7D3 last, by means of the French intervention, peace was marie in 1644. But, although the pope was forced to yield, he resigned none of his ecclesiastical pretensions in Tuscany. It was during Ferdinand s reign that the septuagenarian Galileo was obliged to appear before the Inquisition in Rome, which treated him with infamous cruelty. On the death of this great and unfortunate man, the grand-duke wished to erect a monument to him, but was withheld by foar of the opposition of the clergy. The dynasty as well rn the country now seemed on the brink of decay. Two of the grand duke s brothers had already died childless, and Ippolito, the sole survivor, was a cardinal. Accordingly the only remaining heir was Cosimo IIL, married to a wife who held him in detestation, and did her best to have her marriage annulled or at least obtain a separation. Like nearly all his predecessors, Ferdinand II. gave liberal patronage to science and letters, greatly aided therein by his brother Leopold, who had been trained by Galileo Galilei, and who joined with men of learning in founding the celebrated academy Del Cimento, of which he was named president. This academy took for its motto the words Provando e riprovando, and followed the experi mental method of Galileo. Formed in 1657, it was dissolved in 1667 in consequence of the jealousies and dissensions of its members, but during its brief existence won renown by the number and importance of its works. Cosimo Cosimo III. succeeded his father in 1670. He was I!I - weak, vain, bigoted, and hypocritical. In 1661 he had espoused Louise d Orldans, niece of Louis XIV., who, being enamoured of Duke Charles of Lorraine, was very j reluctant to come to Italy, and speedily detested both her ; husband and his country, of which she refused to learn the language. She had two sons and one daughter, but after the birth of her third child, Giovan Gastone, her hatred for her husband increased almost to madness. She first j withdrew to Poggio a Caiano, and then, being unable to get | her marriage annulled, returned to France, where, although ! supposed to live in conventuil seclusion, she passed the greater part of her time as a welcome visitor at court. Even her testamentary dispositions attested the violence of her dislike to her husband. Cosimo s hypocritical zeal for religion compelled his subjects to multiply services and processions, that greatly infringed upon their working hours. He wasted enormous sums in pensioning converts even those from other countries and in giving rich endowments to sanctuaries. Meanwhile funds often failed for the payment of Govern ment clerks and soldiers. His court was composed of bigots and parasites ; he ransacked the world for dainties for his table, adorned his palace with costly foreign hangings, had foreign servants, and filled his gardens with exotic plants. He purchased from the emperor the title of " Highness " in order to be the equal of the duke of Savoy. He remained neutral during the Franco-Spanish war, and submitted to every humiliation and requisition exacted by the emperor. He had vague notions of promoting agricul ture, but accomplished no results. At one time he caused eight hundred families to be brought over from the Morea for the cultivation of the Maremme, where all of them died of fever. But when, after the revocation of the edict of Nantes, French Huguenots offered to apply their labour and capital to the same purpose, the grand-duke s religious scruples refused them refuge. So ruin fell upon Tuscany. Crime and misery increased, and the poor, who only asked for work, were given alms and sent oftener to church. This period witnessed the rise of many charitable institutions of a religious character under the patronage of the grand duke, as for instance the congregation of San Giovanni Battista. But these could not remedy the general decay. Cosimo s dominant anxiety regarded the succession to the throne. His eldest son Ferdinand died childless in 1713. The pleasure-loving Giovan Gastone was married to Anna Maria of Saxe-Lauenburg, widow of a German prince, a wealthy coarse woman wholly immersed in domestic occupations, and who seemed little likely to give birth to any children. After living with her for some time in a Bohemian village, Giovan Gastone yielded to his dislike to his wife and her country, withdrew to France, and ruined his health by his excesses. After a brief return to Bohemia he finally separated from his wife, by whom he had no family. Thus the dynasty was doomed to extinction. Cosimo had a passing idea of reconstituting the Florentine republic, but, this design being discountenanced by the Euro- - pean powers, he determined to transfer the succession, after the death of Giovan Gastone, to his sister Anna Maria Louisa, who in fact survived him. For this purpose he proposed to annul the patent of Charles V., but the powers objected to this arrangement also, and by the treaty of 1718 the quad ruple alliance of Germany, France, England, and Holland decided that Parma and Tuscany should descend to the Spanish Infante Don Carlos. The grand-duke made energetic but fruitless protests. Cosimo III. had passed his eightieth year at the time Gioyau of his decease in October 1723, and was succeeded by his Gastont. son Giovan Gastone, then aged fifty-three. The new sovereign was in bad health, worn out by dissipation, and had neither ambition nor aptitude for rule. His throne was already at the disposal of foreign powers, and his only thought on ascending it was to regain strength enough to pass the remainder of his days in enjoyment. He dismissed the spies, parasites, and bigots that had formed his father s court, abolished the pensions given to converts, suppressed several taxes, and prohibited the organized espionage estab lished in the family circle. He wished to live and let live, and liked the people to be amused. Everything in fact bore a freer and gayer aspect under his reign, and the Tuscans seemed to feel renewed attachment for the dynasty as the moment of its extinction drew near. But the grand- duke was too feeble and incapable to accomplish any real improvement. Surrounded by gay and dissipated young men, he entrusted all the cares of government to a certain Giuliano Dami, who drove a profitable trade by the sale of offices and privileges. In this way all things were in the hands of corrupt individuals ; while the grand-duke, com pelled to pass the greater part of his time in bed, vainly sought diversion in the company of buffoons, and was | only tormented by perceiving that all the world disposed of his throne without even asking his advice. And when, ! after prolonged opposition, he had resigned himself to accept Don Carlos as his successor, the latter led a Spanish army to the conquest of Naples, an event afterwards lead ing to the peace of 1735, by which the Tuscan succession 1 wis transferred to Francesco II., duke of Lorraine, and husband of Maria Theresa. Giovan Gastone was finally obliged to submit even to this. Spain withdrew her garrisons from Tuscany, and Austrian soldiers took their place and swore fealty to the grand-duke on the 5th of February 1737. He expired on the 9th July of the same i year. Such was the end of the younger branch of the ! Medici, which had found Tuscany a prosperous country, 1 where art, letters, commerce, industry, and agriculture 1 nourished, and left her poor and decayed in all ways, j drained by taxation, and oppressed by laws contrary to every principle of sound economy, downtrodden by the 1 clergy, and burdened by a weak and vicious aristocracy. Capponi, Storia dclla Eepnbblica di Firenze, Florence, 1875; i Rostoe, Life of Lorenzo dei Medici, and Life of Leo X. ; Alfred von ! Rftaumont, Lorenzo dei Medici, il Magnifico, Leipsic, 1874 ; Galluzzi, Storia del Grandumto di Toscann sotto il govrrno di Casa Medici, 5 vols., Florence, 1787; A. von Reanmont, Geschichte Toscanas stit d. Ende d. florent. Frcistaales, 2 vols., Gotlia, 1876. (P. V.)
XV. TOO