under the fanction of your favourable opinion and great wisdom." This circumstance of time lays open either a palpable falfehood, or at least an egregious blunder in Varillas. He fays, in his Anecdotes of Florence, that Machiavel wrote the eight books which we have of the Florentine History, in fo florid and elaborate a Style, that he is charged with an excefs in that point: that it is chiefly upon this account that the ease and agreeable freedom of Boccace are preferred to his manner of writing: that his relation of facts is fometimes ill natured and fatirical and that Marcus Mufurus convicted him fo .evidently of these faults that he durft not attempt a reply." Now Mufurus died in the time of Leo X; fo that he could not poffibly animadvert upon Machiavel's Hiftory, which did not appear till the days of Clement VII. Varillas has likewife ftrangely perverted the .words of Jovius, which are as follow." Pedeftrem patrii fermonis facultatem a Boccacii conditoris vetuftate diffluentem novis & plane Atticis vinculis aftrinxerat, fic ut ille caftigatior, fed non purior aut gravior exiftimetur.

It would be endlefs to relate the ftories that are told of Machiavel's lirreligion. Let one fuffice, and whether that is worthy of credit or not, is left to the judgment of the reader. "When he lay at the point of death he was feized with the following phrenzy. He faw a small company of poor, half starved, ragged, ill favoured. wretches who he was told were the inhabitants of Paradife, of whom it is written, Beati pauperes Spiritu; quoniam ipforum eft regnum cælorum. Bleed are the poor in Spirit; for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven. After thefe had retired, an infinite number of grave Majestick perfonages appeared, who feemed as fitting in council and debating upon important affairs of State. There he faw Plato, Seneca, Plutarch, Tacitus, with many others of the like character: and when he asked who thofe venerable perfons were, he was informed they were the damned, the Souls of the reprobated, Sapientia hujus fæculi inimica: eft Dei; the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. After this, being afked to which of thofe companies he would chufe to belong, he answered, he had much rather go to hell, where he might con-verfe with those great Genius's about State-affairs, than be condemned to the company of fuch loufy scoundrels as had been prefented to him before. Soon after which he expired [m]." Spizelius gives us the fubftance of the fame ftory [n]; but it is otherwife related by fome.. They pretend that Machiavel fays in fome part of his works, that he

[m] Binet de Salut d'Origene.

Scrutin. Ath:ifini hiftoric, aetiolog.

would.

4478. - ANECDOTES OF THE LIFE TA
he would rather be fent to hell after his death, than go to Paradife;
because he should find nobody in Heaven but a parcel of beggars,
Monks, Hermits and Apoftles: but in Hell he fhould live with Car-
dinals, Popes, Princes, and Kings [o]. ..

2. Besides the Comedy of Clitia above-mentioned, Machiavel com-
pofed two others which never were printed, but are to be feen in
manuscript in the grand Duke of Tuscany's Library; one of them is
entitled the Mafk, a very fatirical piece, and the other, the Secretary:
and he may in fome meafure be called the author of another very hu-
morous one, entitled la Sporta, or the Basket, as he sketched out the
plan and wrote the best Scenes in it, though it is commonly attributed
to Giovanni Baptifta Gelli [p]. There is a fifth likewise entirely of
his own compofing, and printed amongst his other works, called
Mandragola [9], which la Fontaine has traveftied into a tale under
the fame title. He is faid to have compofed feveral other theatrical
pieces which are not now to be met with; and fome tales in the
manner of Boccace: one of which, viz. the Marriage of Belphegor
[r], Giovanni Breccio published as his own; but the theft was dif
covered by Giovanni Cinelli, who takes notice of it in his Bibliotheca
Volante. Monfieur le Fevre de Saumur had it printed 1664 from
Machiavel's own manufcript, which was the first time it appeared
under the name of the true Author. This also was feized upon by

[o] Francis Hotman, in his 99th Epiftle, dated, Dec. 25, 1580, amongst other cu-
rious particulars, fays, this account is to be met with in Wolfius's Comment upon
Cicero's Tufculan Difputations.

[p] Gelli, in his dedicatory Letter, and in the Prologue, fays, that he copied the greatest part of this Comedy from Plautus and Terence: but Giacopo Gaddi, and Giuliano Ricci, affirm, that it was written by Machiavel; and that Gelli, into whose hands the manuscript fell, adding a little to it, published it as his own work, Lafca before them had faid of Gelli,

E fece anch' egli una comedia nova,
Che l'avea prima fatta il Machiavelli.

