CARDINAL BEMBO AND HIS VILLA 



children of his daughter Antonia, for whom Pietro had 

 to provide ; while, to add to his difficulties, a dis- 

 honest factor of an estate which he held under the 

 Knights of St. John at Bologna, had absconded with 

 600 florins. Such were the straits to which he was 

 reduced that he feared he must sell his beloved 

 Villa. " My father's death," he wrote to his old 

 friend, Cardinal Bibbiena, " has involved me in such 

 financial difficulties that I hardly know which way 

 to turn. And yet, if possible, I would preserve that 

 delightful Villetta, of which I have so often told 

 you I mean my dear Noniano." l 



Fortunately this catastrophe was averted and Bembo 

 managed to raise a dowry of 3000 florins for his 

 eldest niece, Marcella, whom he married to his kins- 

 man, Gian Matteo Bembo, an able young official, 

 " not rich, but sufficiently well-to-do and highly 

 esteemed in the city." Marcella's sisters went back 

 to their convent, to remain there until a dowry 

 could be provided for them, and Bembo returned to 

 Rome, groaning in spirit over his hard fate. The 

 high hopes which he had entertained on Leo's 

 accession had been disappointed, the Cardinal's hat, 

 which at one time dangled before his eyes, had 

 vanished into space, and he found himself involved 

 in vexatious lawsuits with rivals who disputed his 



1 Lettere, i. 46. 

 139 



