der to represent in some degree the adored image of our Lord,
it is not enough that a master should be great and able. I maintain
that he must also be a man of good conduct and morals, if possible
a saint, in order that the Holy Ghost may rain down inspiration on
his understanding."

Of the relative degree of swiftness in work Michael Angelo said:--

"We must regard it as a special gift from God to be able to do that
in a few hours which other men can only perform in many days of
labor. But should this rapidity cause a man to fail in his best
realization it would be better to proceed slowly. No artist should
allow his eagerness to hinder him from the supreme end of
art--perfection."

Mr. Longfellow, in his unfinished dramatic poem, "Michael Angelo" (to
which reference has already been made), has one scene laid in the
convent chapel of San Silvestre, in which these passages occur:--

VITTORIA.

"Here let us rest awhile, until the crowd
Has left the church. I have already sent
For Michael Angelo to join us here."

MESSER CLAUDIO.

"After Fra Bernardino's wise discourse
On the Pauline Epistles, certainly
Some words of Michael Angelo on Art
Were not amiss, to bring us back to earth."

* * * * *

MICHAEL ANGELO, _at the door_.

"How like a Saint or Goddess she appears!
Diana or Madonna, which I know not,
In attitude and aspect formed to be
At once the artist's worship and despair!"

VITTORIA.

"Welcome, Maestro. We were waiting for you."

MICHAEL ANGELO.

"I met your messenger upon the way.
And hastened hither."

VITTORIA.

"It is kind of you
To come to us, who linger here like gossips
Wasting the afternoon in idle talk.
These are all friends of mine and friends of yours."

MICHAEL ANGELO.

"If friends of yours, then are they friends of mine.
Pardon me, gentlemen. But when I entered
I saw but the Marchesa."

Vittoria tells the master that the Pope has granted her permission to
build a convent, and Michael Angelo replies:--

"Ah, to build, to build!
That is the noblest art of all the arts.
Painting and sculpture are but images,
Are merely shadows cast by outward things
On stone or canvas, having in themselves
No separate existence. Arc