The Fourth Plague

...SOUTH of Florence by some sixty miles, and west of Rome by almost thrice the distance, upon three hills, is Siena, the most equable of the cities of Tuscany. On the Terzo di Città in I know not what contrada, is the Palazzo Festini. It stands aloof in its gloomy and dilapidated magnificence, and since it dates from the adjacent Baptistery of S. Giovanni, it leaves the impression of being a crumbling and disgruntled fragment of the sacred edifice that has wandered away in sullen rage to decay at its leisure. Here, in penurious grandeur, dwelt the Festinis, who claimed descent from none other than Guido Novello, of whom Compagni, the arch-apologist, wrote: "Il conte Guido non aspettò il fine, ma senza dare colpo di spada si parti."* * "Count Guido did not wait for the end, but departed without a stroke of his sword."...