AND OF ELISABETTA 249 addressed to Signor Ercole Gonzaga, brother of the Marquis of Mantua, promising, on the faith of a true Pope, to make him Cardinal at the next creation, and this I think will take place very soon." And he wrote to Ercole in the same strain, advising him to go to Rome himself as soon as possible. The death of Sigismondo was a blow to his tenderhearted sister Elisabetta. Her own health was in a very precarious state, and Federico Gonzaga, fearing the effect of a sudden shock, wrote to Emilia Pia, begging her to break the news gently to his aunt. But early in January, the good Duchess became seriously ill, and on the 28th she passed away, to the sorrow of her family and subjects. Both the Duke and his wife were absent at the time, and Leonora wrote from the neighbourhood of Verona to tell her mother of Elisabetta's serious illness. A few days later, the news of her death reached them, and they both wept for one who had been to them the best of mothers. The loss of this devoted sister and friend was even more severely felt by Isabella, who had been closely connected with Elisabetta for the last forty-six years, and the Mantuan ambassador, Francesco Gonzaga, gives a touching account of the sorrow with which she received the news. "Madama," he writes to Federico on the 5th of February, "has felt the greatest distress at the death of the widowed Duchess of blessed memory, and besides the ties of blood, and the singular love which has always united these two illustrious princesses, she grieves over the loss of the most rare lady whom this age has known. But it is the will of God, and we can only bear our loss in patience. The news of the said Duchess's death reached the ambassador of 250 BEMBO'S TRIBUTE Urbino just before I received Your Excellency's letter on Friday evening, and as the hour was late, and Madama was in the company of some of these Cardinals, I did not tell her until the following morning. His Holiness, on his part, showed the greatest sorrow for this sad event, and, in conversation with me, remarked that we had lost a lady of rare gifts and singular excellence, and that he realised this the more fully because he had known her intimately in the darkest days of her life. And he observed that she would be a great loss to the Lord Duke, whom she helped by her wise and prudent counsels, and the admirable love which she had for his subjects."1 But, amongst all the tributes to Elisabetta's memory, that which her old friend Bembo paid her was the truest and most eloquent. "I have seen many excellent and noble women," he wrote, "and have heard of some who were more illustrious for certain virtues, but in her alone among women all virtues were united and brought together. I have never seen or heard of any one who was her equal, and know very few who have even come near her." The words, as Lady Eastlake remarked, may well have suggested Shakespeare's lines : "For several virtues Have I liked several women, never any So perfect and so peerless are created 1 Luzio e Renier, Mantova, p. 274. • Opera, iv. LEAGUE AGAINST CHARLES V. 251 Meanwhile important political events were taking place. On the 14th of January, the Treaty of Madrid was signed, and Francis I. was released from captivity. But hardly had he set foot in France than the Pope absolved him from his oath to observe the conditions of the treaty, and himself joined the new League against the Emperor with France, Venice, Florence, and the Duke of Milan. The Marquis of Mantua, who was kept informed by his mother, and Francesco Gonzaga, of all that happened in Rome, remained strictly neutral, and begged the Pope's leave to abstain from taking up arms against his liege lord the Emperor, while the Duke of Ferrara, whom Clement VII. refused to admit into the League, made a secret agreement with Charles V., and supplied his troops with provisions and ammunition. The Pope was more furious than ever with his old enemy. "If the Duke wishes to make the Emperor master of all Italy," he exclaimed, "let him try his worst! Much good may it do him!"1 Guido Rangone now led the papal forces to join the Duke of Urbino, who, as Venetian general, assumed the chief command of the armies of the League. But whether owing to ill-health or excessive caution, Francesco Maria allowed the Castello of Milan to fall into the hands of the Imperialists without striking a blow in its defence, and the unfortunate Sforza was compelled to capitulate, on the 24th of July. He retired to Lodi, and the Duke of Urbino, after taking Cremona, left the camp, and joined his wife at Mantua. For a time all remained quiet in Rome. Isabella 1 Gayangos, "Spanish Calendar of Letters"; Creighton, "Hist. of the Papacy," vi. 330, &c. |