Lorenzo the Magnificent, by Mr. David Loth (Routledge, I5s.), camlot
fail to interest and amuse, for Mi. Loth has a sense of style and his subject precludes dullness. We expect much from a new chronicler of these fascinating days—too much, perhaps—for how could anyone add to the inherent drama of the pageants of the Renaissance, the banquets at Fiesole where Cardinals discussed Plato, and the attempted murder of the Medici brothers during the elevation of the Host ? On the whole, Mr. Loth has discharged his task with credit. An interesting point made by the author is that Lorenzo was the first of the Florentine bankers to turn from commercial operations to international finance: He financed Popes and Kings : he had a European point of view as far beyond his contemporaries as his views on art or morals were in advance of theirs. If this book had an index it would be gre_atly.iinproyed, and for English readers transatianticisms such as " homely" might well be altered to " ugly " or "ill-favoured." But these are trifles.
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