A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country/Capello, (Bianca)
CAPELLO, (BIANCA) of the noble House of the Capelli at Venice, Grand Duchess of Tuscany. Died 1587.
Agreeable to the customs of her country Bianca spent the earlier days of her youth, remote from all society but that of her relations, in the palace of her father, Bartolomeo Capello. She, however, attracted the notice of a young Florentine, who was clerk at an opposite merchant's counting-house, called Pietro Buonavventuri, youth of low parents, handsome in his person, amiable in his manners, of unbounded ambition, and fond of intrigue. This natural bent of his mind, which had repeatedly involved him in many a hazardous situation, prompted him to court the affections of Bianca.
He got acquainted with her as she went to mass, attended by her maid. On this occasion, he thought proper to give himself out for a partner in the house of Salviati, in which he served; and Bianca, dazzled by exterior appearance, eagerly listened to his tale. She drew her maid into her interest; and, it was agreed, that they should meet by means of false keys. But the time came, when their intercourse could no longer be concealed; and Bianca seeing no other means of safety, yielded to the request of her lover, purloined a set of jewels from her father, and left Venice.
On this journey, Buonavventuri first informed her of his real situation in life, and she saw herself compelled to make him a tender of her hand. A priest performed the marriage ceremony, in a village near Bologna: and, after some wanderings, they both arrived at Florence, in the house of his father, where Bianca was soon after delivered of a daughter.
At Venice this elopement caused great disturbance. Her family called loudly for vengeance. The new married couple were banished the country, as outlawed robbers; a reward of a thousand ducats was offered, to whoever should bring them to justice; and the accomplices were suffered to die in prison.
Bianca was not ignorant of the severe decree. She was informed, that several banditti had been dispatched to Florence to find her out. Thus situated, the only safety she could hope for, was, from Francesco, the ruler of Tuscany, son of Cosmo; and to him she applied.
She is supposed to have become acquainted with that prince in 1564. The accident which occasioned this connection is uncertain; but it is said, that a disturbance in the street, called her one day to her window, at the very moment when he passed by on horse-back, when her uncommon beauty attracted his attention; and, from that time she kept herself still more confined at home, and even neglected to go to public worship.
She had, however, made a deep impression on the prince, who, by means of a lady, who traced her out, and made acquaintance with her, obtained the means of an interview, as if by chance. She implored his protection. The disposition of her mind had been impaired by the event which had driven her from her country: she had acquired the skill of eluding, by artifice and cunning, the persecutions of her family and the laws. In him she met with a protector, who took her part with spirit. He entered into a negociation with the republic in her behalf, and endeavoured to obtain her pardon, through the means both of the Florentine agent, and the nuncio of the pope; but every effort proved unsuccessful. He was become so infatuated, that his liberality towards Bianca knew no bounds. He spent the greatest part of his leisure time in her company, whilst she in return seemed to live for her benefactor, rather than her husband.
At first, the connection was kept secret. His father, Cosmo, had, in the very same year in which Francesco formed his acquaintance with her, invested him with the greatest part of the ducal dignity and power, and himself retired into solitude.
It was in the year 1566, a short time after the marriage of the prince with Joanna of Austria, that Bianca was introduced at court, and the partiality of the prince publicly avowed. He supported her in all she undertook, complied with her whims, and Went so far as to pronounce a solemn vow, that she should be his consort, as soon as both parties were at liberty.
Whilst Bianca enjoyed the favours of the prince, Buonavventuri experienced the effects of his unbounded liberality; Francesco invested him with the office and title of chamberlain; consulted him on the concerns of the state, and gave him a share in the government. This unexpected change of fortune so elated him, that he committed acts of the most cruel oppression, and treated Florentines of the first rank with extreme neglect and contempt; but, engaging in an intrigue with a lady of noble family, from which the menaces and complaints of her relations, and the counsel of Francesco and Bianca could not deter him, he was assassinated in 1562. The prince promised Bianca to avenge him, but neglected to do it.
She was now the avowed mistress of Francesco. All Florence was shocked at his conduct, and the most severe satires were circulated on the occasion, which, however, instead of bringing him back to the path, of virtue, produced the contrary effect Whoever h;id a petition to the prince, must apply to her; and, whoever had the promise of her support, might be assured of success: whereas, on the other hand, oppression was the lot of him, who happened to incur her displeasure. This made her an object of abhorrence and execration with the people.
