JOHN RAULIN, a French writer, was born at Toul in the year 1443. He pursued his studies at the university of Paris, where he obtained the degree of D.D. in 1480, and afterwards filled the professor's chair in theology with great distinction. He was elected grand-master of the college of Navarre, and founded a good library in that seminary. Becoming dissatisfied with the world, he embraced the monastic life at the abbey of Cluny, in Burgundy, in 1497. He died in 1514, at the age of 71. He attracted much attention as a preacher, and several of his sermons have been published, which exhibit striking specimens of the bad taste which prevailed in France at this period. The works of this author were collected and published at Antwerp, in 6 vols. 4to., 1612. They are accompanied with a curious and valuable collection of "Letters," that illustrate the history, manners, and sentiments of the age in which he lived.

ANTONY of LEBRIXA, or Antonius Nebrissensis, a Spanish writer, born at Lebrixa, in Andalusia, in the year 1444. He greatly contributed to the revival of letters in Spain. He first studied at Salamanca, and at the university of Bologna, in Italy, where he acquired extensive knowledge. Besides the languages and polite literature, he was well versed in mathematics, law, medicine, and theology, so that he might justly be reckoned one of the most learned men of his age. He was grammatical preceptor at Salamanca about twenty-eight years; and then removed to the university of Alcala, where he taught until his death. Here he employed himself in publishing a polyglot edition of the bible. He was historiographer to the king, and, in 1509, published two decades of an history of Ferdinand and Isabella, to be found in the first volume of the collection of Spanish historians, entitled "Hispania Illustrata." He also wrote a dictionary of the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages, printed at Granada, in 1545. He composed several other works, and died in the year 1522.

MICHAEL TARCHANIOTA MARULLUS, a learned Greek, who retired into Italy after the Turks had taken Constantinople, where he was born. It is said that he stu died Latin at Venice, and philosophy at Padua; but for a subsistence was obliged to engage in the military profession. He united the two professions of letters and arms, and was no less a poet than a soldier. His Latin poems consist of epigrams and hymns, which were published at Florence in 1497, 4to. He married the learned Alexandra Scala of Florence, which involved him in a bitter quarrel with Politian, who was his rival. Marullus created himself many enemies, by censuring too freely the ancient Latin authors. The learned men of that time usually rose to fame by translation, but this he despised, either as too mean or too hazardous a task. He lost

his life in 1499 or 1500, as he was attempting to pass a river. Perceiving that his horse had plunged with his fore-feet in such a manner that he could not disengage them again, he fell into a passion, and gave him the spur; but both his horse and himself fell. He was extremely addicted to impiety; and it is imputed to this disposition, that he was such an admirer of Lucretius, whose works he said should be got by heart. Hody has collected a number of honourable testimonies, in favour of Marullus, from the writings of able and learned critics, who lived near his time, while he has been equally undervalued by more modern writers.

ALEXANDRA SCALA, daughter of Bartholomew, was also very learned, and became famous for her skill in the Latin and Greek languages. She was married to the celebrated Marullus. She wrote several tracts, and died in 1506.

DEMETRIUS CHACONDIGLAS, a learned Greek; born at Constantinople, who left that city after its being taken by the Turks, and afterwards taught Greek in several cities of Italy. He composed a Greek grammar, and died at Milan in 1513.

JOHN HOLTE, author of the first Latin grammar of note in England, was born in the county of Sussex. He was an eminent school-master, in which capacity he acquired great reputation, and prepared many students for college, who were afterwards men of celebrity. Holte published the first Latin grammar in England, with this title, " Lac Puerorum M. Holti. Mylke for Chyldren," 4to. printed by Wynkyn de Worde, 1497.

