d been impossible to ascend to the upper floors
without passing through them. The whole was magnificently adorned with
varied and diverse pictures, and finally the roof of the Great Hall was
raised twelve braccia above its former height; insomuch that if Arnolfo,
Michelozzo, and the others who laboured on the building from its first
foundation onwards, were to return to life, they would not recognize
it--nay, they would believe that it was not theirs but a new erection
and a different edifice.

[Illustration: PALAZZO RICCARDI

(_After_ Michelozzo Michelozzi. _Florence_)

_Alinari_]

But let us now return to Michelozzo; the Church of S. Giorgio had just
been given to the Friars of S. Domenico da Fiesole, but they only
remained there from about the middle of July to the end of January, for
Cosimo de' Medici and his brother Lorenzo obtained for them from Pope
Eugenius the Church and Convent of S. Marco, which was previously the
seat of Silvestrine Monks, to whom the said S. Giorgio was given in
exchange. And Cosimo and Lorenzo, being very devoted to religion and to
divine service and worship, ordained that the said Convent of S. Marco
should be rebuilt entirely anew after the design and model of
Michelozzo, and should be made very vast and magnificent, with all the
conveniences that the said friars could possibly desire. This work was
begun in the year 1437, and the first part to be built was that opening
out above the old refectory, opposite to the ducal stables, which Duke
Lorenzo de' Medici formerly caused to be built. In this place twenty
cells were built, the roof was put on, and the wooden furniture was made
for the refectory, the whole being finished in the manner wherein it
still stands to-day. But for some time the work was carried no further,
for they had to wait to see what would be the end of a law-suit that one
Maestro Stefano, General of the said Silvestrines, had brought against
the Friars of S. Marco with regard to that convent. This suit having
concluded in favour of the said Friars of S. Marco, the building was
once more continued. But since the principal chapel, which had been
built by Ser Pino Bonaccorsi, had afterwards come into the hands of a
lady of the Caponsacchi family, and from her to Mariotto Banchi, some
law-suit was fought out over this, and Mariotto, having upheld his
rights and having taken the said chapel from Agnolo della Casa, to whom
the said Silvestrines had given or sold it, presen