Page:A Biographical Dictionary of the Celebrated Women of Every Age and Country (1804).djvu/222

208 but as soon as they perceived the coolness which had taken place, they threw off the mask, strove to create distrust in the grand-duke against the cardinal, and represented him as a man, whose sole aim it was to increase his own private power and consequence, and who, in political concerns, ought not to be relied on. Francesco, who at all times suspected his brother, eagerly listened to their insinuations, and gradually withdrew his love and confidence from him.

Not long before his departure from Florence, the report had been spread of the pregnancy of the grand-duchess. Never before had the cardinal's suspicions of the success of Bianca's intrigues been so strong as they were at this time; because, not only the grand-duke, but also many persons at court and in the capital, spoke of the matter with a degree of confidence. His concerns at Rome would not permit him to make a longer stay at Florence, for which reason he charged Don Pietro secretly to watch the motions of the grand duchess.

This prince was just on the point of returning to Spain, but yielded to his brother's request, and postponed his journey; willing to discharge his commission with integrity and zeal, but deficient in the chief qualities requisite for a similar undertaking, he had neither the art to conceal his views, nor the temper of a cool observer. This latter defect led him astray upon every occasion; he saw nothing but fraud and deception wherever he cast his eyes, and thus lost sight of the chief object. The cardinal only suspected a stratagem, and had commissioned his brother to prevent its being carried into execution. Don Pietro took this supposition for matter of fact; hence he looked with a suspicious eye upon whatever Bianca did, and established his doubts