134 
Michael Angelo, 
fastened on his contemplation. I Thus he 
entered at once, as it were, into the inheritance 
of whatever excellencies had been produced be- 
fore him. 
With these advantages he was called 
to 
adorn 
the 
apartments 
of the Vatican. 
And 
can We wonder that his first works there, 
at the 
age 
of 
seven-and-twenty, 
were 
the Dispute 
OH 
and the 
the Sacrament, 
School of Athens? 
" But what was it that contributed very much 
to 
the 
production. 
of those Works ? 
It was not 
but the 
the profound studies of Raphael's mind, 
spirit 
of 
the 
age 
which 
warmed 
those 
studies. 
--Ib was a great age, in which learning and 
science were become diifilsed, at least through- 
out Enropei-a great age replete with cha- 
racters studious 
Qf philosophy 5 
and, 
therefore, 
fond of the iristriiction conveyed by the arts; 
-,-fond of those high and more profound com- 
positions which _entered into the [spirit of su- 
perior character, and made some study and 
research necessary to develope their beauties. 
To meet the taste of such an age, the two first 
public works of Raphael, above mentioned, were