must be confessed that the man who by his activity, courage, and perseverance, could frustrate the efforts of such a powerful alliance as had been formed against the Venetian states, had no slight pretensions to the applause and gratitude of his country. In the elegant Latin oration of Navagero, which yet. remains, are briefly enumerated the principal transactions of his life; and we learn from the same authority, that his few hours of leisure were sedulously devoted to the cultivation of literature, in which he had made a much greater proficiency than could have been expected from a person devoted to the ceaseless duties of a military profession.* Of the solidity of his judgment a sufficient proof may be found in the early patronage which he afforded to Girolamo Fracastoro, who was destined to be one of the principal literary ornaments of the age, and who was chiefly indebted to this celebrated commander for those opportunities of improvement which have conferred immortality on his name.

The important changes which had taken place in the affairs of Italy, naturally led to some alteration in the conduct of the pontiff towards the other sovereigns of Europe, and particularly towards Henry VIII.; between whom and Francis I. a degree of emulation had arisen, which was already sufficiently apparent. On the death of Cardinal Bambridge, Wolsey had succeeded him as archbishop of York; but this preferment, although it increased the revenues, did not gratify the ambition of this aspiring ecclesiastic, who had flattered himself with the hope of obtaining also the hat of a cardinal lately worn by his predecessor. In soliciting from the pope this distinguished favour, Wolsey had relied on the assistance of Adrian de Corneto, bishop of Bath, and cardinal of S. Crisogono, the pope's collector in England, under whom, as the cardinal resided at Rome, Polydoro Virgilio acted as sub-collector." The cardinal was either unable or unwilling to render the service expected; and such was the resentment of Wolsey, who conceived that he had been betrayed by him, that under some trivial pretext he seized upon his deputy Polydoro, and committed him to the Tower. This violent measure had been the subject of frequent representations from the court of Rome;

Naugerii Orat. in funere Bart. Liviani, p. 7. Ed. Tacuin. 1530.

but although the cardinal Giulio de' Medici and the pope himself had written to the king, requesting the liberation of their agent, he still remained in confinement.* The apparent disrespect thus manifested by the English monarch to the holy see, had induced the pontiff to listen to the representations of Francis I., who was extremely earnest to obtain the restoration of Louis Guillard, ex-bishop of Tournay, to that rich benefice, of which he had been deprived by the intrusion of Wolsey. Whilst the pope was yet hesitating, not perhaps as to the rights of the respective claimants, but as to which of the rival sovereigns it would be most expedient to attach to his interests, the success of the French arms effected a speedy decision, and Leo immediately granted a papal bull for restoring Guillard to his benefice, and even authorising him to make use of the secular arm for obtaining possession. It may well be conceived that this measure gave great offence, not only to Wolsey, but to Henry VIII., who had lately incurred an immense expense in fortifying the city of Tournay; and warm remonstrances were made upon it to the court of Rome, in consequence of which the business was referred to the decision of two cardinals, who showed no great disposition to bring it to a speedy termination. In the mean time Francis, who was well apprised where the chief difficulty lay, conceived that if he could obtain for Wolsey an equivalent for the loss of his bishopric, he should find no further obstacles from that quarter. He therefore gave him to understand that he should promote his interests at Lome to the utmost of his power.† In the weighty discussions now depending between Francis and the pontiff, the appointment of a cardinal was an object of small comparative importance. The promotion of Wolsey to that dignity was determined on, of which Francis took care to send Wolsey the first intelligence; and at a consistory held for that purpose on the tenth day of September, 1515, he was the sole person raised to that high rank, his title being that of S. Cecilia trans Tiberim. About the same time the pope's agent in England was liberated from his confinement; but Wolsey, having obtained nis object, still refused to relinquish his claims to the bishopric of Tournay; and is supposed to have stimulated his sovereign to a new Herbert's Life of Henry VIII.

* Rymer, tom. vi. par. i. p. 105.

quarrel with Francis, for the purpose of affording himself a pretext for retaining the emoluments of his see.

The arrangements for the intended interview between Leo X. and Francis I. at Bologna being now completed, Leo communicated his intention to the college of cardinals, some of whom ventured to insinuate that it would be derogatory to the dignity of the pontiff to receive the king in any other place than Rome. Without regarding their suggestions, he directed the cardinals to meet together at Viterbo on the approaching festival of All Souls; and to the absent cardinals he addressed a circular letter to the same effect. On his quitting the city, with the intention of paying a visit to Florence, before he proceeded to Bologna, he intrusted the chief authority to the cardinal Soderini, brother of the late Gonfaloniere, as his legate; not on account of his own attachment to him, but, as it was supposed, because he was apprehensive that if the cardinal accompanied him to Florence, his presence might remind the citizens of their former liberties. It was the intention of the pontiff to have proceeded from Rome to Siena, but the number of his followers, consisting of twenty cardinals with their attendants, and an immense train of prelates and officers of the court, alarmed the inhabitants of that place, who sent a deputation to him whilst yet on the road, to apprise him, that in the scarcity of provisions under which they laboured it would be impossible for them to provide for such a multitude. He therefore changed his route, and proceeded towards Cortona, where he was magnificently entertained for three days in the house of Giulio Passerini, one of the nobles attendant on his court, and gave audience to six of the principal inhabitants of Florence, who were deputed to meet and to pay him homage in the names of their fellow-citizens. On leaving Cortona he passed through Arezzo, and arrived on the twenty-sixth day of November in the vicinity of Florence, where he took up his residence for a few days at Marignolle, the villa of Jacopo Gianfiliazzi, until the preparations making for his reception within the city could be completed. These preparations were much impeded by a long continuance of rainy weather, but the inclemency of the season did not prevent the inhabitants from displaying their usual magnificence and invention; and the exhibitions upon this occasion employed the talents of the first professors, in a

