"I would most willingly come to see you at Mantua, as I had hoped to do, and as you know I still desire, and should very much enjoy a few days with you in the country, but my husband is exceedingly anxious for my return. So I must beg your Highness to let me enjoy a sight of you in the bucentaur, and not to insist upon my landing this time."
Isabella complied with her sister's request, and went to meet the duchess at Revere, where Beatrice stopped for a few hours on her way up the Po, to join her husband at Pavia. Lodovico was naturally impatient, not only to see his wife again, but to hear from her own lips all that had happened at Venice. And he on his part had much to tell her of the news which Belgiojoso had brought from France, and of the despatches which he received from Erasmo Brasca in Germany.
The summer months were spent in the Castello of Pavia, where Beatrice nursed her husband in a slight attack of fever, and afterwards received a visit from her father and brother. They arrived on the 25th of August, bringing with them a troop of actors to perform the Menæchmi and some of the other comedies which had pleased Lodovico so much at Ferrara. Duke Ercole himself, as usual, took keen interest in these theatricals, and before he left home sent to borrow two complete Turkish costumes and turbans from the Marquis of Mantua, in order to supply deficiencies in his actors' wardrobe. Three days after his arrival, Borso da Correggio, a young nephew of Niccolo, who had travelled to Pavia with the duke, sent the following note to give his cousin Isabella the latest news of her family:—
"Most illustrious Sister and honoured Lady,
"We arrived on the 25th at Pavia, and were received by these excellent lords and ladies with the usual formalities. We find both of the duchesses well and happy, one of them, indeed—her of Milan—expects the birth of another child shortly, but our own duchess is as gay and joyous as ever. On the 27th the comedy of The Captives was acted, and the performance went off very well. To-day The Merchant is to be given, and will, I hope, prove equally successful. To-morrow we are to have a third. Our way of living is as follows. Early in the morning we go out riding. After dinner we play at scartino, or else at 'raising dead men' and 'l'imperiale,' and other card games, till it is bed-time. The players are, as a rule, the Duke and Duchess of Bari together, Ambrogio da Corte, and some third man, whoever may happen to be present. To-day your father the duke, Don Alfonso, and Messer Galeaz Visconti are playing at pall-mall against Messer Galeaz Sanseverino, Signor Girolamo Tuttavilla, and myself. The Duchess of Milan does not join us in these games, and only appears at the theatricals. The Duke of Bari is more devoted to the duchess than ever, and is constantly caressing and embracing her. My lord your father is altogether intent on the comedies. When they are ended, hunting-parties will begin, and we shall all be ready for the quails."
These amusements were unexpectedly interrupted by the news of Duchess Leonora's serious illness, a gastric affection which ended fatally on the 11th of October. The death of this virtuous and admirable lady was deeply lamented both by the members of her immediate family circle and by the subjects to whom she had endeared herself by her goodness of heart. Funeral orations in her honour were delivered both at Mantua and Milan, and Ariosto pronounced a panegyric in verse over her grave. The young Duchess Beatrice, who had been with her mother at Venice so lately, wept bitter tears, and for several weeks could scarcely be persuaded to leave her room. Some anxiety was felt respecting her sister Isabella, who, after being married for three years, was now expecting the birth of her first child, and during ten days the news was concealed from her. But by the end of that time the Marchesa began to be uneasy, and to inquire why she received no letter from Ferrara. Soon the sad news reached her from Milan, "whether out of mere imprudence or by some malicious design, we cannot discover," wrote one of her ladies to the absent marquis. Isabella, however, showed her usual prudence and self-control. After the first burst of grief, she bore her loss with fortitude, and found distraction in putting herself, her rooms, and her household into mourning. In her anxiety to appear elegant, even in her grief, we find her asking Beatrice to send her some of the white lawn veils that were made in Milan, since she could find none to her taste in Mantua. And at the same time, she begged one of her friends at the Milanese court to give her minute details as to the colour and material of the mourning worn by the duchess. On the 25th of October, her correspondent replied—
"Although I have not yet been able to see the Duchess of Bari, since she still remains entirely in her room, yet, in order to satisfy your Highness, I have made inquiries as to the kind of mourning that she wears. Her Excellency is clad in a robe of black cloth, with sleeves of the same, and a very long mantle, also of black cloth, and wears on her head a black silk cap with muslin folds, which are neither grey nor yellow, but pure white. She hardly ever leaves her room, and Signor Lodovico spends most of his time with her, and they two and Messer Galeaz have their meals alone in their rooms."[45]
A fortnight later, Beatrice roused herself from her grief to help her husband in the preparations for his niece Bianca Sforza's wedding to the Emperor Maximilian. The death of the old Emperor Frederic III., who breathed his last at Linz on the 19th of August, and the elevation of his son to the imperial throne, had hastened the development of Lodovico's plans. The King of the Romans, as he was still called, until he could be solemnly invested with the imperial insignia, now proposed to send ambassadors to Milan, before the end of the year, to solemnize his espousals with the Princess Bianca and bring his bride across the Alps to Innsbrück. The date of the wedding was fixed for the last week in November, and Lodovico prepared to celebrate the event with fitting splendour. The widowed Duchess Bona was transported with joy at the prospect of this exalted alliance, and forgave the Moro all his sins in her delight at seeing her daughter become an empress. On her part, Beatrice prepared to lay aside her mourning for the occasion, and appear in a new and wonderful robe at her niece's wedding.
Accordingly she wrote to Isabella on the 12th of November, asking her sister's leave to make use of a design for a new camora, which had been suggested by Niccolo da Correggio.
"I cannot remember if your Highness has yet carried out the idea of that pattern of linked tracery which Messer Niccolo da Correggio suggested to you when we were last together. If you have not yet ordered the execution of this design, I am thinking of having his invention carried out in massive gold, on a camora of purple velvet, to wear on the day of Madonna Bianca's wedding, since my husband desires the whole court to lay aside mourning for that one day and to appear in colours. This being the case, I cannot refrain from wearing colours on this occasion, although the heavy loss we have had in our dear mother's death has left me with little care for new inventions. But since this is necessary, I have decided to make a trial of this pattern, if your Highness has not yet made use of it, and send the present courier, begging you not to detain him, but to let me know at once if you have yet tried this new design or not."[46]