to acknowledge that I
have always brought shame and loss on you, and on this supposition I
beg your pardon. Reckon that you are pardoning a son who has lived a
bad life and done you all the harm which it is possible to do. And so
I once again implore you to pardon me, scoundrel that I am, and not
bring on me the reproach of having turned you out of doors; for that
matters more than you imagine to me. After all, I am your son."

From Florence Michelangelo proceeded again to Carrara for the
quarrying of marble. This was on the last day of December. From his
domestic correspondence we find that he stayed there until at least
the 13th of March 1517; but he seems to have gone to Florence just
about that date, in order to arrange matters with Baccio d'Agnolo
about the model. A fragmentary letter to Buonarroto, dated March 13,
shows that he had begun a model of his own at Carrara, and that he no
longer needed Baccio's assistance. On his arrival at Florence he wrote
to Messer Buoninsegni, who acted as intermediary at Rome between
himself and the Pope in all things that concerned the facade: "Messer
Domenico, I have come to Florence to see the model which Baccio has
finished, and find it a mere child's plaything. If you think it best
to have it sent, write to me. I leave again to-morrow for Carrara,
where I have begun to make a model in clay with Grassa [a stone-hewer
from Settignano]." Then he adds that, in the long run, he believes
that he shall have to make the model himself, which distresses him on
account of the Pope and the Cardinal Giulio. Lastly, he informs his
correspondent that he has contracted with two separate companies for
two hundred cartloads of Carrara marble.

An important letter to the same Domenico Buoninsegni, dated Carrara,
May 2, 1517, proves that Michelangelo had become enthusiastic about
his new design. "I have many things to say to you. So I beg you to
take some patience when you read my words, because it is a matter of
moment. Well, then, I feel it in me to make this facade of S. Lorenzo
such that it shall be a mirror of architecture and of sculpture to all
Italy. But the Pope and the Cardinal must decide at once whether they
want to have it done or not. If they desire it, then they must come to
some definite arrangement, either intrusting the whole to me on
contract, and leaving me a free hand, or adopting some other plan
which may occur to them, and about which I can form no idea." He
proceeds at