ck to Mantua, with the following
note, thanking him for his kindness, but declining to accept a present
that she felt belonged of right to her sister:--

"I have to-day received, by your Highness's courier, one of the pieces
of drapery belonging to the King of France. Andrea Cossa had already
brought me the other four, for which I thank you exceedingly; but I feel
that, under the circumstances, I ought not to keep them. As it is, I
have great pleasure in seeing them all together, and now your Highness
can give them back to the Marchesana."[60]

FOOTNOTES:

[60] Luzio-Renier, _op. cit._, pp. 632, 633.

CHAPTER XXIV

Ferrante II. recovers Naples--Siege of Novara by the army of the league
--Review of the army by the Duke and Duchess of Milan--Charles VIII.
visits Turin and comes to Vercelli--Negotiations for peace--Lodovic and
Beatrice at the camp--Treaty of Vercelli concluded between France and
Milan--Jealousy of the other Powers--Commines at Vigevano--Zenale's
altar-piece in the Brera.

1495

If the failure of the league to cut off the French king's return to
Fornovo had disappointed Lodovico, he found compensation in the news
that reached Milan from Naples. Hardly had Charles VIII. started on his
march northwards, than Ferrante once more set foot in his own realm and
received a joyful welcome from his subjects. On the 7th of July, the day
after the battle of the Taro, he entered Naples, where the people took
up arms in his favour, and the nobles who had been the first to join the
French king hastened to assure him of their loyalty. One by one the
castles in the neighbourhood surrendered to their rightful king, and
Montpensier with the remnant of his forces retired into the Calabrian
fastnesses, to carry on a petty war of depredation and skirmishes during
the winter months. Lodovico hastened to impart the good news to his
sister-in-law Isabella, who replied in the following letter:--

"MOST ILLUSTRIOUS DUKE OF MILAN AND DEAR LORD,

"The news of King Ferrante's entry into Naples, which your Highness was
so good as to send me, has given me the greatest pleasure, both for his
Majesty's own sake and for that of your Highness, since it seems to me
that all this must help to deliver us the more speedily from the hands
of the French. So I congratulate myself with your Excellency, and thank
you with all my heart for your kindness in allowing me to share the good
news, which has indeed given me the greatest hap