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diff --git a/43754-0.txt b/43754-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..b1dfbe6 --- /dev/null +++ b/43754-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5154 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43754 *** + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original 50 illustrations. + See 43754-h.htm or 43754-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/43754/43754-h/43754-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/43754/43754-h.zip) + + + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive. See + http://archive.org/details/cu31924028381923 + + +Transcriber's note: + + Text enclosed by underscores is in italics (_italics_). + + Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original + document have been preserved. + + Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. + + The book consistently refers to "El Poverello", perhaps + a typographical error for "Il Poverello". + + + + + +PICTURES IN UMBRIA + + * * * * * + + TRAVEL BOOKS BY + THE SAME WRITER. + + + THROUGH NORMANDY. + + THROUGH BRITTANY. + + PICTURES AND LEGENDS FROM + NORMANDY AND BRITTANY. + + IN THE ARDENNES. + + ABOUT YORKSHIRE. + + IN THE VOLCANIC EIFEL WITH + GILBERT S. MACQUOID. + + IN PARIS WITH GILBERT S. + MACQUOID. + + + ILLUSTRATED BY + THOMAS R. MACQUOID, R.I. + + * * * * * + + + + [Illustration: VIA APPIA + Frontispiece.] + + +PICTURES IN UMBRIA + +by + +KATHARINE S. MACQUOID + +With Fifty Original Illustrations by Thomas R. Macquoid, R.I. + +[Illustration] + + + + + + + +New York: Charles Scribner's Sons +London: T. Werner Laurie +MDCCCCV + + + + + Fertile costa d'alto monte pende, + Onde Perugia sente freddo e caldo + Da Porta Sole, ... + + Di quella costa là, dov'ella frange + Più sua rattezza, nacque al mondo un Sole, + Come fa questo tal volta di Gange. + Però chi d'esso loco fa parole, + Non dica Ascesi, chè direbbe corto, + Ma Oriente, se proprio dir vuole. + Non era ancor molto lontan dall'orto, + Chè cominciò a far sentir la terra + Della sua gran virtude alcun conforto. + + "Del Paradiso," Canto XI. + + + + + To + ARCHIBALD EARL OF ROSEBERY, K.G. + + WHO HAS KINDLY PERMITTED US + TO OFFER HIM THE DEDICATION + OF THIS BOOK + + THOMAS R. AND KATHARINE S. MACQUOID + + April 1905 + + + + +CONTENTS + + + CHAP. PAGE + + I. AN ANCIENT HILL-CITY 1 + + II. MARKET-DAY IN PERUGIA 13 + + III. FONTE DI PERUGIA 32 + + IV. COLLEGIO DEL CAMBIO AND THE PINACOTECA 69 + + V. SPELLO 76 + + VI. THE HEAVENLY CHOIR OF PERUGIA 97 + + VII. SAN PIETRO DE' CASINENSI 119 + + VIII. THE SEPULCHRE OF THE VOLUMNII 130 + + IX. THE VIA APPIA 138 + + X. THE WAY TO ASSISI 165 + + XI. SAN FRANCESCO 179 + + XII. IN THE TOWN, ASSISI 230 + + XIII. SANTA MARIA DEGLI ANGELI 260 + + XIV. ADDIO PERUGIA 295 + + XV. LAKE THRASYMENE AND CORTONA 299 + + INDEX 317 + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + +BY THOMAS R. MACQUOID, R.I. + + + PAGE + + VIA APPIA Frontispiece + + ALOES IN BLOOM 12 + + INITIAL--RAFFAELLE 13 + + SAN DOMENICO Facing 16 + + SAN DOMENICO FOUNTAIN 21 + + PIAZZA SOPRA MURA 25 + + THE GREAT FOUNTAIN Facing 32 + + INITIAL--NICOLO PISANO 32 + + STATUE OF POPE JULIUS III 36 + + INITIAL--PERUGINO 69 + + DOORWAY OF PALAZZO PUBBLICO Facing 70 + + A BYEWAY TO THE STATION 78 + + FONTANA BORGHESE Facing 78 + + PORTA VENERIS--SPELLO 85 + + HEAD OF PINTURICCHIO 88 + + PORTA AUGUSTA--SPELLO 93 + + INITIAL--POTS IN BANDS AT WINDOW 97 + + VIA SANT' AGATA 99 + + MADONNA DI LUCE 103 + + FAÇADE OF SAN BERNARDINO 105 + + FLOATING ANGEL 106 + + HEADS OF CHERUBIM 107 + + ANGELS PLAYING ON INSTRUMENT 109 + + ANGEL PLAYING 110 + + LA VEDUTA 121 + + INITIAL--GIRL'S HEAD 130 + + PORTA SUSANNA Facing 138 + + PORTA EBURNEA " 142 + + OUTSIDE PERUGIA 143 + + VIA APPIA AND THE TOWN 145 + + ARCO DELLA CONCA 149 + + PORTA AUGUSTA--PERUGIA 153 + + PORTA BULIGAIA 156 + + PORTA SAN ANGELO 159 + + INITIAL--GIOTTO 165 + + CONVENT AND CHURCH OF SAN FRANCESCO 172 + + ENTRANCE TO ASSISI 177 + + STATUE OF ST. FRANCIS 179 + + CHURCH TOWER 181 + + ENTRANCE TO LOWER CHURCH 185 + + THE SMALL CLOISTER 199 + + THE GARDEN OF CLOISTER 203 + + THE UPPER CHURCH, SAN FRANCESCO 227 + + OUTSIDE SAN FRANCESCO Facing 224 + + INITIAL 260 + + INITIAL--OLIVE BRANCH 299 + + LAKE THRASYMENE 301 + + PALAZZO COMUNALE, CORTONA 305 + + ETRUSCAN CANDELABRUM 308 + + + + +NOTE + + +Our book treats of a few of the Hill-cities of Umbria, but it does +not attempt exhaustive detail in regard to Perugia, Assisi, or any +other. + +Several old contemporary writers have greatly helped the book, +notably the delightful chronicler Matarazzo, and some of his fellows; +besides the "Legend of the Three Companions," and the very quaint +"Fioretti di San Francesco." + +"The Life of San Bernardino of Siena," by Pierre Clément, was also +very useful. In the book itself I speak of the great enjoyment I found +in Monsieur Paul Sabatier's thoughtful "Vie de Saint François +d'Assisi," and in Miss Lina Duff Gordon's charming "Story of Assisi." + + KATHARINE S. MACQUOID. + + THE EDGE, TOOTING COMMON + April 1905 + + + + +PICTURES IN UMBRIA + + + + +CHAPTER I + +AN ANCIENT HILL-CITY + + +It has been said that the face which exercises most permanent charm is +the face whose attractions defy analysis; one in which beauty is +subtle, compounded of many and varied qualities, so that, gazing at +the harmonious whole, it is impossible to specialise its fascination. + +Such a face will not, at first, reveal its charm, for much of this +does not lie only in regularity of feature, or in beauty of colouring, +nor even in the trick of a smile; the spell is so potent, that when +one at last tries to find out its secret, the mind refuses to dispel +the sweet illusion by any such work-a-day process, and agrees with the +hasheesh smoker, "to enjoy the sweet dream while it lasts." + +Places, as well as faces, exert this undefined attraction, but in the +former, association often intrudes itself, a conscious ingredient in +the witchery they possess for us. + +I am just now thinking of a city where much of the historic +association is repulsive, even horrible; looking at the old grey walls +of Perugia, the mind strays backward, to times when these ancient +palaces with barred lower windows were gloomy fortresses, in which +ghastly tragedies were acted over and over again. + +In some of the old houses dissolute sons plotted how to murder their +fathers and brothers, how to commit every sort of crime; blood has run +like water in the grass-grown streets and piazzas,--and not only with +the blood of an Oddi, shed by a fierce Baglione, the two leading +families always fighting for power in their city: the one party being +Guelph, and the other Ghibelline. + +There was even worse strife than this: at times near and dear kinsmen +fought hand to hand in the constant brawls of Perugia; murder was done +in the churches, even before the high altar of the cathedral. + +Softer, quainter memories, however, linger in this hill-throned and +hill-girdled city, and permeate the atmosphere, in spite of the "reek +of blood" which, a poet once told me, "taints Perugia." + +Up the brick-stepped way, beneath a tall dark arch, came, even in +those years of rapine and murder, the grave Urbino painter, Giovanni +Sanzio, with his fair-haired son, Raffaelle. Giovanni came to Perugia +to place the lad with the illiterate genius of Città del Pieve, Pietro +Vannucci, whose praise was in every one's mouth, and who had already +set up a school and was ranked a great painter. The Perugians still +fondly call him "il nostro Perugino." It is said that Pietro was born +in the ancient hill-city. + +One feels sure that Raffaelle must have been petted and tenderly +loved. The father and son made a striking picture as they came from +the dark archway into the sunlight,--Raffaelle mounted on his mule, +his dainty locks falling over his shoulders in glossy waves of +brightness. + +Years before he came, the sun saw a very different picture, when poor, +roughly clad, coarse-featured Cristoforo Vannucci came trudging along +on foot from Città del Pieve, holding the red fist of his little son, +Pietro. The square-faced, square-headed boy was only eleven years old, +yet his father already firmly believed in his genius, and had brought +him all the way from Città del Pieve to present him to the great +Umbrian master, Benedetto Bonfigli, who was then at work on the +famous frescoes still to be seen in the Palazzo Pubblico of Perugia. +There are, both in the Sala del Cambio and elsewhere in the city, +proofs that Raffaelle actually worked here, and that he studied under +Perugino with Pinturicchio, Lo Spagna, Eusebio di San Giorgio, and the +great master's other pupils. + +One learns in Perugia how the student from Città del Pieve raised the +tone and widened the scope of the existing Umbrian school, and gave to +it a grace and ease, to say nothing of higher qualities, which have +rarely been excelled. Yet, except in the frescoes of the beautiful +Sala del Cambio, much of Perugino's best work is to be found +elsewhere, rather than in the town wherein he established his academy, +and from which he took his name as a painter. + +The southern side of the city holds a still more absorbing association +in the gate near the old church and convent of San Pietro de +Casinensi; for by this gate is the way to Assisi, and it has often +been trodden by Francesco Bernardone and his disciples. + +But I am straying from my text: the mysterious fascination which the +grey old city on the hill has for those who linger in it. + +I have been told that some travellers "do" Perugia in six hours, or +between trains; I have heard the Via Appia compared with the Holborn +Viaduct; but these travellers do not come under the spell of the +place; they see only an old city, part Etruscan, part Roman, chiefly +mediæval, perched on top of a hill, girt with massive walls which look +down thirteen hundred feet and more, to the fertile valley of the +Tiber. + +The steep slopes as they descend are in summer-time silver with +olive-groves, golden with plots of maize; later on they are studies of +golden-green and yellow, with richly festooned vines laden with +fruit. + +These rapid travellers may, perhaps, admire the triple ranges of +purple Apennines that on every side form a varied background to this +picturesque fertility, and to the lesser hills below them, spurs +projecting boldly forward into the deep valley, above which the old +city shows her towers and massive walls; they will, perhaps, notice, +as they go downhill again, how quaintly the wall is carried in and +out, starwise, as it follows the indentations of the hills, and how +boldly at each projecting angle a warmly tinted tower stands out +against the sky. They can hardly fail to observe these salient +features; but they will not have time to study the varied form of each +hill, or to watch the sun set opposite grand old Monte Subasio. + +That is a sight worth going far to see; the intense glow dyes the +white houses of Assisi as they cling to the mountain-side, a pale +rose against the flame-like orange tint that seems to burn in the very +heart of Subasio, rather than to be reflected from the opposite side +of the horizon. + +And the hurrying travellers will not have time to enjoy the charming +drives among the olives in the valley, or to visit the many places of +interest which can be reached from Perugia. They go home, and say, "Oh +yes, we saw Perugia,--a dull old city, without a shop worth looking +into." + +A part of the indescribable fascination of the place is felt in long +wanderings through the narrow streets, often deeply shadowed by tall +palaces with grated windows and bricked-up doorways. + +Come with me under a lofty archway, made with uncemented stones on +either side, so huge that surely giants must have placed them in +position. Now we are in a vaulted way, beneath ancient houses built +over the street; these archways are frequent, sometimes low-browed +and round-headed, mere tunnels through which one almost gropes one's +way, and finds at the farther end a sudden descent down a flight of +half-ruined brick steps, which turn so quickly that a keen interest +insists they must be followed to the end. Sometimes the arch is +Etruscan, tall and pointed, and instead of a descent, steps go upwards +to another lofty archway with a darkness beyond it that still beckons +on the explorer. + +Day after day I have wandered up and down those twisting, hilly +streets, often losing my way, and as often stumbling upon some fresh +interest; some portion of Etruscan wall, or some exquisite point of +view; a vista at the far-off end of a street, and often when this is +arrived at, a grander and more varied picture, with part of Perugia +for foreground. + +One may easily lose one's way in Perugia. At first the city seemed to +us a hopeless maze of twisting streets; but after a little we +succeeded in realising the peculiarity of its form. It is said to be +that of a star; but it is more like a lobster, with its head on one +side, and outstretched tail and claws; or it is like a comet with +star-shaped sides, the head on its long neck inclined westward, and a +longer tail pointing south-east. + +A great charm for those who stay in this city is the comfortable, +home-like resting-place to be found in the Hotel Brufani. On our first +visit this hotel was in progress of erection, but its predecessor +existed in the house on the spur of the hill, outside the city gates. +We have been told that the Albergo di Belle Arti is both very +comfortable and moderate. + +I shall not soon forget the delight of that first arrival. + +The heat was so intense in Tuscany that we could not travel in +daytime, so we left Florence at night, and had a dull, sleepy +journey, arriving at Perugia towards morning. + +As we came into the hall and the long corridor of the hotel, the dim +light fell mysteriously on plants and flowers, showing curios on the +wall behind them; to our joy, when we reached our charming cool room +and opened the persiennes, we saw the exquisite light of early morning +crowning the dim, far-off hills. + +The day dawned golden with sunshine, the air breathed a delightful +freshness. We strolled into the garden, which had at one end two +majestic aloes in full bloom and a group of sun-flowers. Oleanders, +covered with rosy blossoms, stood at the garden entrance; beyond was a +bower of golden-green acacias, wreathed to their topmost branches with +blue and white morning glories; below us we saw a varied landscape, +the distant hills tinted with delicate morning light. + +We found our quarters delightful, and our host and hostess full of +attentive kindness. This was continued when the hotel removed to its +present quarters in the large house at the beginning of the city. The +views from the Brufani Hotel terrace and windows are superb; they +command both the Val di Tevere and several points of the town itself. + +Alas! both our good hosts, Signor and Madame Brufani, have passed +away, but the well-arranged house remains, and is said to be very +comfortable still. + + [Illustration: ALOES IN BLOOM.] + + + + +CHAPTER II + +MARKET-DAY IN PERUGIA + + + [Illustration: RAFFAELLE.] + +The day after our arrival we went up some steps near the hotel, +bordered by aloes not yet in bloom, and gemmed with brilliant-eyed +lizards darting in and out in the sunshine; presently we found +ourselves under the lofty walls that once supported the fortress built +by command of Pope Paul III., on the site of the Baglioni palaces. In +this wall is bricked up an ancient Etruscan gate--the Porta Marzia, +which came in the way of this erection. + +One is glad, for the sake of freedom, to think that not so many years +ago the citizens of Perugia pulled down and utterly destroyed this +hated fortress, set up by the tyrant Pope when the hill-city submitted +to his dominion. + +From a picturesque point of view, the fortress was probably more in +harmony with the old streets behind it, especially with the frowning +walls, than are the modern buildings that now border the new Piazza +Vittor Emanuele, and take off the charm of approach on this side. + +One need not, however, enter Perugia by way of Piazza Vittor Emanuele. +Keeping below the huge wall, beside an avenue of green acacias, we +climbed by a wide flight of shallow brick steps past the picturesque +church of San Ercolano, then went through a lofty archway, with huge +projecting imposts, into a street with tall, grey houses on either +side. + +One of these was evidently the back of a palace, and indeed it forms +part of the Palazzo Baglione which fronts the next street, Via Riario; +the very name Baglione made one shiver, remembering the chronicles of +that bloodthirsty race. + +We halted here before a shop, to its owner, a well-to-do merchant of +Perugia, we had been given an introduction; he most courteously +offered to show us his wine cellar, in which is a portion of the +veritable Etruscan wall of Perugia, in excellent preservation. Some of +the stones are about thirteen feet long and eighteen inches thick, +huge uncemented blocks of travertine. The floor of the cellar is +formed by the ancient way, so that one actually treads the road used +by Etruscans before Rome was thought of! + +The amount of forced labour represented by these walls of Perugia is +painful to think of, for the stones in the merchant's cellar must have +been brought from a very great distance. The blocks of travertine are +certainly the finest specimens we saw in the city. The old wall went +on from them by way of the Porta Marzia to the Porta Eburnea, then +northwards (there are visible fragments of it in the Rione Eburnea) +till it reached the famous arch near the Piazza Grimani, and so on +eastward to Monte Sole, where it took a southern course again, to join +the remains in Signor Betti's cellar. + +The house stands on the edge of the hill, and from its back windows +there is an extended view over the country on that side, and, looking +south, over the garden of San Pietro de Casinensi, then kept in order +by the boys of the reformatory. The fine old machicolated spire of San +Pietro and the quaint campanile of San Domenico are striking landmarks +from the high road winding out to the Tiber and Ponte San Giovanni. + +We discovered one secret in the charm of Perugia when we turned from +this lovely and varied landscape to the vivid contrast offered by the +old grey street. + + [Illustration: SAN DOMENICO _PERUGIA_] + +Near to Signor Betti's house is a little curiosity shop, and in its +window was a proof that the belief in "mal occhio" still exists +among the peasants. Hanging from a rough brass watch chain, much the +worse for wear, was a little bunch of hairs from a horse's tail, set +as a charm, and considered to be a specific against "mal occhio," or +any spell cast on horses, cows, etc. Near it was an irregular, stumpy +bit of coral, a man's safeguard against a like disaster. + +During our stay in Perugia we made acquaintance with Signor Bellucci, +a very learned and courteous professor of the university, who most +kindly showed us in his rooms, not only a very interesting and +valuable collection of implements and other articles, beginning at the +Stone Age, but also a collection of amulets and charms. Some of these, +especially those for protection from lightning, are bits of +prehistoric stones, and exhibit a grotesque mingling of pagan and +mediæval superstition. + +A little case embroidered with the Agnus Dei contained a triangular +stone arrow-head, and this, the Professor said, used to be hung at +the bed-head of the owner, between pictures of saints; on the occasion +of a storm, candles were lighted, and prayers were offered before the +amulet. + +This collection of charms amounts to nearly two hundred specimens; it +is full of interest, and it would require many pages to do it justice. + +A very curious amulet was the fragment of a human skull enclosed in a +little brass reliquary, considered to be a sovereign protection +against epilepsy and kindred disorders. Tradition said that this bit +of bone had belonged to the skull of a person, dead some two hundred +years before, who had worked so many wonderful cures by his skill in +medicine, and had lived such a long and saintly life, that he had been +loved and venerated by all. + +The Professor told us it was not uncommon, when a body was dug up in +the course of excavations, to find a bit of the skull missing, and +this amulet doubtless explained the use that had been made of such +lost fragments. + +Another charm was a little cross of holly-wood carved by Capuchin +friars; it had been found hanging at an old woman's bed-head, to +protect her from the spells of a witch. She would only part from it on +condition that she might reserve some splinters of the wood, so as to +prevent the witch from visiting her, and tormenting her for having +parted from her safeguard. + +In Brittany we often saw a branch of holly hanging beside the bed for +the same purpose. There were corals in this Perugian collection of +various shapes, for women and children, for safety in teething, for +protection against "mal occhio," to stop bleeding, and above all, for +the cure of melancholy. The dark stone with red spots, which I have +heard called in England bloodstone, is said to be infallible in +checking bleeding; it must be useful in a country where blood-letting +and leeching are still common and frequent remedies. + +One of the most amusing of the charms was a heart-shaped agate with a +hole through the top. This was found in a house not far from Perugia, +where from time immemorial it had been held in reverence, and in which +its influence was supposed to have maintained perfect harmony among +the inmates of the house. Professor Bellucci did not tell us why its +possessors were willing to give it up: did they want a little change +from this perpetual harmony? + +Belief in witches is still very prevalent in Umbria. They are said to +haunt cross-roads persistently at night-time, it is also said that he +who walks late in the environs of Perugia will do well to carry a few +small coins in his pocket, and to fling them abroad as an offering +when he comes near to a cross-road, for assuredly a witch lies there +in ambush, ready to work him harm. Also, when the traveller sees in +some unfrequented by-road a heap of stones beside the way, he must at +once add another stone to this cairn, so that he may keep down the +phantom of the murdered traveller, whose unblessed body has been +hastily put underground in the lonely spot. + + [Illustration: FOUNTAIN OUTSIDE SAN DOMENICO.] + +Among these ciottoli, however, I did not see any of the charming +little coral hands to be found farther south, with the forefinger and +little finger, the other fingers closed, pointed in defence against +"mal occhio." It is possible that this belief in the virtue of coral +may have originated the custom of the long coral necklace so +frequently worn by the peasant women of Umbria. + +San Domenico is near the Professor's house; a flight of steps leads up +to the church, and before it is a fountain bearing on its side the +Griffin of Perugia. The lofty campanile makes this church conspicuous +from every part of the city. It must have been tall, indeed, before +the tyrannical Pope ordered its two upper storeys to be demolished. +The original church is said to have been built early in the fourteenth +century, from the designs of Giovanni Pisano; it was, however, almost +all rebuilt three centuries later. The very large and richly coloured +east window, and the beautiful tomb with its remarkable canopy, were +both in the first church. The tomb, that of Pope Benedict XI., who +died in Perugia from eating poisoned figs, is the work of Giovanni +Pisano. Some intarsia work in the choir stalls is very good, but with +this exception, and the Pope's monument, San Domenico is not nearly so +interesting as San Pietro de' Casinensi. + +Past the little Gothic church of San Ercolano, and a line of acacias +with exquisite yellow-green foliage, the tender greys of the city +seemed suddenly galvanised into vivacious colour, for Piazza Sopra +Mura was thronged with merry chattering crowds of market buyers and +sellers; many of the handsome peasant women standing or sitting +behind their wares wore a necklace of coral beads. + + [Illustration: PIAZZA SOPRA MURA.] + +This long Piazza is built on substructures which connect the two hills +on which Perugia stands; these substructures are said to be in some +places built on the foundation of the Etruscan wall. The Piazza itself +is full of infinite variety: on the right are two quaint grey mediæval +palaces, with balconies and windows; the Palazzo del Capitano del +Popolo or del Podestà, and the ancient university, are now used as Law +Courts. One can fancy the sometimes inflammatory, sometimes soothing +discourses that have been pronounced from the ringhiera of the ancient +Palazzo del Capitano del Popolo. Nearly opposite this building stands +a fountain. The laughing, gesticulating, ever-moving crowd in the +market-place, and the brilliant hues of tomatoes, melons, and +vegetables, made one's eyes ache. There was a certain sobriety in the +colour of the women's gowns, for the most part pale lilac or yellow +cotton prints, with sometimes white jackets enlivened by the favourite +necklace of coral beads. + +The dark eyes, brilliant skins, and the red-gold hair of many of these +women actually seemed to burn under the gay flower-like headkerchiefs, +which looked at a little distance like some huge tulip-bed, so bright +was the orange, chocolate, scarlet, and rose colour mingled with white +and green. The laughing women mostly showed white, even teeth. The +buzz of talk and laughter was so gay and animated that one wondered +they could manage the buying and selling in such a hubbub. + +We especially noticed an old dame, her white hair showing under a gay +kerchief with a sea-green border, and a bunch of roses in the corner +hanging behind her head. She too had a long string of coral, that set +off the orange-brown of her skin and her clear blue eyes. Her features +were regular; she had not lost her teeth, so that the form of her +mouth was still good. She had been bargaining and gesticulating with a +dark lustrous-eyed girl, with blue-black hair, for a pair of snowy +struggling pigeons, and when she went back to her place behind a +basket of ripe figs she moved like an old Juno. + +Some of the young women were singularly handsome. Among these peasants +and the people of Perugia we noticed two distinct types of face: +regular features and deeply set eyes, like the faces in the old tomb +of the Volumni, were frequent; some of these faces had blue eyes and +beautiful red-gold hair, and were set on round pillar-like throats and +well-developed figures. Others--and perhaps the greater number of the +town shop-keeping class--had a far less refined type of face, +turned-up noses and sensual mouths; though many of them were very +attractive, especially when they wore the graceful black lace +mantilla, so well suited to their brilliant complexions, dark shining +eyes, and full red lips. Some of the men were also handsome, but not +so well grown as the women were. + +Probably the custom of carrying a huge basket or a tall pitcher on her +head, up and down the hills and hilly streets, gives to the peasant +woman in Umbria the stately grace that distinguishes her movements. + +These peasants seem to take an interest in foreigners, and are much +pleased to be spoken to by them. One girl who kept a handkerchief +stall greatly amused us. I had been trying to bargain with her for +some of her gaily-coloured wares, but she asked such a price that I +turned away; she came after me, almost crying: + +"If the signora will explain her ideas on the subject, we may be able +to arrange," she said. + +I am bound to say that we met with much courtesy and fair dealing in +Perugia. Even at the fruit-stalls, where we stood studying heaps of +lemons, full of colour from bluish green to most golden of yellows, +the owner left us in peace, and seemed pleased that we should take our +fill of gazing. + +But the market is soon over; the baskets empty quickly; the unhappy +turkeys and cocks and hens, tied by the feet, are soon handed over +head downwards to fresh owners; the lemon heaps, some exquisitely +green, with a leaf or so hanging from the fruit stalks, have dwindled +till the remaining fruit lies flat on the large board near the +fountain; of the scarlet army of tomatoes not one is left, and all the +cool, pink-fleshed slices of water melon, sown with black seeds, have +disappeared. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +FONTE DI PERUGIA + + +The next morning we took our way up a side turning into the Corso, the +handsomest street in Perugia. The shop windows had the day before been +made extra gay, to attract the market-sellers; they still showed long +strings of cut coral beads. + + [Illustration: NICOLO PISANO.] + +There is a mass of fine, as well as interesting, fourteenth century +building on the left of the Corso: the Collegio del Cambio, and the +Palazzo del Pubblico, or, as it is also called, Palazzo Comunale. This +has a richly-sculptured doorway, and ends on the Piazza del Duomo; it +has quaint iron lamps. On this Piazza, and facing us, we saw the +unfinished stone and brick work of the Cathedral, San Lorenzo, with +its outside pulpit, from which St. Bernardino preached to the people. + + [Illustration: THE GREAT FOUNTAIN + _PIAZZA DEL DUOMO_] + +On the left stands the Palace called the Canonica or Seminary, with +its cloisters. This belonged to the clergy, and was the dwelling of +those Popes who stayed in Perugia during their visits to the city, so +greatly beloved and coveted by the Holy See. + +In the centre of the Piazza stands the famous fountain usually +ascribed to Nicolo Pisano, but said to have been designed by Fra +Bevignate, a native of the city. However, the great Pisan sculptor and +his son Giovanni made the two large marble basins, and sculptured the +panels which decorate them. Nicolo, whose quaint costume is given in +the initial, is said to have sculptured the twenty-four statues, now +dark with age, but remarkable for the sharpness of their exquisite +carving; two of the statues are, however, restorations. The delicate +bas-reliefs of the second basin are ascribed to Giovanni Pisano, and +are full of variety; the upper basin, with nymphs and lions and the +inevitable griffin of Perugia, is supposed to have been cast in bronze +by Rossi; water no longer plays from this fountain. It is very +beautiful, but it wears a sad and desolate aspect, in perfect harmony +with the terrible tragedies which have been so often enacted on this +square. + +The finest side of the Palazzo Pubblico is that which faces the +Cathedral; it has a charming loggia and a grand double flight of steps +guarded by the Guelphic lion and the Perugian griffin. There are still +traces on this fine old wall showing where the keys of two cities, +Siena and Assisi, were hung in chains by the arrogant Perugians, till, +in one of the attacks on the city, some mercenary soldiers wrenched +them away. The griffin, the quaint emblem of Perugia, is to be found +repeated in all the decorative work of the city. The Palazzo Pubblico +was built early in the fourteenth century from the design of the +Benedictine, Fra Bevignate. The heads of criminals used to be fixed on +the steel lances which project from it. When the criminals had been +guilty of treason their heads were hung downwards. It was a custom in +Perugia to confine criminals in an iron cage hung on this old wall, +the miserable creatures being left to starve to death in the cage! The +horrible dungeons below can still be seen; they give one some idea of +the cruelties enacted in the Middle Ages. + +The cathedral of San Lorenzo, on the Piazza del Duomo, is spacious +rather than interesting, except for its associations: three Popes who +died in Perugia are buried in one tomb in a transept, and in a chapel +is preserved the marriage-ring of the Blessed Virgin. We noticed some +good wood carving in the stalls. + +On the right, beyond the cathedral and its square, is the little +Piazza del Papa. On this a bronze statue, vivid green in colour, is +raised high on a pedestal. An inscription tells that the statue +represents Pope Julius III., and is the work of Vincenzo Danti. + + [Illustration: BRONZE STATUE OF POPE JULIUS III.] + +The grand old Pope has been sitting enthroned outside the cathedral +doors for more than three hundred years, with hand outstretched, in +the act of blessing. It almost seems that during these long years the +golden sunshine, mingled with the intense blue of the sky, has created +the brilliant colour of the bronze, this vivid green which rivals that +of the lizards as they dart in and out of the grey old wall behind the +Duomo. + +Looking at the old Pope under different aspects,--in the sparkle of +morning sunshine, in its full meridian glow, or in the gloom that +comes to Perugia so swiftly at the heels of day,--one gets to see a +different expression in the Pontiff's immovable face. + +In the morning it beams on the crowd of crockery sellers, and their +wares spread out on the stones around its pedestal, and points proudly +to the grand group presented by the fountain and the Palazzo Comunale; +at midday the expression is harder; but at eventide a pensive cast +comes over the face, more in keeping with the grass-grown street +behind the statue, and the ancient grey palaces. + +This bronze Pope, Julius III., was not sitting here at the time of the +famous preaching of San Bernardino of Siena, on the Piazza del Duomo, +when the Perugians flung their grandest vanities into a heap and +burned them as a proof of penitence, as the Tuscans did at Florence in +the days of Savonarola. This preaching of San Bernardino is +commemorated in an old but restored window in the cathedral. + +Behind the adjoining Piazza dei Gigli, an open square in front of the +Sorbello Palazzo, is a way going steeply upwards to the right; it has +bricked steps in the middle, but at the side of these is a long strip +of ascending slope, so irregularly paved that it might serve as a +specimen pattern of the variously paved streets in the town. Tufts of +grass between the stones show that this way is not much used. Its +right side is walled by the church of Santa Maria Nuova, and high +above it on the left are some quaint houses. This road leads to San +Severo, a little chapel containing what is called Raffaelle's first +fresco, unhappily very much restored. The view of the country between +the houses near it is more interesting than the painting. + +This is a very old part of the town; presently, through a tunnel under +a low-browed arch, we came out on the Piazza of Monte Sole, surrounded +by old palaces. This Piazza marks the summit of one of the two hills +on which ancient Perugia was built by the Etruscans; the other hill, +Colle Landone, is crowned by Palazzo Donnini, and till the time of +wise and valiant Forte Braccio, who, though cruel, seems to have been +the best ruler the Perugians can boast of, the valley between these +two hills existed. + +Forte Braccio caused it to be filled up, and the Piazza Sopra Mura, +where the weekly market is held, takes its name from the levelling and +sub-structures then effected. + +It was from Piazza Monte Sole that the despotic Abbot Monmaggiore fled +along the covered way he had made to connect his citadel of Monte Sole +with his palaces at Porta San Antonio. On this occasion the nobles +joined hands with the citizens against the conspiring French priest, +drove the foreigners out of the city, and for the time freed Perugia +from the hated Papal yoke. + +Going on from the Piazza Monte Sole, a few steps bring us to a +tree-shaded terrace with benches placed along it. There is a grand +view from the wall that bounds the terrace, and seems to go straight +down into the valley. Just below is the red cupola-topped church of +Santa Maria Nuova, while the houses of the town lay thickly clustered +below. The ancient wall from which we now gaze runs out northward on +the right, and on the left goes on till it reaches the famous Etruscan +arch near the Piazza Grimani. Beyond are the heights, on one of which +stands the convent of San Francesco, outside the extreme northern +point marked by the gate of San Angelo; from this we get a glimpse of +Subasio. Going out behind the terrace we see the Duomo close by, and +soon find our way back to the Corso. + +Perugia was never weak; rather she was in all things powerful, and she +produced a race of the most renowned Condottieri of Italy, the +bloodthirsty Baglioni. Had the brutal nobles and the proud citizens +been able to control their passions, and to discipline their ambition; +had they been able to behave, in fact, like Christians, Perugia might +have held sovereign sway in Umbria. + +Instead of this, though nominally governed by the Podestà, or chief +magistrate and the Priori, she was frequently forced to defend herself +against Papal plots and aggression; almost constantly against the +tyranny of her rival nobles, and the mischiefs caused by their brawls +between themselves, and with the Raspanti, among whom were the richest +and most powerful of the citizens. + +Through these centuries, from the thirteenth to the sixteenth, the +Piazza del Duomo often ran with blood. It was the chief scene of the +fierce struggles which make the eventful history of the hill-city; for +until the time of Paul the Third, Perugia never entirely submitted to +the personal sway of an alien ruler, though she frequently banished +both nobles and Raspanti. + +There was a short period of comparative peace when, in the fourteenth +century, the Condottiere Biordo Michelotti entered the city at the +head of the banished Raspanti, and became supreme ruler in the name of +the people. Broils were still frequent between the nobles and the +plebs, but Biordo was the first of the brigand despots who tried to +free Perugia from Papal encroachments. + +Warlike, wicked Guidalotti, Abbot of San Pietro, jealously watched the +Captain's success, and justly estimated his power; he resolved to end +it, and to restore the influence of the Holy See in Perugia. + +Biordo, a valiant, hard-working ruler, had asked in marriage the +beautiful Lucrezia Orsini, with whom he hoped, now that the city +enjoyed comparative quiet, to end his days in peace. The Abbot thought +that these bridal festivities would give him the opportunity he +sought. + +A few days after the marriage the wily priest rode up from San Pietro +on horseback to the higher part of the town. He here collected his +bravi together, and rode on to Michelotti's palace on Monte Sole. As +soon as Michelotti came down to greet his visitor the Abbot put his +arm round him and kissed him. At this signal the other ruffians at +once attacked the unarmed governor, and killed him with their poisoned +daggers. + +After Biordo Michelotti, came early in the next century the valiant +and wise Forte Braccio, who greatly improved the condition of the +city, and repressed licence and disorder. But this brave (though +cruel) soldier and sagacious ruler was defeated in battle, and died +from the wounds he received. This was a terrible loss; it alarmed the +Perugians, for though Forte Braccio was of noble birth, being Conte di +Montone, he had protected the city against the outrages of the fierce +and brutal Oddi, Baglioni, Corgna, and others. The citizens, in their +despair at the loss of their ruler, made overtures to Pope Martin, who +received them with open arms. + +At this the nobles felt all their power restored; they knew the Pope +would side with them against the people, and, quitting their houses in +the country around the city, they established themselves in palaces +chiefly in the vicinity of Porta Marzia, whence it was easy to overawe +the town. + +After Forte Braccio's death, one of his soldiers, a singularly brave +and capable man, named Nicola Piccinino, tried to wrest supreme power +both from the Pope and the nobles. The Perugians suffered terribly, +for, while the long struggle lasted, the Pope, the nobles, and +Piccinino, who was liked by the people and idolised by the army, all +levied taxes on them; Nicola at last ceased his efforts to attain +supreme power, and accepted from the Pope the post of Gonfalionere, +chief magistrate of the city, in the pontiff's name. + +The nobles at this period were left unhindered to brawl as they +pleased. The Baglioni, a race of men so renowned for crime, strength, +bravery, and beauty, that they recall the heroes of the _Iliad_, and +one wonders whether the old pagans were not better men than those +so-called Christians, were always at war with the Oddi, till at last +they worsted their rivals, and drove them out of Perugia; then they +fell out among themselves. During their last struggle with the Oddi +they took possession of the cathedral and fortified it. + +After the banishment of the Oddi the power of the Baglioni greatly +increased; it became almost supreme. The Pope had given them the +lordship of Spello; they also owned Spoleto, and some others of the +hill-cities of Umbria. These possessions brought them great wealth. +They were cruel and tyrannical despots; they appointed civic +officials; it was even said that no legate ventured to visit the city +unless he was a friend of the Baglioni. + +Towards the close of the fifteenth century some of the poorer and more +obscure members of this powerful clan, or, as the old chronicler +Matarazzo terms them, "beautiful Baglioni," murmured loudly against +their richer kinsfolk. They were just as indolent, just as brutal and +licentious, and in proportion to their means fully as arrogant and +prodigal. But people were not afraid of them; they had neither wealth +to keep bravi with, nor influence to support and further their +pretensions. These poor relations could no longer endure their +dependent position; they saw that if the sons of the elder house were +disposed of, they should have a chance of coming to their own. At +present they were completely shadowed by the wealth and haughty +self-assertion of their cousins; they also coveted their possessions, +and longed to divide them among themselves. + +The heads of the Baglione house were the two brothers, Guido and +Ridolfo. Guido had five stalwart sons, as much noted for their prowess +and heroic bravery, as for their good looks; these were Astorre, +Adriano (usually called Morgante, because of his wonderful strength), +Marcantonio, Gismondo, and