him in how great misery his son had been; and so, giving the
letter to the Marchioness, he said, 'Do that which pleases
you.' The Marchioness straightway sent the prince money, and
clothes to clothe him, in order that he should return to
Mantua; and having come, the son cast himself at his father's
feet, imploring pardon for himself and for his attendants; and
he pardoned them, and gave those attendants enough to live
honorably and like noblemen, and they were called The Faithful
of the House of Gonzaga, and from them come the _Fedeli_ of
Mantua.

"The Marquis then, not to break faith, caused Federico to take
Margherita, daughter of the Duke of Bavaria, for his wife, and
celebrated the nuptials splendidly; so that there remained the
greatest love between father and son."

The son succeeded to the father's dominion in 1478; and it is recorded
of him in the "Flower of the Chronicles," that he was a hater of
idleness, and a just man, greatly beloved by his people. They chiefly
objected to him that he placed a Jew, Eusebio Malatesta, at the head
of civil affairs; and this Jew was indeed the cause of great mischief:
for Ridolfo Gonzaga coming to reside with his wife for a time at the
court of his brother, the Marquis, Malatesta fell in love with
her. She repelled him, and the bitter Jew thereupon so poisoned her
husband's mind with accusations against her chastity, that he took her
home to his town of Lazzaro, and there put the unhappy and innocent
lady to death by the headsman's hand in the great square of the city.

Federico was Marquis only six years, and died in 1484, leaving
his marquisate to his son Francesco, the most ambitious, warlike,
restless, splendid prince of his magnificent race. This Gonzaga wore a
beard, and brought the custom into fashion in Italy again. He founded
the famous breed of Mantuan horses, and gave them about free-handedly
to other sovereigns of his acquaintance. To the English king he
presented a steed which, if we may trust history, could have been sold
for almost its weight in gold. He was so fond of hunting that he kept
two hundred dogs of the chase, and one hundred and fifty birds of
prey.

Of course this Gonzaga was a soldier, and indeed he loved war better
even than hunting, and delighted so much in personal feats of arms
that, concealing his name and quality, in order that the combat should
be in all things equal, he was wont to