Aurelian was the only Son to a Principal Gentleman of Florence. The
Indulgence of his Father prompted, and his Wealth enabled him, to
bestow a generous Education upon him, whom, he now began to look upon
as the Type of himself; an Impression he had made in the Gayety and
Vigour of his Youth, before the Rust of Age had debilitated and
obscur’d the Splendour of the Original: He was sensible, That he ought
not to be sparing in the Adornment of him, if he had Resolution to
beautifie his own Memory. Indeed Don Fabio (for so was the Old
Gentleman call’d) has been observ’d to have fix’d his Eyes upon
Aurelian, when much Company has been at Table, and have wept through
Earnestness of Intention, if nothing hapned to divert the Object;
whether it were for regret, at the Recollection of his former self, or
for the Joy he conceiv’d in being, as it were, reviv’d in the Person of
his Son, I never took upon me to enquire, but suppos’d it might be
sometimes one, and sometimes both together.
Aurelian, at the Age of Eighteen Years, wanted nothing (but a Beard)
that the most accomplished Cavalier in Florence could pretend to: he
had been Educated from Twelve Years old at Siena, where it seems his
Father kept a Receiver, having a large Income from the Rents of several
Houses in that Town. Don Fabio gave his Servant Orders, That Aurelian
should not be stinted in his Expences, when he came up to Years of
Discretion. By which means he was enabled, not only to keep Company
with, but also to confer many Obligations upon Strangers of Quality,
and Gentlemen who travelled from other Countries into Italy, of which
Siena never wanted store, being a Town most delightfully Situate, upon
a Noble Hill, and very well suiting with Strangers at first, by reason
of the agreeableness and purity of the Air: There also is the
quaintness and delicacy of the Italian Tongue most likely to be
learned, there being many publick Professors of it in that place; and
indeed the very Vulgar of Siena do express themselves with an easiness
and sweetness surprizing, and even grateful to their Ears who
understand not the Language.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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