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were far more afflicting and important to the Pope than his holiness had, in any way, supposed possible.

CXL.

WHO GIVE WISE REASONS FOR UNWISE ACTIONS.

THESE seem to consider the former as necessary to the latter, as the wing of the fly is to the web of the spider. Napoleon's reasons for refusing to make peace at Chatillon were legitimate and honourable, as far as regarded France; but unwise for himself. These reasons are stated by Caulincourt, Duke of Vicenza. He insisted upon retaining Belgium, Ostend, and Antwerp; declaring that those provinces were not more than equivalent to what Russia, Prussia, and Austria had acquired by the dismemberment of Poland only.

Napoleon seems to have had no conception of the art of bending to the circumstances of to-day, to recover the loss on the morrow.

CXLI.

WISE MEN WHO GIVE UNWISE COUNSEL.

HUME's argument, in justification of the policy of Henry I., more befits a man of the world than a philosopher, an historian, or a statesman. When violence ' and usurpation are once begun, necessity obliges a prince to continue in the same criminal course, and engages him in measures, which his better judgment ' and sounder principles would otherwise have induced him to reject with warmth and indignation.'

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This passage is condemned by the example of the most politic of usurpers-Augustus. Indeed, nothing tends to the consolidation of an usurpation so effectually as a line of conduct as far remote from this, as heaven is from earth.

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Wise men are, sometimes, guarded and admonished by their enemies. Machiavelli knew what he meant well, by advice similar to that of Hume; but Hume seems to have been in earnest: he even reminds us of a passage in one of Demosthenes' Orations :-' It would 'be just to restore the democratical government in Rhodes; but even were it not just, still, observing 'what other states do, I think it would be advisable ' for its expediency. If all, indeed, would be just, then 'it would be shameful for the Athenians to be other'wise. But when all others are providing themselves ' with means to injure, for us alone to abide by justice, ' and scruple to use advantages offered, I consider not as uprightness but weakness; and, in fact, I see all 'states regulating their rights not by the equity of an act, but by their power of accomplishing.'

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When we are powerful we may choose our own weapons: when not so, it is certain that we must consult the weapons of the adversary, and guard and fight as necessity dictates. Machiavel, however, says of the Venetians (at a particular period), that few of them could foresee a danger; few could remedy; and that there were none at all who were qualified to advise.

*Discorsi, iii.c.11.

CXLII.

LORENZO DE' MEDICI.

Ir is quite a mistake to suppose, that men of business are unequal to the possession of elegant aspirations. There are not more elegantly-minded men, for instance, in the world than many British statesmen, and many British merchants. Nor was there ever a greater instance of this union than in Lorenzo de' Medici. He was continually absorbed in business, both commercial and political; and yet the obligations of literature and the arts to him (and his family in general *) are scarcely

to be told.

The vast wealth of the Medici family was acquired by their carrying on a very lucrative trade in spices with Alexandria; by their leasing almost all the mines of alum in Italy; and by the establishment of commercial banks in most of the trading cities in Europe; by means of which they were enabled to advance large loans, sometimes at great interest, to many powerful sovereigns.

No one ever knew the art of pushing a family better than Lorenzo de' Medici. His son, Piero, succeeded him; Giuliano married into the royal house of France, became Duke of Nemours, and even, at one time, had reason to hope that he might ascend the throne of Naples. Giovanni was nominated Archbishop of Aix,

* For an ample account of these obligations, consult Bianchini de Prato, del Gran Duchi de Toscana, &c. Venice. Fol. 1741.

when only eight years of age; he became a Cardinal at seventeen; and subsequently Pope, under the title of Leo X. His daughter, Maddelena, married a Pope's son; and his grandchild became celebrated under the title of Cardinal Ippolito; while Guilio, the illegitimate son of his brother Guiliano, became Archbishop of Florence, and subsequently Pope, under the title of Clement VII. Lorenzo's three daughters were mothers to four cardinals.

Lorenzo added strength to sagacity; jocularity and urbanity to seriousness and contemplation; penetration to versatility; and elegance of taste to comprehension of mind. He paved the road for the glory of Michael Angelo; he was beloved by Politian; and enjoys celebrity in the pages of Machiavelli and Guicciardini. He was, however, too perpetually awake to opportunity; and meditated less for his country's permanent interest than for the benefit of himself, his family, and descendants. His memory, therefore, cannot be embalmed so richly as the friends of literature * seem dis

posed to insist.

Some writers are of opinion that Lorenzo was requested to take upon him the care and administration of the Florentine republic; others, however, as expressly assert, that his ancestors prepared the road for a subversion of the Florentine liberties; and that he completed it. The former class of writers give him every excellence; the

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*Nous voici enfin à Florence, la patrie du Dante et de Michel Ange; Florence enfin, où tout respire encore la gloire des Me'dicis et la protection qu'ils accordoient aux lettres. Je ne saurois ' vous peindre l'impression que j'ai reçue de tant de beautés ré'unies.'-Barthelemy, Voy. en Italie, p. 25.

latter insist, that his public measures were, at all times, injurious to his country; that his spectacles corrupted them; that he lessened the importance of Florence in the general disposition of affairs in Italy; that he maintained his usurped authority by bloody executions; that he daily and hourly increased the burthen of a detested yoke over a free city; that neither in art, poetry, or philosophy, was he a superior person; and that his sole fame ought to rest on the assistance he afforded to others; who, in return, became the grand supporters of his extraordinary reputation.

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Machiavel says of Lorenzo, that he was greatly beloved both by God and Fortune *;' but the family, both in its first and second dynasties, have assuredly been overrated. They can never be highly appreciated by constitutional politicians; but they will ever be held in respect and admiration by painters and sculptors, musicians, poets, and men of elegant literature.

CXLIII.

ACTORS AND ADVISERS.

THE deeds of those who act are seen, therefore valued. Those who counsel only, doing so in the closet, their deeds appear to be only of words; they are, in consequence, known only to a few, and valued only by a few.

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For the great sway, and rudeness of the poise,

They place before the hand that made the engine.'

Troilus and Cressida.

*Hist. Flor. b. viii.

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