A flight of narrow stone stairs ascended from the
threshold to the second story. All these houses were specimens of a rude
antiquity, built of brick and stone, with the marks of arched doors and
windows where a subsequent generation had shut up the lights, or the
accesses which the original builders had opened. Humble as these
dwellings are,--though large and high compared with rural residences in
other countries,--they may very probably date back to the times when
Siena was a warlike republic, and when every house in its neighborhood
had need to be a fortress. I suppose, however, prowling banditti were
the only enemies against whom a defence would be attempted. What lives
must now be lived there,--in beastly ignorance, mental sluggishness, hard
toil for little profit, filth, and a horrible discomfort of fleas; for if
the palaces of Italy are overrun with these pests, what must the country
hovels be! . . . .
We are now all ready for a start to-morrow.
RADICOFANI.
October 13th.
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