were consequently the secret, base, and perfidious enemies of
Catherine de' Medici, one of the glories of their house.

Such were the leading contradictory and illogical traits, the
treachery, knavery, and black intrigues of a single house, that of the
Medici. From this sketch, we may judge of the other princes of Italy
and Europe. All the envoys of Cosmos I. to the court of France had, in
their secret instructions, an order to poison Strozzi, Catherine's
relation, when he arrived. Charles V. had already assassinated three
of the ambassadors of Francois I.

It was early in the month of October, 1533, that the /Duca della citta
di Penna/ started from Florence for Livorno, accompanied by the sole
heiress of Lorenzo II., namely, Catherine de' Medici. The duke and the
Princess of Florence, for that was the title by which the young girl,
then fourteen years of age, was known, left the city surrounded by a
large retinue of servants, officers, and secretaries, preceded by
armed men, and followed by an escort of cavalry. The young princess
knew nothing as yet of what her fate was to be, except that the Pope
was to have an interview at Livorno with the Duke Alessandro; but her
uncle, Filippo Strozzi, very soon informed her of the future before
her.

Filippo Strozzi had married Clarice de' Medici, half-sister on the
father's side of Lorenzo de' Medici, Duke of Urbino, father of
Catherine; but this marriage, which was brought about as much to
convert one of the firmest supporters of the popular party to the
cause of the Medici as to facilitate the recall of that family, then
banished from Florence, never shook the stern champion from his
course, though he was persecuted by his own party for making it. In