bedside, and spoke cheerfully of his speedy recovery
before he fell asleep. Early the next morning he died in the presence of
his wife and mother and the doctors who had attended him during the last
few weeks.

A few hours later Lodovico reached Pavia, and without a moment's delay
hastened on to Milan, giving orders that the duke's body should be
removed as soon as possible to the Duomo of Milan. There during the next
three days the dead prince lay before the high altar, clad in the ducal
cap and robes, with his sword and sceptre at his side, and his white
face exposed to view. Meanwhile Lodovico had lost no time. His first
act, on his arrival in the Castello, was to summon the councillors,
magistrates, and chief citizens of Milan to a meeting on the following
day, but even before these dignitaries could be assembled, he called
together a few of his immediate friends and courtiers in the great hall
of the Rocchetta, and after informing them of his nephew's premature and
lamentable end, proposed that his son Francesco should be proclaimed
duke in his father's place. Upon this, Antonio da Landriano, prefect of
the Treasury, responded in an eloquent speech, dwelling on the danger in
these troublous times of placing the helm of the state in the hands of a
four-year-old child, and calling on Lodovico, for the sake of the people
whom he had hitherto ruled so well and wisely in his nephew's name, to
undertake the burden of sovereignty and ascend the ducal throne. "Since
the death of Giangaleazzo's father," he said, "we have had no duke but
you; you alone among our princes can grasp the ducal sceptre with a firm
hand." These last words were hailed with loud applause by the Moro's
friends, and when Landriano had ended his speech, Galeazzo Visconti
Baldassare Pusterla, the able lawyer Andrea Cagnola, and several other
councillors, well known for their devotion to the Moro, all spoke in the
same strain.

"It was propounded," writes Guicciardini, "by the principals of the
Counsell, that, in regard of the greatness of that estate and the
dangerous times prepared now for Italy, it would be a thing prejudicial
that the sonne of John Galeaz, having not five yeares in age, should
succeed his father, and therefore, as well as to keepe the liberties of
the State in protection, as to be able to meete with the inconveniences
which the time threatened, they thought it just and necessary--derogating
somewhat for the public benefite, and for