The interior of the cathedral at Florence, so imposing from its dim light and great extent, is full of that local interest which connects itself with a mausoleum of greatness and museum of art. Upon the north wall is a portrait of Dantè, and behind the choir is an unfinished Pieta by Michael Angelo, whose fervid and impatient genius designed so much more than it could possibly execute. Under the crowning glory of the dome, that masterpiece and model of renaissant architecture, lie the remains of Giotto and Brunelleschi, in spots marked by commemorative busts; and the same honor is paid to the remains of Facino, the great restorer of the Platonic philosophy. It was this erudite scholar who, at the revival of learning, procured the printing of Plato, performed the same service for the illustrious leaders of the later school, and illustrated his edition of the great master with many commentaries, in which he showed himself an equal adept in the mysteries of Plotinus and Porphyry, as in the sense of Plato. In order to give additional zest to the study of Platonism, Lorenzo and his friends formed the intention of renewing, with extraordinary pomp, the solemn annual feasts to the memory of the great philosopher, which had been celebrated from the time of his death to that of his disciples, Plotinus and Porphyrius, but had been discontinued for twelve hundred years. The day fixed on for this purpose was the 7th of November, the supposed anniversary of both the birth and death of Plato. Francesco Bandini, eminent for rank and learning, was fixed on by Lorenzo to preside over this ceremony at Florence. On the same day another party met at Lorenzo's villa at Careggi, where he presided in person. The new academy of Platonists, in the fifteenth century, embraced a large number of the most eminent men, the greatest part of whom were natives of Florence, a fact that may give us some idea of the surprising attention which was then paid to philosophy, as well as to art, science, and literary pursuits. In this respect, the birthplace of Leo X., and the great mental centre of his age stands unrivaled; a species of praise as indisputable as it is well-deserved. We have seen that the capacious mind of Aristotle absorbed the whole existing philosophy of his age, and that it was reproduced, digested, and transmitted, in a form still preserved, and of which the spirit early penetrated into the inmost recesses of mediæval mind. Translated in the fifth century into Syriac, and thence into Arabic, four hundred years later, his writings furnished the Mohammedan conquerors of the East with the germs of science which they bore so opportunely to the West, and thus extended the empire of an exacter philosophy from Bagdad to Cordova, from Egypt to Britain's occidental shore.