334    Historical  Handbook  of  Italian  Sculpture^

demia  della  Crusca  *  among  the  books  selected  as  authorities  \
an  honour  which  would  perhaps  have  astonished  Cellini,  who,
though  esteeming  himself  perfect  in  every  other  art,  confessed
himself  a  "  bad  speaker  and  a  worse  writer.'*  f

Popes,  kings,  cardinals,  men  of  letters,  artists  and  people  of
every  class  figure  in  its  pages,  and  above  all  the  man  himself,
with  his  libertinism,  his  swaggering,  his  indiscriminate  amours,
which,  like  those  of  Don  Giovanni,  were  "  gia  mille  e  tre  *'  long
before  his  death ;  his  ceaseless  quarrels,  frequent  assassina-
tions, and  endless  complaints  of  bad  usage.  All  of  these  are
told  without  reserve,  as  are  the  few  really  good  acts  which  graced
the  life  of  one,  who  with  a  man's  growth  and  strength  lived  like
a  child,  without  self-control,  and  gave  way  to  every  impulse.
Among  these  we  must  not  omit  to  mention  how,  after  his
return  from  France,  he  took  his  widowed  sister,  Liberata  Tassi,
and  her  siz  fatherless  children  into  his  house,  gave  them  a
monthly  allowance,  and  treated  them  with  such  kindness,  that
the  ''  pane  d'  altrui "  lost  its  bitterness  in  their  mouths.}

The  letters,  petitions  and  poems  of  this  singular  man
show  us  that  he  considered  himself  poorly  paid  for  his
semces,  which  indeed  he  habitually  over-estimated.  It  is
true  that  the  Duke  often  treated  him  coldly,  delayed  payments,
and  disappointed  his  hopes,  but  at  the  same  time  he  bestowed
upon  him  a  pension  of  two  hundred  golden  scudi  a  year,
made  him  a  free  gift  of  a  house  in  the  Via  del  Rosario,^  and
bought  many  of  his  works  at  the  value  set  upon  them  by
good  judges.
