The disappointment felt by the Duke at the fruitlessness of his family friendship with the crown of Spain was removed by receiving, towards the close of 1582, a military commission from his Catholic Majesty. This was the only relic of the condottiere system that survived the changes of the sixteenth century upon the political and military aspect of Europe. It was the intervening link between mercenary bands of the middle ages and standing armies of modern times. No plan could have better suited all parties. The great powers were thus enabled to command on sudden exigencies an ample force, without waste of time or treasure. The petty sovereigns by it eked out their inadequate revenues, without further burden to their subjects than an occasional call upon the military services of those who regarded arms as a pastime, and whose restless spirits, if not thus employed, would have been dangerous at home. The people, without abandoning the arts of peace, reaped a portion of the fruits of war. These benefits were, indeed, purchased by a surrender of the last vestige of independence, for the salary paid to the princes in name of stipend was, in fact, the price of their political subserviency. Yet it was but a nominal compromise, to sell the shadow when the substance had long departed; and we find the example of Spain in retaining friends throughout La Marca, for pecuniary considerations, recommended for the imitation of Venice by one of her ambassadors about this very time. The conditions of the Duke's service were an annual pay of 12,000 scudi, which, in 1599, was augmented to 15,000, a company of men-at-arms in the kingdom of Naples, and ample protection in all his undertakings; in return for which he was bound to provide, when called upon by Philip II., three thousand militia, and to take the field with them when his Majesty appeared there in person. The amount of troops thus actually raised in the duchy for the Spanish service during the next thirty years has been calculated at seven thousand two hundred men, a sufficient proof that the benefits accruing from the arrangement were mutual. The Pope now granted Francesco Maria the honourable prefix of "Most Serene" to the title of Highness, which he had enjoyed in common with other minor sovereigns, a distinction said to have been accorded with difficulty, and after long entreaty. The establishment of a Swiss guard is another illustration of his partiality at this period to pomps which he subsequently little esteemed.

In the following year, the court of Pesaro was enlivened by the Princess Lavinia's nuptials with Felice d'Avalos, Marquis del Vasto, when twelve poetesses were said to have tuned their lyres at the Imperiale, in honour of the joyous occasion. His marriage presents to his bride, mentioned in her brother's Diary, consisted of a necklace of jewels, a bag or muff of sable skin—the head and feet studded with precious stones, called a zebellino, and similar to that represented in Titian's beautiful portrait of her grandmother, Duchess Leonora,—a set of fan-sticks, a gem mounted as a sun, two pearls for ear-drops, a diamond cross and eagle, and an order for 3000 scudi: the whole was valued at 10,000 scudi. The happy pair spent some months at the court of Urbino, while the Marquis often joined the hunting parties from Castel Durante. But the sun that rose thus brightly was soon clouded by his wretched and tyrannical temper, which embittered his consort's life. Many years after, she married, in her widowhood, the gallant Marquis of Pescara, her brother's long-tried friend, and, finally, with her two daughters, sought repose and peace in the convent of Sta. Chiara at Urbino, where she died in 1633. In the end of 1583 the Duke began to build the Vedetta, on the most commanding eminence of Monte Bartolo, which he had obtained for this purpose from the Gerolimini convent. Of this casino only the foundation remains, but it would seem to have been an appendage of the Imperiale palace, whither the court ascended in the summer heats, to inhale gentle breezes from the blue Adriatic, which sparkled some hundred feet beneath. For such a purpose no spot could have been better chosen, and the magnificent prospect, which we have elsewhere noticed without attempting to describe, renders it probably the most attractive site in all the fair duchy.

As a further mark of favour, Philip II. of Spain sent him, in 1586, the decoration of the Golden Fleece; and in order to confer it in manner at once honourable and complimentary to his personal feelings, his Majesty requested the investiture to be given him by his uncle the Duke of Parma. That Duke was then suffering from gout, and drawing towards his death, which occurred in the following autumn; so Francesco Maria showed respect at once for the King and for his relation, whom he revered as a parent, by proceeding to meet him at Bologna. The two princely guests were magnificently entertained by the authorities of that city, as well as by the Cardinal Legate Salviati and the Archbishop Palotta: they were lodged in the palace of the latter, who performed high mass in the cathedral at the investiture. The collar and girdle of the order were set with brilliants, and were accompanied by a rich present of jewels to the Duchess, consisting of four hundred and twenty-six pearls, and a handsome necklace, girdle, two pendants, and sixty buttons, all enamelled in red and white upon gold, and studded with diamonds.

