of Ferrara to the shop of the
famous Missaglia to order a suit of armour which should be "of a
gallantry and perfection worthy of Don Alfonso." We hear of a splendid
suit of gilded armour, also the work of the Missaglias, being presented
to Ferrante d'Este by the Duke of Milan, while Beatrice's youngest
brother, the boy-cardinal, Ippolito, succeeded Guido Arcimboldo as
Archbishop of Milan, and took up his abode in that city. But a new
calamity befell the house of Este that November in the death of Anna
Sforza, who, like her sister-in-law, gave birth to a still-born child on
the 30th of November, and herself expired a few hours later, to the
grief of her whole family, and more especially of Duke Ercole, who, in
his advancing years, saw himself bereaved of all of those he loved best.
The sweetness and goodness of this princess, the Ferrarese diarist tells
us, had endeared her to all the people of Ferrara, and in the shock of
her sudden death Lodovico felt a renewal of his own sorrow. In the same
week, another Este princess, who had been closely associated with the
Milanese court, also passed away. This was the widowed mother of Niccolo
da Correggio, that once beautiful and charming Beatrice, who had been
known in her youth as the Queen of Festivals, and who for many years had
been a staunch friend of the Moro, and had long occupied rooms in the
Castello. After her death, Niccolo, feeling that the last link which
bound him to Lodovico's court was severed, left Milan, and returned to
his old home at Ferrara. That autumn, Cristoforo Romano also left the
court, which Duchess Beatrice's death had shorn of its old brightness
and splendour, and entered the service of her sister Isabella d'Este at
Mantua, while the court-poet, Gaspare Visconti, died early in the
following year. One by one artists and singers were dropping out of
sight, and the brilliant company which Lodovico's wife had gathered
round her was fast melting away. The gay days of Vigevano and Cussago
were over, the deer and wild boars grazed unharmed in these woodland
valleys, and when Kaiser Maximilian asked the duke for one of his famous
breed of falcons, Lodovico sent him one belonging to Messer Galeazzo's
breed, saying that he no longer kept any of his own, and had quite given
up hunting since the death of the duchess of blessed memory.

But his love of art and learning was as great as ever, and Fra Luca
Pacioli, the able mathematician, who came to Milan in 1496,