Spirit of a Florentine Citizen

In the Proem to Romola the Spirit of a Florentine citizen who died during Lent of 1492 is imagined as revisiting modern Florence, and regarding the city from the hill of San Miniato. "The Spirit is clothed in his habit as he lived; the folds of his well lined black silk garment or lucco hang in grave unbroken lines from neck to ankle; his plain cloth cap, with its becchetto, or long hanging strip of drapery, to serve as a scarf in case of need, surmounts a penetrating face, not, perhaps, very handsome, but with a firm, well cut mouth, kept distinctly human by a close-shaven lip and chin. It is a face charged with memories of a keen and various life passed below there on the banks of the gleaming river.

<em>Romola</em>

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