MAY 317 



Symonds's ' Italian Sketches,' which are so conveni- 

 ently published in the Tauchnitz edition, speak of many 

 things in a charming way, but do not actually touch on 

 Florence itself. 



Amongst the books I have been reading none seern to 

 me more remarkable or stamped with a stronger or 

 more interesting individuality than Walter Pater's. His 

 ' Renaissance,' which he calls ' Studies in Art and Poetry,' 

 and * Marius the Epicurean,' with its vivid word-painting 

 and its pictures of old Italy, so unchanged even to-day, 

 are books which must be immensely admired by those 

 who read them, or not liked at all. They are certainly 

 not light reading, and more fitted for the study than the 

 railway carriage ; but they are books which I believe will 

 live in English literature when many of the productions 

 of this period will have passed into the unknown. They 

 are full of study, thought, and knowledge, and it is not 

 only a knack of beautiful writing which is their chief 

 attraction and merit. 



Many years ago two old ladies, Susan and Joanna 

 Horner, lived in Florence and wrote one of the first and 

 the most satisfactory of the detailed guide-books I have 

 ever seen, called ' Walks in Florence.' An interesting new 

 French book by A. Geffroy, called ' Etudes Italiennes,' 

 published in 1898; I thought worth reading, as it gives 

 another historical view of the Renaissance ; Art being 

 only indirectly alluded to. The chapters are on ' Les 

 Grands Medicis,' * Savonarola,' ' Guichardin.' He quotes 

 of ' Laurent ' ' Ce refrain reste populaire qui resonne 

 encore comme un echo lointain et gracieux de la 

 Renaissance ! 



Quanto c bella giovinezza 

 Che si f ugge tuttavia ! 

 Chi vuol esser lieto, sia, 

 Di doman non c' e certezza.' 



