DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42863#0103
MAXIMILIAN SFORZA RESTORED 81
years of exile had produced a bad effect upon his
character. He had grown up eccentric and sus-
picious, and was rarely seen to smile saving at the
tricks of dwarfs and clowns, for whom he showed
a childish passion. When he visited Mantua the
follies of a certain dwarf belonging to the Marchesa,
and known by the name of Nanino, pleased him
better than anything else; and Lorenzo Strozzi, who
had lately arrived from Rome, wrote long accounts
to Federico of the freaks and escapades of this
favourite buffoon. One day Nanino came to meet
the Duke in episcopal vestments, with the most
solemn air in the world; the next he appeared in the
robes of a Venetian patrician, while his hunting
exploits and hand-to-hand fight with a goat afforded
the Duke unbounded amusement.1
A month later Cardinal Gurk and the Viceroy of
Naples, Raimondo de Cardona, and Cardinal Schinner,
the leader of the Swiss forces, all came to Milan,
and took part in the Duke’s state entry on the 20th
of December.2 The Marchesa had promised her
nephew to honour the New Year festivities with her
presence, and gladly embraced this opportunity of
pleading her brother Alfonso’s cause with the Spanish
and Imperial ministers. One winter evening in
January, she entered Milan by torchlight, accompanied
by a brilliant train of courtiers and ladies. Among
them were Delia, who was for many years the
object of the young Marchese di Pescara’s passionate
devotion; Alda Boiarda, whose name is so often
mentioned in Bembo and Bibbiena’s letters; and the
still more fascinating Brognina, who had already won
1 Luzio, Buffoni, Nuova Antologia, 1891.
2 Prato, Cronaca Arch. St. It., iii. 309.
VOL. II.
F
years of exile had produced a bad effect upon his
character. He had grown up eccentric and sus-
picious, and was rarely seen to smile saving at the
tricks of dwarfs and clowns, for whom he showed
a childish passion. When he visited Mantua the
follies of a certain dwarf belonging to the Marchesa,
and known by the name of Nanino, pleased him
better than anything else; and Lorenzo Strozzi, who
had lately arrived from Rome, wrote long accounts
to Federico of the freaks and escapades of this
favourite buffoon. One day Nanino came to meet
the Duke in episcopal vestments, with the most
solemn air in the world; the next he appeared in the
robes of a Venetian patrician, while his hunting
exploits and hand-to-hand fight with a goat afforded
the Duke unbounded amusement.1
A month later Cardinal Gurk and the Viceroy of
Naples, Raimondo de Cardona, and Cardinal Schinner,
the leader of the Swiss forces, all came to Milan,
and took part in the Duke’s state entry on the 20th
of December.2 The Marchesa had promised her
nephew to honour the New Year festivities with her
presence, and gladly embraced this opportunity of
pleading her brother Alfonso’s cause with the Spanish
and Imperial ministers. One winter evening in
January, she entered Milan by torchlight, accompanied
by a brilliant train of courtiers and ladies. Among
them were Delia, who was for many years the
object of the young Marchese di Pescara’s passionate
devotion; Alda Boiarda, whose name is so often
mentioned in Bembo and Bibbiena’s letters; and the
still more fascinating Brognina, who had already won
1 Luzio, Buffoni, Nuova Antologia, 1891.
2 Prato, Cronaca Arch. St. It., iii. 309.
VOL. II.
F