JOHN ANDREW LASCARIS, surnamed Ryndecenus, a learned writer, of an ancient Greek family, who went into Italy, after the taking of Constantinople by the Turks in 1453. He was well received by Laurence de Medicis, a distinguished protector of learned men; and was twice sent to Constantinople to collect the best Greek MSS., by which means numberless, scarce, and valuable treasures of literature were carried into Italy. At his return Lewis XII., king of France, prevailed on him to settle in the university of Paris, and sent him twice ambassador to Venice. Ten years after cardinal John Medicis being elected pope, under the name of Leo X., Lascaris, his old friend, went to Rome, and had the direction of a Greek college. He died at Rome in 1535, in the 90th year of his age. He published the Greek Anthologia, folio, 1494; four of the tragedies of Euripides; the Argonautics of Apollonius Rhodius; and Scholia on Homer and Sophocles. He also translated Polybius into Latin; and wrote epigrams in Greek and Latin, printed at Paris, in 1527, 4to.

CONSTANTINE LASCARIS, one of the Greeks who were principally concerned in the revival of learning in the

west. He retired into Italy in 1454, and taught polite literature at Milan, whither he was called by Francis Sforza; he afterwards went to Rome, where he was well received by Cardinal Bessarion. He afterwards taught rhetoric and Greek at Naples; and ended his days at Messina, leaving the senate of that city many excellent MSS., which he had brought from Constantinople. He was interred at the public expense, and the senate of Messina erected a marble monument to his memory. His Greek grammar was printed at Milan, in 1476; and again by Aldus, in 1495.

JOHN BAPTIST PORTA, a Neapolitan, eminent for learning and science. As he admitted a society of scientific friends into his house, he was accused of magical incantations, and exposed to the censures of Rome. He died in 1515, aged 70. He invented the camera obscura, improved afterwards by Gravesande, and formed the plan of an Encyclopædia. He wrote a Latin treatise on natural magic, 8vo. ; another on physiognomy, mixed with astrology, &c. de occultis literarum notis-physiognomica, folio, &c.

BARTHOLOMEW FONTIUS, a Florentine, was librarian to Matthew Corvinus, king of Hungary, at Buda, and died 1513, aged 68. He was the author of a commentary on Persius, and orations, printed at Frankfort in 1621, 8vo.

ANTHONY CODRUS URCEUS, a learned Italian, born in 1446. His works, consisting of letters, speeches, and poems, were published after his death. Being disgusted with the world by various misfortunes, he retired into a wood, where he died in 1500.

CATHERINE FIESCH ADORNI, born at Genoa in 1447. She was author of two books of great repute, one on Purgatory, and the other," A Dialogue between the Soul and the Body," in which she is said to have treated, in a very judicious manner, difficult theological subjects, though not learned. She was of a good family, and the wife of a Genoese nobleman, whose strange temper she suffered many years with great patience. She was a religious enthusiast; and used to have fits, or ecstasies, in which she usually spoke in verse, though she never composed in it at other times; but a taste for poetry, which made her frequently get passages by heart, uncertain health, and a too lively imagination, may easily account for what then appeared miraculous.

CASSANDRA FIDELIS, a Venetian lady, died in 1558, aged 100. Descended from ancestors who had changed their residence from Milan to Venice, and had uniformly added to the respectability of their rank by their uncommon learning, she began at an early age to prosecute her studies with great diligence, and acquired such a knowledge of the learned languages, that she may with justice be enumerated among

the first scholars of the age. The letters which occasionally passed between Cassandra and Politian, demonstrate their mutual esteem, if indeed such an expression be sufficient to characterize the feelings of Politian, who expresses, in language unusually florid, his high admiration of her extraor dinary acquirements, and his expectation of the benefits which the cause of letters would derive from her labours and example. In the year 1491, the Florentine scholar made a visit to Venice, where the favourable opinion he had formed of her writings was confirmed by a personal interview. "Yesterday," says he, writing to his great patron Lorenzo de Medicis, "I paid a visit to the celebrated Cassandra, to whom I presented your respects. She is, indeed, Lorenzo, a surprizing woman, as well from her acquirements in her own language, as in the Latin; and, in my opinion, she may be called handsome. I left her, astonished at her talents. She is much devoted to your interest, and speaks of you with great esteem. She even avows her intention of visiting you at Florence, so that you may prepare yourself to give her a proper reception."