See Barretti's Italian Library, p. 106.
[9] Voltaire fpeaking of the State of the Polite Arts in the Sixteenth Century, fays,
Italy had its Thucydides in Guicciardine, who wrote the Hiftory of the wars of his
own time, as Thucydides wrote the war of Peloponnefus. There were, indeed, no
Orators like Demofthenes, Pericles, and Æfchines, in any of the Italian Provinces:
the government in moft places, being inconfiftent with that kind of merit. Their ftage,
however, though far fhort of that degree of perfection, to which the French Theatre
afterwards attained, might be compared to the Greek Drama, which they began to
revive; and Machiavel's Mandragola alone, is preferable perhaps to all Ariftophanes's
Comedies. Machiavel was an excellent Hiftorian, and a man of fine genius; fo that
there can be no manner of comparison betwixt him and Ariftophanes." Gen. Hift. of
Europe, vol. ii. part. iv. c. I. But with fubmiffion to fo great a judge, the Comedy
of Clitia feems to fome others, much the better of the two.

[r] It is inferted at the end of the fecond volume of this work.

la

la Fontaine and dreffed up in a new garb. His poetical talents may further appear from feveral little pieces which he wrote in verfe, as the Golden Afs four Capitoli, as he calls them, upon Opportunity, Fortune, Ingratitude, and Ambition; and his Duoi Decennali, or, a Summary of what happened in Italy, during a period of twenty years. But his performances hitherto mentioned, may be confidered only as what the Italians call Operette, or Prolufions. It is time therefore to fay fomething of the rest...

Mr Bayle fays, there is a very curious paffage in the Sequel to the: Menagiana p. 96. relating to the fineffe which Machiavel made ufe of in drawing up the Life of Caftruccio Caftracani; to which the Editor of thefe Anecdotes must refer the Reader, as he has not had an opportunity of feeing it himself. Some alledge that it is not faithfully written]; and his History of Florence is charged with the fame fault []. But as that matter is pretty well cleared pretty well cleared up in the Advertifement to the Reader, prefixed to this tranflation of it, let it fuffice. to add here what Monfieur Gohory, an old French tranflator of Ma-chiavel's works, fays concerning the merit of that History. "It is fo excellent and perfect a one, that the late Milles Perrot, Mafter of Accounts, and my near relation (one of the most learned men in the kingdom in languages and sciences) having read it over with more. diligence than he had done either Livy or Tacitus, told me, that as the temper of it was accommodated to our times, there was more advantage to be reaped from reading it, than from those great ancient. hiftorians, who wrote in an age fo very different in its manners and cuftoms from ours [u].

He also wrote three books of political difcourfes upon the firft Decad of Livy, a work much efteemed by Politicians; and feven more on the Art of War; from the perufal of which, the Duke of Urbino (Son of Pietro de' Medici, and Nephew to Leo X) conceived fo high an opinion of his military knowledge that he follicited him to accept of a commiffion in his army: but he had the prudence not to venture upon any practical proofs of his theory, not even fo far as to command.

[] Machiavellus plane multa comminifcitur in vitâ Caftruccii; nempe quia is hoftis firiilet Reipublicæ Florentina." Voffius de arte biflorica, cap. 10. And Jovius complains bitterly of his unfairnefs, in his Elogium upon Nicholas Tegrimus, Counsellor and Hiftorian of Lucca, who has given a very exact account of the actions of Caftracani. "Sed Machiavellus Florentinus Hiftoricus, patrii veteris odii memor, petulantimalignitate, non interituram memorabilis Ducis famam fabulis involvit, quum vitain acerrimi hoftis Etrufco Sermone fcribere orfus, tan impudenti quam aftuto illudendi genere, facrofanctam rerum geftarum fidem corruperit." Eng. cap. 141.

[] Ibid. cap. 87.

