GIOVANNI PICO DELLA, Count and Prince of Concordia, one of the most brilliant scholars of his day, was the youngest son of Gianfrancesco della Mirandola, and was born in 1463. After receiving his elementary education from his mother, and astonishing everyone by the precocity of his talents, he was placed at Bologna at the age of fourteen to study the canon law. In the course of two years, however, he abandoned this branch of knowledge in disgust, and turned with eager delight to philosophy and theology. The next seven years were spent by him in visiting the most celebrated universities of France and Italy, in sitting at the feet of eminent professors, in entering the lists against the most redoubtable controversialists, and in the most assiduous private study. His memory was now so tenacious that it retained every fact that was presented to it; his elocution was fluent and forcible; and his mind could unravel the most intricate problems with unfailing tact and rapidity. Thus equipped with his extensive acquirements and ready talents, Mirandola appeared at Rome in 1486 as a controversial champion. Propounding as the subjects of debate 900 theses on every possible branch of knowledge, he threw down the gauntlet to the whole learned world. At the same time he promised to defray the expenses of all those disputants who should come from a distance. No one responded to his challenge. His puerile vanity, however, was not suffered to enjoy this triumph long. Some dignified individuals, disgusted with the self-conceit, and envying the accomplishments of so young a scholar, accused him before the Pope of advocating heresies in 13 of his propositions. This was the beginning of a persecution which, though resulting in a full vindication of his orthodoxy, humbled his vanity and deepened his devotional feelings. He now renounced the study of profane literature, threw into the flames five books of amatory poems which he had composed in Italian, and devoted all his time to investigations into religion and the Platonic philosophy. To reconcile the tenets of Plato with those of Aristotle became his favourite attempt, and is the object of his treatise De Ente et Uno. The latter part of his life was spent at Florence in the midst of his books, in the enjoyment of a liberal fortune, and in daily intercourse with the most enlightened men of that time. He was cut off at the age of thirty-two in 1494. His collected works, published at Basel in 1601, contain treatises on the Lord's Prayer, the Kingdom of Christ, the 15th Psalm, the Rules of a Christian Life, &c. A Life was prefixed to his works by his nephew and pupil Gianfrancesco Pico Mirandola. More valuable, however, is the biography by the Rev. W. Parr Gresswell, 8vo, Manchester, 1805.