“Consider also, my lord Gaspar, that in our times nearly all the men in Spain who are great or famous for anything whatever, were made so by Queen Isabella; and Consalvo Ferdinando, the Great Captain, was far prouder of this than of all his famous victories, and of those eminent and worthy deeds which have made him so bright and illustrious in peace and war, that if fame is not very thankless, she will always herald his immortal praises to the world, and give proof that we have in our age had few kings or great princes who have not been surpassed by him in magnanimity, wisdom, and in every virtue. 36.—“Returning now to Italy, I say that here too there is no lack of very admirable ladies; for in Naples we have two remarkable queens;[393] and a short time since there died at Naples also the other queen of Hungary,[394] you know how admirable a lady, and worthy to be the peer of the unconquerable and glorious king, Matthias Corvinus, her husband.[395] Likewise the Duchess Isabella of Aragon, worthy sister to King Ferdinand of Naples; who (like gold in the fire) showed her virtue and worth amid the storms of fortune.[396] [Illustration: ISABELLA D’ESTE MARCHIONESS OF MANTUA 1474-1539 ] Reduced from a part of Braun’s photograph (no. 34.093) of the portrait by Titian (1477-1576) in the Imperial Museum at Vienna. The picture was painted about 1536 from a portrait painted about 1511 by Francesco Raibolini, better known as Francia, (1450-1517). See Alessandro Luzio’s article in the _Emporium_ (Bergamo), nos. 65-6. “If you come to Lombardy, you will find my lady Isabella, Marchioness of Mantua;[397] to whose very admirable virtues injustice would be done in speaking as soberly as in this place anyone must needs do who would speak of her at all. I regret, too, that you did not all know her sister the Duchess Beatrice of Milan, in order that you might never more have need to marvel at woman’s capacity.[398] And Eleanora of Aragon, Duchess of Ferrara and mother of both these two ladies whom I have mentioned, was of such sort that her very admirable virtues bore good witness to all the world that she not only was a worthy daughter of a king, but deserved to be queen over a much greater realm than all her ancestors had possessed.[399] And to tell you of another, how many men do you know in the world who have borne the cruel blows of fortune as patiently as Queen Isabella of Naples has done?[400]—who, after the loss of her kingdom, the exile and death of her husband King Federico[401] and of two children, and the captivity of her first-born, the Duke of Calabria,[402] still shows herself to be a queen, and so endures the grievous burdens of bitter poverty as to give all men proof that although her fortunes are changed, her rank is not.