But to return from the region of conjecture to that of historical certainty, a few words will suffice to tell all that remains of Bianca's story. As soon as the breath had left her body, the Bishop Abbioso, who had been left at Poggio–a–Cajano by Ferdinando, wrote to him: "This instant, at eight o'clock—'quindici ore'—her Most Serene Highness the Grand Duchess passed to another life. The present messenger is sent in haste to receive the orders of your Highness as to the disposition of her body." Orders were sent back that the body should "_be kept intact till the evening_," and then opened, as has been said. The same night it was buried, "so that no memorial of her should remain;" the new sovereign's reply to the application for orders on this head being, "We will have none of her among our dead!" The hatred of the Florentines for both Francesco and Bianca was intense. If anything, the latter was yet more detested than her husband. In addition to all the grounds of hatred common to both of them, she was a foreigner, and "a witch," a practiser of black art. And this accusation, more than aught else, made the burden of the abuse that was heaped upon her. Of course, it was not safe to say much of the deceased sovereign. But satirists, libellers, pasquinade–writers, and epigraph–mongers, had full licence to exercise their wit at the expense of the "pessima Bianca." Here are specimens of their expressions of the popular estimate of her, which were current in the city immediately after her death. They are taken from the same letter of Signor Soderini, so often quoted: "Qui giace in un avel pien di malie E pien di vizi la Bianca Cappella, Bagasica, strega, maliarda e fella, Che sempre favorì furfanti e spie." In English: "Here in a grave, brimful of vices foul And evil sorceries, Bianca lies, A huzzy, witch, and mistress of fell spells; In life the dearest friend of rogues and spies." Another runs as follows: "In questa tomba, in questa oscura buca Ch'è fossa a quei che non hanno sepoltura, Opra d'incanti, e di malie fattura Giace la Bianca, moglie del Granduca." Which may stand, if the absence of the rhyme be excused, in English thus: "Within this tomb, this undistinguished hole, The grave of those who sepulture have none, That worker of black arts and evil charms, Bianca lies, the wife of our Grand Duke." [Sidenote: FERDINANDO SUCCEEDS.]