DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.36838#0349
278 COUNT BALDASSARE CASTIGUIONE
complete these elaborate toilettes, and 900 ducats of
the Princess's dowry were melted down to provide
gold ornaments for the black velvet robe worn by her
on the Sunday of Carnival. One evening Cardinal
San Severino gave a sumptuous entertainment, at
which a Latin comedy was acted before supper, and an
Italian play afterwards. The Duchess Elisabetta, the
Prefetessa, Madonna Emilia, and all the other ladies,
remained to the end, which was not till two o'clock;
but the Duke grew so tired of the performance that
he took his wife by the hand and rode home with her,
attended by one or two servants. The next evening
he scandalized the company still more by leaving
M. Agostino Chigi's palace immediately after supper
without waiting to hear the beautiful eclogue or the
thousand other which the Siena banker
had prepared in honour of his guests. This was the
more indefensible because M. Agostino was at this
time paying assiduous court to the fair Margarita
Gonzaga, whose hand he sought in marriage, asking
no dowry, and promising to settle 10,000 ducats upon
her. But whether Margarita's heart was still given
to her old lover, Alberto Pio, who was now in Rome
as Imperial ambassador, or whether she shrank with
aversion from this elderly banker, it is certain that she
declined his otfer, and M. Agostino himself frankly
owned that he had no wish to share his home and bed
with an unwilling bride.
The Pope was in high good humour, went every-
where, and would see everything. He gave suppers
and dances in the rooms of Pope Innocent, and
bull-tights in the Belvedere gardens, and presented
the bride with a costly gold chain and crown, as well
as a quantity of gloves and perfumes. When the
Marquis Francesco's horse carried otf the in the
complete these elaborate toilettes, and 900 ducats of
the Princess's dowry were melted down to provide
gold ornaments for the black velvet robe worn by her
on the Sunday of Carnival. One evening Cardinal
San Severino gave a sumptuous entertainment, at
which a Latin comedy was acted before supper, and an
Italian play afterwards. The Duchess Elisabetta, the
Prefetessa, Madonna Emilia, and all the other ladies,
remained to the end, which was not till two o'clock;
but the Duke grew so tired of the performance that
he took his wife by the hand and rode home with her,
attended by one or two servants. The next evening
he scandalized the company still more by leaving
M. Agostino Chigi's palace immediately after supper
without waiting to hear the beautiful eclogue or the
thousand other which the Siena banker
had prepared in honour of his guests. This was the
more indefensible because M. Agostino was at this
time paying assiduous court to the fair Margarita
Gonzaga, whose hand he sought in marriage, asking
no dowry, and promising to settle 10,000 ducats upon
her. But whether Margarita's heart was still given
to her old lover, Alberto Pio, who was now in Rome
as Imperial ambassador, or whether she shrank with
aversion from this elderly banker, it is certain that she
declined his otfer, and M. Agostino himself frankly
owned that he had no wish to share his home and bed
with an unwilling bride.
The Pope was in high good humour, went every-
where, and would see everything. He gave suppers
and dances in the rooms of Pope Innocent, and
bull-tights in the Belvedere gardens, and presented
the bride with a costly gold chain and crown, as well
as a quantity of gloves and perfumes. When the
Marquis Francesco's horse carried otf the in the