urse, earlier than these, though not of great
antiquity. It is not mentioned in the Consolato del Mare, nor in any of
the Hanseatic laws of the fourteenth century. Beckman, vol. i. p. 388.
This author, not being aware of the Barcelonese laws on this subject
published by Capmany, supposes, the first provisions regulating marine
assurance to have been made at Florence in 1523.

[640] Macpherson, p. 487, et alibi. They had probably excellent
bargains; in 1329 the Bardi farmed all the customs in England for 20_l._
a day. But in 1282 the customs had produced 8411_l._, and half a century
of great improvement had elapsed.

[641] Villani, 1. xii. c. 55, 87. He calls these two banking-houses the
pillars which sustained great part of the commerce of Christendom.

[642] Capmany, t. i. p. 213.

[643] Macpherson, p. 341, from Sanuto. The bank of Venice is referred to
1171.

[644] G. Villani, 1. xi. c. 49.

[645] Matt. Villani, p. 227 (in Muratori, Script. Rer. Ital. t. xiv.).

[646] Bizarri, Hist. Genuens. p. 797 (Antwerp, 1579); Machiavelli,
Storia Fiorentina, 1. viii.

[647] Ricobaldus Ferrarensis, apud Murat. Dissert. 23; Francisc.
Pippinus, ibidem. Muratori endeavours to extenuate the authority of this
passage, on account of some more ancient writers who complain of the
luxury of their times, and of some particular instances of magnificence
and expense. But Ricobaldi alludes, as Muratori himself admits, to the
mode of living in the middle ranks, and not to that of courts, which in
all ages might occasionally display considerable splendour. I see
nothing to weaken so explicit a testimony of a contemporary, which in
fact is confirmed by many writers of the next age, who, according to the
practice of Italian chroniclers, have copied it as their own.

[648] Murat. Dissert. 23.

[649]
Bellincion Berti vid' io andar cinto
Di cuojo e d'osso, e venir dallo specchio
La donna sua senza 'l viso dipinto,
E vidi quel di Nerli, e quel del Vecchio
Esser contenti alla pelle scoverta,
E sue donne al fuso ed al pennechio.

Paradis. canto xv.

See too the rest of this canto. But this is put in the mouth of
Cacciaguida, the poet's ancestor, who lived in the former half of the
twelfth century. The change, however, was probably subsequent to 1250,
when the times of wealth and turbulence began at Florence.

[650] Velly, t. xiii. p. 352. The second continuator of Nangis
vehemently inveighs against the long