$42 
ship towards him, and, as an Eng. 
lishman, it gives me pleasure_to 
find cardinal Pole amongst them, 
entitled, ‘‘ suo amicissimo.” Ip. 
polito de’ Medici was particularly 
partial to him, and understanding 
that Michel Angelo admired a 
Turkish horse he possessed, he sent 
it to his house, with ten mules load- 
ed with corn, and begged his ac. 
ceptance of the gift as a mark of his 
esteem. Notwithstanding he rank- 
ed in the number of his acquaint- 
ance the most distinguished names 
of his time, he was also pleased with 
the harmless comedy of human life, 
and occasionally amused with the 
» €ccentric good nature of those who 
had little else to recommend them. 
But the person of all others who 
absorbed his affections and esteem, 
was that excellent and accomplished 
woman, the celebrated Vittoria Co- 
Jonna, marchioness of Pescara ; her 
superior mind and endowments, 
and her partiality for his genius, 
impressed him with the most lively 
sense of esteem. For many years 
before her death she resided at 
Viterbo, and occasionally visited 
Rome for no other purpose than to 
enjoy his society. To her Michel 
Angelo addressed three sonnets and 
a madrigal, and wrote an epitaph, 
on her death, in which his admira- 
tion of her beauty and accomplish. 
ments is tempered with the most 
profound respect for her character, 
Tn her last moments Michel Angelo 
paid her a visit, and afterwards told 
Condivi he grieved he had not kissed 
hercheek as he did her hand, since 
there was then but little hope of his 
ever seeing her again. The same 
writer also observes, that the recol- 
lection of her death constantly pro- 
duced dejection in his mind,” 
ANNUAL REGISTER, 1806. 
Some Account of the Life and 
Writings of Lope Felix de Vega 
Carpio. From his Life by Lord 
Holland, 
This extraordinary man was born 
at Madrid, on the 25th of Novem- 
ber, 1562: his father had been se- 
cretly addicted to poetry; there are 
so many similar facts recorded, as 
to justify an opinion that the pro- 
pensity to poetry, or aptitude for 
it, is hereditary. Lope’s talents 
were early manifested. The un- 
common quickness and brilliancy 
of his eyes in infancy, indicated a 
corresponding vivacity of mind, and 
before his hand was strong enough 
to guide the pen, he recited verses 
of his own composition, which he 
bartered with his play-fellows for 
prints or toys. Thus, says lord 
Holland, even in his childhood, he 
not only wrote poetry, but turned 
his poetry to account, an art in 
which he must be allowed after 
wards to have excelled all poets, 
ancient-or modern. The bishop of 
Kyvila was his first patron; his se- 
cond was. the duke of Alva, at 
whose instance he wrote his Arcadia. 
Pastoral works, however, in prose 
and verse, had already met with 
considerable success in Spain;° of 
which the Diana by Montemayor 
was the first in point of merit, and I 
believe in time. The species of 
composition is in itself tedious, and 
the conduct of the Arcadia evidently 
absurd. <A pastoral in five long 
books of prose run mad, in which © 
the shepherds of Arcadia woo their 
Dulcineas in the language of Amadis 
rather than of Theocritus, in which 
they occasionally talk theology, aad 
discuss in verse the origin and na- 
ture of grammar, rhetoric, arith. 
Metic, geometry, music, astrology, 
and 
