WEDDING of CAMILLA GONZAGA 147
Midsummer’s day in 1517, when the fair Camilla
Gonzaga, the youngest of Antonia del Balzo’s
daughters, gave her hand in marriage to the great
Neapolitan baron, the Marchese Tripalda. The
bride herself had written to bid him to the wedding,
and her venerable mother had added five lines in her
own hand, refusing to accept any excuse. Both her
gallant brother, Federico di Bozzolo, the hero of the
Urbino wars, and Pirro, his own dear lord, had
threatened him with the complete and instant loss
of their favour if he did not come. At length, moved
by these threats and compelled by the duty which he
owed to the noble house of Gonzaga, the friar made
his way to Casalmaggiore, Madonna Antonia’s fair
palace in the district of Cremona, where the mar-
riage took place. Then it was, in the midst of the
music and dancing, and the games and tricks of the
most comical clowns and buffoons, that Madonna
Antonia rose, and beckoning to the bride and her
son Pirro to follow her, took Bandello’s hand and
led him into a hall on the ground floor, paved with
marble and marvellously cool. “ I have brought you
here,” the honoured lady said, with her gracious
smile, “ not only because of the great heat, but in
order to escape from the crowds outside and to spend
the noonday hour in pleasant talk. Now! let any
one who has a fine story to tell, begin! ” All the
guests present hailed this as an excellent idea, and
Pirro asked a Burgundian gentleman, Edmond
Orflec, to begin, and he told a sad story of two
faithful lovers doomed to death by a jealous Duchess
of Burgundy, which brought tears to all eyes.
So the time passed pleasantly away, till the sun
began to sink in the western sky and the evening
Midsummer’s day in 1517, when the fair Camilla
Gonzaga, the youngest of Antonia del Balzo’s
daughters, gave her hand in marriage to the great
Neapolitan baron, the Marchese Tripalda. The
bride herself had written to bid him to the wedding,
and her venerable mother had added five lines in her
own hand, refusing to accept any excuse. Both her
gallant brother, Federico di Bozzolo, the hero of the
Urbino wars, and Pirro, his own dear lord, had
threatened him with the complete and instant loss
of their favour if he did not come. At length, moved
by these threats and compelled by the duty which he
owed to the noble house of Gonzaga, the friar made
his way to Casalmaggiore, Madonna Antonia’s fair
palace in the district of Cremona, where the mar-
riage took place. Then it was, in the midst of the
music and dancing, and the games and tricks of the
most comical clowns and buffoons, that Madonna
Antonia rose, and beckoning to the bride and her
son Pirro to follow her, took Bandello’s hand and
led him into a hall on the ground floor, paved with
marble and marvellously cool. “ I have brought you
here,” the honoured lady said, with her gracious
smile, “ not only because of the great heat, but in
order to escape from the crowds outside and to spend
the noonday hour in pleasant talk. Now! let any
one who has a fine story to tell, begin! ” All the
guests present hailed this as an excellent idea, and
Pirro asked a Burgundian gentleman, Edmond
Orflec, to begin, and he told a sad story of two
faithful lovers doomed to death by a jealous Duchess
of Burgundy, which brought tears to all eyes.
So the time passed pleasantly away, till the sun
began to sink in the western sky and the evening