The dedication of a certain dialogue affords
an instance in point. Stefano Negri sent his book to Grolier in a
splendid shape. The presentation copy on vellum may be seen at the
British Museum among the treasures of the Grenville Library. The writer
represents himself in the preface as going about in search of a patron.
He sees Mercury descending from the clouds with a message from Minerva.
'There is one man whom the Goddess holds dear, struggling like Ulysses
through the flood of this stormy life: he is known as Grolier to the
world.' Nay, what need have you, says the author, to sing the praises of
that famous man? 'You must confess, even if you like it not, that he is
most noble in his country and family, most wealthy in fortune, and most
fair and beautiful in his bodily gifts.'
As patron of all the arts the treasurer became the friend of Francino
Gafori, the leader of the new school of music that was flourishing at
Milan. Gafori seems to have been often in Grolier's company. He dedicated
to the treasurer his work on the harmony of musical instruments, as well
as the _Apologia_ in which he afterwards convicted the Bologna school of
its errors. 'My work,' he says in his later book, 'is sound enough if
soundly understood'; and he tells his rival that, though he may writhe
with rage, the harmony of Gafori and the fame of Jean Grolier will live
for ever. The introduction to his work upon harmony contains a few
interesting details about Grolier's way of living at Milan.
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