Page:A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country (1804).djvu/218

204. To the cardinal Ferdinando, the exaltation of Bianca, as an unexpected event, proved extremely irksome. He had not shewn any displeasure at his brother's marriage with her, whilst he entertained the opinion, that she was to be no more than his wife. But as the affair had taken a turn, quite contrary to his expectations, his resentment was roused, and not without cause. He dreaded some disagreeable catastrophe on the side of the foreign powers, the destruction of peace and harmony in the ducal family, and an infringement upon his own rights. She might yet bear his brother a son, to whom, in case Don Filippo were to die, he must leave the succession. This idea tormented him the more, as he saw himself quite destitute of the means of preventing a second imposition.

Of this enmity the Italian princes availed themselves to injure the grand-duke; the most virulent satires appeared against his wife, and mortifications poured in from every quarter. The only means of restoring his former consequence, was a speedy reconciliation with the cardinal. This Bianca took upon herself, and in it she so completely succeeded, that in token of perfect reconciliation, he repaired to Florence in the ensuing year, 1580, and staid with his brother at his villa until winter.

This reconciliation soon produced all the effects which were expected from it. The enemies of the grand-duke, who upon this had built their hopes of humbling him, were astonished to see the cardinal return from Florence, the friend both of Francesco and of Bianca. She gloried in the happy consequences of a reconciliation, which she considered as her own work, and was highly gratified with the appellation of a restorer of peace in his