meant insolence. Men of genius, are sure to be the objects of eavy, hatred, and malice in all ages, and this great man had his full share of their persecution. He was of an irritable nature, and immediately took post for Florence. Five couriers were immediately dispatched to bring him back: they did not overtake him till he was out of the papal states, and their authority of course useless. They requested him to write to the pope, and exempt them from blame. Accordingly he wrote to this effect; that being expelled the anti-chambers of his holiness, conscious of not meriting the disgrace, he had taken the only course left him to pursue, consistent with the preservation of that cha racter which had rendered him worthy of his confidence. Neither would he return, for if he had been worthless to-day, he could be but of little value to-morrow, unless by the caprice of fortune, which would neither be creditable to his holiness nor himself.

Upon this Julius wrote the following letter to the government of Florence.

"Health and apostolic benediction to our dearly beloved. Michel Angelo, who has left us capriciously, and without any reason we have been able to learn, is now in Florence, and remains there in fear of our displeasure, but against whom we have nothing to alledge, as we

know the humour of men of his stamp. However, that ho may lay aside all suspicion, we invite him with the same affection that you bear towards us; and, if he will return, promise, on our part, he shall be neither touched nor offended, and be reinstated in the same apostolic grace, he enjoyed before he left us. Rome, the 8th of July, 1506, 3d year of our pontificate."

From the temper of this letter, Soderini concluded that the affair would soon be forgotten, and Michel Angelo chose to remain at Florence. A second followed, in a more decisive tone, and the Gonfa. lonieri then said to him, "You have done by the pope what the king of France would not have presumed to do, he must be no longer trifled with; we cannot make war against his holiness to risk the safety of the state, therefore his will must be obeyed." Some Francescans before this had proposed to Michel Angelo, to go to Turkey, and enter into the sultan's service, to build a bridge between Constantinople and Pera. This offer he would now have accepted, but for the friendly and earnest dissuasions of Soderini. If a Turkish sultan could have been trusted, it is perhaps to be regretted that the opportunity was lost of attempting a greater work of architecture than ever yet has been achieved. He was, however, persuaded to return to the pope, then at Bologna; where

where cardinal Soderini, the Gonfaloniere's brother, undertook to introduce him, The cardinal was ill at the time, and obliged to deputize monsignore, who performed his of fice awkwardly: The interview was honourable to both parties.

"As Michel Angelo entered the presence chamber the pope gave him an askance look of displeasure, and after a short pause, saluted him, In the stead of your coming to us, you seem to have expected that we should wait upon you.' Michel Angelo replied with submission, that his error arose from too hastily feeling a disgrace that he was unconscious of meriting, and hoped his holiness would pardon what was past. The monsignore* standing by, not thinking this a sufficient apology, endeavoured to extenuate his conduct, by saying that great allowance was to be made for such men who were ignorant of every thing but their art; on which the pope hastily replied, with warmth, Thou hast vilified him, which I have not, thou art an ignorant fellow and no mau of genius, get out of my sight;' and one of the attendants immediately pushed him out of the room. The pope then gave Michel Angelo his bene diction, and restored him to his friendship; and before he withdrew desired him not to quit Bologna till he had given him a commission for some work of art. In a few days he ordered a colossal statue of him. self to be made in bronze."

Within five years this statae was broken in pieces by the mob, and the fragments cast into a piece of cannon !

When Michel Angelo returned to Rome, it was his wish to proceed without delay upon the mausoleum, which, as he conceived, was to be the noblest monument both of Julius and himself; but the pope had now changed his mind, and ordered him to paint the walls and cieling of the Sistine chapel in fresco. It has been villainously said, that this was the work of Bramante, who being jealous of Michel Angelo, persuaded the pope to employ him in a branch of art, in which he expected that he would fail. Of this meanness there is not the slightest proof: Bramante and Michel Angelo were not friends, but the former had too much genius himself, to be capable of such pitiful envy. If the desire of advancing the reputation of his nephew Raffaello, be imputed to him as a motive, surely he must have seen that Raffaello would have derived far more from executing the picture well himself, than from any failure on the part of Michel Angelo. It is wicked to talk of rivalry in such men as these, men so truly great, are above all such base feel ings. Michel Angelo's own conduct evinces this; fresco-painting, he said, was not his profession, and he recommended his holiness to give the commission to Raffaello, in whose hands, he said, it would do honour to them both. This could not have been said from any distrust of his own powers, no man of such mighty powers ever distrusted himself.

