) one of these three magistracies. To
be passed (_veduto_) Gonfalonier or Colleague meant this: when a man's
name was drawn from the purse of the Gonfaloniers or of the College to
exercise the office of Gonfalonier or Colleague, but by reason of being
below the legal age, or for some other cause, he never sat himself upon
the Board or was in fact Gonfalonier or Colleague, he was then said to
have been passed; and this held good of all the other magistracies of
the city.

It should also be known that all the Florentine burghers were obliged to
rank in one of the twenty-one arts: that is, no one could be a burgher
of Florence unless he or his ancestors had been approved and
matriculated in one of these arts, whether they practiced it or no.
Without the proof of such matriculation he could not be drawn for any
office, or exercise any magistracy, or even have his name put into the
bags. The arts were these: i. Judges and Notaries (for the doctors of
the law were styled of old in Florence Judges); Merchants, or the Arts
of; ii. Calimala,[1] iii. Exchange, iv. Wool; Porta Santa Maria, or the
Arts of; v. Silk; vi. Physicians and Apothecaries; vii. Furriers. The
others were viii. Butchers, ix. Shoemakers, x. Blacksmiths, xi.
Linen-drapers and Clothesmen, xii. Masters, or Masons, and
Stone-cutters, xiii. Vintners, xiv. Innkeepers, xv. Oilsellers,
Pork-butchers, and Rope-makers, xvi. Hosiers, xvii. Armorers, xviii.
Locksmiths, xix. Saddlers, xx. Carpenters, xxi. Bakers. The last
fourteen were called Lesser Arts; whoever was enrolled or matriculated
into one of these was said to rank with the lesser (_andare per la
minore_); and though there were in Florence many other trades than
these, yet having no guild of their own they were associated to one or
other of those that I have named. Each art had, as may still be seen, a
house or mansion, large and noble, where they assembled, appointed
officers, and gave account of debit and credit to all the members of the
guild.[2] In processions and other public assemblies the heads (for so
the chiefs of the several arts were called) had their place and
precedence in order. Moreover, these arts at first had each an ensign
for the defense, on occasion, of liberty with arms. Their origin was
when the people in 1282 overcame the nobles (_Grandi_), and passed the
Ordinances of Justice against them, whereby no nobleman could exercise
any magistracy; so that such of the patricians as desired to be a