with the custom of those times. Filippo performed his
functions carefully in that office; and in others connected with the
magistracy of the city, to which he was subsequently appointed, he
constantly acquitted himself with the most judicious consideration.

"The two vaults of the cupola were now approaching their close, at the
circular window where the lantern was to begin, and there now remained
to Filippo, who had made various models in wood and clay, both of the
one and the other, in Rome and Florence, to decide finally as to which
of these he would put in execution, wherefore he resolved to complete
the gallery, and accordingly made different plans for it, which remained
in the hall of wardens after his death, but which by the neglect of
those officials have since been lost. But it was not until our own days
that even a fragment was executed on a part of one of the eight sides
(to the end that the building might be completed); but as it was not in
accordance with the plan of Filippo, it was removed by the advice of
Michael Angelo Buonarotti, and was not again attempted.

"Filippo also constructed a model for the lantern, with his own hand; it
had eight sides, the proportions were in harmony with those of the
cupola, and for the invention as well as variety and decoration, it was
certainly very beautiful. He did not omit the staircase for ascending to
the ball, which was an admirable thing; but as he had closed the
entrance with a morsel of wood fixed at the lower part, no one but
himself knew its position. Filippo was now highly renowned, but
notwithstanding this, and although he had already overcome the envy and
abated the arrogance of so many opponents, he could not yet escape the
vexation of finding that all the masters of Florence, when his model had
been seen, were setting themselves to make others in various manners;
nay, there was even a lady of the Gaddi family, who ventured to place
her knowledge in competition with that of Filippo. The latter,
meanwhile, could not refrain from laughing at the presumption of these
people, and when he was told by certain of his friends that he ought not
to show his model to any artist lest they should learn from it, he
replied that there was but one true model, and that the others were good
for nothing. Some of the other masters had used parts of Filippo's model
for their own, which, when the latter perceived, he remarked, 'The next
model made by this personage will be min