, and walked the streets accompanied by two of his kinsmen, without fear or pretension; in conjunction with the seignory, he laboured at a modification of the government, believing it prudent, in the first instance, not to oppose that almost unanimous desire of preserving public liberty, and the great popular council."Vol. iv. p. 175.

The struggle for power between the various elements of the expiring republic was long and doubtful. At length, when news arrived of the sack of Rome by Bourbon, the constitutional party

gained the full ascendancy once more, and on the 17th of May, 1527, the Medici left Florence for the last time.

"As they passed on," says Captain Napier, " through the Via Larga, many foretold that the people would one day repent of their folly in ever having allowed these princes to escape alive; there was more truth than humanity in the sentiment."-Vol. iv. p. 291.

Few and sad were these last days of Florentine freedom. In 1523 Giulio de' Medici had ascended the papal throne as Clement VII., and with untiring energy and unmitigated hatred, he carried on the war against his country till he had succeeded, with the aid of Charles V., in subjecting her to the sway of his family. The Florentines resisted nobly, though famine and pestilence thinned their ranks within, and the enemy pressed them hard from without. At length, after a siege, in which it was computed that the Imperialists lost fourteen thousand, and the besieged eight thousand men, the seignory found themselves beset by internal treason as well as external force; and to save the city from the horrors of a storm, they signed a capitulation on the 12th of August, 1530. The most solemn promises of universal amnesty were of course made on the part of the emperor and the pope. How they performed these and the other conditions of the treaty, history informs us :

"In this last scene a bruised yet confiding people trusted to the honour and solemn promises of a deceitful priest and a nefarious sovereign, both of whom most unscrupulously trampled on every obstacle to their own selfish desires. Baccio Valori, and all his train of faithless emigrants, then took up their residence in Florence, while a famished population rushed madly to the Imperial camp, and cleared it of provisions: Valori occupied the public palace with a strong guard of Corsicans, and in defiance of all agreements, almost immediately assembled a parliament. Hardly three hundred citizens were to be seen; some, more audacious than the rest, would have given a free vote, but were repulsed by the lance and the partisan; and Salvestro Aldobrandini addressing this miserable assembly, almost in mockery, as the Florentine people,' asked if they were willing to depute their power to a Balia of twelve citizens for the state's reformation? This was repeated three times, and finally answered by a few sickly cries of Yes, yes,' The Balia, the Balia,' The Medici, the Medici.' After this solemn farce a Balia was named, the republican magistracy was dissolved in all its branches, the citizens disarmed, and at the end of four hundred and thirty years of uncertain and fitful, but altogether glorious, existence, Florentine liberty was crushed for ever!"-Vol. iv. pp. 497, 498.

We will not dwell upon the murders, confiscations, and other

cruelties which now followed-one-tenth of them were enough to condemn Clement to eternal infamy. We must refer our readers for some account of them to the concluding pages of the fourth volume of Captain Napier's work; his honest indignation is quite refreshing, and almost sheds a charm over the saddest pages of his work.

By the exaltation of Alessandro de' Medici to the dukedom, Florence became an established hereditary principality. A few struggles indeed were made for freedom by men who could not altogether forget the glory of their ancestors, but all was vain. Alessandro, after ruling the state for six years, during which he emulated the crimes of Phalaris, Nero, and Ezzelino, died by the hand of an assassin in 1537. That assassin was a near relation, one Lorenzo de' Medici, who, assisted by Scoronconcolo, murdered the Duke in his palace, wishing to emulate the fame of Timoleon. The Florentines, however, were ignorant of the scheme, and not prepared to take advantage of the conjuncture; and the senate rivetted their fetters for ever by their election of Cosimo de' Medici, another cousin of the deceased tyrant, as his successor. With that prince expired the last hope of Florentine or even Tuscan freedom, for it was he who succeeded in reducing Siena, after one of the most resolute defences on record. It is perhaps worthy of remark that during this war occurred an atrocity which we believe stands alone in the history of Christian warfare.

"At Turrita, the Germans actually crucified an old woman, who had either the spirit or the madness to persevere in crying out 'Lupa, lupa,' the national cry of Siena, instead, as she was ordered, of' Duca, duca,' that of Florence! What began in sport, ended, through her obstinacy, in the most horrid cruelty, for she was actually stripped naked and nailed up like a hawk to one of the gates; but, like a maniac, still shrieking, ‘Lupa, lupa,' until her mouth was gagged, besides worse and unutterable barbarity! She was there left to die; but every muscle of her face showing plainly, that she still persisted in her endeavour to utter this national war-cry!—Vol. v. p. 146.

With this appropriate anecdote we leave the Merchant Princes, suggesting that the next eulogium on the Medici family be illustrated with appropriate engravings. Let the storm of Prato furnish the frontispiece, and the fate of the Sienese patriot the concluding vignette.

A more pleasing task awaits us in considering the conduct of the reigning family. Seldom in the history of princes has the language of truth been so nearly that of panegyric. And if we look at their origin and their circumstances, we shall see even more to admire. Foreigners, they have sought the welfare of their people;