he progress of mankind, which are to be seen round the
base, the design, it is supposed, of Giotto, executed by Andrea Pisano
and Luca della Robbia. To Andrea are given all those on the west (7),
south (7), east (5), and the two eastern ones on the north; to Luca the
remaining five on the north. Ruskin's fascinating analysis of these
reliefs should most certainly be read (without a total forgetfulness
of the shepherd's other activities as a painter, architect, humorist,
and friend of princes and poets), but equally certainly not in the
American pirated edition which the Florentine booksellers are so ready
(to their shame) to sell you. Only Ruskin in his best mood of fury
could begin to do justice to the misspellings and mispunctuations of
this terrible production.

Ruskin, I may say, believes several of the carvings to be from
Giotto's own chisel as well as design, but other and more modern
authorities disagree, although opinion now inclines to the belief
that the designs for Pisano's Baptistery doors are also his. Such
thoroughness and ingenuity were all in Giotto's way, and they certainly
suggest his active mind. The campanile series begins at the west side
with the creation of man. Among the most attractive are, I think,
those devoted to agriculture, with the spirited oxen, to astronomy, to
architecture, to weaving, and to pottery. Giotto was even so thorough
as to give one relief to the conquest of the air; and he makes Noah
most satisfactorily drunk. Note also the Florentine fleur-de-lis
round the base of the tower. Every fleur-de-lis in Florence is
beautiful--even those on advertisements and fire-plugs--but few are
more beautiful than these.

I climbed the campanile one fine morning--417 steps from the
ground--and was well repaid; but I think it is wiser to ascend the
tower of the Palazzo Vecchio, because one is higher there and, since
the bulk of the dome, which intrudes from the campanile, is avoided,
one has a better all-round view. Florence seen from this eminence
is very red--so uniformly so that many towers rise against it almost
indistinguishably, particularly the Bargello's and the Badia's. One
sees at once how few straight streets there are--the Ricasoli standing
out among them as the exception; and one realizes how the city has
developed outside, with its boulevards where the walls once were,
leaving the gates isolated, and its cincture of factories. The
occasional glimpses of cloisters and verdure amo