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NOTES AND QUERIES. [9 th s. x. SEPT. 20, 1902.

which were attended by representatives of every class of the citizens, by the religious body, and by the august Signoria. The presence of the Signoria was especially note- worthy, because its members never quitted the palace in state except on occasions of the greatest solemnity.

An anonymous poet wrote an elegiac poem ('Can tare in llima Ottava') to celebrate "the obsequies and honours made for Messer Giovanni Aguto, our Captain of War." These verses, which are said to have " corresponded to a heartfelt sentiment, and to the sincere opinion of the citizens," long retained their popularity. Benedetto Dei, who wrote his chronicle late in the fifteenth century, states that he knew them by heart. The ' Can tare ' tells us that

u Ensigns, flags, and helmets with crests were carried on large war chargers, draped with housings and breastplates. The six banners offered by the widow and family of Hawkwood were borne in the procession. The shops were all closed under a heavy penalty for disobedience, and many men, clothed in black by the Commune, followed the bier with their heads covered, in sign of profound grief. As the procession advanced all the bells of Florence rang out a death knell, while a multitude of priests, bearing torches and candles, followed, chaunting psalms. At the holy font in the Baptistery the corpse was exposed to public view surrounded by thirty wax torches. A drawn sword was laid on the breast, and the baton of command in the hand."

The ' Cantare ' ends by invoking from the Lord and the Madonna eternal life and supernal glory for him who had lived under the wings of victory. The cost of this State ceremonial amounted to 410 gold florins, 1 lira, and 11 soldi, which was a large ex- penditure for thosfe days. As regards the monument which the editor of the Mirror tells us was " set up " in the church of Santa Keparata by public decree, there is nothing to be said, except that no plastic monument was ever erected in Florence to the memory of Hawkwood. As to the "representation of Hawkwood " which the editor has found "on the dome "of the said church, I know nothing. There is a remarkably fine fresco on the west wall of the Duomo at Florence. The original was executed by Paolo Uccello in 1436, forty-two years after Hawkwood's death. Vasari says, "This work was then thought, and is still considered, one of great beauty of its kind." The fresco originally stood on the north wall of the cathedral. It was transferred to canvas about 1845, and removed to the western wall, where it' may now be seen, on the right as one enters the Duomo. The epigraph, composed by Barto- lommeo di Ser Filippo Fortini, reads thus

Joannes Acutus Eques Britannicus Dux JEtatis Suse Cautissimus Et Rei Militaris Peritissimus Habitus Est.

MR. BAYLEY reminds us that Prof. Dowden, in his ' Life of Shelley,' states that it is not certain whether Beatrice Shelley was the daughter or the granddaughter of Sir John Hawkwood; and the 'D.N.B.' implies that she was the great Condottiere's daughter, possibly by his first wife, and born before her father's marriage ivith Donnina Visconti.

There is some naivete" in that suggestion. Had she been born after Hawkwood's marriage with Donnina Visconti either she herself must have been illegitimate or Hawkwood's marriage with Donnina Visconti would have been illegal and their offspring illegitimate. That this marriage should have taken place in the most public manner, and under the lynx eyes of the Sovereign Pontiff, is a sufficient guarantee that Hawlcwood had no wife living at that time. It is therefore evident that the birth of Beatrice supposing her to have been Hawkwood's daughter must have taken place prior to 1377. There is documentary evidence to prove that Beatrice (or Beatrix) married John Shelley in the reign of Henry VI. that is to say, at some period after 1422. If she was really Giovanni Acuto's daughter she must have oeen at least forty-five years of age at the time of her marriage, which is highly improbable. That she was the daughter, and possibly the " heiress," of Sir John Hawk- wood cannot be disputed, but her father was Giovanni Acuto's son, who was knighted by King Henry IV. in 1407 the second Sir John Hawkwood, not the first. I have in my pos- session a pedigree of the Shelley family, traced from Giovanni Acuto. It was drawn up by a distinguished herald, and was examined by Mr. Temple Leader when he was writing his 'Life of Sir John Hawkwood.' There is really not much mystery about Beatrix Shelley. She was not the only reputed " daughter and heiress " of Giovanni Acuto. According to Mr. Temple Leader there were several. In the Transactions of the Archaeological Society of Essex we find the wife of a Sir William de Coggeshall styled "Antiocha, daughter and heiress of the famous warrior Sir John Hawk- wood, and of Aufricia his wife, the natural daughter of Bernab<5, Duke of Milan." Unless Hawkwood, prior to his marriage with Don- nina, took to wife another daughter of Ber- nab6 Visconti, which is absurd, Sir William de Coggeshall must have been deceived. As to Hawkwood's first wife, nothing whatever is known of her. There is no documentary evidence of the marriage, and their children find no place in history. All Hawkwood's