{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 Gesù 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 _Marráno_, 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 sù un píano_. “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.”