lo had
said to the Zuccone. Higher on this facade is Luca della Robbia's
famous arms of the Silk-weavers, one of the perfect things. Luca
also made the arms of the Guild of Merchants, with its Florentine
fleur-de-lis in the midst. For the rest, Ghiberti's S. Stephen,
and Ghiberti and Michelozzo's S. Matthew, on the entrance wall,
are the most remarkable. The blacksmith relief is very lively and
the blacksmith's saint a noble figure.

The little square reliefs let into the wall at intervals
are often charming, and the stone-work of the windows is very
lovely. In fact, the four walls of this fortress church are almost
inexhaustible. Within, its vaulted roof is so noble, its proportions
so satisfying. One should often sit quietly here, in the gloom,
and do nothing.

The little building just across the way was the Guild House of the
Arte della Lana, or Wool-combers, and is now the head-quarters of
the Italian Dante Society, who hold a conference every Thursday
in the large room over Or San Michele, gained by the flying
buttress-bridge. The dark picture on the outer wall is the very
Madonna to which, when its position was at the Mercato Vecchio,
condemned criminals used to pray on their way to execution.

Before we leave Or San Michele and the Arte della Lana, a word on
the guilds of Florence is necessary, for at a period in Florentine
history between, say, the middle of the thirteenth century and the
beginning of the fifteenth, they were the very powerful controllers
of the domestic affairs of the city; and it is possible that it would
have been better for the Florentines had they continued to be so. For
Florence was essentially mercantile and the guilds were composed of
business men; and it is natural that business men should know better
than noblemen what a business city needed. They were divided into
major guilds, chief of which were the woollen merchants--the Arte
della Lana--and the silk merchants--the Calimala--and it was their
pride to put their riches at the city's service. Thus, the Arte della
Lana had charge of the building of the cathedral. Each of the major
guilds provided a Prior, and the Priors elected the Signoria, who
governed the city. It is one of the principal charges that is brought
against Cosimo de' Medici that he broke the power of the guilds.

Returning to the Via Calzaioli, and turning to the right, we come
very quickly to the Piazza della Signoria, and see before us,
diagonally across it, the