The Amidei washed away the affront with his blood, attacking him, says Villani, at the foot of the Ponte Vecchio; and hence the wars of the Guelphs La Verdea. It is celebrated by Rinuccini, Redi, and the Ghibellines. and most of the Tuscan Poets. Milton went to Italy in 1638. "There it was," says he, "that I found and visited the famous Galileo, grown old, a prisoner to the Inquisition." Old and blind," he might have said. Galileo, by his own account, became blind in December, 1637. Milton, as, we learn from the date of Sir Henry Wotton's letter to him, had not left England on the 18th of April following-See TIRABOSCHI, and WOTTON's Remains. Note 104, page 58, col. 2. O Buondelmonte, quanto mal fuggisti Le nozze sue, per gli altrui conforti! Note 112, page 59, col. 2. Dante. It had been well, hadst thou slept on, Imelda. Ghiradacci in his history of Bologna. Her lover was The story is Bolognese, and is told by Cherubino of the Guelphic party, her brothers of the Ghibelline; than an enmity, hitherto but half-suppressed, broke and no sooner was this act of violence made known, out into open war. The Great Place was a scene of battle and bloodshed for forty successive days; nor was a reconciliation accomplished till six years afterwards, when the families and their adherents met there once again, and exchanged the kiss of peace before the Cardinal Legate; as the rival families of Florence had already done in the Place of S. Maria Novella. Every house on the occasion was hung with tapestry and garlands of flowers. Note 113, page 59, col. 2. Sucking the poison. The Saracens had introduced among them the practice of poisoning their daggers. genius have been produced in times of tumult; when every man was his own master, and all things were open to all. Homer, Dante, and Milton appeared in such times; and we may add Virgil.' Note 115, page 59, col. 2. In every Palace was The Laboratory. Note 116, page 59, col. 2. A Sicilian, the inventress of many poisons; the most celebrated of which, from its transparency, was called Acquetta, or Acqua Tophana. Note 117, page 60, col. I. Gave signs infallible of coming ill. The Cardinal, Ferdinand de' Medici, is said to have been preserved in this manner by a ring which he wore on his finger; as also Andrea, the husband of Giovanna, Queen of Naples. Note 118, page 60, col. 1. One in the floor-now left, alas, unbolted. Note 119, page 60, col. 1. There, at Caïano. their speed in the morning; and at supper was gay beyond measure. When he retired, he sent for her into his apartment; and, pressing her tenderly to his bosom, slipped a cord round her neck. Eleonora appears to have had a presentiment of her fate. She went when required; but, before she set out, took leave of her son, then a child; weeping long and bitterly over him. Note 122, page 60, col. 1. But lo, the Sun is setting. I have here endeavored to describe an Italian sunset as I have often seen it. The conclusion is borrowed from that celebrated passage in Dante Era già l'ora, etc. Note 123, page 60, col. 2. -when armies met. The Roman and the Carthaginian. Such was the animosity, says Livy, that an earthquake, which turned the course of rivers and overthrew cities and mountains, was felt by none of the combatants. xxii, 5. Note 124, page 60, col. 2. And by a brook. It has been called, from time immemorial, Il Sanguinetto. Note 125, page 61, col. 2. Such the dominion of thy mighty voice. Poggio-Caïano, the favorite villa of Lorenzo; where brated fall of the Velino near Terni. he often took the diversion of hawking. Pulci sometimes went out with him; though, it seems, with little ardor. See La Caccia col Falcone, where he is described as missing; and as gone into a wood, to rhyme there. Note 120, page 60, col. 1. With his wild lay The Morgante Maggiore. He used to recite it at the table of Lorenzo, in the manner of the ancient Rhapsodists. Note 121, page 60, col. 1. Note 126, page 61, col. 2. -no bush or green or dry. A sign in our country as old as Shakspeare, and still used in Italy. “Une branche d'arbre, attachée à une maison rustique, nous annonce les moyens de nous rafraîchir. Nous y trouvons du lait et des œufs frais; nous voilà contens."