BIANCA SFORZA 



vico availed himself of the excuse to take his leave 

 shortly and return to Milan with his wife. Everyone 

 noticed the change in the young Duchess, who seemed 

 to have lost all her usual spirits and remained plunged 

 in silent grief. She visited Santa Maria delle Grazie 

 daily, and spent many hours in prayer before the 

 altar where Bianca slept. On the 2nd of January 

 she drove to the church as usual, and lingered long by 

 her step-daughter's grave, rapt in sorrowful musings, 

 heedless of the entreaties of her ladies, who begged 

 her to come away. The same night she breathed 

 her last, after giving birth to a dead son, and the 

 following evening she was laid to rest before the high 

 altar, where she had lately been kneeling at Bianca's 

 tomb. 



The Duke's grief for the wife whom in spite of 

 neglect and unkindness he held dearer than life 

 " la sua amantissima Duchessa " was deep and 

 lasting, and his constancy amazed both friends and 

 foes. On that fatal evening, when the French were 

 at the gates of Milan and Lodovico was about to 

 fly for his life, he spent the last hour before his 

 departure in prayer by Beatrice's grave, and turned 

 back three times to take a farewell look at the church 

 which held the ashes of the wife and daughter 

 whom he had loved so well. 



In these dark days, Bianca's widowed husband, 



I9S 



