could not be deerned an ascetically severe man,
that, fine octogenarian Roman nobleman, Pope
Paul the Third. So, when the noble patrician
Florentine canon appeared at his summons, and
in answer to all accusations of unorthodox leanings,
declared, in a general way, that it was all a
mistake, and protested that he was a very
dutiful and affectionate son of his Holiness, what
couId a fine old gentleman, all of the olden
time, do, but say that he was extremely glad to
hear it, that he doubted not it was all a mistake,
and that it gave him much pleasure to confer upon
the reverend canon Pietro Carnesecchi full
absolution, and apostolical benediction. For the
Church-in-danger bell had not rung out yet.

Notwithstanding the satisfactory termination
of his first little misunderstanding with the
apostolical successor of St. Peter, Canon Pietro
Carnesecchi deemed it advisable to cease
residing in Rome. Comfortably provided with
ecclesiastic revenues, he started on a little
heretical tour; passed some time in France;
and visited other places, notorious for the
gathering together of heretics. In 1552 he
returned to Italy, but not to Rome. He passed
some time at "Padua the learned," and resided
awhile at Venice, and in both these cities
specially frequented the society of those who were
known to favour the " new" opinions, and kept
up a continual correspondence with more decided
heretics in other countries. And things were
changed in Italy since Carnesecchi had
received his absolution from Paul the Third and
started on his travels. A very different Paul,
the fourth of the name, had recently ascended
the Papal throne, in 1555, while Carnesecchi
was still at Venice. The Church was by this
time thoroughly alarmed. The omnipresent
Inquisition was watching the " purity of the
faith" with lynx-eyed vigilance in every city in
Italy. Paul the Fourth, that fierce old Caraffa,
was continually stimulating the emissaries of
the Holy Office to greater severity, and demanding
hecatombs of heretics. A very much less
overt case of heretical taint than that of
Carnesecchi would, in those days, have sufficed to
draw down the thunders of the Vatican. Thus,
in 1557, Canon Pietro Carnesecchi was once
more cited to appear at Rome, and answer to
the accusation of rank heresy. But he was
well aware that he had a very different pope to
deal with, now, and a very different spirit in
the Roman court generally. And he judged
that this time it would be wise not to approach
any nearer to the long sweep of the pontifical
arm. He disobeyed the citation, was judged by
contumacy, and pronounced a rebel to the
Church, and a heretic. It was well for him
that he was then under the valid protection of
the Queen of the Adriatic. No other Italian
government of that day, probably, would have
hesitated an instant to give him up to the angry
pope. Venice was at all times less obsequious
to Roman encroachments on her sovereign
authority, than any other state of Italy.

In 1559 Paul the Fourth died, and was
succeeded by the weak and timid Pius the Fourth,
whose principal object was to keep things quiet,
and give as little offence to anybody as might
be. Under this pope, Carnesecchi thought he
might venture back to his native Florence.
Cosmo the First was then reigning there: a
politic and long-headed tyrant, to whose influence
in the conclave, Pius in great measure owed
his elevation. This Cosmo was one of the
worst of a bad race, whether looked at as a
sovereign or a man. His influence on Tuscany
was such and so lasting, that it would be
worth while to attempt a somewhat complete
portraiture of the prince who earned for himself
the title of the Tuscan Tiberius, were it not
that to do so would require more space than we
can at present afford to the subject. Suffice it
to say compendiously, that as a sovereign, the
great object of his reign, pursued skilfully,
perseveringly, and successfully, was the demoralisation
and enervation of the people he reigned
over; the reduction of them from the stout,
turbulent, independent, spirited republicans they
were when he came to the throne, to docile,
effeminate, cowed slaves, prepared to be the
subjects of a line of tyrants. This was Cosmo's
work as a sovereign. As a man, his conduct was
stained by the most hideous crimes and profligacy.
But he was a great lover of respectability.
A decent exterior and a veil of
impenetrable thickness to hide the reality, was the
maxim of Cosmo, and of most of his successors.
He was an exceedingly pious prince, and at
all times stood well with the Church—- as was
especially desirable to one who had so much
need of the Church's loosing offices. The
great ambition of his life was to be made,
from being Duke of Florence, Grand-Duke of
Tuscany. This he hoped to obtain from his good
friend the pope; and would have obtained it
with little difficulty from Pius the Fourth, had
it not been that there were difficulties in the way,
arising from the opposition of the emperor, who
maintained that the making of dukes into grand-
dukes formed no part of his powers. And Pius the
Fourth was not one of those who could act in
defiance of the emperor. For such a man, Cosmo
had to wait till the next pope mounted the throne.

Meantime, the weak and yielding Pius the
Fourth could not refuse to his good friend and
supporter Cosmo, such a small matter as the
absolution of a heretic. Carnesecchi, as has been said,
had thought he might safely venture to Florence,
as soon as Pius the Fourth ascended the throne.
He had always been, as well as his fathers
before him, an adherent of the Medici. He had
been personally favoured with the friendship of
Cosmo; and under these circumstances he had
little difficulty in obtaining, as he had expected,
his absolution from infallible Pius the rourth,
notwithstanding his condemnation by the equally
infallible Paul the Fourth. He boldly went
to Rome, with a good word of recommendation
from his patron Cosmo, and returned fully"
reconciled" to forgiving Mother Church. He was
wont even on his return, as ecclesiastical writers
recount with extreme indignation and disgust,
to speak " with laughter!" of the absolution.