isen
from a contempt for others than from any overweening opinion of
himself. He was too proud to be vain. He had placed his standard of
perfection so high, that to the latest hour of his life he considered
himself as striving after that ideal excellence which had been
revealed to him, but to which he conceived that others were blind or
indifferent. In allusion to his own imperfections, he made a drawing,
since become famous, which represents an aged man in a go-cart, and
underneath the words "_Ancora impara_" (still learning).

He continued to labor unremittingly, and with the same resolute energy
of mind and purpose, till the gradual decay of his strength warned him
of his approaching end. He did not suffer from any particular malady,
and his mind was strong and clear to the last. He died at Rome, on
February 18, 1564, in the ninetieth year of his age. A few days before
his death he dictated his will in these few simple words: "I bequeath
my soul to God, my body to the earth, and my possessions to my nearest
relations." His nephew, Leonardo Buonarroti, who was his principal
heir, by the orders of the Grand Duke Cosmo had his remains secretly
conveyed out of Rome and brought to Florence; they were with due
honors deposited in the church of Santa Croce, under a costly
monument, on which we may see his noble bust surrounded by three very
commonplace and ill-executed statues, representing the arts in which
he excelled--Painting, Sculpture, and Architecture. They might have
added _Poetry_, for Michael Angelo was so fine a poet that his
productions would have given him fame, though he had never peopled the
Sistine with his giant creations, nor "suspended the Pantheon in the
air." The object to whom his poems are chiefly addressed, Vittoria
Colonna, Marchioness of Pescara, was the widow of the celebrated
commander who overcame Francis I. at the battle of Pavia; herself a
poetess, and one of the most celebrated women of her time for beauty,
talents, virtue, and piety. She died in 1547.

[Illustration: Michael Angelo and Vittoria Colonna.]

RAPHAEL

By Mrs. LEE

(1483-1520)

[Illustration: Raphael.]

The solemn and silent season of Lent had passed away; and, on the
second evening of the joyful Easter, a house was seen brightly
illuminated in one of the streets of Urbino. It was evident that a
festival was held there on some happy occasion. The sound of music was
heard, and guest after guest entered the mansio