ss, by the Pope's death. I received
benefits from his Holiness, and hoped for more and better. God willed
it so, and we must have patience. His passage from this life was
beautiful, in full possession of his faculties up to the last word.
God have mercy on his soul." The Cardinal Giovan Maria Ciocchi, of
Monte San Savino, was elected to succeed Paul, and took the title of
Julius III. This change of masters was duly noted by Michelangelo in a
letter to his "dearest friend," Giovan Francesco Fattucci at Florence.
It breathes so pleasant and comradely a spirit, that I will translate
more than bears immediately on the present topic: "Dear friend,
although we have not exchanged letters for many months past, still our
long and excellent friendship has not been forgotten. I wish you well,
as I have always done, and love you with all my heart, for your own
sake, and for the numberless pleasant things in life you have afforded
me. As regards old age, which weighs upon us both alike, I should be
glad to know how yours affects you; mine, I must say, does not make me
very happy. I beg you, then, to write me something about this. You
know, doubtless, that we have a new Pope, and who he is. All Rome is
delighted, God be thanked; and everybody expects the greatest good
from his reign, especially for the poor, his generosity being so
notorious."

Michelangelo had good reason to rejoice over this event, for Julius
III. felt a real attachment to his person, and thoroughly appreciated
both his character and his genius. Nevertheless, the enemies he had in
Rome now made a strong effort to dislodge Buonarroti from his official
position at S. Peter's. It was probably about this time that the
Superintendents of the Fabric drew up a memorial expressive of their
grievances against him. We possess a document in Latin setting forth a
statement of accounts in rough. "From the year 1540, when expenditures
began to be made regularly and in order, from the very commencement as
it were, up to the year 1547, when Michelangelo, at his own will and
pleasure, undertook partly to build and partly to destroy, 162,624
ducats were expended. Since the latter date on to the present, during
which time the deputies have served like the pipe at the organ,
knowing nothing, nor what, nor how moneys were spent, but only at the
orders of the said Michelangelo, such being the will of Paul III. of
blessed memory, and also of the reigning Pontiff, 136,881 ducats have
bee