er of orator and diplomatist,
and revealing these talents which excited the admiration of the Emperor
Maximilian and made him pronounce her unlike all other women.

In selecting his young wife for this important mission, Lodovico had
acted with his usual prudence and forethought. He saw her remarkable
powers of mind, and trusted implicitly in her womanly tact and charm.
When the Venetian Senate first heard that Lodovico was to visit Ferrara,
they announced their intention of sending ambassadors to request him to
accompany the two duchesses to Venice. But the Moro felt that, at this
critical moment of his negotiations with both Charles VIII. and
Maximilian, his presence at Venice might lead to awkward questions and
excite the suspicion of these princes. So he preferred to send his wife,
whose journey with her mother and brother would appear rather in the
light of a party of pleasure, and whose youth and charms would disarm
suspicion, and at the same time exert a beneficial influence on the
counsels of the Republic. In the written instructions which he gave
Tuttavilla and the other envoys who accompanied Beatrice, they were
desired to lay especial stress on the honour which the rulers of Milan
were doing the Signory of Venice by the choice of so exalted a lady to
be their messenger.

"The presence of the most illustrious Duchess of Bari is the best proof
their Excellencies can have of the singular satisfaction with which the
Dukes of Milan and Bari regard the conclusion of this league. In
sending, the one his aunt, the other his wife, who is the dearest thing
that he possesses, to congratulate the Signory on this auspicious
occasion, they show you how great and exceptional is the pleasure which
they feel at this alliance between our two states."

On Saturday, the 25th of May, the Duchess of Ferrara, with her two
daughters, Beatrice Duchess of Bari and Madonna Anna Sforza, and her son
Alfonso, accompanied by a large retinue numbering in all 1200 persons,
sailed down the Po into the Adriatic, on their way to Venice. Beatrice
was accompanied by Antonio Trivulzio, Bishop of Como, Francesco Sforza
and his wife, and several other Milanese gentlemen of rank, besides the
four ambassadors already named, and in her train were the famous Flemish
tenor Cordier and the other court singers of the ducal chapel. On the
20th the party reached Chioggia, where they were entertained in the
houses of noble Venetian families, and on the foll