^7^ Mr. RA'i 
you fee many ancient^ and feme modern Statues \ and on 
each Side of the Walk, the Pidures of Princes and 
other great Perfons. Here we law, among the reft, 
the Pidures of Queen Elizabeth.^ King James, Oliver 
Cramwell, and of the before-mentioned Johannes A- 
tuius. 
The Rarities which we faw were preferved in four 
Clofets, the chief of which were, a very large terref- 
trial Globe, and a Sphara Armillaris bigger than that ; 
feveral Stone Tables curioufly inlaid with Fragments of 
precious Stones of various Colours, reprefenting Flov/- 
ers, Fruits, Birds, Beafts, and Infeds, fo naturally, that 
the beft Matters of Europe could fcarce have drawn 
them more exadly. One of thofe Tables fthe richeft 
1 ever faw) was fet with many Rubies and Pearls, 
and valued at 100,000 Florence Scudi, (a Scudi 
being fomewhat more than an Engli/h Grown ;) feveral 
very excellent Cabinets, the bett of which being valued 
at ^00,000 Scudi, was fet with Gems of the firtt Mag- 
nitude 5 a Pearl of an enormous Size, but not perfedly 
round ; with feveral Topazes about the Bignefs of Wal- 
nuts, large Rubies and Emeralds, befides other Stones 
of lefs Value, &c. Here alfo they Ihewed us the Nail, 
half of Goldj half Iron, Part of which they pretend was 
tranfmuted by ThurnhauJJerus, an Alchymitt of Bafil, 
into Gold, but the Iron and Gold was fo coarfely join’d, 
that it eafily difeovered the Impotture. Befides many 
ancient Roman Idols and Lamps of various Shapes, and 
Pidures and Statues made by the beft Matters. 
In the Great Duke’s Armory we took Notice of the 
Armours of many great Perfons, and, among the reft, 
of a Headpiece pretended to have belonged to Hannibal, 
having many Morefco Charaders on it ; Scanderbeg’^ 
Sword j the Hair of a Horfe’s Mane feven Yards long, 
and the Skin of the Horfe fluffed up ; a long Gun and a 
Piftol, the Barrels of beaten Gold ; feveral round Buck- 
lers, on one of which was painted a Medufads Head, by 
JAichael Angelo, valued at a high Rate ; Italian Locks 
for Women ; a Thong cut out of the Hide of a Buf- 
fle, 250 Yards long •, a great many Furkijh Arms, &c. 
TSht Argenteria or Wardrobe contains twelve Cupboards, 
Full of rich Plate 5 one is fill’d with all Sorts of Veifels 
of beaten Gold ; another has an Altar of Gold, fet 
with Diamonds and other precious Stones, with this 
infeription m Capital Letters made up of Rubies, Cof- 
mus II, Dei gratia magnus Dux Etruria ex voio. 
If I fliould enter upon a Defeription of the Great 
Duke^^ Palace, with its Gardens, Variety of Trees, 
Fruits, Shrubs, Walks, Fountains, Waterworks, ^c, 
it would require a Treatife by itfelf j the Choice Plants 
we took Notice of in tranfitu were, Diblamnus Creticus, 
^uamoclit Indorum j Fragoriganum j Stramonium per egri- 
mm Ger, i. e. porno fpinofo rotundo ; Pifum cordatum, Bal- 
famina cucumerina, Chamarrhiphes, &c. 
In the Duke’s Fheriotrophium we faw a Lion, Fyger, 
Leopard, Bear, TV olf. Porcupine, Wild Boar ; the Snout of 
the laft being longer than thofe of tame Hogs, the Ears 
not quite fo long, of a black Colour, as were the Feet 
and Tail, the reft of the Body being of a grifly or Iron- 
grey Colour, which is conftantly the fame ; it being ob- 
ferved, that moft of the wild Animals, whether Birds 
or Beafts, keep the fame Colour. 
