The life and times of Girolamo Savonarola : illustrating the progress of the Reformation in Italy, during the fifteenth century

Preface

At Naumberg, on his way to the diet of Worms, Luther made the acquaintance of a certain zealous priest, who carefully and reverentially preserved in bis closet the portrait of Girolamo Savonarola, the monk of Florence, though more as a martyr to liberty and morality, than as a religious confessor. The good priest, however, perceived enough resemblance between the Italian and the German, to draw the attention of the latter to this sacred memento. Silently producing the cherished painting, he held the same awhile before the eyes of Luther, who as silently perused it ; but nothing daunted, conceived rather courage than fear from the lesson it presented. The mighty Reformer seems in consequence to have studied the works of his less fortunate predecessor, and in the year 1523 published the Exposition by Savonarola, of the fifty-first and thirty-first Psalms ; in the preface to it ex- A o vi

PREFACE.

pressing his recognition and reverence of the author, as one of like mind with himself. This, as well as the spirit of several of the writings of Savonarola which had become known, his earnest denunciation of the ruin of the Romish Church, and the consequent fate prepared for him by the infamous Alexander VI., wakened the liveliest interest for the Italian martyr in the friends of the Reformation. They counted him among the witnesses of the truth, named him the Luther of Italy, alfectionately esteeming it of singular importance, as a coincidence, that Savonarola had commenced preaching in the same yeai (1483), in which Luther was born. Thus says Flacius in particular, whose judgement was echoed by Beza, Wolf, Hottinger, Heidegger, Arnold, Fabricius, andGERDEs, down to the middle of the 18th century. So late as in the 16th century, were several productions of Savonarola translated by Regius, Spangenberg, and others : the latter also wrote his liistory, in which he gave the greatest praise to his integrity and wonderful stedfastness. In an equal spirit of veneration, although on quite other accounts, the companions of his Order, the Dominicans, even in the Romish Church continued to glorify him ; when a writer who had separated from their community sought to irritate his former brothers, by daring the first really important attack on the orthodoxy and prophetic gifts of this their

PREFACE.

vn member, whom they so honoured, and reckoned as a saint. Hostility to the Order to which he had formerly belonged, perhaps also the endeavour to wrest from the ' Lutheran heretics' (of whom he speaks with bitterness in the dedication prefixed) one more historical weapon against the Romish Church, occasioned Ambrosio Catharino Polito, who was already known by other controversial writings, in particular that against the scarcely deceased Cardinal Cajetanus, to attack the doctrine and prophecies of Savonarola, which he sought to represent as presumptive, erroneous, false, lying, self-contradictory, scandalous, and sufficiently refuted by his own revocation of them ; — which revocation however, as the reader of the following biography will perceive, never really existed. On the other hand, Savonarola maintained the splendour of a saint in the ecclesiastical annals of Abraham Bzovius, Raynaldus, and Natal Alexander, who were at least useful to history by the publication of different documents ; while the Dominican Quetif first undertook to rescue the honour of Savonarola, attacked by Catharino, on the basis of copious collections from original sources.

During the life of Savonarola, enthusiastic reverence, and passionately hostile opposition, contended for his name ; after his death, the most different judgments on him were repeated. Giovanni Franviii

PRKFACE.

CISCO Pico della Mirandola, who, as a confidential friend of Savonarola, might in his biography of him have afforded the truest image, gave, with several useful notices, almost a mere panegyric, the offspring of admiration and superstitious reverence, which concludes with a long and elaborate parallel between Savonarola and Christ, and bears throughout the character of partiality.

