never reached the bitterness of Scottish feud, [1] because they were
never so sincere. Protestant and Catholic Scotsmen faithfully believed
each other to be servants of the devil; but the Guelph and Ghibelline
of Florence each respected, in the other, the fidelity to the Emperor,
or piety towards the Pope, which he found it convenient, for the time,
to dispense with in his own person. The street fighting was therefore
more general, more chivalric, more good-humoured; a word of offence set
all the noblesse of the town on fire; every one rallied to his post;
fighting began at once in half a dozen places of recognized
convenience, but ended in the evening; and, on the following day, the
leaders determined in contended truce who had fought best, buried their
dead triumphantly, and better fortified any weak points, which the
events of the previous day had exposed at their palace corners.
Florentine dispute was apt to centre itself about the gate of St.
Peter, [2] the tower of the cathedral, or the fortress-palace of the
Uberti, (the family of Dante's Bellincion Berti and of Farinata), which
occupied the site of the present Palazzo Vecchio. But the streets of
Siena seem to have afforded better barricade practice. They are as
steep as they are narrow--extremely both; and the projecting stones on
their palace fronts, which were left, in building, to sustain, on
occasion, the barricade beams across the streets, are to this day
important features in their architecture.

[Footnote 1: Distinguish always the personal from the religious feud;
personal feud is more treacherous and violent in Italy than in
Scotland; but not the political or religious feud, unless involved with
vast material interests.]

[Footnote 2: Sismondi, vol. ii., chap. ii.; G. Villani, vi., 33.]