Although, on the whole, a more popular sovereign than his father, we have seen Francesco Maria subjected, in the early years of his reign, to seditious movements on the part of some discontented nobles. Of a similar attempt in 1586, few particulars have been preserved; but this notice of it in his Diary exhibits him as a stern dispenser of justice. "Count Giovanni de' Thomasi was beheaded in the fortress of Pesaro for homicide, sedition, and bad service towards his master; he died as a Christian and a brave man, and may God pardon his sins." But, though of hard, and even stern manners, the Duke retained the affection of his household, most of whom remained long in his service. From a catalogue of the chief officers at his court, compiled by Lazzari, we learn the emoluments belonging to the principal places.

Scudi.
The superintendent of the household had yearly1000
The master of the chamber400
The master of the household200
The gentlemen cuirassiers250
The chamberlains224
The sewer or carver for visitors250
The philosopher or dilettante of poetry300
The physician250
The chaplain150
The auditors or judges500
The eight counsellors400
The chief secretary400
The secretary of justice350
The treasurer250
The fiscal advocate350
The captains of the guard232
The commandants of garrisons300
The castellans, besides perquisites150
The ambassador to Spain1000
The ambassador to Venice400
The agent in Rome100

Francesco Maria had now reached the flower of manhood, and this may be considered the most fortunate period of his reign. During the next twelve years no untoward incident interrupted the smooth current of his life, or the prosperity of his government. The healthful exercise of the chase constituted his favourite relaxation from the cares of state, and his Diary preserves more minute information on this than on any other topic. He had within reach of Pesaro eighteen preserves, stocked with roe-deer, goats, foxes, hares, pheasants, and partridges, all of which were, in those days, considered fair game. The more exciting sport of wild-boar was found in greatest perfection near Mondolfo, and the following entry occurs in January, 1588. "Hunted in the chase of S. Costanzo, and, in three hours, killed nine wild boars, weighing 2580 lbs., besides offal. The largest one weighed overhead 917 lbs. We cut off its head close behind the ears, and hung it in the castle window over the great street of Mondolfo; its weight was 59½ lbs."

But red deer were the Duke's noblest and favourite sport, which, being only found in the highlands of his duchy, was his original attraction to Castel Durante, whence the best forest coverts were easily accessible. It was on that account selected as his chief residence during his father's life, and continued his annual resort in autumn so long as he could follow the game. When increasing years precluded such pastimes, we shall find that he there provided other appliances more befitting his circumstances, and that these preserved for Castel Durante a partiality which increased to the latest hours of his life. He was in use there to spend the autumnal months, returning to Pesaro before the carnival, and moving to Urbino towards midsummer. In the interval from the 7th of September, 1588, till the end of the following January, twenty-eight hunting parties are mentioned in his Journal, at some of which wolves and smaller game were killed. Red deer must have been in great abundance: thus, November, 1587, "We killed a dozen, six of them males, the largest weighing 464 lbs., besides 380 lbs. of offal. We left Castel Durante about noon, and returned at dusk, after losing nearly an hour in watching a hind which took refuge in the broken ground of the Lady's Park, when fell dead the famous hound Box-cur, the only British one I had. The twelve deer weighed 2914 lbs., without offal." In the subsequent season, "hunted red deer in the valley of S. Martino with greyhounds, but without canvas or nets. Saw twelve, and chased five of them; but, though the dogs came up with them, they were not able to hold any." The park which he had inclosed in the beautiful vale of the Metauro, just out of Castel Durante, was stocked with fallow-deer: which, however, seem to have been kept chiefly for ornament, though occasionally resorted to for greyhound coursing, when age had relaxed his limbs for the rougher mountain sport. The last hunting party he mentions was in 1615.