Bianca foresaw, that, notwithstanding the partiality of the prince, the discontent of the public might prove highly dangerous to her. To steer clear of this rock, she resolved to court the friendship of those individuals of the family of the Medici, who had some influence both on the prince and the people, particularly of his brother, the cardinal Ferdinando, who had but a small share in the confidence of his brother, but enjoyed the affections of the people; and perhaps was the only individual of the family generally beloved by the Florentines. She managed to lay him under obligations, by obtaining an augmentation of his revenue, which he had in vain solicited from his brother. She shewed him the most uncommon deference on every occasion, and secured the good will of the cardinal, notwithstanding she was the rival of his brother's consort.
By this politic conduct she soon obtained a perfect sway over the most prominent characters in the family of the Medici; and her influence at court rested on a basis the more solid, as Francesco gave her daily new proofs of his attachment. Every body, even her avowed enemies, allow, that to the most uncommon beauty she united the art, still more uncommon, of dispensing pleasure and contentment, and of destroying the seeds of distrust and suspicion; qualities which could not fail to render her company daily more and more valuable to the prince. He was unhappy in his marriage, and the dissentions, which constantly prevailed between him and his brothers, afforded him but little satisfaction in his family. Unpleasant and severe in her manners, the prince soon conceived an unfeigned aversion for his wife. He shunned her company, and took refuge with Bianca. She became the object of universal admiration; for her the most splendid entertainments were given, whilst the grand duchess sunk into total oblivion and neglect. I'his exasperated her to such a degree against Bianca, that, having once met her with Francesco on the bridge of La Trinita, she was fully determined to have her thrown into the Arno. She was just giving one of her servants orders for that purpose, when Count Heliodoro Castelli, who attended her, had the good fortune to deter her from the attempt, by representing, that this notion of hers was a temptation of the devil, which she ought to resist. The religious princess startled at the idea, retired penitent, and Bianca was saved, who found means sometime afterwards to mitigate the hatred of her rival, and even for a short time to obtain her favour.
On every occasion that had hitherto occurred, Bianca had shewn her skill and artifice. Yet all her undertakings, during the first ten years of her residence at Florence, had not exceeded the bounds of that influence, which every handsome and artful favourite may have on the heart of a weak and blinded sovereign. The great plans which she had conceived from the very moment when Francesco made her the solemn promise of marriage, could not be carried into execution during the life of Cosmo; but his death, in 1574, and the accession of her lover to the sovereignty of the dukedom, gave her full scope for developing and perfecting her schemes with less restraint. Bianca knew the anxiety of Francesco, who as yet had only daughters, for a male heir. When he promised her his hand, as soon as they should be at liberty, he had added the express condition, that she must first have a son. The assassination of Bianca's husband had removed the grand obstacle on her side, whilst the declining health of the grand duchess, which was still more impaired through her unhappy temper, seemed to forbode her approaching dissolution; yet this grand obstacle still remained; but her former situation had inspired her wish resolution; and she knew, by the tenor of her own life, to what length artifice, attended with perseverance, would go. Whenever she met with an obstacle in her way, the most shocking acts of cruelty, and the meanest fraud, could not deter her, if they served her purpose. Of this she gave the most convincing proofs on the present occasion. In 1576, a supposititious child was imposed on the grand duke, who readily believed what he wished; yet Bianca did not expect that her stratagem should remain concealed, whilst there existed any one who knew of it. She therefore contrived to rid herself of the witnesses; they were all either murdered, drowned in the Arno, or some way or other dispatched. Joanna Santi, her maid and principal agent, a year after the transaction, was dismissed by Bianca and sent to Bologna; but on her passage over the Appennines, was assaulted by a set of disguised banditti, who wounded her with several musquet-shots. She however arrived alive at Bologna, where she made an authentic declaration of every thing she knew of this affair, and of the violent death of all those who had any knowledge of it. She declared, that she took her murderers for banditti, hired by Bianca, who, fearing lest she should reveal her secret, had determined upon her assassination. This deposition was forwarded to Cardinal Ferdinando, who during Bianca's life never made use of it against her.
