was even more conspicuous than his momentary semblance of success.  It was not in the temper of the times to accept a Concordat founded on however philosophical, however politic, considerations.  Contarini will be remembered as a ‘beautiful soul,’ born out of the due moment, and by no means adequate to cope with the fierce passions that raged round him.  Among Protestants he was a Catholic, and they regarded his half measures with contempt.  Among Catholics he passed for a suspected Lutheran, and his writings were only tolerated after they had been subjected to rigorous castration at the hands of Papal Inquisitors.[4]

On Christmas eve the ambassadors and representatives of the Italian powers met together in the chambers of Cardinal Gattinara, Grand Chancellor of the Empire, to subscribe the terms of a confederation and perpetual league for the maintenance of peace.  From this important document the Florentines were excluded, as open rebels to the will of Charles and Clement.  There was no justice in the rigor with which Florence was now treated.  Her republican independence had hitherto been recognized, although her own internal discords exposed her to a virtual despotism.  But Clement stipulated and Charles conceded, as a sine qua non in the project of pacification, that Florence should be converted into a Medicean duchy.  For the Duke of Ferrara, whom the Pope regarded as a contumacious vassal, and whose affairs were still the subject of debate, a place was specially reserved in the treaty.  He, as I have already observed, had been taken under the Imperial protection; and a satisfactory settlement of his claims was now a mere question of time.  On the evening of the same day, the Pope bestowed on Charles the Sword of the Spirit, which it was the wont of Rome to confer on the best-beloved of her secular sons at this festival.  The peace was publicly proclaimed, amid universal plaudits, on the last day of the year 1529.

[Footnote 4:  See Ranke, vol. i. p. 153, note.]

The chief affairs to be decided in the new year were the reduction of Florence to submission and the coronation of the Emperor.  The month of January was passed in jousts and pastimes; ceremonial privileges were conferred on the University of Bologna; magnificent embassies from the Republic of S. Mark, glowing in senatorial robes of crimson silk, were entertained; and a singular deputation from the African court of Prester John obtained audience of the Roman Pontiff.  Amid these festivities there arrived, on January 16, three delegates from Florence, who spent some weeks in fruitless efforts to obtain a hearing from the arbiters of Italy.  Clement refused to deal with them, because their commonwealth was still refractory.  Charles repelled them, because he wished to gratify the Pope, and knew that Florence remained staunch in her devotion to the French crown.  The old proverb, ‘Lilies with lilies,’ the white lily of Florence united with the golden fleur-de-lys of France,