[u] Epitre dedicatoire des difccurs fur Tite Live.

a troop

a troop of horse. In which he certainly judged right: for one who has ftudied the art of war from books only, would prefently expofe himself to the derifion of the meanest Soldier. If Cardan had not mentioned this particular, it might poffibly never have been heard of [x]. The rest of his works confift of, A Narrative of the method taken by Duke Valentine to rid himself of Vitellozzo Vitelli, Oliverotto da Fermo, Paolo Urfini, and the Duke di Gravina at Sinigaglia. A fketch of the Conftitution and affairs of France; and another of thofe of Germany: all which were published, and are included in this Volume. Befides thefe, he wrote a piece entitled Relations, or an account of the most remarkable things that happened in his time, and left it in manufcript to Francifce Guicciardini, who made great use of it in the compofition of his Hiftory. There are alfo many of his Letters to his friends ftill to be feen in manufcript, befides a large Volume of others written upon various occafions in the name of his Republic and in the Gaddian Library at Florence there is a differtation in his own hand writing styled, A difcourfe concerning the reformation of the State of Tuscany, for the ufe of Leo X.

But of all his writings, that which has given moft offence is a political work entitled the Prince. The maxims contained in it are of such a nature as hath made the public look upon him as a dangerous author: fo that Machiavellifm, and the art of reigning tyrannically, are become in a manner Synonymous terms. Indeed several of the fame maxims are scattered through his hiftorical works: but they generally appear there as Reflections, and fometimes as conjectures or reasonings upon the actions of Princes and the secret springs of them. And in this, it must be allowed, he has done no more than imitate many other both ancient and modern Hiftorians. He might therefore haps have escaped with as small a portion of cenfure as Tacitus, for inftance; if he had not taken it into his head to reduce his Diabolical Politics into a regular fort of a System or Inftitution to be learnt and practifed by Princes. In this he is certainly inexcufable; and one may venture to fay, those that think it hard that the fame people should fhew this author no mercy, who yet make no fcruple of giving quarter to Salluft, Livy, Plutarch, and even Tacitus himfelf, have not duly confidered how very different the method which Machiavel takes of venting fuch things is from that obferved by the others.

per

[x] Machiavellum fæculi fuperioris Doctorem, qui tot & tanta de militari Romanorum difciplina difertiffime fcripferat, ne unam quidem cohortem, quantumvis eum id ut tentaret, Urbini Princeps hortaretur, inftruere aufum effe Cardanus teftatur. 1. iii. de utilit. ex adverf. capiend. citante Befoldo, cap. i. de arte jureque belli.

Nobody

pro

Nobody exclaims against Poets, though they frequently inftil the fame maxims, and in a manner too that is more affecting and apt to make a deeper impreflion from their works they foon pafs into verbs and aphorifms which every one learns by heart. And if And if any of thefe pernicious traits happen to occur either in ancient or modern Hiftorians, instead of laying them down as precepts or recommending the practice of them, they generally fpeak of them with difapprobation: nay, the Poets themfelves (fay their Advocates) only put them in the mouths of fuch perfons as they at the fame time reprefent as theyatt wicked men, of whom, as well as their principles, they endeavour to inspire us with horror. But Machiavel has moulded them into form and proposes them as Counfels and Leffons for ufurpers.

Some indeed have endeavoured to justify him by probabilities. They cannot be perfuaded, they fay, that a man of his fpirit, who was fecretary of State to a Republic fo jealous of its liberty and born of a noble and Patrician family, could be ferious or in earnest in recommending fuch maxims as proper inftructions for Princes. From whence they infer that his book is only a refined and disguised Satire; land that whenever he tells his Prince that he must do fuch or fuch á thing (how wicked foever it may be) he only infinuates that most of the Princes of his time acted in that manner. There are two or three circumstances, it is true, which feem, in fome measure, to favour their opinion. Machiavel, it is well known, fay they, was a most zealous and determined' Republican, and a great admirer of Brutus and Caffius. How then is it poffible that he fhould deliver, as his own real principles, a fet of maxims fo contradictory to his character and profeffed regard for the liberties of his Country; in the Government of which his family had borne fome fhare? In the next place, it is alledged that he lived in an age that abounded with bad Princes; fome of whom, out of a fufpicion that is natural to fuch Governors, treated him in a cruel manner, and even put him to the rack; though they had careffed him before on account of his extraordinary talents, and procured him an honourable employment with a good stipend. These were the Medici, who at that time were exerting their utmost efforts to triumph, as they did at laft, over an expiring Commonwealth. The third circumftance that induces them to think the Prince is only a fneer upon Tyrants, is, that the author had naturally a ftrong turn to Satire, and (how grave an Hiftorian and Politician foever he might be) fometimes loved to laugh a little; as plainly appears from his Tales and Comedies. Albericus Gentilis [x] amongit

[x] An Italian by birth, who forfook the Romish Communion, turned Proteftant, VOL. I. Q qq to d hot in 1791. others