We have referred to letters of the Duke written during his last years, as interesting expressions of his state of mind. Besides the collection of Babucci already quoted, a considerable number of these are preserved in two other MSS. in the same library; also many others, addressed by her relations to the Princess Vittoria, with her answers, dated between 1627 and 1632.[122] The whole exceed two hundred in number, and form a series of royal correspondence equally remarkable for Christian sentiment and domestic affections. In the following pages we give literal translations of a few of them, which pleasingly illustrate these virtues in the Duke and Duchess, in their daughter-in-law, now remarried to the Archduke Leopold, and in the young Princess herself. By the first letter, the Archduchess announces to her daughter the birth of a brother; by the second, Francesco Maria intimates his confidence in the husband he had chosen for his grandchild. In Nos. 3 and 6 the warmth of his attachment to her is gracefully tinged with the pious resignation of a dying Christian. Nos. 4 and 5 relate to his making over to her his family jewels, a precaution, perhaps, against any difficulties that might arise after his decease. No. 7 was his last letter, dictated about a month before his release from sufferings. The remaining four refer to that event, and to the affliction of his nearest relatives. [Footnote 122: Magliabechiana MSS., class viii., Nos. 60, 61.] 1. _The Archduchess Claudia to the Princess Vittoria._ "My most serene and beloved daughter, "Now that you have obtained from God your little brother, after, as you tell me, having prayed for him (who, when he is grown tall, will love you well), it remains for you to thank the same God, who is the giver of all good. You say that you wish to have this little brother for yourself; and I agree to humour you under these conditions: First, that your prayers obtain for me another next year; second, that you come hither yourself to take him, so that you may have the pleasure of seeing me, and I you; third, that, in the meantime, you in everything obey Madam [the Dowager Grand Duchess] and your other superiors, and that you often pray for the health of the Lord Duke, to whom you owe so much. And now I and my Lord your [step] father [the Archduke Leopold] give you our blessing, beseeching for you a divine one much more ample and perpetual. 3rd June, 1628. "Your most affectionate mother, "CLAUDIA." 2. _The Duke Francesco Maria to the Princess Vittoria._