iron lanterns, and numberless other objects, are manipulated as though the material were stone or wood. This manner was exhibited in its ultimate perfection by a famous member of the Guild, Niccolo Grosso-1455-1509. Vasari calls him "Il Caparra” "Money Grabber" from his habit of demanding payment for his work in advance! His speciality was fanali,-flare-baskets or lanterns,—such as still exist on the walls of the Strozzi, Guardagni, Pazzi, Borgherino, Riccardi and Quaratesi Palaces.

The Grille-work of Florence has no superior outside Tuscany. Fineness of the iron wire and bars, perfection of hammering, beauty of scrolls and curves, naturalness of floral ornament, high finish of bosses and masks, neatness of joints and knobs, and grace of moulded volutes-with their curling tendrils are the chief features of Florentine workmanship.

The exquisite grilles, in the Campo Santo, at Santa Croce, which were put up in 1371, are of punched iron-work, with chiselled caps, bases, and mouldings, and are finished by patient file and pincer-work. It is interesting to notice again the influence of the "Masters of Stone and Wood" in iron joinery and iron carving, which are like fine wood-work rather than smithery.

In contradistinction to the florid work of Flemish and German craftsmen, Florentine smiths preserved all the while a reticence, and a dignity, quite in accord with their natural temperament.

The fifteenth century saw the art of working in metals brought to its highest pitch. The great sculptors were wont to employ the services of smiths in forging and casting their splendid works in bronze. Quite an army of intelligent artificers were busy at metal doors and gates for the Baptistery and the Duomo— the precious creations for all time of the Pisani, L. Ghiberti, and Luca Della Robbia,

Other skilled members of the Guild assisted Donatello, Verrocchio, Giovanni da Bologna, and Benvenuto Cellini, to produce the chefs d'œuvre which bear their names. Men of the forge and of the bellows, men of the anvil and the hammer, men

of the soldering-iron and smoothing-file, all worked as Florentines always worked, diligently and with intelligence.

Combinations of wrought-iron work, with brass and bronze, were Tuscan in origin. Endless objects come under this category:— Sockets, Shields of Guild Arms, Tavern-signs, Font-covers, Reading-desks, Candelabra, Knockers for doors, Gargoyles, Weathervanes, Architectural ornaments, and articles for domestic use, together with workmen's tools-which were never wholly free from decorative attributes.

The iron fixtures-brackets and rings-attached to the walls of Palaces and elsewhere, were designed to hold torches. They were provided with iron rings for athletic torch-bearers to cling to as they fixed their flaming trophies in the sockets. They were also used to support banner-poles at festivals. They evidence art adaptability to common objects.

Fan-lights, balcony rails, fire-backs and dogs, frame-work of all kinds, and many other objects, which required strength, as well as elegance, formed another category. Once more the smiths went to the "Masters of Stone and Wood," and sought their models and patterns in floors, wall panels, and ceiling groinings, in intarsiatura or mosaic.

Among curiosities of the Blacksmith's Craft were the iron tongs used for stamping the Festival cakes of the Guilds, consumed upon St John Baptist's Day and upon the anniversaries of the Guilds. The impressions produced were effigies of Saints or Guild emblems: for example, the Blacksmith's cakes showed a hammer embossed in the centre, the Butchers had a cow, or a ram, and so on.

In their work Smiths wore thick and heavy leather aprons, which they could tie tightly round their legs, by strands of leather cut from the same piece. The whole outfit of a blacksmith, in the way of tools, cost about a gold florin, or about twelve shillings of our money.

The sixteenth century presents the Smiths of Florence revelling in the excellences and refinements of their Craft. Each workman was an artist, able to work from any design submitted to him, or to

create original and beautiful objects on the spur of the moment. Two especial lines of superior manipulation in metal were portrait medallions, and historical plaques and bronzes. Those whose fame among workers in metal is most widely diffused were :— Niccolo Fiorentino, Giamgallo Poggini, Bertoldo, Petrellino, Niccolo Domenico, Antonio del Pollaiuolo, Andrea Guazzoloti of Prato, Domenico Poggini, Antonio Averlino, Michelozzo Michelozzi, and, last but not least, Donatello, whose dates range from 1460 to 1557.

Nothing can exceed, in any school or nation, the delicacy, naturalness, brilliancy of composition, and high finish of the works of these "Masters of metal." Examples of their skill may be seen in every Archæological and Art Museum, but none is so rich as the Bargello in Florence.

Many names of scions of famous noble families were enrolled upon the annals of the "Guild of Blacksmiths." To mention one among the many, the Acciaiuoli, manufacturers of steel,-as their name implies, who came from Brescia in the year 1160, and rose to high estate. After the banking disasters in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries Niccolo raised once more the honour of his house, whilst he ruled the kingdom of Naples. He married the widowed Empress of Constantinople, built the Certosa near the Porta Romana, and founded a School of Liberal Arts for studious apprentices.

III. L'ARTE DE' CALOZLAI

In every land foot-wear, both useful and ornamental, plays an important rôle. Protection during working hours, and decoration in times of leisure, are alike necessary and attractive.

As to who first wore coverings on the feet nobody knows, and probably nobody cares; but no age, and no nation, has ever been without them. Every conceivable material,-natural and manufactured, has been laid under contribution, and man's skill has been called forth throughout all time in adaptive measures.