llo had made it wanting in lights, that it had on the
exterior too many ranges of columns one above another, and that, with
its innumerable projections, pinnacles, and subdivisions of members,
it was more akin to the German manner than to the good method of the
ancients or to the gladsome and beautiful modern manner; and, in
addition to this, that it was possible to save fifty years of time and
more than three hundred thousand crowns of money in finishing the
building, and to execute it with more majesty, grandeur, and facility,
greater beauty and convenience, and better ordered design. This he
afterwards proved by a model that he made, in order to bring it to the
form in which the work is now seen constructed; and thus he
demonstrated that what he said was nothing but the truth. This model
cost him twenty-five crowns, and was made in a fortnight; that of San
Gallo, as has been related, cost four thousand, and took many years to
finish. From this and other circumstances it became evident that that
fabric was but a shop and a business for making money, and that it
would be continually delayed, with the intention of never finishing
it, by those who had undertaken it as a means of profit.

[Illustration: STAIRS OF THE PALACE OF THE SENATORS

(_After =Michelagnolo=. Rome: The Capitol_)

_Anderson_]

Such methods did not please our upright Michelagnolo, and in order to
get rid of all these people, while the Pope was forcing him to accept
the office of architect to the work, he said to them openly one day
that they should use all the assistance of their friends and do all
that they could to prevent him from entering on that office, because,
if he were to undertake such a charge, he would not have one of them
about the building. Which words, spoken in public, were taken very
ill, as may be believed, and were the reason that they conceived a
great hatred against him, which increased every day as they saw the
whole design being changed, both within and without, so that they
would scarcely let him live, seeking out daily new and various devices
to harass him, as will be related in the proper place. Finally the
Pope issued a Motu-proprio creating him head of that fabric, with full
authority, and giving him power to do or undo whatever he chose, and
to add, take away, or vary anything at his pleasure; and he decreed
that all the officials employed in the work should be subservient to
his will. Whereupon Michelagnolo, seeing the