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THE AUSTRIAN YELLOW. 223
crown, no doubt containing the great diamond, upon his head, met her at the gate of San Gallo and escorted her to the palace.
This
princess dying childless, the throne was occupied by Giovan-Gaston,
another son of Cosimo iii. and the flighty Marguerite. He likewise left
no heirs, so with his death in 1737 terminated the great house of
Medici. Giovan-Gaston was succeeded on the grand-ducal throne by
Francis Stephen of Lorraine, who was forced much against his
inclination to change his paternal duchy of Lorraine for that of
Tuscany. He was married to Maria Theresa, archduchess of Austria,
afterwards so famous as the Empress-queen who fought valiantly against
Frederick the Great. By the will of Giovan-Gaston dei Medici all the
statues, books, pictures and jewels of his palace were " to remain
forever at Florence as public property for the benefit of the people
and the attraction of foreign visitors," and none were to be removed
from out of the Grand Duchy.
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