Lorenzo de' Medici, Me Magnificent. By Alfred Von Reumont. Translated
from the German by Robert Harrison. 2 vols. (Smith and Elder.)—The translator says, and doubtless with perfect truth, that the author's " extraordinary talent for research seems to have spent itself freely over every scrap of paper or parchment, written or printed, on the subject of the Medici and their times that has come within his reach." Unhappily, this is not the way in which the "vivid impression of the Medicean age " which he hopes may be gained from these volumes is best given. It is not till the one hundred and sixty-eighth page that we reach the birth of Lorenzo. It is true that the space has been filled up with detail collected with consummate diligence and care, and often of great intrinsic interest. The full account given, for instance, of the financial and mercantile condition of Florence is most valuable; but as the author does not hesitate to go back as far as the century before Lorenzo's birth, it is scarcely relevant. In one sense, all the previous history of a State is relevant to the biography of one of its representative men ; practically, there must be a limit set, and Herr Von Reumont does not keep within it. It seems ungracious to complain when the labour of re- search has been carried through with such conscientious diligence. We are speaking only of the literary effect produced by the whole, and this is really the only point on which we feel competent to criticise a student so familiar with all the materials of his subject. One thing else indeed we feel inclined to say, and that is that the moral—and this is only another word for the genuine political position of Lorenzo at Florence—is not brought out with due distinctness. After all, with all his splendid qualities, he was the reipavrac in a free or what should have been a free State, and his rule was a really corrupting influence. The story of Savonarola's last injunction, whether it was ever really laid upon him or no, " You must restore to the people of Florence their freedom," anyhow represents the truth that this was the groat sin of his life. We do not say that the author does not recog- nise it, and almost in so many words, but we should like to have seen the lesson more prominently set forth. The merits of the book are many and conspicuous. The history Of the Pazzi conspiracy, and the ample accounts that are given of the brilliant circle of men of genius that were connected with Lorenzo—such men as Luigi Pulci, Politian, and Pico della Mirandola—are only specimens taken almost at hazard of a work which, whatever may be said of its general effect, is singularly rich in interesting detail.
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