The mention of Savonarola made by the French historian Comines, who possessed a sufficient knowledge of the facts, and was convinced no less of his honesty than of his prophetic gift, is candid, sincere, and critical. The celebrated Machiavelli on the contrary represents the latter as problematic, but the former as commanding veneration, and accounts for Savonarola's ruin, by supposing that he did not understand how to be, or was incapable of being, the ' master of envy.' Savonarola's other biographer, BuRLAMACCHi, was of the Order of Dominicans, and out of reverence for Savonarola, soon after his death, wrote the life of his idol (1519), in the same spirit with Pico della Mirandola, though on better grounds, and more supported by facts, but encumbered with miraculous relations which bespeak the superstition of the period. Other writers, less closely connected with the times and the man, have given different opinions, according to their sect or party. GuicciARDiNi, a tolerably impartial relator, col-

PREFACE.

ix lected the different opinions and narratives, and thereby, (especially as he carefully suppressed his own views,) was better entitled to demand a more equitable judgment from posterity, than has been generally awarded. Nardi, though recognizing decidedly the laudable endeavours of Savonarola, in his attempted moral, religious, and clerical reforms, still found his political theocratic plans and hopes too little suited to the circumstances of the times, and taken up without sufficient consideration. Nerli, albeit not forgetting himself, so as to fall into the injustice of passion, still perceived only the monk who sought an undue influence in the government of the State, and wished to transfer it from the hands of the nobility into those of the people ; to which decision also Giovio in some degree assents, though from his other excellent qualities, he esteemed Savonarola not deserving of so ignominious a death.

Savonarola, meanwhile, was never judged more severely or more unjustly, than by John Francis BoDDEUS, who with wanton criticism sought to render suspicious the testimonies of Comines and Guicciardini as partial ; and insidiously followed, as unsuspicious sources, the accounts of the papal journalist BuRCHARD, and the printed acts of the process, which were stiU further enlarged by inculpatory conjectures. He represented Savonarola as a cunning exciter of sedition, who in the politically entangled

X

PREFACE.

circumstances of Florence knew how to avail himself of great eloquence, and diligently nourished the superstition of the people for his own ambitious plans. In this conclusion, Gabriel Naude concurred with equally unproved assertions, while Buddeus saw himself compelled, by closer examination of history, to retract his former opinion, since he recognized the integrity and innocence of Savonarola, but yet accused him of too great participation in political events. More influential were Bayle's acute remarks, which, however unjust and hypercritical they must appear, compared with history, not only occasioned Christian Eberhard Weismann to retract his former favourable judgment of Savonarola, but moreover found too easy an echo among the friends of the newly awakened criticism. In Italy there appeared, after a flimsy attack, founded chiefly on the printed process, an anonymous defence and history of Savonarola, supported by copious corroborations from the historians of that time, as also from his own writings. A biography of Savonarola, which appeared at the beginning of the 19th century, sought to unite the contradictory testimonies of history, in the description that Savonarola was ambitious, fanatical, and daring, but nevertheless a very learned, pious, mild, and well-meaning man. The previous judgment of ScHRCECKH might be found more satisfactory, who, without acquitting him of self-deception and fanatical

PREFACE.

xi or enthusiastic piety, recognized in his writings, his religious feeling, and his deep penetration into the sins of the time, which he fearlessly denounced, the nohle seeds of true piety derived from Scripture, whereby he in more than one respect opened the path to the Reformers, who named him with gratitude, and was himself well worthy of better times and a better fate. Yet old doubts and prejudices emerged again in many forms, as long as its full right and satisfaction was not rendered to history. Ammon, indeed, sought to lay down the principles of Savonarola's theology, from some of his chief writings ; but the loudly-heard voice of history described him as the passionately-excited. and exciting monk who, without fundamental learning and deeper knowledge of the science of theology, was not able to understand the nature of the Romish Church any more than that of the State.

In English literature, with the exception of Godwin's Lives of the Necromancers, little or nothing of any mark exists in regard to Savonarola ; and even that is merely a sceptical deduction, not at all admissible by a Christian believer. Roscoe, indeed, in his Life of Lorenzo de Medici, gives a garbled statement of Savonarola's proceedings, introducing him always as a vulgar fanatic, who by his blunders deprived Florence of the excellent constitution and asthetic cultivation, which it would otherwise have enjoyed xii

PREFACE.

under the family of the Medici. This position, however, is too absurd to req^iire refutation at this day, when the finger of Providence in all that served to initiate the reformation of the Church is so generally recognized, and the demoralized state of Italy, and the papal see in particular, conceded by every one who treats the history of the period with any show of sincerity. In Germany no fewer than three elaborate lives of Savonarola have appeared in the last six years, by RuDELBACH, Meier, and Rapp.