-Mém. de GOLDONI. There is, or was very lately, in Florence a small wine-house with this inscription over the door, Al buon vino non bisogna frasca. Good wine needs no bush. It was much frequented by Salvator Rosa, who drew a portrait of his hostess. Note 127, page 61, col. 2. Of that old den far up among the hills. Caffaggiòlo, the favorite retreat of Cosmo, "the father of his country." Eleonora di Toledo was stabbed A narrow glade unfolded, such as Spring. there on the 11th of July, 1576, by her husband, This upper region, a country of dews and dewy Pietro de' Mediei; and on the 16th of the same lights, as described by Virgil and Pliny, and still, I month, Isabella de' Medici was strangled by hers, believe, called La Rosa, is full of beautiful scenery. Paolo Giordano Orsini, at his villa of Cerreto. They Who does not wish to follow the footsteps of Cicero were at Florence, when they were sent for, each in there, to visit the Reatine Tempe and the Seven her turn, Isabella under the pretext of a hunting-Waters? party; and each in her turn went to die. Isabella was one of the most beautiful and accomplished women of the age. In the Latin, French, and Spanish languages, she spoke not only with fluency, but elegance; and in her own she excelled as an Improvisatrice, accompanying herself on the lute. On her arrival at dusk, Paolo presented her with two beautiful greyhounds, that she might make a trial of 1 The Augustan Age, as it is called, what was it but a dying blaze of the Commonwealth? When Augustus began to reign, Cicero and Lucretius were dead, Catullus had written his sat their first youth. Horace had served under Brutus; and Virgil Med beer pronounced to be Note 128, page 61, col. 2. a sumpter-mule. Many of these circumstances are introduced into a landscape of Annibal Carracci, now in the Louvre Note 129, page 62, col. 1. Filling the land with splendorPerhaps the most beautiful villa of that day was the Villa Madama. It is now a ruin; but enough remains of the plan and the grotesque-work to justify Vasari's account of it. The Pastor Fido, if not the Aminta, used to be ires against Cæsar, and Horace and Virgil were no longer in often represented there; and a theatre, such as is here described, was to be seen in the gardens very lately. Magnæ spos alters Roma. Note 143, page 65, col. 1. Two were so soon to wander and be slain. At the words "Tu Marcellus eris." The story is livres de Virgile ne comprend, qu'une lieue de ter so beautiful, that every reader must wish it to be rain."-BONSTETTEN. true. Note 134, page 62, col. 2. -the centre of their Universe. From the golden pillar in the Forum the ways ran to the gates, and from the gates to the extremities of the Empire. Note 135, page 62, col. 2. To the twelve tables. The laws of the twelve tables were inscribed on pillars of brass, and placed in the most conspicuous part of the Forum.-DION. HAL. Note 136, page 62, col. 2. And to the shepherd on the Alban mount. Amplitudo tanta est, ut conspiciatur à Latiario Jove.-C. PLIN. xxxiv, 7. Note 137, page 62, col. 2. A thousand torches, turning night to day. An allusion to Caesar in his Gallic triumph. "Adscendit Capitolium ad lumina," etc. SUETONIUS. According to Dion. Cassius, he went up on his knees. Note 138, page 63, col. 1. On those so young, well-pleased with all they see. In the triumph of Æmilius, nothing affected the Roman people like the children of Perseus. Many wept; nor could anything else attract notice, till they were gone by.-PLUTARCH. Note 139, page 63, col. 1. -and she who said, Taking the fatal cup between her hands. Once, as we were approaching Frescati in the sun shine of a cloudless December morning, we observed a rustic group by the road-side, before an image of the Virgin, that claimed the devotions of the passenger from a niche in a vineyard wall. Two young men from the mountains of the Abruzzi, in their long brown cloaks, were playing a Christmas-carol. Their instruments were a hautboy and a bagpipe; and the air, wild and simple as it was, was such as she might accept with pleasure. The ingenuous and smiling countenances of these rude minstrels, who seemed so sure that she heard them, and the unaffected delight of their little audience, all younger than themselves, The story of the marriage and the poison is well all standing uncovered, and moving their lips in known to every reader. Note 140, page 64, col. 1. His last great work. The transfiguration; "la quale opera, nel vedere il corpo morto, e quella viva, faceva scoppiare l'anima prayer, would have arrested the most careless traveller. Note 148, page 65, col. 2. And architectural pomp, such as none else; Whoever has entered the Church of St. Peter's or di dolore à ogni uno, che quivi guardava.”