Other suspicions had before arisen; but Francesco could not think of the possibility of a deception; and his joy in having a son was so great, that he never made the least inquiry into the business; but, on the contrary, publicly acknowledged the little Don Antonio as his offspring. Bianca, on her part, used every effort to endear the child to him. Letters are yet extant in the archives of Florence, which she caused him to write to his supposed father, when he was scarcely two years old. This is indeed but a trifling circumstance in itself, but it evidently shews, how artfully she seized upon every opportunity of courting the prince's affections for the boy.
It was at this period, that a reconciliation took place between Bianca and her family. Her father, in 1576, paid her a visit at Florence, and was loaded with presents from the grand duke and his daughter; but this reconciliation was not considered in a very favourable light at Venice. He was never afterwards received in the senate, notwithstanding he was permitted to attend at the grand council. His connections with Bianca brought Francesco, that same year, into several disagreeable situations: they had not only become the subject of general satire and ridicule to all the courts of Italy, but likewise threatened to bring on a very serious rupture with the court of Vienna, had it not been averted by the death of the emperor Maximilian, brother to the grand-duchess; but his successor, Rudolph, whose interest it was to be upon good terms with the grand-duke, endeavoured, ineffectually, to bring about a reconciliation. But on the birth of an heir to the dukedom, Francesco behaved with more kindness to his wife.
Nobody now doubted that Bianca would soon be removed. She actually retired from Florence for awhile, and lived either at her villa, or at Bologna, far from the court, and apparently in no connection with the prince. But from, this very circumstance she derived the greatest advantage. He could not live absent from the society he loved, and, in the following year, Bianca returned from her voluntary exile, but continued in appearance a life of retirement for some time. The grand-duchess was fully convinced, that her husband had relinquished all connections with her. The pleasing deception did not, however, last long. She once happened to meet them as they were going into the country: and, it is thought this circumstance occasioned her death, which has commonly been attributed to a fall. So much is certain, that she returned home with the symptoms of the most profound dejection, and that very day was seized with an illness which put a period to her life.
At the solemnity of her funeral, no symptom of grief was visible on his countenance; and when the procession approached the house of Bianca, who then stood at her window, the grand duke took off his mourning cap, and bowed to her. How little he was affected appears plain enough from the circumstance, that immediately after the interment, he attended a rout at Bianca's house.
The latter, unable to hide the pleasure she felt, had now great hopes of becoming his wife. He had given her his promise upon oath, and Don Antonio passed, at least with the people, as his son. A circumstance which raised her expectations still more was, that he refused to listen to the proposals of a marriage with the daughter of another sovereign prince. But, on the other hand, if he married the person who was publicly looked upon as the cause of all the mortifications his departed consort had experienced, he must dread the displeasure of the house of Austria, whose support was necessary for the support of his ambitious views. His best ministers and the ecclesiastics, attending his court, advised him to give up every connection with her; and he himself was unsteady in his resolutions.
He consulted his ministers and his confessor; and even took a tour to accomplish the victor over his feelings. She saw how much she had to fear, and frequently wrote to him, varying her style according to the circumstances. Sometimes she would entreat him in the most solemn manner not to withdraw his word; then appear to resign herself to her destiny and leave Florence. She actually prepared for her departure, which, however, was delayed till the return of Francesco. Her agents were continually busied with representations in her favour; and, when the grand-duke was sufficiently prepared, she unexpectedly paid him a visit. This was more than his resolution could withstand. He resumed the wonted course of his visits, and at last prepared an apartment for her in the ducal palace.
At this time he fell ill. Her tender attention, and the care she took of him till his recovery, endeared her more than ever to him, and before his recovery, in 1567, they were privately married.
This was kept very secret during the mourning for the late grand-duchess. Nobody was surprised at Bianca's having apartments assigned her in the palace, because a report prevailed that she had been appointed governess to the young princesses. Meanwhile Francesco was employed in sounding the opinion of the king of Spain, concerning his marriage, without whose concurrence he thought fit to do nothing of any importance; and, having been apprized of his approbation, he published his union with Bianca at the expiration of the mourning.