It is worthy remark, that a man, the events of whose life are of a character so wonderfully unique, or only to be paralleled — in the estimation of Machiavelli — with those in the lives of Numa, Solon, Lycurgus, and Moses, should have been so cursorily passed over by English biographers, and have held so small a space in general history. The reason is to be found in this, that though his cause in part ultimately prospered, yet in himself Savonarola, unlike Luther, was not successful. The greatest men thus circumstanced are almost unknown to general reputation ; but for that reason their lives are the more valuable, and should be prized as choice and rare by the reader of cultivated understanding and refined taste.

In addition to the authorities already indicated, the writer of the following biography has availed himself of many other sources of fact and opinion ; a few may be mentioned, notes and references to the authori-

PREFACE.

XIII ties consulted being omitted, from a desire, not only to avoid unnecessary display in that kind, but to diminish as much as possible the size and weight of a work intended for popular perusal. — E. g. Benedetto, Razzi, Bottoni, Piero Marco di Parenti, Ammiratt, Segni, Muratori, Tiraboschi, CresciMBENi, Varchi, Neri, Bandini, Valori, Varil- LAs, PiERio Valeriano, Beneviene, Tommasi, SisMONDi, Meyerhoff, Gordon, Waddington, D'AcBiGNE, &c. &c. Though small in compass, the following Life of Savonarola contains more facts of his history, and more extracts from his writings, than exist in any other or in all the memoirs and biographies of him hitherto written. Nothing in it has been misstated or overcharged, but the whole subject treated, in its theological, political, and philosophical bearings, with the utmost impartiality that the author could command. We now know that the work in which Savonarola engaged, notwithstanding its temporary failure, was of God, and not to be attributed to any one person, however conspicuous in its direction.

The great Protestant Reformation, thus divinely appointed, thus prepared at divers times and in different places for its developement, is now felt to be a living thing with a principle of growth in it, well rooted in a genial soil, and nourished with all such influences as promote longevity and productiveness.

a xiv

PREFACE.

But some have lately become ashamed of the term Protestant, as if it were a negation only, commissioned to destroy, and not at all to build. As members of the Protestant Church of England, we can permit no such merely negative meaning to a word which has passed into ecclesiastical formularies, parliamentary acts and documents, royal declarations, and coronation oaths. That it is destructive only, is refuted by these facts — involving greater ones — that it has a Church and State, nay. Churches and States, of its own ; it has therefore tended to edification, nay, it has edified ; it is accordingly an affirmative existence, and negates nothing but the corruptions and abuses of a preceding order, that had fallen into decay and refused to be repaired. Moreover, it has long ceased to oppose the Church of Rome, it now seeks only to supersede her ; on the other hand, Rome, by resisting reform, became Protestant, in the negative sense of the term, which she has still continued to be, having no abuses and corruptions in the Church of the Reformation to denounce, or which she has cared to denounce, or, in fact, been able to denounce, knowing how easily she might be recriminated upon. Consequently, the Protestant attitude is maintained by Rome, at the expense of her own catholicity ; but by the Anglican Church, to the gain and increase of her's. On this and other accounts, she is entitled to take her place as a co-ordinate and independent institution.

PREFACE.

XV

It is for these reasons that the present writer is inclined to object most strenuously to the Church of England being considered as a mere via media — between the papacy at the one extreme, and ultra protestantism at the other. This is at best to degrade the Church of England from a high catholic, to a mere syncretic condition, not at all desirable, and even prejudicial. There are proofs enough, in the following Life, that the two extremes, of which the Church of England is supposed to be the mean, exist, and have always existed, in the Church of Rome herself — Apostolicism on the one hand, and even Atheism on the other. Similar opposites are found in the Church of the Reformation at large, together with every shade of opinion between high- church Episcopacy and Socinian dissent ; and the Church of England confessedly includes every variety of faith, from Newmanism to Calvinism. We thus see two or more complete orbs forming part, it may be, of the same general system, but each distinguished from the other, and maintaining its separate integrity, having its own revolutions and distinct sphere of existence.

