DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.32873#0018
X
PREFACE
blance of its original charm. No doubt this present
version does in places read awkwardly, confusedly, and
even absurdly; but the thoughtful student is requested
to approach it as a serious attempt to demonstrate the
theory that the force and vividness of the original narra-
tive are heightened rather than diminished by the wild
confusion of detailed thought in the thread of it; by
the very inconsequence of the sentences as regards one
another; and by the utterly unstudied "rattle" of the
narrator, as he pours out his reminiscences with
the speed and spontaneity of the genuine
One can picture the elderly and somewhat embittered—
perhaps even dyspeptic—craftsman: once the favourite
of popes, cardinals, kings, and princes: who had lived in
courts and camps, and swaggered about the world with
boon companions of the best and of the worst alike:
setting himself down to dictate to his humble little
fourteen-year-old scribe all the wonderful events of his
past life; made the more incredible by the glamour of
distance. One can fancy the rate at which his thoughts
must have travelled: too fast even for his tongue; and
much too fast for the unhappy young amanuensis, who
must have often paused breathless, awe-struck and be-
wildered at some adventure of more than ordinarily
striking character. No wonder that grammar halted,
spelling collapsed, and orthography became more and
more involved. But Varchi saw what posterity appre-
ciates most in these headlong pages; namely, that to
correct or try to confine the hood of Cellini's recollections
PREFACE
blance of its original charm. No doubt this present
version does in places read awkwardly, confusedly, and
even absurdly; but the thoughtful student is requested
to approach it as a serious attempt to demonstrate the
theory that the force and vividness of the original narra-
tive are heightened rather than diminished by the wild
confusion of detailed thought in the thread of it; by
the very inconsequence of the sentences as regards one
another; and by the utterly unstudied "rattle" of the
narrator, as he pours out his reminiscences with
the speed and spontaneity of the genuine
One can picture the elderly and somewhat embittered—
perhaps even dyspeptic—craftsman: once the favourite
of popes, cardinals, kings, and princes: who had lived in
courts and camps, and swaggered about the world with
boon companions of the best and of the worst alike:
setting himself down to dictate to his humble little
fourteen-year-old scribe all the wonderful events of his
past life; made the more incredible by the glamour of
distance. One can fancy the rate at which his thoughts
must have travelled: too fast even for his tongue; and
much too fast for the unhappy young amanuensis, who
must have often paused breathless, awe-struck and be-
wildered at some adventure of more than ordinarily
striking character. No wonder that grammar halted,
spelling collapsed, and orthography became more and
more involved. But Varchi saw what posterity appre-
ciates most in these headlong pages; namely, that to
correct or try to confine the hood of Cellini's recollections