ance ladies; while Anna Sforza was all in white, "because it was
Saturday," explained Teodora, and she had vowed to wear no colours on
that day for a certain number of weeks. This was a common practice with
many Italian princesses who had lately recovered from illness or given
birth to a child, and one to which we find frequent allusion in the
correspondence of Isabella d'Este. On Saturday all the court attended
high mass at S. Maria delle Grazie, and a last entertainment was given,
this time by Duchess Beatrice herself, in the Rocchetta.

The next day, Lodovico took his wife and mother-in-law, with the Duchess
of Milan and their other guests, to Vigevano, to enjoy a little rest and
country air. But here fresh amusements awaited them, and the splendour
of Beatrice's wardrobe and the treasures of her _camerini_ filled the
Ferrarese visitors with wonder and envy. On the 6th of March, Bernardo
Prosperi wrote to tell Isabella that our Madonna had been conducted by
the jester Mariolo over Beatrice's "_guardaroba_," and had seen all the
splendid gowns, pelisses, and mantles which had been made for her during
the last two years, about eighty-four in all, "besides many more," adds
the writer, "which your sister the duchess has in Milan." The costliness
of the materials, and the rich and intricate embroidery which covered
satins and brocades, made Leonora exclaim that she felt as if she were
in a sacristy looking at priests' vestments and altar frontals. After
examining all of these fine clothes, the duchess was taken into two
other _camerini_, where Beatrice, after the fashion of great ladies in
those days, had collected her favourite books and _object d'art_. One
cabinet was full of Murano glass of delicate shape and colour, of
porcelain dishes, and majolica from Faenza or Gubbio. Another held
ivories, crystals, and enamels engraved in the same style as Lodovico's
vases in the treasury at Milan. Perfumes and washes filled another case,
while a separate cabinet was devoted to hunting implements, dog-collars,
pouches, flasks, horns, knives, and hoods for falcons. "There was,
indeed," added Duchess Leonora's attendant, "enough to fill many shops."

The evenings at Vigevano were enlivened with music and singing, and, by
Lodovico's orders, a band of Spanish musicians who had been sent from
Rome to Milan by his brother, Cardinal Ascanio, came to play before
Beatrice and her mother, who both admired the sweet strains of their
large v