ers. "The whole air," he writes, "was filled with confusion,
when these demonstrations of great rejoicing burst simultaneously upon
our ears."

Isabella d'Este, who had herself lately returned from Venice and was now
with her beloved sister-in-law, Elizabeth Duchess of Urbino, at the
villa of Porto, devoured her husband's letters greedily, although she
professed indifference, and wrote to her mother, "To me all these
ceremonies seem very much of the same nature, and are all alike very
tedious and monotonous."

There was one point, however, upon which Gianfrancesco confessed himself
unable to gratify his wife and sister's curiosity. "I will not attempt,"
he says, "to describe the gowns and ornaments worn by these duchesses
and Madonna Anna, this being quite out of my line, and will only tell
you that all three of them appeared resplendent with the most precious
jewels."[40] Fortunately, this omission was supplied by one of
Beatrice's secretaries, Niccolo de' Negri, who, in a letter to Lodovico,
informed him, on the day of her arrival at Venice, that the duchess wore
her gold brocade, embroidered with crimson doves, with a jewelled
feather in her cap, and a rope of pearls and diamonds round her neck, to
which the priceless ruby known as El Spigo was attached as pendant. But
the best account we have of Beatrice's visit to Venice is contained in
four of her own letters addressed to her husband, which have been
preserved in the archives of Milan. They were originally published
twenty years ago by Molmenti, who, however, omitted some portions which
are given here, and transcribed some of the dates incorrectly.
Unfortunately, several of the letters in which Beatrice daily recorded
the events of this memorable week for her lord's benefit are missing.
But although the narrative is incomplete, it is none the less of rare
value and interest. The first two letters after her departure from
Ferrara are missing, but in their stead we have two notes from Lodovico,
which show how tenderly he thought of his absent wife, and how carefully
he followed her movements. On the evening of the 25th, he wrote the
letter that has been already quoted, from Belriguardo; on the 26th, he
sent her a second note in reply to the letters which he had just
received. In one of these Beatrice had apparently given a lively account
of her triumphs at cards in the games which she had played with her
companions on board the bucentaur. Like Isabella d'Este and m