t Duke has desired to have done in the immense Church of S.
Croce in Florence;--namely, that the tramezzo[6] should be removed and
that the choir should be made behind the high-altar, bringing that altar
somewhat forward and placing upon it a new and rich tabernacle for the
most holy Sacrament, all adorned with gold, figures, and scenes; and, in
addition, that in the same manner that has been told of S. Maria Novella
there should be made there fourteen chapels against the walls, with
greater expense and ornamentation than those described above, because
that church is much larger than the other. In the altar-pieces, to
accompany the two by Salviati and Bronzino, are to be all the principal
Mysteries of the Saviour, from the beginning of His Passion to the
Sending of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles; which picture of the
Sending of the Holy Spirit, having made the design of the chapels and
ornaments of stone, I have in hand for M. Agnolo Biffoli,
Treasurer-General to our Lords, and my particular friend, and I
finished, not long since, two large pictures that are in the Magistracy
of the Nine Conservadori, beside S. Piero Scheraggio; in one is the head
of Christ, and in the other a Madonna.

[Footnote 5: See p. 57, Vol. I.]

[Footnote 6: See p. 57, Vol. I.]

But since I should take too long if I sought to recount in detail the
many other pictures, designs without number, models, and masquerades
that I have executed, and because this much is enough and more than
enough, I shall say nothing more of myself, save that however great and
important have been the things that I have continually suggested to Duke
Cosimo, I have never been able to equal, much less to surpass, the
greatness of his mind. And this will be seen clearly in a third sacristy
that he wishes to build beside S. Lorenzo, large and similar to that
which Michelagnolo built in the past, but all of variegated marbles and
mosaics, in order to deposit there, in tombs most honourable and worthy
of his power and grandeur, the remains of his dead children, of his
father and mother, of the magnanimous Duchess Leonora, his consort, and
of himself; for which I have already made a model after his taste and
according to the orders received from him by me, which, when carried
into execution, will cause it to be a novel, most magnificent, and truly
regal Mausoleum.

This much, then, it must suffice to have said of myself, who am now come
after so many la