The true via media, therefore, is not to be sought in any one entire Church, as the centre between that and other Churches, but in each Church, as the point of agreement, where all her members meet in conformity. There is a large moderate party in the Anglican Church connecting the two extremes, which, a 2 xvi

PREFACE.

ill fact, represents her true spirit and tendency as an institution, the tenets of which are abstracted, not only from her Articles (subject, as these prove to be, to every variety of interpretation), her formularies, and the authoritative interpretations of her bishops and clergy, but also from the Holy Scriptures themselves, and the comments of men of letters in general ; to which should be added, the influence of moral essayists, critics, historians, philosophers, and poets, all whose works have great authority with the educated mind, and modify even its religious convictions. Every work designed for the perusal of this large class of Christians must imply every one of these data among the principles of its construction, without which it will equally fail to accomplish the demands of intelligence and the ends of charity.

Chapter I. The Childhood Of Savonarola

PAGE

The Church disunited — Nicholas V. — Superstitious practices— Family and birth of Savonarola — Tutored by his grandfather Michele — Physiology and psychology — Mysticism embodied in Italian life and art — Calixtus III. — Pius III. — Canonization of Catherine of Sienna — Probable influence of such circumstances on the infant miud of Savonarola 3

CHAPTER n.

THE BOYHOOD OP SAVONAROLA.

Savonarola taught after ten years of age by his Father — By professional teachers — His rapid progress — Acquaintance with Aristotle and Plato — Wherein they apparently differ to the exoteric student from St. John — A 3 xviii

CONTENTS.

Savonarola studies Thomas Aquinas — Primitive teaching of the Apostles — Savonarola's dissatisfaction with the world, and his determination to be a monk — The Dominican Order — The rationale of monastic institutions— Savonarola a disappointed lover — His early character and habits 18

Chapter III. The Manhood Of Savo.narola

Savonarola's poetic studies — His religious enthusiasm — ■ Difference between his and his father's dispositions — State of the world and the Chui'ch — Specimen of Savonarola's IjTic poetry — Festival of St. George at FeiTara —Savonarola enters the monastery at Bologna— Letter to his father 32

Chapter I. Savonarola A Lay- Brother

Savonarola in the monastery employed in teaching the scholastic philosophy — Studies Jerome, Augustine, and Cassian — Hesitates to accept priest's orders — His probable reasons — Augustine's doctrines — Primitive idea of the Church — Savonarola and Luther contrasted . . 49

CHAPTER n.

SAVONAROLA A PRIEST.

Savonarola always a Reformer — Extracts from his earliest poems — Monastic, not Christian, life — Old and New Testament — Church authority and the Bible — Digres-

CONTENTS.

xix sion on Chillingworth — Who are Apostles in the priesthood ? — True Catholic Apostolicity — Extract from Savonarola's ' Trion della Croce' — Prayer — Meritorious obedience — Power of his conversation- — Penitent Soldiers— Preaches first in the church of Lorenzo at Florence— Returns to his monastery 67

Chapter III. Savonaeola — A Pkeacher

Savonarola in Lombardy — Expounds the Apocalypse- Babylon a patristic tj'pe of Rome — Essential differences between the Gospel of Christ and the religion of Christians — Sixtus III. and Innocent VIII. — Savonarola preaches at Brescia, and denounces impending destruction to the apostate Church of Rome — His prophetic claims — Studies and writings 86

BOOK THE THIRD, practice.