Gentile. Ridolfo's sons were Troilo, +Gianpaolo, and Simonetto. + +Besides the splendid sons of Guido and Ridolfo, there was yet another +very wealthy and distinguished scion of the Baglione family, their +young cousin Grifonetto. He was happily married to a young and +beautiful wife, and was on friendly terms with all his cousins. His +father, Grifone, had died young in battle; his still young and lovely +mother, Atalanta Baglione, was extremely rich. She so greatly loved +Grifonetto, her only child, that she remained a widow for his sake, +and gave up her own home to live with him and his fair young wife, +Zenobia Sforza, in the splendid palace he had built near Porta Marzia. + +A few years before the end of the fifteenth century, the banished Oddi +faction thought fit to attack the city; they rode suddenly in through +the gates, and began to strike at the chains stretched across the +street for defence against sudden attacks. The first to give the alarm +was Simonetto Baglione, a young and beardless youth, who, though of a +fierce and cruel nature, was heroically brave. He rushed forth in his +shirt, armed only with sword and shield, and held the squadron of +advancing Oddi at bay before the barrier that defended the Piazza. +Soon ten of his adversaries lay dead at his feet. Till he had killed +many more he persevered in attacking the foe with intense fury, until +he had received twenty-two wounds. Then his cousin Astorre rode forth +to help him. "Go and tend your wounds, Simonetto," he cried, and +dashed at the common enemy; a falcon flashed on his gilded helmet, +with the griffin's tail sweeping behind it. At once he became a target +for the Oddi, their blows fell so thick and fast that each hindered +the other from striking truly; nothing could be heard above the din of +the strokes made by lances, partizans, crossbow quarries, and other +weapons falling on Astorre's body; the sound of those great blows +overbore the noise and shouting of the combatants. But the noble +Astorre was undismayed by the horrid clamour, he rode his horse into +the thickest of the fight, and trampled the Oddi under foot; while his +horse, being a most fierce animal, gave the enemy what trouble it +could, for so soon as they were jostled and overthrown by his rider, +the beast trampled on them. By the time that the other Baglioni heroes +sallied forth to help him, Astorre and his war-horse were overdone, +they could scarce breathe. + +The Oddi were again driven from the city, but a war followed which +devastated the fertile country between Perugia and Assisi. + + * * * * * + +All through these fearful times of strife and bloodshed Art was +progressing quietly and surely in Perugia. Raffaelle was at this time +working in the atelier of Perugino, and it is thought that he must +have witnessed this splendid defence of Astorre Baglione, and that he +afterwards reproduced the young warrior, his helmet crowned by a +falcon and tail of griffin, in the St. George of the Louvre, and the +trampling horseman in the Heliodorus Stanza of the Vatican. + +After this achievement the Baglioni seem to have had a short time of +family peace. This was soon interrupted. Grifonetto's wealth, the +splendid palace in which he lived with his lovely mother and Zenobia +Sforza, his beautiful wife, helped to make him, young though he was, +the most powerful member of the family. He and his wife dearly loved +each other, and the chronicler says, "No wonder, for they were as +beautiful as angels." But for evil counsellors, and the restless +ambition of the Baglioni, this state of affairs might have lasted. +Three of the evil and disappointed relatives clung to Grifonetto like +limpets; these were his uncle Filippo, his cousin Carlo Baciglia +Baglione, and a scandalously dissolute scoundrel named Jeronimo della +Penna or Arciprete. They took counsel together as to how the sons of +Guido and Ridolfo Baglione could be easiest put out of the way, so +that their wealth and power might be divided among the conspirators. +Too poor and of too ill-repute to act alone, they saw that their +patron Grifonetto had all they lacked, and they resolved to persuade +him to head their conspiracy. At first they strove to win him by the +offer of supreme power in Perugia; he could revolt, they said, against +the Papal yoke, and become sovereign ruler in the city. Grifonetto +was not ambitious; he had all he wanted,--their proposals did not +tempt him. + +Astorre was about to wed a Roman bride, Lavinia, the daughter of a +Colonna father and an Orsini mother, and the malcontent Baglioni +decided that this marriage, which was to happen at the end of July, +would be a great opportunity for ridding themselves of their hated +kindred, as it would assemble every member of the family in Perugia, +except Marcantonio, who, being out of health, was taking baths at +Naples. + +The conspirators took fresh counsel together; the time fixed for the +marriage was now close at hand, they must at once win over Grifonetto +to their schemes. They therefore told him that Zenobia, the beautiful +wife he so adored, was unfaithful to him, with his cousin Gianpaolo, +one of the sons of Ridolfo Baglione. + +Grifonetto was furious; in his mad jealousy he believed this story, +and thirsted for vengeance: he consented to head the conspiracy, and +to rid the city of the elder branch of his family by a wholesale +murder. + +Among the conspirators were Jeronimo della Staffa, three members of +the Corgna family and others; only two of those who engaged in this +bloodthirsty scheme were over thirty years old. + +The Baglioni were chiefly lodged in houses on or near the Porta +Marzia; Astorre and his bride, on the night of the murder, were lodged +in the beautiful palace of Grifonetto, which was the wonder of +Perugia, and always pointed out to strangers as a marvel of +magnificence both inside and out. Among his other treasures, +Grifonetto possessed a lion; Astorre and Gianpaolo, the sons of Guido +and Ridolfo Baglione, each owned one of the royal beasts, and their +fearful roaring at night struck terror to the hearts of belated +Perugians on their way home. + +It had been arranged that as soon as the proposed victims were asleep +the signal should be given; this was to be a stone thrown from the +loggia of the Magnifico Guido's palace, into the court below. + +Banquets, jousts, all kinds of magnificent festivities had gone on for +days past. That night a great supper was given, at which the +conspirators were present; they appeared to be on the most friendly +terms with the others, and were even affectionate and caressing to +all,--yet the traitors had decided who was to be the murderer of each +victim, and the number of bravi by which each murderer should be +accompanied in case of resistance. + +At last the time arrived. The victims, heavy with wine, had retired to +rest, they slept undisturbed by the roaring of the lions. Then the +signal was given; each assassin stood ready at the appointed door. +Carlo Baglione, who seems to have been the mainspring of "el gran +tradimento," as the chronicler Matarazzo calls it, made first for the +sleeping-chamber of the head of the family, the "Magnifico Guido," but +he turned aside to that of young Simonetto. Jeronimo della Penna +forced open the door of the noble Gismondo; while Grifonetto himself +attacked Gianpaolo, Filippo di Braccio and one of the Corgna family +unlocked the door of valiant Astorre, who, asleep with his +newly-married wife, was thus murderously awakened; the young fellow +opened the door, and, seeing his murderers, he guessed the truth. As +they attacked him he cried out, "Wretched Astorre, who dies like a +coward." His young wife rushed up to him, and flung her arms round +him, trying to make her body a shield between him and his assailants, +but they had already stabbed him with many more blows than would have +sufficed to kill him, and she too received a wound. Then the brutal +Filippo di Braccio, seeing how large a wound was in Astorre's breast, +thrust in his hand, tore out his heart, and savagely bit it. After +this he and his accomplice flung the body of Astorre down the stairs +and into the street, where presently the murdered Simonetto lay beside +it. He had wakened, and, seeing the murderers kill the companion who +lay in his chamber, armed himself, and fought his way through the +villainous crowd of bravi, till he reached the foot of the stairs; +here fresh assailants despatched him. Simonetto's uncle Guido had also +time to snatch up his sword; but, powerful though he was, he was +killed. + +Grifonetto was less successful than his fellow-conspirators. +Gianpaolo, the most daring of the elder branch of the Baglioni, had +taken alarm, and so had his squire. But Gianpaolo was sagacious as +well as brave, and, not knowing who were his assailants, he bade his +squire guard the staircase which led from his chamber to the roof, +while he tried to escape over the tops of the other palaces. + +The squire fought valiantly, and held his post for some time,--the +staircase turned, and gave him a point of vantage over his assailants +from below. Gianpaolo reached the roof, and crawled over it till, +coming to the skylight of his cousin Grifonetto's palace, he had a +mind, in his ignorance as to the conspirators, to seek shelter there; +but he gave up the idea, and climbed through a window into another +house, owned by one of the citizens; the good man within was so +terrified at the sight of Baglione, that, in his fear, he refused to +harbour the great noble. Gianpaolo, going back to the roof, found his +way into the atelier of some foreign artists, who were also greatly +alarmed at his appearance among them. One of them, however, named +Achille de la Mandola, seems to have greatly helped the fugitive. + +Gianpaolo finally made his way out into the street; and soon after out +of the city. Seeing a mule grazing by the wayside, he at once mounted +it, though he was greatly disturbed to quit Perugia without having +either discovered the meaning of this night attack, or taken +vengeance on the unknown assassins. In the meantime day had broken, +and Gentile Baglione, who lived some way from his father's house, had +been also attacked by the conspirators; he escaped them at once, by +mounting his horse and riding away. Just as he reached the bridge +beyond the plain, he was amazed to recognise his elder cousin +Gianpaolo, riding in the same direction on a mule. + +When Atalanta, Grifonetto's beautiful young mother, heard of the +tragedy that had been acted so close to her, she rose up, wrapped +herself in a large cloak, and, taking with her the two little sons of +Gianpaolo and her daughter-in-law, Zenobia Sforza, she quitted her +son's house (she loved Grifonetto so dearly that she had always lived +with him, having been widowed before she was twenty) and took refuge +in her own dwelling on the Colle Landone. She had nothing with her but +the cloak she wore, and when she learned in detail the events of the +night she solemnly vowed she would never again cross her son's +threshold. Grifonetto had quickly repented his crime. His eyes had +opened to the wickedness into which his mad jealousy had betrayed him. +As soon as he learned his mother's departure he followed her, but he +was refused admittance; he, however, forced his way into her presence. +She stayed his approach with outstretched hands, and delivered her +solemn curse on his guilty head as the murderer of his nearest +kindred. The young fellow fled horror-stricken from her presence, but +soon returned; he could not find peace, he said, till his beloved, +beautiful mother forgave him, and removed the curse she had laid on +him. + +Atalanta had, however, taken her precautions, and though the unhappy +Grifonetto went again and again from his Palazzo to that on the Colle +Landone, Atalanta refused to see or listen to him. With the exception +of his complicity in this fearful tragedy, Grifonetto seems to have +had more human feeling than some of his cousins of the elder branch. +His suffering under his mother's curse, and his penitence for his +crime, had completely unnerved him. When Gianpaolo, who by the death +of his uncle Guido was now the head of the Baglioni, returned to +Perugia with the troops he and his brothers had rallied round them, +they were met at the city gate by an excited crowd of citizens; for +though some of the Perugians still sided with their favourite +Grifonetto, the larger portion abhorred his foul treason, and longed +to see it avenged. Gianpaolo, seeing the concourse and hearing the +cries of welcome, asked graciously that the ladies present in the +crowd would be good enough to pray for his success. They did so, and +sent out, besides, wine to refresh him and his soldiers after their +journey, before they began to revenge themselves on their enemies. +Grifonetto had come towards the gate with intent to guard it, gnashing +his teeth and weeping, for he had made another attempt to see his +mother. He presently met Gianpaolo on the Piazza, where some of the +conspirators had already been slain,--Carlo Baglione and Jeronimo +della Penna had a narrow escape by climbing the city wall. + +Gianpaolo gazed with pitying contempt at his young cousin, who, still +overwhelmed with remorse for his share in the unnatural crime, and +heart-broken by his mother's curse, was taken aback at thus suddenly +meeting his enemy within the city. + +Gianpaolo rode up, and, pointing his sword at Grifonetto's throat, +cried out; "Farewell, thou traitor Grifonetto; thou art"--Then he +added, "Go, in God's name, for I will not kill you; I will not dip my +hands in your blood, as you have dipped yours in the blood of your +kindred." + +He turned away, making a sign to his guards, they fell on the stricken +Grifonetto, and wounded him so that his "graceful limbs" could no +longer support him; he fell in a pool of blood on the ground. The +terrible news was at once carried to his mother Atalanta, and his +sorrowful wife Zenobia; they hurried down to the Piazza, and found +their dearly loved Grifonetto not yet dead, but bleeding from every +wound. His mother fell on her knees beside him; she assured him of her +forgiveness, and gave him her blessing in place of the curse she had +laid on him. She implored him to pardon his murderers, and to give her +a sign that he did so. At this the dying youth clasped the white hand +of his young mother, whom he so dearly loved, and, pressing it, he +expired. "No words," adds the chronicler, "can paint the grief of the +wife who had so dearly loved him, or of the mother who had remained a +widow because of her great love for this adored son. At last they +rose, stained with the blood that streamed from him, and ordered his +body to be carried to the hospital." + +By this time Gianpaolo and his troops had returned to the Piazza, bent +on taking a complete revenge on the conspirators and all enemies of +the Baglione family in Perugia. A fierce battle was fought on the +Piazza, and in the cathedral itself, for Gianpaolo had caused a large +fire to be kindled before the door, so as to gain access to the +interior; even those who took refuge at the high altar were slain +there. More than a hundred persons were murdered by Gianpaolo's order; +the dead bodies lay where they fell, till the cathedral was +bloodstained from one end to the other. + +Then the Magnifico Gianpaolo, being now the head of the family, took +possession of Grifonetto's palace and of all the Baglione dwellings +which, as has been said, were near the Porta Marzia. He gave command +that all should be solemnly hung with black, as a token of mourning +for the victims of "el gran tradimento,"--a term which Matarazzo +constantly repeats. Gianpaolo also gave command that the cathedral of +San Lorenzo should be washed with wine from one end to the other, and +then re-consecrated, to purge it from the blood shed there during his +vengeance on the slayers of his kindred, and on all who were in any +way unfriendly to the house of Baglione. + +Even Matarazzo, the enthusiastic admirer of Gian,--or, as he +frequently calls him, Giovanpaolo,--bursts into lamentation over the +continued excesses committed in Perugia till the death of his hero. +The chronicler tells us that from the time the Oddi were banished +there was no rule in the city, except that of might against right; +every man who was powerful enough took the law in his own hands: +rapine, murder, plunder, reigned unchecked. When the Popes, aware of +the persistent excesses, sent now and again a legate to control and +modify disorder, and to restore some amount of security to the +dismayed and outraged citizens, the envoys rarely remained long enough +to interfere, even if they ventured within the gates of Perugia, lest +they should give offence to the Baglioni, and be either stabbed or at +best flung out of window. + +At last Gianpaolo submitted himself to the power of the Pope, and +though the Perugians detested Papal government, they had suffered so +severely under the Baglioni tyranny that they hailed the prospect of +change, especially as the terms granted them promised moderation. + +Leo the Tenth, however, had little faith in Gianpaolo Baglione; he +therefore lured him to Rome by sending him a safe-conduct. On his +arrival the Pope caused him to be imprisoned in the castle of San +Angelo; where he was soon after beheaded. + +Gianpaolo's descendants went from bad to worse. They were powerful in +other states besides Perugia; captains of Condottieri in Venice, in +Florence, also in the States of the Church. One of them, Malatesta +Baglione, proved himself a most infamous traitor; he sold himself to +Pope Clement VII., and, for his dastardly treason to Florence, was +held up to public execration. The last male member of this terrible +family died in the middle of the sixteenth century. + + * * * * * + +With the accession to the popedom of Paul the Third came the deathblow +to the freedom of Perugia. He broke all the treaties as to municipal +rights and privileges, etc., granted by his predecessors, and built a +huge citadel to overawe the town, actually removing one of the +Etruscan gates, the Porta Marzia (now restored to its original site), +to make room for his tyrannical construction. The military despotism +of Pope Paul must have been heartbreaking to a free, proud people like +the Perugians. + +There seems to have been less bloodshed under the Papal tyranny, but +this little incident at its beginning, taken from an old record in the +Public Library, was a savage sort of portent: + +"While the Duke Pietro Aloigi stayed with his troops in Perugia, to +order the new government, Agostino de' Pistoia and Antonio Romano, two +of his soldiers, asked the Duke's permission to fight out their +quarrel in his presence on the Piazza of Perugia. The Duke gave +consent, and ordered that they should fight before the chapel of the +Cambio. There, surrounded by the populace, the Duke being at one of +the windows of the palace, they fought in their shirts with swords and +daggers. + +"Both men showed much courage and daring, but at last Agostino, of +Pistoia, who was both handsome and tall of stature, fell on the ground +dead. + +"Victory was at once cried for Antonio Romano, who, by his father's +side, was of Perugia; but from the many and grievous wounds the +Pistonian had given him, Antonio was considered by many as good as +dead, and was carried home by his friends. However, by the great care +taken of him, he after a while recovered his strength." + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +THE COLLEGIO DEL CAMBIO AND THE PINACOTECA + + +The Corso was on the left near the Fonte grand range of ancient +buildings, in which is the entrance to the chapel of the Cambio; +beside this is the Sala, adorned with Perugino's famous frescoes. A +little farther on is the richly-sculptured doorway of the Palazzo +Pubblico, and within this is the Pinacoteca, containing a very +interesting collection of art treasures. Here are marvellous frescoes +by Bonfigli; and pictures by him and by Piero della Francesca, +Fiorenzo di Lorenzo, and other famous old painters. + + [Illustration: PERUGINO.] + +It would be difficult to say too much in praise of the Sala del +Cambio: the harmony preserved throughout it, in the rich and artistic +decoration of its walls and ceiling, is most soothing, and adds +greatly to the enjoyment one feels in the beautiful little place. The +lower part of the walls is wainscotted with dark wood, inlaid with +tarsiatura by Domenico del Tasso; the doors have the date 1483. Near +the entrance is the raised throne for the judge; below this are desks +and seats for the money-changers, and these are exquisitely carved. +One account says that the intarsia designs were furnished by +Raffaelle; another tells us that Domenico del Tasso was both designer +and executor of this beautiful work. In the record of the agreement +between the authorities at Perugia and Pietro Vannucci the painter, he +writes, "My intention in the frescoes which cover the upper part of +the walls is to recommend the merchants and magistrates therein +assembled never to forsake the path of duty, but to remain faithful +to the dictates of wisdom, of natural reason, and of religion." + + [Illustration: DOORWAY OF PALAZZO PUBBLICO] + +Faith and Love are emphasised by two large