luding those of Francesco
Sforza, after his illustrious grandfather. As a child he was called
Sforza, but became afterwards known as Francesco, under which name he
reigned during the last years of his short life over the duchy of Milan.
Isabella d'Este held the infant prince at the baptismal font, and
remained at Milan till the end of the Carnival, at the urgent entreaty
of her brother-in-law, who himself wrote to beg the marquis for
permission to keep his wife a few weeks longer.

Alfonso d'Este and his wife, Anna Sforza, always a favourite at the
court of Milan, now joined the ducal party, and took part in the
brilliant series of festivities which celebrated Beatrice's recovery and
the christening of the infant prince.

"Every third day," wrote Isabella to an absent Milanese friend of hers,
Anton Maria de' Collis, "we have triumphal and magnificent festivities,
one of which lasted till two in the morning, another was not over till
four o'clock. We spend the intervening days in riding and driving in the
park or else through the streets of Milan, which has been made so
beautiful that if you were to come back here to-day, you would no longer
know the place."

In another letter Isabella describes a splendid _festa_ at the house of
Messer Niccolo da Correggio, at which a representation of the fable of
Hippolyte and Theseus, as told in the "_Innamoramento di Orlando_" was
beautifully given. And in answer to a letter from her brother-in-law,
Giovanni Gonzaga, telling her of an allegorical representation in which
the famous Serafino of Aquila had taken part, she writes--

"Here too we are enjoying feasts and pleasures of every description,
which afford us the greatest possible delight, and I hope to tell you
many things that will excite your Highness's envy. For this is the
school of the master of those who know."[57]

Such phrases as these were no small praise on the lips of so
accomplished and critical a woman as Isabella d'Este. Another
contemporary, the Florentine Guicciardini, who visited the capital of
Lombardy, was filled with amazement at the sight, and describes Milan
during Lodovico's reign as famous for the wealth of its citizens; the
infinite number of its shops; the abundance and delicacy of all things
pertaining to human life; the superb pomp and sumptuous ornaments of its
inhabitants, both men and women; the skill and talent of its artists,
mechanics, embroiderers, goldsmiths, and armourers; and the innume