speed and accuracy, what time will be employed in your journey, and when you purpose to arrive at Rome, that every thing may be prepared for your reception. I shall say no more on this head, expecting to hear fully from you on the subject.

"As I know that M. Pietro Ardinghelli has continually ap prised you of the most important occurrences, I have not for the last ten days troubled you with my letters. I had before written two long letters to you by way of Piacenza, which I flatter my. self came safe to your hands. I there mentioned that Tomaso,* on going from home, had left your Bacciot to expedite many affairs of importance. With Ghingerli, and with him who wished to be related to Leonardo,§ an intimate friendship and good understanding has been concluded; they being fully inclined to do the same as the rest whom Leonardo knows, if that which Tomaso wishes for Leonardo be granted, which it is hoped will be done. By his letters of the third day of this month, Ghingerli has informed Tomaso that he is willing, besides the other recompense which I mentioned to you, to relinquish the place at which my Leonardo was formerly so much indisposed, to the person you know. It remains, therefore, that he who is to receive this recompense, ** and his defenders in the vicinity,†† should satisfy themselves on this head; it being expected that they will approve of it.‡‡ The person whom count Hercole resembles§§ has sent a message to his master to this effect, and has requested Ghingerli that he will wholly give up the other two places which are to belong to

* Leo X.

The King of Spain.

The Cardinal da Bibbiena, writer of the letter.

§ By the person who wished to be related to Leonardo, is probably meant the emperor elect, Maximilian, and by Leonardo, certainly the Magnificent Giuliano, to whom the letter is addressed.

From this it is to be understood, that the king of Spain and the emperor were willing that the pope should retain the possessions which he held in Lombardy.

Undoubtedly the duchy of Urbino, where Giuliano had passed a great portion of his time during his exile.

** Meaning Giuliano himself.

++The Roman see.

+ This seems intended to discover the sentiments of Giuliano respecting the attempt upon Urbino, of which, from principles of justice and gratitude, he always disapproved.

SS The Spanish ambassador, who probably bore some resemblance in his person to the count Ercole Rangone, a nobleman of the court of Leo X.

Tomaso, or, to speak more accurately, to Leonardo,* and it is thought there will not be the slightest difficulty. Tomaso is well disposed to this arrangement, and told me this morning repeatedly, that Leonardo should also have all the other places of which he had formerly spoken,† making, however, as you know, a due recompense to those by whose means these favours are received.

"Bartolommeo, who has the cypher, is not at home. I must therefore express myself without it; particularly as this will be sent by our own messengers.

"Our most reverend cardinal, and the Magnificent Lorenzo, recommend themselves to you as fully as can be expressed. I hope you will not omit to write to them, and especially to his holiness, whom I ought to have mentioned first. In this I trust you will not fail, as the reverence due to his holiness, and the love which they bear you, require it. The cardinal has received the placet of his most Christian majesty for the cathedral of Narbonne, and wholly through the means of the duchess of Angoulême,‡ on which account your excellency may return thanks in the name of his holiness to the duke and his consort. The business was concluded in the consistory the day before yesterday, and the bull despatched to France, as I believe Ardinghelli informed you, as well as with the alliance which the Swiss have made with the emperor, the Catholic king, and the duke of Milan. The substance of this treaty Ardinghelli must have transmitted to you, as I gave him a copy of the heads of it. To this his holiness is not, for many reasons, disposed to assent; it appearing to him to be proper, that when a league is agreed upon, in which he is to be included, it should be negotiated and stipulated with him, as the head of the league, and of all Christendom.

"Tomaso says, that he expects they should accept and agree to what he proposes, and not that he should have to accept what is done by others.§

*The cities of Parma and Piacenza.

states.

Alluding, in all probability, to the duchy of Ferrara, and its dependent

The mother of Francis I., and sister to the wife of Giuliano de' Medici. § These passages afford a presumptive proof that the pope had not at this time determined to enter into the league against Francis I.

"We hear, by way of France, that the king of England intends to give his sister to the duke of Suffolk, to which she is not averse. This is not much believed, and yet the intelligence is pretty authentic.

66

It is thought his most Christian majesty will not this year make his attempt against Lombardy.

"The king of England is resolved that his sister shall on no account remain in France.

"The emperor and the Catholic king are using all their efforts to have her married to the archduke. This is what we hear from our nuncios in Germany and in Spain.*

I recollect nothing further that can be new to you. I leave the festivities of this carnival to be narrated by others. I shall only mention, that on Monday the Magnificent Lorenzo will have the 'Pœnulust' represented in your theatre, and will give a supper in your salon to the Marchesana. And on Sunday, in Testaccio, he and the most reverend cardinal Cibò will exhibit a magnificent gala, with twenty persons, dressed in brocade and velvet, at the expense of his holiness. It will be a fire sight.