Chapter I. Savonarola A Oontempi.atist

Savonarola considered as a Prophet — The doctrinal value of prayer — The practical evidence of faith — Savonarola at Reggio — Invited to Florence 107

Chapter II. Florence Under The Medici

The family of the Medici — Cosimo's patronage of Greek literature — Chrysoloras and his scholars — Niccolo Niccoli — Platonic academy — Theodore Gaza — Bessarion —

XX

CONTENTS.

George of Trebizond — Grerm of monarchism — Pietro — Lorenzo and Giuliano — Ckjnspiracy of the Pazzi — Lorenzo and the King of Naples — Decline of the wealth of the Medici — And consequently of its influence — Levity and frivolity of the literary spirit — Poggio — Beccatelli — And the controversiaUsts — Naturalism in art — Politeness in philosophy — Sensuahty in life and manners 114

Chapter III. Savonarola At San Marco

Library of San Marco — Savonarola's lectures — Lorenzo's encouragement of ecclesiastical oratory — Mariano de Genezano. The poUcy of Lorenzo — The character of the times — Savonarola's Garden-Sermon — His style of preaching — Is made prior — Refuses to acknowledge Loreuzu's authority — Lorenzo's condescensions — All in vain — Savonarola inflexible — Macliiavelli's opinion on Roman religiosity, human probity — Savonarola's influence 121

Chapter IV. Death Of Lore.nzo De' Medici

Description of Savonarola's person — His rival, the preacher Mariano da Genezano — Monastic reform — Novices' conversation — Savonarola's abstemious habits — Rebukes two abbots — His chastity — Visits Bologna — The princess Bentevoglio — Humility — Personal oratory— The Bible — Prediction of the Scotirge — State of Christendom — Relative positions of Lorenzo and Savonarola— Three political factions — Lorenzo's sickness, interview with Savonarola, and death — Savonarola's vision 140

Chapter V. Invasion Of Charles VIII

Apparent prosperity of Florence at the death of Lorenzo — Civil contest — Savonarola's prominence — Pietro de

CONTENTS.

XXI

Medici's feeble rule — Death of Pope Innocent VIII. — Infamous character of Pope Alexander VI. — Satan in the seat of Christ— Charles VIII. of Friince— Conduct of Pietro — Savonarola's speech to the King at Lucca — Pietro's expulsion from Florence — Charles VIII. and the Pisans — Charles VIII. and the Florentines— Savonarola's i-emonstrances — The departure of the French 162

CHAPTER VI. Savonarola's influence

Reform of the monasteries — New monastic society — Savonarola's pastoral habits — The devotees of his eloquence— Valori and Alberti — Legends regardmg Savonarola— Specimens of his maturer poetry — Practical and devotional works — Epistolary correspondence — He collects the people to consult on the fonn of government 178

CHAPTER Vn.

SAVONAROLA A LEGISLATOR.

Theocracy — Democracy — Aristocracy — Soderini — Vespucci— Savonarola's political views — Fra Domenico da Ponzo — ^Ecclesiastical reform — Education — Democratic movements — Committee of Eighty 197

CHAPTER Vni.

THE PROPHET OF FLORENCE AND THE POPE OF ROME.

Relative position of Savonarola, and the reigning Pope, and the clergy — His prevision of martyrdom — His perpetual testimony against the abuses and apostasy of the Church — Conspu-acy of the Medici and Fi-a Mariano de Genezano at Rome against him — Called by the Pope to preach at Lucca — Appeal against this of the Florentine magistracy and Signory — PeiTiiitted accordingly to remain at Florence — Subsequent conduct — Agitation of the Pope 220

CONTENTS,

CHAPTER IX.

CITATION TO ROME.

PAGE

Florence and Pisa — Domestio policy of the former — Savonarola's letter to Charles VIII. betrayed to Alexander VI. — Pope's citation — Savonarola's sickness — Suspends and resumes his pastoral duties — Social reforms— Increasing reputation — Singular carnival — Auto-da-fe of works of art, &c. — Injurious consequences—Self-examinations — The troubler of Italy ? — Ludovico 244

CHAPTER X.

SECOND CITATION.

