moral sentences is aimed at envy, from which he suffered much in his own life, and against which he guarded with a curious amount of caution.  His own family grudged the distinction which his talents gained for him, and a dark story is told of a secret attempt made by them to assassinate him through his servants.  Alberti met these ignoble jealousies with a stately calm and a sweet dignity of demeanour, never condescending to accuse his relatives, never seeking to retaliate, but acting always for the honour of his illustrious house.  In the same spirit of generosity he refused to enter into wordy warfare with detractors and calumniators, sparing the reputation even of his worst enemy when chance had placed him in his power.  This moderation both of speech and conduct was especially distinguished in an age which tolerated the fierce invectives of Filelfo, and applauded the vindictive courage of Cellini.  To money Alberti showed a calm indifference.  He committed his property to his friends and shared with them in common.  Nor was he less careless about vulgar fame, spending far more pains in the invention of machinery and the discovery of laws, than in their publication to the world.  His service was to knowledge, not to glory.  Self-control was another of his eminent qualities.  With the natural impetuosity of a large heart, and the vivacity of a trained athlete, he yet never allowed himself to be subdued by anger or by sensual impulses, but took pains to preserve his character unstained and dignified before the eyes of men.  A story is told of him which may remind us of Goethe’s determination to overcome his giddiness.  In his youth his head was singularly sensitive to changes of temperature; but by gradual habituation he brought himself at last to endure the extremes of heat and cold bareheaded.  In like manner he had a constitutional disgust for onions and honey; so powerful, that the very sight of these things made him sick.  Yet by constantly viewing and touching what was disagreeable, he conquered these dislikes; and proved that men have a complete mastery over what is merely instinctive in their nature.  His courage corresponded to his splendid physical development.  When a boy of fifteen, he severely wounded himself in the foot.  The gash had to be probed and then sewn up.  Alberti not only bore the pain of this operation without a groan, but helped the surgeon with his own hands; and effected a cure of the fever which succeeded by the solace of singing to his cithern.  For music he had a genius of the rarest order; and in painting he is said to have achieved success.  Nothing, however, remains of his work and from what Vasari says of it, we may fairly conclude that he gave less care to the execution of finished pictures, than to drawings subsidiary to architectural and mechanical designs.  His biographer relates that when he had completed a painting, he called children and asked them what it meant.  If they did not know, he reckoned it a failure.  He was