44. _Liberal thieves._ Members of the liberal party, the party striving
for Italian independence. The Person of Quality is, of course, of the
aristocratic party.
47. _A sonnet._ Laudatory poetical tributes with ornamental borders were
posted in public places as a method of doing homage. In this case the
unknown "Reverend Don So-and-so" is ranked by his admirer with Dante,
Boccaccio, and Petrarch, the greatest Italian poets; with St. Jerome,
one of the most celebrated Fathers of the Latin Church; with Cicero, one
of the greatest of Roman orators; and with St. Paul, the greatest of
Christian preachers.
51. _Our Lady._ The seven swords represent symbolically the seven
sorrows of the Virgin Mary, but this Person of Quality regards the gilt
swords and the smart pink gowns merely as gay decorations. Religious
processions of the sort described here and in lines 60-64 are frequent
in European countries.
55. _It's dear._ According to the system of taxation in Italy, town dues
must be paid on all provisions brought into the city.
60. _Yellow candles._ Used at funerals and in penitential processions in
the Roman Church.