ITALIAN GARDENS OF THE RENAISSANCE 



Duke needed his counsel in affairs of State and beg- 

 ging him to come to his side, in order that they might 

 share their burden together and console each other. 

 But Galeazzo replied that the blow was too heavy and 

 his distress was too great for him to see anyone, and 

 after a brief interview they left him alone. By degrees, 

 however, the violence of his grief diminished, and he 

 was induced to take food and see his friends. A week 

 later, Bernardino de Corte was able to inform the Duke 

 that Messer Galeaz had been persuaded by his physician 

 and servants to leave Milan and go to Abbiategrasso 

 for a few days' change of air. 



In justice to Lodovico, it must be said that in his 

 own sorrow he did not forget poor Bianca's mother. 

 The letter which he addressed on this occasion to 

 his former mistress, Bernardina de' Corradis, is a 

 curious example of the good feeling and thought- 

 fulness that often surprise us in this singular man. 



"Although," he wrote, "we cannot speak of the 

 sudden death of our darling child, Bianca, without 

 the bitterest anguish, yet since you are her mother, 

 we feel that it would be a grave failure of duty on 

 our part if we did not inform you of this sad event 

 with our own hand, this being unlike any other loss 

 that has befallen us. Yesterday morning, at nine 

 o'clock, having been apparently in perfect health up 

 to this hour, she fell into a sudden fainting-fit, and 

 in spite of all that the doctors could do for her, 



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