DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42863#0104
82
ISABELLA VISITS MILAN
the hearts of Gurk and Cardona at Mantua in the
previous summer. A succession of banquets, jousts,
comedies, and balls followed, and the gaiety of these
entertainments was in no way diminished by the
shells that were discharged at intervals by the guns
of the French garrison which still held the Castello.
“ Happily, the French guns had the courtesy to cease
when the tilting began ! ” wrote Isabella in a letter to
her husband, in which she describes a tournament
held in front of the Corte Vecchia, that old Sforza
palace near the Duomo. But on the second day of
the jousts, when the Marchese di Pescara distin-
guished himself by his valour, and the Duke and
Marchesa were again present, a sudden bombardment
from the Castello sent every one flying !1 In another
letter Isabella describes a sumptuous banquet and
dramatic representation given by the Brescian Count
Brunoro, brother of Veronica Gambara, on the 25th of
January. The victory of the League and expulsion of
the French were celebrated in a series of tableaux and
musical recitations, and a stately oak—the emblem
of the Della Rovere family—with an eagle’s nest in
its topmost boughs, occupied the centre of the stage.
But the play itself was poor and very inferior, as
Isabella told her husband, to those performed at
Mantua. “ I am certain,” she wrote, “ that any one
who has seen Your Excellency’s comedies and fine
stage scenery must feel more ennui than pleasure at
the sight of such representations as these.”2 On this
occasion the Cardinal and Viceroy openly competed
for the fair maid of honour’s favours. Both of them
endeavoured to kiss Brognina as she entered the
1 Prato, op. cit., 310.
2 D’Ancona, Teatro It., vol. ii.
ISABELLA VISITS MILAN
the hearts of Gurk and Cardona at Mantua in the
previous summer. A succession of banquets, jousts,
comedies, and balls followed, and the gaiety of these
entertainments was in no way diminished by the
shells that were discharged at intervals by the guns
of the French garrison which still held the Castello.
“ Happily, the French guns had the courtesy to cease
when the tilting began ! ” wrote Isabella in a letter to
her husband, in which she describes a tournament
held in front of the Corte Vecchia, that old Sforza
palace near the Duomo. But on the second day of
the jousts, when the Marchese di Pescara distin-
guished himself by his valour, and the Duke and
Marchesa were again present, a sudden bombardment
from the Castello sent every one flying !1 In another
letter Isabella describes a sumptuous banquet and
dramatic representation given by the Brescian Count
Brunoro, brother of Veronica Gambara, on the 25th of
January. The victory of the League and expulsion of
the French were celebrated in a series of tableaux and
musical recitations, and a stately oak—the emblem
of the Della Rovere family—with an eagle’s nest in
its topmost boughs, occupied the centre of the stage.
But the play itself was poor and very inferior, as
Isabella told her husband, to those performed at
Mantua. “ I am certain,” she wrote, “ that any one
who has seen Your Excellency’s comedies and fine
stage scenery must feel more ennui than pleasure at
the sight of such representations as these.”2 On this
occasion the Cardinal and Viceroy openly competed
for the fair maid of honour’s favours. Both of them
endeavoured to kiss Brognina as she entered the
1 Prato, op. cit., 310.
2 D’Ancona, Teatro It., vol. ii.