DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.42863#0175
ISABELLA’S TESTIMONIAL
151
praise and commend him. But since we hear that
you have received other accounts, which are utterly
false, we should fail in our duty if we did not bear
witness to the good conduct of the said Friar
Matteo, which deserves the highest commendation.
We therefore pray you, Reverend Fathers, to dis-
miss any bad opinions about him which you may
have formed, if indeed this is true, which we on our
part greatly doubt, and we heartily pray you to hold
him dear, and to honour him as his infinite virtues
deserve. This will not only be a just and worthy
thing in itself, but will give us the greatest pleasure.”1
Mantua, April 15, 1518.
Soon after this curious testimony to his moral
character, Bandello went back to Milan, and did
not return to Mantua until after the Marquis
Francesco’s death.
At the request of his friends he composed
a Latin oration in memory of this prince,
which he sent to his son and successor on the
anniversary of Francesco’s death, and afterwards
delivered before Federico and his whole court.
But in the following letter, which he sent to the
Marchesa, he showed his discrimination by omitting
any allusion to her dead lord’s virtues, and contented
himself with expressions of sympathy in her loss,
and of high hopes for her son’s success and pros-
perity. Isabella herself, we can well believe,
cordially shared Bandello’s sentiments as to the
weariness of reading endless letters of condolence, in
which the same exaggerated praises and conven-
tional expressions were reiterated ad nauseam.
“ Most illustrious and honoured Mistress,—I think
1 Luzio, Precettori, p. 46.
151
praise and commend him. But since we hear that
you have received other accounts, which are utterly
false, we should fail in our duty if we did not bear
witness to the good conduct of the said Friar
Matteo, which deserves the highest commendation.
We therefore pray you, Reverend Fathers, to dis-
miss any bad opinions about him which you may
have formed, if indeed this is true, which we on our
part greatly doubt, and we heartily pray you to hold
him dear, and to honour him as his infinite virtues
deserve. This will not only be a just and worthy
thing in itself, but will give us the greatest pleasure.”1
Mantua, April 15, 1518.
Soon after this curious testimony to his moral
character, Bandello went back to Milan, and did
not return to Mantua until after the Marquis
Francesco’s death.
At the request of his friends he composed
a Latin oration in memory of this prince,
which he sent to his son and successor on the
anniversary of Francesco’s death, and afterwards
delivered before Federico and his whole court.
But in the following letter, which he sent to the
Marchesa, he showed his discrimination by omitting
any allusion to her dead lord’s virtues, and contented
himself with expressions of sympathy in her loss,
and of high hopes for her son’s success and pros-
perity. Isabella herself, we can well believe,
cordially shared Bandello’s sentiments as to the
weariness of reading endless letters of condolence, in
which the same exaggerated praises and conven-
tional expressions were reiterated ad nauseam.
“ Most illustrious and honoured Mistress,—I think
1 Luzio, Precettori, p. 46.