Franco. I gave thy garter to the man thou toldest me. I quite understand that he has not pleased the person who you said praised him: so that what with this and our conversation in the fields I think it would be an excellent thing to do as we decided. By word of mouth we will settle all. _Vale iterum._ Say to Francesco that I went to his house and told his old woman that he was well and would be at Poggio on Monday, at which she rejoiced. I also went to the house of my Andrea de’ Medici: his womankind were at vespers, but I saw the baby girl who was being fed; the sweetest little fish in the world, she looks like a rose: and I left word that he was well and would return on Monday. Commend me to him. _Two of Piero’s Sayings_ Returning from the festival at the Carmine together we passed my house, so he came in and had some breakfast, and when we left as he was putting on his _catelano_ [overcoat] I said: “Piero, will you not drink a little more?” When his coat was well on he said: “Yes, just a little so as not to smell of Catelano,”[322] which made us all laugh. The other: Passing near S. Maria Novella the house of that Ser Francesco who kept a school for boys, and seeing that now a carpenter was standing at the door which was open so that we could see wood piled up inside, I said: “Oh dear, Ser Francesco who kept the school must be dead,” and the carpenter answered that he was. I exclaimed: “The devil! I am grieved for him!” Piero said: “Why ‘the devil’? did you wish him to live more years than a life? He must have been eighty.” We laughed all the way to Piazza Madonna. I thought he had heard this and only repeated it, but looking at him I saw by his laughing face that he had said it of himself and on purpose. Lorenzo declares (and it makes me laugh) that he will not have Piero bothered, &c.; the poor lad cannot go outside the door without all Florence running after him; it is the same at home, they all try to make him shine, though with decorum, on which he insists. But they don’t care. It is of no use; they are all enthusiastic and cannot hold their tongues. When Lorenzo goes out he will have to lock the boy in a cupboard if he does not want to hear questions put to him to answer. I cannot tell you what charm there is about him, so that all who talk for a while with him are captivated.[323] Lorenzo de’ Medici _to the_ Duke Ercole d’Este