From a letter of this lady's many years afterwards to Leo X., we learn, that an epistolary correspondence had subsisted between her and Lorenzo de Medicis; and it is with concern we find, that the remembrance of this intercourse was revived, in order to induce the pontiff to bestow upon her some pecuniary assistance, she being then a widow, with a numerous train of dependants. She lived, however, to a more advanced period, and her literary acquirements, and the reputation of her early associates, threw a lustre upon her declining years; and, as her memory remained unimpaired to the last, she was resorted to from all parts of Italy as a living monument of those happier days, to which the Italians never reverted without regret. The letters and orations of this lady were published at Pavia, in 1636, with some account of her life. She wrote a volume of Latin poems also, on various subjects.

She is thus spoken of by M. Thomas, in his "Essay on Women." "One of the learned women in Italy, who wrote equally well in the three languages of Homer, Virgil, and Dante, in verse and in prose; who possessed all the philosophy of her own and the preceding ages, who, by her graces, embellished even theology; sustained theses with eclât, and many times gave public lessons at Padua; who joined to her various knowledge, agreeable talents, particularly music, and. exalted her talents by her virtue. She received homage from sovereign pontiffs and kings; and that every thing relating to her might be singular, lived more than a century."

LORENZO DE MEDICIS, surnamed the Magnificent, grandson of Cosmo de Medicis, and son of Piero de Medicis, by

his wife Lucretia Tourreabuoni, was born on Jan. 1, 1448. From an early age he gave proof of great natural talents, which were cultivated by a careful education. He was not less addicted to active sports, and laborious exercises, than to the studies of the closet; and was equally dexterous in the management of business, and in the pursuit of arts and science. At the death of his grand-father Cosmo, he was about the age of 16; and as his father's delicate constitution rendered him unfit for taking a lead in public affairs, no time was lost in preparing Lorenzo for political life.

In 1469 Lorenzo married Clarice, the daughter of a member of a noble Roman family of Orsini; a match which his father negotiated for him without consulting his inclinations, but which was productive of harmony and mutual affection. In the same year Piero de Medicis died, leaving his two sons Lorenzo and Giuliano, the latter five years younger than the former, the heirs of his powers and property.

Immediately after the death of his father, Lorenzo was waited upon by a deputation of the principal inhabitants of Florence, who requested him to take upon himself that post of head of the republic, which Cosmo and Piero had occupied. Notwithstanding his youth, he did not hesitate to assume that important trust. One of the first public occurrences after he conducted the helm of government was a revolt of the inhabitants of Volterra, on account of a dispute with the Florentine republic. A difference of opinion prevailed in the council of state concerning the plan to be pursued in suppressing it; and in opposition to the advice of Soderini, who recommended conciliatory measures, Lorenzo adopted the means of force, which terminated in the sack of that unfortunate city-an event that appeared to give him much concern. His regard to literature, which never ceased to be the favourite recreation of his leisure, was laudably displayed in 1472, by the lead he took in the re-establishment of the academy of Pisa. Not less attached than his great ancestor Cosmo to the Platonic philosophy, he was a zealous favourite of the academy established for its promotion, and instituted an annual festival in honour of the memory of Plato, which was conducted with a singular literary splendour. He also composed an Italian poem on the doctrines of that philosopher, which did great honour to his taste and genius. While he was thus advancing in a career of prosperity and reputation, a tragical incident was very near depriving his country of his future services. This was the conspiracy of the Pazzi, a numerous and distinguished family in Florence, the natural rivals of the Medici, though connected with them by affinity. Pope Sixtus IV. was at the bottom of this conspiracy, with his nephew Riario ; and the archbishop of Pisa, Salviati, was the