“‘Ne di tempo, nè di Signoria,
Non ti dar malinconia.’“‘Fret not thyself for time long past away,
For weather, nor for what the great may say.’
“Well, it happened one morning in Florence that a gentil donna, who, I take it, was more donna than truly gentil, whatever her rank may have been, meeting at the door of the Duomo a very ordinary and rough figure of her acquaintance, who had only made himself look more vulgar by new and gaudy clothes, asked him as he came out:
“‘Is the Cads’ Mass [180] over already?’
“To which he, in nowise put out, promptly replied:
“‘Yes, Madonna, and that of the Demireps is just going to
begin; [181] only hurry, and you’ll be there in time with the rest of ’em!’
“And that lifted him to celebrity, for in those famous days a small joke often made a great reputation. Ah! Signore—a great many of us have been born into this world four hundred years too late—more’s the pity! However, the lady learned the truth of the old proverb, ‘Guardati del villan, quando hà la camicia bianca’—‘Look out for a vulgar fellow when he has a clean shirt on,’ for then he thinks himself fine enough to say anything saucy.
“And there is yet another story of the same sort, Signore; indeed, I think that while the world lasts there will always be a few of them left for steady customers, under the counter, like smuggled goods in Venice; and it is this: It befell once that a Florentine fell in love with a lady, who was like her mother, come il ramo al tronco s’assomiglia—‘as the bough to the tree, or very much worse than she ought to be;’ for the dear mamma was like the Porta San Niccolò, only not so well famed.
“However, the gentleman wedded her, never heeding the proverb:
“‘Let every wooer be afraid
To wed a maiden not a maid;
For sooner or later, as ’tis said,
She’ll turn again unto her trade.’