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20 ANNUAL REGISTER
position of the brutal Duke Valentine, and drew forth from his deceitful foul the most secret designs, the most concealed plots, always opposing his dark impostures with the most artful simplicity, and fathoming his very soul; how he bridled the turbulent spirit of that other miscreant, John Paul Baglioni, continually counteracting him, outwitting him, and alarming his perfidious heart with such terrors as would have prevented him from his daring designs, had it been possible for any man to effect such a miracle : how he knew to wind himself into the humour of that terrible pope, Julian II. to flatter him, to gain his good graces, and to win him to the best interests of his republic. How unlucky it is , that we are ignorant of his negociations with the emperor, and with the king of France, to whose courts he had been deputed; and that we have not in our possession those discourses which he made to so many princes which he made to so many princes with whom he was engaged on public affairs, and of those harangues by which he roused his fellow citizens to act against the foes of his country!
   By the second [letters, which he wrote in quality of secretary to the republic] we discern how the public councils were elucidated by his understanding, and with what address he formed all his projects, and enticed every one to act the part in them which he had allotted for them; how he directed even the inferior members of the state with most artful policy, here exercising his persuasion, and there his authority; encouraging, rewarding, exhorting, praising, blaming, reprimanding, in every instance exactly conforming to the time, the business, the circumstances, and the persons.
   Let us recollect all these truths together, let us weigh them carefully, and let us consider Machiavel as a simpleton! which many sagacious monks have been pleased to do, and in particular the jesuit Lucchesini! - In truth , it is not contended that he was possessed of good morals. - But that he was a simpleton! - Good heaven! one must be a monk indeed, to advance so impossible a falsehood.
 Exclusive of that train of close and serious thinking which was necessary to discharge the duties of the important employment that he held, Machiavel possessed to refined a gaiety, so much good humour, so various and so sprightly, that he seemed to have two fouls in one body; one entirely serious, and the other entirely comic. Let those who affect to be so enraptured with the Decameron, read attentively his tale of Belfegore, and let them tell me whether there is the first any tale that can be compared with the latter, whether we confider it with respect to the singular invention displayed in it , the ease and humour of the the thoughts, which blend for gracefully with each other, or the correct elegance of the stile; insomuch that, if Machiavel had taken the trouble to compose a number of these tales, it is very probable that Boccace would not have held the first rank as a novelist. 
   And what shall we fay of his comedies? How admirably are the unities of action, time, and place, united in them! What natural characters are displayed in them! What well-connived intrigues,
                and
            For the YEAR 1772.
and how happily unravelled! And the whole is so finely expressed in a chaste and lively stile, with such abundance of wit, and forms so enchanting an assemblage , that the attention is roused, the heart is interested, the soul is charmed, and we forget that we are only reading a comedy. Let us therefore exclaim with the reverend father Lucchesini, and half a million of other monks - let us exclaim , in the name of truth, "Machiavel was a simpleton! O what a simpleton!" - Simpletons indeed!
  We can discover by the writings of Machiavel, that he passed the greatest part of his life in severe study, continually engaged either in topics interesting to mankind , or in the zealous and honourable service of his country. Most authors who have written of him, have affirmed, that he lived and died poor; but as the ideas of poverty and riches are relative to the respective circumstances of people, it seems to me that the work poor is very improperly applied to a citizen of Florence, who, like Machiavel, (as appears by the will which he made five before his death) possessed a good house, free from all charges, a vineyard, fields, and thickets, from all which he was furnished with every necessary for himself and family, without being obliged to the good-will of his neighbours.
  I have already mentioned the time of his birth. He died on the 22d day of June,1527, in the 58th year of his age. In his last moments, he evinced the most friendly dispositions to the christian faith, without murmuring against heaven or its decrees, as has been insinuated by the lying Lucchesini and his abettors; which may be incontestibly proved by a letter written by one of his sons to a near relation of his father's. The original is still preserved, and is to the following purport.__
       "Most dear Francis,
  I cannot refrain from tears, in telling you that my father dies the 22d of this month of a cholic, occasioned by a medicine which he had taken two days before. He confessed his sins to father Matteo, who continued with him till his death. Our father has left us in great poverty, as you shall know. When you return hither, I shall tell you every thing. I am, &c. 
 June, 1527.
                        PIETRO MACHIAVELLI."
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Memoirs of John Baptiste Santeuil; a celebrated Latin poet of the last century. 
SANTEUIL was a latin poet, born at Paris in 1630. As to his person, he was above the middle size. At the age of twenty he entered amongst the regular canons of the abbey of St. Victor. La Bruyere has painted the character of this singular and truly original poet, in the moft lively colours: 'Image a man of great facility of temper, complaifant and docile, in an inftant violent, choleric, paffionate, and capricious. A man fimple, credulous, playful, volatile,puerile; in a word, a child in grey hairs : but let him collect himfelf, or rather call forth his interior genius, I venture to fay, without his knowledge or privacy, what fallies! what elevation! what images! what latinity! Do you fpeak of one and the fame perforn,
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Transcription Notes:
many words use 'f' instead of 's'. Example fize instead of size. I have transcribed the exact way its written in the document. ---------- Reopened for Editing 2023-05-12 14:47:21 Replaced incorrect 'f' with correct 's' to align with previous pages. If you look closely, the 's' that appears like an 'f' is not the same character in the original document.