Eustace, John Cretwode: A classical tour through Italy An. MDCCCII (Vol. 3): 3. ed., rev. and enl (London: J. Mawman, 1815)

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CLASSICAL TOUR

Ch. IX

time it shall one day bury under its ruins the
remains which it was commissioned to preserve,
as a sacred deposit enshrined in pomp and mag-
nificence*.
The Laurentian library is in the convent an-
nexed to the church. This library consisted
originally of the many valuable manuscripts
collected by the first princes of the Medicean
family; these were dispersed in a very little
time after the death of Lorenzo, during the dis-
grace and banishment of his son. Many were
recovered, others purchased, and the collection
considerably increased by the munificence of the
two Medicean Pontiffs, Leo X. and Clement VII.
As these manuscripts were in almost every lan-
guage, and as their number was considerable,
the reputation of the collection rose very high,

* This celebrated chapel appeared to us dark and heavy,
and in architectural beauty, chaste decoration, and fair
proportions, far inferior to the Corsini chapel in St. John
Lateran. In riches it is equalled if not surpassed by the
Borghese chapel in Sta. Maria Maggiore. But though it
yields in magnificence to these two unrivalled temples, it far
surpasses all similar edifices, whether oratory or mausoleum,
bevond the Alps. The dome of the Invalids at Paris covers
a chapel, which is shewn as the pride of French architecture ;
but when compared to the Medicean chapel, how graceless
are its proportions ! how mean its materials I
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