were followed by
Don Ferrante and Madonna, who danced with extreme grace and animation.
She wore a camorra of black velvet with gold borders and black sleeves;
the cuffs were tight; the sleeves were slashed at the shoulders; her
breast was covered up to the neck with a veil made of gold thread. About
her neck she wore a string of pearls, and on her head a green net and a
chain of rubies. She had an overskirt of black velvet trimmed with fur,
colored, and very beautiful. The trousseaux of her ladies-in-waiting are
not yet ready. Two or three of the women are pretty; one, Catalina, a
native of Valencia, dances well, and another, Angela, is charming.
Without telling her, I picked her out as my favorite. Yesterday evening
(28th) the cardinal, the duke, and Don Ferrante walked about the city
masked, and afterwards we went to the duchess's house, where there was
dancing. Everywhere in Rome, from morning till night, one sees nothing
but courtesans wearing masks, for after the clock strikes the
twenty-fourth hour they are not permitted to show themselves abroad."

Although the marriage had been performed in Ferrara by proxy, Alexander
wished the service to be said again in Rome. To prevent repetition, the
ceremony in Ferrara had been performed only _vis volo_, the exchange of
rings having been deferred.

On the evening of December 30th, the Ferrarese escorted Madonna Lucretia
to the Vatican. When Alfonso's bride left her palace she was accompanied
by her entire court and fifty maids of honor. She was dressed in gold
brocade and crimson velvet trimmed with ermine; the sleeves of her gown
reached to the floor; her train was borne by some of her ladies; her
golden hair was confined by a black ribbon, and about her neck she wore
a string of pearls with a pendant consisting of an emerald, a ruby, and
a large pearl.

Don Ferrante and Sigismondo led her by the hands; when the train set
forth a body of musicians stationed on the steps of S. Peter's began to
play. The Pope, on the throne in the Sala Paolina, surrounded by
thirteen cardinals and his son Caesar, awaited her. Among the foreign
representatives present were the ambassadors of France, Spain, and
Venice; the German envoy was absent. The ceremony began with the reading
of the mandate of the Duke of Ferrara, after which the Bishop of Adria
delivered the wedding sermon, which the Pope, however, commanded to be
cut short.[136] A table was placed before him, and by it stood Don