Cardinal Ferdinando seems to have received intelliligence of this marriage some time before it was publicly known. He refrained from manifesting his displeasure; he did not then suppose she would be declared grand-duchess. But Francesco was aware that his matrimonial connection with a person, who had fled from Venice, had been married to a man of vulgar extraction, and afterwards been his own mistress, would be generally considered in a very dubious light. He endeavoured therefore to elude this unfavourable opinion, by applying to the Venetian senate to confer upon Bianca the title of a daughter of the Republic, These republicans had long before, from deep political motives, created this title, by which they enabled the daughters of the patricians to intermarry with sovereigns, and to assume the rank of princesses. The lady, who obtained this distinction, had, in her quality of a daughter of Venice, the precedence over all the rest of the Italian princesses, and was, by all the world considered as the daughter of a sovereign.
On the seventeenth of July, 1597, Bianca was, by a decree of the senate, invested with this rank; and in their answers to the obliging letters of the duke, stiled grand-duchess; though it cannot be proved, that Francesco intended her that dignity at the time when he married her. Nor can we infer, from the first letters of Bianca, that she at that time had any notion of being elevated to the throne. But they affected to suppose, the pompous title of a daughter of the Republic would not otherwise have been sued for in her behalf.
This important measure being thus resolved on, it was the wish of the grand-duke to see Bianca's coronation as a daughter of the Republic, and her presentation as grand-duchess, performed with the greatest pomp and solemnity; he therefore requested the Venetians to send ambassadors to Florence to assist at her coronation; and report says, that they, even in the most glorious epochas of their commonwealth, never sent so splendid an embassy before.
On the thirteenth of October, 1597, she was publicly proclaimed grand-duchess of Tuscany, crowned daughter of the republic of Venice, and received the oath of allegiance, in the presence of the Florentine nobility, and a number of foreigners of distinction. Burring the stay of the ambassadors at Florence, Francesco displayed all his splendour; and his expences on the occasion are said to have amounted to one million of scudi. Bianca's father received a considerable annual pension, and she presented each of the ambassadors who were present, with a ring of the value of one thousand five hundred scudi. Francesco thanked the Venetian senate in a private letter, and, in the most obliging expressions, promised the Republic all the obedience a son owes to his parent.
To the cardinal Ferdinando, the exaltation of Bianca, as an unexpected event, proved extremely irksome. He had not shewn any displeasure at his brother's marriage with her, whilst he entertained the opinion, that she was to be no more than his wife. But as the affair had taken a turn, quite contrary to his expectations, his resentment was roused, and not without cause. He dreaded some disagreeable catastrophe on the side of the foreign powers, the destruction of peace and harmony in the ducal family, and an infringement upon his own rights. She might yet bear his brother a son, to whom, in case Don Filippo were to die, he must leave the succession. This idea tormented him the more, as he saw himself quite destitute of the means of preventing a second imposition.
Of this enmity the Italian princes availed themselves to injure the grand-duke; the most virulent satires appeared against his wife, and mortifications poured in from every quarter. The only means of restoring his former consequence, was a speedy reconciliation with the cardinal. This Bianca took upon herself, and in it she so completely succeeded, that in token of perfect reconciliation, he repaired to Florence in the ensuing year, 1580, and staid with his brother at his villa until winter.
This reconciliation soon produced all the effects which were expected from it. The enemies of the grand-duke, who upon this had built their hopes of humbling him, were astonished to see the cardinal return from Florence, the friend both of Francesco and of Bianca. She gloried in the happy consequences of a reconciliation, which she considered as her own work, and was highly gratified with the appellation of a restorer of peace in his family, which the cardinal himself was pleased to bestow upon her.
She did every thing in her power to obtain his confidence, and strove to accomplish his most secret wishes; for she hoped, through this conduct, to gain the affections of the Florentines, who were extremely pleased with the unexpected concord of the two brothers.
But nothing could conquer the hatred which they had conceived against her. They could not bear the idea of seeing a person rule over them, whose private character was so obnoxious, and whom they looked upon as the chief cause of the dissent ions which had prevailed between their sovereign and his late consort. They compared the liberality which he had shewn at her coronation, with his avarice towards the first princess and his brothers; and in every circumstance found sufficient matter for scandal and invective. She was fond of curious machinery; and partly perhaps from this cause was esteemed a witch.
But an additional cause of the implacable hatred, which the Florentines bore her, was the protection she gave to spies; a reproach she stands charged with in every historical record. She had always a number of these wretches in her pay, and is said, by that means, to have made some very important discoveries, of which, however, history gives us no farther particulars.
