are in public events, although one Italian
woman at least, leaving the country of her birth, was placed by fate
upon a royal throne. Henry IV. of France, about the year 1600, was hard
pressed for the payment of certain debts by Ferdinand I., Grand Duke of
Tuscany, as the Medici were still the bankers of Europe, and the French
king was owing more than a million louis d'or; but the whole matter was
settled in a satisfactory way when Henry gave definite promises to pay
within a dozen years. To maintain his credit in the meantime, and to
facilitate the payment of the money, the one-time King of Navarre
demanded in marriage Marie de' Medici, the niece of the grand duke; it
is needless to say that the request was speedily granted, for the pride
and ambition of this rich Tuscan family were unlimited, and the memory
of that other daughter of the house of Medici, Catherine, who had been
Queen of France and mother of three French kings, was still fresh in the
minds of all. The wedding ceremony was performed in great splendor, at
Florence, Henry sending a proxy to represent him at that time; and then
the young bride set out for France, followed by a glittering retinue,
and bearing, as her dowry, six hundred thousand crowns of gold. Arriving
at Leghorn, they took ship for Marseilles, and then began a triumphal
march across the country, cities vying with each other in doing her
honor. Cantu tells us that at Avignon, which was still a city under the
temporal sway of the pope, Marie was placed in a chariot drawn by two
elephants, and given an escort of two thousand cavaliers. There were
seven triumphal arches and seven theatres; for it was the proud boast of
the residents of Avignon that everything went by sevens in their city,
as there were seven palaces, seven parishes, seven old convents, seven
monasteries, seven hospitals, seven colleges, and seven gates in the
city wall! Several addresses of welcome were delivered in the presence
of the young queen, though in this instance the number was hardly seven,
poems were read, and she received a number of gold medals bearing her
profile upon one side and the city's coat of arms upon the other. Henry
had left Paris to come to meet his bride, and it was at Lyons that the
royal pair saw each other for the first time. It cannot be said that
this first interview was warmly enthusiastic, for the king found her far
less beautiful than the portrait which had been sent to him, and he soon
came to th