but little, and is grown so
old that he gets small rest, and is so low in health I fear he will
not last long, unless the goodness of God preserves him for the
building of S. Peter's." After some further particulars, Vasari adds
that he hopes "to spend Monday and Tuesday discussing the model of the
Great Hall with Michelangelo, as well as the composition of the
several frescoes. I have all that is necessary with me, and will do my
utmost, while remaining in his company, to extract useful information
and suggestions." We know from Vasari's Life of Michelangelo that the
plans for decorating the Palace were settled to his own and the Duke's
satisfaction during these colloquies at Rome.

Later on in the year, Cosimo came in person to Rome, attended by the
Duchess Eleonora. Michelangelo immediately waited on their Highnesses,
and was received with special marks of courtesy by the Duke, who bade
him to be seated at his side, and discoursed at length about his own
designs for Florence and certain discoveries he had made in the method
of working porphyry. These interviews, says Vasari, were repeated
several times during Cosimo's sojourn in Rome; and when the
Crown-Prince of Florence, Don Francesco, arrived, this young nobleman
showed his high respect for the great man by conversing with him cap
in hand.

The project of bringing Buonarroti back to Florence was finally
abandoned; but he had the satisfaction of feeling that, after the
lapse of more than seventy years, his long connection with the House
of Medici remained as firm and cordial as it had ever been. It was
also consolatory to know that the relations established between
himself and the reigning dynasty in Florence would prove of service to
Lionardo, upon whom he now had concentrated the whole of his strong
family affection.

In estimating Michelangelo as man, independent of his eminence as
artist, the most singular point which strikes us is this persistent
preoccupation with the ancient house he desired so earnestly to
rehabilitate. He treated Lionardo with the greatest brutality. Nothing
that this nephew did, or did not do, was right. Yet Lionardo was the
sole hope of the Buonarroti-Simoni stock. When he married and got
children, the old man purred with satisfaction over him, but only as a
breeder of the race; and he did all in his power to establish Lionardo
in a secure position.

VII

Returning to the history of Michelangelo's domestic life, we have to
rel