ble
columns and very ornate intercolumniations, and some Victories at the
angles, has a somewhat dwarfed appearance by reason of the lowness of
the site where it stands, particularly because it is without pedestals
and very wide on account of the double columns; but such was the wish
of Messer Giovanni Delfini, who had it made.

While Michele was enjoying a tranquil ease in his native place, and
the reputation and renown that his honourable labours had brought him,
there came to him a piece of news that so afflicted him, that it
finished the course of his life. But to the end that the whole may be
better understood, and that all the beautiful works of the San Michele
family may be made known in this Life, I shall say something of Gian
Girolamo, the kinsman of Michele.

[Illustration: PALAZZO GRIMANI

(_After =Michele San Michele=. Venice_)

_Anderson_]

This Gian Girolamo, then, was the son of Paolo, the cousin of
Michele, and, being a young man of very beautiful genius, was
instructed with such diligence by Michele in the matters of
architecture, and so beloved by him, that he would always have the
young man with him in all undertakings of importance, and particularly
in fortifications. Having therefore become in a short time so
excellent, with the help of such a master, that the most difficult
work of fortification could be entrusted to him, in which manner of
architecture he took particular delight, his ability was recognized by
the Signori of Venice, and he was placed with a good salary among the
number of their architects, although he was very young, and then sent
now to one place and now to another, to inspect and restore the
fortresses of their dominion, and at times to carry into execution the
designs of his kinsman Michele. And, among other places, he took part
with much judgment and labour in the fortification of Zara, and in the
marvellous fortress of S. Niccolo at Sebenico, placed, as has been
mentioned, at the mouth of the port; which fortress, erected by him
from the very foundations, is held to be, for a private fortress, one
of the strongest and best designed that there are to be seen. He also
reconstructed after his own designs, with the advice of his kinsman,
the great fortress of Corfu, which is considered the key of Italy on
that side. In this fortress, I say, Gian Girolamo rebuilt the two
great towers that face towards the land, making them much larger and
stronger than they were before, with