the fifteenth, of pigeons,
small birds, beans, salt tongues, and carp; the sixteenth, of rabbits,
peacocks, and eels roasted with lemon; the seventeenth, of sour milk
and cheese; and the eighteenth, of fruits of the rarest and most
expensive kinds.

At each of these courses the duke received a separate gift--beginning
with a pair of _leopards_, with velvet collars and gilded buckles.
Then followed numberless braces of pointers, greyhounds, setters, and
falcons, all with trappings and ornaments of silk, gold, and pearls;
dozens of breastplates, helmets, lances, shields, saddles, and
complete suits of armour, enriched with silver, gold, and velvet;
numerous pieces of cloth of gold and satin; horses by half-dozens,
with saddles and trappings highly ornamented; twelve beautiful
milk-white oxen; 'a vest and cowl embroidered with pearls,
representing various flowers; a baronial mantle and cowl lined with
ermine, and richly embroidered with pearls; a large ewer of massive
silver, four waistbands of wrought silver (now called filigrane); a
clump of diamonds and rubies, with a pearl of immense value in the
centre; and a variety of specimens of the choicest wines and most
elegant confectionary.'

In those times, there was little refinement of taste, and the culinary
art was probably in its infancy. Hence we find the dishes in quality
and number rather suited to satisfy the appetites of huntsmen than the
delicate palate of a courtier of our day. Sugar and spices were used
in profusion, perhaps because they were scarce and expensive, rather
than on account of their flavour. Fowls were coloured red or green;
while meat, and such other solid eatables as could only be boiled or
roasted, were gilt all over. The expense of such an entertainment must
have been immense; and when we add, that the value of most of the
gifts was vastly greater than at present, and that, besides the
presents to the bridegroom, Giovanni Galeazzo gave away 150 beautiful
horses, and his kinsman, Bernabo, jewels and golden coins to a large
amount, the whole sum disbursed on this occasion would appear so
enormous as to make one doubt whether a petty sovereign could really
afford such ostentatious prodigality. But when we consider that the
flourishing state of the commerce of Italy attracted thither all the
wealth of Europe, we are no longer surprised at an expenditure which,
however great, might at that time have been borne not by a reigning
duke of Milan or Fl