"You have never yet informed us whether you have excused yourself to the duke of Milan; whether you have sent to the Swiss and the cardinal of Sion, as was spoken of and advised: or whether you have had any communication with his most Christian majesty. Respecting all these matters it is requisite that his holiness should be fully informed.

"Remember, that next to his holiness, every one regards you as the person in whom all the thoughts, the expectations, and the designs of the pope are concentred. I must also remind you, that all your actions are not less noted and considered than those of his holiness; and I therefore entreat you, by the great affection which I bear you, that you will daily, if possible. manifest such a course of conduct as may be worthy of your character.

"THE CARDINAL DA BIBBIENA."

"From Rome, the 16th Feb. 1515."

It is not improbable that the attachment of the widow of Louis XII. to the duke of Suffolk, and the sudden celebration of their marriage, tern inated negotiation which might have had such important consequences to these kingdoms and to Europe. + Of Plautus.

Could the French monarch have remained satisfied with the neutrality of the pontiff, the motives which had led to its adoption were sufficient to have induced Leo to persevere in it; but as the contest approached, Francis became more desirous of engaging the pope to take a decided part in his favour. Such, however, was the aversion which Leo entertained to the establishment of the French in Italy, that even the solicitations of his brother to favour their cause were of no avail. As far as expressions of respect and paternal admonitions could appease the king, Leo spared nothing that might be likely to conciliate his favour; but the more Francis pressed him to a decision, the more apparent became his inclination to the cause of the allies. In order, however, to ascertain his intentions, Francis despatched, as his ambassador to Rome, the celebrated Budæus, who is deservedly considered by Guicciardini, as "perhaps one of the most learned men of the age, both in Greek and Roman literature."* He was shortly afterwards succeeded by Anton-Maria Pallavicini, a Milanese nobleman, who was supposed to possess great influence with the pope ;† but the endeavours of the king to obtain a positive sanction to his enterprise were still ineffectual. Sometimes Leo appeared to have serious intentions of entering into a treaty, and required, as a preliminary, that the states of Parma and Piacenza should be guaranteed to the church, the refusal of which he conceived would afford him a sufficient apology for joining the cause of the allies. At other times he is said to have made propositions, couched in such ambiguous terms, as, when assented to, always required further explanations, and which left the negotiations in the same state of suspense as when the treaty begun. The French and Italian writers are agreed in considering the conduct of the pontiff on this occasion as the result of artifice and disingenuousness; but they appear not sufficiently to have attended to the difficulties of his situa tion, or at least not to have made sufficient allowance for them, As head of the church, and both by his disposition and office, the acknowledged arbiter and mediator of Europe, he ought not perhaps to have been solicited to take a decided part in the threatened hostilities; and as a prince whose temporal

*Guicciard. lib. xii. † Ligue de Camb liv. iv. ‡ Murat. Ann. vol. x. p. 107

authority was supported rather by public opinion, and the favour of surrounding states, than by his own forces, it was evident that he could not, without endangering his own safety, accede to the propositions of the king. If therefore the reiterated efforts of the French monarch to engage the pope in his interests, were not followed by the consequences which he wished, they were followed by such as he might reasonably have expected, and instead of inducing the pope to unite the power of the Roman and Florentine states with the arms of France, compelled him, in conformity with his former maxims, to embrace the cause of the allies. In the month of June he issued a monitory, subjecting, in general terms, all those who should again disturb the states of the church, and in particular Parma and Piacenza, to the penalties of excommunication and in July, he openly acceded to the general league expressly formed for the defence of Milan. Nor, if a decision could no longer be delayed, can it be denied, that in making this election, he chose the part that did the most credit to his character, or that an opposite conduct would have rendered him deservedly liable to the suspicion of having sacrificed his principles and his country to the favour of the French monarch, and the aggrandisement of his own family.

The first decisive indications of approaching hostilities appeared in Genoa, where Ottaviano Fregoso, who held the chief authority in that city, which he had obtained by the favour and preserved by the assistance of the pope,† unexpectedly relinquished his title of doge, and assumed that of governor for the king of France. That so bold a measure could not be adopted without the participation and encouragement of the king, was apparent; but the event proved that the eagerness of Fregoso to avail himself of the honours and emoluments that were to be the rewards of his defection, had prematurely led him to this treacherous attempt. The Adorni and the Fieschi, the ancient enemies of the Fregosi, were vigilant in grasping at any opportunity that might effect his ruin. Uniting their arms with those of Prospero Colonna, who commanded the forces of the duke of Milan, and being joined by six thousand Swiss, who had already arrived in Italy, they proceeded to

Lünig, vol. i. p. ¿02.

Ap. Fabr. in Vita Leon. X. p. 86.