downwards, and suspended by one foot, upon the wall of the fort built by Alessandro.  His house was cut in twain from roof to pavement, and a narrow lane was driven through it, which received the title of Traitor’s Alley, Chiasso del Traditore.  The price of four thousand golden florins was put upon his head, together with the further sum of one hundred florins per annum in perpetuity to be paid to the murderer and his direct heirs in succession, by the Otto di Balia.  Moreover, the man who killed Lorenzino was to enjoy all civic privileges; exemption from all taxes, ordinary and extraordinary; the right of carrying arms, together with two attendants, in the city and the whole domain of Florence; and the further prerogative of restoring ten outlaws at his choice.  If Lorenzino could be captured and brought alive to Florence, the whole of this reward would be doubled.

This decree was promulgated in April 1537, and thenceforward Lorenzino de’ Medici lived a doomed man.  The assassin, who had been proclaimed a Brutus by Tuscan exiles and humanistic enthusiasts, was regarded as a Judas by the common people.  Ballads were written on him with the title of the ‘Piteous and sore lament made unto himself by Lorenzino de’ Medici, who murdered the most illustrious Duke Alessandro.’  He had become a wild beast, whom it was honourable to hunt down, a pest which it was righteous to extirpate.  Yet fate delayed nine years to overtake him.  What remains to be told about his story must be extracted from the narrative of the bravo who succeeded, with the aid of an accomplice, in despatching him at Venice.[13] So far as possible, I shall use the man’s own words, translating them literally, and omitting only unimportant details.  The narrative throws brilliant light upon the manners and movements of professional cut-throats at that period in Italy.  It seems to have been taken down from the hero Francesco, or Cecco, Bibboni’s lips; and there is no doubt that we possess in it a valuable historical document for the illustration of contemporary customs.  It offers in all points a curious parallel to Cellini’s account of his own homicides and hair-breadth escapes.  Moreover, it is confirmed in its minutest circumstances by the records of the criminal courts of Venice in the sixteenth century.  This I can attest from recent examination of MSS. relating to the Signori di Notte and the Esecutori contro la Bestemmia, which are preserved among the Archives at the Frari.

V.—­THE MURDER OF LORENZINO DE’ MEDICI

‘When I returned from Germany,’ begins Bibboni, ’where I had been in the pay of the Emperor, I found at Vicenza Bebo da Volterra, who was staying in the house of M. Antonio da Roma, a nobleman of that city.  This gentleman employed him because of a great feud he had; and he was mighty pleased, moreover, at my coming, and desired that I too should take up my quarters in his palace.’