ANTONIA DEL BALZO

47

In these early days no shadow dimmed the bright prospects of the young Marchesana. Her joyous nature, her youth and beauty, brought sunshine into the old Castello on the Mantuan lakes, and she was soon as much adored in her new home as she had been in her father's home. Her ready tact and good sense helped to allay the dissensions which had arisen between the young Marquis and his uncles. Bishop Lodovico in particular had incurred his nephew's displeasure after his elder brother's death by his efforts to obtain the Cardinal's hat which Francesco wished to secure for his brother Sigismondo, and held a rival court of his own at Gazzuolo. But soon after Isabella's marriage the Bishop sent to Venice for a costly jewel which he offered her as a wedding present, and the young Marchesana always kept up a friendly intercourse with him and his brother Gianfrancesco, the lord of Bozzolo. This gallant soldier served King Ferrante of Naples for many years, and, during his residence in Southern Italy, married Antonia del Balzo, the beautiful and accomplished daughter of Pirro, Prince of Altamura, the representative of the old Provençal family of Des Baux, who had followed Charles of Anjou to Naples, and bore the star in their coat-of-arms in proud token of their descent from Balthasar, one of the Three Kings.' The Gonzagas of Bozzolo shared Isabella's love of romances and plays, and she constantly exchanged books with them or assisted at the dramatic performances in which they took delight. At her request Francesco Bello, the blind improvisatore of Ferrara, who had settled at the court of Bozzolo, came to Mantua on a visit; but Gianfrancesco, who suffered from increasing infirmities

1 V. Rossi, Giorn. St. d. Lett. It., vol. xiii.

48

FRIENDSHIP OF ISABELLA

and became prematurely old during the last years of his life, entreated her to send him back soon, since the poet's recitations were one of the few pleasures that he was still able to enjoy. Antonia remained one of Isabella's intimate friends to the end of her long life, and in August 1492, when the Marchesana passed through the town of Canneto in their dominions on her way to Milan, she wrote back to tell her husband how Madame Antonia had come out to meet her with her two beautiful daughters. "Messer Andrea Mantegna," she exclaimed, "could not paint fairer maidens!" 1

With the more immediate members of her husband's family Isabella soon became a great favourite. Both her brother-in-law, Monsignore il protonotario, as Sigismondo was styled, and the young Giovanni, a merry lad of sixteen, were from the first her devoted slaves. Giovanni especially took part in all Isabella's amusements, and kept up a lively correspondence with her when she was absent from Mantua. But, of all her new relations, the one whom Isabella admired the most and loved the best was her sister-in-law, Elisabetta. From the day when the young Marchesana arrived at Mantua, a fast friendship sprang up between these two princesses, which was destined to prove as enduring as it was deep and strong. "There is no one I love like you,' she wrote to Elisabetta in the ardour of her affection, "excepting my only sister, the Duchess of Bari”— Beatrice d'Este. And through all the changes and turmoil of the coming years, through the political troubles and fears and plots which tore Italy in twain and divided households against each other, 1 Luzio e Renier in Archivio Storico Lombardo, vol. xvii. p. 344.

AND ELISABETTA

49

Isabella's friendship for her beloved sister-in-law never altered.

Both

The two princesses had much in common. of them took especial delight in music and singing. Both were studious in their tastes, and showed the same kindly interest in painters and scholars. Isabella was more than three years younger than the Duchess, who had reached the age of nineteen at the time of her brother's wedding. She was more brilliant and witty, quicker at gay repartee and merry jokes. And she was also more talented and many-sided in her tastes. In future years she took an active part in politics, showed herself a skilful and able diplomatist, and was a match for Cæsar Borgia himself. Elisabetta was graver and more thoughtful. She had neither the physical strength nor the striking beauty and high spirits of Isabella. But her sweetness and goodness inspired those who knew her best with absolute devotion. She was adored, not only by her husband and brothers, but by the most brilliant cavaliers and distinguished men of letters of the age, by Baldassarre Castiglione and Pietro Bembo.

On this occasion Elisabetta remained at Mantua, by her sister-in-law's especial wish, till June. During the frequent journeys of the Marquis to Venice, the two princesses were inseparable companions. Together they sang French songs and read the latest romances, or played scartino, their favourite game at cards, in the pleasant rooms which Francesco had prepared for his bride on the first floor of the Castello, near the Sala degli Sposi. Together they rode and walked in the park and boated on the crystal waters of the lake, or took excursions to the neighbouring villas of Porto and Marmirolo. By the middle of

VOL. I.

D

50

THE LAGO DI GARDA

March, the Duchess's health was sufficiently improved to venture on a longer trip, and on the 15th, Isabella wrote to her absent lord: "To-day, after dinner, with Your Highness's kind permission, the Duchess of Urbino and I are going to supper at Goïto, and tomorrow to Cavriana, where the wife of Signor Fracassa (Gasparo San Severino) will meet us, and on Thursday we are going on the lake of Garda, according to Your Highness's orders, and I have let the Rector of Verona know, so that we may find a barge at Sermione." A few days later she wrote from Cavriana to inform her husband of the success of their expedition. "The Duchess of Urbino and I, together with Signor Fracassa's wife, went on Thursday to dine at Desenzano and to supper at Tuscullano, where we spent the night, and greatly enjoyed the sight of this Riviera. On Friday we returned by boat to Sermione, and rode here on horseback. Wherever we went we were warmly welcomed and treated with the greatest attention, most of all by the captain of the lake, who gave us fish and other things, and by the people of Salò, who sent us a fine present. To-morrow we go to Goïto, and on Tuesday back to Mantua."1 So for the first time Isabella saw the lovely shores of Garda and the lemon groves of Salò, and lingered in the classic gardens of Sermione, charmed with the delights of that fair paradise which she was often to visit in years to come. "These Madonnas," wrote one of the gentlemen-in-waiting, Stefano Sicco, from Cavriana on the 20th, "have been indefatigable in making excursions by boat and on horseback, and have seen all the gardens on the lake with the greatest delight. The inhabitants have vied with

1 Luzio e Renier, Mantova e Urbino, p. 54.

LETTERS FROM FERRARA

51

each other in doing them honour, and one Fermo of Caravazo caused his garden to be stripped for the Marchesana and her party and loaded them with lemons and pomegranates."

1

Meanwhile the blank which Isabella's departure had left at Ferrara made itself daily felt. Her old tutor Jacopo Gallino wrote that he could not keep back his tears when he thought of those happy days when she read Virgil at his side, and repeated the Eclogues in her clear voice. At Isabella's request he sent her old Latin books to Mantua that she might pursue her studies and sometimes remember her poor old tutor. Another servant, Brandelisio Trotti, describes in his letters how he wanders, from room to room, through the desolate chambers where her angelic face once smiled upon him, recalling each word and act, and saying to himself: "There my divine lady lived here she spoke those sweet, thoughtful words." "In the whole palace," wrote Leonora's chamberlain, Bernardino dei Prosperi, "there is not a single courtier or serving woman who does not feel widowed without Your Highness. Even the tricks and jests of the dwarfs and clowns fail to make us laugh." Most of all to be pitied was the poor Duchess, who would not even allow the little window-shutters of Isabella's apartment to be opened, saying that she had not the heart to visit those empty rooms, knowing how great was the blank that she would find there.

Isabella, to do her justice, did not forget her old friends. She wrote kind letters to her old tutors, Battista Guarino and Jacopo Gallino, and sent them presents of black damask and velvet in gratitude 1 Luzio e Renier, Mantova e Urbino, pp. 54-56.