The Family of Medicis calls to my Mind that of the Kettlers, Dukes of Courland; and I fansy the
following Parallel will hold between the two Families. The Medicis, before they were Sovereigns of Tuscany, were Standard-Bearers of Florence; the Kettlers were Gentlemen, and Grand Masters of the Teutonic Order in Courland. The Emperor Maximilian II. made Medicis Grand Duke: Sigismond Augustus, King of Poland, made Kettler a Duke. The two Families have each given seven Sovereigns to Europe, and they are alike related to the greatest Families. The last of the Medicis, and the last of the Kettlers, were married to Princesses of the Saxon Family. They both see Foreign Powers disposing of their Succession before they are dead[18]. Both Families began to flourish almost at the same time, at the two Extremities of Europe; and in all Appearance their Period is like to be the same.
I could stay but six Days at Florence this Journey, because I had a mind to see the Landing of the Spaniards at Leghorn. I had no Time neither to lose, for they came into the Road the Day before I arriv’d, and landed two or three Days after. The Fleet was compos’d of two Squadrons, one of which, viz. the English, consisting of thirteen Ships, was commanded by Admiral Wager. The two Squadrons set Sail at one and the same time, but had been dispers’d by a Storm in the Gulph of Lyons. The English came in all together;
but the Spaniards arriv’d one after another, and some of their Transports were lost. In fine, the Troops were all landed on the second of November, All Souls Day, whereon there fell a terrible Rain, on which the Superstitious sounded dismal Conjectures. The Marquis de Charni[19], the Commander of the Spanish Forces, came on Shore the Day preceding, to adjust all Matters with the Marquis Rinuccini, whom the Grand Duke had sent for that Purpose to Leghorn. The Spanish General was oblig’d to take an Oath of Fidelity to the Grand Duke before the Marquis Rinuccini, which when he had done, the Spanish Forces enter’d the City, incorporated themselves with those of the Grand Duke, and mounted Guard on the very same Day that they landed. It is stipulated, that there shall be always two Thirds Spaniards to one Third of the Great Duke’s Soldiers. The Spanish Army consists of no more than 6000 Men, but then they are the Flower of their Troops, and there are Arms and Equipage for above 20,000. There’s one Swiss Regiment, another of Walloons.
I have been to see the two Admiral Ships: The English has three Decks, and carries 86 Guns: The Spanish, which had Admiral Mari on board, carries 90 Guns, has three Decks also, and is by much bigger than the English Man of War: It had been fitted up for bringing over the Infante Don Carlos, and no Expence was spar’d to render it magnificent. The Admiral’s Cabbin was hung with Sky-blue and Silver Brocade; the Tables, Chairs, and the Frames of the Pier Glasses, &c. were of Indian Lacca Red and Gold: But notwithstanding all this Magnificence, the English Ship was the neatest, and
far out-did the Spaniard in the civil Treatment of those that went aboard. The English Naval Officers are almost all Men of Quality: They strove who should be the most polite to such as came to visit them, and talk’d very modestly both of their Ships and their Tackling; whereas the Spaniards bragg’d of theirs beyond measure; they pretended that their Ships, which had only two Decks, were much easier to work than those of the English, which are all of three Decks; and affirm’d, that as their Ships were broader and longer, and their Decks higher, they were much more formidable than the English, and not so much incommoded by the Smoak in a Battle. On the other hand, I was told by an Engish Officer, That a Ship with three Decks was preferable to one that had but two, because when ’tis a high Sea, and they are forc’d to shut up the lowermost Deck, there are still two Batteries remaining, whereas a Ship with but two Decks, in the same Case, can have but one remaining: Besides, a Ship with three Decks, said the Officer, being higher than a Ship with but a couple, has a great Advantage over what the other has, when they come to Boarding. As I understand nothing of Navigation, I know not whether my Englishman was in the right. But be that as it will, I am of the Opinion, which prevails almost universally, that whenever it shall please God to let second Causes have their Effects, it will be always safer to lay a Wager on the Side of the English than on the Spanish Ships.
On St. Charles’s Day, which was the Festival of the Infante Don Carlos, the Marquis Mari gave us a grand Feast: I say us, because I was there, as well as all Leghorn, Florence, Sienna, Lucca, and Pisa, which you’ll say was a goodly Company, and I assure you moreover, it was very gay. The Florence Gentry, who expected that the Infante would
have come with the Fleet, had all bespoke new Apparel; and as they are naturally very prodigal, they spar’d no Cost upon this Occasion. The Lucquese Gentry did not come short of them, of whom it may be said, that taking the Milanese and Genoese along with them, they are of all the Italians the most polite, and have most of the Air of Men of Quality. Besides the Italians, there was so great a Concourse of Englishmen and Foreigners at Leghorn, that all the Lodgings were taken up; nevertheless Provisions were in great Plenty, and as cheap as ever.
The English are return’d home. ’Tis said, that the Infante[20] will come hither speedily by Land. The Tuscans long mightily to see him, and expect he will work Miracles; for besides what they have heard in his Praise, they lay great Stress upon a Prophecy of Nostradamus, who says in one of his Stanzas,
Du plus profund de l’Occident d’Europe,
De doubles Nopces un Enfant naitra,
Qui vers le Po menera grande Troupe:
Son bruit au Regne d’Orient plus croitra.