orentine sculptor of
the name of Federigo Frizzi. The statue of "Christ," one of the most
finished, and displaying most knowledge, that issued from the hands of
Michelangelo, is far, to my mind, from equalling other works of the
great sculptor. Yet it was the rapidly acquired celebrity of the
work terminated by Federigo Frizzi that decided Francis I on sending
Primaticio to Italy, commissioning him to make a cast of the "Christ" of
the Minerva, and to ask Michelangelo to execute a statue for him; also to
deliver to him the flattering letter preserved in the valuable collection
at Lille.

Leo X died on December 1, 1521, a year after Raphael. His successor, the
humble and austere Adrian VI, knew nothing about pictures, except those
of Van Eyck and Albert Duerer. His simple manners formed a striking
contrast to the ostentatious habits of Leo. During his pontificate, all
the great works were stopped at Rome and slackened at Florence. While
Michelangelo was obscurely working at the library of San Lorenzo, the
great age of art was drawing to its close; Raphael and Leonardo were
dead, and their pupils were already hurrying on to a rapid decadence.

Characters were beginning to decline at the same time that talent did,
and Michelangelo, who, as it were, opened this grand era, was destined to
survive alone, like those lofty summits that first receive the morning
light, and which are still lit up while all around has grown obscure and
night is already profound.

BALBOA DISCOVERS THE PACIFIC

A.D. 1513

MANUEL JOSE QUINTANA

Vasco Nunez de Balboa, the Spanish soldier and discoverer of the Pacific
Ocean, was born in 1475, and died near Darien, the scene of his principal
achievement, probably in 1517. Unfairly charged with conspiracy, after
rendering great services to his country, he was beheaded just as he was
completing preparations to explore the "South Sea," as he named the ocean
which he had discovered.

He first went to Darien from Espanola (Haiti) in 1510, promoted a
settlement, and was made its alcalde. In 1512 Pasamonte, king's treasurer
at Santo Domingo, commissioned him as governor. Balboa undertook many
explorations, and was usually on friendly terms with the Indians, who
told him of a great sea lying to the south, and of a country (Peru) rich
in gold, far down the coast. He set out from Darien September 1, 1513,
to discover the great sea and the country of which he thus heard. He had
conquered the Indian