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of her Cupid-had designed for the decoration of the Council Hall, in the Palazzo Pubblico.

The Marchesa paid several visits to Madonna Argentina, the wife of the Gonfaloniere Piero Soderini, and met Leonardo's uncle, but did not succeed in seeing the painter, who had retired to Fiesole in disgust at the failure of his experiments in wall-painting, and was buried in the absorbing study of hydraulics.

Before she left Florence, she desired a sculptor named Filippo Benintendi to model a silver effigy of herself, to be placed by that of her husband in the chapel which Alberti had built for Lodovico Gonzaga, in the Annunziata church. But the plague broke out after her return to Mantua, and for some time to come, money was very scarce in the Gonzaga treasury. So the poor sculptor never received the 25 ducats which the Marchesa had promised him, and nearly two years afterwards, he ventured to remind her of this omission, telling her at the same time how beautiful her image appeared, standing as it did in the finest part of the church, and how much admiration it excited from every Mantuan who came to Florence. Unfortunately this silver head shared the fate of all Isabella's busts, and perished in a fire which destroyed all the ornaments and works of art in the Gonzaga chapel.1

On the Marchesa's return home, the alarming increase of the plague compelled her to leave Mantua and take her children to the villa of Sacchetta, where they spent the summer months. Here, on her birthday, the 16th of May, she received a present of exceptional interest in the shape of a treatise, 1 Luzio in Emporium, 1900, p. 355.

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composed by Mario Equicola, on her favourite motto, Nec spe nec metu.

The Marchesa, as we have already seen, in common with most Italian lords and ladies of the age, was in the habit of adopting special devices and mottoes. The musical notes which gave expression to her love of music, the candelabra bearing the motto Sufficit unum in tenebris which Paolo Giovio suggested, and which were embroidered in gold on her festal robes, may still be seen among the decorations of her camerini at Mantua. There too, inscribed in quaint characters, we may read the words of her favourite motto, Nec spe nec metu, by which she expressed that serene equanimity and philosophic frame of mind to which she aspired, neither elated by hope nor cast down by fear. She chose this motto for her own as early as 1504, when, at the request of her friend Margherita Cantelma, she gave one of the Imperial ambassadors who visited Mantua and Ferrara gracious permission to use the words in writing and in his armorial bearings and on the liveries of his servants, "we ourselves," she wrote at the time, "being the inventor of this motto, and having adopted it as our peculiar device." In the following autumn Mario Equicola, the Calabrian secretary of Margherita Cantelma, who had followed her and Sigismondo to Ferrara, and was often employed by the Este princes, wrote from Blois to inform Isabella that he had written a book on this device, and only awaited her permission to publish the work.

1

"Most illustrious Lady,-It was the custom of ancient authors to seek for noble and excellent subjects in order to render their works immortal. 1 Luzio e Renier, Giorn. St. d. Lett. It., xxxiii. 49.

"NEC SPE NEC METU"

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Signora mia, although I am only a poor man of letters, I thank God, who has allowed me to serve Your Excellency, from whose rare talents and lively wit I hope some of my writings may acquire fame and authority. In this firm hope, I have composed a book of some forty sheets, in interpretation of Nec spe nec metu, making mention of the words on every page. In the said book I introduce discussions on the meaning of this motto, which will show Your Signory the methods of ancient poetry, philosophy, and theology, connecting Nec spe nec metu with each in turn, and praising this motto above all others ever composed. I beg you to give me leave to publish and print this little work, and if you wish, will send it to you before it is published. I await your pleasure, certifying that the twenty-seven chapters on this inscription are nearly finished, after which I will illustrate the musical signs."1

Mario had apparently divided his book into twenty-seven paragraphs, in allusion to the mystic number XXVII., vinte sette, another device adopted by Isabella, which, we learn from Paolo Giovio,2 signified that all the sects (sette) of her enemies were conquered (vinte). Isabella readily gave the desired permission, and the book, printed and bound in elegant covers, was presented to her by Margherita Cantelma on her next birthday. "Your letter and the book which Madonna Margherita sent us," wrote Isabella in reply, "are a more delightful birthday present than any gift of gold or other precious things, since you have thereby exalted our little device to sublime heights." But, with her usual candour, she 1 D'Arco, Notizie d'Isabella, p. 313. Delle Imprese, p. 59.

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remarks to her friend Margherita, in a letter written on the same day: "I certainly never imagined all these mysteries when I made the little motto!"

Mario, however, succeeded in ingratiating himself with the Marchesa, who invited him to Mantua on his return from France, and whom he describes, in a letter to Cardinal d'Este, as one of the Trinity whom he served on earth. "The first," he explains, "is Your Highness; the second, Signor Sigismondo Cantelma; the third, the Signora Marchesana." When Mario left Mantua in the following September, Isabella sent a bust of herself as a gift to his mistress, Margherita Cantelma, in return for the pains which this beloved friend had taken with her birthday present. A year afterwards, he accompanied Margherita again to Mantua, and assisted at some dramatic performances given by Bishop Lodovico Gonzaga and Antonia del Balzo at Gazzuolo. "You must blame Madonna Antonia," wrote Margherita, on the 15th of November, "who insists on keeping me here a night to see the Most Reverend Monsignore's comedy. I will not describe the amusements to which these lords and ladies devote themselves until we meet; they really are so many and varied that I am convinced time does not fly for them, and they are more youthful, more joyous and blooming than ever. None the less I am longing to be in the sacred Grotta, with her who is the true goddess of my adoration." Bishop Lodovico was the last survivor of Lodovico and Barbara Gonzaga's sons, and only died in 1511, while his sister-in-law, Antonia, lived till she was close upon a hundred, and, as we learn from Bandello's writings, preserved her joyous nature and love of letters to the last. In

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March 1508, we find Equicola again reading Latin poetry at Mantua with Isabella, and in the autumn he finally obtained leave from Cantelma and his wife to enter the Marchesa's service, and eventually succeeded Capilupi as secretary of his "most illustrious and learned pupil."

When Mario's libretto reached Isabella, she had, as we have said, left Mantua to escape from the plague, and was spending the summer at Sacchetta. It was a dreary year in the chronicles of the house of Gonzaga. The chronicler Schivenoglia records that the plague broke out at carnival, and lasted so long that the gates of Mantua remained closed until the day of the Blessed Virgin's Nativity in September. More than 2000 persons died in the city and suburbs, and the expenses of the epidemic cost the Government 140,000 ducats. Trade suffered severely, and the people were reduced to the greatest misery. The taxes were not paid, the revenue was in arrear, and Isabella was once more compelled to pledge her jewels. But she battled bravely with this new calamity, and exerted herself with her wonted energy to found charitable institutions and to relieve the distress of her husband's subjects.

When the plague was beginning to abate, the Marquis received a summons from Pope Julius II., who was starting an expedition against Perugia and Bologna, and invited Francesco to meet him at Urbino. By a bull issued on the 10th of January, this warlike Pope had proclaimed his intention of recovering all those territories of which the Holy See had been unjustly robbed, and the Baglioni and Bentivogli were the first usurpers against whom he directed his arms. Duke Guidobaldo recommended