But Isabella was unwearied in the applications which she made constantly to her brother-in-law on behalf of persons who, rightly or wrongly, had been accused of offences against the laws of Milan. Often, it must be owned, these suppliants whom she recommended to mercy proved to be criminals of the worst type; and quite as often the protégés whom she sent to Milan turned out to be utterly worthless characters. This made her a little ashamed of the perpetual recommendations with which she troubled Lodovico, and explains the apologetic tone of a note which she addressed to him in June, 1491, on behalf of some suppliant for money.
"The letters of recommendation which I have received in this case are so urgent that I feel it would be brutal to refuse the petition I send you, especially since they are addressed to me by private friends. But if your Highness complains, as you may justly do, of the frequency of my appeals, I must ask you to impute their persistency less to me than to my innate compassion, which induces me to intercede for all who ask in good faith. But the truth is, your Highness has given me so many tokens of affection that many persons who seek your favour apply to me, trusting to my powers of intercession. And since I should be well content to let the whole world know the love and kindness which your Highness shows me, I grant these requests the more easily, because I remember what good fruit my recommendations have hitherto borne."
Sometimes, when the Marquis Gianfrancesco was away from Mantua, we find his wife consulting Lodovico on affairs of state, asking him to prevent her neighbour Galeotto della Mirandola from constructing a canal which may injure her subjects, or appealing to the Sanseverino brothers in the case of a faithless servant of hers who had sought shelter under the Count of Caiazzo's banners. Beatrice, in her turn, occasionally sent her servants and subjects with recommendations to Mantua. For instance, that July a Milanese soldier named Messer Giacomello arrived at the court of the Gonzagas, with letters from the Duchess of Bari and Messer Galeazzo di Sanseverino, asking for leave to fight a duel with a man of Ascoli who had insulted him; and the marchioness, ignorant of the customary method of treating these challenges, referred the case to her husband in a long and elaborate statement.
Towards the end of September Beatrice fell ill, and for some days her husband was seriously uneasy about her. The anxiety which he showed, and the attentions with which he surrounded her, were duly reported by Giacomo Trotti in a letter to Ferrara.
"Signor Lodovico," he wrote on the 18th of September, "does not leave his wife's bedside by day or night. He is always with her, and thinks of nothing but how he can best please and amuse her. The only cause of regret he has is that as yet there are not any signs of the birth of a son and heir."
Lodovico's concern for his young wife was genuine. He wrote daily reports of her health to Isabella and her mother, and on the 4th of October rejoiced to be able to tell the Marchesana that her sister had once more been able to assist at a boar-hunt, which had taken place six miles from Pavia.
"Yesterday your sister came to look on at a boar-hunt, six or seven miles from here. She drove to the spot in a chariot with a raised seat at the back, very much like the pulpits from which friars preach! Here she stood up, to be out of danger, and enjoyed herself immensely, as being placed at such a height, she could see the whole hunt better than any one else."
A few days later he wrote again to say he had decided to send his wife to Genoa, since the air of Pavia was not healthy, he felt convinced, at this season of the year, and in the hope that change would help to complete her cure.
"To-morrow my wife starts for Genoa incognita. I am sending her, first of all, to give her pleasure and do her health good, and, secondly, to prepare the way for your Highness when you come here next."
Unfortunately, we have no further particulars of this visit to Genova la Superba, that city which both the sisters were so anxious to see, and the letters in which Beatrice described this journey to her husband have either perished or still lie buried in some private archives. All we know is that Cristoforo Romano was among the singers who accompanied the duchess on this occasion, although she travelled incognita and took only a few persons in her suite.