ks
were confined to religious works and belles-lettres.[198]

[Illustration: ALPHONSO D'ESTE, DUKE OF FERRARA.]

Lucretia established her ducal court in accordance with the dictates of
her own fancy. She was now the soul and center of the intellectual life
of Ferrara. Her cultivated intellect, her beauty, and the irresistible
joyousness of her being charmed all who came into her presence. The
opposition which the members of the house of Este at first had shown her
had disappeared, and, especially in the case of Isabella Gonzaga, had
changed into affection, as is proved by the extensive correspondence
which the two women maintained up to the time of Lucretia's death. In
the archives of the house of Gonzaga there are several hundred of her
letters to the Marchesa of Mantua.

Her relations with the house of Urbino were no less pleasant, and they
continued so even after the death of Guidobaldo in April, 1508, for his
successor was Francesco Maria della Rovere, son-in-law of Isabella
Gonzaga. She was frequently visited by these princes, and she enjoyed
the friendship of a number of remarkable men--Baldassar Castiglione,
Ottaviano Fregoso, Aldus Manutius, and Bembo.

Bembo, who was in love with the beautiful duchess, constantly sang her
praises, and, August 1, 1504, he dedicated to her his dialogue on love,
the _Asolani_, in a letter in which he celebrated her virtues. His
friend Aldo first spent some time in Ferrara at the court of Ercole, and
subsequently went to the Pio at Carpi; finally he settled in Venice,
where he printed the _Asolani_ in the year 1505 and dedicated it to
Lucretia. There is no doubt about Bembo's passion for the duchess, but
it would be a fruitless undertaking to endeavor to prove, from the
evidences of affection which the beautiful woman bestowed upon him,
that it passed the bounds of propriety. The belief that it did is due to
the letters which Bembo wrote her, and which are printed in his works,
and still more to those which Lucretia addressed to him. From 1503 to
1506--in which year he removed to the court of Guidobaldo--the
intellectual Venetian enjoyed the closest friendship with Lucretia. He
corresponded with her while he was living with his friends the Strozzi
in Villa Ostellato. These letters, especially those addressed to an
"anonymous friend," by which designation he clearly meant Lucretia, are
inspired by friendship, and display a tender confidence. Lucretia's
letters to Bembo are prese