Page:Vasari - Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects, volume 4.djvu/363

Rh house of Borgherini, for the purpose of causing the command of the Signori to be put in execution; but when they arrived there, the wife of Pier Francesco, who had remained at home, confronted the principal assailant with reproaches of such intolerable bitterness that the like had never before been hurled at man alive:—

“How then! dost thou, G-iovan Battista, thou, vile broker of frippery, miserable huckster of twopences, dost thou presume to come hither with intent to lay thy fingers on the ornaments which belong to the chambers of gentlemen? despoiling, as thou hast long done and as thou art for ever doing, this our City of her fairest and richest ornaments, to embellish strange lands therewith, and to adorn the Halls of our enemies. Not that I can marvel at thee, man of a base lineage, and traitor to thy country, however grovelling may be thy acts; but for the magistrates of our city, who have descended to abet these abominable proceedings, what shall be said? This bed, which thou, for thy own greediness of gain and sordid self-interest, wouldst now lay hands on, vainly seeking to veil thine evil purposes under a fair pretence,—• this bed was adorned with all the beauty which enriches it by my father-in-law Salvi, in honour of my nuptials; to which he held this magnificent and regal ornament but the fitting decoration; I, then, do prize this gift, both from reverence to his memory and out of the love I bear my husband; wherefore, I mean to defend it with my own blood, and will retain it while I have life. Depart from this house, then, Giovan Battista, thou and thy myrmidons; depart, and say to those who have permitted themselves to send thee hither, with command to remove these labours of art from their place, that I am here; I, who will not suffer that one iota shall be disturbed from where it stands. Tell them, moreover, that if it befit them to listen to the counsels of such as thou art, base creature of nothingness, and if they must needs make presents to the king, Francis of France, tell them, I say, that they may go to their own houses, and, despoiling their awn chambers of their ornaments, may send them to his Majesty.

“For thyself, if again thou shouldst be so bold as to come on a similar errand to this house, thou shalt be amply taught what is the respect due to the dwelling of a gentleman, from