nni Mattuzi of the Parione quarter.[7]

FOOTNOTES:

[7] Abstract of the marriage contract in the archives of the Capitol.
Cred. xiv, T. 72. From an instrument of the notary Agostino Martini.

CHAPTER IV

LUCRETIA'S EDUCATION

The cardinal's relations with Vannozza continued until about 1482, for
after the birth of Lucretia she presented him with another son, Giuffre,
who was born in 1481 or 1482.

After that, Borgia's passion for this woman, who was now about forty,
died out, but he continued to honor her as the mother of his children
and as the confidant of many of his secrets.

Vannozza had borne her husband, a certain Giorgio di Croce, a son, who
was named Octavian--at least this child passed as his. With the
cardinal's help she increased her revenues; in old official records she
appears as the lessee of several taverns in Rome, and she also bought a
vineyard and a country house near S. Lucia in Selci in the Subura,
apparently from the Cesarini. Even to-day the picturesque building with
the arched passageway over the stairs which lead up from the Subura to
S. Pietro in Vincoli is pointed out to travelers as the palace of
Vannozza or of Lucretia Borgia. Giorgio di Croce had become rich, and he
built a chapel for himself and his family in S. Maria del Popolo. Both
he and his son Octavian died in the year 1486.[8]

His death caused a change in Vannozza's circumstances, the cardinal
hastening to marry the mother of his children a second time, so that she
might have a protector and a respectable household. The new husband was
Carlo Canale, of Mantua.

[Illustration: CHURCH OF S. MARIA DEL POPOLO, ROME.]

Before he came to Rome he had by his attainments acquired some
reputation among the humanists of Mantua. There is still extant a letter
to Canale, written by the young poet Angelo Poliziano regarding his
_Orfeo_; the manuscript of this, the first attempt in the field of the
drama which marked the renaissance of the Italian theater, was in the
hands of Canale, who, appreciating the work of the faint-hearted poet,
was endeavoring to encourage him.[9] At the suggestion of Cardinal
Francesco Gonzaga, a great patron of letters, Poliziano had written the
poem in the short space of two days. Carlo Canale was the cardinal's
chamberlain. The _Orfeo_ saw the light in 1472. When Gonzaga died, in
1483, Canale went to Rome, where he entered the service of Cardinal
Sclafetano, of Parma. As a confidant and dependen