CAPELLO CAPET. 



33 



patrician of Venice. She early fell in love with 

 young and handsome clerk in the banking-house 

 Salviati,namedBuonaventuri. The consequence of th 

 intrigue was the pregnancy of the lady, and the fligl 

 of the lovers to Florence, where they married, an 

 Bianca lay in of a daughter. Here they lived son 

 time in great apprehension and obscurity, until som 

 accident or contrivance introduced Bianca to the no 

 tice of Francis, son of Cosmo, grand-duke of Tuscair 

 Her uncommon beauty and engaging manners mad 

 on immediate impression on a prince notorious fo 

 hisiattachment to the sex ; and the consequence was 

 that she and her husband were quickly settled in 

 splendid palace, and the latter made chamberlain tx 

 the duke, and, to the great disgust of the Florentines 

 intrusted with a large share of public business. B: 

 anca was, in the mean time, introduced at court, an( 

 became the object of great admiration ; and it is a: 

 serted, that, even at that time, Francis promised t( 

 marry her, should they become released from the 

 marriage ties by wlu'ch they were each of them bound 

 This took place in a very few years on her part 

 Buonaventuri, having engaged in an intrigue with i 

 woman of rank, was assassinated by her family ; anc 

 Francis now avowedly proclaimed Bianca his mistress 

 As Francis> who had no issue, passionately desira 

 even a natural child, Bianca, whose intemperate 

 mode of living was not favourable to his wishes, car 

 ried on all the forms of pregnancy, and presented to 

 her deluded lover a new-born male child, of poor pa- 

 rents, whom he joyfully received as his own, anc 

 christened Antonio. A legitimate son, produced to 

 him soon after' by his duchess, induced him to be less 

 open in his attentions to Bianca; but the death of his 

 wife, very soon after, opened to the latter a road to 

 her final elevation, and she was quickly united to 

 Francis by a private marriage. Her ambition, how- 

 ever, was not to be gratified without publicity ; and 

 she induced the grand-duke to send a solemn em- 

 bassy to Venice, to inform the senate of his marriage, 

 and to request them to confer on Bianca the title of 

 daughter of the republic, which honour was supposed 

 to entitle those on whom it was bestowed to a royal 

 alliance. That government assented, and Bianca, 

 being crowned daughter of the state, was solemnly 

 installed grand-duchess of Tuscany in 1579. In 1582, 

 the legitimate son of Francis expired ; and, soon after, 

 he declared Antonio his lawful son, although, it is 

 said, Bianca had acknowledged her imposition. Fer- 

 dinand, the brother of Francis, and his lawful heir, 

 was not blind to these proceedings, and paid the 

 greatest attention to the subsequent reported preg- 

 nancies of the duchess, until, the state of her health 

 setting all idea of further progeny aside, she essayed 

 to effect a reconciliation between the brothers, and 

 Ferdinand paid a visit to Florence. He had been 

 there but a short time, when Francis fell ill, at his 

 hunting village of Poggio, where his brother wfis a 

 guest ; and, two days after, the diichess being Seized 

 with the same symptoms, they both died, after about 

 a week's illness, in October, 1587, Bianca being then 

 in her 45th year. The known character of the Me- 

 dici family caused this catastrophe to be attributed to 

 poison ; and a story is current, that Bianca, intend- 

 ing to poison Ferdinand with a prepared viand, he had 

 the address to make the duke and duchess eat of it 

 themselves. As there was no direct motive for the 

 attempt at the period, and it rests only on the cha- 

 racter of the parties, it is more reasonable to suppose 

 that a malignant fever, at an unhealthy season, was 

 the real cause of the sudden termination of so extra- 

 ordinary a career. The hatred of the Florentines has 

 made Bianca a monster of vice and cruelty ; a thou- 

 sand absurd stories were propagated of her propen- : 

 sity to magic, and other crimes ; and, perceiving the 



impossibility of gaining their affections, she employ**! 

 trains of spies and informers, which added still more 

 to their animosity. The truth seems to be, that she 

 was a woman of consummate beauty and address, 

 with little or no principle ; and such was the charac- 

 ter of the Italian courts, at the period in which she 

 flourished, that she had only to act in the spirit of the 

 times, to become very nearly as vicious as the Flo- 

 rentines described her. 



