The history of the popes, from the close of the middle ages : drawn ...

I06 HISTORY OF THE POPES.
had the effect, at first, of conceahng his intellectual gifts ;
his natural tendency to thoroughness and solidity rather than
to outward brilliancy, did not lead him to any great communi-
cativeness, or to put himself forward in any way.^ A defect
in his speech, which caused the words to be uttered too
quickly, and of which he was only gradually cured, added to
the unfavourable impression which he made,^ while his modest
reserve, as well as his scrupulous avoidance of benefitting by
his position to enrich himself, or of enjoying life after the
manner of the clerics of the Renaissance era, caused him to be
looked upon at first as being of limited intelligence.^ In the
ambassadorial reports concerning the early work of the
youthful Secretary of State, he is described as a pious and
good young man, but as possessing few qualities of any im-
portance for the transaction of worldly affairs.* In time,
his contemporaries, set no value on preserving his portrait for
his successors ; in his extensive correspondence, he only once
speaks of his portrait, which he sent to his sister, Anna ; see
Wymann, 107.
1" Ne insignes in Uteris progressus habere videretur (this refers
to his time of study at Pavia), ingenii motus ad explicandum
haud satis expediti faciebant. . . . Eam animi moderationem
atque aequabihtatem haud maxima praesertim ingenii celeritate
coniunctam, quidam quasi tarditatem abiectionemque despicere
videbantur, cum tamen et ipsius adolescentiae acta non obscure
et posterioris temporis res gestae multo illustrius longe aliter se
rem habuisse demonstarint." Bascape, 4b.
* Bascape, 7a : concisas sententias, immo etiam verba ipsa
imminuta habitu quodam nimiae celeritatis pronuntiare solebat.
^ Bascape, 6b ; Giussano, ioD.
^MocENiGO, 53. In a *report of August 11, 1564, Fr. Tonina
says of Charles Borromeo that he is " di natura freddo et per
consuetudine timido al papa " (Gonzaga Archives, Mantua).
Requesens to Philip II., on April 30, 1564 : " Es el hombre del
mundo del menos espiritu y accion para tratar negocios "
(Dollinger, Beitrage, I., 561). Requesens to Philip on January 5,
1565 {ibid. 581).
" Aunque Borromeo es buen hombre y virtuoso,
pienso que la tendria menos en la eleccion, que jumas tubo sobrino
de Papa, porque es tan tibio, qui ne el attiende a tenelle, ne se la
da nada." Requesens had later on an opportunity of becoming
acquainted with the energy of Borromeo.