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that he had been admitted into the papal chapel at Rome, during the pontificate of Leo X., in speaking of whom he says, Though this pontiff had acquired a consummate knowledge in most arts and sciences, he seemed to love, encourage, and exalt music more than any other; which stimulated many to exert themselves with uncommon ardour in its cultivation. And among those who aspired at the great premiums that were held forth to talents, I became," says he, "a candidate myself; for being born to a slender fortune, which I wished to improve by some reputable profession, I chose music; at which I laboured with unremitting diligence till the irreparable loss I sustained by the death of my munificent patron, Leo."-Dr. Burney's History of Music, vol. iii. p. 154. The pope is said to have diverted himself with the folly and absurdity of Evangelista Tarasconi, of Parma, whom he prevailed on to write a treatise on music, full of the most absurd precepts, advising, among other things, that the arms of the performers should be tied up in a particular manner, so as to give greater strength to their fingers, &c. Jovius in Vita Leon X. lib. iv. p. 84. But the learned Padre Ireneo Affò thinks that Jovius has caricatured his picture too highly. Tarasconi was a man of considerable learning, and among others, left a work entitled, "Historia Calamitatum Italiæ, tempore Julii II.," which has not, however, been printed, and is now probably lost.

NOTE 331 (p. 391). This peculiarity was discovered even by the licentious Pietro Aretino, who otherwise would not have experienced his bounty. Fabroni.

NOTE 330 (p. 391). Of the society that occasionally frequented the pontifical table, some idea may be formed from the following passage :— "Habet iste bonus pontifex apud se lurconem quendam edacem, et mendicum fratrem, nomine patrem Martinum et Marianum, qui pullum columbarium, sive assum, sive elissum, bolo uno sorbitione unica glutit, ova, ut ferunt, qui viderunt, absorbet quadringenta, viginti quoque devorat capos," &c.-Titius. ap. Fabron. adnot. 82.

NOTE 332 (p. 391).-Jan. Nycii Erythræi Pinacotheca, vol. ii. p. 110. If Leo was disappointed on this occasion, he might have consoled himself on another, in which one who had been thought a very sage personage, and whom he had honoured with the name of his poet, turned out (by no uncommon metamorphosis), to be a mighty great fool. "In die et festo sanctorum Cosmæ et Damiani, hæc missa fuit habita cum vesperis, more solito; et papa creavit unum Poetam, quem curia semper prudentem opinata est, et tunc cognovit eum stultum et fatuum."-P. de Grass. Diar. inedit. This probably alludes to the story of Baraballo. Vide ante, chap. xvii.

NOTE 333 (p. 391) -Histoire des Papes, tom. iv. p. 418. Ed. La Haye, 1733, 4to. The author of this work, François de Bruys, relates this anecdote from the collection of witty and merry sallies, "La sage folie," of the Italian poet and historian Spelta. Note of Mr. Henke, Germ. Ed. vol. iii. p. 492.*

NOTE 334 (p. 392)-Even when he celebrated the anniversary of

his election with the cardinals, at the Vatican, he set an example of sobriety in his own person, as appears from Par. de Grassis.

NOTE 336 (p. 392).-A contemporary author informs us, that the pontiff was not induced to pursue these amusements so much for the pleasures of the chase, as for the purpose of invigorating both his body and mind for the due performance of his more important occupations. Matt. Herculan. ap. Fabron. in adnot. 84. Reasons of nearly a similar nature are alleged by the pontiff himself, in justification of his frequent use of those active diversions, as appears from a papal brief addressed by him to Giovanni Neroni, in which he appoints him Pontifical gamekeeper, and directs him in what manner he is to execute this important trust. Bembi Ep. Pont. lib. x. ep. i.-Mr. Henke has given, in the appendix to the Germ. Ed. No. XXXII., a curious Latin epistle from the celebrated Ciceronian, Christopher Longolius, to Leo X., which was accompanied by the present of two excellent hounds.

NOTE 337 (p. 393). His master of the ceremonies, Paris de Grassis, was highly scandalized at the profane habiliments in which the pontiff took the field. "Die martis x. Januarii, facto prandio, Papa recessit ex urbe profecturus ad Tuschanellam, et alia loca ibi vicina. Et fuit cum stola, sed pejus sine rochetto, et quod pessimum cum stivalibus sive ocreis, in pedes munitus."-Diar. inedit.

NOTE 338 (p 396). For a more favourable account of the state of literature at Venice, I think it incumbent on me to refer to the statement of Bossi, who has alleged, in addition to his own opinion, that of my late excellent and learned correspondent, the Cav. Morelli, who has in several of his works vindicated the claims of that republic to a high degree of literary merit. In admitting to a certain extent the validity of these claims, I shall not greatly weaken my argument, which, strictly speaking, applies only to individuals, and not to aggregate bodies; and besides, the Venetians may be admitted to have had a considerable share in the early promotion of literature, without being allowed to have rivalled, in that respect, Leo X. Vide Ital. Ed. vol. xii. p. 138.*

NOTE 339 (p. 396).-Mr. Archdeacon Coxe, after noticing the present work, in a manner which demands my sincere acknowledgments, has remarked, that I, like Robertson and Hume, "have treated the character of Maximilian I. with unmerited contempt; and that, being misled by their authorities, by the prejudices of the Italian historians, and by the fluctuation of his conduct in the Italian states, I have depicted him without a single virtue or good quality."-Hist. of the House of Austria, vol. i. p. 443. On this I may be allowed to observe, that the only instances in which I have had occasion to advert to the character of this sovereign, have been in connexion with the affairs of Italy, in which Mr. Coxe himself candidly admits that his conduct was fluctuating; and if, in this opinion, I am also supported by Hume and Robertson, I cannot be supposed to have deviated far from the truth. On this head the German edition of the present work exhibits a much longer critique by Mr. Henke, who is of opinion, (Germ. Ed. vol. iii. p. 500,) that before we can positively decide on the relative merits of Leo X. and the other sovereigns

cf the time, as promoters of science and literature, a further investigation would be necessary. In bringing forwards the exertions of Maximilian I. in this respect, as described by Frommanni, (Comment. de Maxim. I. in Rem Literariam meritis, p. 632), Mr. Henke has not, however, thought proper to place them in any degree of competition with those of Leo X. On the contrary, he has, at considerable length, stated the reasons why Leo X. was enabled to render greater services to the cause of literature than it was in the power of Maximilian to do; thereby admitting all that I have ventured to contend for. I would willingly, with Mr. Henke, "give every merit its crown," but I cannot, for that reason, assent to the opinion of Denina, that the glory of having revived and promoted the studies of polite literature is to be attributed rather to the predecessors of Leo X. than to himself; nor to that of the Abate Andres, that the greater part of the Italian princes of the period might with equal right, aspire to the same honour; and that, therefore, there is no particular reason for conferring on Leo the superiority over the rest, or for characterising these times as THE AGE OF LEO X.*

INDEX.