project, seriously entertained, seeing that the elder line of the Medici
had failed to produce a male heir, of acknowledging Caterina as "_Domina
di Firenze_," with a strong council of Regency to carry on the
government in her name.

This proposal did not gain any favour outside the Papal cabinet: in
Florence it was scouted with derision. Two violent politicians, if not
more, lost their heads over the young girl's destiny--Battista Cei, for
proposing that she should be placed in the lions' den, and Bernardo
Castiglione, for demanding that she should be put upon the streets of
Florence, wearing the yellow badge of woman's shame!

In Rome Caterina conceived at once an invincible repugnance for
Alessandro--her father's son. His appearance, his manner, his language
appalled her; probably she was not long before she knew the story of his
birth. On no account would she speak to him, and, if he entered an
apartment where she happened to be, she rushed out, crying,
"_Negrello--Bastardo!_"

With Ippolito, on the contrary, she was the best of friends. She admired
the good-looking boy, his talents for music, and his skill in
gentlemanly exercises. The Venetian ambassador at the Vatican remarked,
in a letter to his Government: "We have here a little Medici princess,
Caterina, the only child of the late Lorenzo, Duke of Urbino. She and
Don Ippolito, the bastard son of Duke Giuliano, are inseparable
companions. The boy is very fond of his young cousin, whilst she is
devoted to him. She has confidence in nobody else, and she asks him only
for everything she wants." Ultimately, of course, Caterina de' Medici
became Queen of France, as the consort of Henry II.