A minute description, however, of this celebrated col lection would exceed our limits ; and we must refer our readers for this and the account of the natural history museum, to the Museum Florentinum, the Panorama of Florence, and similar publications.
In 1782, Florence was calculated to contain about 97,000 inhabitants ; if, however, in this, as well as other respects, it has followed the fate of the other Italian cities, the long period of misery and war which has since ensued must have greatly diminished its population.
As early as the 14th century, while the Venetians and Genoese were contending for superiority in the Levant, Florence had become powerful, and its citizens wealthy, by their attention to commerce. As they were not at that time, however, possessed of a seaport, their care and at tention was principally directed to the improvement of their manufactures, and objects of domestic industry. It appears from a contemporary historian, that the silks and cloths of Florence were the chief manufactures in the 14th century. From their connections they acquired in various parts of Europe, and their individual wealth, the Floren tines were naturally led to banking, and became in this, as in their zeal for liberty, the successors of the citizens of the free states of Lombardy. And such was the supe riority they acquired, that the money trade of almost all the kingdoms of Europe fell into their hands ; and in several states, the collection and administration of the pub lic revenues were even confided to their care. The im mense fortunes which were acquired in these ways, ena bled the Florentines to enter into a still wider range of commercial exertion : and soon after the conquest of Pisa, we find Cosmo de Medici endeavouring to obtain for his countrymen a share in the Indian trade, then carried on by the Genoese and Venetians. In this he succeeded, by concluding a treaty with the Sultan of Egypt, by which they were admitted to an equal share of all the privileges and immunities enjoyed by the Venetians in Alexandria.
But the commercial greatness of Florence fled with her liberty, and with her forsook the fertile plains and groves of the Arno, for the less highly favoured vallies of Britain, and the frozen shores of the Baltic.
The present trade of Florence consists entirely in the sale of the productions of her own territory, and her ma nufactures, &c. Of the former, the chief are her raw silks, oil, and wines. Of the latter, the most celebrated is the manufacture of silks, which still continue to be esteemed. These are principally taffetas, damasks, and velvets. There are also manufactured stuffs, mixed with gold, and silks, satins, and light stuffs, commonly called Florence taffetas. There are a variety of other manufac tures, among which their fine porcelain has attained to high celebrity. The Tuscan porcelain has been intro duced with great success into Britain by the late Mr Wedgewood.
It is difficult to ascertain with certainty the precise era of the foundation of Florence. It appears to have been a place used for markets and fairs by the Etruscan inhabi tants of the town of Fxsulm, (now Fiesole,) whose situa tion, on one of the rocky eminences that command the Valdarno, was ill adapted for such purposes ; and the first houses in Florence were the booths erected for the accom modation of traders. Under the government of Sylla, it became the seat of a Roman colony. The walls of the new city were first traced out by that dictator, and it is supposed to have acquired its name from the officer who had the charge of the settlement of the infant colony.
We find but little mention of it in history during the period that elapsed from the time of Sylla, till the later ages of the Roman empire. But there can be no doubt, that, from the beauty of its situation, and its convenience for inland commerce, it must have greatly increased in population and riches. At the time that it was almost entirely destroyed by Totila, king of the Goths, during his war with the generals of the Emperor Justinian, Flo rence abounded in baths, theatres and aqueducts, a sure indication of the wealth and luxury of its inhabitants.
During the iron sway of the Lombards in Italy it con tinued in lulu and obscurity until the end of the eighth century, when it was rebuilt by Charlemagne, after that monarch had completely annihilated the Lombard govern ment.