the end that the people might be protected in their fortress from the violence of the nobles.  The building of the palace and the levelling of the square around it were attended with circumstances that bring forcibly before our minds the stern conditions of republican life in mediaeval Italy.  A block of houses had to be bought from the family of Foraboschi; and their tower, called Torre della Vacca, was raised and turned into the belfry of the Priors.  There was not room enough, however, to construct the palace itself with right angles, unless it were extended into the open space where once had stood the houses of the Uberti, “traitors to Florence and Ghibellines.”  In destroying these, the burghers had decreed that thenceforth for ever the feet of men should pass where the hearths of the proscribed nobles once had blazed.  Arnolfo begged that he might trespass on this site; but the people refused permission.  Where the traitors’ nest had been, there the sacred foundations of the public house should not be laid.  Consequently the Florentine Palazzo is, was, and will be cramped of its correct proportions[17].

No Italian architect has enjoyed the proud privilege of stamping his own individuality more strongly on his native city than Arnolfo; and for this reason it may be permitted to enlarge upon his labours here.  When we take our stand upon the hill of Samminiato, the Florence at our feet owes her physiognomy in a great measure to this man.  The tall tower of the Palazzo Vecchio, the bulk of the Duomo, and the long low oblong mass of Santa Croce are all his.  His too are the walls that define the city of flowers from the gardens round about her.[18] Even the master-works of his successors subordinate their beauty to his first conception.  Giotto’s campanile, Brunelleschi’s cupola, and Orcagna’s church of Orsammichele, in spite of their undoubted and authentic originality, are placed where he had planned.

In 1294 the Florentines determined to rebuild their mother-church upon a scale of unexampled grandeur.  The commission given to their architect displays so strikingly the lordly spirit in which these burghers set about the work, that, though it has been often quoted, a portion of the document shall be recited here.  “Since the highest mark of prudence in a people of noble origin is to proceed in the management of their affairs so that their magnanimity and wisdom may be evinced in their outward acts, we order Arnolfo, head-master of our commune, to make a design for the renovation of Santa Reparata in a style of magnificence which neither the industry nor the power of man can surpass, that it may harmonise with the opinion of many wise persons in this city and state, who think that this commune should not engage in any enterprise unless its intention be to make the result correspond with that noblest sort of heart which is composed of the united will of many citizens."[19] From Giovanni Villani we learn what taxes were levied by the Wool-Guild,