d he was deservedly called of all only Messer
Ermino Avarizia.

It chanced that, whilst, by dint of spending not, he multiplied his
wealth, there came to Genoa a worthy minstrel,[65] both well-bred and
well-spoken, by name Guglielmo Borsiere, a man no whit like those[66]
of the present day, who (to the no small reproach of the corrupt and
blameworthy usances of those[67] who nowadays would fain be called and
reputed gentlefolk and seigniors) are rather to be styled asses,
reared in all the beastliness and depravity of the basest of mankind,
than [minstrels, bred] in the courts [of kings and princes]. In those
times it used to be a minstrel's office and his wont to expend his
pains in negotiating treaties of peace, where feuds or despites had
befallen between noblemen, or transacting marriages, alliances and
friendships, in solacing the minds of the weary and diverting courts
with quaint and pleasant sayings, ay, and with sharp reproofs,
father-like, rebuking the misdeeds of the froward,--and this for
slight enough reward; but nowadays they study to spend their time in
hawking evil reports from one to another, in sowing discord, in
speaking naughtiness and obscenity and (what is worse) doing them in
all men's presence, in imputing evil doings, lewdnesses and knaveries,
true or false, one to other, and in prompting men of condition with
treacherous allurements to base and shameful actions; and he is most
cherished and honoured and most munificently entertained and rewarded
of the sorry unmannerly noblemen of our time who saith and doth the
most abominable words and deeds; a sore and shameful reproach to the
present age and a very manifest proof that the virtues have departed
this lower world and left us wretched mortals to wallow in the slough
of the vices.

[Footnote 65: _Uomo di corte._ This word has been another grievous
stumbling block to the French and English translators of Boccaccio,
who render it literally "courtier." The reader need hardly be reminded
that the minstrel of the middle ages was commonly jester, gleeman and
story-teller all in one and in these several capacities was allowed
the utmost license of speech. He was generally attached to the court
of some king or sovereign prince, but, in default of some such
permanent appointment, passed his time in visiting the courts and
mansions of princes and men of wealth and liberty, where his talents
were likely to be appreciated and rewarded; hence the name _uom