STORNELLO.
Verses, the rhymes of which return after the fashion of those printed in "N. & Q." (Vol. vi., p. 603., and Vol. vii., p. 174.), are commonly current among the peasants of Tuscany, and in many instances form the materials of their popular songs. It is probable that this description of rhyme originated in the "bel paese la dove 'l si suona." They usually turn on a combination of three words, as in those quoted in Vol vii. of "N. & Q." And the name stornello, as will be readily perceived, is derived from tornare, to return. I send you a specimen of one of them, which has a certain degree of historical interest attached to it, from its connexion with the movement of 1848. It was difficult to walk through the streets of Florence in those days without hearing it carolled forth by more than one Florentine Tyrtæus. Now, I need hardly say, "we never mention it—its name is never heard." The patriot-flag was a tricolor of white, red, and green, a nosegay of which colours a youth has brought to his mistress. She sings as follows:
"E gli dirò che il verde, il rosso, il bianco
Gli stanno ben con una spada al fianco.
E gli dirò che il bianco, il verde, il rosso,
Vuol dir che Italia il duro giogo ha scosso.
E gli dirò che il rosso, il bianco, il verde
E un terno che si giuoca e non si perde."
Of which the following rough version may serve to give a sufficiently-accurate idea of the meaning, for the benefit of your "country gentlemen" readers:
"And I'll tell him the green, and the red, and the white
Would look well by his side as a sword-knot so bright.
And I'll tell him the white, and the green, and the red
Mean, our country has flung the vile yoke from her head.
And I'll tell him the red, and the white, and the green
Is the prize that we play for, a prize that we'll win."
"Un terno che si giuoca" is a phrase which refers to the system of the public lotteries,
established (so much to their shame) by the Italian governments; and a page of explanation of that system would be needful, to make any literal translation of it intelligible to an English reader.
In conclusion I may say, in reply to the Query of Henry H. Breen, that the Popes alluded to in the epigram cited by him as above referred to (Vol. vi., p. 603.), seem evidently to have been Julius II. (Rovere), Leo X. (Medici), Clement VII. (Medici), and Paul III. (Farnese). And the epigram in question says no more than the truth, in asserting that they all four occasioned infinite mischief to France.
T. A. T.
Florence.