he piazza before the Castello to
see the famous races for the _pallium_. It is St. George who rides full
tilt at the dragon in the rude sculptures on the portal of the
Romanesque Cathedral hard by; it is the same warrior-saint who, in his
gleaming armour, looks down from the painted fresco above the portcullis
of the castle drawbridge. And all the masters who worked for the Este
dukes, whether they were men of native or foreign birth--Vittore
Pisanello and Jacopo Bellini, Cosimo Tura and Dosso Dossi--took delight
in the old story, and painted the legend of St. George and Princess
Sabra in the frescoes or altar-pieces with which they adorned the
churches and castle halls.

The Estes, who took St. George for their patron, and fought and died
under his banner, were themselves a chivalrous and splendour-loving
race, ever ready to ride out in quest of fresh adventure in the chase or
battle-field. Men and women alike were renowned, even among the princely
houses of Italy in Renaissance time, for their rare culture and genuine
love of art and letters. And they were justly proud of their ancient
lineage and of the love and loyalty which their subjects bore them. The
Sforzas of Milan, the Medici of Florence, the Riarios or the Della
Roveres, were but low-born upstarts by the side of this illustrious race
which had reigned on the banks of the Po during the last two hundred
years. In spite of wars and bloodshed, in spite of occasional
conspiracies and tumults, chiefly stirred up by members of the reigning
family, the people of Ferrara loved their rulers well, and never showed
any wish to change the house of Este for another. The citizens took a
personal interest in their own duke and duchess and in all that belonged
to them, and chronicled their doings with minute attention. They shared
their sorrows and rejoiced in their joys, they lamented their departure
and hailed their return with acclamation, they followed the fortunes of
their children with keen interest, and welcomed the return of the
youthful bride with acclamations, or wept bitter tears over her untimely
end.

Of all the Estes who held sway at Ferrara, the most illustrious and most
beloved was Duke Ercole I., the father of Beatrice. During the
thirty-four years that he reigned in Ferrara, the duchy enjoyed a degree
of material prosperity which it had never attained before, and rose to
the foremost rank among the states of North Italy. And in the troubled
times of the n