ld be kept secret for the present.
The royal bridegroom was to receive three hundred thousand ducats as
Bianca's dowry, while the remaining hundred thousand, which represented
the tribute dues on the investiture of the duchy, as an imperial fief,
were to be paid when this part of the transaction was accomplished.

Meanwhile Maximilian had already entered into negotiations with Charles
VIII., who, in his anxiety to undertake the expedition of Naples, was
ready to make any sacrifices in other directions; and on the 15th of May
the Treaty of Senlis was concluded between the two monarchs. Lodovico's
ambassador, Belgiojoso, accompanied the French king to Senlis, and kept
his master fully informed of all that happened at court. But while the
Moro had repeatedly assured Charles of his friendly intentions, he had
hitherto prudently abstained from offering any device as to the young
king's warlike designs against Naples, and had, it was well known,
opposed them. When in March, Charles VIII. had begged him, as a personal
favour, to send him his son-in-law, Galeazzo di Sanseverino, of whose
knightly prowess he had heard so much, in order that he might confer
with this distinguished captain on military questions, Lodovico
absolutely refused to consent, fearing the suspicions which Messer
Galeazzo's presence at the French court might excite.

Such was the state of political affairs when, on the 18th of May, 1493,
Lodovico and Beatrice, with their infant son, arrived at Ferrara. They
spent the night before their arrival at the palazzo Trotti, in the
suburbs, and on the following morning entered the town by the bridge of
Castel Tealde. After riding in state up the Via Grande and the Via degli
Sablioni to the Castello they visited the Duomo, attended mass, and made
an offering at the altar. The Piazza was decorated with green boughs and
bright draperies, and crowds thronged the streets, shouting "_Moro!
Moro!_" as the young duchess rode by in all her bravery, escorted by her
brother Alfonso and Madonna Anna, who had ridden out to meet her, with a
gay company of Ferrarese lords and ladies. That day Beatrice wore the
_camora_ of wonderful crimson brocade, embroidered with the lighthouse
towers of the port of Genoa, and a velvet cap studded with big pearls,
"as large as are Madama's very largest gems," wrote the faithful
Prosperi to Isabella d'Este, "as well as five splendid rubies."

On this occasion Lodovico was determined to dazzle th