preserved, and some of the finest heads defaced, which was done at first
by a rival of Le Soeur's. Adieu! dear West, take care of your health;
and some time or other we will talk over all these things with more
pleasure than I have had in seeing them.

Yours ever.


_THE CARNIVAL--THE FLORENTINES CIVIL, GOOD-NATURED, AND FOND OF THE
ENGLISH--A CURIOUS CHALLENGE._

TO RICHARD WEST, ESQ.

FLORENCE, _February_ 27, 1740, N.S.

Well, West, I have found a little unmasqued moment to write to you; but
for this week past I have been so muffled up in my domino, that I have
not had the command of my elbows. But what have you been doing all the
mornings? Could you not write then?--No, then I was masqued too; I have
done nothing but slip out of my domino into bed, and out of bed into my
domino. The end of the Carnival is frantic, bacchanalian; all the morn
one makes parties in masque to the shops and coffee-houses, and all the
evening to the operas and balls. _Then I have danced, good gods! how
have I danced!_ The Italians are fond to a degree of our country dances:
_Cold and raw_ they only know by the tune; _Blowzybella_ is almost
Italian, and _Buttered peas_ is _Pizelli al buro_. There are but three
days more; but the two last are to have balls all the morning at the
fine unfinished palace of the Strozzi; and the Tuesday night a
masquerade after supper: they sup first, to eat _gras_, and not encroach
upon Ash-Wednesday. What makes masquerading more agreeable here than in