Note 33 — THE FIFTY COURTESIES FOR THE TABLE, OF FRA BONVESINO[13] DA RIVA.

‘Chi vuol fare merli.’ The phrase means literally ‘he who wants to make battlements’—or possibly ‘to make thrushes,’ I can only guess at its bearing in the present passage, having searched for a distinct explanation in vain. It seems to be one of the myriad ‘vezzi di lingua’ of old Italian, and especially old Tuscan, idiom.