heaven to help him in his misery. This was in the summer of
1492, and not only Gaspare, but Bellincioni, who was then living, and
Mascagni of Turin took up the parable, and charged Bramante with begging
for a pair of shoes, when all the while he was receiving five ducats a
week from the duke, and was secretly hoarding up a store of gold. To
this Bramante replied in a sonnet full of allusions to Calliope, Erato,
and all the Muses, begging his friends for pity's sake to give him a
crown, if they would not see him left barefoot and naked to battle with
rude Boreas. A whole series of curious sonnets from Bramante's pen has
been lately discovered by M. Muntz among the Italian manuscripts in the
Bibliotheque Nationale, and reveal the burlesque side of the great
architect's character, and the biting wit which made his opponents give
him the name of Cerberus.[25]

These poetic jousts or encounters of wits were a favourite amusement of
the cultured princesses of the Renaissance and their courtiers. Thus it
was that Poliziano and Ficino discussed philosophical questions before
Lorenzo in the gardens of Careggi or on the terraces of Fiesole; so
Castiglione and Bibbiena reasoned of art and love with Duchess Elizabeth
and Emilia Pia, in the palace of Urbino, till the short summer night was
well-nigh over and the dawn broke over the peaks of Monte Catria. And at
Milan, where in Beatrice's days there was less pedantry and more freedom
and gaiety than in any court of the day, these lively debates found
especial favour. The most brilliant courtiers and bravest knights, the
gravest scholars and officers of state alike took part in them. Messer
Galeazzo, as we have seen, was an adept at the game, and could wield his
pen and challenge fair ladies in defence of Roland as gallantly as he
couched his lance to ride in the lists or wielded his sword in the thick
of the battle. So, too were the Marchesino Stanga and his friend
Girolamo Tuttavilla. Both these noblemen were great sonnet-writers, and
are classed by Pistoia among those illustrious lords, who, like Messer
Galeazzo and Signor Lodovico himself, were poets and writers as well as
statesmen and generals.

Bramante addressed several of his sonnets to Count Tuttavilla, who in
his turn had a lively controversy in rhyme with the Marchesino. And
when, in the spring of 1492, Tuttavilla accompanied the Count of Caiazzo
on his embassy to France, Gaspare Visconti sent him a sonnet asking for
the