Moft of the Palaces of Florence are built d la maniera 
ruTiica, as the Italians call it, that is to fay, of rough 
hewn Stones, even protuberating above the Superficies 
of the Wall: For the reft, this City is in a decaying 
Condition, in refpedt, I mean, of what it has been for- 
merly, proceeding partly from the great Declenfion of 
their Silk Trade with France, as alfo from the heavy 
Impofitions laid upon them by the Great Duke, who 
being abfolute, receives the tenth of its yearly, Value 
of every Houfe, as well as the tenth of what Lands or 
Houfes are fold ; eight per Cent, of the Portion of all 
M^omen that are married j two per Cent, out of every 
Law-fuit, according to the Sum fued for ; for every 
young Heifer that is fold, a Crown ; and on all 
other Provifions, even to the very Eggs, an Excifo 
in Proportion : Nay, he farms the Monopoly of fine 
Biead (call d Pane di Bocca) to the Baker, who furnifhes 
his Table, and pays 1000 Scudi yearly : Befides thefe 
h Lratels Book IL 
Impofitions, as they rendef the Generality of the Inhi 
bitants poor, (there having not been a new Houfe built 
in forty Years) fo it makes the Prince very powerful 
whofe ordinary Revenue is computed at one Million 
and a half, and by fome two Millions of Crowns per 
Annum whereas his annual Expences do not amount to 
above half the Money, being very thrifty in his Court 
keeping his Servants at Board-Wages, and beino- at a 
let Rate with his Cook, Baker, TAc. one of th? chief 
8^'eat Treafures ; for 
which Reafon the late Great Duke would often fay of 
our King Charles the Firft, That Want of Money rui- 
ned him ! 
Very few Gentlemen here, but what fell their own 
Wines by Retail 5 not within Doors, but by a Hole 
made in the Cellar- Wall, where they take in and re- 
turn the Flaflcs or other VelTels : Inftead of a Sio-npoft 
^ey hang out Pieces of broken Flallcs at their °Palace 
Gates. Notwithftanding this, they look upon it as a 
great Difparagement to breed up their Children to the 
Profefljon of Phyfick but as for Commerce, it is fo 
well look’d upon here, that from the Great Duke him- 
felf to thofe of the loweft Rank, they all apply themfelves 
to it vigorouffy. Befides that they call the old State 
comprehending the Territories of Florence and Pifa 
and the new comprehending the Territory of 
Siena, the Great Duke is Matter of part of the Ifle 
of Elba (likewife a Fief of Spain') part of Grajfignana, 
purchas d from the Marqueffes of Mlalafpina j the Earl- 
dom of St. Fiora, bought of the Strozzi ; the Mar- 
quifate of Scanzano, and the Earldom of Pitigliano and 
Sorano, once belonging to the IJrfmi ; and fome other 
irnall Places which he holds from the Emperor, as he is 
Feudatory to the Pope ; for Radicofani in Fufeany, and 
Bor go fan Sepulchro in Umbria. He has generally the 
Reputation of maintaining his FortrelFes in a better 
Condition than any other Prince in Europe, for the 
DTence of which he maintains, in Time of Peace, 
Five thoufand Men in conftant Pay. The Guard 
of his Body are Germans. They have an odd kind of 
Race at Florence, efpccially in the Summer time, when 
a certain Number of the fwifteft Horfes are let loofe, 
and fo run full Speed through one of the Streets, (which 
thence is call’d Curfo) without Riders. To make them 
run, they fatten Imall Pieces of Leather ftuck with 
Pricks upon their Backs. 
The Ecclefiaftical Revenue in all the Duke’s Terri- 
tories did, according to a Survey taken thereof 1645, 
amount to 765000 Crowns Annum. 
It is a conftant Practice, among the Gentlemen as 
well as Citizens, of any Note here, to put their Daugh- 
ters to board in the Nunneries as foon as they come 
to the eighth or tenth Year of their Age, looking upon 
this as the cheapeft and fecureft Way to educate them 
till they are married. 
The red Florence Wine (deeper than ordinary Claret) 
is a Wine much efteem’d both in Italy and elfewhere i 
it acquires this deep-red Tindlure by the letting it ftand 
longer than ordinary upon the Husks or Vinacea, the 
interior Pulp of the Grape being white. 
Sept. I, We fet out again from Florence towards 
Rome, and palling through Cajiiano, eight Miles from 
thence, after we had travelled four Miles further, left 
the ordinary Road leading to Siena, rode through Sr. 
Buco, to a poor wall’d Town call’d St. Donato, fixteen 
Miles from Florence, and fourteen from Siena, whither 
we continued our Journey by the Way of Cajiellina di 
Campi, and had a Profpeift of Siena ten Miles before 
we came at it, the Country hereabouts, as well as all 
over Fufeany, being mountainous and barren. Siena 
(being about four Miles in Compafs) is a very fair City, 
the Piazza of which refembling the Figure of a Coc- 
kle-fhell, is adorned with ftately Buildings : The Ca- 
thedral is a moft magnificent Scrudlure of Marble, with 
a^moft noble Front, and adorned with the Heads of all 
the Popes, placed in the Wall, round about the Church ; 
fome part {viz. about the Front part) of this Church 
is pav’d with Marble inlaid, or rather a moft curious 
Piece of Mofaick Work, containing part of the Hif- 
toryof the Bible, done by Micherino Sanefe : If it had 
been 
