s, the _Lutin_ of the French castles, the
Robin Goodfellow of England, and the Domovoy of the Russians. His
characteristics are reckless good nature mingled with mischief and
revenge; but he is always, when not thwarted, at heart a _bon garcon_.
Of the Bargello I have also the following anecdotes or correlative
incidents:

GIORGIO.

"Truly I will not swear that this is a story of the Bargello, for I am
very particular as to truth, Signore, but I will swear that 'tis of a
prison in Florence, and that when it happened the Bargello was the only
prison there. And it runs thus: Giorgio, whoever he was, had killed a
man, and as the law ran in his case, in those strange days, he could not
be executed till he had confessed or owned the deed. And he would not
confess.

"Now there was a lawyer, _un notaio_, _o chi che si fosse_ (or whoever he
was), who declared that he would bring to pass with a trick what justice
had not been able to do with torture. So going to the prison, he called
for wine, and when they had drunk deep he cried heartily:

"'_Orsu_, _Giorgio_, _stiamo un poco allegri_, _cantiam qualche
cosa_'--'Come now, Giorgio, let's be merry and sing something!'

"'_Come ti piace_'--'As you please,' quoth Master Giorgio. 'You sing one
line.'

"So the notary began, touching a lute:

"'Giorgi ha morto l'huomo.'
"'Giorgio once killed a man.'

"To which Giorgio, who was sharp as a razor, added:

"'Cosi non canta Giorgio.'
"'But it was not thus that Giorgio sang.'

"So it passed into a proverb, meaning as much as _Cosi non dico io_--I
don't say that; or _Cosi non l'intendo io_--I don't see it in that light.
And so the notary found that you cannot see Verona from the top of every
hill.

"And there is another story of a prisoner, who had long curling hair in
the old Florentine style. Hair, Signore, like charity, may cover much
sin. Now this man, after he had been a while in the Bargello, got his
sentence, which was to have his ears cropped off. But when the _boia_ or
hangman came to do the job, he found that the man had had his ears cut
off smooth long before. Whence came the proverb:

"'Quel che havea mozzi gli orecchi,
E'ci sara de gli arreticati.'

"'He whose ears had been cut away,
Fooled another, or so they say.'

Which is a proverb to this day, when a man finds that somebody has been
before him.

"And it may have been that Donatel