s Brunelli discovers that he cannot act
with the Fattorino or with Vandini; Cornelia's dowry is not paid; Roso
refuses to refund money due to the heirs; Michelangelo alone can
decide what ought to be done for the estate and his wards. The
Fattorino writes that Vandini has renounced the trust, and that all
Brunelli's and his own entreaties cannot make him resume it. For
himself, he is resolved not to bear the burden alone. He has his own
shop to look after, and will not let himself be bothered. Unluckily,
none of Michelangelo's answers have been preserved. We possess only
one of his letters to Cornelia, which shows that she wished to place
her son and his godson, Michelangelo, under his care at Rome. He
replied that he did not feel himself in a position to accept the
responsibility. "It would not do to send Michelangelo, seeing that I
have nobody to manage the house and no female servants; the boy is
still of tender age, and things might happen which would cause me the
utmost annoyance. Moreover, the Duke of Florence has during the last
month been making me the greatest offers, and putting strong pressure
upon me to return home. I have begged for time to arrange my affairs
here and leave S. Peter's in good order. So I expect to remain in Rome
all the summer; and when I have settled my business, and yours with
the Monte della Fede, I shall probably remove to Florence this winter
and take up my abode there for good. I am old now, and have not the
time to return to Rome. I will travel by way of Urbino; and if you
like to give me Michelangelo, I will bring him to Florence, with more
love than the sons of my nephew Lionardo, and will teach him all the
things which I know that his father desired that he should learn."

VIII

The year 1556 was marked by an excursion which took Michelangelo into
the mountain district of Spoleto. Paul IV.'s anti-Spanish policy had
forced the Viceroy of Naples to make a formidable military
demonstration. Accordingly the Duke of Alva, at the head of a powerful
force, left Naples on the 1st of September and invaded the Campagna.
The Romans dreaded a second siege and sack; not without reason,
although the real intention of the expedition was to cow the fiery
Pope into submission. It is impossible, when we remember
Michelangelo's liability to panics, not to connect his autumn journey
with a wish to escape from trouble in Rome. On the 31st of October he
wrote to Lionardo that he had undertaken a pi