ITALIAN GARDENS OF THE RENAISSANCE 



the coming morrow, and all unconscious of the doom 

 which hung over them. That doom was nearer than 

 they knew. In the autumn of the following year 

 Gian Galeazzo died, worn out by his excesses, leaving 

 the unhappy Isabella to eat out her heart in gloom and 

 loneliness, while her rival, Beatrice, reigned in her stead, 

 and the title of Count of Pavia, which her own child 

 had borne, was assumed by Lodovico's son. Bianca was 

 fondly attached to both of her little brothers, Maxi- 

 milian and Francesco. Her name figures constantly in 

 the daily reports of the Duke's children that were sent 

 him by the chamberlain in charge, Giacomo Seregno, 

 when he was absent at Pavia or Vigevano. On the 

 1 8th of April, 1495, Bianca herself wrote an affectionate 

 letter to her father, telling him of her half-sister's, 

 Margherita, illness, and how she had been helping 

 her mother to nurse the little girl. Soon afterwards 

 Beatrice's baby-boy, Francesco, fell ill in his turn, and 

 Lodovico's most trusted physicians, Niccolo da Cusano 

 and Ambrogio di Rosate, were sent to attend him. But 

 he soon recovered, and one of his attendants, Francesco 

 dal Maino, wrote to inform the Duke that Madonna 

 Bianca had been to see his Highness, who was 

 " looking as beautiful as a pearl." She kissed and 

 petted him, and amused him for a long time in her 

 arms, and was present at six o'clock when he had his 

 bath. The little fellow was as merry as possible, 

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