In this manner she actually secured herself and the grand-duke against all machinations; but, at the same time, lost the good opinion of the people. Nor did the good understanding between the court of Florence and the republic of Venice prove of long duration. Though they had hitherto, at least in appearance, shewn themselves true friends of the grand-duke, they thought, that since Bianca's coronation, their new son had given them frequent cause of discontent.
In 1512, several letters passed between the Republic and Bianca, who was offended at their intention of creating the intended wife of an inferior prince, daughter of the Republic likewise. This event, whilst it prevented the conclusion of the marriage, occasioned, at the same time, the publicity of a disaffection, which had for a long time existed.
About the same time, the good understanding which through Bianca had been established among the Medici, was again disturbed. Though the cardinal had conceived a sort of affection for her, in return for the important services she had rendered him, he could not forget, that through her artifice she had ascended the ducal throne; and, on the death of Don Filippo in 1582, he thought himself authorized to adopt measures more serious, and save his family from impending ruin, by counteracting and anticipating the intrigues he feared from Bianca. His first care was to entreat his brother, Don Pietro, to marry. But this prince lived in perpetual dissention with his brothers, and could never be prevailed upon to acquiesce in the cardinal's wishes. His provocation was still greater, when, in the year 1583, the Grand-duke, contrary to the advice of the ablest statesmen, publicly declared Don Antonio his legitimate son. Francesco had given him in fee many of the estates, forfeited by the subdued rebels, and had added many more by purchase: at the same time, the king of Spain had conferred upon Antonio the title of Prince of Capestrano, and appointed him his legate in Italy.
From all these circumstances, Ferdinando suspected, that his brother and Bianca had formed the scheme of forwarding him to the succession of the government, with the support of Spain. This suspicion was still more confirmed when German guards were assigned to him, and many Florentines began to look upon him as the successor of the grand-duke, and actually paid him the honours due to the second person in the state. All these unpleasant innovations the cardinal attributed to Bianca, and not altogether without cause, which of course cast a damp upon his affection for her.
Bianca soon remarked the change in the cardinal's disposition; but, perfectly skilled in the art of dissimulalation, never betrayed the least symptom of suspicion; and, on the contrary, endeavoured more than ever to oblige him, eagerly seizing upon every opportunity to give him the most convincing proofs of her attachment. This moderation on her side had so powerful an effect upon the cardinal, that he never could induce himself to come to an open rupture with her, particularly when at the highest pitch of his resentment, concerning Don Antonio, she conferred new obligations on his family, which challenged his gratitude, and for some time obliterated his distrust.
In the mean time, Bianca's skilful hand conducted all the delicate manoeuvres of government with advantage and success, excepting when she interceded with her husband for the famous poet Tasso, whom he could not be persuaded, even at her instance, to forgive. But Ferdinando was unable long to suppress his distrust of Bianca, and often gave such evident marks of it, that her two favourites, Serguidi and Abbioso could not help taking notice of them. Whilst he kept upon good terms with her, they durst not show their animosity towards him, but as soon as they perceived the coolness which had taken place, they threw off the mask, strove to create distrust in the grand-duke against the cardinal, and represented him as a man, whose sole aim it was to increase his own private power and consequence, and who, in political concerns, ought not to be relied on. Francesco, who at all times suspected his brother, eagerly listened to their insinuations, and gradually withdrew his love and confidence from him.
Not long before his departure from Florence, the report had been spread of the pregnancy of the grand-duchess. Never before had the cardinal's suspicions of the success of Bianca's intrigues been so strong as they were at this time; because, not only the grand-duke, but also many persons at court and in the capital, spoke of the matter with a degree of confidence. His concerns at Rome would not permit him to make a longer stay at Florence, for which reason he charged Don Pietro secretly to watch the motions of the grand duchess.
