that they might defend and honour thofe perfons "who were virtuous and innocent: that therefore "neither himself nor any other Carib, who had "no intention of hurting them, had the leaft reafon to fear any violence; and that he, with his followers, would avenge any injury that fhould be offered to him or to any other "worthy perfons of the Inland by any of their "neighbours." The Carib was fo pleased with the speech and the manner of Columbus, that though he was extremely old, he offered to follow Columbus, and would have done fo, had not his wife and children prevented him. He appeared with difficulty to understand how an of Columbus's dignity and appearance fhould be under the controul of another perfon; and became much more aftonished when the Interpreter explained to him the honour, the pomp, the wealth, of the feveral Sovereigns of Europe, the extent of the country, and the greatnefs and beauty of the various objects over which they reigned. He became penfive, melancholy, and in a flood of tears afked the Interpreter repeatedly, whether it were the heavens or the earth which had produced men fo fuperior to themfelves as Columbus and his followers. JULIUS THE SECOND. He THIS Pope appears to have poffeffed more of the Imperator than of the Pontifex Maximus in his character. He was almoft continually engaged in wars, and at the head of his troops, yet when he was at peace he patronized men of learning, and encouraged artifts of eminence. ufed to fay, "Learning is filver to plebeians, "gold to the nobility, and a diamond to princes." To this Pope the world is indebted for that wonder of architecture, St. Peter's church at Rome. The vanity of Julius had prompted him to order Michael Angelo to give him a defign for his tomb, which that great artist made upon fo grand a scale, that the choir of old St. Peter's (a moft miferable fabric) could not contain it. "Well then," replied the Pope, "enlarge the choir." “Aye, "Holy Father, but we must then build a new "church, to keep up the due proportion between "the different parts of the edifice." “That we "will then do," replied the Pope; and gave orders for the fale of Indulgences to carry on the conftruction of the fabric, which afterwards in his fucceffors time undermined the whole fabric of papal authority. Some Some of the figures intended for the Pope's Maufoleum remain ; the famous figure of Mofes fitting, in St. Pietro dei Vinculi at Rome, and two or three of the Slaves at the Hotel de Richelieu at Paris, from which cafts have been fince made. The original defign of the tomb is engraved in Vafari; it has much of ftately Gothic grandeur in it, and was to have been decorated with thirty-two whole-length figures of Prophets and of Apostles. Julius was accufed by his contemporaries of being a drunkard and a swearer; he never appeared to fo much advantage as at the head of an army. When Michael Angelo afked him whether he fhould put a fword or a book in the hand of the coloffal ftatue that he made of him for the great fquare of Bologna; "Put a fword," faid the Pope, " you know I am no scholar." Yet Julius thought the attitude of this ftatue rather too fevere, and faid, "Michael Angelo, "my ftatue rather appears to curfe than to bless "the good people of Bologna." " Holy Father," replied the artist, as they have not This ftatue, which was faid to be one of Michael Angelo's greatest works, was destroyed by the populace of Bologna, on the death of Julius. "always "always been the most obedient of your fubjects, "it will teach them to be afraid of you, and to "behave better in future." The pictures of this Pope reprefent him as a man of naturally a very ftern afpect, which did not require the additional fierté and feverity that Michael Angelo's coloffal ftatue most probably gave to him, Julius was the first Prince of his time in Europe who let his beard grow, to infpire refpect to his perfon. In this he was foon followed by Francis the Firft, and the other Sovereigns of that age. MICHAEL ANGELO. THIS wonderful genius poffeffed in a peculiar manner that enthusiasm of his art, without which nothing great can ever be produced. He faid that Painting should be practifed only by Gentlemen, and would not receive as pupils any young perfons who were not either nobly born, or had been liberally educated. Michael Angelo was a Painter, a Statuary, and an Architect, and in each of these arts aimed always at at the grand and the fublime. He had a design of executing a coloffal ftatue of Neptune in the marble quarries of Maffa Carara, that should front the Mediterranean fea, and be seen from the veffels that were paffing at a great distance. Dante was the favourite poet of Michael Angelo, and he appears to have transfufed into his works, many of his magnificent and sublime images. Angelo himself wrote verfes very well. When some person put the following lines upon his celebrated figure of Night reclining upon the tomb of one of the family of Medicis, in the chapel at Florence that bears the name of that illuftrious family: La notte che tu vedi in si dolci atti In quefto fafo, & per che dormé, ha vita. NIGHT's marble figure, ftranger, which you fee VOL. I. Michael |