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they marched through the city, till three or four o'clock in the morning, singing songs, ballads, madrigals, catches, or songs of humour upon subjects then in vogue, with musical harmony, in four, eight, twelve, and even fifteen parts, accompanied with various instruments; and these, from being performed in Car- nival time, were called Canti Carnascia- leschi*.
But even before this period the company of Laudisti or Psalm-singers, was formed, which has continued ever since; it is now called La Compagnia, and the morn- ing after my arrival in Florence, between six and seven o'clock, they passed by the inn where I lodged, in grand procession, dressed in a whitish uniform, with burn- ing tapers in their hands. They stopped at the duomo, or great church, just by, to sing a chearful hymn, in three parts,
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