| PAGE |
|---|
| Introduction | [xi] |
| The Poet Complains of Unreasonable Friends—Antonio Pucci (1375) | [1] |
| Calandrino Finds the Stone Heliotrope—Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375) | [2] |
| Story of Dante and the Smith—Franco Sacchetti (1335–1400) | [10] |
| Messer Bernabò and the Miller—Franco Sacchetti | [11] |
| How Ser Nastagio was Collected for in Church—Girolamo Parabosco (16th century) | [14] |
| How a Barrister got his Money’s Worth—Sabadino degli Arienti (c. 1450–1500) | [19] |
| The Merry Jests of Buffalmacco the Painter—Vasari (1512–1574) | [21] |
| Anecdotes—Vasari | [25] |
| Chorus from “La Mandragola”—Niccolo Machiavelli (1469–1527) | [26] |
| Fra Timoteo’s Monologue—Niccolo Machiavelli | [26] |
| The Mediæval Undergraduate—Baldassarre Castiglione (1478–1529) | [27] |
| Anecdotes—Baldassarre Castiglione | [28] |
| A Roman Prelate of 1519—Lodovico Ariosto (1474–1533) | [30] |
| The Valley of Lost Lumber—Lodovico Ariosto | [32] |
| The Poet to his Patron—Francesco Berni (1490?–1536) | [35] |
| Benvenuto Cellini Offends the Pope—Benvenuto Cellini (1500–1570) | [36] |
| He rescues a Fool from Drowning—Benvenuto Cellini | [37] |
| Opening Stanzas of “The Rape of the Bucket”—Alessandro Tassoni (1565–1635) | [39] |
| The Call to Arms—Alessandro Tassoni | [40] |
| The Assembly of the Gods—Alessandro Tassoni | [41] |
| Praises of the Wine of Montepulciano—Francesco Redi (1626–1696) | [45] |
| From a Letter to Pier Maria Baldi—Francesco Redi | [48] |
| Pulcinella’s Duel—Francesco Cerlone (c. 1750–1800) | [49] |
| A Bergamasc Peter Peebles—Gasparo Gozzi (1713–1786) | [53] |
| How to Succeed in Literature—Gasparo Gozzi | [55] |
| A Fable—Gasparo Gozzi | [56] |
| King Teodoro and his Creditors (From the Comic Opera, “Il Re Teodoro”)—Giovanni Battista Casti (1721–1803) | [57] |
| The Poet and his Creditors: Four Sonnets—Giovanni Battista Casti | [60] |
| Didymus, the Cleric, on the Italian Universities—Ugo Foscolo (1778–1827) | [62] |
| The First Hour and the Sun—Giacomo Leopardi (1798–1837) | [63] |
| Fashion and Death—Giacomo Leopardi | [66] |
| The Poet on Tramp—Filippo Pananti (1776–1837) | [70] |
| Love and a Quiet Life—Giuseppe Giusti (1809–1850) | [74] |
| Instructions to a Young Aspirant for Office—Giuseppe Giusti | [76] |
| Letter to Tommaso Grossi—Giuseppe Giusti | [78] |
| Don Abbondio and the Bravoes—Alessandro Manzoni (1784–1873) | [82] |
| The Interrupted Wedding—Alessandro Manzoni | [85] |
| Our Children—Collodi | [90] |
| Stray Thoughts of an Idler—Antonio Ghislanzoni | [94] |
| Men and Instruments—Antonio Ghislanzoni | [95] |
| The Delights of Journalism—Enrico Onufrio | [100] |
| When Greek Meets Greek—Napoleone Corazzini | [103] |
| The Famous Tenor, Spalletti—Napoleone Corazzini | [104] |
| Rival Earthquakes—Luigi Capuana | [107] |
| Quacquarà—Luigi Capuana | [121] |
| The Excavations of Mastro Rocco—Luigi Capuana | [134] |
| The War of the Saints—Giovanni Verga | [137] |
| His Reverence—Giovanni Verga | [148] |
| Padron ’Ntoni’s Politics—Giovanni Verga | [154] |
| Mastro Peppe’s Magic—Gabriele d’Annunzio | [155] |
| A Day in the Country—Renato Fucini | [168] |
| The Theorem of Pythagoras—Enrico Castelnuovo | [191] |
| An Eccentric Orderly—Edmondo de Amicis | [199] |
| A Provincial Oracle—Mario Pratesi | [206] |
| Doctor Phœbus—Mario Pratesi | [208] |
| Our School and Schoolmistress—Mario Pratesi | [229] |
| Local Jealousies—P. C. Ferrigni (“Yorick”) | [232] |
| Sunshine—P. C. Ferrigni | [234] |
| When it Rains—P. C. Ferrigni | [235] |
| The Patent Adaptable Sonnet—Paolo Ferrari | [237] |
| Love by Proxy—P. Ferrari | [238] |
| A Wet Night in the Country—P. Ferrari | [239] |
| A Lost Explorer—C. Lotti | [254] |
| The Spirit of Contradiction—Vittorio Bersezio | [259] |
| Truth—Achille Torelli | [262] |
| Pasquin—(From Roba di Roma, by Story) | [266] |
| Epigrams | [283] |
| Proverbs, Folk-lore, and Traditional Anecdotes | [284] |
| Newspaper Humour | [305] |
| Notes | [323] |
| Biographical Index of Writers | [327] |