a grand flirting place, where people sat very patiently during the
somewhat long operation of having their names called aloud, as their
carriages arrived, by an official, who knew the names and addresses of
us all. We also knew _his_ mode of adapting the names of foreigners to
his Italian organs. "Hasa" (Florentine for _casa_) "Tro-lo-pé," with
a long-drawn-out accent on the last vowel, was the absolutely fatal
signal for the sudden breaking up of many a pleasant chat.

Florence was also, in those days, an especially economical place for
those to whom it was pleasant to enjoy during the whole of the gay
season as many balls, concerts, and other entertainments as they could
possibly desire, without the necessity, or indeed the possibility, of
putting themselves to the expense of giving anything in return. There
was a weekly ball at the Pitti Palace, and another at the Casino
dei Nobili, which latter was supported entirely by the Florentine
aristocracy. There were two or three balls at the houses of the
foreign ministers, and generally one or two given by two or three
wealthy Florentine nobles--there were a few, but very few such.

Perhaps the pleasantest of all these were the balls at the Pitti. They
were so entirely _sans gêne_. No court dress was required save on the
first day of the year, when it was _de rigueur_. But absence on that
occasion in no way excluded the absentee from the other balls. Indeed,
save to a new comer, no invitations to foreigners were issued, it
being understood that all who had been there once were welcome ever
after. The Pitti balls were not by any means concluded by, but rather
divided into two, by a very handsome and abundant supper, at which, to
tell tales out of school (but then the offenders have no doubt mostly
gone over to the majority), the guests used to behave abominably. The
English would seize the plates of _bonbons_ and empty the contents