In the suite of Duchess Eleanora de Toledo were several young relatives,
bound to her by ties of affection and looking to her for patronage and
advancement. The ranks of these dependants were constantly being
recruited by young people of noble birth, for whom the exceptional
educational advantages obtainable in Florence were strong attractions.

One of these was the Duchess's niece and godchild--Donna Eleanora, the
daughter of her brother, Don Garzia de Toledo. Born in 1553 in Naples,
where her father kept his Court as Viceroy for the King of Spain, the
child lost her mother when she was only seven years old. The Duchess
Eleanora adopted her and sent to Naples for her, and little Eleanora de
Garzia was brought up with the children of Cosimo and Eleanora, and she
was regarded by them as their sister.

Upon the Duchess' melancholy death in 1562, her daughter Isabella,
Duchess of Bracciano, acted the part of mother, young as she was, and
only just two years married. She had no child of her own, and,
apparently, no promise of one, anyhow by her husband; and the lively,
pretty little Spanish girl, nestling upon her knee, much consoled her in
her disappointment.

At fourteen, Eleanora de Garzia was, as Antonio Lapini has described
her: "Beautiful, elegant, gracious, kindly, charming, affable, and,
above all, possessed of two eyes rivalling the stars in brilliancy." She
was also a clever girl, and her studies had been carried on in
companionship with the younger children of her aunt--Garzia, Ferdinando,
and Piero. The strictness of their control was loosened when the Duke
became a widower, and he does not seem to have done anything to guard
the morals of his young children.

The Court of Florence was not the place in which to rear, in ways of
obedience and steadiness, young boys and girls, and Eleanora and her
"brothers" were left pretty much to themselves, save for the indulgent
guardianship of their tutors and attendants. To be sure, Don Ferdinando
was sent off to Rome when he was fourteen, and was enrolled in the
Sacred College. Don Garzia's tragic death in 1562 left Don Piero the
sole playmate of little Eleanora--a strange act of Providence.

Duke Cosimo was not quite inconsolable for the loss of his Spanish wife;
he had, during her lifetime, set an evil example in Florence for
libertinage and unchastity. Every good-looking girl, in city or at
Court, in one way or another, received his amorous attentions; and the
halo