The Sexagenarian

The principal names of these accomplished exiles, with very learned and interesting details concerning them, may be found in Hodius de illustribus Græcis, a work not so well known as it de

serves.

The Sexagenarian had also collected many curious particulars concerning the celebrated Florentine library, the foundation of which was laid by the learned Greeks above alluded to, who were sent back to their country, by the magnificent Lorenzo, to rescue from barbarian hands, the literary treasures, which they had been compelled to forsake. One anecdote occurs among the memoranda, relating to this library, which seems to merit insertion, and is detailed in the following words in the Recollections, but without reference to the authority from whence it was taken.

On the expulsion of the house of Medici from Florence, that city was occupied by the troops of Charles the VIIIth. and the library, with the possessions of the illustrious owners, fell into the hands of the French. The King of England at that time, Henry VIII., employed emissaries to purchase of the French officers and soldiers, as many books and manuscripts as they could possibly obtain. Whe ther before or after their arrival in this country, has not been ascertained, but Catherine of Medicis had the artifice and address to procure their resto

ration,

ration, on the pretence of their being the property of her family; this portion, therefore, whatever it might have been, now forms part of the royal library at Paris.

The residue of this splendid library remained at Florence, till the popularity of Cardinal John de Medicis, afterwards Pope Leo X. seemed to open to him a reasonable prospect of succeeding to the papal throne. At this juncture, Soderini was Dictator of Florence, who, anxious to remove from the Cardinal every remaining temptation to revisit Florence, collected what was yet left of the library, and dispatched the whole to him at Rome, as a present, conceiving himself thus to have performed an act of great political sagacity. Thus, therefore, the contents of this magnificent repository of lite◄ rary treasure was divided, and such a proportion of them will be found in the Vatican, as the French, in their different predatory excursions, suffered to remain.

Another of the Sexagenarian's meditated works, was one or more Dissertations upon Emblems, a species of literature which at one period greatly occupied the attention of the curious, upon which the exalted talents of the first poets and artists were formerly exercised, and of which there are many specimens of extraordinary rarity and beauty. He had evidently revolved the subject much in his mind,

to which he was induced by the consideration, that nothing of the kind had ever appeared in the Eng→ lish language. Such a work certainly might be made a vehicle of great and various entertainment, by a judicious introduction of literary anecdotes, and by well-chosen specimens from the different performances.

It also appears that a work of some extent on the present state of literature, and literary men, in this country, had been nearly compleated. It was written in the administration of Mr. Pitt, and was inscribed to the Right Hon. W. Windham. The idea originated, in what was perhaps a misconcep tion, that literature was on the decline among us,, from the want of patrons. As he advanced in life, he was probably convinced that he was in error, for the work was never published, and as it should seem, never finished.

Our friend had also prepared for publication,. some notes on two plays of Shakspeare. He, somewhere in "the Recollections," confesses, that he was prompted to this, by a wish to exercise the irritable curiosity of George Stevens. He first. began with intimating in some Morning Paper, the intention of examining the edition of Shakspeare by Malone, then recently published, with the hint that the critical attention of the author would also be extended to all the other annotators.

Several

columns

column's were accordingly filled with notes on the Tempest. The bait took, Mr. S. ever restless and Impatient where Shakspeare was concerned, used every effort in his power to discover the author, and even condescended to reply to some of his obe servations, through the same channel of communication with the public. But he did not succeed; the work, however, became, in its progress, so very amusing, that annotations on two plays were ready for publication. Something more serious, in all probability, diverted his attention from this lighter employment, which he seems to have laid aside altogether.

Preparations were also made for a publication of a facetious kind. He proposed to give an account of the witty publications of earlier days, and had taken as a motto,