and sent them on to him for whom they were intended, because I
know with what affection he regards all things that pertain to you. He
promised to send an answer which shall be enclosed in this I now am
writing. He is counting not the days merely, but the hours, till you
return." In another letter, without date, Angelini says, "I gave your
messages to M. Thomao, who replied that your presence would be dearer
to him than your writing, and that if it seems to you a thousand
years, to him it seems ten thousand, till you come. I received your
gallant (galante) and beautiful sonnet; and though you said nothing
about it, I saw at once for whom it was intended, and gave it to him.
Like everything of yours, it delighted him. The tenor of the sonnet
shows that love keeps you perpetually restless. I do not think this
ought to be the effect of love, and so I send you one of my poor
performances to prove the contrary opinion." We may perhaps assume
that this sonnet was the famous No. xxxi., from the last line of which
every one could perceive that Michelangelo meant it for Tommaso
Cavalieri.

VII

It is significant that, while Michelangelo's affection for the young
Roman was thus acquiring force, another friendship, which must have
once been very dear to him, sprang up and then declined, but not
apparently through his own fault or coldness. We hear of Febo di
Poggio in the following autumn for the first and last time. Before
proceeding to speak of him, I will wind up what has to be said about
Tommaso Cavalieri. Not long after the date of the last letter quoted
above, Michelangelo returned to Rome, and settled there for the rest
of his life. He continued to the end of his days in close friendship
with Cavalieri, who helped to nurse him during his last illness, who
took charge of his effects after his death, and who carried on the
architectural work he had begun at the Capitol.

Their friendship seems to have been uninterrupted by any disagreement,
except on one occasion when Michelangelo gave way to his suspicious
irritability, quite at the close of his long life. This drew forth
from Cavalieri the following manly and touching letter:--

"Very magnificent, my Lord,--I have noticed during several days past
that you have some grievance--what, I do not know--against me.
Yesterday I became certain of it when I went to your house. As I
cannot imagine the cause, I have thought it best to write this, in
order that, if you like, you m