of her son-in-law, her daughter, Don Antonio, and several physicians, who attested that, a few excepted, all the interior parts of her body were found in a state of decay, and that, in all probability, she died of a dropsy. Immediately after this inquest the body was conveyed to the church of St. Lorenzo, attended as before mentioned; and, during the celebration of the mass, laid on the same funeral scaffold, which, two days previous, had been erected for her ducal consort. After the service was over, the corpse was carried into the vestry, till the new grand-duke had been consulted, if the body should be publicly exposed With the ducal crown. His answer was; "She has worn the crown long enough." When farther asked in what manner she should be interred, he replied; "Proceed with her funeral as you please, but I will not suffer her to lie in bur vault."
A few days after her decease, her escutcheon was, by his order, taken off from all the public edifices, and replaced by the arms of Donna Joanna of Austria. Don Antonio was, by a special deed, declared an illegitimate child.
Bianca had bequeathed, by her will, to her daughter, the countess Bentivoglio, thirty thousand scudi; and to Don Antonio, part of her jewels, and thirty thousand scudi. The remainder of her jewels were to go to her father, and five thousand scudi to her secretary. The grand-duke declared the will valid, and suffered its full execution.
Francesco's and Bianca's deaths succeeding each other other so suddenly, gave rise to various reports, which soon gained credit with the multitude. Some said, that Bianca had attempted to poison the cardinal with a
