world, with so many
troubles; the better part of me went with him, nothing is left to
me but endless sorrow. I commend myself to you, and beg you, if it
is not a trouble to you, to make my excuses to Messer
Benvenuto(180) for not answering his letter, for grief abounds in
such thoughts as these, so that I cannot write. Commend me to him,
and I commend myself to you.

"Your MICHAEL ANGELO BUONARROTA, in Rome.

"The 23 day of February, 1556."

Was ever servant loved after this fashion by his master?

Urbino appointed Michael Angelo as one of his executors, and the old man
fulfilled his irksome duties with fidelity. Urbino's brother was Raphael's
well-known pupil Il Fattore. Cornelia, Urbino's wife, corresponded about
the children and other affairs. Michael Angelo had to approve her choice
of a second husband, and interviewed him, and made him promise to be a
second father to Urbino's children.

The unusual event of an excursion by Michael Angelo into the country took
place in 1556, possibly with a view to avoiding the troubles feared in
Rome from the Duke of Alva, Spanish Viceroy of Naples. Michael Angelo
informed his nephew that he was making a pilgrimage to Loreto, but feeling
tired stopped to rest at Spoleto. To Vasari he says: "I have in these days
had a great pleasure, but with great discomfort and expense, among the
mountains of Spoleto, visiting the hermits there. Less than half of me has
come back to Rome, for truly there is no peace except among the
woods."(181)

CHAPTER XI

THE END

Michael Angelo's little circle of devoted friends in Rome were very
anxious about him during the winter of 1563-64. Although almost fourscore
years and ten he would still walk abroad in all weathers, and took none of
the precautions usual for a man of his age. Tiberio Calcagni, writing on
February 14 to Lionardo, says in the letter published by Daelli:(182)
"Walking through Rome to-day I heard from many persons that Messer Michael
Angelo was ill, so I went at once to visit him, and although it was
raining I found him out of doors on foot. When I saw him I said that I did
not think it right and seemly for him to be going about in such weather.
'What do you want?' he answered; 'I am ill, and cannot find rest
anywhere!' The uncertainty of his speech, with the look and colour of his
face, made me extremely uneasy about