DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.36838#0327
258 COUNT BAUDASSARE CASTIGLIONE
there is every prospect that they will soon be restored
to their rightful home in Florence. But I am above
all anxious that the tying of this knot should deliver
me from other troubles, which, as you know, oppress
me sorely. I beg you to think over these matters
seriously, and send me word by this messenger what
is your advice and that of M. Gio. Pietro and
M. Jacopo, and anyone else whom you choose to
consult. Once this is settled, it will be easy enough
to find the best way of making the proposal. And
since I have heard again on the subject of the
Martinenga, you might try and learn some more
about that business/
Madonna Luigia, it is plain, was very anxious to
see her son married, and urged him to lose no time in
concluding an alliance with the Medici. Baldassare,
however, still hesitated. Marriage in his eyes was
purely a way of escape from burdensome debts, a
means by which his fortunes might be advanced; and
the cool way in which he discussed the whole question
showed how little his heart was concerned in the
matter. In a letter of June 15 he thanks his mother
for her prompt reply, and owns that he is quite alive
to the advantages of the Medici connexion, but
still thinks the small amount of the dowry a great
drawback.
' The dowry/ he writes, ' seems to be very small,
and would not even suffice to relieve me of my
present burdens, which you know vex me sorely.
But if I found myself encumbered with a wife into
the bargain, they would vex me much more, for the
rooms that do for me now would no longer be suitable
then; and as to being content to live with a single
servant and mule, that I have never done, and never
mean to do. I say this because you exhort me to
regulate my way of living and expenses ; and I have,
there is every prospect that they will soon be restored
to their rightful home in Florence. But I am above
all anxious that the tying of this knot should deliver
me from other troubles, which, as you know, oppress
me sorely. I beg you to think over these matters
seriously, and send me word by this messenger what
is your advice and that of M. Gio. Pietro and
M. Jacopo, and anyone else whom you choose to
consult. Once this is settled, it will be easy enough
to find the best way of making the proposal. And
since I have heard again on the subject of the
Martinenga, you might try and learn some more
about that business/
Madonna Luigia, it is plain, was very anxious to
see her son married, and urged him to lose no time in
concluding an alliance with the Medici. Baldassare,
however, still hesitated. Marriage in his eyes was
purely a way of escape from burdensome debts, a
means by which his fortunes might be advanced; and
the cool way in which he discussed the whole question
showed how little his heart was concerned in the
matter. In a letter of June 15 he thanks his mother
for her prompt reply, and owns that he is quite alive
to the advantages of the Medici connexion, but
still thinks the small amount of the dowry a great
drawback.
' The dowry/ he writes, ' seems to be very small,
and would not even suffice to relieve me of my
present burdens, which you know vex me sorely.
But if I found myself encumbered with a wife into
the bargain, they would vex me much more, for the
rooms that do for me now would no longer be suitable
then; and as to being content to live with a single
servant and mule, that I have never done, and never
mean to do. I say this because you exhort me to
regulate my way of living and expenses ; and I have,