of the pope, who was not the son of either of his mistresses, Rosa
Vanozza or Giulia Farnese, the other an Don Roderigo of Aragon, son of
Lucrezia and Alfonso: the lands of the Colonna were in appanage to the
two duchies.

But Alexander was dreaming of yet another addition to his fortune; this
was to came from a marriage between Lucrezia and Don Alfonso d'Este, son
of Duke Hercules of Ferrara, in favour of which alliance Louis XII had
negotiated.

His Holiness was now having a run of good fortune, and he learned on the
same day that Piombino was taken and that Duke Hercules had given the
King of France his assent to the marriage. Both of these pieces of news
were good for Alexander, but the one could not compare in importance with
the other; and the intimation that Lucrezia was to marry the heir
presumptive to the duchy of Ferrara was received with a joy so great that
it smacked of the humble beginnings of the Borgian house. The Duke of
Valentinois was invited to return to Rome, to take his share in the
family rejoicing, and on the day when the news was made public the
governor of St. Angelo received orders that cannon should be fired every
quarter of an hour from noon to midnight. At two o'clock, Lucrezia,
attired as a fiancee, and accompanied by her two brothers, the Dukes of
Valentinois and Squillace, issued from the Vatican, followed by all the
nobility of Rome, and proceeded to the church of the Madonna del Papalo,
where the Duke of Gandia and Cardinal Gian Borgia were buried, to render
thanks for this new favour accorded to her house by God; and in the
evening, accompanied by the same cavalcade, which shone the more brightly
under the torchlight and brilliant illuminations, she made procession
through the whale town, greeted by cries of "Long live Pope Alexander VI!
Lang live the Duchess of Ferrara!" which were shouted aloud by heralds
clad in cloth of gold.

The next day an announcement was made in the town that a racecourse for
women was opened between the castle of Sant' Angelo and the Piazza of St.
Peter's; that on every third day there would be a bull-fight in the
Spanish fashion; and that from the end of the present month, which was
October, until the first day of Lent, masquerades would be permitted in
the streets of Rome.

Such was the nature of the fetes outside; the programme of those going on
within the Vatican was not presented to the people; for by the account of
Bucciardo, an eye-witness, this