ical place of residence. Our
money consisted of piastres, pauls, and crazie. Eight of the latter
were equal to a paul, ten of which were equivalent to a piastre.
The value of the paul was, as nearly as possible, equal to
fivepence-halfpenny English. The lira--the original representative
of the leading denomination of our own _l.s.d._--no longer existed
in--the flesh I was going to say, but rather in--the metal. And it is
rather curious, that just as the guinea remained, and indeed remains,
a constantly-used term of speech after it has ceased to exist as
current coin, so the scudo remained, in Tuscany, no longer visible or
current, but retained as an integer in accounts of the larger sort. If
you bought or sold house or land, for instance, you talked of scudi.
In more every-day matters piastre or "francesconi" were the integers
used, the latter being only a synonym for the former. And the
proportion in value of the scudo and the piastre was exactly the same
as that of the guinea and the sovereign, the former being worth
ten and a half pauls, and the latter ten. The handsomest and best
preserved coin ordinarily current was the florin, worth two pauls and
a half. Gold we rarely saw, but golden sequins (_zecchini_) were in
existence, and were traditionally used, as it was said, for I have no
experience in the matter, in the payment by the government of prizes
won in the lottery.

Now, after this statement the reader will be in a position to
appreciate the further information that a flask of excellent Chianti,
of a quality rarely met with nowadays, was ordinarily sold for one
paul. The flask contained (legal measure) seven troy pounds weight of
liquid, or about three bottles. The same sum purchased a good fowl
in the market. The subscription (_abbuonamento_) to the Pergola, the
principal theatre, came to exactly two crazie and a half for each
night of performance. This price admitted you only to the pit, but as
you were perfectly free to enter any box in which there were persons
of your acquaintance, the admission in the case of a bachelor,
permanently or temporarily such, was all that was necessary to him.
And the price of the boxes was small in proportion.

These boxes were indeed the drawing-rooms in which very much of
the social intercourse of the _beau monde_ was carried on. The
performances were not very frequently changed (two operas frequently
running through an entire season), and people went four or five times
a