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 Niccolb 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 Niccolb 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 
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