feline--upon line. . . .

"Oh! ye who visit the cloister, and see the cats, think well on this
legend, and especially on the deep identity of witches with tabbies!

"And for a moral, note that, with all their sins, what the witches and
cats aimed at above all things was _food_, with which they have remained
content, according to the exquisite lyric by the divine Shelley, p. 661,
Dowden's edition:--

"'This poor little cat
Only wanted a rat,
To stuff out its own little maw,
And it were as good
Some people had such food
To make them _hold their jaw_.'"

LEGEND OF THE PIAZZA SAN BIAGIO

"For by diabolical art he assumed varied forms, even the human, and
deceived people by many occult tricks."--FROMANN, _Tractatus de
Fascinatione_, 1675.

This is a slight tale of light value, and not new, but it has assumed
local colour, and may amuse the reader.

"It was a great art of witches and sorcerers of old to give a man or
woman by art the appearance of another person, and this they called
'drawing white lines with charcoal,' and there is many a fine tale about
it. Now it was about the time when Berta spun and owls wore silk cloaks
that a Signore Nannincino lived in the old Piazza San Biagio. He had
many small possessions in Florence, but the roast chickens of the supper,
or his great piece, was an estate in the country called the Mula a
Quinto, for which all his relations longed, like wolves for a fat sheep.
And Nannincini, being sharp to a keen edge, and knowing how to lend water
and borrow wine, had promised this estate in secret to everybody, and got
from them many a gratification, and supped and dined with them for years,
yet after this died without leaving a will.

"Then six of his relations assembled and resolved to secure the property,
though they invoked the devil. And to aid them they took a certain scamp
named Giano di Selva, who somewhat resembled the departed Nannincino, and
he, calling in a witch of his acquaintance, was made by sorcery to look
as much like the defunct as two beads of the same rosary. So Nannincino
was removed and Giano put in his place, where he lay still for an hour,
and then began to show signs of life. And after a time he called for a
notary and began to make his will. First he left a house to one, and his
sword to another, and so on, till it came to the Mula a Quinto.

"'And who shall have the Mula a Quinto, dear good uncle?'