This prince was just on the point of returning to Spain, but yielded to his brother's request, and postponed his journey; willing to discharge his commission with integrity and zeal, but deficient in the chief qualities requisite for a similar undertaking, he had neither the art to conceal his views, nor the temper of a cool observer. This latter defect led him astray upon every occasion; he saw nothing but fraud and deception wherever he cast his eyes, and thus lost sight of the chief object. The cardinal only suspected a stratagem, and had commissioned his brother to prevent its being carried into execution. Don Pietro took this supposition for matter of fact; hence he looked with a suspicious eye upon whatever Bianca did, and established his doubts upon such grounds as even the cardinal himself could not admit. He went so far as to imagine, that Bianca's daughter, the countess Bentivoglio, who, during the absence of her husband, had retired to the ducal palace, was to aid her mother in the execution of the scheme. At last, Bianca acquainted him herself, that she did not think it was so: and by compelling her to this declaration, Don Pietro fulfilled the intentions of the cardinal. In the following year the hopes of the grand-duke were entirely defeated; for Bianca's supposed pregnancy ended in an illness, which endangered her life.
During the dissentions, she had constantly evinced the most friendly sentiments for the cardinal; and endeavoured, by her own moderation, meekness, and complacency, to compensate for the inveteracy and obstinacy of her consort. For this reason the cardinal chose to bring on a reconciliation with his brother, and wrote to her on the subject, towards the end of 1586.
Bianca, indeed, strove with all earnestness to bring it about. She acquainted the grand duke with his brother's wish, and did it with a power of eloquence, that made the most successful impression upon his feelings. He requested her immediately to acquaint the cardinal with his sentiments; and, to convince him of his sincerity, remitted him a considerable sum of money, for which he had long since sued without effect. The only return on which he insisted, was, that he should pay him a visit at Florence.
In the beginning of 1587, Ferdinando received the intelligence of the successful issue of Bianca's negotiations. He approved, with unfeigned demonstrations of joy, all she had done, and sent a chamberlain to Florence to thank her and the grand-duke, and inform them of his arrival the ensuing autumn.
The concerns of the two brothers now no longer met with the usual impediments; they rose again to their former consequence, and the pope himself adopted a more condescending conduct towards the cardinal. This man, Sextus V. so thoroughly versed in the wiles of court intrigues, was highly pleased with Bianca's management in this affair, and called it a masterpiece in politics.
Ferdinando arrived at Florence, in the beginning of October. On the 13th, the grand-duke was taken ill; at first, with an intermitting fever, which seemed to be of very little consequence; but there soon appeared the most alarming symptoms of a mortal disorder.
Two days afterwards Bianca likewise fell ill of the same disorder, and her symptoms soon proved mortal. She was never apprised of the catastrophe of her consort. The cardinal, from a motive of tenderness, had given the strictest orders that she might not be informed of his death. But the uncommon bustle in the palace, and the dejection and sadness which were visible in every countenance, were sufficient to make her guess at what was concealed from her, and to increase her illness. Ferdinando visited her after his brother's demise, and comforted her. She was sensible of her impending dissolution, told the cardinal of it, thanked him affectionately for his kindness, and recommended Don Antonio and her family to his protection.
In this state he left her with the archbishop of Florence, the great Bentivoglio, and her daughter. She expired in her forty-fifth year, nineteen hours after her consort. The new grand-duke had given positive orders, that the corpse of Bianca should be opened in the presence of her son-in-law, her daughter, Don Antonio, and several physicians, who attested that, a few excepted, all the interior parts of her body were found in a state of decay, and that, in all probability, she died of a dropsy. Immediately after this inquest the body was conveyed to the church of St. Lorenzo, attended as before mentioned; and, during the celebration of the mass, laid on the same funeral scaffold, which, two days previous, had been erected for her ducal consort. After the service was over, the corpse was carried into the vestry, till the new grand-duke had been consulted, if the body should be publicly exposed With the ducal crown. His answer was; "She has worn the crown long enough." When farther asked in what manner she should be interred, he replied; "Proceed with her funeral as you please, but I will not suffer her to lie in bur vault."
A few days after her decease, her escutcheon was, by his order, taken off from all the public edifices, and replaced by the arms of Donna Joanna of Austria. Don Antonio was, by a special deed, declared an illegitimate child.
Bianca had bequeathed, by her will, to her daughter, the countess Bentivoglio, thirty thousand scudi; and to Don Antonio, part of her jewels, and thirty thousand scudi. The remainder of her jewels were to go to her father, and five thousand scudi to her secretary. The grand-duke declared the will valid, and suffered its full execution.
