the rhymes of court poets is the evidence to
be found in the letters describing the daily round of life at Milan or
Pavia and Vigevano. Here Isabella and Beatrice are mentioned as joining
in the same games and sports, whether playing at ball, sometimes even
trying their strength in wrestling matches.

"The two duchesses," writes the Ferrarese ambassador, on the 28th of
April, "have been having a sparring match, and the Duke of Bari's wife
has knocked down her of Milan."

Sometimes their escapades were of a decidedly undignified order. But
practical jokes were much in vogue among these exalted lords and ladies
of the Renaissance. For instance, we find Beatrice's brother Alfonso and
Messer Galeazzo, disguised as robbers, breaking into the house of
Girolamo Tuttavilla, one of Lodovico's favourite ministers, at midnight,
and leading him blindfold on a donkey through the streets of Milan and
into the Castello, where he was released amid peals of laughter. And the
two young duchesses seem to have celebrated this Eastertide, which they
spent at Milan, by the wildest freaks.

"There is literally no end to the pleasures and amusements which we
have here," writes Lodovico, on the 12th of April, to his sister-in-law
at Mantua. "I could not tell you one-thousandth part of the tricks and
games in which the Duchess of Milan and my wife indulge. In the country
they spent their time in riding races and galloping up behind their
ladies at full speed, so as to make them fall off their horses. And now
that we are back here in Milan, they are always inventing some new forms
of amusement. They started yesterday in the rain on foot, with five or
six of their ladies, wearing cloths or towels over their heads, and
walked through the streets of the city to buy provisions. But since it
is not the custom for women to wear cloths on their heads here, some of
the women in the street began to laugh at them and make rude remarks,
upon which my wife fired up and replied in the same manner, so much so
that they almost came to blows. In the end they came home all muddy and
bedraggled, and were a fine sight! I believe, when your Highness is
here, they will go out with all the more courage, since they will have
in you so bold and spirited a comrade, and if any one dares to be rude
to you, they will get back as good as they give! From your affectionate
brother,

"Lodovico."[15]

Isabella, for all