rtosa. Next we examined the result of our sport, which had been
laid out in front of the place, and took back as many of the lampreys
and crabs as we could eat with us, and sent some of the lampreys to his
Highness the duke. When this was done, we went to another palace and
caught more than a thousand large trout, and after choosing out the best
for presents and for our own holy throats, we had the rest thrown back
into the water. And then we mounted our horses again, and began to let
fly some of those good falcons of mine which you saw at Pavia, along the
river-side, and they killed several birds. By this time it was already
four o'clock. We rode out to hunt stags and fawns, and after giving
chase to twenty-two and killing two stags and two fawns, we returned
home and reached Milan an hour after dark, and presented the result of
our day's sport to my lord the Duke of Bari. My illustrious lord took
the greatest possible pleasure in hearing all we had done, far more,
indeed, than if he had been there in person, and I believe that my
duchess will in the end reap the greatest benefit, and that Signor
Lodovico will give her Cussago, which is a place of rare beauty and
worth. But I have cut my boots to pieces and torn my clothes, and played
the fool into the bargain, and these are the rewards one gains in the
service of ladies. However, I will have patience, since it is all for
the sake of my duchess, whom I never mean to fail in life or death."

[Illustration: SFORZA MS. ILLUMINATED _From a private photograph._]

Galeazzo was a true prophet, and in the British Museum we may still
admire the beautifully illuminated deed of gift, adorned with friezes of
exquisite cherubs and medallion-portraits of Lodovico and Beatrice, by
which the fair palace and lands of Cussago became the property of the
young duchess. This favourite villa of the Visconti had been left by
Francesco Sforza to his son Lodovico, who had employed a host of
architects and painters to adorn its walls. Bramante is said to have
reared the noble bell-tower and portico that are still standing, while
Milanese or Pavian sculptors carved the medallions bearing the Sforza
arms, and the portrait of Lodovico that may still be seen on the arcades
of the loggia. To-day the once beautiful country-house is a ruin; the
marble doorway which Galeazzo and Beatrice admired, carved it may be by
that same Cristoforo Romano to whom we owe the portal of the Stanga
palace, and that of