"I cannot," he writes, "sufficiently express how much joy this marriage has given me, and how glad I am to see the singular virtues and talents of Madonna la sposa." And after formally congratulating the duke on his daughter's marriage, and on the renewed alliance between the two houses, he goes on to say how much he rejoices in his uncle's happiness, which will, he feels sure, only increase his own. "For by means of this marriage, besides the two sisters which God had already given us, we have now gained a third, whom by God's grace we shall not love less than the two who are ours by nature."
Giangaleazzo's own wife, Duchess Isabella, a virtuous and high-minded princess whose own merits were sadly hampered by her husband's weakness and folly, was much beloved by her own servants, but inherited the proud reserve of the Aragonese race, and led a secluded existence with her lord, who hated town life and seldom showed his face in Milan. But this young wife of Lodovico, it was easy to see, would soon throw her into the shade. Beatrice's presence lent a charm to the most tedious court functions. Her high spirits and overflowing mirth threw new zest into every pursuit. Grave senators and wise statesmen listened to her words with interest, and grey-headed prelates tolerated her merry jokes and smiled at her irrepressible laughter. She sang and danced, and played at ball and rode races, and took long hunting and fishing expeditions to the royal villas in the neighbourhood of Milan. "My wife," wrote Lodovico to his sister-in-law three months after his marriage, "has developed a perfect passion for horsemanship, and is always either riding or hunting."
The regent himself was too deeply engaged in state affairs, and devoted too much time and attention to the details of administration, to be able to accompany his wife as a rule. But she had a devoted comrade in her husband's son-in-law, whom he deputed to escort the duchess on her more distant expeditions. Since his betrothal to Lodovico's daughter, Galeazzo had enjoyed all the privileges of a son, and was already, what the Moro had promised to make him, the first man in the state. He assisted at all state audiences, and was the only person present when Lodovico received foreign ambassadors. He shared the Moro's private life, and always dined alone with the duke and duchess when there were no other guests at their table. His letters to Isabella d'Este give lively accounts of the expeditions which he took in Beatrice's company during the first few months of her married life.
"This morning, being Friday," he writes on the 11th of February, 1491, "I started at ten o'clock with the duchess and all of her ladies on horseback to go to Cussago, and in order to let your Highness enter fully into our pleasures, I must tell you that first of all I had to ride in a chariot with the duchess and Dioda, and as we drove we sang more than twenty-five songs, arranged for three voices. That is to say, Dioda took the tenor part, and the duchess the soprano, whilst I sang sometimes bass and sometimes soprano, and played so many foolish tricks that I really think I may claim to be more of a fool than Dioda! And now farewell for to-night, and I will try to improve still further, so as to afford your Highness the more pleasure when you come here in the summer."
But Messer Galeazzo's story does not end here. A day or two later he takes up the thread of his discourse again, and describes the pleasant day which the duchess spent at Cussago, one of Lodovico Sforza's favourite villas on the sunny slopes of the Brianza, six miles from Milan, on the way to Como.
"Having reached Cussago," he goes on, "we had a grand fishing expedition in the river, and caught an immense quantity of large pike, trout, lampreys, crabs, and several other good sorts of smaller fish, and proceeded to dine off them until we could eat no more. Then, to make our meal digest the better, directly after dinner we began to play at ball with great vigour and energy, and after we had played for some time we went over the palace, which is really very beautiful, and, among other things, contains a doorway of carved marble, as fine as the new works at the Certosa. Next we examined the result of our sport, which had been laid out in front of the place, and took back as many of the lampreys and crabs as we could eat with us, and sent some of the lampreys to his Highness the duke. When this was done, we went to another palace and caught more than a thousand large trout, and after choosing out the best for presents and for our own holy throats, we had the rest thrown back into the water. And then we mounted our horses again, and began to let fly some of those good falcons of mine which you saw at Pavia, along the river-side, and they killed several birds. By this time it was already four o'clock. We rode out to hunt stags and fawns, and after giving chase to twenty-two and killing two stags and two fawns, we returned home and reached Milan an hour after dark, and presented the result of our day's sport to my lord the Duke of Bari. My illustrious lord took the greatest possible pleasure in hearing all we had done, far more, indeed, than if he had been there in person, and I believe that my duchess will in the end reap the greatest benefit, and that Signor Lodovico will give her Cussago, which is a place of rare beauty and worth. But I have cut my boots to pieces and torn my clothes, and played the fool into the bargain, and these are the rewards one gains in the service of ladies. However, I will have patience, since it is all for the sake of my duchess, whom I never mean to fail in life or death."
Sforza MS. Illuminated From a private photograph.[ToList]
Galeazzo was a true prophet, and in the British Museum we may still admire the beautifully illuminated deed of gift, adorned with friezes of exquisite cherubs and medallion-portraits of Lodovico and Beatrice, by which the fair palace and lands of Cussago became the property of the young duchess. This favourite villa of the Visconti had been left by Francesco Sforza to his son Lodovico, who had employed a host of architects and painters to adorn its walls. Bramante is said to have reared the noble bell-tower and portico that are still standing, while Milanese or Pavian sculptors carved the medallions bearing the Sforza arms, and the portrait of Lodovico that may still be seen on the arcades of the loggia. To-day the once beautiful country-house is a ruin; the marble doorway which Galeazzo and Beatrice admired, carved it may be by that same Cristoforo Romano to whom we owe the portal of the Stanga palace, and that of Isabella d'Este's studio at Mantua, has disappeared. Only the fragments of frescoes and the rich terra-cotta mouldings and slender columns of the elegant cortile recall the joyous day which Beatrice d'Este and her ladies spent at the villa. But their memory sheds a glamour on the scene, and in the story of those Renaissance days, among so much that is dark and sinister, it is pleasant to recall this picture of the young duchess and her gallant cavalier singing songs for pure gladness of heart as they rode out together in the fair spring morning.