ependence could be placed upon this foolish youth,
who cared for nothing but his dogs and horses, and repeated everything
that she said to Lodovico. So she devoured her griefs in silence, and
only gave utterance to her sorrows in her letters to Naples.

Meanwhile, Alfonso did his utmost to stir up enemies against Lodovico,
while, with habitual duplicity, he sent flattering messages to his
brother-in-law, and begged for the continuance of his friendship. That
February envoys were sent from Naples to France, under pretence of
buying horses and dogs for hunting, but with secret instructions to
persuade Charles VIII., if possible, to break with Lodovico Sforza, and
refuse to acknowledge him as Regent of Milan. Charles, however, was too
much intent on his own plans for the conquest of Naples to pay any heed
to these proposals, and the only result of Alfonso's intrigues was to
strengthen the alliance between France and Milan.

Gianfrancesco, Count of Caiazzo, the eldest of the Sanseverino brothers,
was chosen by Lodovico as chief ambassador to the French king, and
received secret instructions to show Charles VIII. the proposals which
had been made to the Regent of Milan by the King of England and
Maximilian, King of the Romans.

"Let him know by this means," runs the letter, still preserved in the
Milanese archives, "how unwilling we are to act in any way against his
interests, and let him see that we have preferred his alliance to that
of the mightiest monarchs in Europe. Take care also to insist on the
importance of the Duchy of Milan and on the exalted position that we
occupy in the eyes of other Italian States. And assure him that we are
his firm and loyal friends, whose constancy neither threats nor promises
can ever shake."[22]

Count Carlo Belgiojoso, Galeazzo Visconti and Girolamo Tuttavilla, Count
of Sarno, who was himself one of King Ferrante's exiled subjects, were
selected to accompany Caiazzo on his mission. On the 23rd of February
they left Milan, and reached Paris towards the end of March.

Not only had Lodovico given his envoys minute instructions as to the
language they were to hold in treating with the French king, but the
clothes they were to wear, the presents which they bore to Charles VIII.
and his queen, the very day and hour of their entry into Paris, were all
regulated by his orders. His astrologer, Ambrogio di Rosate, had fixed
upon the 28th of March as the most propitious moment for Caiazzo to