Tuesday, April 21, 2015

Letter 18: Alessandra Strozzi Works From Afar: April 21, 1464

The young man Francesco di Sandro had been received in Naples but apparently was not to Filippo's liking. His family was poor and the youth had not the skills Filippo required. Alessandra's explanation is revealing.
"... I gather you've tested him since he came and you think that so far he knows very little about what to do in the business. It's true, and the person who brought him up is mainly to blame. His father is a good man and plausible, but he isn't really as he seems. I know him better now, because since I made friends withe the boy I've made myself useful by arranging a marriage for one of his daughters, by advising the relations of the man who was marrying her, so that the match was made. It turns out he's not really the sort of man I thought he was, and his wife is better than he is. They have a large family and little money so they're forced to bring them up in rather a rough way. Still you should apply yourself [to helping Francesco], and Andrea is there and can show him what to do; as he isn't stupid he'll learn. May God hold this in our favor."
Alessandra had changed her mind about the flax sent home by Filippo. It now seemed a good idea to her. More deaths by plague locally, as well as in Naples, brought forth this mother's fears.
"Lorenzo's daughter [Marietta Strozzi] is still here but I haven't heard anything else about it. She's waiting here for her mother. The plague's a great inconvenience for girls because hardly any marriages are being arranged here. I see there's also some fear of an outbreak there and that some people have died from it already. This has upset me very much, more than the fact that it's here, and I'll go on being afraid of it. I do beg you as much as I can to be wise enough to watch out for it; don't wait until it boils over before you leave. Do be one of the first to go, and remember that everyone who's died in our family has gone of this disease, right up to my son Matteo. So keep this in mind."

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translated by Heather Gregory: Selected Letters of Alessandra Strozzi : Bilingual Edition, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1997

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