Though reserved in manner, and little apt to indulge his court in amusements uncongenial with his own unsocial temperament, he sometimes relaxed so far as to have dancing fêtes at the Imperiale, where he mentions three hundred ladies as having on one occasion been present. The representation of comedies was a frequent carnival pastime. The manner of conducting these theatricals, and the methodical punctuality of the Duke's character, are at once illustrated in the following extract. In February, 1589, "a comedy by the late Maestro Fabio Bagnano was recited in the great hall of Pesaro, beginning at 4 p.m. The first act lasted an hour and ten minutes; after which came an interlude for twenty minutes, from the fable of Ulysses hearing his wanderings foretold by Tiresias; then act second, in fifty minutes, with a musical interlude for ten minutes; then act third, in half-an-hour, with, for interlude, the marriage of Eolus and Deiopeia, in twelve minutes; then act fourth, in forty-eight minutes, and its musical interlude, in seven minutes; lastly, act fifth, in thirty-eight minutes, with its interlude of the gods allotting their various dominions; but this was not finished in consequence of a cloud which, by some mismanagement, did not descend properly." Among the performances noted about this period are the comedies of I falsi Sospetti by Pino; another by the Cavaliere Ludovico Odasio, I Suppositi; and an eclogue entitled La Myrtia. The interludes between the acts were frequently moresque dances or ballets representing mythological subjects, such as the fable of Prometheus, that of Calisto, the birth of Venus; varied by more familiar themes, as hunting the owl. In 1597, we find noticed, among other gay doings during carnival, a tournament in the great hall of Pesaro, wherein ten or twelve knights ran each three courses, and which was followed by an exhibition of various pleasing conceits.

Of Francesco Maria's literary pursuits we have various pleasing memorials. Not satisfied with the valuable library of MSS. that had descended to him from the Feltrian dukes, he formed another of standard printed works. Indeed, he became an assiduous book collector; and the letters of his librarian Benedetto Benedetti, in the Oliveriana Library, are full of lists which his agents in Venice, Florence, and even Frankfort are urged to supply. In his own voluminous correspondence, we find constant offers from authors of dedications or copies of their productions, the tone of which is highly complimentary to his taste for letters. In 1603, the Archbishop of Monreale, in Spain, transmits him the regulations he proposed to prescribe in bequeathing his library to a seminary he had founded in his diocese, expressing a hope that they might prove useful to the Duke's collection, "at this moment without parallel in the world."[85] Instead of quoting the vague testimony of courtly compliment, as to the use which this philosophic Prince made of these acquisitions, let us cite the brief records of his studies, preserved in his own Diary. In 1585, "terminated an inspection of the whole works of Aristotle, on which I have laboured no less than fifteen years, having had them generally read to me by Maestro Cesare Benedetti, of Pesaro." But his reading was not limited to such speculative topics, and we presently find him imbibing knowledge from a purer source. In 1587, "I finished my examination of the whole Bible, with various commentaries, on which I have spent three years and ten months." Again, on the "15th of December, 1598, completed my second perusal of the entire Bible, which I read this time with the commentary of Dionysio the Carthusian, occupying upon it eight years." A curious inference of the contemplative character of his mind may be drawn from the devices he successively assumed as emblematic of his feelings. In youth he used a flame vanishing into air, with the motto Quies in sublime, "There is rest on high:" after he succeeded to the dukedom, he took a terrestrial globe with the legend Ponderibus librata suis, "Self-poised."

The position of Pesaro, on the principal high road to Loreto and Rome, exposed it to the constant passage of travellers of all ranks. The former was the habitual resort of Roman Catholics, to whom holy impulses, the hope of any specific blessing, or gratitude for mercies vouchsafed, suggested an unusual devotional observance. The annual functions of Easter, St. Peter's day, and Christmas, besides the great occasional jubilees, attracted to the latter crowds of pious pilgrims from all Christendom. The dukes were thus laid open to frequent calls upon their hospitality, which the state maintained by passing visitors often rendered most onerous. Thus, in 1589, Duke Alfonso II. of Ferrara, on his way to and from Loreto, spent four days at Pesaro, with his suite, consisting of fifty carriages, and one hundred and fifty mounted attendants, at an expense to his host of 3000 scudi. All royal pilgrims did not, however, thus mingle worldly pomp with religious duties: ten years after, Ranuccio, Duke of Parma, arrived incognito, in company with three others, who wore red sack dresses, and travelled on foot. After passing the night at Pesaro, they proceeded to Sinigaglia, on their way to the opening of the holy door at Rome, in the jubilee of 1600. Eighteen years later, Francesco Maria's Diary thus notes a more interesting visit: "9th June, 1618, the Galileo arrived at Pesaro, on his return from Loreto to Florence." The philosopher was then resident at the Villa Segni, near his native capital, and suffered much from the effects of a chronic illness caught in Lombardy some years previously, while sleeping with an open window. Perhaps his pilgrimage to the holy house may have been influenced by this circumstance.