File:Men and manners of old Florence (1909) (14791272933).jpg

Identifier: menmannersofoldf00biag (find matches)
Title: Men and manners of old Florence
Year: 1909 (1900s)
Authors: Biagi, Guido, 1855-1925
Subjects:
Publisher: Chicago, A. C. McClurg and co.
Contributing Library: The Library of Congress
Digitizing Sponsor: The Library of Congress

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heminside his ruff, and scalded himself. Later on itbecame fashionable to have the hose divided andcrossed in three or four colours. Shoes had verylong points, and the legs were so swathed with stringsthat the wearer could hardly sit down. Most of theyouths went without a mantle, and wore their hairdown to their shoulders. For the wrist-band a hraccioof cloth was allowed, and more stuff was put in aglove than in a hood. The old fashions struggledwith the new, the newer, the very newest. Everybodywas individually capricious. The Florentine people,inquisitive then as now, liked to behold the newdresses, mantles, and gabardines in which their towns-folk were muffled, so that they hardly recognisedeach other and had to scan one another keenly inthe face before friend knew friend. It was a veritablemasquerade. This mania finally assumed such pro-portions that the men, who have always been thelaw-makers, pondered how they could by legislationput a check upon the extravagant ornaments of the
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PRIVATE LIFE OF THE FLORENTINES 107 Florentine women, In 1306 and 1330 the Com-mune promulgated sumptuary laws, reinforced in1352, 1355, 1384, 1388 and 1396, when very severeregulations were a4ded. These had again to berevived in 1439, ^45^> ^^^ once more in 1562. Theclergy thundered from the pulpits, the wise menadmonished, and some of them, such as Dominici,went the length of furnishing regulations to carefulmothers about their own dress and that of theirdaughters. The story-tellers lashed with their witthis immoderate luxury. Meanwhile the other citiesof Tuscany and Italy sent to the Florentine merchantsfor copies of the above-named regulations in order toinclude them in their own laws, and constantly repeatedtheir request. At the same time there began a curiouscontest between the severity of the rigorous legislationand the cunning of the women. These astute ladiesdid not fight openly ; they pretended to bow theirheads and merely appear annoyed while in realitythey waited for th

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