Francesco's and Bianca's deaths succeeding each other other so suddenly, gave rise to various reports, which soon gained credit with the multitude. Some said, that Bianca had attempted to poison the cardinal with a tart, of which he declined to partake; but of which the grand-duke had eaten and that when she saw this, she likewise partook of the poisoned meat, that she might join her consort in the grave, and thus avoid the punishment due to her crime. Others relate the same story with this difference, that they charge the cardinal with the atrocious deed, and go so far in exaggerating his refinement in cruelty, as to assert that he not only opposed by force all those, who, at the cries of the helpless victims, came to their assistance, but that he went into the apartment where they lay expiring, for the purpose of adding insult to their sufferings.
Her avowed enemies the Florentine writers, confess that a great share of the severity with which the cardinal treated her memory must be attributed to the calumnies of those, who, during her life, were her most intimate friends, and, after her demise, proved her most inveterate accusers. His subsequent conduct clearly evinced, that he had been prejudiced against her through false accusations; for he afterwards annulled several of his former resolutions. He solemnly re-adopted Don Antonio into his family, declared him his nephew, made an establishment for him as a young prince of the house of Medici, and at last procured him the grand priorship of the order of Malta. Upon Bianca's father he settled a considerable annuity, and all her officers received handsome presents. He probably discovered, that she, in many things, had been falsely accused, and hence resolved, as much as possible, to obliterate his past severity by acts of munificence.
We meet in history with many instances of women, who, from the lowest situations of life, have risen to a high degree of rank, fortune, and opulence, and who, supported by the inclination of weak princes, have married them, and acquired all the rights of princesses. In this respect, they all bear a great resemblance. Yet among all these instances, that of Bianca is the most uncommon, if not the only one of the kind. For all those who exchanged the title of the mistress of the prince for that of his wife, were favoured either by the love of the people, by part of the family of the sovereign, or were free at least from public and glaring defects.
In the history of Bianca we see the reverse of all this. She was universally hated, had the whole family of Medici against her, stood, in the estimation of many, convicted, and, in that of a still greater number, suspected of the most heinous crimes: and the very prince whom she afterwards married, had, in the most unaccountable manner, been deceived by her. It is astonishing indeed, that a young lady who, till her twentieth year, had lived sequestered from the world, in the bosom of her own family, should, after her elopement from Venice, form the most intricate plans hi a foreign country 5 exhibit the greatest skill in court intrigue, and place herself on the throne of its sovereign. It appears incomprehensible how she could execute, such a scheme, by the mere assistance of the affections of such a prince, and in spite of the universal detestation of the people. In the most important events of her life, she had no other guide, no other aid, but her good sense; and, in this point of view, she claims all our admiration. Inexhaustible iii ways and measures, she generally succeeded in whatever she attempted.
Both in political and family negociations, her discerning look, with one glance, distinguished the strong and weak sides of the persons concerned, and never failed to make the best use of their dispositions for her own advantage. She would place her very enemies so as not only to frustrate their mischievous plans, but even to make them instrumental in the attainment of the purposes she had in view. Her eloquence was instructive, soft, and blandishing; she gained the good-will of every company in which she appeared: her very adversaries were compelled to admire her, at least, while she was present.
But on the side of her heart, she appears in a much less advantageous light. Her actions were seldom free from fraud, malice, and cruelty. These qualities she had gradually acquired through the embarrassments attending her first adventures.
As a private person, she appears to very little advantage, and we may consider her intercession with the grand-duke in behalf of her first husband, as the last struggle of expiring principle. As grand-duchess, her actions were influenced by her connection with the house of the Medici. They, however, often appear dubious, so that it is impossible to determine whether she was induced to them through political prudence, or a good disposition. The many chasms in the most important and interesting epoch of her history, render it very difficult, upon the whole, to exhibit a true picture of her character. Yet, from what is known of her, we are forced to lament that a woman endowed with qualities to shine forth among the best of her sex, should not have been placed in a situation, where she might have employed them for the happiness both of herself and others.
Her stature was somewhat above the middle size; perfect harmony prevailed in all her person. Her countenance bespoke meekness, tempered with a little cast of cunning, and happily blended with a gloss of cheerfulness, which animated every feature, and thus formed the most agreeable composition: her complection is said to have been extremely beautiful.