266 PLOT OF THE ESTE BROTHERS

had recovered his sight, Niccolo da Correggio succeeded in effecting an apparent reconciliation between the brothers. But a few months afterwards Giulio entered into a conspiracy with his younger brother Ferrante to murder both the Duke and Cardinal and seize the duchy. The plot was discovered, and Ferrante was thrown into prison. Giulio fled to Mantua, where Isabella not only gave him shelter, but did her utmost to save him from Alfonso's wrath, and wrote long letters to her old friend Niccolo on the subject. But the Duke was implacable, and Niccolo visited Isabella, in July 1506, at her villa of Sacchetta, and laid proofs of Giulio's guilt before her eyes. After this the unfortunate prince was given up, and imprisoned together with Ferrante in the dungeon of the Castello of Ferrara. Here the unhappy brothers were left to languish in captivity during the whole of Alfonso's reign. Ferrante died in prison in 1540, and Giulio was only released in 1559, two years before his death. By this time he was eighty-three years of age, and

the Ferrarese chroniclers relate that when the old man came out of his cell he still wore the clothes which had been in fashion when he was first imprisoned more than half a century before.1

This tragic incident threw a gloom over Isabella's family life, and after 1506, her visits to Ferrara became less frequent than of old. But her strong family instincts made her cling to her father's house, and in the long struggle which Alfonso maintained against three successive Popes, he found a loyal friend and supporter in his sister.

While these dark shadows saddened Isabella's old home, happier events were taking place at Mantua. 1 Frizzi, op. cit., p. 255.

BETROTHAL OF LEONORA GONZAGA 267

The month of her father's death was also that of her daughter Leonora's betrothal to Francesco Maria della Rovere, the nephew and heir of her brother-inlaw, Duke Guidobaldo. This marriage had long been desired by Elisabetta, and was equally agreeable to the Marquis of Mantua, as a means of obtaining the Cardinalate, which he had been striving to obtain for his brother during the last fifteen years. The Venetian ambassador, Giustiniani, mentions a report as to the proposed marriage in his despatches from Rome as early as 1503;1 and Emilia Pia, in writing to Isabella at the close of 1504, remarks that "the new Cardinals are to be made at Easter, and it is held certain that Our Reverend Monsignore, the Protonotary, will be one." The official proclamation actually took place in the Consistory held in the following November, when Sigismondo Gonzaga was proclaimed Cardinal, together with eight other prelates nominated by the Pope. In January 1505, Lodovico Canossa was sent to Mantua with formal proposals by the Duke of Urbino, and on the 2nd of March, the marriage was celebrated in the Vatican, Giovanni Gonzaga acting as his niece's representative. The Pope insisted that the bride should bring her husband a dowry of 30,000 ducats, but only 20,000 ducats were to be paid at once, and the remainder of this sum at a period to be fixed by the Duchess Elisabetta. Leonora's portrait was sent to Rome, at the request of the Pope, and in a letter of April 30, Isabella expressed her regret to the Prefettessa Giovanna della Rovere that it was only a black and white drawing, since there was no painter at present in Mantua who could handle colours well, 1 Dispacci, ii. 859.

268

EMILIA PIA'S LETTERS

but said that she hoped to be able to send a better picture soon. It was a strange excuse for Isabella to advance, but Mantegna's health, we know, was failing, and his son Francesco and Bonsignori were probably engaged elsewhere. This proposed marriage led to an active renewal of correspondence between the courts of Mantua and Urbino, and since Elisabetta's time was fully occupied, she often employed Emilia to write to Isabella in her stead. The letters of this witty and accomplished lady abound in information of the most varied description. She thanks the Marchesa for an account of the Queen of France's coronation, which Mario Equicola has sent from Blois, and gives her in return all the latest gossip from Rome and Urbino.' She describes the funeral services in honour of Queen Isabella of Spain, the banquets and representations given by Cardinal Sanseverino, and the wedding of Julius the Second's daughter, Madonna Felice, to Giovanni Orsini, the eccentric lord of Bracciano, whom Leonora's husband, Francesco Maria, denounced as a madman. She tells Isabella the marriages which are expected to take place, and those which have ended in smoke, and discourses in the same witty fashion of carnival plays and Lent sermons. She has a great deal to say of the eloquent friar, whose preaching is converting every one at court, and rejoices to hear that Isabella is attending the sermons of two of her own friends, who are giving Lent courses at Mantua, although they can hardly rival the Urbino monk. In the same letter she informs the Marchesa of the alarm which had been excited in Rome by a report, brought from Spain by the merchants of 1 Luzio e Renier, Mantova e Urbino, pp. 158–168.

ISABELLA'S PERFUMES

269

Valencia, that Cæsar Borgia had escaped from prison. In reality, as Emilia explains, Valentino had tried to let himself down from his prison window by a rope made of his bedclothes. But his attempt failed. The rope gave way, and he fell and dislocated his shoulder. The Marchesa's lively correspondent ends by telling Her Excellency that she is sending her a certain kind of wood that is said to have a marvellous property for polishing the nails and the hands, as well as a recipe for washing the teeth, which is used by the Queens at Naples. And, in return, Isabella sends Emilia some of the silver boxes containing perfumes of her own manufacture, which were eagerly sought after by persons of quality, and were so highly appreciated by Pietro Bembo in the days when he was secretary to Pope Leo X.1

In the summer of 1504, Elisabetta invited Isabella to accompany her to Rome. The Marchesa, who had never seen the Eternal City, was enchanted at the prospect, and declared that she would either come incognito, clad in black, or else as a maid in the Duchess's train. This journey, however, was ultimately abandoned, partly from fear of the plague in Rome, of which there were several cases; partly because of the wish of the Pope to cut down expenses and restore order in the disordered finances of the Vatican. "This Pope," writes Emilia, “is so niggardly that I know not if our plan will succeed." But she rejoices to hear that the standards of the Church, which are said to be very gorgeous, and the bâton of Captain-general, are on their way to

Urbino.

That summer a distinguished Mantuan gentle1 V. Cian in Giorn. St. d. Lett. It., ix. 120.

270

CASTIGLIONE AND

man, Baldassarre Castiglione, entered the Duke's service and settled at Urbino, much to the displeasure of his own liege lord. The Marquis Francesco's consent had indeed been formally asked, but he was naturally reluctant to lose so brilliant and accomplished a figure from his court. When, a year afterwards, Guidobaldo sent him as envoy to Ferrara, he was forbidden to cross the Mantuan frontier; and when, in 1506, he went to England to receive the Order of the Garter, which Henry VII. conferred on the Duke of Urbino, Francesco refused to allow him to visit Mantua and embrace his mother before he started on this long journey. Neither Elisabetta's intervention nor a humble request which Castiglione himself addressed to the Marquis could induce him to relent, and it was not till his return from England, in the spring of 1507, that he was allowed to set foot on his native soil. Isabella, however, proved a good friend to Castiglione, and earned his undying gratitude by her constant efforts to appease her husband's resentment.

Another Mantuan subject and kinsman of Francesco, Cesare Gonzaga, also settled at Urbino in these days, but always remained on friendly terms with the Marchesa, and was one of her constant correspondents. A devoted friend and companion of Castiglione, he assisted him in the composition of the pastoral play, "Tirsi," which the two authors recited at the carnival of 1506, and is one of the chief speakers who figure in the "Cortigiano." Cortigiano." Cesare was the brother of Luigi Gonzaga, who lives in Ariosto's verse, and whose splendid palace of Borgoforte, near Mantua, was often honoured by Isabella's presence, and his gay letters were much appreciated