frescoes facing the +entrance, the Transfiguration and the Adoration of the Magi; Hope of +an eternal future, by the prophets and sibyls on the wall to the +right. + +On the left wall the frescoes depict moral qualities,--Justice and +Prudence, illustrated below by the figures of Fabius Maximus, +Socrates, Numa, Camillus, Pittacus, and Trajan. + +On a lower level still is a portrait in oil of Perugino, painted by +himself; while the remaining half of the upper wall has figures +representing Courage and Temperance. Below them are Licinius Leonidas +and Horatius Cocles; Scipio Africanus, Pericles, and Cincinnatus. + +There is not any attempt at grouping in these frescoes: the figures +stand severe and stately, as if they were on the look-out to rebuke +any cheating or covetous practices going on in the Hall below. It is +remarkable that the painter should have been accused of greed in the +pursuit of his calling, when he considered it necessary to call up on +the walls of the Sala so many witnesses to protest against the love of +money in others. The ceiling is divided into bays, on which are the +planets. In the centre is the sun, represented by Apollo in his +chariot; the spaces between are filled with ornament and figures, some +of which are attributed to Raffaelle. + +On a bright morning, when the sun is pouring light and warmth into the +little Sala, the rich tone of these frescoes is marvellous, and, so +far as one can see, they have not greatly suffered by restoration. + +In the adjoining Cappella del Cambio are some sibyls and children, +said to be Raffaelle's, but the work in these has evidently been much +retouched. + +Perugino is at his best in the frescoes of the Sala; they form a +striking contrast to the monotony of style which, in spite of their +individual beauty, wearies one in his Perugian oil pictures. The +gallery devoted to his work upstairs in the Pinacoteca is, on the +whole, disappointing. + +The pictures are calm and sweet and refined, but one longs for variety +of feeling; a few, however, show marked superiority over the rest. It +is very curious to remember that these peaceful saintly pictures were +painted when daily brawls were taking place in the city, even while +her chief Piazza streamed with the blood of nobles and Raspanti. + +The most interesting Umbrian pictures are those, only a few, by a rare +and early painter, Fiorenzo di Lorenzo, who with Piero della +Francesca, from Borgo del Sepolcro, and Benedetto Bonfigli, had +established a school of art in Perugia. The lovely head of a Madonna +by this rarely found painter, Fiorenzo di Lorenzo, is over a doorway +in the Palazzo Pubblico, and upstairs in one of the galleries are two +very remarkable pictures, the Adoration of the Magi is especially +beautiful. + +The three kings stand on the left,--one of them is said to be a +portrait, when young, of Perugino; on the ground, in the centre, lies +the Holy Child; the Blessed Virgin and St. Joseph kneel on either side +of Him. Opposite the magi are the ox, and a very wise-looking ass; +while a large group of angels fills up the background, and forms the +most interesting part of the picture; the angels are so altogether +original and graceful. + +The painting of detail is marvellously finished, though the similarity +of faces and of costume make it probable that the same model was used +for most of the angels. They and smaller figures, the shepherds and +others, seen at the openings which reveal landscape on either side of +the stable, are singularly full of grace and charm. There is +admirable colour in all the pictures by this painter. + +We find paintings by Niccolo Alunno of Foligno, another contemporary, +pictures too by some old Sienese masters; a room is filled with small +easel pictures by Fra Angelico. The student of early Italian art will +find in these galleries abundant material of a most interesting kind. +The pictures were formerly scattered in the various churches of +Perugia, for which they had been painted; the government has now +collected and placed them in the Pinacoteca. + +One of the rooms leads on to a terrace. Here is a beautiful view over +the surrounding country. The old cicerone took much interest in +showing us where Siena and Orvieto and Rome lay, all three hidden +among ranges of blue hills. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +SPELLO + + +The pleasantest and shortest road to the railway is by Porta Eburnea. +I started one day from this gate with a friend, by a steep path which +leaves the road just outside the Porta, and curves along the side of +the hill below the old wall. The bank, this fine morning, was gay with +butterflies and wild flowers, and wreathed with a luxuriant growth of +wild gourd, full of pale blossoms and small furry fruit; all was so +wild, it seemed impossible we had only just left a busy city behind +us. + +At the turn of the path we came into a delightful lane, between +bramble-covered banks; on one side was the dry bed of a little rill, +and overhead branches of quaint trees met each other. From the +Italian custom of constantly stripping the leaves to provide fodder, +the foliage was scanty, yet we went down the steep path in cool and +checkered shadow; lizards, darting across the way before us, gleamed +as they passed in and out of the light. + +This practice of stripping leaves from the trees for fodder, gives a +quaint appearance to many of them; in this lane the gnarled and +twisted branches looked grotesque. A man high up in one of the trees +sang as gaily as a bird, while he filled with leaves a sack fastened +to one of the branches. + +Now and again the rich transparent purple of the shadows was traversed +by a bar of golden light; this sometimes came in irregular flecks from +spaces between the twisted trunks and crossing branches. + +A woman coming up from the station, with a heavy basket on her head, +said, "Buon Giorno," and smiled pleasantly as she passed; then a +countryman, a fine, handsome fellow with glowing black eyes, wished us +a good journey. He was going at such a pace that he must have been +bound for the station; usually the easy, leisureful movements of its +people seem to me one of the charms of Italy, so entirely in harmony +with the burning, palpitating blue of its skies and the careless +luxuriance of its vegetation. + + [Illustration: THE WAY TO THE STATION, PERUGIA.] + +Near the end of the descent is a washing place, and here a woman on +her knees was hard at work, scrubbing and soaping linen. Looking back +up the lane we saw the grey town peeping at us through the trees,--the +tower of a house on the Piazza a prominent feature in the view. + + [Illustration: FONTANA BORGHESE + _outside PERUGIA_] + +At the foot of the lane we crossed the dusty highroad, and again +followed the short way, here very steep and rugged. At the end we +came out at a cross-road where the Fontana Borghese, at one angle, +made a striking feature; partly shadowed by tall cypresses, it glowed +red in the sunshine. The date is 1615; its basin is green with age, +and from the constant drip, drip of the water. To-day the fountain was +surrounded with wine carts, each drawn by a pair of huge white oxen. +It is fortunate these beautiful creatures are so gentle, for their +wide-spreading, sharply pointed horns make them formidable; indeed, +when the wine season began, during our stay in Perugia, we had +sometimes to take refuge in a shop while they passed, for the horns of +a pair of these splendid beasts stretched from one side of a narrow +street to the other. Inside a little wine-shop opposite the Fontana +Borghese we heard shouts of "Dieci," "otto," "sette," etc., from the +players at morra. + +One of the charms of Perugia is the genial courtesy of the people. My +companion on this excursion had stayed several times in the town, and +to-day when she appeared at the station all the officials were at her +service, full of little friendly attentions, especially one giant-like +porter called "Lungo." + +The railway takes its course to Foligno through the valley of the +Tiber, with mountain views on each side. Perugia stands grandly on the +top of her hills, while on one side rises like an advanced guard the +spire of San Pietro, and on a spur to the west Santa Giuliana; but the +city is not so picturesque from this point, because one sees the +modern buildings on the great Piazza Vittor Emanuele. On the left we +saw the outside of the famous Etruscan tomb of the Volumnii, and soon +after passed the pretty village of Ponte San Giovanni, getting a +glimpse of the Tiber. + +From the railway one has a good view of Assisi, clinging to the side +of Monte Subasio, and the station is close to the church of Santa +Maria degli Angeli; but we were bound for Foligno, and did not stop +here to-day. As the railway circles round it we noted the splendid +mass made by Subasio in this chain of mountains. + +We passed by Spello, perched on a spur of the great hill, but it was +disappointing to find that, after this, the valley broadened out into +a plain, so that Foligno stands tamely on level ground. It does not +seem to be much visited, though it is a quaint little town, and has, +we heard, a tolerable inn. + +On our arrival we were attacked by vociferous drivers and guides, so +we took one of the dirty little carriages and drove up an avenue past +the huge statue of Niccolo Alunno, a native of Foligno, to the Piazza. +We were hardly out of our vehicle when up rushed a wretched-looking +man, his bare chest showing red and hairy through the opening of his +dirty shirt, while a huge piece of green oilskin covered his +shoulders. "Ecco, Ecco, it is not possible the Signorine can find +their way," he shouted. "I only can show them Foligno." + +As he continued to persecute us, and our time was short, we submitted, +and followed his guidance. + +The outside of the cathedral fronting the Piazza is curious. Two +monsters, lions in red granite, guard the portal; one of these +creatures has an eagle in its mouth. Above the doorway is a curious +sort of arcade; the door-heading itself has been recently restored +with the emblems of the evangelists. There is nothing to see inside +this church. Opposite it is a quaint old building, and on the right is +the Tribunale del Commune. + +We had to wait some time here while the keys were fetched; we then +followed the custode up an old stone staircase to an ante-chapel to +see the frescoes of Ottaviano Nelli. We went on into the little +chapel; here the frescoes have been restored. They represent the life +of the Blessed Virgin, from her birth to her Assumption, and are full +of interest. + +Coming out, we followed our ragged, repulsive-looking guide down a +street close by, and saw the Palazzo Deli, a handsome building, +designed, it is said, by Baccio d'Agnolo. There are three other +churches; in one of them, San Niccolo, is a Nativity by Alunno; the +figure of San Joseph is very fine. One of the statues in front of the +choir, a female saint, has her feet bound with brass; the sacristan +told us that this had been done to preserve them from the devotion of +worshippers who had already kissed away the ends of the saint's toes. +The frescoes in Santa Maria infra Portas, a very old church, are +mostly ancient, but completely faded. Raphael's beautiful Madonna di +Foligno, now in the Vatican, was once in the church of Santa Anna in +this town. + +We greatly regretted that we could not drive on to Montefalco, a +picturesquely placed little town, with many good pictures by Umbrian +painters; there are several also said to be by Benozzo Gozzoli. + +We took another little carriage, standing in a side street, and had a +very pleasant drive back to Spello, between vineyards and olive +groves, eating our luncheon on the way. Spello looked very attractive +as we approached it, its white houses gleaming in the sunlight against +the green hill on the side of which it stands. + +We entered the town under a quaint and ancient gateway, the Porta +Veneris of Hispellum, for Spello is an old Roman town, and the ancient +walls and some of the gates have been preserved. This gate has three +figures outside it, a picturesque fountain stands near, and to-day +beside it sat a group of handsome peasants, eating and drinking in the +sunshine. + + [Illustration: PORTA VENERIS, SPELLO.] + +We thought the steep old street was full of pictures for a sketcher as +we drove up to the Piazza, on which is the Cathedral Santa Maria +Maggiore. Entering, we were at once struck with the remarkable early +fifteenth-century canopy, the work of an Umbrian sculptor, Rocca di +Vicenza; it is made of the stone of the country called Cacciolfo, and +has a polished surface. The four pillars are in pairs; in front of two +of them the artist has introduced portraits of himself and his wife; +beyond, right and left, are Madonnas by Perugino. The sacristan told +us that there is a still finer specimen of the sculptor Rocca di +Vicenza's work at Trevi. On the opposite side of the church is the +Capella del Sacramento, the work of Pinturicchio; three of the walls +and the ceiling here are covered with beautiful frescoes in delightful +harmony of colour. On one side is the Annunciation, with the name and +portrait of the painter, on the other walls are the Adoration and the +Disputa; this last is a very interesting picture, and is also signed. +On the ceiling are painted the sibyls, and the spaces between are +filled with rich, harmonious colour. + + [Illustration: PINTURICCHIO, SPELLO.] + +We could gladly have stayed much longer in this chapel, for the +frescoes seemed to us finer specimens of Pinturicchio's work than +anything we had seen at Perugia. In the sacristy is a beautiful +Madonna by this painter. The mortuary chapel has a quaint pair of +doors in perforated wood-work; near the west door we saw a curious +square bas-relief of ancient work, on two sides of it is carved an +olive-tree, and on another side a man on horseback. It looked like an +old burial urn. + +The way was so steep for driving, that from the cathedral we walked on +in search of the woman who had the keys of the church of San Andrea. +She, however, being busy, handed us over to a young fellow with a face +as lovely as Raffaelle's, and with those wonderful blue eyes, which +have in them the glow of an Italian sky, not to be seen in more +northern regions. + +But at San Andrea, while we were looking at the Pinturicchio behind +the high altar, a very courteous and intelligent priest came into the +church. Seeing us, he kindly removed the cross which obstructed our +view of the best part of the altar picture, the child San John the +Baptist, who sits writing on his scroll at the feet of the Blessed +Virgin. This figure is supposed to be Raffaelle's work. St. Francis +and St. Lawrence are on one side, St. Andrew and St. Gregory on the +other; the embroidery on St. Lawrence's vestments is wonderfully +painted, but as a whole this picture is not nearly so good as the +frescoes by the same master in the cathedral. + +The priest pointed out to us a graceful arcade surrounding the front +and ends of an altar. This was discovered some years ago, concealed +beneath a much larger altar which had been placed above the chest +containing the bones of San Andrea; he told as that when the bones +were sought for, in order to remove them, the arcade was brought to +light. The priest also showed us a fresco on the wall of the nave, and +graphically related how he himself, only a few months before, had +discovered it under the whitewash when the church was being cleaned +for a festa. Who knows how many treasures still lie concealed on the +church walls of these out-of-the-way towns; it must be owned, however, +that the newly found fresco at Spello is not artistically a treasure, +nor nearly as interesting as was the story of its discovery owing to +its graphic telling. + +From San Andrea our blue-eyed, gentle-spoken young guide led us to the +top of the town, crowned by the deserted Capuchin convent. "They have +sent all the brothers away," he said sadly; "there is but one left, +and he may not live in the convent, he may only come up in the +afternoon, and see the schoolboys play in the garden." There is a +pathetic look about the deserted, peaceful old place. From the +platform in front of it we enjoyed a splendid view; before us on one +side was the ever-present Subasio, towering over all, and on the top +of the hill behind stood Perugia, looking at this distance like some +giant castle. + +At our feet in the green valley was the amphitheatre of Spello; not so +perfect as that at Fiesole, but with clearly defined tiers of grassed +seats rising one above another. + +Porta Augusta is another interesting gateway. We came slowly down the +steep street, getting constant peeps, between tall, grey houses, of +the blue mountains around us. At one of these breaks in the wall a +group of peasants sat, some spinning, some idling, beneath a vine that +stretched on a trellis from house to house, the light filtering +through the leaves became a golden green before it fell on the merry +souls in the by-street below. The men of Spello look fine, robust +fellows, and the women are very tall and erect. + +One handsome grey-haired dame met us as we came down the ladder-like +street; she was spinning from a distaff in her hand. "Dio," she held +it out to my companion, "che brutta lavoro!" + +"Would that I could do it," was the prompt answer, and the old dame +went off chuckling with delight. + + [Illustration: PORTA AUGUSTA, SPELLO.] + +The little town is like an eyrie high up in the air, the houses +nestling here and there for shelter behind the grey walls. + +We saw so many bits by the way in Spello, that it seemed as if one +might spend some pleasant days in such an exquisitely placed spot; but +we could not spy out any possible lodging; and, after all, it is an +easy distance by rail or carriage from Assisi or Foligno. + +Coming home by train to Perugia, we travelled with a pleasant-looking +Italian lady and her sad-faced husband. She also seemed sad, and +constantly put her handkerchief to her eyes; we fancied she was +affected by some deep sorrow, and felt sympathy for her. The train +presently stopped at a station; her distress increased, she clasped +her hands, and entreated her husband to get out of the carriage and +see after the poor little "angiolo." + +He gently refused, and at this she sobbed, and almost howled with +anguish; then, burying her face in her handkerchief, she leaned back +and refused to be comforted. + +At the next station we heard the sharp yelping of a little dog, and +then she cried out so loudly for the "povera bestia" that we began to +understand. Seeing we were interested, she sat up, pocketed her +handkerchief, and explained. "The officials have taken my dog from me, +and have shut it up. Dio! the sweet angel would not hurt a soul," she +said, with a fresh flow of tears; "its cries break my heart. It is a +cruelty beyond belief." + +At this her husband left the carriage, looking much ashamed of +himself. When he came back he tried to pacify his still weeping wife. + +"The dog is all right, cara mia," he said. + +"Cara mia," however, would not listen, and she actually sobbed and +cried all the way to Perugia, where we left her on the platform with +her pocket-handkerchief rolled into a ball, and pressed close to her +eyes. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +THE HEAVENLY CHOIR OF PERUGIA + + + [Illustration: POTS AT WINDOW.] + +We had greatly desired to see the façade of the Oratory built in +honour of San Bernardino of Siena, and we went in search of it. Going +past the cloisters of the cathedral, we traversed the street beyond +them: on one side is a fragment of an old palace, on the other a +quaint series of ancient arches, one within the other, full of +striking effects of light and shade. + +A street descends steeply from this portal. We noted here, and in many +of the old house-fronts, carved brackets, for holding flower-pots, +built out from the walls, their grey stone making a pleasant contrast +to the brilliant red and orange of the flowers blossoming in pots +placed within these hoary receptacles. We sometimes saw metal rings +instead of stone brackets fastened into the wall, so as to hold a +flower-pot. + +A wealthy Englishman, staying in our hotel, became so enamoured of the +quaint effect created by these stone brackets, that he told us he was +resolved to transport some of them to the front wall of his +newly-built London dwelling. He went to the owner of a house +possessing several of the brackets, and offered him a round sum for a +couple of them. The owner professed himself delighted with the offer; +he would most willingly gratify the English Signor's fancy. + + [Illustration: VIA SANT' AGATA.] + +"The Signore Inglese must, however, understand," he said, with a +twinkle in his heavy-lidded dark eyes, "that these articles are not +individual,--they are the same as the nose on the face, fixtures. To +possess the brackets, the Signore Inglese must purchase the entire +front of the Palazzo, it is built all in one piece." This was too much +for even an English collector; he was obliged to quit Perugia without +acquiring even one of the much-desired brackets. + +As we went along, we saw, outside the door of an old grey house, a +pretty, ragged, fair-haired child, jumping and dancing on her little +bare feet, chattering, as it seemed, to the doorpost. She was trying +to reach the knocker, and was talking merrily to the flies on the +wall, by way of amusement while she waited. + +Near the Church of S. Agata we inquired for the house of Perugino, but +this Via de' Priori so winds and twists that we were told we were too +far north, so we turned at a sharp angle, and after a little came to a +silent open space in front of a church, the Chiesa Nuova. + +Down an arched passage close by, and up a side street on the right, we +reached Via Deliziosa; in this Perugino's house is marked by a tablet. +There is nothing special in the appearance of the dwelling; the hilly +street in which it stands is grass-grown, and weirdly silent. + +We went back again to seek for San Bernardino, and descended into a +very old quarter of the city, the projecting claw which on this side +overlooks the deep valley below Porta Susanna, and forms one point of +the Cupa. We had to pass by the last remaining fortress of the nobles, +the tall brick Torre degli Scalzi; behind this are remains of the +Etruscan wall. + +Close by we saw another church, Madonna di Luce, a good example of +Renaissance work, gay with a scarlet and gold curtain, in readiness +for to-morrow's festa; then, by a quaint little street with flights of +brick steps leading down into most picturesque side-turnings, we came +in sight of a small house, its grey stone balcony screened from the +sunshine by a vine-wreathed pergola. + + [Illustration: MADONNA DI LUCE.] + +In a few minutes we reached the convent of San Francesco, beside which +is the matchless façade of the chapel or oratory of San Bernardino +of Siena. + + [Illustration: FAÇADE OF SAN BERNARDINO.] + +The detail of this façade is even more beautiful than we had expected; +the colour of its rosy marbles and terra-cotta adds warmth to the +exquisite sculptures. These seemed to us finer, both in design and +execution, than any Della Robbia work we had seen. We were glad to +find this opinion endorsed by Mr. Perkins in his Tuscan Sculptors. The +façade is the work of Agostino Ducci or Gucci, of Florence. + + [Illustration: ANGEL, SAN BERNARDINO.] + +A circular arch, almost as wide as the façade, surmounts two +square-headed entrance doors; these are surrounded by delicately +carved ornament in low relief. Above the door is a frieze, on which +are represented events in the life of San Bernardino; over it, in the +centre of the tympanum, which is deeply recessed within the arch, is a +Vesica, formed by tongues of flame containing a figure of the saint, +said to be the best existing likeness of him. Four flying angels +placed diagonally on either side of the Vesica seem to float as they +offer their musical sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving. Six of them +are playing various instruments; the expression in each countenance +is varied. Some of the faces are very lovely, especially the two +praying with uplifted heads; the others seem to be chanting hymns of +praise to the music of their respective instruments. The disposition +of the angels' robes is perfect; its studied grace reminded us of Lord +Leighton's drapery, the whole effect being as artistic as it is +original. + + [Illustration: HEADS OF CHERUBIM, SAN BERNARDINO.] + + [Illustration: ANGELS, SAN BERNARDINO.] + +Filling up the rest of the tympanum, so as to make a background to the +angels, there are the quaintest heads of cherubs cradled in lovely +wings, carved in full relief. Some of these heads are missing, but +those which remain are exquisite studies of baby faces, each with its +own special expression, some roguish, others sweet and loving; one of +them seems to suppress a sob. There is infinite variety among them; +and all are so very human that they are doubtless transcripts from +fifteenth-century Perugian babies. + +Winged creatures are carved in the spandrels of the arch; and slightly +below on either side is an angel within an arched niche, over which is +a pediment, the mouldings and soffits showing delicately sculptured +ornament; they are repeated below, and there are still other angels of +the Heavenly Choir, playing musical instruments; these are on the +broad pilasters that support the arch; some are in pairs, with very +beautiful faces. The arrangement of their draperies is especially +remarkable. + + [Illustration: ANGEL PLAYING, SAN BERNARDINO.] + +In all these figures and faces, besides the beauty of expression, +there is a marvellous mingling of quaintness and grace; they are so +life-like that one almost listens for the sound of their instruments, +in meet accompaniment to their chants, or to the hymns of the +cherubs, who above and beside them are singing a chorus of praise. The +Oratory is surmounted by a pediment, and in its tympanum we again find +angels and cherubs. On the fringe of the pediment are the carved +words-- + + AUGUSTA PERUSIA MCCCCLXI. + +The illustrations help the reader's appreciation of this gem of +Perugia; mere words can only sketch, without giving an adequate idea +of its beauty. + +The authorities of the city were eager to show their appreciation of +the wonderful reformation effected in its morals by the preaching of +San Bernardino; only a few years after his death, the building of this +beautiful memorial was begun, and seems to have been completed about +1462. + +Bernardino's father was governor of Massa; in the year 1380, when +Saint Catherine died in Siena, the future preacher was born in the +little town. Early left an orphan, he was tenderly reared by three +aunts, all excellent women. He, unlike his great prototype, seems not +to have shared the fashionable vices of other youths of the period; he +was from an early age bent on following, so far as he could, the +example left him two hundred years earlier by Saint Francis of Assisi. + +He spent some time in that convent of Fiesole which educated Fra +Angelico and others, ardent to revive in their generation the work of +St. Francis, which had suffered eclipse. Various reasons have been +given for this, chief among them being the pagan tendency of the +Renaissance teaching, and also the frequent visitations of plague, +which seem almost to have emptied the convents, sweeping off the monks +and nuns who gave up their lives to tend the sick in hospitals. In +most of the Italian states and cities the descendants of devout +Christians had become fierce and brutal, as unrestrained in appetite +as they were murderous and lawless in deeds. Some of these have +already been narrated. Princes and nobles strove to surpass the +citizens in evil-doing by the hideous tragedies they enacted. This had +been especially the case for many years in Perugia, whose inhabitants +had come to be designated by the epithet "ferocious": they were so +given up to every sort of crime. + +Bernardino was deeply stirred by the evil report that reached him from +all parts of the country; he had already been received into the Minor +Conventual Order of San Francis, and had signalised his courage by +nursing and ministering to the plague-stricken inmates of the hospital +in Siena. This had injured his health, but he gladly obeyed the +commission given by his superior, to journey through a certain part of +Italy, preaching as he went. + +Already the evangelising movement was in the air: in France, a +Spaniard, San Vincent Ferrier, had reaped a bountiful harvest of +souls. Bernardino determined by God's help to evangelise his country, +and to rescue souls from evil by the winning power of love. He decided +to begin his crusade in Umbria, in the powerful city of Perugia, so +notorious for the crimes of its bloodstained nobles and the frivolity +and vanity of their women. + +Bernardino lodged in a convent outside the city gate, and went every +morning to preach in the Piazza Pubblico. Crowds had flocked to hear +his first sermon, but he had a consciousness that this was mere +excitement, and that the souls of his listeners were yet to be won. +One day he told his congregation that he proposed before long to show +them the Evil One. This announcement sent the multitude crazy with +excitement; the throngs of his listeners were doubled. But for some +days after Bernardino preached only in an ordinary fashion. + +Still the people believed he would keep faith with them, and each day +brought a larger crowd of expectant listeners. At last, one morning, +Bernardino said, "I am now going to fulfil my promise; I will show you +not one devil only, for there are several here." Then, raising his +voice, "Look at one another, you will each see Satan in your +neighbour's face; every one of you does that Evil One's bidding." He +then pointed out seriously, and with much pathos, the sins that +reigned among them, and implored his hearers to renounce their evil +practices. The effect of his words was wonder-striking. Families who +had lived in hatred of their fellow-citizens for more than a +generation, hurried forward, and, clasping the hands of their +once-detested foes, begged forgiveness for wrongs committed; in more +than one instance, with halters round their necks, they besought +pardon for the evil they had wrought. Bernardino saw that the devotion +of the city was roused, and, turning to the women, he commanded them +to cause two huge fires to be lighted on the Piazza. + +"Set a pattern to your men," he exclaimed; "prove the reality of your +penitence; cast into the flames the gauds by which Satan tempts you to +ensnare mankind to their ruin; bring hither your cosmetics, your +perfumes, your false tresses, and the garlands with which you deck +them, your sumptuous robes, all the vanities you possess, and cast +them into the flames." + +Sobbing and weeping, the women rushed off to obey him; they soon +returned laden with the vanities denounced by the preacher, and, like +the Florentines many years later, they cast their prized adornments +into the huge fires. + +An old chronicler relates that one noble dame cherished a long false +tress of singular beauty, which had always commanded admiration; she +felt that this would prove a worthy offering. Taking it from its +casket, she was about to hurry with it to the Piazza; she again +looked at it. + +No, she could not make the sacrifice, the tress was too lustrous, too +lovely; more than all, it became her so rarely. Her heart failed her. +She put it back in the casket, with a smile of contempt at her own +superstition; she was closing the lid, when suddenly the beauteous +tress sprang up and struck her violently on the cheekbone. She cried +out with pain and terror; then, forcing the temptation into the casket +and closing the lid, she fled back to the Piazza, and flung the +treasured lock into the flames. + +For a while after this famous preaching, peace and devotion returned +to the hill-city; then came sad outbreaks and dissensions, and +Bernardino, hearing the disturbing news, returned to Perugia. He +exhorted his former penitents to seek after the grace and the love +which had once been granted them, and at the close of the year 1425 he +once more left them in peace one with another; while he went to +preach elsewhere in Umbria, and finally to Gubbio, to Viterbo, and to +Orvieto. + +Two years later, when preaching in Siena, he held up the conversion of +the people of Perugia as an example to be followed by the Sienese. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +SAN PIETRO DE' CASINENSI + + +The most remarkable church in Perugia is the church, at the end of the +southern point of the city, attached to the convent of San Pietro; +below it is the gate named after San Costanzo, said to have been the +first Bishop of Perugia. On the opposite side of the way from the +convent wall is a pleasant public resort, shaded by trees, called +Passeggiata Pubblica. From this point, looking down the steep road, +one gets a delightful view of the near valley and distant Apennines, +framed in by the arch of Porta Costanzo. This view goes by the name of +La Veduta. La Veduta and a lovely country walk beyond the gate are +associated with the memory of that accomplished artist and delightful +companion, Lord Leighton. He dearly loved the old hill-city; in its +delightful quiet he used to write his lecture for the Royal Academy +students. One of his favourite walks was to go out by the Porta +Costanzo, and along the lovely lanes beyond it, grown over with +honeysuckle, wild gourd, and an abundance of wild myrtle. + +The ancient church of San Pietro, with its very picturesque exterior +and campanile, serves as a conspicuous landmark in the country over +which it gazes. It is said to be the oldest church in Perugia, and to +be built on the site of an Etruscan temple; it was certainly in old +days the first cathedral. Built by Pietro, a saintly abbot of the +monastery in the tenth century, it seems to have remained for a long +period almost untouched; in the fourteenth century the campanile was +considered one of the wonders of Italy. A century later it was +restored and decorated with rich Renaissance work, some of which is +very fascinating and interesting. Then came a warlike abbot, resolved +to convert the very salient tower of San Pietro into a fortress to +overawe the surrounding country; and also to use it as a means of +defence against the ever-turbulent people of Perugia, and the despots +who were always quarrelling among themselves in order to attain +supreme power in the city. + + [Illustration: LA VEDUTA, PERUGIA.] + +The campanile was still further injured by Pope Boniface the Ninth, +who also wished to construct an ordinary fortress on the site of the +beautiful tower. Finally, the monks rebuilt it at a great cost. It was +then struck by lightning, and severely damaged. For a long period of +time the injuries caused by lightning were so frequent that it was +feared the entire building would suffer ruin; then at last the idea of +a lightning conductor suggested itself. This saved the campanile, and +it has since remained in its present condition. + +We went up the steps in the convent wall, and entered the old church +of San Pietro from the courtyard, by a doorway with a deeply carved +heading in marble. The interior is at once rich and fascinating, and +every subsequent visit we made to it revealed many treasures. + +Some of the Perugino pictures in the sacristy are worth examination, +but the large altar-piece he painted for this church was carried away +to Paris by Napoleon Bonaparte. The choir books can be seen here, +illuminated by the monks of San Miniato, near Florence. There are +several pictures in the church; in one of the aisles is a painting by +the early Umbrian master, Benedetto Bonfigli. The ancient, dark grey +columns on either side of the nave are much older than the church, +having been brought here from the curious old church at Porta San +Angelo, near the most northern gate of Perugia. We had already seen +sixteen of these columns in the ancient round church; they are +supposed to date from a very early period. The altar tomb of the +Baglioni, by Fieado, is in San Pietro; but the most remarkable feature +of this church is its choir. The stalls and their seats are full of +exquisitely carved wood-work, and the doors at the east end are +marvellous specimens of intarsia work. The sacristan shows them with +great pride, and then opens the doors which lead on to the balcony +behind. + +Below us we see a very lovely picture: the fertile valley and its +surroundings of richly-tinted hills, while in front is Assisi, +clinging to the side of rugged Monte Subasio. It is said that three +citizens of Perugia escaped by means of this balcony from the Pope's +Swiss guards, when, less than fifty years ago, the Swiss forcibly took +possession of the convent. The delicate work of the eastern doors was +executed by Fra Damiano of Bergamo; it is singularly beautiful; +perhaps the finding of Moses in the bulrushes is one of the most +curious subjects depicted. + +The choir seats and stalls were done by Damiano's brother, Stefano da +Bergamo. They are worth a very careful examination, for, besides the +intarsia on the backs and seats, and the fine carving of the +poppy-heads, notable both for subject and execution, there are, +between each stall, wonderful and beautifully-modelled creatures. Now +we see a beast like a crocodile, and next it a harpy; then an +elephant, a dolphin, a sphinx, and so on; an infinite variety, almost +every creature is different, and the carving of each is most artistic. + +We saw many treasures in the church, before we went out into the +cypress-bordered garden of the convent, and again enjoyed the lovely +view from the top of its high wall,--the view which wearied Popes and +other great and jaded personages have taken pleasure in gazing at when +they came to Perugia for refreshment. + +An intelligent-looking priest showed us the garden. He said it was +kept in order by the boys belonging to the convent. This formerly +sheltered a reformatory for lads sentenced to prison for their first +offence. It is now, I believe, used as an Agricultural College. We had +previously noticed the reformatory boys at work on the olive fields +outside the town gates, and had admired the picturesque effect of +their blue uniforms and straw hats against the silver grey of the +leafy background. + +They had then come trooping into the cloisters, and on close +inspection they did not look so interesting as we had thought them; +some of them, however, had simple, honest faces, and as they passed +into the cloister they smiled and raised their hats to the Fra. Most +of the bigger fellows had an ugly scowl, and went in with bent heads, +without any greeting. + +The Fra told us the lads behaved fairly well; his trouble was to find +suitable employment for them when they were discharged from the +reformatory. He said he greatly approved of English laws, especially +in regard to the working class. "The English are so good to +foreigners," he said. + +He asked us what would be the cost in London of a working-man's board +and lodging. We told him that we had in England already too many boys +of this sort, for whom it was difficult to find employment; we, +however, gave him an average of the expenses he inquired about. This +seemed to alarm the good Padre; with lifted hands he said, "Such a +plan would prove far too costly, it would teach the lads expensive +habits of living." But he thanked us courteously for our information. +When we left the convent garden we stood again enjoying the view over +the lovely valley, under a glorious sunset which glowed on the distant +hills. It seemed to us that splendid sunsets were another and special +charm of Perugia. + +We had meant this evening to visit the Etruscan sepulchres of the +Volumnii, discovered only about sixty years ago, and within a walk of +the San Costanzo gate; but San Pietro, even in this short visit, had +proved such an interesting study, that we saw we must defer our walk +to the ancient tomb. + +We were, however, told that, without much adding to the length of our +walk, we should considerably increase its charm, if, instead of +passing out by the Porta Costanzo, we turned aside by the Porta San +Pietro, or Romana, as it is called, and quitted the city by the little +gate at the bottom of the descent. This is indeed a delightful walk +under the old grey walls, and from it one has a perfect view over the +lovely country and the purple hills. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +THE TOMBS OF THE VOLUMNII + + + [Illustration: GIRL'S HEAD.] + +A few days later, as we went along a lane, with grassy flower-pied +banks, and with purple hills as background to the sunlit glory which +surrounded us, we recognised the delightful landscape so frequently +used by Perugino. The way was rather long, but there was more in it to +interest than to tire us. We at last arrived at the dark descent +beside the road, which forms the entrance to the sepulchre of the +Volumnii. Many years ago there was supposed to be a necropolis +existing in this hill, and on excavation several small cells were +discovered. In more recent years an ox was seen suddenly to stumble +on the hill above, and to be unable to rise. Going to help it, beneath +the hole into which the creature had thrust its foot a subterranean +arch was revealed, and subsequent excavation brought to light the +wonderful, long-closed tombs of the Etruscan Volumnii. + +We went down some rugged steps to the mouth of the gloomy cavern, and +found ourselves in a dark passage-way, with stone benches on either +side. The weird, mysterious atmosphere of the Etruscan vault is +indescribable. Several chambers or cells, in this underground house of +the departed, branch out on either side of the dark vaulted passage, +but we saw them in such semi-darkness, that by the light of a single +torch it was very difficult to make out details. As we went along the +dark vault, our guide raised his torch on high. In a moment we seemed +to be in an enchanted cavern, where the silent inhabitants were +guarded by strange forms; gorgon heads, owls, and serpents stared at +us from roof and walls. We could fancy that, as we passed by, the +snake heads seemed to dart from the walls, to bristle and hiss; and +the grand Medusa-faces overhead looked down on us full of dire +warning, when at the end of the passage we entered the tomb of the +Etruscan family. Here are the Volumnii sitting in a group, realistic +terra-cotta figures guarding their urns, just as they have been +guarding them for perhaps two thousand years. + +Aruns Volumni, the father, reclines on his sarcophagus, which is +guarded by two furies; on his left his daughter sits on her urn, and +on his right is his son. Their faces look dull and uninteresting, but +they seem aware of their own importance. The fourth figure of the +group, seated next the son of Aruns, is Veilia, his fair young wife. +She has an exquisite face, and one is not surprised to learn that she +died young; she must have felt isolated among such unsympathetic +family surroundings. Her face and those of the majestic solemn-eyed +Medusas are the most interesting treasures of the tomb. All the faces +and figures of the Volumnii are intensely life-like; Aruns himself has +a purse-proud expression. + +Coming out into welcome fresh air and daylight, we saw that the +entrance to the tomb was fringed by a profusion of maidenhair fern, +growing between the blocks of travertine. A weird-faced child, with +dark eyes shining through a tangle of dusky hair, showed a brilliant +gleam of white teeth as she offered us tufts of this fern ruthlessly +torn out by its roots. She seemed the uncanny guardian of the place. + + * * * * * + +Another walk with an outlook less splendid than that of the Veduta and +others, yet with a special charm of its own, was a great favourite +with us. To reach it one has to go past the interesting old church of +San Ercolano, instead of turning up beside it, till some iron gates +are arrived at; outside these, the way was blocked on the right, so we +turned leftwards, and followed the course of the picturesque old wall; +ancient houses rise above it, and the wall itself is crowned with +flowers in pots and stone vases. Here and there we saw vine-wreathed +loggias; then, at the far end of a sudden turn, there came into view +Monte Luce, with its old church and convent, and grand blue hills +rising beyond. I believe the church is really called Santa Maria +Assunta; it is the bourne of a yearly pilgrimage at the time of the +great cattle fair, which takes place on the green down across the +road. + +We passed through the open convent gate into a quaint and peaceful +scene, a small grassed quadrangle closed in by a wall and the +sacristan's house; facing us was the west front of the church, with a +large window under its low gable. The church wall itself is checkered +with squares of red and white stone. The two green doors, under a +double arch, were almost as vivid in colour as the lizards basking +between the stones. On the right was a low and singularly massive +campanile; its huge blue and white clock-face giving a peculiar +quaintness to the place. There is a projecting side chapel below, with +slit-like windows; beyond this is a cloister walk, its low tiled roof +supported by solid white-washed piers. This cloister goes on to the +angle where the convent buildings adjoin the church, and extends from +this angle along the southern and eastern sides of the little green +square to the entrance gates; on one side is an upper storey, reached +by a flight of bricked steps. + +A woman, sad and quiet-looking, but with a sweet expression on her +olive-hued face, showed us the church, and the little choir of the +Sisters behind the high altar. She told us how the nuns from the +suppressed and desecrated convent of Santa Giuliana "had been driven +to take refuge in this blessed house of Santa Maria Assunta." She +added with a deep sigh, "Who knows what will happen next?" + +It seemed sad that such a peaceful home as this should be threatened. + +A few steps beyond this church brought us to a low wall; here we sat +and enjoyed the distant view framed in by tall trees. It differs from +any other point in Perugia, in having a more varied foreground. This +is broken up by green hills, with bright-looking country houses +nestling among gardens and orchards, and surrounded by dark trees; +behind are the ever-beautiful Apennines; between, in mid distance, is +that mingling of colour created by the luxuriant vegetation of this +fertile valley. It was varied on this evening by cloud-shadows cast on +its mellowed sunny glow. + +While we sit enjoying all this beauty, the Angelus sounds in sweet +harmony with the scene; three, four, five, then one long drawn-out +solemn note. + +From the frequent campaniles the bells call one to another, and give +deep-toned musical response across the green hollows that vandyke +themselves up the walled hillside into the town; the brilliant sunset +showing in bold relief the salient balconies of a Palazzo not far +away. + +We came back into the city by another gate, and lost our way. Finally, +however, we turned up a very steep street, and then down flights of +steps by the church of San Fiorenzo. There is here a curious old wall +with a garden above it; a workman told us it was the curate's garden. + +In the lingering gleams of sunlight, oleander blossoms overhead were +glowing masses of colour against the grey stone wall. + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +THE VIA APPIA + + +The Oratory of San Bernardino is near to gardens, orchards, and drying +grounds. Beyond the convent of San Francesco the ancient wall goes +northward, and then turns east towards the Porta Augusta, but this +afternoon we went southwards. + +A short walk down a steep narrow street beneath an archway led us out +of the low-browed passage of the Etruscan Porta Susanna on to the wall +itself. This rises up directly from La Cupa, as the indentation which +the valley here makes is called. The wall follows the curves of the +hills, always keeping close to the edge of the descent, and, as I have +already said, where an angle is sharply turned a bold round tower +stands out sentinel-wise against the blue sky. + + [Illustration: PORTA SUSANNA] + +Below the wall the fertile dell was literally covered with vines, +olives, fig and mulberry trees; plots of blue-green cabbage and +shining lettuce covered bare spaces of brown earth. In winter a +torrent flows through the Cupa. + +To-day the long range of hill on the left looked red-brown, variegated +with green and grey; behind its shoulder a more distant mountain +showed opal; tall regular houses of the ancient city rose one behind +another on the right, and the last brick tower, that of the Scalzi, +rose above them all. + +The wall makes here an inward angle before it goes out far away +westward to another point of the star-shaped hill, and here the view +becomes more beautiful. The outlines of the mountains cross, and +reveal through the openings yet another ridge behind, and this farther +ridge looks a delicate opal, while the sunbeams become less powerful. +On the right the hills stretched in two purple undulating lines, +between them a rosy vapour moved slowly, deepening in tint as it rose +towards the orange-coloured clouds. Masses of grey now sent up +warnings from below, and partly obscured the rosy vapour; southward +the grey took a lurid tinge, and across it floated pale phantom-like +cloudlets. The far-off hill, as we looked southward, had become a +purple-blue, while the town in the space between climbed upwards in +terraces, the houses bowered in vines and garden blossoms. + +This is not so extended a prospect as some others that are to be had +from the walls of Perugia, but I am inclined to consider it one of the +most interesting, from the double view it offers of the town and of +the quaint formation of the steep-sided, triangular valley, with its +mysterious depth of vegetation below. + +We kept along the wall for some distance, then our road led us away +from it between old stone garden walls, supports for vines and figs, +and brilliant orange begonia blossoms which peep above them. Quaint +side-streets looked tempting on our left. Going up one of these, we +found a portion of Etruscan wall with an opening in it of the same +period of stone-work. + +The street beyond mounted steeply to where a brick arch spanned it: on +one side a flight of broken steps led up to a tall house above the +wall; a loggia, corbelled out from between the house and the grey +pointed arch, was filled with charming foliage and flowers; an iron +crane projected from the balcony over a brick water-tank beside the +broken steps. The variety of form and colour was most vivid against +the shadow within the arch; its two projecting imposts were massive +slabs of travertine, and beside one of these, gleaming out of the +shadow, was a little shrine with a nosegay of freshly-gathered +flowers. + +In and out of narrow streets, up and down quaint steps, we reached at +last the Ivory Gate, the Etruscan Porta Eburnea,--that very +quaintly-placed old gate, from which a steep road goes down into the +country. + +We had here an extended view of the wall, curving grandly forward to a +projecting point, and completely obscuring all view of La Cupa; the +point itself crowned by a most picturesque round tower, standing out +vividly from its background of purple hills. + + [Illustration: PORTA EBURNEA] + +The road from Porta Eburnea looked attractive. On this special day it +was thronged with peasants going home from market. Some of the women +stopped outside the gate; taking off their boots, they slung them over +their shoulders, or put them in their baskets; then, with brown bare +feet and legs, they went down the steep dusty road with rapid, +swinging steps. Most of these bare-footed women wore handsome coral +necklaces; and yet shopkeepers asked from eighty to three hundred +francs for a string of these beads. Just outside the gate a man and +several boys were playing some game with walnuts. + + [Illustration: OUTSIDE PERUGIA.] + +Coming home one evening from the twisting way behind the cathedral, we +reached a lofty arched opening with "Via Appia" printed on one side. +The arch itself has a house above it; a second arch within, with grey +projecting imposts, shows a broad steep descent,--a long flight of +shallow brick steps, so undecided as to the course they shall take +that they curve first one way and then another, before they reach the +bottom of the descent. + +Some way down, a viaduct supported by three broad arches comes out +beside the stone-edged brick steps, while transversely right and left +are stone walls; that on the right is high and massive, and from its +grey-green stones were hanging long garlands of white-blossomed caper +plant. + +Beyond, just before the wall joins some old stone houses, we saw a +little pergola covered with the tender green of the vine. From the +deep hollow into which the steps descend the town rises up in front, +and as we go down, the old houses on our left, with gardens and +orchards, stand at a great height above us, looking black against the +glowing sky. + + [Illustration: VIA APPIA AND TOWN.] + +From this viaduct is an extended view over many curious roofs covered +with semicircular tiles, frosted with gold and silver lichens and +patches of green moss. First comes a series of gardens, green with +vines and fig-trees; beyond these, among the grey houses and trees, +appears the great modern building of the University. Beyond it is the +silk factory of Count Faina; behind all are the purple hills. + +Instead of crossing the viaduct we went down to the bottom of the +seemingly interminable brick staircase, catching sight through the +viaduct arches on the left of a succession of pictures: cottages +backed by trees with children in front at play, all in a vivid effect +of light and shade, framed in by the low, broad arches. + +This brought us finally on to a road leading back into the town, +spanned on the left by another broad arch of the viaduct. Through this +a group of feathered acacias glowed golden-green in the sunshine +against picturesque houses backed by the hills. + +The pointed arch on the right looks quaint, from the contrast of its +huge grey stones and small many-shaped windows, mostly open; some of +them gay with scarlet flowers; one window had a faded green curtain, +drawn half across; a bird-cage hung outside it. Behind the curtain the +olive-hued face of a woman peeped out. + +Through the arch was a strong effect of golden light and blue-purple +shadow; while we looked behind, there came a donkey, driven by a +merry-eyed, bare-footed lad, dragging a cart heaped with brushwood. A +little way on along the road is the mosaic pavement discovered several +years ago in some Roman baths. The pavement is in singularly good +preservation, and the design is very remarkable. Orpheus, a colossal +black figure on a white ground, sits with outstretched arm, while a +lion, a tiger, an elephant, a hippopotamus, stags, a rhinoceros, a +horse, birds of various kinds, a snail, a monkey, a tortoise, and +other creatures are drawn towards him from all sides. + + [Illustration: ARCO DELLA CONCA, PERUGIA.] + +A handsome dark-eyed girl kept on sweeping dust from the mosaic, and +was eager to point out that the brick-work on one side has not been +examined, and probably hides a good deal more of the pavement, as yet +unexcavated. The girl was so bright and good to look at, that she +seemed quite a part of the show. Turning through the arch, we very +soon reached Piazza Grimani, which has on one side the Palazzo +Antinori. Close by is the wonder of Perugia--the Etruscan gateway, or, +as it is called from the inscription set over it by the Romans when +they took the city, the Porta Augusta. It was growing dusk, and the +effect of this grand mass of stone-work was stupendous. On each side +of the arched gateway are massive towers,--the upper part of the +structure is less ancient than the towers are; one of them is +surmounted by a loggia. Some of the blocks of stone in the Etruscan +part of the wall are enormous, many of them four feet long, and +within the gloom of the arch is the wall, built on the same gigantic +scale. + +As we went home through the narrow, dark Via Vecchia, we saw a very +quaint scene. In a long, dark room, dimly lighted by two oil-lamps +hanging from the ceiling, a man and woman were selling soup and cold +meat at a sort of counter. The brown characteristic faces and shining +eyes of their ragged customers told out wonderfully as occasional +gleams from the lamps above singled them from the semi-darkness. In +this street we saw many examples of the walled-up doors by which the +dead had been formerly carried out, closed up, so that the living +might never pass by the same way. + + [Illustration: PORTA AUGUSTA, PERUGIA.] + +Our next view of Porta Augusta was by daylight. We had been told by +some one staying in Perugia where to seek a special point of view from +the old walls near this arch. The Porta Augusta is even finer in full +light, which reveals the immense strength of its construction. When +one considers that these great blocks of stone must have been brought +from a long distance, it is sad to think of the poor slaves whose +labour brought them and set them in their places for their Etruscan +masters. Near here must have been the house of that chief citizen who, +seeing the Romans, headed by Octavius Cæsar, masters of his native +city, and that there was no longer a hope of freedom from the detested +yoke, set fire to his dwelling, and burned himself and his whole +family therein, heedless that the blaze spreading in all directions +destroyed the chief part of Etruscan Perugia. + +Instead of following the Via Lungari, or Garibaldi, on this occasion, +our instructions sent us down a narrow street in a parallel direction, +until we were stopped by the inward curve of the city wall. Just +before we reached this, our way was blocked by two wine carts laden +with barrels of new-made wine, and drawn by a pair of huge +cream-coloured oxen, with soft dark eyes and long horns reaching from +one side of the street to the other. I delight in these splendid +creatures; they look so gentle, and though so huge they seem +unconscious of their power. They moved on at last, and permitted us to +reach our bourne. + +The Porta Buligaia was certainly the most beautiful point we had yet +seen, and we felt very grateful to the great artist who, knowing every +street of Perugia, had so kindly told us how to take this walk; for +the little narrow street opposite the Porta Augusta had hitherto +escaped our notice, although we had spent so many weeks in Perugia. + + [Illustration: PORTA BULIGAIA.] + +Just before the old wall reaches the Porta it curves into a trefoil, +and goes down steeply to the fertile valley. Through the open, green +doors of the gate the road winds beside the grand wall, which, covered +with greenery, strikes forward to the north, tall grass atop waving +like pennons among the trees above it. + +The inner wall sends out a long flank to reach the gate, and above, +level with its top, is a vine-covered pergola with quaint gabled +houses behind it; these command a grand view over the hills which +circle round in shades of exquisite blue, fading at last to opal. +Plots of maize glow through a grey mist of olives; the vines, swinging +from tree to tree, are golden-green. As the road goes down beside the +wall beyond the gate, it passes a white-walled cottage nestled in +trees. The view tempted us along this road, and soon a path, bordered +by a black handrail, mounted on the left beside a caper-wreathed wall +of stones: following it, we crossed a sort of farmyard, where an +enormous gourd vine lay atop a brick wall; huge pumpkins were sunning +themselves among enormous leaves. + +Beyond this, towards Perugia, the land was richly cultivated; maize +and vegetables, fruit-trees and vines, covered every scrap of ground. +Here and there a tangled bit of hedge served to prop the luxuriant +vines; there was no primness anywhere, and yet the ground seemed well +cultivated. + +Going on, the way curved, and the view became still more extended; at +last we found ourselves in the road again, and went on till we reached +the extreme northern point of Perugia--Porta San Angelo. + + [Illustration: PORTA SAN ANGELO.] + +Some little way outside is the convent of San Francesco, and just +within the gate, from which, up a side path, there is another +delightful view, we came to the round church of San Angelo, or San +Michele. This is very ancient, and is said to have been formerly a +pagan temple dedicated to Vesta. The lower part is round, the upper +eight-sided, but the interior is circular. The upper portion is +supported by a circle of sixteen dark-grey columns; anciently there +were three circles of these columns. All but one of the two outer +circles have been taken away to other parts of Perugia: we had already +seen some in San Pietro, and there are two in one of the palaces on +the market-place; one still remains in the second circle at San +Angelo. This interior is very interesting. In it is a well-preserved +sacrificial altar, and the woman who guided us explained with much +unction how the victims were formerly sacrificed. She also showed us +some horrible instruments of torture, and another altar, said to be +Roman. There is a curious bas-relief on the wall near the sacristy. We +had already seen this church on a festa, when, the altar blazing with +candles, the gaily-dressed people kneeling in front of it and between +the surrounding circle of pillars, had a very picturesque +effect,--marred, it is true, by the presence of sundry dogs among the +worshippers, and the extremely cracked and untuneful sounds proceeding +from the music gallery. Our brown-faced, withered guide was full of +talk; when we got into the sacristy, she confided to me she had been +foolish enough to marry late in life; then, her man had managed so +badly that he died and left her to take care of herself. "Ah, yes," +she said, "and there is more than myself, there is a boy, and he is +nine years old; he eats well,--the Signora knows how a boy eats at +nine? Dio! he is voracious; then he must be taught, and school costs +money, much money! and yet, Dio! what a thing it is to have schooling! +I can neither read nor write, and can earn but little; I wish my son +to do better than I, and yet, Signora, I am not sure if it is wise." +Her keen black eyes twinkled at me. + +I suggested that she must be right in giving her son some schooling. +She sighed heavily, and darted another keen glance at me out of her +hungry dark eyes. + +"Yes, the Signora is right; but if I spend money in teaching my son I +can have none for myself. Dio! what can become of me when these"--she +stretched out her brown, capable-looking hands--"can no longer work +for me? Holy Virgin! I know not." She gave another heavy sigh, and +again she looked wistfully at me. + +I said that if she did her duty by her son he would be sure to take +care of her hereafter, but at this her face showed me that we took +different views. She shook her head. + +"It ought to be so, Signora," she said, "but it is not; Dio, I have +lived in the world many years, and I have not found that men are what +they ought to be. No! not one.