JUNE 359 



der in colour, truly represented in Mason's pictures, and 

 so totally unlike the typical water -colour drawings of 

 Italy from the brush of Richardson or Aaron Penley, 

 much the fashion fifty years ago. 



At one villa I saw a pond of lovely Burmese goldfish, 

 quite different from any I had ever before seen alive, 

 and exactly resembling the fish in Japanese drawings 

 and Chinese bowls — little, fat bodies, and large, swim- 

 ming bladders, and long, waving tails which made their 

 movements very swift and graceful. They were fed 

 with little bite of wafer, the same as that used in 

 Catholic churches, and also used all over the Continent 

 for wrapping up powders so that you should not taste 

 the medicine. The fish pounced on these delicate mor- 

 sels with extraordinary rapacity and greed. I have 

 never dared feed the goldfish in my fountain, as they 

 remain so much healthier with only the natural food 

 they are able to procure. Where the fountains are 

 kept very clean, the best food for them, if these wafers 

 cannot be procured, is crumbled vermicelli. 



June 17th. — My time was half over in Florence 

 before I went to the picture galleries at all — not because 

 I did not wish to go, but there was so much else to see 

 and enjoy and admire. It is almost useless to speak of 

 the pictures themselves. Those who have seen them 

 know what they are ; and to those who have not, no 

 words would convey any idea. It was very interesting 

 to me to realise how my own taste had altered. The 

 outside of the Pitti, grand and massive as the building 

 is, gives me no pleasure. Under the archway, and 

 beyond the public entrance into the building, there is 

 a little yard where a wonderful sight can be obtained 

 of the Arabesque patterns which adorn the outside of 

 the old Medici passage to the Uffizi. It is worth while 

 to go through to look at them. Inside the galleries, 