"It being now decided that he must make an attempt to execute this great undertaking, he commenced the cartoons, and the archi3 H 2

tect

tect of St. Peter's had orders to construct a scaffolding for the work to be painted in fresco. When the scaffolding was finished he found it extremely objectionable, and in particular from certain holes pierced in the ceiling, for cords to pass through to suspend a part of the machinery. He asked the architect how the cieling could be completed if they were suffered to remain? To which he answered, It was impossible to avoid making them, and the remedy must be a subsequent consideration. This created a dispute, and Michel Angelo represented it to the pope as a defect which might have been avoided, if he had better understood the principles of mechanism. His holiness therefore gave him permission to take it down, and erect another in its stead. He then designed and constructed one so complete, that Bramante afterwards adopted it in the building of St. Peter's, aud is, most probably, that simple and admirable piece of machinery now used in Rome, whenever there is occasion for scaffolding to repair or construct the interior of public buildings. This invention Michel Angelo gave to the poor man whom he employed as his carpenter, and, from the commissions he received for making others on the same construction, he realized a small fortune." *

Having finished this, he began make designs for the sides of the chapel, to complete the design, but, unfortunately for the arts, Julius died. He left it in

charge to two cardinals, the one of whom was his nephew, to see that his monument was completed. The cardinal nephew calculated the expence, and his arithmetic was conclusive; the original design of the mausoleum was laid aside, and Mi chel Angelo received instructions to make another, on a limited scale, and at a stipulated price.

From this work to which he wa applying himself with grateful feeling to the memory of Julius, Leo X. sent him, little to the liking of the cardinal-executors, and less to his own, to build the façade of the church of St. Lorenzo, at Florence, which had remained unfinished from the time of his grandfather Cosmo.

"As soon as he arrived in Fiorence, he made his arrangements for executing the façade, and went to Carrara to order the marble which might be necessary, and also such as he should want for the monument of Julius, that in Florence no part of his time might be unemployed. At this period the pope received information that good marble was to be obtained in the mountains of Pietra Santa *, in the Florentine state, equal in quality to that of the quarries of Carrara; and while Mi. chel Angelo was there, he received a letter from his holiness, desiring that he would go to Pietra Santa, and examine how far this informa. tion was correct. He obeyed his orders, and in a short time after sent him the result of his investiga. tion, which did not prove so favourable

vourable as had been represented to his holiness. The marble was more difficult to work, and of inferior quality; added to which there was no practical means of conveying it to Florence, without making a road of many miles to the sea, through mountains, to be cut at a considerable expence, and over marshes which would require to be traversed with fascines and rafts to make them passable. These objections, however, made but a slight impression on the pope's mind, comparing them with the advantages which result from obtaining so valuable a material for building, in a territory which he could at any time call his own; Michel Angelo was therefore desired to proceed, and it is a mortifying reflection, that the talents of this great man should have been buried in these mountains, and his time consumed, during the whole reign of Leo X. in little other than raising stone out of a quarry, and making a road to convey it to the sea."

