File:Where ghosts walk - the haunts of familiar characters in history and literature (1898) (14779935171).jpg

Identifier: whereghostswalkh00harl (find matches)
Title: Where ghosts walk : the haunts of familiar characters in history and literature
Year: 1898 (1890s)
Authors: Harland, Marion, 1830-1922
Subjects:
Publisher: New York : G. P. Putnam
Contributing Library: University of California Libraries
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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that remain must re- 244 Where Ghosts Walk present but a tithe of those that were herein the reign of II Magnifico. Before quitting the city for the VillaCareggi, we diverge from the direct routeto make a critical study of the Uffizi statueof Lorenzo de Medici, representing himas he was in the heyday of his puissance.The sculptor would have done his best toflatter his illustrious subject to the extrem-est verge of compatibility with truth-fulness. Yet it would be easier to fancythat we are looking at a caricature thanupon a portrait of a patron whose vanitywas as patent as his gilded despotism.His grandfather, the great Cosimo, lordedit with a high hand, but he looked thereal benevolence he felt for the peoplecalling themselves his children. The coldsneer Grazzini has petrified for us wasupon Lorenzos lip when murder, or ra-pine, or pleasure was the business of thehour. There was something sinister and hate-ful in his face, if we are to believeVillari. The complexion was greenish, the
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LORENZO THE MAGNIFICENT. There was something sinister and hateful in his face. II Magnifico 245 mouth very large, the nose flat, and thevoice nasal. But —(even with hypercriti-cal biographers there must be a but)— But his eye was quick and keen, his fore-head was high, and his manner had all .ofgentleness that can be imagined of an ageso refined and elegant as that. His con-versation was full of vivacity, wit, andlearning. Those who were admitted to his familiarity were always fascinated by h))im. Mrs. Oliphants invaluable Makers ofFloreiice thus treats of the magnificenttyrant: Lorenzo reigned in the midst of alettered crowd of classic parasites andflatterers, writing poems which his court-iers found better than Alighieris, andsurrounding himself with those eloquentslaves who make a princes name morefamous than arms or victories, and whohave left a prejudice in the minds of allliterature-loving people in favour of theirpatron. A man of superb health andphysical power who can give

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