rently, to this first letter on the subject, Michelangelo
wrote a humorous recommendation of his friend and gossip to the
Cardinal Bernardo Dovizi da Bibbiena. It runs thus: "I beg your most
reverend Lordship, not as a friend or servant, for I am not worthy to
be either, but as a low fellow, poor and brainless, that you will
cause Sebastian, the Venetian painter, now that Rafael is dead, to
have some share in the works, at the Palace. If it should seem to your
Lordship that kind offices are thrown away upon a man like me, I might
suggest that on some rare occasions a certain sweetness may be found
in being kind even to fools, as onions taste well, for a change of
food, to one who is tired of capons. You oblige men of mark every day.
I beg your Lordship to try what obliging me is like. The obligation
will be a very great one, and Sebastian is a worthy man. If, then,
your kind offers are thrown away on me, they will not be so on
Sebastian, for I am certain he will prove a credit to your Lordship."

In his following missives Sebastiano flatters Michelangelo upon the
excellent effect produced by the letter. "The Cardinal informed me
that the Pope had given the Hall of the Pontiffs to Raffaello's
'prentices, and they have begun with a figure in oils upon the wall, a
marvellous production which eclipses all the rooms painted by their
master, and proves that when it is finished, this hall will beat the
record, and be the finest thing done in painting since the ancients.
Then he asked if I had read your letter. I said, No. He laughed
loudly, as though at a good joke, and I quitted him with compliments.
Bandinelli, who is copying the Laocoon, tells me that the Cardinal
showed him your letter, and also showed it to the Pope; in fact,
nothing is talked about at the Vatican except your letter, and it
makes everybody laugh." He adds that he does not think the hall ought
to be committed to young men. Having discovered what sort of things
they meant to paint there, battle-pieces and vast compositions, he
judges the scheme beyond their scope. Michelangelo alone is equal to
the task. Meanwhile, Leo, wishing to compromise matters, offered
Sebastiano the great hall in the lower apartments of the Borgias,
where Alexander VI. used to live, and where Pinturicchio
painted--rooms shut up in pious horror by Julius when he came to
occupy the palace of his hated and abominable predecessor.
Sebastiano's reliance upon Michelangelo, and his calculat