CAPER. Capers are the unopened flower-buds 

 of a low shrub (capparis spinosa), which grows from 

 the crevices of rocks and walls, and among rubbish, 

 in the southern parts of France, in Italy, and the Le- 

 vant. The stems of the caper-bush are trailing, and 

 two or three feet long. The leaves are alternate, 01 

 somewhat oval shape, veined, and of a bright-green 

 colour; and the flowers are large and beautiful; with 

 four petals, and white, with a tinge of red. In the 

 south of France, the caper-bush is very common. It 

 grows wild upon the walls of Rome, Sienna, and Flo- 

 rence, and, when trained against a wall, flourishes 

 even in the neighbourhood of Paris; notwithstanding 

 which, it is almost unknown in English gardens, 

 where it cannot be made to flower without the aid of 

 artificial heat. It is cultivated, on a large scale, be- 

 tween Marseilles and Toulon, and in many parts of 

 Italy. In the early part of the summer, it begins to 

 flower, and the flowers continue successively to ap- 

 pear, until the commencement of winter. The buds 

 are picked every morning, before the petals are ex- 

 panded ; and, as they are gathered, they are put into 

 raiegar and salt. When a sufficient quantity is col- 

 lected, they are distributed, according to their size, 

 into different vessels, again put into vinegar, and then 

 packed up for sale and exportation. This pickle is 

 much used in sauce for boiled mutton. To persons 

 unaccustomed to it, the taste of capers is unpleasant ; 

 rat, after a little while, the palate becomes perfectly 

 reconciled to it. The flower-buds of the marsh-mari- 

 old (caltha palustris) and nasturtiums are frequently 

 ickled, and eaten as a substitute for capers. The 

 >ark of the root, cut into slices, and dried in small 

 rolls or quills, like cinnamon, is sometimes used in 

 medicine, in cases of obstruction of the liver. 



CAPER, in shipping, is the Dutch and German 

 lame for privateer. 



CAPERNAUM ; a town in ancient Palestine, on 

 lie west side of the sea of Tiberias ; Ion. 35 44' E. ; 

 at. 32 45' N. Near it were a mountain and rivulet 

 f the same name. This place is famous, in Chris- 

 ian history, because Jesus used to reside here dur- 

 ng the time of his ministry ; and in its vicinity he 

 elivered the sermon on the mount. Nothing of it 

 ow remains. As Capernaum is not mentioned in 

 le Old Testament, it may have been built after the 

 :turn from the Babylonish captivity. It stood on 

 le coast of Galilee, on the borders of Zabulon and 

 s T ephthalim. 



CAPET ; the name of the French race of kings, 

 vhich has given 118 sovereigns to Europe, viz. 3fi 

 ings of France, 22 kings of Portugal, 11 of Naples 

 nd Sicily, 5 of Spain, 3 of Hungary, 3 emperors of 

 onstantinople, 3 kings of Navarre, 17 dukes of Bur- 

 imdy, 12 dukes of Brittany, 2 dukes of Lorraine, 

 and 4 dukes of Parma. The history of this royal race 

 , at the same time, the history of the rise and pro- 

 ress of the French monarchy. ( See France.) The 

 ite of one of the most interesting countries and n 

 ons -in Europe is connected with the name of Capet, 

 fter having been deprived of four thrones, and again 

 istored to them, this family stands forth as the" first 

 id most ancient support of the European principle 

 Apolitical legitimacy, that divine right, which, in this 

 ouse, commenced with treason. Its origin is remark- 

 )le. IVpin the Short, the father of Charlemagne 



