answers the charge
with indignation and a list of his royal gifts to all his friends: "To
Messer Tommaso dei Cavalieri, to Messer Bindo Altoviti, and Fra Bastiano
(del Piombo) drawings of great value. To Antonio Mini all the drawings,
cartoons and models in wax and clay and the painting of Leda; to
Gherardo Perini some divinely beautiful heads drawn in pencil which
passed later into the hands of Don Francesco, Prince of Florence, who
rightly esteemed them among his treasures; to Bartolommeo Bettini a
cartoon of Venus with Cupid kissing her, a divine work now in possession
of his heirs in Florence; to the Marchese del Vasto a cartoon of the
_noli me tangere_, a beautiful work from which Pontormo made a painting
as he did from the Venus and Cupid; to Roberto Strozzi the two Slaves in
marble; to his servant Antonio and to Francesco Bandini the Pieta in
marble which he broke. I do not understand how a man can be called
avaricious who gives away such works of art worth many thousands of
crowns."

His generosity was not limited to his friends, for he gave much to the
poor, especially the disreputable poor. He particularly remembered poor
young girls and dowered them secretly, taking care that they should
never know the name of their benefactor.

He was always ailing in health, and several times very near death,
particularly in 1544, when he was nursed by his friend Riccio in the
house of the Strozzi, and in his later years he suffered cruelly from
gout and stone. His indomitable nervous energy supported him, and at
eighty-five he inspected the works of St. Peter's on horseback. In spite
of a severe attack of gout in August, 1561, he would let no one take
care of him and he still lived alone. His nephew Lionardo was least of
all allowed to interfere with these arrangements, for Michelangelo
attributed his anxiety to an interest in his inheritance and did not
hesitate to tell him so.

Both the Duke of Tuscany and the pope were anxious about the plans and
drawings of his public works, which Michelangelo kept in his own house,
for fear that they might be stolen after his death. So in June, 1563, at
the instigation of Vasari, who saw that Michelangelo was failing
rapidly, Cosmo de' Medici secretly directed his ambassador, Averado
Serristori, to keep a strict watch on the domestic life of Michelangelo
and on everyone who came to his house. In case of his sudden death an
inventory was to be taken of all his possessions, drawings