d fruits_; also, all kinds of turnery and
inlaid work, piano-fortes, philosophical and mathematical
instruments, &c. The dyes used at this city are much admired,
particularly the black, _and its sausages are famous throughout
all Italy_."

Shall we visit the churches of Florence with M. Dumas? No, we are not in
the vein. Shall we go with him to the theatres--to the opera--to the
Pergola? Yes, but not to discuss the music or the dancing. Every body
knows that at the great theatres of Italy the fashionable part of the
audience pay very little attention to the music, unless it be a new
opera, but make compensation by listening devoutly to the ballet. The
Pergola is the great resort of fashion. A box at the Pergola, and a
carriage for the banks of the Arno, are the _indispensables_, we are
told, at Florence. Who has these, may eat his macaroni where he
pleases--may dine for sixpence if he will, or can: it is his own affair,
the world is not concerned about it--he is still a gentleman, and ranks
with nobles. Who has them not--though he be derived from the loins of
emperors, and dine every day off plate of gold, and with a dozen
courses--is still nobody. Therefore regulate your expenditure
accordingly, all ye who would be somebody. We go with M. Dumas to the
opera, not, as we have said, for the music or the dancing, but because,
as is the way with dramatic authors, he will there introduce us, for the
sake of contrast with an institution very different from that of an
operatic company--

"Sometimes in the midst of a cavatina or a _pas-de-deux_, a
bell with a sharp, shrill, excoriating sound, will be heard; it
is the bell _della misericordia_. Listen: if it sound but once,
it is for some ordinary accident; if twice, for one of a
serious nature; if it sounds three times, it is a case of
death. If you look around, you will see a slight stir in some
of the boxes, and it will often happen that the person you have
been speaking to, if a Florentine, will excuse himself for
leaving you, will quietly take his hat and depart. You inquire
what that bell means, and why it produces so strange an effect.
You are told it is the bell _della misericordia_, and that he
with whom you were speaking is a brother of the order.

"This brotherhood of mercy is one of the noblest institutions
in the world. It was founded in 1244, on occasion of the
frequent pestilences whic