VII.

CHAP. turn the active cause of further improvement. To no description of individuals is the world more indebted, than to those who have been instrumental in preserving the wisdom of past ages, for the use of those to come, and thereby giving, as it were, a general sensorium to the human race. In this respect great obligations are due to the venerable Cosmos. From the intercourse that in his time subsisted between Florence and Constantinople, and the long visits made by the Greek prelates and scholars to Italy, he had the best opportunity of obtaining the choicest treasures of ancient learning; and the destruction of Constantinople may be said to have transferred to Italy all that remained of eastern science". After the death of Cosmo,

his

8 Bandini, Lettera sopra i principj, &c. della Biblioteca Laurenziana. Fir. 1773.

h The library of S. Marco, which, as we have before related, was founded by Cosmo, with the books collected by Niccolo Niccoli, and augmented at his own expense, was, in the year 1454, almost buried in ruins by an earthquake, that continued at intervals for nearly forty days, during which several persons lost their lives. Cosmo, however, not only restored the building to its former state, but raised the ceiling, so as to admit of a more extensive collection. At the same time a new arrangement of the manuscripts took place, and the Greek and Oriental works were formed into a class distinct from the Latin. Mehus in vitâ Amb. Trav. p. 66. 73.

VII.

his son Piero pursued with steady perseverance c HAP. the same object, and made important additions to the various collections which Cosmo had begun, particularly to that of his own family. But although the ancestors of Lorenzo laid the foundation of the immense collection of manuscripts, since denominated the Laurentian Library, he may himself claim the honour of having raised the superstructure. If there was any pursuit in which he engaged more ardently and persevered more diligently than the rest, it

was

i The manuscripts acquired by Piero de' Medici are for the most part highly ornamented with miniatures, gilding, and other decorations, and are distinguished by the fleurs de lys. Those collected by Lorenzo are marked not only with the Medicean arms, but with a laurel branch in allusion to his name, and the motto SEMPER. When we advert to the immense prices which were given for these works, and the labour afterwards employed on them, they may be considered as the most expensive articles of luxury. A taste for the exterior decoration of books has lately arisen in this country, in the gratification of which no small share of ingenuity has been displayed; but if we are to judge of the present predilection for learning by the degree of expense thus incurred, we must consider it as greatly inferiour either to that of the Romans during the times of the first emperours, or of the Italians in the fifteenth century. And yet it is perhaps difficult to discover, why a favourite book should not be as proper an object of elegant ornament, as the head of a cane, the hilt of a sword, or the latchet of a shoe.

CHAP. was that of enlarging his collection of books VII. and antiquities. "We need not wonder," says

Niccolo Leoniceno, writing to Politiano, "at "your eloquence and your acquirements, when "we consider the advantages which you derive "from the favour of Lorenzo de' Medici, the

great patron of learning in this age; whose "messengers are dispersed throughout every

part of the earth, for the purpose of collecting "books on every science, and who has spared

no expense in procuring for your use, and "that of others who may devote themselves to "similar studies, the materials necessary for 66 your purpose. I well remember the glorious

66

expression of Lorenzo, which you repeated "to me, that he wished the diligence of Pico "and yourself would afford him such oppor"tunities of purchasing books, that his fortune proving insufficient, he might pledge even his "furniture to possess them." Acting under the influence of such impressions, we cannot wonder at the progess made by Lorenzo, in which he derived great assistance from Hieronymo Donato, Ermolao Barbaro, and Paolo Cortesi; but his principal coadjutor was Politiano, to whom he committed the care and arrangement of his collection, and who made excursions

Polit. Epist. lib. ii. Ep. 7.

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excursions at intervals through Italy, to discover CHAP. and purchase such remains of antiquity, as suited the purposes of his patron'. Two journies, undertaken at the instance of Lorenzo, into the east, by Giovanni Lascar, produced a great number of rare and valuable works. On his return from his second expedition, he brought with him about two hundred copies, many of which he had procured from a monastery at Mount Athos; but this treasure did not arrive till after the death of Lorenzo, who in his last moments expressed to Politiano and Pico, his regret that he could not live to complete the collection which he was forming for their accommodation". Stimulated by the example of

1 Of the vigilance of Politiano in these pursuits, we have the most explicit evidence, in a letter from him to Lorenzo, first published by Fabroni, which may justify the forcible remark of that author on the literary agents of Lorenzo. "Porro ipsos venaticos canes dixisses, ita "odorabantur omnia & pervestigabant, ut ubi quidque "rarum esset, aliqua ratione invenirent atque compa"rarent."

Fabr. in vita Laur. v. i. p. 153. App. No. LI.

m Non nihil etiam tunc quoque jocatus nobiscum, quin utrosque intuens nos; Vellem, ait, distulisset me saltem mors hæc ad eum diem quo vestram plane bibliothecam absoluissem. Pol. Ep. lib. iv. Ep. 2.

CHA P. of Lorenzo, other eminent patrons of learning VII. engaged in the same pursuit. Those who par

Introduction of printing in Florence.

ticularly distinguished themselves were Mattia Corvino king of Hungary, and Federigo duke of Urbino", to both of whom Lorenzo gave permission to copy such of his manuscripts as they wished to possess; nothing being more consonant to his intentions than to diffuse the spirit of literature as extensively as possible.

The newly discovered art of printing contributed also in an eminent degree, to accelerate the progress of classical literature. This art was practised very early in Florence, and some of the Florentine authors have even been desirous of conferring on one of their countrymen the merit of its invention; but this acute people have too many well-founded claims on the gratitude of posterity, to render it necessary for them to rely on doubtful commendation. It is, however, certain, that whilst Venice solicited the assistance of Nicolas Jensen, a native of France, and Rome began to practise the art under the guidance of the two German printers,

n Pol. Ep. lib. iii. Ep. 6. Fabr. in vitâ Laur. v. i. f. 154.

• Manni, della prima promulgazione de' Libri in Firenze. Fir. 1761.