↩

Bellincion Berti. See Canto XV 112 , and note 224 . ↩

The insignia of knighthood. ↩

The Billi, or Pigli, family; their arms being “a Column Vair in a red field.” The Column Vair was the bar of the shield “variegated with argent and azure.” The vair, in Italian vajo , is a kind of squirrel; and the heraldic mingling of colors was taken from its spotted skin. ↩