"To seek for reasons why Michel Angelo was not more fortunately employed during this reign, might afford a wide field of speculation; but if it should appear that the attachment of this pope to the arts, proceeded rather from their importance to the pomp and show of power, which was the delight of his mind, than from a more noble feeling of their worth; it is sufficiently satisfactory to account for his indifference and procrastination, to know, that wars, alliances, and subsidies, exhausted his treasury, and that the money was spent which was to have been appropriated to the façade of St. Lorenzo. At the death of Leo this part of the building was not advanced beyond its foundation, and the time of Michel

Angelo had been consumed in making a road, in seeing that five columns were made at the quarry of Pietra Santa, in conducting them to the sea-side, and in transporting one of them to Florence; this employment, with occasionally making some models in wax, and some trifling designs for the interior of a room in the Medici Palace, appears to have been all the benefit that was derived from his talents, during the whole of this pontificate. As the patronage of the great often depends upon the character of the man as well as upon his genius, it has been supposed that the independent spirit which resisted the impetuosity of Julius II. was ill calculated to conciliate the accomplished manners of Leo X. however this may have been, there appears no evidence that Mi chel Angelo ever refused submission to his will, or opposed his authority with disrespect but as the surest way to every man's feelings is through his heart, it is easy to con⚫ ceive that he was not likely to have the affections of a prince, in whose mind there was no congeniality of sentiment with his own."

Under the pontificate of Clement VII. Florence for a short time resumed its ancient form of government, and made its last struggle for liberty. In such a struggle, however unfortunate its termination, it is glorious to have borne a part. The interests of that state were betrayed by France, and the emperor prepared to reinstate the Medici in their tyranny by force. public, feeble as its hopes were, resolved upon defence, and Michel Angelb was appointed military ar chitect and master of the ordnance. Whatever this wonderful man did, he did well. The enemy, imme

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diately on their arrival before the oiity, began to storm one of the bastions; two guns which he had placed upon a tower so annoyed them, that they were compelled to abandon the attack, and directed their artillery against this tower. Michel Angelot hung mattrasses of wool from the op; they were sus pended from a bold projecting cornice, so that a considerable space was left between them and the wall, and the artillery might have played till doomsday without producing any effect. The enemy saw that the conquest of Florence would not be so easy as they had expected, and had recourse to surer methods than those of assault.

"Michel Angelo, after the most active service for six months, in which he defended the city, and repelled the repeated attacks of the enemy, was secretly told of treacherous plans to undermine the republic. He lost no time in making the communication known to the government, shewing at once the danger to which they were exposed, and how their safety might be pro vided for; but instead of attending to him with due respect, he was reproached with credulous timidity: offended with this treatment, he observed it was useless for him to be taking care of the walls, if they were determined not to take care of themselves. Depending upon the correctness of his information, and the perspicacity of his own judg. ment, he saw inevitable ruin to the common cause; this, added to the personal disrespect he received, determined him to give up his employ. ment and withdraw from the city. As the nature of his information did not allow him to make a public de claration of his intention, he with

drew privately; but he sooner gone, than his departure created general concern. Upon his leaving Florence he proceeded to Ferrara, and from thence to Venice; where, as soon as he arrived, he was followed by the importu nities of persons high in office, soliciting him to return, and not abandon the post committed to his charge; at the same time softening by expletives the rudeness and inat. tention with which he had been treated. These solicitations, addressed to an ardent mind, and strong patriotic feelings, prompted him to obey the will of his country and his friends, and without delay he returned, and resumed his situa tion."

A mercenary general sold the republic-he betrayed its plans to the enemy, and finally delivered it up to the Medici. "Here," says the author, "ended the Florentine republic, after three centuries of varied and fluctuating fortune; yet, amidst civil dissentions, internal calamity, or external war, genius flourished; and whatever may be the cause, it is to this contracted territory that our enlightened times owe more than to all the states in Europe that assisted in its ruin."

The diseases of the soul are as hereditary as those of the body. Clement V. had chosen for himself a lying name upon his election, he was as false and as cruel as the rest of his family. The general amnesty which he had promised to all those who had injured the pope, his friends and servants, his holiness professed most faithfully to observe, and willingly to forgive those who had been his enemies: but the injuries committed by the same persons in the affairs of the republic,