The letter of Lorenzo to Don Federigo, from which extracts are given above, is among the Riccardi MSS., No. 2723, under the name of Poliziano, and was published under that name in the edition of the Rime by V. Manucci and L. Ciampolini, Flor. 1814. The mistake is palpable; Poliziano’s age and the agreement with Lorenzo’s views in the commentary on his poems, show it as clearly as do the historical allusions.
[2] Cf. Carducci’s edition of the Poesie di Lor. de’ Med., p. 54 seq., and Fabroni, supra, p. 10.
[3] Herr von Reumont here gives two or three specimens of Lorenzo’s sonnets translated into German verse. It is not attempted to retranslate these, but the English reader in search of examples of the poet’s style is referred to Roscoe’s Lorenzo de’ Medici, ii., iii., v.—Note by Translator.
[4] ‘Il montanino ha scarpe grosse e cervello fino.’ The fullest collection of rispetti and other Tuscan popular songs is that of G. Tigri, Canti popolari Toscani, first published at Florence in 1856, and reprinted several times since. The reproach against the ‘Wunderhorn’ has been repeated in this case, and indeed not without reason.
[5] Tommaso Lancillotto’s Chronicle in the Cronache inedite Modenesi, pp. 8, 9. Poesie musicali dei secoli XIV, XV, XVI, tratte da vari codici per cura di Ant. Cappelli, Bologna 1869. Cf. the last story of the fifth day of the Decameron.
[6] Oratio christiani gregis ad pastorem Xistum, Epist. 1. vi. 1. Cf. supra, i. 440.
[7] Lettere di Marsilio Ficino, i. 66 seq.
[8] Inscription on the monument in Sta. Maria del Fiore:
EN HOSPES HIC EST MARSILIUS SOPHIÆ PATER,
PLATONICUM QUI DOGMA CULPA TEMPORUM
SITU OBRUTUM ILLUSTRANS, ET ATTICUM DECUS
SERVANS, LATIO DEDIT FORES PRIMUS SACRAS,
DIVINO APERIENS MENTIS ACTUS NUMINE.
VIXIT BEATUS ANTE COSMI MUNERE
LAURIQUE MEDICI NUNC REVIXIT PUBLICO.
S. P. Q. F.
ANNO MXDXI.
[9] See a remarkable letter to Lorenzo, dated 1475, in which he speaks of the neglected muses, in Bandini, Collectio veterum monumentorum, p. 1.