ncesco when he
placed the new Grand Duchess beside him on his throne. Twelve years of
gloom and disappointment gave way before the advent of the "Sun of
Venice."

The best, happiest, and most popular years of his reign exactly
synchronise with the period of Bianca's ascendency. No strife of
parties, no pestilence, no foreign war, black-marked those years. Arts
and crafts revived with the increase of population and of confidence,
and men began to agree that there was something after all to be
said--and to be said heartily--for Macchiavelli's "Prince," and his idea
of a "_Il Governo d'un solo_."

In this glorious eventide of the Renaissance were reproduced some of the
magnificence of its heyday, under Lucrezia and Lorenzo de' Medici.

In the early days of Francesco's infatuation for Bianca he had given
forth an impassioned madrigal, which once more he sang to her as his
good angel-guardian:--

"Around my frail and battered barque
There is always serenely swimming,
And wakefully watching me,
Lest I perish, a beautiful and powerful Dolphin.
Warn'd and shielded from every buffet
Of the deadly wave, I feel secure.
Fierce winds no longer cause me fear.
I seek succour no more from oars and sails
Safely accompanied by my loving Guardian!"

Francesco's devotion for Bianca continued as the years sped on their
way, and he noted with supreme satisfaction that every word and action
of hers were marked with unquestioning affection. The loves of Francesco
and Bianca at Pratolino recalled those of Giuliano and Simonetta at
Fiesole, whilst the wits, and beaux, and beauteous women who consorted
there, revived the glories of the Platonic Academy.

Montaigne, who visited the Grand Duke and Grand Duchess, both at the
Pitti Palace and at Pratolino, in 1580, says: "I was surprised to see
her take the place of honour above her husband.... She is very handsome
... and seems to have entirely subjugated the Prince."

The Cardinal was not unobservant of the trend of Florentine affairs.
Plots and counterplots were quite to his liking. The Pucci conspiracy
and the vengeance upon the Capponi affected him closely. Francesco was
not ignorant of the patronage and encouragement vouchsafed to his secret
enemies by his eminent brother in Rome--and he watched each move.

The peace and prosperity which marked the progress of the "City of the
Lion and the Lily," after Bianca Buonaventuri mounted the Grand Ducal
throne, were not regarded complacent