."[66]

About four o'clock that afternoon, the Ferrarese ambassador, Antonio
Costabili, received an unexpected summons to the Castello, and he was
admitted into the duke's presence. We give the details of his interview
with the grief-stricken prince, in his own words from a letter which he
addressed the same evening to Beatrice's father, Duke Ercole--

"MOST ILLUSTRIOUS AND EXCELLENT LORD,

"Although I had received a message to the effect that I need not leave
the house before night, as none of your august family could be present
at the funeral of our most illustrious Madonna, the late duchess,
nevertheless at four o'clock the duke sent two councillors to fetch me,
and accompanied by these gentlemen, I went to the Camera della Torre in
the Castello, where I found all the ambassadors, ducal councillors, and
a very large company of gentlemen assembled. Directly I arrived, his
Excellency sent for me, and I found him in his room, lying on the bed,
quite prostrate, and more overwhelmed with grief than any one whom I
have ever seen. After the customary salutations, I endeavoured, in
obedience to the request of some of his councillors, to exhort his
Highness to take a little comfort and have patience, trying to make use
of whatever words came into my mind at the moment, and entreating him to
bear this cruel blow with constancy and fortitude, because in this
manner he would give comfort and courage to your Excellency in helping
you to bear your grief, and at the same time relieve the anxieties of
his own servants, and restore hope and peace to their hearts.

"His Highness thanked me for my kindness, and said that he could not
bear this most cruel and grievous sorrow without speaking out the
thoughts of his heart freely, and had sent for me, in order to tell me
that if, as he was conscious, he had not always behaved as well as he
should have done to your daughter, who deserved all good things, and who
had never done him any wrong whatsoever, he begged both your
Excellency's pardon, and hers for whose sake his heart was now sorely
troubled. He went on to tell me that in every one of his prayers he had
asked our Lord God to allow her to survive him, since he placed all his
trust and peace of mind in her. And, since this had not been the will of
God, he prayed, and would never cease praying, that if it were ever
possible for a living man to see the dead, God would give him grace to
see her and speak to her once more, since he ha