de to Florence.

"The legate, finding himself deserted by his mercenaries, his forces
reduced to less than three thousand undisciplined troops, with no one
competent to command, hastily retreated to Bologna and sought to make
peace with the Florentines.

"But they, justly resentful of his avaricious and unprovoked invasion,
refused to make peace, and until his death, nearly three years
thereafter, having entered into a league with Barnabo of Milan and
certain cities hostile to the church, conducted a successful war against
him.

"Three days thereafter we crossed through the pass and camped on the
south mountain slope within sight of Florence. The city from the
foothills as you look out upon it seems an island forest of tall towers,
surrounded by a verdant plain.

"A wall 9350 meters in length, protected by a deep moat, surrounds the
city. Every one hundred and sixty meters there is a tower forty meters
high and fourteen meters broad. The twelve gates, six on the left bank
of the river and six on the right, are strengthened by barbicans.

"No other city presents such striking contrasts or combinations of
antitheses, adding much to its picturesque life and appearance. Within
arms length of each other you see the noble in his brilliant attire and
the laborer in rags; the prelate gorgeously arrayed and the monk in
sober gown; almost next door to a cathedral or monastery and which has
taken a century to build, and beneath its very shadow, is the hovel of
some poor beggar. It is a city of violence, where dominion is maintained
by force; yet the pilgrim, with thoughts on God and atonement, may pass
in peace. Some are given over to lives of the vilest licentiousness,
while their neighbors lead lives of frugality and sanctity.

"We came in by the gate north of the church of San Lorenzo and I found
quarters at an inn on Via Por. S. Marcia, near the Ponte Vecchio. I
spent several months at this inn, reporting each day to Sir John for
orders.

"Sir John was the guest of Silvestro de Medici, the head of one of the
noblest of the popular families. In this way I became acquainted with
Marcella, the sister of Silvestro, and after a courtship of several
months we were married.

"My savings amounted to more than eight thousand florins. The florin is
a small gold coin with a lily on one side and the word 'Florentina' on
the other.

"For sixty-five hundred florins I purchased a small but substantial
house on Via Calimara, near