ce of danger,
and faced an angry boar or wounded stag with the same lightness of
heart. The greater the risks she ran, the higher her spirits rose. This
feature of his young wife's character aroused the Moro's highest
admiration. In a letter of the 8th of July, after recounting the various
incidents of a long day's hunting, he tells the Marchesa what a narrow
escape Beatrice has had from an infuriated stag which gored her horse.

"All at once we heard that the wounded stag had been seen, and had
attacked the horse which my wife was riding, and the next moment we saw
her lifted up in the air a good lance's height from the ground; but she
kept her seat, and sat erect all the while. The duke and duchess and I
all rushed to her help, and asked if she were hurt; but she only
laughed, and was not in the least frightened."[14]

Isabella herself was burning with eager desire to join Lodovico and
Beatrice in these hunting-parties, and have a share in the thrilling
adventures which they narrated in their letters, But her husband the
marquis was away all the spring and early summer; first at Bologna,
where he attended his brother Giovanni Gonzaga's wedding, and afterwards
with his sister the Duchess Elizabeth at Urbino. After his return to
Mantua he fell ill, and when he recovered it was already late in August,
and Isabella was compelled very reluctantly to decline Lodovico Sforza's
pressing invitations. Money was scarce at the court of Mantua, and the
expenses of a journey to Milan were heavy. So she contented herself with
going to see her mother that autumn at Ferrara, and put off her visit to
Milan until the following spring, much to the disappointment of Beatrice
and her husband. Lodovico wrote her word that he had been arranging a
tournament at Pavia in honour of the christening of Gian Galeazzo's son,
the little Count of Pavia, but that since she would not come, he had
made up his mind to put it off and have no jousting.

FOOTNOTES:

[12] G. Uzielli, _op. cit._, p. 27.

[13] Luzio-Renier, _op. cit._, p. 112.

[14] Luzio-Renier, _op. cit._, p. 113.

CHAPTER IX

Isabella of Aragon and Beatrice d'Este--Ambrogio Borgognone and
Giovanni Antonio Amadeo--Cristoforo Romano and his works at Pavia and
Cremona--The Certosa of Pavia--Illness of Beatrice--Her journey to
Genoa--Correspondence between Isabella and Lodovico Sforza--Visit of
the Marquis of Mantua to Milan.

1491-1492

In the frequent letters which Lodovi