Political changes— Emperor Maximilian — Alexander VI. — An individual Pope fallible — Savonarola sarcastic — Cited a second time to Rome — Papal brief — Savonarola's defensive epistle — Addresses the people by command of the Signory — Increased extravagances at the carnival of 1497 — Spiritual dances — Signs and wonders 262

CHAPTER XI.

EXCOMMUNICATION.

Savonarola appeals to the princes of the earth for a council of the Church — Luilovico Sforza — Letter to the Pope from the Signory — Machiavelli to a friend — Conspiracy to i-estore the Medici — Execution of conspirators— Savonarola insulted while preaching — Riots — Excommunication pronounced — General interest excited 278

CHAPTER XII.

DEFENCE.

Apathy of the Signory — Controversial papers — Savonarola's reply to the Pope — New Signory — The brothere of San Marco and citizens intei-cede— Savonarola again preaches in 1498 — And writes sevei'al lettei'S to the Pope, all in a strain of indignant remonstrance 301

CONTENTS.

xxiii

CHAPTER XIII.

ORDEAL.

PAGK

Cliristian and man — Controversy between Donieiiico da Pescia and Francesco di Puglia — Proposal of the fiery ordeal — Savonarola's reluctance — At last yields — The ordeal — The cowardice of the Franciscans — The superstition of the Host — Violence — Insurrection — Savonarola's imprisonment — Proofs of the Pope's guilty participatiou iu the infamous trick ;<30

CHAPTER XIV.

INQUISITION AND MARTI RDOM.

Meditations on the fifty-first Psalm — Inquisition appointed— Savonarola questioned and tortured— Francesco Ceccone — Falsification of evidence and process — Condemnation — Thirty-first Psalm — Execution of Savonarola, Domenico da Pescia, and Silvestro Maruffi 353

Conclusion 373

ERRATA.

Page line

99 7 for Giovaafrancesco read Giovanni Francesco

150 18 — ever read always

156 ^4} — Piagnone read Piagnoni

203 34 — their read its

210 13 dele ' {the »ign of quotation) 277 i\

299 36 — him read them

346 15 — S. read Santa

GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA.

Book The First

' Non star, cuor mio, piu meco ; Se viver viioi in pace, Vanne a Gesu e sta seco, Che'l mondo e si fallace, Ciie ormai a lui non piace, Se non, chi e traditore.'

Savonarola.

GIROLAMO SAVONAROLA.

Chapter I. The Childhood Of Savonarola

The Church disunited — Nicholas V. — Superstitious practices — Family and birth of Savonarola — Tutored by his grandfather Michele— Physiology and psychology — Mysticism embodied in Italian life and art — Calixtus III. — Pius II. — Canonization of Catharine of Sienna — Probable influence of such circumstances on the infant mind of Savonarola.

The grief of the Church for the loss of her pristine unity was not to be consoled by the licentiousness of the Vatican, nor was the ample learning of Nicholas V. sufficient to compensate the decay of the ancient faith. He might repair, or rebuild altars and temples — remove simony from among the practices of his court — sign a concordat with the German church; — but what availed these or greater benefits, while that faith had been corrupted, and superstition yet received the sanction of the so-called vicar of Christ ? Only so recently as the year 1450, this superstition had been made to subserve the avarice of the clergy and people of Rome. The jubilee had again been celebrated, and such multitudes had been induced to seek plenary indulgence at the tombs of the Apostles, that many were crushed to death in churches, and many perished by the accidents insepar- B 2

THE POPE VICAR OF M4MM0N.

B. T.

able from all great assemblages of the people. Ninety-seven pilgrims were thrown at once by the pressure of the crowd from the bridge of St. Angelo, and drowned. These physically were the victims of idolatrous imposture, but there were others afar off who were spiritual sufferers. Nicholas V., with all his learning, had not fortitude to resist the pernicious precedent of former pontiffs, who had afforded, to those who were prevented by personal occasions from locally attending, the facilities of redeeming their omission at a distance. Indeed, not only salvation, but full and complete indulgence for all manner of sin and crime had been brought to every man's private door. For the greater convenience of purchasers, and the greater profit of the venders, both the jubilee and its indulgences had frequently been permitted to every place in Christendom. Those therefore who would not or could not come to Rome might lawful!}' stay away, if they paid the price for the privilege of receiving at home the anticipatory pardon for which, at a lesser rate, they must have crossed the Alps. In a word, the pope was no longer the vicar of Christ, but of Mammon. No man can serve both.

