VII. A. Et. 29. Difficulties and embarrassments of the car Medici. for effecting his restoration to his native place, CHAP. he was now no longer in danger of being counteracted by the ill-timed efforts and impetuo- A. D. 1504. sity of his brother. Although this was the constant object of his solicitude, and he was now considered as the chief of his family, he shewed no disposition to interfere in the concerns or to disturb the repose of the Floren- dinal de' tines, who under the dictatorship of Pietro. Soderini, continued to labour with the difficulties of their government and the obstinacy of their rebellious subjects, and to maintain at least the name of a republic. It was not however without frequent opposition and mortification that Soderini exercised his authority. Many of the citizens of the first rank, still attached to the cause of the Medici, continued to harrass him in all his designs and to oppose all his measures; but the industry, patience, and perseverance of the gonfaloniere, gradually blunted their resentment and weakened their efforts, whilst the various and unsuccessful attempts of Piero de' Medici to regain the city of Florence by force, had increased the aversion of his countrymen and placed an insuperable bar to his return. In these expeditions the resources of the family were exhausted, insomuch that the cardinal found no small difficulty VII. A. D. 1504. CHAP. difficulty in supporting the dignity of his rank, to which his ecclesiastical revenues were inadequate. He struggled with these humiliating circumstances to the utmost of his power; but the liberality of his disposition too often exceeded the extent of his finances, and a splendid entertainment was at times deranged by the want of some essential but unattainable article. Even the silver utensils of his table were occasionally pledged for the purpose of procuring that feast, of which they ought to have been the chief ornaments. That these circumstances occasioned him considerable anxiety cannot be doubted; for whilst on the one hand he was unwilling to detract from that character of liberality and munificence which was suitable to his rank, and to the high expectations which he still continued to entertain; on the other hand he dreaded the disgrace of being wanting in the strict discharge of his pecuniary engagements. He carefully however avoided giving, even in the lowest ebb of his fortunes, the slightest indications of despondency. His temper was cheerful, his conversation animated, and his appearance and manners betrayed not the least symptom of his domestic embarrassments, for the relief of which he seemed to depend upon a timely and VII. A. D. 1504. A. Et. 29. and providential supply.(a) Nor was he in CHAP, general disappointed in his hopes; for the same good fortune which prepared the way to his highest honours attended him in his greatest difficulties, and enabled him to extricate himself from them with admirable dexterity and irreproachable honour. To the remonstrances of his more prudent friends, who were fearful that his liberality would at length involve him in actual distress, he was accustomed to reply, as if with a presage of his fu-ture destiny, that great men were the work of providence, and that nothing could be wanting to them if they were not wanting to themselves.(b) In the early part of the year 1505, died (a) From a letter of Gregorio Cortese, addressed to the cardinal de' Medici, it appears, that even at this period he had begun to emulate the example of his ancestors, in the promotion of public institutions for religious purposes. Appendix, No. LV. (b) 66 Ꮴ . insignes viros cælesti sorte fieri magnos, præ“terea nihil eis unquam posse deficere, nisi ipsi animis " omnino deficerent." Jovius, in Vita Leon. x. lib. ii. p. 31. VII. A. t. 30. Ercole duke of Ferrara, CHAP. Ercole of Este, duke of Ferrara,(a) after hav ing governed his states with great credit both A. D. 1505. in war and in peace, during thirty-four Death of years, of which the latter part had been devoted to the embellishing and enlarging of his capital, the promotion of the happiness of his subjects, and to the protection and encouragesion of Al- ment of the sciences and arts.(b) His great qualities and heroic actions are celebrated by the pen of Ariosto; who asserts, however, that the advantages which his people derived from and acces fonso I. (a) He died on the twenty-sixth of January, the very day which he had fixed on for the representation of a comedy for the amusement of the people. v. Giraldi, Commentarii delle Cose di Ferrara, þ. 137. (b) v. ante, vol. i. chap. ii. p. 116. "Alexander VI. "in his bull of investiture, applauds the useful labours of "Hercules I. which had increased the numbers and hap"piness of his people, which had adorned the city of Fer"rara with strong fortifications and stately edifices, and "which had reclaimed a large extent of unprofitable waste. "The vague and spreading banks of the Po, were confined "in their proper channels by moles and dykes, the inter"mediate lands were converted to pasture and tillage; the "fertile district became the granary of Venice, and the 66 corn-exports of a single year were exchanged for the value "of two hundred thousand ducats." v. Gibbon's Antiq. of Brunswick, in op. Posth. vol. ii. p. 691. VII. A. Et. 30. from them, were inferior to the blessings CHAP. which he conferred on them, in leaving two such sons as Alfonso and Ippolito.(a) In the A. D. 1505. preceding year his eldest son Alfonso had visited the courts of France and Spain, but at the time when he received intelligence of the dangerous malady of his father he was in England, whence he hastened to Ferrara, and his father dying before his arrival he peaceably assumed VOL. II. E (a)" E quanto più aver obligo si possa "Di piazze, di teatri, e di mille agi; "Il giusto Alfonso, e Ippolito benigno," &c. Orl. Fur, cant. iii. st. 48. c. |