THE CERTOSA OF FLORENCE 



him some service he had asked, some trifling favour 

 that he had requested, whether for himself or for a 

 friend, and, worse than this, had neglected to answer 

 two previous letters on the subject. The poet had 

 lately lost several of his dearest friends, Nelli, Zanobi, 

 and others, which partly accounts for the querulous 

 tone in which he writes. He upbraids Niccol6 bitterly 

 with injustice and neglect, and after warning him that, 

 in spite of all his greatness, he too is mortal, concludes 

 with the words : " Friendship is a fair and noble 

 thing, but she requires much to be real. Nothing is 

 easier than to call oneself a friend, nothing harder 

 than to be one. Farewell, and forgive me if I speak 

 too freely." 



It would be interesting to know how the Grand 

 Seneschal answered this letter, but, unfortunately, 

 nothing after this is heard of their correspondence, 

 and we are left to suppose that it ceased. Probably 

 when Niccol6 received Petrarch's complaint he was 

 too deeply engaged to give it his attention, for, since 

 the king's death the management of the kingdom 

 rested entirely in the hands of the Grand Seneschal, 

 who proved as faithful a servant to Joanna as he had 

 been to her husband. Under his wise rule commerce 

 began to revive and prosperity to return to the king- 

 dom so long torn by civil wars and divisions. 



But even now there were not wanting slanderous 



221 



