and rest of my old age, he has
vanished from my sight; nor have I hope left but that of seeing him
again in Paradise. God has given us good foundation for this hope in
the exceedingly happy ending of his life. Even more than dying, it
grieved him to leave me alive in this treacherous world, with so many
troubles; and yet the better part of me is gone with him, nor is there
left to me aught but infinite distress. I recommend myself to you, and
beg you, if it be not irksome, to make my excuses to Messer Benvenuto
(Cellini) for omitting to answer his letter. The trouble of soul I
suffer in thought about these things prevents me from writing.
Remember me to him, and take my best respects to yourself."

How tenderly Michelangelo's thought dwelt upon Urbino appears from
this sonnet, addressed in 1556 to Monsignor Lodovico Beccadelli:--

_God's grace, the cross, our troubles multiplied,
Will make us meet in heaven, full well I know:
Yet ere we yield, our breath on earth below,
Why need a little solace be denied?
Though seas and mountains and rough ways divide
Our feet asunder, neither frost nor snow
Can make the soul her ancient love; or ego;
Nor chains nor bonds the wings of thought have tied.
Borne by these wings, with thee I dwell for aye,
And weep, and of my dead Urbino talk,
Who, were he living, now perchance would be--
For so 'twas planned--thy guest as well as I.
Warned by his death, another way I walk
To meet him where he waits to live with me._

By his will, dated November 24, 1555, Urbino, whose real name was
Francesco degli Amadori of Castel Durante, appointed his old friend
and master one of his executors and the chief guardian of his widow
and children. A certain Roso de Rosis and Pietro Filippo Vandini, both
of Castel Durante, are named in the trust; and they managed the
estate. Yet Michelangelo was evidently the principal authority. A
voluminous correspondence preserved in the Buonarroti Archives proves
this; for it consists of numerous letters addressed by Urbino's
executors and family from Castel Durante and elsewhere to the old
sculptor in Rome. Urbino had married a woman of fine character and
high intelligence, named Cornelia Colonnelli. Two of her letters are
printed by Gotti, and deserve to be studied for the power of their
style and the elevation of their sentiments. He has not made use,
however, of the other documents, all of which have some interest