Page:A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country (1804).djvu/212

198 when Francesco made her the solemn promise of marriage, could not be carried into execution during the life of Cosmo; but his death, in 1574, and the accession of her lover to the sovereignty of the dukedom, gave her full scope for developing and perfecting her schemes with less restraint. Bianca knew the anxiety of Francesco, who as yet had only daughters, for a male heir. When he promised her his hand, as soon as they should be at liberty, he had added the express condition, that she must first have a son. The assassination of Bianca's husband had removed the grand obstacle on her side, whilst the declining health of the grand duchess, which was still more impaired through her unhappy temper, seemed to forbode her approaching dissolution; yet this grand obstacle still remained; but her former situation had inspired her wish resolution; and she knew, by the tenor of her own life, to what length artifice, attended with perseverance, would go. Whenever she met with an obstacle in her way, the most shocking acts of cruelty, and the meanest fraud, could not deter her, if they served her purpose. Of this she gave the most convincing proofs on the present occasion. In 1576, a supposititious child was imposed on the grand duke, who readily believed what he wished; yet Bianca did not expect that her stratagem should remain concealed, whilst there existed any one who knew of it. She therefore contrived to rid herself of the witnesses; they were all either murdered, drowned in the Arno, or some way or other dispatched. Joanna Santi, her maid and principal agent, a year after the transaction, was dismissed by Bianca and sent to Bologna; but on her passage over the Appennines, was assaulted by a set of disguised banditti, who wounded her with several musquet-shots. She however arrived alive