discretion to help the restoration succeed. In February 1555, an envoy was dispatched from the English Parliament to Julius to inform him of the country's formal submission, but the pope died before the envoy reached Rome. Shortly before his death, Julius dispatched Cardinal Giovanni Morone to represent the interests of the Holy See at the Peace of Augsburg. His inactivity during the last three years of his pontificate may have been caused by the frequent and severe attacks of gout. Artistic endeavors The pope's lack of interest in political or ecclesiastical affairs caused dismay among his contemporaries. When his efforts at church reform proved ineffective, Julius III focused his attentions instead on artistic and architectural commissions as well as his lavish Villa Giulia. He spent the bulk of his time, and a great deal of papal money, on entertainments at the Villa Giulia, created for him by Vignola. Bartolomeo Ammannati designed a number of garden features under the general direction of Giorgio Vasari, with guidance from the knowledgeable pope and Michelangelo, who worked there. Today the Villa Giulia houses the Museo Nazionale Etrusco, a collection of Etruscan art and artifacts. More significant and lasting was his patronage of the great Renaissance composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, whom he brought to Rome as his maestro di cappella. The Innocenzo scandal Julius' papacy was marked by scandals, the most notable of which is centered around the pope's adoptive nephew, Innocenzo Ciocchi Del Monte. Innocenzo del Monte was a teenaged beggar found in the streets of Parma who was hired by the family as a lowly hall boy in their primary residence, the boy's age being variously given as 14, 15, or 17 years. After the elevation of Julius to the papacy, Innocenzo Del Monte was adopted into the family by the pope's brother and was then promptly created cardinal-nephew by Julius. The pope showered his favourite with benefices, including the commendatario of the abbeys of Mont Saint-Michel in Normandy and Saint Zeno in Verona, and, later, of the abbeys of Saint Saba, Miramondo, Grottaferrata and Frascati, among others. As rumours began to circle about the particular relationship between the pope and his adoptive nephew, Julius refused to take advice. The cardinals Reginald Pole and Giovanni Carafa warned the pope of the "evil suppositions to which the elevation of a fatherless young man would give rise". Poet Joachim du Bellay, who lived in