and have the charge of public order. They are maintained by the duke, as they were formerly by the Republic, and lodged in the palace, which they scarcely ever quit, save when they go out all together, being kept continually under restraint.[38] The Gonfalonier walks in front of the Podestà, the ducal officer who possesses all the real power, and returns no salutation made to him, simulating a dignity which is altogether imaginary. I felt pity at the sight of men thus satisfied with these apish tricks; moreover, the Grand Duke now wrings from them a tax tenfold greater than what was paid formerly. In most of the large gardens of Italy the principal alleys are laid down with grass, which is kept mown. Just at this season the cherries began to ripen, and on our way from Pistoia to Lucca we met divers villagers, who offered baskets of strawberries for sale. We set out on Ascension Day after dinner, and for a time kept to the plain; then the road became somewhat mountainous, but we soon emerged upon another fine wide stretch of level country. All about the corn-fields are rows of trees, each tree being attached to its neighbour by vines, wherefore these fields have all the appearance of gardens. The mountains on each side of this road are thickly wooded, chiefly with olives, chestnuts, and mulberries for silkworms. At the end of twenty miles we came upon Lucca, situated in the plain aforesaid, a town about one-third smaller than Bordeaux, and free, except that by reason of its weakness it has put itself under the protection of the Emperor and the house of Austria.[39] It is well walled and strengthened with bastions, but the ditches are shallow, and only a scant stream of water flows through the same. Moreover, at the bottom they are full of green plants with wide flat leaves. All round the walls, on the level ground within, are planted two or three rows of trees which afford shade, and would serve, according to what I heard, for fascines in case of need. Viewed from without the place looks like a wood, for the houses are concealed by the trees aforesaid. A guard of three hundred foreign[40] soldiers is always kept.