city which was the centre of the arts, and at a period when they had attained their highest excellence.*

At the approach of the pontiff the gates and part of the walls of the city were thrown down, and the exultation of the populace was unbounded, whilst his presence reminded them, at the same time, of the honour which his high rank conferred on them, and of the happiness which they had enjoyed under the mild and paternal authority of his ancestors. At the entrance of the city was erected a triumphal arch, richly decorated with historical sculpture, the workmanship of Jacopo di Sandro, and Baccio da Montelupo. Another arch in the Piazza di S. Felice was completed by Giuliano del Tasso; in which was placed the statue of Lorenzo the Magnificent, the father of the pontiff, with a motto pathetically appropriate, although perhaps, profanely applied ; at the sight of which the pope appeared to be deeply affected. The same artist also exhibited at the S. Trinità a bust of Romulus and several beautiful statues, and erected in the Mercato nuovo a column resembling that of Trajan at Rome. Antonio da S. Gallo built, in the Piazza de' Signori, an octangular temple, and Baccio Bandinelli placed in the Loggie a colossal figure of Hercules. Between the monastery and the palace a triumphal arch was erected by Francesco Granacci, and Aristotile da S. Gallo ; and another in the quarter of the Bischeri by Rosso Rossi, with great variety of ornaments and figures, and with appropriate inscriptions in honour of the pontiff. But the work which was chiefly admired was the front of the church of S. Maria del Fiore, which was covered with a temporary façade, from the design of Jacopo Sansovino, who decorated it with statues and bassi rilievi; in addition to which the pencil of Andrea de Sarto enriched it with historical subjects in chiaro-scuro, executed in such a manner as to produce a most striking effect; a mode of ornament the invention of which is attributed, by Vasari, to Lorenzo, father of the pontiff, and which was highly commended by Leo X., who declared that the structure could not have appeared more beautiful if the whole had been built of marble. Many other works of art are commemorated by contemporary writers, some of which were executed from the designs

Cambii. Hist. Flor. ap. Moreni.

Hic est filius meus dilectus,

of Baccio Bandinelli, and were displayed in such profusion as almost to fill the streets through which the pontiff had to pass.

The ceremonial order of the procession was arranged with great attention by Paris de Grassis, 13 from the inferior ranks of valets, heralds, and horsemen, to the great officers of the pope's household, nobles, ambassadors, and independent princes of Italian states. In this task he found, however, no small difficulty; for as there were three ambassadors from France, and only one from Spain, the Spanish envoy insisted on being placed next to the first of the French envoys, so that the other two should follow him. To this the French envoys positively objected; alleging that, on a former occasion, when there were three Spanish ambassadors and one from England, and the English envoy claimed the privilege of following after the first of the Spaniards, they refused to allow themselves to be separated, and insisting that the same rule should be applied to them which they had applied to others; whereupon the Spaniard quitted the procession in disgust. To the ambassadors succeeded the magistrates of Florence, on foot, the guards of the pope, and Lorenzo de' Medici with fifty followers. The host was preceded by tapers, and placed under a canopy supported by canons of the church. Next appeared the cardinals, according to their distinctions of deacous, priests, and bishops, who were succeeded by one hundred young men of noble families, superbly and uniformly dressed. The master of the papal ceremonies, Paris de Grassis, bishop of Pesaro, with his assistants, immediately preceded the pope, who appeared under a canopy, which was carried by the Gonfaloniere, and chief magistrates of Florence, and followed by the chamberlains, physicians, secretaries, and other officers of the pope's household. Among these was his treasurer, who, during their progress, distributed money among the crowd; for which purpose the pope had appropriated a sum of three thousand ducats. A long train of prelates and ecclesiastics followed, and the horse-guards of the pope brought up the rear. In this manner the procession passed towards the church of S. Maria del Fiore, the pope frequently stopping to observe the inscriptions and trophies which appeared in his way. On his arrival at the church, he found an elevated path prepared, on which he proceeded, with a few attendants, from the entrance to the high altar, whilst the rest of his followers remained in