much of these assurances of friendship should be laid to the account of the complications at home, may be left undecided. Lodovico il Moro took no trouble to hide his ill-humour, and immediately recalled his troops from the Florentine camp on the Magra, whereat the Florentines were highly indignant. Lorenzo said he supposed the Duke of Bari thought Genoa and the Castelletto would be given up to him next. But it actually came to pass. The Cardinal-Doge, Paolo Fregoso, perceived that he could not hold his ground amidst his many enemies, even if the Florentines—as they were certainly disposed to do—did not advance further towards the Riviera, where the neighbourhood of the gulf of Spezia was almost unprotected. While he began negotiating with Sforza the Adorni party were negotiating with France. Lodovico was quicker than the counsellors of the young king, and, after much debating in one form and another, the matter ended in Genoa once more acknowledging the Duke of Milan as her superior; whereupon the doge was pensioned and went to end his much-disturbed days at Rome. The Florentines were not destined long to enjoy the possession of Sarzana, which had cost them so much blood and still more money. During Charles VIII.’s campaign against Naples, both the town and the fortress passed into the hands of the French, who, when Florentine troops and commissioners came to demand their restoration, sold them to that same bank of San Giorgio with which the Republic had fought so long for their possession. CHAPTER VI. LORENZO AS MEDIATOR BETWEEN ROME AND NAPLES. FOR a long time past there could have been no question as to Lorenzo’s earnest desire to arrive at a good understanding with Innocent VIII. Immediately after the latter’s election circumstances appeared favourable, and the Florentines had reasonable hopes of putting an end to the contest for Sarzana. Unfortunately, the dispute between the Pope and the King of Naples interfered to retard the good understanding, but, though Florence took the king’s side, no declarations of war were published, and the negotiations with the Pope were never broken off. Lorenzo always remained in communication with Innocent. It was through him that at the peace of 1486, the Orsini, who were left unprotected, were reconciled with the Pope. He attached great importance to the latter’s friendship on both public and private grounds. He fully understood the instability of the Italian league and the extent of the influence of the States of the Church on those at home. With regard to family affairs he had to take into consideration not only money matters relative to an advantageous marriage for his eldest son and his daughters, who were now growing up, but also of preferment for his second son, who, by his father’s wish, was early to enter on the career once designed for his uncle. All these various interests were fully developed in Lorenzo’s conduct during the year 1487.