worse.

But very great fears were entertained for the very ancient Ponte
Vecchio, with its load of silversmiths' and jewellers' shops, turning
it from a bridge into a street--the only remaining example in Europe,
I believe, of a fashion of construction once common. The water
continued to rise as we stood watching it. Less than a foot of space
yet remained between the surface of the flood and the keystone of the
highest arch; and it was thought that if the water rose sufficiently
to beat against the solid superstructure of the bridge, it must have
been swept away. But at last came the cry from those who were watching
it close at hand, that for the last five minutes the surface had
been stationary; and in another half hour it was followed by the
announcement that the flood had begun to decrease. Then there was
an immense sensation, of relief; for the Florentines love their old
bridge; and the crowd began to disperse.

All this time I had had not a mouthful of breakfast, and we betook
ourselves to Doney's _bottega_ to get a cup of coffee before going
home. But when we attempted this we found that it was more easily said
than done. The Via dei Malcontenti as well as the whole of the Piazza
di Santa Croce was some five feet under water! We succeeded, however,
in getting aboard a large boat, which was already engaged in carrying
bread to the people in the most deeply flooded parts of the town. But
all difficulty was not over. Of course the street door of the Palazzo
Berti was shut, and no earthly power could open it. Our apartment was
on the second floor. Our landlord's family occupied the _primo_. Of
course I could get in at their windows and then go up stairs. And we
had a ladder in the boat; but the mounting to the first floor by this
ladder, placed on the little deck of the boat, as she was rocked by
the torrent, was no easy matter, especially for me, who went first.
Eventually, however, Nicholson and I both entered the window,
hospitably opened to receive us, in safety.

But it was one or two days before the flood subsided sufficiently for
us to be provisioned in any other manner than by the boat; and for
long years afterwards social events were dated in Florence as having
happened "before or after the flood." In those days, and for many days
subsequently to them, Florence did indeed--as I have observed when
speaking of the motives which induced us to settle there--join to its
other attractions that of being an econom