Cosmo de', was born in the year 1389, and was in the prime of life, at the death of his father Giovanni. His conduct was distinguished for urbanity and kindness to the superior ranks of his fellow-citizens, and by a constant attention to the wants of the lower class, whom his munificence abundantly relieved. His prudence and moderation, however, could not repress the ambitious designs of the rival families; and in 1433, Rinaldo de Albizi, at the head of a formidable party, carried the appointment of the magistracy. On returning from his country-seat he was seized upon by his adversaries, and committed to prison. But the conspirators not agreeing as to the proper method of dispatching their prisoner, one Peruzzi recommended poison, which was heard by Cosmo, who refused to take any other sustenance than a small portion of bread. In this dismal situation he remained four days, shut up from all his kindred and friends, and he soon expected to be numbered with the dead. But the man employed to take him off unexpectedly proved his friend. Malavolta, the keeper of the prison, relented, and declared that he had no just reason to be alarmed, as he hesitated not to eat of every thing which was brought him.

His brother Lorenzo, and his cousin Averardo, raised a considerable body of men in Romagna and other districts; and being joined by the commander of the republican forces, they marched to Florence to relieve him. A decree was obtained from the magistracy, by which he was banished to Padua for ten years, and his brother to Venice for five, whilst several of their relations shared a similar fate. Padua was in the dominions of Venice, and before he reached it he received a deputation from the senate, promising him their protection and assistance in whatever he should desire. He experienced the treatment of a prince rather than that of an exile, as they entertained the highest expectations from his great commercial knowledge. From this period his life may be considered as one continued scene of uninterrupted prosperity, and his family received an education equal to that of the greatest potentates. In his public and private charities he was almost unbounded, and perhaps possessed more wealth than any single individual in Europe at that period. In the promotion of science and the encouragement of learned men he was truly exemplary, and by his conduct in this respect he acquired the greatest honour and esteem.

His fostering hand cherished the arts as well as the sciences; and architecture, sculpture, and painting, all flourished under his powerful protection. The countenance he shewed to these arts was not such as their professors generally receive from the great; for the sums of money which he expended upon pictures, statues, and public buildings, appear almost incredible. When he approached the term of his mortal existence, his faculties were still unimpaired; and not many days before he died, he requested Ficino to translate from the Greek the treatise of Xenocrates on death. He died on the 1st of August 1464, at the age of seventy-five, and gave strict injunctions, that his funeral should be conducted with as much privacy as possible. By a public decree he was honoured with the title of Father of his Country; an appellation which was inscribed on his tomb, and declared, by competent judges, to be founded in real merit.

Lorenzo de', styled, with great propriety, the Magnificent, was the grandson of Cosmo, and about sixteen years of age at his decease. In 1469 his father died, and he succeeded to his authority as if it had constituted a part of his fortune. In the year 1474, Lorenzo incurred the displeasure of the pope on account of the opposition he offered to some papal encroachments on the petty princes of Italy, and for this reason the pontiff deprived him of the office of treasurer of the Roman see, which he conferred upon one Pazzi, connected with a Florentine family, the interest of which he thus secured, and intended to sacrifice Lorenzo and Juliano to his private revenge. Their assassination was fixed for Sunday the 26th of April 1478, and the cathedral was the place in which a monster of an archbishop had resolved to murder them at the instigation of the pope. When the people saw one of their favourites, Juliano, expiring, and the other, Lorenzo, covered with blood, their rage was not to be expressed in language. The interference of the magistrate was finally victorious, and he had the courage and virtue to hang the archbishop from one of the windows, arrayed in his pontifical robes, which made Florence resound with acclamations of joy.

Lorenzo was delivered from that part of the cathedral to which he had fled for refuge, and triumphantly carried home, where his wounds were attended to by men of ability. His friends in the mean time pursued the conspirators, and spared none who happened to fall in their way. In a word, the generality of them were either hanged or decapitated, and very few had the good fortune to escape the vengeance of their pursuers. To the honour of Lorenzo, he exerted all his influence to prevent the indiscriminate massacre of his enemies, and restrain the just indignation of the people, begging that they would trust the magistrates with the punishment of the guilty; and the respect in which he was held had the effect of restraining the vengeance of popular indignation.

No sooner had hostilities ceased between Pope Sixtus and the Florentine republic, than Lorenzo began to develop plans for securing the internal peace and tranquillity of Italy. But the life of this great man was again brought into imminent danger by the intrigues of Cardinal Riario, and some Florentine exiles, who determined to assassinate him in the church of the Carmelli, on the festival of the Ascension in 1481; but the plot was happily discovered, the conspirators were executed, and after this time Lorenzo seldom went abroad without being surrounded by a number of friends in whom he could securely confide.

When we attentively examine the character of Lorenzo, it will not perhaps appear astonishing, that Italy, Christendom, and even the Mahomedans themselves, honoured him with the most flattering approbation. The Prince of Mirandola chose Florence as the place of his residence entirely on account of this remarkable man, and there ended his mortal career. To a most engaging person Lorenzo added almost every other accomplishment. He was declared to be unrivalled in chivalry, and one of the most eminent orators that the world had in any age produced. When Ferdinand, king of Naples, was informed of his death, he observed, "This man has lived long enough for his own glory, but too short a time for Italy." He died on the 8th of April 1492, amidst a number of his weeping friends, who appeared deeply conscious of the irreparable loss sustained by their country. His life and character, and the general history of his age, form the subject of a well known and elegant work by the late Mr. Roscoe.