286 STUDIES IN INSECT LIFE, ETC. 



characteristics of that family are strongly marked 

 in the " merry monarch." His gaiety and wit 

 and his skill in money matters when he chose to 

 apply himself, all bring to mind the Italian family 

 from which he sprang. Even the swarthy com- 

 plexion of Charles II. was probably due to his 

 Italian blood, and his fondness for outdoor sports 

 is another trait which is often observed in the 

 Medici themselves. There is an old engraving 

 of a portrait of Lorenzo (d. 1648), the brother 

 of Cosimo II., which shows an astonishing resem- 

 blance to Charles II. ; and it is interesting to 

 remember that Cosimo II. earned his chief claim 

 to the gratitude of posterity by his courageous 

 encouragement, protection and support of Galileo, 

 who owed to him the opportunity and means of 

 making his famous astronomical discoveries. 



Another royal personage, Prince Rupert, " full 

 of spirit and action, full of observation and judge- 

 ment," about this time invented his " chemical 

 glasses which break all to dust by breaking off 

 a little small end : which is a great mystery to 

 me."* He had, says Gramont, quelques talens 

 for chemistry and invented a new method for 



* Pepys, January I3th, 1662. 



