And what can they have been about all day before they came to the Cascine? The masters and mistresses have been sitting in their respective rooms, drawing such warmth as they might from a stove most economically furnished with wood; the servants have been sitting in the antechamber, holding their four extremities over the hot ashes in the “brasero,” a metal vessel something like an English stewpan on a large scale; for the Italian palaces are cold: the architect may have done well, but the mason and the carpenter have been negligent. The walls are joined at any angle except a right one; the windows do not close; the floors are diversified by sundry undulations, so that a space is left beneath the door, through which light zephyrs play over the ill-carpeted floor. Perhaps the lady of the house has been sitting in state to receive her friends; for every Florentine lady is solemnly announced as “at home” to all her friends one day in the week, so as to keep them out of the house all the other six. This is the married life in the palace. The life of the young men, the bachelor life of Florence, is not a bit more active. In a word, the life of a Florentine in easy circumstances is a prolonged lounge. It is not that they loiter away their time for a few weeks, or for a few months—for “a season,” in short—that is done all the world over; but the Florentines do nothing but loiter. The most active portion of their lives is that now before us,—the life during the carnival. The carnival over, the rest of the year is spent in recruiting finances and health for the next winter. Lest the reader should treat this description as exaggerated or unduly severe, it will be best to let the Florentines themselves describe their own manner of living, and give, word for word, the rules laid down in a Florentine paper[5] for any young gentleman who wishes to live in holiness, peace, and happiness (_sic_). “On waking in the morning, take a cup of coffee in bed; and if you have a servant to pour it out, mind that she be a young and pretty one. “Then light a cigar (but not of native tobacco; it is too bad), or, better still, take a whiff of a pipe. “Clear your ideas by smoking, and, little by little, have yourself dressed by the person who undressed you the night before. “After writing a meaningless letter, or reading a chapter out of a novel, go out, weather permitting. “Should you meet a priest, a hunchback, or a white horse, return straightway, or a misfortune may befall you. “After a short turn, get back to breakfast, and, this over, bid the driver put to and whip up for the Cascine. “There go from one carriage to the other, and talk scandal to each lady against all the rest: this to kill time till dinner. “Eat enough, and drink more; and should some wretch come to trouble your digestion by begging his bread, tell him a man should work.