a di Cosimo
il Duca_."

The cast-off Eleanora was married, as we have read, to Cavaliere Carlo
de' Panciatichi in September 1567, and on 28th May--eight months
after--Cammilla de' Martelli gave birth, at Pisa, to a dear little girl,
the latest child of Duke Cosimo! This was by no means to the mind of
Duke Francesco, and news of the birth quickly reached the ears of the
Pope. His Holiness at once despatched a courier to Duke Cosimo, urging
him to legitimatise the child by his immediate marriage with the mother.

This was not at all what the Duke wanted; he preferred, of course, to be
quite free to love any girl or woman that he might single out.
Nevertheless the pressure was so great that he was compelled to yield;
and, in January 1569, he took Cammilla to be his wedded wife, but not to
share his Ducal title! That was forbidden by the emphatic opposition of
the acting Duke and Duchess, and by the direct intervention of the
Emperor Maximilian.

Messer Antonio de' Martelli was in ecstasies, and his unconcealed
delight gained for him the nickname "_Il Balencio_," "like Whalebone"!
It is said that when his wife's kinsman, Alamanno de' Pazzi, ventured to
congratulate him at his house in the Via Maggio, he found the place
gaily decorated, and musicians playing before the door!

"What is this brave show for, Messer Antonio?" he asked.

"Why, Ser Alamanno, I have married my daughter to the Duke Cosimo.
Rejoice with me to-day. We have now no relations but Emperors and
Princes, what would you!"

Cosimo created his wife's father a Knight of the Order of San Stefano
and endowed him with a good annual income. At the same time he advanced
Madonna Maria di Baldassarre Suarez to the rank of a Gentlewoman of the
Court, and caused unhappy Gaspare Chinucci to be banished out of
Tuscany; some indeed say that he even instigated his assassination!
Messer Suarez was promoted to an honourable place at Court, and his name
was changed to Martelli. Two sons and a daughter blessed his union with
Madonna Maria. Violante, as the girl was christened, grew up, as
beautiful as her aunt Cammilla, with a pair of eyes like hers, and
nothing could restrain the passion of that young libertine, Don Piero
de' Medici, for love of her--he was indeed his father's son!

Nevertheless she was not to be his _innamorata_ alone, for Cardinal
Ferdinando also "came and saw and conquered," and young Violante became
his chief mistress in Florence--the rival in his