ll the whole company being assembled, Giovanni Galeazzo conducted
the newly-married couple from the church to his palace. In one immense
hall were laid out a hundred tables for the most distinguished guests,
including the mightiest princes in Italy, the most beautiful women,
and the most celebrated characters of the age; among whom we must not
omit to mention Francesco Petrarca. Other tables were placed in the
adjoining apartments. Seneschals, in the most sumptuous dresses,
brought in the massive dishes of gold and silver. The cup-bearers
performed their duties on horseback, galloping round the hall and
handing the choicest wines in costly vases of gold, silver, or
crystal. This custom of servants waiting at table on horseback appears
singular in our time, but it serves to give an idea of the splendour
of other days and the enormous size of the apartments. It also tends
to explain why most of the noble mansions still extant from the time
of which we speak, instead of a staircase, have a gradual ascent of
bricks, generally leading to a hall of large dimensions. And
frequently we see evident tokens that flights of steps have been
substituted in later times.

The banquet consisted of eighteen courses; and between each course
presents of various kinds were offered to the bridegroom, or
distributed by him; so that before the dinner had ended, Lionel had
presented every individual around him with some article of value,
besides 600 richly embroidered garments which he had given to the
mimes and players engaged for the occasion.

Here follows a formal account of the dinner, but we must economise our
space. The first course consisted of young pigs, gilded, with flames
issuing from their mouths; the second, of hares and pike, likewise
gilded; the third, of gilded veal and trout; the fourth, of
partridges, quails, and fish, all gilded; the fifth, of ducks, small
birds, and fish, all gilded; the sixth, of beef, capons with
garlic-sauce, and sturgeon; the seventh, of veal and capons with
lemon-sauce; the eighth, of beef-pies, with cheese and sugar, and
eel-pies with sugar and spices; the ninth, of meats, fowl and fish in
jelly (potted, we presume); the tenth, of gilded meats and lamprey;
the eleventh, of roast kid, birds, and fish; the twelfth, of hares and
venison, and fish with vinegar and sugar; the thirteenth, of beef and
deer, with lemon and sugar; the fourteenth, of fowls, capons, and
tench, covered with red and green foil;