LOMBARDY 



night and call the travellers from their lodgings, say- 

 ing, ' Who wants to come to Bononia ? Who wants 

 to come to Dojulum ? Who wants to come to Peolan ? 

 Come, come, come ! quickly, quickly, quickly ! get up, 

 get up ! come, come ! Bring your things ! Let us be 

 off, let us be off! To the boat.' Newcomers, not having 

 heard of the deceptive crow, used to get up and take all 

 their luggage and spend a good part of the night on the 

 bank of the Po, waiting in vain for the boat, before they 

 realised that they had been tricked." ^ 



Vasari has no sympathy with such things. " This 

 animal," he contemptuously says of Sodoma, "frittered 

 away much time with his beasts and fooleries, and so 

 neglected his work." In more than one respect he 

 recalls Rossetti (whose friends were expected to find his 

 wombat the nicest beast on earth), and the " ragging " 

 spirit which tempered the ideals of the Pre-Raphaelite 

 Brotherhood.^ 



In answer to some municipal demand, he sends the 

 following inventory : "Be it herewith known and noti- 

 fied to you, my honourable fellow-townsmen, by Me, 



^ Tom. xxxii. pars i. p. 390. 



^ Rossetti, in this mood, wrote — 



" Oh ! How the family affections combat 



Within my breast ! Each hour throws a bomb at 



My burning soul— neither from owl nor from bat 



Can peace be gained, until I clasp my wombat." 



109 



