ambition, nowise inferior to that of his predecessor, was not veiled, even to himself, by motives equally respectable. His object was not the independence of Italy, nor the aggrandisement of the Church, but the advancement of his own family." The Cardinal Giovanni de' Medici, second son of Lorenzo the Magnificent, was elected Pope on the 11th of March, 1513, and was crowned on the 19th. The Duke of Urbino had repaired to Rome to offer his congratulations in person, and attended the solemn installation at the Lateran, with twenty-four mounted gentlemen and as many footmen; but mingling regard for the dead with respect for the living, he and all his suite appeared in black velvet and satin, as mourning for his uncle. The device worn on the Pontiff's liveries at this pageant, was in harmony with his previous character and present professions: under a golden "yoke" was inscribed the word _suave_, meaning something more winning than the scriptural phrase "easy," from which it was borrowed. When two more years had gone by, Francesco Maria was an outlaw, crushed under that gentle yoke, and stripped of his all; whilst the Duke of Ferrara, the next great feudatory of the Church who followed in the procession, could scarcely maintain himself by French aid, until the death of his pontifical oppressor enabled him to parody on his medals another and more appropriate text, in memory of his escape, "Out of the LION'S mouth." At this coronation there was witnessed an unwonted spectacle, the fruit of Alexander's aggressions on the Campagna barons. The humbled chiefs of Colonna and Orsini walked side by side, and their reconciliation was commemorated by a rare medal, on which the crowned column of Colonna is fondly hugged by the Orsini bear, with the motto, "For their country's safety." Francesco Maria's reception was as cordial as distinguished, for the promptings of ambition had not yet transformed Leo's naturally bland and gracious nature into unrelenting and bitter hate. He was accordingly confirmed in his dignities, and retained for a year as Captain-General of the Church, with 13,844 ducats of pay, besides 30,000 of allowances for his company of two hundred men-at-arms, and a hundred light cavalry; nor could words exceed the kindness of the letter in which Bembo intimated this to him on behalf of the Pope.[254] [Footnote 254: Papal brieves of Aug. 4 and April 17, 1513, in Archivio Diplomatico at Florence, and Bembo's public despatches, ii. No. 8. Roscoe has no authority whatever for representing the Duke as at this period the Pope's "formidable rival."]