gs
of absolute contemporaries is there the least mention of either of those
scandalous stories. The affair of the stallions, for instance, must have
been of a fairly public character. Scandal-mongering Rome could not have
resisted the dissemination of it. Yet, apart from the Savelli letter, no
single record of it has been discovered to confirm Burchard.

At this time, moreover, it is to be remembered, Lucrezia's betrothal to
Alfonso d'Este was already accomplished; preparations for her departure
and wedding were going forward, and the escort from Ferrara was daily
expected in Rome. If Lucrezia had never been circumspect, she must be
circumspect now, when the eyes of Italy were upon her, and there
were not wanting those who would have been glad to have thwarted the
marriage--the object, no doubt, of the pamphlet we are considering. Yet
all that was written to Ferrara was in praise of her--in praise of
her goodness and her modesty, her prudence, her devoutness, and her
discretion, as presently we shall see.

If from this we are to conclude--as seems reasonable--that there was no
gossip current in Rome of the courtesans' supper and the rest, we may
assume that there was no knowledge in Rome of such matters; for with
knowledge silence would have been impossible. So much being admitted,
it becomes a matter of determining whether the author of the Letter to
Silvio Savelli had access to the diary of Burchard for his facts, or
whether Burchard availed himself of the Letter to Silvio Savelli to
compile these particular entries. The former alternative being out of
the question, there but remains the latter--unless it is possible that
the said entries have crept into the copies of the "Diarium" and are not
present in the original, which is not available.

This theory of interpolation, tentatively put forward, is justified, to
some extent at least, by the following remarkable circumstances: that
two such entries, having--as we have said--absolutely no parallel in the
whole of the Diarium, should follow almost immediately the one upon the
other; and that Burchard should relate them coldly, without reproof or
comment of any kind--a most unnatural reticence in a writer who loosed
his indignation one Easter-tide to see Lucrezia and her ladies occupying
the choir of St. Peter's, where women never sat.

The Pope read the anonymous libel when it was submitted to him by the
Cardinal of Modena--read it, laughed it to scorn, and treated i