ful age, beautiful in face, and dark in colouring, fond of
inventing new costumes, and of spending day and night in song and
dancing and all manner of delights." In these early days at Pavia and
Milan there was, indeed, Trotti tells us, a certain shyness and reserve
about her that was only natural and might well be ascribed to maiden
shyness and timidity, but in the freedom and gaiety of her new life this
soon gave way to the irrepressible mirth and joyousness of youthful
vivacity. From the first she seems to have become sincerely attached to
Lodovico, who, although considerably older than herself, and already
thirty-nine years of age, was a very handsome and splendid-looking man,
of imposing stature and striking countenance, with courteous manners and
gentle ways. And however often he may have excited her jealousy or
wounded her feelings, his young wife never wavered in her love for him,
but proved, as he himself confessed, the best and most devoted of
companions.

On Tuesday, the 17th of January, the long-delayed wedding finally took
place, in the Castello of Pavia. A small but very brilliant company was
assembled that day in the ancient chapel of the Visconti. The official
festivities were to be celebrated at Milan, where the duke and duchess
and their court were awaiting the bride's arrival, and the Ferrarese
ambassador was the only foreign envoy present at the wedding. But
Lodovico's personal friends and retainers mustered in force, as well as
those captains and courtiers who could claim kinship with the house of
Este. Niccolo da Correggio was there, as one nearly related to both
bride and bridegroom, and was universally pronounced to be the
handsomest and best dressed of all the cavaliers who were present that
day. There, too, was Galeotto Prince of Mirandola, the husband of the
gifted Bianca d'Este, and Rodolfo Gonzaga, the Marquis of Mantua's
uncle, and, conspicuous by their lofty stature and martial air, the four
Sanseverino brothers.

The bride, arrayed in a white robe sown with pearls and glittering with
jewels, was led to the altar by the Duchess of Ferrara and Marchioness
of Mantua, supported by the young Don Alfonso, his uncle Sigismondo,
and a select retinue of Ferrarese courtiers and ladies. It was rumoured
that the Marquis Gianfrancesco Gonzaga had himself been seen in the
crowd assembled in the courtyard of the Castello, and, much to
Isabella's surprise, Lodovico asked the marchioness, at the banquet