Having restored order, the government informed its friends of the taking of Montobbio, especially Duke Cosimo whose aid had been so valuable to the besiegers. But there were ominous signs of discontent in all classes of the people in every part of the Republic. The government sent Tommaso Spinola and Antonio Doria to Henry II. to condole with him on the death of his father and congratulate him on his accession to the throne; but the more important part of their business was to spy out the movements of the Fieschi and to render them obnoxious at the court where the name was held in such high esteem. The fortress of Montobbio shared the fate of the palace in Vialata. The government, in concert with Doria and Figueroa, decreed on the 11th of June that it should be levelled with the earth, “so that,” said the proclamation, “no evidence may remain that any fortification has ever existed there.” Even the brow of the mountain was ordered to be thrown into the valley so that no castle could ever be erected on the site. Whoever should attempt to build there was declared a rebel and his goods confiscated to the state. Prince Doria assumed the charge of this demolition, but the expense was borne by the Republic. Giovanni Bozzo, podestà of Montobbio, reported on the 10th of August that Paolo di Mirandola had excavated three mines under the castle, one on the East side seventy-six palms in length with openings at the two sides; the second, on the South, ran twenty palms into the mountain from the bank of the stream, the third, on the West side where the principal battery had stood, penetrated a distance of ten palms. Mirandola, he reports, declared that the mines must be extended as the castle had the strength of steel. The explosion of these mines blew the whole work to the ground reducing it at once to a total ruin. In our time even the face of nature is changed. Wild weeds grow on that slope where gardens once bloomed. The daffodils which breathe their perfume over the place are the only witnesses to ancient culture. A beautiful lake which lay at the foot of the castle has disappeared. It probably covered a spot to which tradition gives the name _Lago della Signora_. CHAPTER XII. PIER LUIGI FARNESE. The ferocity and excesses of Andrea Doria--The benefits which he derived from the fall of the Fieschi--The Farnesi participated in Genoese conspiracies--Schemes of Andrea against the duke of Piacenza--Landi is instigated by Andrea to kill the duke--The assassination of Pierluigi--The assassins and the brief of Paul III.