Letters patent under the seal of the Duke secured him free passage through the city of Modena and the province of Garfagnana.

In spite of these accommodations, he seems to have met with difficulties on the way, owing to the disturbed state of the country.

His friend Giovan Battista Palla was waiting for him at Lucca, without information of his movements, up to the 18th of the month.

He had left Florence on the 11th, and spent the week at Pisa and Lucca, expecting news in vain.

Then, "with one foot in the stirrup," as he says, "the license granted by the Signory" having expired, he sends another missive to Venice, urging Michelangelo not to delay a day longer.