Nor could the pope attempt such double service without a feeling of shame. To the Poles and Lithuanians, for instance, a private jubilee had been accorded, on the condition that every pious person should pay for his indulgence half of the charge which he would have incurred by the pilgrimage to Rome. This contrivanr-e would have raised a sum so enormous, that the blushing traffickers were compelled by the natural operations of ccmscience to reduce the proportion to one quarter. The proceeds were even then so considerable, that half of thom were confided to the king of Poland for the prosecution of the holy war, a fourth to the queen Sophia for charitable uses, and a fourth for the repair of the

CH. I.

BIRTH OF SAVONAROLA.

Roman churches. They might have been vrorse applied ; but having been levied on superstition, and, in great part, on that of the poor, they were nevertheless accursed.

Providence had decreed that at this period, Giro- LAMO Savonarola should appear on the stage of the world.

This extraordinary man, whom Luther placed with John of Hiiss and Jerome of Prague amongst the martyrs of protestantism, was descended from a noble and illustrious race, originally of Padua, and was bom of Nicolo Savonarola and Helena his wife, on the 21st of September, 1452, at Ferrara, and soon afterwards BaptTzed with tlie name of Girolamo Maria Francesco Mattheo. His mother was of the ancient house of Buonacorsi at Mantua, but for his instruction he seems to have been mainly indebted to his father and grandfather. The latter, named Michele, was a celebrated physician ; one of the men, whom, to his honour, Nicholas D'Este, Duke of Ferrara, invited to surround his person. To that city, accordingly, the Savonarola family seem to have removed together from Bologna, where they had previously resided. Nor were the brothers of Girolamo undistinguished; the eldest, Ognibene,beinga soldier ; the fourth, Marco, becoming a Dominican, receiving the habit from the fraternal hands of Girolamo ; and the fifth, Alberto, being remarkable for learning and for charity. So beneficial is female association to the mind and heart of youth, that we are glad to find a brief record of two sisters, Beatrice and Clara, of whom the former died early, unmarried, and the other lived long a widow, universally respected, in the house of her brother Alberto. But we hear little of the mother — a deficiency of information to be deeply regretted. Several men of genius have owed so much of early inspiration to B 3

MICHELE SAVONAROLA.

B. I.

maternal teaching, that it would have been interesting to have traced its operation on the mind of our Reformer.

From the ruggedness of his character, both as boy and man, it is to be suspected that Girolamo Savonarola had never been blessed with the softening influences of such instruction.

Little less effective, however, are the teachings of a competent grandfather or a great uncle ; — a truth which the present biographer can personally attest. Michele undertook the boy Girolamo's education, and continued to superintend his studies till he was ten years of age, when death removed the old man from the charge he was so well fulfilling. A taste for letters had led Michele early in life, to exchange the profession of arms for that of physic. After receiving his degree of Doctor of Medicine, he visited the most celebrated schools, especially those of Salerne, Naples, Rome, Paris, and, in part, Germany ; and in particular studied chemistry, taking notes of the mineral waters of different countries. On his return, he was named lecturer of the University of Padua. While resident at Ferrara, he occupied the chair of practical medicine. In evidence of his learning many works exist — one (entituled Speculum Physiognomice) was translated into Greek. They are chiefly on medical subjects ; manifesting, however, considerable independence in thought and expression, and a disposition to question the learning and intelligence of some authors then vulgarly esteemed first-rate. Such a man was calculated to excite an ardent youth to precocious deve- '.op''ment, and it would appear that even at this early period lie liad not only instructed the lad in grammar