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Cosimo de’ Medici was not the sort of man to brood very long over troubles, however prostrating and desperate.  He was essentially a man of action, prompt, eager and able:  probably no one ever had a more thorough confidence in his own ability.  There were several questions of supreme importance, both public and private, which claimed his attention.

The everlasting disagreement between the aristocracy and the democracy was only partially healed by the alliance of the two against an autocracy.  Cosimo was bent upon being absolute ruler of Tuscany, and the development of his will raised against him and his Government constant opposition.  He meant to keep his hand tight hold of the bridle of his charger “Tyranny,” and to spur him on where he willed.

The Mediceo-Este dispute still called for firmness and determination.  Tuscany and Florence had certainly a better case than the Romagna and Ferrara, but intrigue and bribes could achieve what the sword and pen could not.  Cosimo meant to keep on his steel gauntlets, although he covered them with the fragrant silk gloves of plausibility.  With this idea ever present, he was bent upon retaining the advantage he had gained over Duke Ercole in the matter of poor young Donna Maria’s betrothal, for he had other daughters to consider.  Donna Isabella was provided for, for better or for worse—­alas, that the latter was to be her sad fate—­beautiful, fascinating Isabella de’ Medici, but Donna Lucrezia, nearly fifteen years of age, was the forfeit her father paid in his gambit of Medicean aggrandisement.

In the July that followed Donna Maria’s tragic death, with all the circumstances and pomp of state ceremonial, Lucrezia de’ Medici was married to Alfonso II., Duke of Ferrara, the same prince who had been affianced to her sister Maria.

It was not without misgivings that this step was taken:  Duchess Eleanora, in particular, expressed dissatisfaction with the match, and feared, perhaps superstitiously, the portent of a second unlucky alliance.  Anyhow the preparations for the nuptial day, and the pageants which accompanied it, drew off the thoughts of all from the terrible event of Christmas.

Cosimo, however, had other and, from his own personal point of view, more attractive objects upon which to expend thought and action.  As soon as the marriage festivities were over, he set out with a small suite of expert surveyors and agriculturists to the Maremma.  It was a peculiarly unhealthy region, and had gone out of cultivation, and its former inhabitants had deserted it.

The Duke determined to drain the land by cutting a canal right through from the Arno to the sea.  Next, he set to work to afforest the newly recovered ground, to carve it out in allotments suitable for agricultural pursuits, and to encourage the settlement of vigorous working peasant-tenants.  A certain portion of the estates he set apart to his own use for the preservation of wild game.  He rebuilt and enlarged the ruined castle of Rosignano, ten miles from Livorno, for the occupation of himself and his family and for his hunting associates.