Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1876-09-12
The MedlcI Family.

WHOh NCM IOIh WAS q WllOef-
ness, peopled by bears and wolves,
a wool merchant on a wharf in
! FlOrerce, named De Medici, began
to attract notice by the enormous
sums which he made and spent as
rapidly. He built magnificent ships
-goudolas, to float upon the blue
Arno-prineely palaces in which
he held a royal state. He built
palaces for the city too, established
schools in them where the sons of
mobiles learned philosophy; fur
Aished great libraries Of rare mans.
uscript. The greatest architects,
sculptors, painters and philosophers
Of the world worked for this wool
merchant gladly, he was so generous
and friendly a patron. They gave
him the name Of the father Of his
country, and under his rule Flor
ence became the most beautiful city
in the world. But Oosimo de
Medici was the father only of the
rich and noble. The poor h tram
pied under foot they were of no
more value to him than the swine
in the stalls of Fiesole.
If we could keep these unfortu-
nate wretches out of sight, the
story Of Cosimo, his sons and
grandsons, would be splendid as a
dream of enchantment. They
wakened all Italy to new, wonderful
industries. The great magie.ans
in art, science, and song worked at
their bidding. Gardens, churches,
marvellous work in gold and silver,
more marvellous pictures sprang
into being; great poems were writ
ten, scholars from all countries
thronged to Florence, and in the
shadows Of vast palaces were given
place to pursue their studies in
peace the whole known world
flushed into a glory of beauty and
grace under the rule of the Medici,
as a tropical forest into flower be-
meath the summer sun. But the
poor, remember, shared the fate of
the creeping things in the forest.
! The only men who took any ac-
count Of them were a few good,
common-sensed christians headed
by a monk named Savonarola, who
went about with such gloomy fore
boding faces in this s%unshiny, beau
tiful city, that they were called
weepers."
: Lorenzo, the grandsonof Oosimo,
1 was known as the Magnificent the
. poor were almost willing to be
crushed to death by such a genial,
? superb master. There was a little
o boy Of eight years, employed as a
page in the palace, of noble blood,
o we may be sure,'or the great Lo-
reno would not have noticed, as
lie he did, his fancy for molding fig
g ures in clay. Walking one day in
the garden, the prince found the
st little fellow copying the figure of
n an old faun. He had altered the
u mouth to make it laugh, "Well
n done, Michael Angelo" he said,
u "but old men do not have such
teeth as thou hast given thy faun.
Close his mouth"
The boy bowed, but said nothing.
The naxt day, Lorenzj, passing
If that way, found the faun still
laughing, but with his teeth broken
and decayed with age. The prince
placed the boy at once in a gallery
of sculpture, and employed the first
masters Of the age to teach him.
Now Lorenzo is chiefly known in
history as the patron of Michael
n Angelo. LorenzO's son, who was
Il made cardinal at thirteen, and pope
+ at thirty-seyen, was of the same
age as the young sculptor, and had
known him as a boy he was SO
De anxious that he should finish the
church of st. Peters at Rome that
st he raised the money necessary by
means which Luther protested
" against as unlawful, and out Of this
small dissension began and widened
the great breach Of the reforma-
ton.
ls Another of this family Was the
Catharine of France, who laughed
and joked while 70, 0 of her sub
u iects were slaughtered in one night.
1t From Ferrucci and HIS Foes.