ith her husband. Carlo refused her both bed and board,
and, in the spring of 1578, he forced her into the Franciscan convent of
San Onofrio da Foligno--a favourite place of sanctuary for dishonoured
gentlewomen!

Poor, sinful, sinned-against Eleanora, the pathetic example of a young
and beautiful life wasted and corrupted by the ill-conditioned lusts of
a profligate lover and his libertine son! With her freedom of action
absolutely curtailed, and her complete isolation from her family, the
gay and attractive mistress of Castello and of the Medici Palace at
Pisa, with countless admirers and many lovers, was indeed an object of
sympathetic commiseration. To be sure, the Cavaliere made ample
provision for his wife's maintenance, appointed a small suite of
attendants, and permitted her to carry with her many cherished bits of
furniture and _bric-a-brac_. He likewise committed to her charge both
her children, and offered no objection to occasional visits to his
mother of Don Giovanni de' Medici, now a growing boy of eleven.

The Grand Duke Francesco cordially approved this arrangement. With
respect to certain jewels and personal effects which Eleanora retained,
the Grand Duke made an order that, as they belonged to _Guardaroba_ of
the Sovereign, they should be deposited, during the period of her
residence in the convent, in the State Treasury.

Then a thick veil was drawn over the life of Eleanora di Cavaliere Carlo
de' Panciatichi, and the gates of the convent were closed upon her,
never to be opened for her egress! Her beauty and her talents, and the
gaiety of her manner were matured, cultivated and restrained in harmony
with her melancholy surroundings. Youth gave way to middle age, and
middle age to the crepuscule of life, and the seasons came, and the
seasons went, and one life in that sanctuary seemed fated to go on for
ever. Forgotten and unvisited, Eleanora, the _druda_ of Cosimo I., cast
off and spurned; the _innamorata_ of Piero de' Medici, wronged and
despised; the wife of Carlo de' Panciatichi, divorced and cloistered,
lived on and on, far beyond the scriptural limit of threescore years
and ten--the pathetic victim of a callous world.

In the _Libri di Ricordanze_ of the convent is a notice for the year
1634, which startles the sympathetic reader of the tragedy of Eleanora
degli Albizzi: "Upon 19th March of this year there passed to a better
life the most illustrious Lady, Donna Eleanora degli Albizzi de'
Pan