ge as Galeazzo, that whereas Rinaldo
was only a brave soldier, Roland was able and virtuous as well as
valiant. Finally, in the third, he exhorts the illustrious marchioness
to recant her errors, since the Scriptures tell us that it is human to
err, and not to follow the bad example of Pharaoh who hardened his
heart, but to see how immeasurably inferior Rinaldo was to his rival,
and to become, with Messer Galeazzo and others of his merit, a true
Christian and follower of Roland.

The whole controversy is a curious instance of the deep interest which
these great ladies of the Italian Renaissance and their courtiers took
in literary subjects, and especially in the romances of the Carlovingian
cycle. This interest was not confined to the upper circles of society,
but spread through all classes, and was no doubt largely increased by
the songs and the improvisations of strolling minstrels and Provencal
story-tellers. First of all the Florentine Pulci, and after him Boiardo
and Bello of Ferrara, sought inspiration in the same source, and later
on their example was followed by Ariosto and Tasso. And Poggio, writing
in the fifteenth century, tells us how in his day a worthy citizen of
Milan, after hearing one of these wandering _cantatores_ chanting the
story of Roland's death with dramatic action and effect, went home
weeping so bitterly that his wife and friends could hardly console him
or induce him to dry his tears. "And yet," remarks the grave historian,
"this Roland they tell of has been dead well-nigh seven hundred years."

Unfortunately, Isabella's share in this singular and interesting
correspondence has perished, and only Messer Galeazzo's letters survive.
These may still be seen in the Gonzaga Archives, where they were first
discovered by Signor Alessandro Luzio and Signor Rodolfo Renier. These
learned writers are in some perplexity as to the identity of the writer,
since the letters are signed Galeaz _Sfortia Vicecomes_, and internal
evidence will not allow them to have been written by any Galeazzo Sforza
or Visconti then living. But there can hardly be a doubt as to who the
writer actually was. Galeazzo di Sanseverino had been adopted by
Lodovico Sforza when he married his daughter Bianca, and from that time
used the surname of the ducal house, _Sfortia Vicecomes_, and very
frequently added his title of _Armorum Capitaneus_, captain of the
armies of Milan. His well-known patronage of artists and love of
letters, a