No one died more regretted.  All Rome was in deepest mourning, and great and small thronged to his burial.  He had played the part of Lord Bountiful ungrudgingly and with indiscriminating liberality.  Very fittingly it was remarked that he bore as his motto “Inter omnes.”  He had all the making of a great man, but fickleness, inconsistency, impatience, and self-indulgence, belittled his reputation.  Nevertheless, his character shone resplendently when contrasted with that of his rival Alessandro.

Ippolito de’ Medici left a son by his mistress, Asdrubale, who became a soldier and a knight of Malta.

Neither Pope nor Emperor made any very energetic protests to Alessandro, but were busy with anxious personal enterprises—­and self-interests usually exclude any other.  True, Charles wrote to the Duke and questioned him about the death of Ippolito, and required that all the facts of the case should be laid before him, but the matter ended there.  Alessandro made no reply!

In six months the sensation had blown over, and the Emperor visited Florence in gorgeous State on 24th April.  He was royally entertained by Alessandro, but he made no friends among the nobles, and departed without bestowing the usual honours.  The Medici Palace had been redecorated, and it witnessed a revival of the lavish hospitality of Lorenzo il Magnifico.

Margaret of Austria entered the city for her marriage with Alessandro on 19th July 1536.  She came from Naples accompanied by the Vice-Queen and Cardinals Santi Quattro and Cibo.  The nuptial Mass was sung at San Lorenzo, and then the whole city was given over to feasting and debauchery.  “The young Duchess was serenely happy, for the Duke paid her great court, and she knew not that he paid as much to other women of all grades!” Banquets, masked balls, street pageants, Giostre, and musical comedies crowded one upon another.

Among the wedding guests was Lorenzo di Pierfrancesco de’ Medici, who held the Lordship of Piombino, the lineal descendant and heir of Cosimo, “Il Padre della Patria’s” brother Lorenzo.  His father died when he was an infant, but his mother, Maria de’ Soderini—­a woman possessed of all the prudence and culture of her family—­devoted herself to his rearing and education.  Just twenty-three years old, he was small of stature and slightly built, dark complexioned, and of a melancholy aspect.  His health was indifferent, and he was liable to uncontrollable fits of passion:  he was restless and dissatisfied, and the associate of low and evil companions.

In Rome—­where he had lived in the Medici “happy family” of the Pope—­he acquired the reputation of a coward and a provoker of disturbances.  He was fond of defacing and mutilating ancient monuments, and became liable to pains and penalties from which Cardinal Ippolito rescued him.  By his depraved and foolish habits he greatly incensed Clement, who at length dismissed him in disgrace.