The grand duke bent his head humbly before the
archiepiscopal denunciation, and said nothing in reply. But when the
time came round for the disbursement of the annual sum for masses for
Leopold I., his pious grandson declared that it was useless to spend
any more money for that purpose, for that the archbishop of Lucca had
informed him that his unhappy predecessor's soul was in hell, and
accordingly past help and past being prayed--or paid--for.
I remember an amusing instance of the same sort of simple shrewdness
on the lookout for the main chance which was exemplified in the above
anecdote showing itself in quite a different sphere. There was in
those days living in Florence an Englishman bearing the name of
Sloane. He had made a large fortune by the intelligent and
well-ordered management of some copper-mines in the neighborhood of
Volterra, which in his hands had turned out to be of exceptional and
unexpected richness. He was a man who did much good with his money,
and was considered a very valuable and important citizen of his
adopted country. He was a Roman Catholic too, which made him all the
more acceptable to the Florentines, and especially to the grand duke,
with whom he was a great favorite. This Mr. Sloane had bought some
years before the date of my anecdote the ancient Medicean villa of
Careggi, with a considerable extent of land surrounding it.
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