—VASARI. the Pauline Chapel, during the Exposition of the Ho.y Sacrament there, will not soon forget the blaze of the side of the rock, and hanging over that torrent, the altar, or the dark circle of worshippers kneeling are little ruins which they show you for Horace's in silence before it. house, a curious situation to observe the Note 160, page 68, col. 2. When they that robb'd, were men of better faith. Alluding to Alfonso Piccolomini. "Stupiva cias There was said to be in the choir, among others cuno che, mentre un bandito osservava rigorosamente of the Sisterhood, a daughter of Cimarosa. Note 158, page 67, col. 1. (So some aver, and who would not believe?) la sua parola, il Papa non avesse ribrezzo di mancare alla propria."-GALLUZZI. ii, 364. He was hanged at Florence, March 16, 1591 When along the shore. Tasso was returning from Naples to Rome, and had arrived at Mola di Gaëta, when he received this tribute of respect. The captain of the troop was Marco di Sciarra. See MANSO. Vita del Tasso. Ariosto had a similar adventure with Filippo Pachione. See BARUFFALDI. Note 162, page 69, col. 1. As by a spell they start up in array. "Cette race de bandits a ses racines dans la population même du pays. La police ne sait ou les trouver.” Lettres de CHATEAUVIEUX. Note 163, page 69, col. 2. Three days they lay in ambush at my gate. This story was written in the year 1820, and is founded on the many narratives which at that time were circulating in Rome and Naples. Note 164, page 71, col. 2. And in the track of him who went to die. The Elder Pliny. See the letters in which his nephew relates to Tacitus the circumstances of his death. Note 165, page 74, col. 1. The fishing-town, Amalfi. "Amalfi fell, after three hundred years of prosperity; but the poverty of one thousand fishermen is yet dignified by the remains of an arsenal, a cathedral, and the palaces of royal merchants."-GIBBON. Note 166, page 74, col. 2. A Hospital, that, night and day, received It was dedicated to Saint John. Note 167, page 74, col. 2. -relics of ancient Greece. Among other things the Pandects of Justinian were found there in 1137. By the Pisans they were taken from Amalfi, by the Florentines from Pisa; and they are now preserved with religious care in the Laurentian Library. Note 168, page 74, col. 2. Grain from the golden vales of Sicily. There is at this day in Syracuse a street called "I did not tell you that just below the first fall, on | La Strada degli Amalfitani. Note 169, page 74, col. 2. Not thus did they return, The tyrant slain. third novel of Franco Sacchetty we read, that a stranger, suddenly entering Giotto's study, threw down a shield and departed, saying, "Paint me my It was in the year 839. See Muratori. Art. Chronici arms in that shield ;" and that Giotto, looking after Amalphitani Fragmenta. Note 173, page 75, col. 2. -and Posidonia rose. him, exclaimed, "Who is he? What is he? He says, Paint me my arms, as if he was one of the Bardi! What arms does he bear?" The Piazza Doria, or, as it is now called, the Piazza di San Matteo, insignificant as it may be thought, is to me the most interesting place in Genoa. It was them their liberty (Sigonii Vita Doria); and on one side of it is the church he lies buried in, on the other Originally a Greek City under that name, and after-there that Doria assembled the people, when he gave wards a Roman City, under the name of Pæstum. See Mitford's Hist. of Greece, chap. x, sec. 2. It was surprised and destroyed by the Saracens at the be-a house, originally of very small dimensions, with this inscription: S. C. Andreæ de Auria Patriæ Liberginning of the tenth century. atori Munus Publicum. Note 174, page 76, col. 1. "What bangs behind that curtain ?" This story, if a story it can be called, is fictitious; and I have done little more than give it as I received it. It has already appeared in prose; but with many alterations and additional circumstances. The abbey of Monte Cassino is the most ancient and venerable house of the Benedictine Order. It is situated within fifteen leagues of Naples, on the inland road to Rome; and no house is more hospitable. Note 175, page 76, col. 1. For life is surely there, and visible change. There are many miraculous pictures in Italy; but none, I believe, were ever before described as malignant in their influence. Note 176, page 76, col. 2. Within a crazed and tatter'd vehicle. Then degraded, and belonging to a Vetturino. Note 177, page 76, col. 2. A shield as splendid as the Bardi wear. A Florentine family of great antiquity. In the sixty-Charles the Fifth. 97 |