{14} "Le cattive nove volano, Le male son sempre vere; Prima l"annunzio, poi malanno, Chi me ne da una calda, e chi una fredda."
-_Italian Proverb_.
{15} The_ cappa_ is a cloak with a hood or "capuchin;" a _cotta_ is the stole worn by Catholic priests.
{21} _Folletto_. This, which meant originally an airy tricksy sprite, is now applied not only to fairies and goblins in general, but also to every kind of supernatural apparition. I have a book in which even comets are described as _folletti_.
{23} Redi"s _Bacco in Toscana_ is known to the most ignorant in Florence, there being very cheap editions of it constantly sold.
{24} "Can a _horn_ play second fiddle?" inquires Flaxius. "This comes of trying to improve on the simple Italian text."
{27} _Zoccoloni_ or _Zoccolanti_, sandalled friars of the lowest order, who are indeed common beggars.
{31} The partial inscription referred to is still on the column.
{33} This is strikingly like the ceremony for the same purpose used by the ancient Romans, the object in both being to frighten away evil spirits. _Vide_ "Etruscan Roman Remains," by C. G. Leland, p. 305.
{43} Una vecchietta, tutta Gesu e Maria.
{47} I have elsewhere explained that the _fata_ in these traditions is a witch or sorcerer become a spirit.
{48a} It may be conjectured from this context that the child was partly human in form, perhaps like the Pig-faced Lady, or not more swinish than William of Ardennes in face.
{48b} Truly she was, to use a really ancient phrase, "ready to go the whole hog." It is said that Mahomet told his disciples that there was one part of a pig which they must not touch; but as he did not specify what it was, they among them devoured the entire animal.
{50} "Symbola Heroica," Antwerp, 1583.
{63} Raised footway, high curbstone, causeway, bench.
{67} "D"una gran purga bisogna avete, E questa purga davero dovete Farla all" anima, cosi guarirete!"
{71} It appears from this story that La Certosa was "even then as now"
visited by strangers as one of the lions of Florence.
{77a} This word is apparently allied to _Marrano_, an infidel Moor, miscreant, traitor, or to _amaro_, bitter or painful.
{77b} A peculiarly Florentine word. _Renajo_, sand-pit, a place so called near the Arno in Florence (Barretti"s Dictionary). I can see several of these _renaioli_ with their boats from the window at work before me as I write. _Vide_ "The Spirit of the Arno."
{82} "Echoes of Old Florence," by Temple Leader.
{83} Like Proteus, the evasive slippery nature of water and the light which plays on it accounts for this.
{92} "Well, yes, I think you might; A cart of hay went through this afternoon."
I believe this is by Peter Pindar. The Italian proverb probably suggested it.
{94} _Rizzar l"uovo di Pippo su un piano_. "To do a difficult thing, or achieve it by tact and skill." This hints at the egg of Columbus. But Columbus set the egg upright by breaking its end, which was not a fair game. Any egg can be set on end on a marble table (I have done it), by patient balancing, without breaking.
{96} "Florentine Life during the Renaissance," by Walter B. Scaife.
Baltimore, 1893.
{98} The diavolino of Gian di Bologna is of bronze, but popular tradition makes light of accuracy.
{103} This is supposed to be addressed to another, not to the fairy.
{108} _Ucellato_, caught like a bird, or, as they say on the Mississippi, "sniped."
{126} The reader may observe that these popular names of Oratorio and Orto are most likely to have given the prefix _Or"_.
{150} _Ha tanta lingua che spazzarebbe un forno_, _ un cesso_. Said of virulent gossips.
{152} _Mago_, which, like _magus_, implies more dignity than magician or sorcerer.
{153} "The Mugnone, whose course has been shifted to the west, formerly flowed into the Arno, through the heart of the city."-_Murray"s Handbook for Travellers in Central Italy_.
{155} _L"anguilla si rizzo in piedi_-"The eel rose upon her feet." This will remind the reader of some of the difficulties experienced by Gothic artists in depicting Eve and the Serpent.
{156} There is much confusion here. It appears that the fairy made the fountain now in the Signoria, and that Biancone saw this in a vision.
{158} This refers to the satyrs who are among the bronze figures below Neptune.
{161a} I here omit a long, detailed, and wearisome account of the research, which, however, indicates the accuracy with which the tradition had been preserved, and the full belief in it of the narrator.
{161b} A kind of cruel pillory.
{162} In allusion to seeing it from behind the squares formed by the grates of iron before prison windows.
{164} Landucci, 233, cited by Scaife.
{171} Una medichessa.
{177} Not a fairy here, but a witch of a certain degree.
{180} Si la Messa de Villani era finito.
{181} E appunto hora comincia quella delle puttane, pero caminate, che farete a tempo con l"altre.
{189} Nella guerra d"amor, che fugge vince.
{196} Viene tutte le mattine Colle sue belle manine.
Though very rude, even to illiteracy in _form_, the train of thought is here very gracefully managed in the original.
{201} So called because criminals pa.s.sed through it on their way to execution.
{202} "Da qualche bacio Vi chascha il _vero_ bacio d"amor."
-_Original_.