FERDINAND II. -(1611-1670.)

Tuscany was thus governed by a regency, and though the time was past when a revolution was to be apprehended, the economic effects of this ten years' minority were very unfavorable. Christine of Lorraine, the grandmother of the young prince, was still alive, and she acted as co-regent with his mother. Badly advised, and too proud to sacrifice their own ideas, the effect of their ten years' rule was to impoverish the State for a very long time. They took upon themselves to carry on the grain trade of Siena, and by their unskilful administration ruined the whole province., They were liberal to prodigality, and the result was that the country became so impoverished that pawnshops were opened in Florence for the first time. In the meanwhile the young prince was on his travels. After a stay in Rome he went to Prague, and thence all through Germany. In 1628, having attained his majority, he returned to Florence, and commenced his rule.

He married Vittoria Bella Rovere, and the early years of his reign were very peaceful, though they were darkened by a visitation of the plague, which had not appeared in Tuscany for several centuries. The young sovereign displayed great courage in helping to stamp out this terrible scourge ; but he was not animated by any martial spirit, and on the death of the Duke of Urbino, in 1631, he incurred the displeasure of his subjects by his half-hearted opposition to the claims which the Court of Rome advanced.

He was, however, compelled to give his aid when his brother-in-law, Farnese, marched his forces through Tuscany in order to recover Castro and Ronciglione, which had been unlawfully seized by the Pope. After so many years of improvident administration, Tuscany was not very well prepared for a heavy military expenditure. and Ferdinand II. lost what little popularity he had gained during the epidemic by the increase of taxation which was rendered necessary. He enjoyed a high moral credit abroad, and the House of Medici had acquired a prominent place in what we should now call " the European Concert," by the mere fact of having given two queens to France, in the persons of Catherine, wife of Henry II., and Marie, wife of Henry IV.

Very moderate in his views, and animated by a religious spirit which never degenerated into fanaticism, Ferdinand acted as intermediary between Alexander VII. and Louis XIII., and was instrumental in the signature of the Treaty of Pisa, which probably prevented the recurrence of the cruel invasions of preceding centuries. His reign may be regarded as the close of a period not inglorious in art, for Pietro Tacca was still alive, painting was represented by Giovanni da San Giovanni and Pietro de Cortona, while Stefano Bella Bella, a gifted designer, composed the fetes and the public rejoicings which were still in vogue. Ferdinand also devoted much attention to the embellishment of towns, and to the improvement of the seaports, notably of Leghorn, and he made a determined effort to suppress the corsairs of Tunis.

The name of Ferdinand is, however, most honorably associated with that of Galileo, whom he seems to have befriended as far as lay in his power.

The great astronomer having been accused to Pope Urban VIII. a member of the Barberini family, was summoned, when seventy years of age, to appear before the tribunal of the Inquisition, upon the charge of having maintained a theory contrary to that of the Church. The Tuscan Court followed the progress of the trial with keen interest, but in the end Galileo had to be given up. After sixteen days of imprisonment he was allowed to live in his own house and drive about the city. But fifty days later he was again arrested, and this time informed that unless he abjured his errors he would be sentenced to imprisonment for life. It was then, according to a story which seems to be as baseless as it is well known, that the illustrious Galileo knelt in submission in the church of Santa Maria Sopra Minerva, concluding his forced recantation with the words so often quoted " Pur se Muove."

He was subsequently permitted to reside in the Medici Palace on the Trinity di Monte, and later to remove to Siena, where he remained for several months in the Palace of the Archbishop.

Ferdinand II. finally procured permission for him to return to Florence, where he passed the eight remaining years of his life in peace.

The epoch was undoubtedly an intellectual one, for Ferdinand's natural bent was literary, and he had also acquired some celebrity as a chemist. There is another of the Medici family, however, who must not be passed over without notice, and this is Cardinal Leopold, who made himself famous by his love of study, and his patronage of all those who had distinguished themselves in science, literature, and art. This sufficed, in a country like Florence, to give a great impulse to intellectual pursuits. The love of natural science had already been manifested by the earlier Medici, to whom we owe many valuable discoveries, and the sojourn of Galileo had stimulated the zeal of those who were studying physics and mathematics, for he founded a school, and left behind him pupils such as Niccolo Aggiunti, Evangelista Torricelli, and Vincenzio Viviani.

This movement received the support of Ferdinand, and of his brother the Cardinal, the latter of whom founded the celebrated Cimento Academy, which became such a focus of intellectual splendor. The light was about to be extinguished, but there was a final flicker, and those who lived in Florence then might have seen a grand duke working in his laboratory, with the aid of his brother, a prince of the Church, and of Viviani, at experiments made to see whether mercury could not be rendered malleable.

Ferdinand undoubtedly made some useful discoveries, and he deserves the credit of bringing out several useful publications, and of assisting men whose researches were likely to be of service to the cause of science. It was at the gatherings in the grand ducal palace that the foundation of the Cimento Academy was decided upon ; its career was short, though brilliant. The first meeting was held on the 19th of June, 1657, the assembly taking for their crest a retort and three crucibles, with the motto, "Provando Riprovando." The meetings were held at the Pitti Palace, and the members, only nine in all, were the Grand Duke, Cardinal Leopold, the brothers Paolo and Candido del Buono, Alessandro Mascili, Vincenzio Viviani, Francesco Rede, a celebrated patrician of Arezzo of whom we have a fine bronze medallion, Antonio Uliva, Giovanni Alfonso Borelli, Count Carlo Renaldini, and Count Lorenzo Alagalotti, who acted as secretary. But these nine academicians, who, patronized by the Grand Duke, held their sittings at the palace, could command plenty of money, and by means of secretaries who were salaried by the Grand Duke, they carried on a correspondence all over Tuscany, and kept the lamp of learning alight. In 1666 were published " Essays in Natural Experiments," dedicated by Cardinal Leopold to the Grand Duke Ferdinand.

The intention was excellent, but these savants could not agree, and that jealousy which is too often inseparable from intellectual superiority led to so much discord that Borelli, one of the most brilliant of the academicians, withdrew from the Court, and even from Tuscany, taking with him Uliva and Renaldini. The Cimento lived only ten years.

It may be said of Ferdinand II. that on the whole he was a great man, and among his claims to celebrity are his presents to the Uffizi Museum, his gifts to it including several pictures which he had inherited from the Della Rovere family, such as Titian's celebrated Venus in the tribune-room. His brother the Cardinal, who had a great love for the antique, bought the famous " Hermaphrodite," the " Etruscan Chimera," and the beautiful bronze idol, all of which are in the Uffizi collection.