[Footnote 180: Roscoe, Life and Pontificate of Leo X.]
[Footnote 181: Neander, General History of the Christian Religion and Church.]
A kind dispensation of Providence it was, that saved Leo X. the sight of the harrowing scenes that Europe then presented. He had already occupied the throne of St. Peter eight years, eight months, and nineteen days, during all which time he had faithfully guarded the interests of the church against royal encroachments, and the liberty of his dominions against foreign aggression; he had presided over the last seven sessions of the oecumenical council of Lateran, and conferred on an English monarch the title of Defensor fidei; and now, in the forty-seventh year of his age, cruel death takes him from the affection of his subjects, the love of his cardinals, and the veneration of men of letters. Sad was the day when it was told that Leo X. was no more. Artists and humanists dropped a tear for their friend and benefactor; the sculptor and the painter commemorated their deceased Maecenas in the virgin marble and on the glowing canvas, while the historian wrote the annals of his reign and the poet embalmed his memory in immortal verse. Rome erected his monument, and posterity, admiring the virtues of the Christian, reverencing the eminent qualities of the pontiff, and idolizing the protector of letters and art, has called the age in which he lived the golden age of Leo the Tenth.
Translated From The Spanish.
Little Flowers Of Spain.
By Fernan Caballero.
"Humble flowers of religious poetry, and derivations of popular expressions and proverbs," is the title given by the authoress to the article headed "Cosas (humildes) de España" —Humble Things of Spain.
If there exists an individual who has read all that we have written—and the case, though not probable, is nevertheless not impossible—he must have noticed that our zeal, our labor, and our specialty is to find out origins and causes, draw inferences and conclusions, and trace things to their why and wherefore. We are really apprehensive lest in this branch we may become too notable.