ABSTRACT
Another circumstance occurred to Julian at this time, which was of more momentous and permanent import to him than his intercourse with Bernardino. Bernardino was between thirty and forty years of age, the laureated poet of the Vatican, protected by the grand duke and the princess, and welcomed by and courted in nearly all the great families of Florence. He had a character to support, which, if it did not advance, must decline; and he was therefore / compelled, however careless and airy he might seem, to ruminate, to read, to exercise his powers in solitary essays, and to prepare his mind for what were called his unpremeditated effusions. He could be little of a companion for the sportive, the thoughtless, and the joyous orphan protected by Cloudesley. But all that was wanting to that end in Bernardino, was accumulated in the nephew. Francesco was barely two years older than Julian. The latter had hitherto had many associates, but no friend.
