His insatiable thirst for knowledge did not prevent his perfecting himself in every healthful and manly exercise. Precocious in his amusements as in his talents, he devoted to these the play-time which other children pass with noisy toys, and whilst they listened to nursery tales, he hung upon the recital of heroic deeds, or the stirring narratives of glorious war. To the boyish sports of ball and dancing quickly succeeded gymnastic and military games, which were followed with an enthusiasm, and accompanied by exposure to fatigue and cold, that appear to have fatally affected his constitution. Thus he grew up, adorned by the accomplishments, endowed with the courage, and skilled in the martial exercises which formed a perfect knight when the standard of chivalry was high. Nor were the graces of person wanting to this phoenix of his age. Count Castiglione describes him as represented in our engraving, of fair complexion and hair; of singularly handsome features, in which a severe style was chastened by gentle expression; of a person and limbs the model of manly beauty. * * * * * The death of Duke Federigo in the disastrous campaign of Ferrara, on the 10th of September, 1482, left Guidobaldo an orphan ere he had completed his eleventh year. In times where so much of the success, and even security, of a petty sovereign depended on his personal qualifications, a minority was ever perilous; but, in the present instance, there were circumstances of peculiar danger to augment the delicacy of his position. The state of Urbino was surrounded by those of the Church, of Florence, of Rimini, and of Pesaro, whilst the more distant powers, whose influence habitually bore upon the lesser principalities of Italy, were Venice, Milan, and Naples. Of the former category, the Pope, though connected by marriage, could scarcely be deemed friendly, for Federigo had died in arms against the papal troops; Lorenzo de' Medici was indebted to him for important aid, but had never shown any peculiar attachment to his alliance; Rimini had once more passed into the hands of an illegitimate heir, in whose eyes the intermarriage of his father with the aunt of Guidobaldo[*219] might not counterbalance the inveterate feuds between his grandfather Sigismondo Pandolfo and Federigo. With Costanzo Sforza, Lord of Pesaro, the young Duke could, indeed, calculate upon amicable relations, but these, with so feeble a neighbour, were of negative rather than available advantage. The open hostility of Venice, then almost at the climax of her power, might well counterbalance the Neapolitan alliance, and Ludovico Sforza was too busy with his own ambitious projects upon the Milanese to interfere in support of a distant ally. But how vain the calculations of human policy in the sight of HIM in whose hands are the issues of life! The perils which hung over the youthful Guidobaldo passed away like the morning mists that precede a brilliant sunrise.