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through curiosity than with the hope of being entertained. His appearance, however, interested me in his favour. His address was striking, and his eye marked intelligence. My expectations were raised. He began-I was attentive; a clear voice -select expression-elevated sentiment. He divides his subjects-I perceive his distinctions. Nothing perplexed; nothing insipid; nothing languid. He unfolds the web of his argument-I was enthralled. He refutes the sophism-I am freed. He introduces a pertinent narrative-I am interested. He modulates his voice-I am charmed. He is jocular-I smile. He presses me with serious truths-I yield to their force. He addresses the passions the tears glide down my cheeks. He raises his voice in anger-I tremble, and wish myself away."

COPPER PLATES, WHEN DISCOVERED.

The credit of having given rise to this elegant and useful art, has been contended for by different countries, and their various pretensions have been weighed and considered by many authors. It is, however, generally agreed, that it arose with the goldsmiths, and was afterwards adopted by the painters. The union of these two professions has thus produced a third, which has risen to considerable importance. The Germans, who have disputed with the Italians the honour of the invention, with the greatest degree of probability, have not, in point of fact, controverted the narrative given by the Italians of the rise of the art, nor brought forward any account of their own, but have simply endeavoured to shew that it was prac tised in Germany at an earlier period. Mr. Heineken asserts, that the earliest prints engraved in

Italy, that bear a date, are the maps to the edition of Ptolemy, printed at Rome in 1478; the earliest picturesque representations, those prefixed to some of the cantos of Dante 1482. But he conjectures that it had its rise in Germany about the year 1440.

COPPER PLATES, HOW DISCOVERED.

THIS discovery is attributed by Italians to Maso or Tomaso Finiquerra, a goldsmith, of Florence, who being accustomed to engrave on different metals for the purpose of inlaying them, occasionally tried the effects of his work by taking off impressions, first on sulphur, and afterwards on paper, by means of a roller, in such a manner, that the figures seemed to have been traced with a pen. It does not appear that Finequerra ever applied this invention to any other purpose than that of ascertaining the progress of his work, nor have the researches of the most diligent enquirers discovered a single print that can with any degree of probability be attributed to him: but Baccio Baldini, another goldsmith, conceiving that the discovery might be applied to more important purposes, began to engrave on metals, solely with a view of transmitting impressions to paper. Possessing, however, no great skill in design, he prevailed on Sandro Pothicello to furnish him with drawings suitable for his purpose. The concurrence of Antonio Pallajuoli and Andre Mantegna, carried the art to greater perfection. Of the works of the last mentioned master, many specimens yet remain, which do credit to his talents. The beginning of the ensuing century produced a much superior artist in Marcantonio Raimondi, by whose industry the numerous productions of Raffael's, the transcripts

of his rich and creative mind, were committed to paper, with an accuracy which he himself approved, and may serve as a standard to mark in future times the progress or decline of the arts.

DEATH OF LORENZO.

"To

No species of reputation is so cheaply acquired as that derived from death-bed fortitude. When it is fruitless to contend and impossible to fly, little applause is due to that resignation which patiently awaits its doom. It is not, therefore, to be considered as enhancing that dignity of character which Lorenzo had so frequently displayed, that he sustained the last conflict with equanimity. judge from his conduct, and that of his servants," says Politiano, "you would have thought that it was they who momentarily expected that fate from which he alone appeared to be exempt." Even to the last the scintillations of his former vivacity were perceptible. Being asked, on taking a morsel of food, how he relished it :-" As a dying man always does," was his reply. Having affectionately embraced his surrounding friends, and submitted to the last ceremonies of the church, he became absorbed in meditation, occasionally repeating portions of scripture, and accompanying his ejaculations with elevated eyes and solemn gestures of his hands, till the energies of life gradually declining, and pressing to his lips a magnificent crucifix, he calmly expired.

CHARACTER OF LORENZO.

IN the height of his reputation, and at a premature period of life, thus died Lorenzo de Medici ;

a man, who may be selected from all the characters of ancient and modern history, as exhibiting the most remarkable instance of depth of penetration, versatility of talent, and comprehension of mind. Whether genius be a predominant impulse, directing the mind to some particular object, or whether it be an energy of intellect, that arrives at excellence in any department in which it may be employed, it is certain that there are few instances in which a successful exertion in any human pursuit has not occasioned a dereliction of many other ob. jects, the attainment of which might have conferred immortality. If the powers of the mind are to bear down all obstacles that oppose their progress, it seems necessary that they should sweep along in some certain course, and in one collected mass. What then shall we think of that rich fountain, which, whilst it was poured out by so many differ-. ent channels, flowed through each with a full and equal stream? To be absorbed in one pursuit, however important, is not the characteristic of the higher class of genius, which piercing through the various combinations and relations of surrounding circumstances, sees all things in their just dimensions, and attributes to each its due. Of the va rious occupations in which Lorenzo engaged, there is not one in which he was not eminently successful; but he was most particularly distinguished in those which justly hold the first rank in human estimation. The facility with which he turned from subjects of the highest importance to those of amusement and levity, suggested to his countrymen the idea that he had two distinct souls in one body. Even his moral character seems to have partaken, in some degree, of the same divinity; and his devotional poems are as ardent as his lighter pieces are licentious. On all sides he touched the extremes of human character; and the powers

of his mind were only bounded by that impenetrable circle which prescribes the limits of human

nature.

POLITIANO CELEBRATED BY CARDINAL BEMBO.

Whilst borne in sable state Lorenzo's bier,

The tyrant death his proudest triumph brings, He mark'd a BARD, in agony severe,

Smite with delirious hand the sounding strings, He stop'd---he gaz'd---the storm of passion raged, And prayers with tears were mingled tears with grief; For lost Lorenzo, war with fate he wag'd,

And every god was call'd to bring relief--The tyrant smil'd---and mindful of the hour, When from the shades his consort Orpheus led; "Rebellious too, would'st thou usurp my power,

"And burst the chain that binds the captive dead?” He spoke---and speaking, launch'd the shaft of fate, And clos'd the lips that glow'd with sacred fire. His timeless doom 'twas thus POLITIAN met-.POLITIAN, master of the Ausonian lyre.

RISE OF THE REFORMATION.

LEO the X. was not aware, that whilst he was composing the troubles which the ambition of his neighbours or the misconduct of his predecessors had occasioned, he was exciting a still more formi dable adversary, that was destined by a slow, but certain progress, to sap the foundation of the papal power, and to alienate that spiritual allegiance which the christian world had kept inviolate for so many centuries. Under the controul of Leo, the riches that flowed from every part of Europe to Rome, as to the heart of the ecclesiastical system, were again poured out through a thousand channels, till the sources became inadequate to the ex

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