last hunting party he mentions was in 1615. Though reserved in manner, and little apt to indulge his court in amusements uncongenial with his own unsocial temperament, he sometimes relaxed so far as to have dancing fêtes at the Imperiale, where he mentions three hundred ladies as having on one occasion been present. The representation of comedies was a frequent carnival pastime. The manner of conducting these theatricals, and the methodical punctuality of the Duke's character, are at once illustrated in the following extract. In February, 1589, "a comedy by the late Maestro Fabio Bagnano was recited in the great hall of Pesaro, beginning at 4 p.m. The first act lasted an hour and ten minutes; after which came an interlude for twenty minutes, from the fable of Ulysses hearing his wanderings foretold by Tiresias; then act second, in fifty minutes, with a musical interlude for ten minutes; then act third, in half-an-hour, with, for interlude, the marriage of Eolus and Deiopeia, in twelve minutes; then act fourth, in forty-eight minutes, and its musical interlude, in seven minutes; lastly, act fifth, in thirty-eight minutes, with its interlude of the gods allotting their various dominions; but this was not finished in consequence of a cloud which, by some mismanagement, did not descend properly." Among the performances noted about this period are the comedies of _I falsi Sospetti_ by Pino; another by the Cavaliere Ludovico Odasio, _I Suppositi_; and an eclogue entitled _La Myrtia_. The interludes between the acts were frequently moresque dances or ballets representing mythological subjects, such as the fable of Prometheus, that of Calisto, the birth of Venus; varied by more familiar themes, as hunting the owl. In 1597, we find noticed, among other gay doings during carnival, a tournament in the great hall of Pesaro, wherein ten or twelve knights ran each three courses, and which was followed by an exhibition of various pleasing conceits.