--Pardon me, Signore," she looked +deprecatingly towards my companion. "The Signora has as much money as +she wants, and she does not hear the truth; she sees the best side of +people, they show the worst to us poor ones." + +Poor woman! I hastened to assure her that I was not in the happy state +she fancied. I felt ashamed at giving her my modest fee, and said I +wished it could have been larger; but evidently she was not greedy, +she clasped both her brown hands round my arm and squeezed it, while +she poured forth effusive thanks. Then she went back to the heap of +stones near the entrance of the cave where I had found her, sitting +like a hungry spider in wait for an inquiring fly, in the shape of a +traveller. + + + + +CHAPTER X + +THE WAY TO ASSISI + + +We had for years desired to make a pilgrimage to Assisi, and now, +across the lovely valley the sight of the little white town clinging +to Monte Subasio, veiled by grey and purple vapour, was a daily +reminder of our wish. Some places stamp themselves into the heart, and +while life lasts the longing to revisit them increases, till +realisation quenches desire. A visit to such a haunt of delightful +memories as Assisi requires time, so we waited till a few days could +be spared. + + [Illustration: GIOTTO.] + +It was very early morning when we drove down from Perugia along the +Assisi road, a road bordered by the silver and gold of olive-groves +and vineyards. Fragrant, dewy freshness lay on everything; even when +the sun rose higher, and blazed fiercely down on us, we had become so +absorbed by the surrounding scenery and its associations that we did +not seem to feel the brilliant heat. + +Now and then, between the leafy trees on our right, we had glimpses of +yellow Tiber on its way to Rome. Francis Bernardone must also have +enjoyed these glimpses as he walked to and from Assisi with some +favourite disciple, perhaps along this very road. + +St. Francis did a far greater work for his contemporaries than any +reformer of the later Renaissance period. He did not attack popes and +bishops, or find fault with everything and everybody who differed from +his special ideas: he used the most powerful means by which to +influence mankind,--he lived the life he preached. He had been +accustomed to luxury and every form of self-pleasing,--he gave up all +to follow the way of the Cross, from love to his Saviour. In that +brutal and licentious age, the beginning of the thirteenth century, +his example seems to have been irresistible. The life of poverty, +obedience, and chastity enjoined by his rule sounded utter folly +when first proclaimed to the multitude; but it says something in +favour of those times that, when the first outcry ceased, and his +fellow-citizens witnessed the harmony that existed between his life +and his teaching, he was left comparatively unmolested, and his work +was not materially interfered with. Though he died at forty-four, he +lived long enough to see his Order recognised by Holy Church and by +secular potentates, and to know that its widely spread communities +were firmly established wherever they had planted themselves. + +It may be said of St. Bernard and St. Dominick, that they also +practised all they preached, but one feature peculiar to St. Francis +is not chronicled of those other revivalists,--his idea of life was a +very happy one. In the century that followed, Boccaccio did not teach +joy as a duty one whit more strenuously than the Poverello did, +although the two men's ideas of the source of joy were so opposite. + +One remembers the recorded talk about joy, of that which fails to +make, and of that which _is_ the true root of happiness, between +Francis and Fra Leone,--a talk which continued for two miles, while +the master and his disciple walked out from Perugia to Assisi. + +At last Fra Leo, called by Francis "the little sheep of God," cried +out: "Father, tell me, I pray thee, wherein can perfect happiness be +found?" + +Whereupon Francis made his well-known answer, recorded in the eighth +chapter of _I Fioretti_ ("The Little Flowers of St. Francis"). + +As we drove along we remembered that the hills looking down on us, now +varied by exquisite cloud-shadows, had listened to cheerful lays, +improvised in the Provençal tongue by Francis as he trudged along this +road. He did not have his hymns rendered into Italian verse, so that +they might be understood by the people, until he needed them to help +his teachings; his sympathy with human nature taught him the power of +music in creating fervent devotion. + +Reading the _Fioretti_, one learns that, in spite of the severe rule +he followed, Francis enjoyed his life; there must have been a singular +power of fascination in the man, who could always, wherever he went, +change sorrow into joy. He rejoiced in the beauty of nature, and went +singing along the dusty way, between the olive-trees and the +grape-laden vines, which then, as now, probably bordered the road on +either hand; he rejoiced in every trial laid on him, as a fresh +offering he could make to his God. + +Francis sang till the birds came fluttering round him to share his +gladness, mingling their songs with his. At Bevagna, a place south of +Spello, he preached his famous sermon to these winged disciples, and +bade the swallows cease their disturbing twitter. + +He loved all dumb creatures, and strove to care for them, calling them +his brothers and sisters; at Gubbio he tamed a wolf, till then the +terror of the place. Once, meeting a peasant who had an armful of wild +turtle-doves, he took them from the man, lest they should be killed or +ill-treated, and, bringing them home to La Portioncula, he caused +little nests to be made for the gentle birds, bade them live +peacefully, and increase and multiply according to the will of God. + +As we drove along the lovely valley, filled now with golden light +varied by purple shadow, its glorious background of hills in every +delicate shade of blue, with spaces between, an opal gauze in the +sunshine, and villages nestling beside the tree-shaded Tiber, we saw, +hard by, the grey-peaked bridge, so ancient looking, that Francis may +one time or another have gone singing across it; and we felt that such +a mind could not have lived amid so much beauty without becoming +interpenetrated by it. + +He is so entirely incorporated with Assisi and its surroundings, that +one cannot describe the old town without now and again referring to +the timeworn tale, so beautifully told by Monsieur Paul Sabatier. + +Our two hours' drive between vines and olive-trees backed by grand +purple hills had been lovely. The grapes were almost ripe, pale gold +in colour, thickly hanging from tender green garlands, which stretched +from one tree to another and linked them together. In some fields +long-horned oxen were ploughing the stiff lumpy land between the +vines; here and there golden stalks of maize lay on the rich brown +soil. The sun-touched summits of Subasio and his brethren looked like +radiant clouds; the pure invigorating air was delightful. + + [Illustration: CONVENT AND CHURCH OF SAN FRANCESCO.] + +As one nears Assisi, the two salient points in the view are, on the +left, high up the mountain side, the great convent of San Francesco, +with its double churches; on the right, at the foot of the ascent to +the town, is seen the dome of Santa Maria degli Angeli. + +The body of this church was built in the sixteenth century over the +original chapel, the Portioncula, in which St. Francis and his +disciples worshipped, and in which Santa Chiara and so many others +took the vows of the Order, and devoted themselves to lead lives of +poverty, chastity, and obedience. + +Huge Subasio had been in front of us all the way, but we could now +distinguish clearly the long stretch of white houses clinging midway +to the side of the mountain; and above the houses, the campaniles and +spires of Assisi, while towering high over the road, supported by a +double row of lofty arches, are the convent, and the two churches of +San Francesco. + +In a picture it would be difficult to give an adequate idea of the +approach to Assisi,--certainly word-painting cannot describe it. +Probably the thrill caused by the associations and surroundings of the +town intensifies the charm. + +The varied colour of the hills on either side of us had become more +exquisite. Now we had in full view the scene described by Dante as +the birthplace of San Francesco, for the town seems a part of the + + "Rich slope of mountain high, whence heat and cold + Are wafted through Perugia's eastern gate, + Upon that side where it doth break its steepness most, arose + A sun upon the world"-- + + Cary's Translation of _Il Paradiso_. + +For miles round, this building of San Francesco makes a striking +landmark, and as long as it stands it bears witness to the strange and +beautiful story of the youth who gave up all that seemed to make life +worth living, to save not only his own soul, but those of others. + +There was no tardy justice in the recognition given to his holy life, +and the benefits worked by his discipline. In 1228, two years after +his death, Francesco Bernardone was canonised by Pope Gregory IX.--the +tried friend who knew the life as well as the work of El Poverello--as +St. Francis of Assisi was called, and the building of the Lower Church +was begun. + +Before the century ended this church and the upper one had become a +great centre of art-workers; in a sense, we may look on Francis of +Assisi as a source of inspiration to both Giotto and Dante; they were +all three originators and purifiers. + +Dante's description in the _Paradiso_, or rather the story which he +makes St. Thomas Aquinas relate concerning Saint Francis, shows that a +lapse of centuries has not in any way altered the high esteem in which +he was held less than a century after his death. Dante was born only +thirty-nine years later; and as he certainly visited Assisi, he must +have been well acquainted with all the details of the saint's history. +It may have been in his exultation at the triumphs achieved by his +friend Giotto's frescoes at Assisi that the poet writes, after +mentioning Cimabue, "And now the cry is Giotto's." + +Our driver stopped at the foot of the hill, and told us we had better +begin our pilgrimage at the church of Santa Maria degli Angeli. We +had, however, planned to begin the wonderful story at its first +chapter, and to visit the saint's birthplace, also the scene of his +final renunciation of the world. So we bade honest Checco drive us on +to the Hotel Subasio beside the hill, where we dismissed our carriage, +and looked at the room allotted to us. + +We then climbed the bit of ascent, and feasted our eyes on the outside +of the churches of San Francesco. + + [Illustration: ENTRANCE TO THE TOWN, ASSISI.] + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +ASSISI--SAN FRANCESCO + + +As we mounted the hill the great shrine had seemed to rise higher and +higher above us; in the flaming sunshine the olives looked a pale +silver against the deep blue sky. When at last we took the way to the +monastery, we seemed to have reached a deserted town. Assisi was still +and lifeless; the very inn was asleep. Flies and gnats, however, made +us sharply feel that the heat gave them extra thirst, and that we were +a boon in this absence of human life. + + [Illustration: STATUE OF ST. FRANCIS.] + +We had been told that the Lower Church of the monastery is best seen +in morning light, so, instead of beginning our pilgrimage with the +first chapter of the saint's story, in Chiesa Nuova, at the top of the +town, we turned to the cloister of San Francesco, and passed along it +to the terrace, on to which the beautiful porch opens. + +To-day this porch was full of exquisite effects of light and shadow; +near it is Fra Filippo's massive and finely proportioned campanile. +The name of the architect of the church is unknown; but it seems +fairly attested that the campanile was built by Fra Filippo Campello, +who later on became the architect of the church erected by the +Assisans, on the site of San Giorgio, in honour of Santa Chiara, or +Clara, the first female convert of St. Francis, the foundress of the +"Poor Clares." + + [Illustration: THE TOWER, SAN FRANCESCO.] + +It is strange that the name of the great architect who designed this +beautiful church and monastery should be doubtful, especially as San +Francesco is said to be almost the first Gothic church built in +Italy, and remains to this day one of the purest and most beautiful in +style, free from that admixture of Renaissance work which robs so many +Italian churches of the reverence and religious inspiration created by +our English and so many French cathedrals. At San Francesco the very +walls are sermons in stone; while, especially in the Lower Church, the +rich beauty of colour calls out a perpetual hymn of praise. + +The offerings made by pilgrims from all parts of Italy at the tomb of +Francis in San Giorgio had, in the space of two years, amounted to a +sum large enough to defray the expense of building this Lower Church. + +We went in by the porch to the atrium; coming from the brilliant +sunshine outside, all seemed so dim that we feared we should not make +out the frescoes that cover, with mellow, delicious colour, the walls +and low vaults of nave and side chapels. + +One seems to breathe colour in the atmosphere of this Lower Church; +the very air is painted, as light comes in through the stained glass +windows, most of which are worth a careful study. There are +interesting tombs in this first part of the church, before one enters +the nave; one of the tombs resembles in its arrangement Giovanni +Pisano's beautiful monument to Pope Benedict XI. at San Domenico, +Perugia, but the Assisan tomb is wholly inferior in execution. As we +stood looking up the nave, we realised how truly this church embodies +the life and work of Francis Bernardone; it is a house of prayer and +praise. Its exquisite beauty, both of architecture and colour, +inspires the joy so continually preached by Francis, in which he +lived, despite his ascetic privations and self-denying labour for the +good of souls. + +It is impossible to describe, or even to name, except generally, the +numberless frescoes which enrich the walls and the vaultings of the +transepts and chapels; the golden-starred, blue roof of the nave +absorbs the light, but it adds to the mysterious beauty of the church. + + [Illustration: ENTRANCE DOOR TO LOWER CHURCH, ASSISI.] + +Perhaps the first thing that one admires on entering the nave is the +richly-coloured cross-vaulting above the high altar, and that between +the choir and transepts. There are four chapels on the right, and only +two on the left side of the nave; between these two are the +sacristies. There can be no doubt that in the original plan these +chapels did not exist. + +The foundation of the church was laid in 1228; evidently the walls +when completed were covered with frescoes by some very early painters, +who failed to satisfy the taste of the Franciscans; for one can make +out portions of old fresco work near the entrances to the chapels, the +wall here having been removed when these additions were made to the +original building. + +This took place before Cimabue and Giunta Pisano and then Giotto and +his pupils came from Florence; followed by the Lorenzetti and Simone +Martino, from Siena, to make the basilica the burnished jewel it is +to-day. A harmony of blue and scarlet, of green and gold, fills one's +sight as one looks onward to the high altar. + +We went up to the right transept; here is the famous Madonna of +Cimabue. Above the arch of the chapel within the transept is a +beautiful fresco by Giotto, of the Annunciation, part of a series by +that painter of the Infant Life of our Lord, from the Annunciation to +the Finding the Holy Child in the Temple; the figures in these +frescoes all tell their own story, and are full of beauty and dignity. +The Annunciation over the arch leading to the chapel is especially +lovely. + +There is also another series of Giotto frescoes on the wall of this +transept; in one a child is falling from a window; there are sweet +faces among the women who kneel in front. St. Francis meets the child +as its body is being taken to burial, and restores it to life. The +other two frescoes also deal with restoration to life. Our guide said +that one of the faces in these was a likeness of Giotto Bondone. In +this Lower Church are many frescoes by Giotto's pupils, notably by +Taddeo Gaddi and by Giottino, who have done very fine work on its +walls. Within the chapel, beyond the Annunciation, is an interesting +series of frescoes, which represent the story of St. Nicholas; these +are said to be the work of Giotto's best pupil, name unknown, some of +whose work is also in the Upper Church. The truth to nature in the +conception, and the simplicity of this master's work, make the study +of it most fascinating; its breadth of treatment gives it a peace and +dignity which the solemn stiffness of Cimabue fails to inspire. + +Giotto must have been young when the Franciscans summoned him to +adorn the walls of their basilica, for his work there is supposed to +have been completed in the early years of the fourteenth century, and +he was not born till 1265. + +It is well known how the great artist Cimabue, on his way from +Vespignano, a village some miles north of Florence, found among the +hills a shepherd lad of ten years old, named Giotto Bondone, sketching +on a bit of stone, and how the great Florentine was, on close +inspection of the sketch, so impressed by the truth to nature shown in +the boy's likeness of one of his sheep, that he thenceforth adopted +Giotto as his pupil, and took him to Florence, where for ten years the +youth worked in Cimabue's atelier. + +It is strange that the painter should have so greatly admired the +simple love for and the truthful rendering of nature which +characterises his protégé's work, for Cimabue himself clung to the +stiff drawing and unlovely ideals of Byzantine art, overlaid with +gold and jewels. The most striking feature in Giotto's work is the +life-likeness of his figures and faces and their surroundings; and the +natural and simple way in which he portrays action. The faces are +seldom as lovely as those of the Sienese painters in this church, but +there is no exaggeration about Giotto. Ruskin says "his imagination +was exhaustive without extravagance." + +At Assisi one seems to trace his progress from these early paintings +in the right transept, to the very excellent series on the Life of St. +Francis in the Upper Church. Time has probably lent its mellowing +help, but the rich yet soft harmony of colour is beyond the power of +word-painting,--it takes complete possession of the gazer. + +The left-hand transept contains the chapel of San Giovanni. The +Franciscans confided its adornment to Pietro Lorenzetti of Siena, who +covered the walls with scenes from the Passion. The colour is rich +and remarkable, but the design is frequently exaggerated. In the +fresco of the Crucifixion, however, the figures beneath the cross are +beautiful, especially those of the Madonna, of St. John the +Evangelist, and St. Francis. + +Another very interesting chapel, also on left side of nave below the +grille, which at great functions is closed, dividing the nave from the +transept and the high altar, is that dedicated to St. Martin, filled +with lovely frescoes by Simone Martini of Siena, representing the life +and miracles of Martin of Tours. The faces and figures are delightful, +so is the colour; the story of the saint is admirably told. + +There are also beautiful frescoes by Simone Martini, or Simone Memmi, +as this Sienese painter is often called, between the entrances to the +chapels of the Sacrament and that of St. Mary Magdalene. Many others +by Giotto and his pupils are in the various chapels. + +When we had looked at some of these, we went back to the high altar, +and, standing there, beneath that glorious vaulting overhead, we found +it difficult to realise that we were actually on the place so filled +with memories of the three great revivalists of purity, for in their +respective generations Francis Bernardone, Dante, and Giotto strove to +regenerate Italy. + +After a while, as one stands gazing at the great lunettes overhead, +one can picture the two friends, Dante and Giotto, on the space now +occupied by the high altar,--the imagination of the poet aiding the +skill of the painter to perpetuate the teaching of the Spouse of +Poverty. + +The tomb of St. Francis is in an open crypt below the high altar; this +crypt is called by the Assisans the Third Church; the neighbouring +peasants frequently attend the early mass celebrated here. + +Owing to the care with which Brother Elias, who succeeded Francis as +Vicar-general of the Order, secreted the urn containing the remains +of the saint, they were not discovered till the year 1818. A tradition +had been circulated, and was firmly believed in, that a third very +beautiful church had been built underground, and contained the body of +the founder. + +This successor of Francis, Fra Elia, was doubtless proud and +ambitious; his grasping worldliness and irreligion greatly injured the +repute of the Franciscan community, but in this special case he acted +wisely. Perugia had determined to possess herself of the precious +body, which drew pilgrims from all parts of Europe to make offerings +at its shrine; Elias knew this, and therefore, when the basilica was +completed, and the saint's remains were removed from their tomb at San +Giorgio to the new church, he buried them secretly, and surrounded +them by a strongly cemented underground wall of masonry, which +effectually baffled all attempts to discover them, though the +Perugians made several attacks on Assisi for that sole purpose. + +In 1818 the Assisans made a more skilful and sustained excavation. At +the end of two months, spent in piercing the rock on which the church +is built, and the solid wall of masonry which seemed part of the rock +itself, the urn was discovered. The excuse for Elias is that he +considered the presence of the saint's body to be the honour and glory +of the city of Assisi, to say nothing of the wealth accumulated by +offerings at the shrine. + +Overhead is the culminating glory of the church, the frescoes on the +four central lunettes of the vault, sometimes considered to be +Giotto's finest work at Assisi. They represent, in allegory, the +poverty, the obedience, and the chastity enjoined by the saint, and +embodied by him in the rule of his Order. The fourth spandrel +represents St. Francis in Glory. + +Probably the poet and the painter stood together on this very spot. +Tradition says that Dante aided his friend in the conception of these +grand designs. The marriage of Francis to the Lady Poverty seems to +prefigure the lines in the _Paradiso_, for Giotto had finished his +work at Assisi before those lines were written. + +In the next compartment, a monk, a nun, and a lay-brother of the Order +are seen taking the vow of chastity; they are supposed to represent +Bernard di Quintavalle, the wealthy noble who became the first +disciple of St. Francis; Santa Chiara, who wears the robe of the +Second Franciscan Order; the lay-brother, in a Florentine garb, is +thought to be Dante. The Virtue, guarded by angels, looks out from a +tower above. There are many other figures, mortals, angels, and +demons, who indicate in various ways the constant struggle and +mortification attendant on the Franciscan calling. Some of the angels +with beautiful faces are busily engaged repelling the spirits of the +world, the flesh, and the devil, who strive to tempt the neophyte, a +naked youth who is being baptized by two angels in a font in middle +distance. The good angels hurl the devils over the rocks into depths +far below. + +The third fresco, Obedience, is also full of allegorical figures, and +the Virtue wears the Franciscan robe. The fourth fresco shows St. +Francis in Glory, surrounded by throngs of fair-haired angels, who +sing hymns of perpetual praise. The truth to nature in these figures +is remarkable, some of the faces are beautiful. + +One might fill many pages with detailed descriptions of the frescoes +on the walls and vaulting of this gemlike church. It takes several +days even to see them, and therefore it is wiser to spend some time in +Assisi, so as to examine them in their best light. + +So wonderfully picturesque is every part of this Lower Church, that it +is very difficult to give any idea of such a storehouse of early +Italian art, for both Upper and Lower Churches seem to have been a +rallying-ground for Giotto and his pupils, for the early Sienese +masters, and for others following after Cimabue, Giunta Pisano, and +the very early painters of Italy. + +Fra Antonio, the sacristan, was a most kind and intelligent guide: +pointing out to us the portrait of Francis, attributed to Giunta da +Pisano, he took us into the sacristy, and let us see strips of old +embroidery mounted on frames. The faces in this embroidery were +beautifully rendered, and the colour was delightful. The Fra told us +that some English ladies from Perugia had so greatly admired the old +lace in the vestiary that he felt sure we should also like to see it; +among it was some very fine point de Venise, used to trim surplices. I +forget how old he said it was; some of the vestments were exquisitely +embroidered. + + [Illustration: THE SMALL CLOISTER, SAN FRANCESCO.] + +Then he opened a door, and we saw the quaintest little cloister, +surrounded by the grey convent walls; the garden, in its grass-grown +quadrangle, was seemingly left to itself. We spied out rosy cyclamen +blossoms dotted among the grassed hollows of the rough ground, and our +kind Fra, tucking up the skirts of his cassock, for at San Francesco +the Franciscan habit is not worn, the conventual garb takes its place, +stepped into the quad, and gathered a bunch of blossoms, which he +presented to me, with tufts of maidenhair fern from the low wall of +the cloistered garden. He asked my companions to come and dig up roots +of both cyclamen and maidenhair. + +"The Signori may as well have them," he said, with a sigh, "as those +who set no store by them." + +He was very kind, but we wondered what St. Francis would have thought +about the change of costume and the comparative comfort of these +guardians of his burial-place. + +We went back into the basilica, and up a staircase which led to the +east end of the Upper Church, built some twenty-one years after the +Lower one. It is a beautiful and graceful example of early Gothic. The +Pope's chair, near which we entered, is in red marble; the high altar +at that time was surrounded by a screen, mass being no longer said +there. + + [Illustration: CLOISTER-GARDEN, SAN FRANCESCO.] + +Cimabue and other old painters have covered the walls in this part of +the Upper Church with frescoes, many of them grand and impressive in +design, though they have greatly suffered from so-called restoration +by unskilful hands, while damp has damaged others. Some of the +subjects are from the Old Testament, others from events in the life of +our Lord; the general effect is, however, rich and harmonious. The +long series taken from the life of St. Francis, along the lower part +of the nave, is very interesting. There are twenty-eight subjects, +chiefly painted by Giotto; the rest are said to be executed by that +pupil of the Florentine master who painted the legend of St. Nicholas +in the Lower Church. Giotto's fine series in this Upper Church +portrays the saint's history, and contains, I believe, the best work +executed by the artist in the basilica; it is much later in date than +some of his other Franciscan frescoes. The painter is said to have +taken as his guide Father Bonaventura's Life of St. Francis. As this +writer was born during the lifetime of Francis, and was later on +commissioned to write the saint's Life, his narrative may be +considered reliable. The painting of the various scenes is masterly, +and the detail in the interesting events here depicted, the +architecture especially, is rendered in a very striking manner. + +These frescoes are so lifelike, that they stamp yet more strongly into +the mind the impression created by a visit to Assisi, the truth of +the wonderful conversion and subsequent life of Francesco Bernardone. + +One of the most striking incidents in this conversion is illustrated +in the fourth fresco of the series, in which the saint is shown +praying before the crucifix in San Damiano. Those who have read the +beautiful _Vie de Saint François d'Assise_, by Monsieur Paul Sabatier, +will understand the meaning of this fresco, though it has been so +sadly injured by damp. For those who have not enjoyed this privilege a +short sketch of the saint's life is here added. + + * * * * * + +Francis Bernardone was born at Assisi in 1182, his father being a rich +merchant called Pietro Bernardone. His mother, Madonna Pica, is said +to have been better born than her wealthy husband, who travelled, +according to the custom of the time, from one city and castle to +another, journeying sometimes as far as France, with his company, and +the goods he had to sell. He does not seem to have taken Francis with +him; he preferred that the youth should remain at home, and use his +singular power of making friends among the wild and dissolute young +nobles of Assisi. + +Now and again Pietro would ask for his son's help in his warehouse, +but this was seldom. He wished the young fellow to distinguish himself +among these prodigals, and therefore gave him liberal means, so that +he might join in all their sports and amusements, in their banquets +and night revelries. + +The whole world of this period seems to have abandoned itself to every +form of sin and pleasure. There was no discipline, no self-restraint +to be found; might meant right. Self was everywhere worshipped, +especially among the nobles and the wealthy. + +Francis and his companions did not lack bravery. They joined the +Assisan troops in resisting an attack made by the rival and far more +powerful city of Perugia; the Assisans were defeated, and Francis, +with some of his friends, was for months imprisoned in a Perugian +dungeon. This gave him leisure for reflection. + +Soon after being liberated, he fell ill of a fever, and could not +return to his former life. He had already begun to see it with new +eyes, and during his slow recovery fell into a strange melancholy; +rousing from this, he decided to lead a military life. He would, he +told himself, perform daring feats of valour; so, when a very +distinguished knight asked him to take service with the Pope's troops, +then warring in Apulia, Francis eagerly accepted the proposal. + +The night before the two friends started, Francis dreamed that he saw +his father's warehouse, usually stored with bales of silk, and gold +and silver stuffs, filled with lances and military accoutrements both +for men and horses. He awoke in great delight. He considered this +dream a good omen for the success of his expedition, and rode joyfully +next day to Spoleto. A version of this dream is given on fresco No. 2, +by Giotto, in the Upper Church. At Spoleto his fever returned, and he +heard a voice telling him he had completely mistaken the meaning of +his dream, and that he must at once return to his father's house. +Francis obeyed, but on his return his father and his fellow-citizens +were disgusted by his apparent cowardice in turning back. + +Francis had always been charitable to the poor, flinging liberal +largesses to them as he rode about the country, sumptuously dressed +and with his horse richly caparisoned; he now awoke to the conviction +that the poor and suffering were his fellow-creatures, and merited a +more personal and tender treatment than he had bestowed on them. +Hitherto he had so dearly loved his gay companions, that he grudged +every moment spent away from them; he even hurried over meals with +his father and mother, so that he might the more speedily rejoin his +frivolous friends. Now, after his return from Spoleto, he often went +to a grotto, in a wood near Assisi, and prayed there; he saw less and +less of his companions, he even sold some of his rich clothing that he +might have more to give to the poor. In his father's absence he would +clear the table of all food left on it, and give it among his poor +friends. He had always been extremely dainty and fastidious in his +habits and tastes, and he especially shrank from contact with any of +the numerous lepers who, since the return of the Crusaders, had become +a plague along the high-roads of Europe. One day he met a leper, and, +after giving him an alms, turned abruptly away; on reflection, this +seemed to him cruel and uncharitable. Soon afterwards he paid a visit +to the lazar-house, spoke kindly to the inmates, and gave each leper +a special alms, kissing their hands as he did so. More than once, when +he met a poor man and had not a coin with him, he would bestow an +article of his own clothing on the beggar. + +His gay friends became greatly troubled at his changed behaviour. They +dearly loved his sweet, fearless nature, and his winning charm of +manner. They could not spare him from among them, for they looked on +him as their leader. + +They reproached him with his absence, and implored him to return to +them. Francis announced that he was going to give them a banquet, and +did so; there was every possible luxury, the table was magnificently +decked, and he was chosen lord of the feast. But though he was +cheerful, he was quieter, less full of wild revelry than he had +formerly been, and when they all left the feast, instead of leading +his companions into the streets of Assisi, as he had formerly done, he +lingered behind, till they had to retrace their steps so as to join +him. + +They asked what ailed him;--was he thinking of marriage? + +He remained silent awhile, then he said: + +"You have guessed rightly: I intend to espouse that most beautiful of +brides, the Lady Poverty. No longer will I waste my time and dissipate +my substance on follies." + +They stared in unbelief, then they treated it as a jest, but when they +found he was in earnest, they jeered at their idolised leader. + +When Pietro Bernardone learned that Francis had broken with his former +associates, he became furious. Already greatly angered by the report +of his son's visits to the lazar-house, and by other instances of the +young fellow's charity, he could not pardon this public act of folly. + +So long as his son shared the pursuits of the dissolute nobles who +had so greatly admired him, so long as he was to be found in their +company, the arrogant, purse-proud merchant, keenly desirous to +better, as he considered, his son's position in the world, had been +lavish of his money to the spendthrift; though even in those wild days +instances are recorded of the younger Bernardone's goodness to the +poor and suffering. + +He therefore sent for Francis. + +"You are welcome," he said, "to spend my money as you please, even to +the half of it, provided you spend it in the company of noble lords, +so as to bring you, in return, praise and honour. I covet for you +distinction, and you well know that it can only be gained from the +world; not one soldo will I give you to bestow on vile lepers, or on +churches and priests. You are idle, I hear; you spend all your time in +praying." + +This tyranny greatly troubled Francis, though it seems to have helped +his inward convictions by turning him more and more from the +temptations to worldliness. + +From this time forth the young fellow's domestic life became a daily +martyrdom, except when his father was absent for weeks together in +pursuit of business. But on Pietro's return he always began to +persecute his son. This, joined to the mental suffering endured by +Francis in his struggle after truth, had greatly affected the young +convert's health. + +Outside the Porta Nuova, in the midst of a wood, was the little ruined +church of San Damiano, served by one poor priest, who dwelt in a +miserable hermitage beside it. Francis had made acquaintance with this +priest, who, on his side, was hospitable to the friendless youth, for +not only his former companions, but the Assisan citizens sided with +his father in condemning Francis's behaviour. Frequently the younger +Bernardone would spend all night on his knees in the old church of +San Damiano. + +He was one day kneeling here in prayer when he heard a voice calling +him. He listened, and heard it distinctly bid him seek a closer walk +with God; it told him henceforth to devote himself to the restoration +of God's ruined houses in Umbria. At that time, owing partly to the +continual warfare and brigandage under which the country groaned; also +to the frequent visitations of the plague, which carried off so many +monks who tended the stricken hospital patients, some religious houses +were almost bereft of their inmates, very few monks were left to +repair and keep in order the churches and chapels of Umbria, and many +of these were therefore sadly dilapidated. + +Francis felt transported out of himself, his doubts and difficulties +seemed to vanish before this direct call from heaven. In his religious +fervour he resolved to quit his father's house, now a scene of daily +persecution. He would in future devote himself to the building up of +ruined shrines, and he would begin with the chapel of San Damiano. In +a fresco by Giotto in the Upper Church, Francis is seen kneeling +before the crucifix listening to the voice. The crucifix still exists, +but it has been removed from San Damiano to Santa Chiara. A part of +this fresco is almost obliterated by damp. Perhaps the most +interesting fresco of the series is that in which Francis renounces +the world before the bishop and the people of Assisi. + +After he had vowed at San Damiano to devote himself to the reparation +of ruined churches and shrines, he remembered that he had no money +wherewith to begin his labours. The remarkable gift he possessed, +decision of character, now impelled him to put his resolve into +instant action. + +He hastened back to Assisi, made into a bundle some rich stuffs, his +own property (not, as has been said, goods belonging to his father), +then, bent on speedily repairing the fabric of San Damiano, Francis +rode off along the valley, to the thriving commercial town of Foligno, +only a few miles away. In the market of Foligno he sold all he +possessed, even the horse he rode, with its trappings, and joyfully +returned on foot to San Damiano, with a bag full of money. + +The arrogance and avarice of Pietro Bernardone were known throughout +the country-side, his quarrels, too, with his son's new ideas were by +this time public property; so that, when Francis toiled joyfully up +the hill to the chapel, and offered his bag of money to the priest, +the good man refused to accept it, warning the young enthusiast that +such a gift would greatly anger the rich merchant, his father. At this +refusal Francis flung his purse into the window nook of the chapel, +and, turning to the priest, begged him to feed and lodge him in his +humble dwelling. + +Pietro was at home, and after a while became anxious at his son's +continued absence; he went to look for him at San Damiano. Francis, +however, guessing at his father's anger, had already found a safe +hiding-place in the wood. When he heard Pietro's fierce reproaches, he +trembled; he then termed himself a coward to prove thus unworthy of +the call he had received. + +He resolved to go back to Assisi, and announce to his father his +choice of a vocation. His long mental struggle, his nights spent in +prayer and fasting, his weeks of severe discipline, had greatly +changed his appearance; his clothing was soiled and torn, his face +pale and emaciated. When he trudged into Assisi, the town children +failed to recognise him, and, excited by the sight of this strange +beggar, they surrounded him, crying out, "A madman, a madman!" +throwing stones at him. + +The outcry called his father to his house door; he saw and recognised +his son. The furious merchant seized Francis by the collar, dragged +him into the house, which stood on the site of Chiesa Nuova, and, +after a severe flogging, flung him into a cellar. Here the young +ascetic was rigorously imprisoned till Pietro again left home for one +of his business journeys. + +He had no sooner gone than Madonna Pica released and tried to comfort +the son she so dearly loved. Francis soon bade her adieu, and returned +to San Damiano. + +But when Pietro came home again, and found his son absent, it is said +that he gave his wife a beating before he hurried off to the ruined +chapel in the wood. + +This time Francis did not try to hide himself; but when his father, in +a torrent of reproaches, told him he must quit the country, because he +had brought such disgrace on his family, the young fellow respectfully +answered: + +"Henceforth God is my only Father; I cannot obey any other." + +Pietro again broke into furious accusation. He had lavished a fortune +on Francis, he said, and this was the return he got for it. + +For answer, his son pointed to the bag of money which still lay in the +window nook. + +Bernardone eagerly seized it. He swore that he would appeal to the +justice of the law to punish his son. + +He did appeal. Francis was cited to appear before the magistrate. He +refused to obey the summons; he had put himself, he said, under the +protection of the Church. + +When Bernardone heard of this answer he appealed to the Ecclesiastical +Court; but the Bishop's answer to the angry father was a warning. He +said that if Pietro really wished to punish his son for being good and +pious, his only resource was to persuade Francis to give up all claim +to his patrimony, or he could, if he chose, disinherit him. + +Francis was summoned to the Bishop's palace, on the Piazza Santa +Maria Maggiore. He found the place thronged by the excited citizens of +Assisi. The Bishop, at that time well disposed towards the young +fellow, advised him to end the quarrel with his father by renouncing +all claim to his inheritance. + +When Francis heard this counsel, his face beamed with joy. He stripped +off his clothing, rolled it into a bundle, and laid it and the few +coins he still possessed at the feet of the Bishop. He then turned to +the wonder-struck citizens of Assisi: + +"Mark all of you," he said, "I have given back my possessions to +Pietro Bernardone; I once called him father, hereafter I address +myself altogether to our Father which is in Heaven." + +Pietro pushed forward; he snatched up the money and the clothing. + +This drew a loud murmur from the Assisans, for the rich merchant's +arrogance and avarice had alienated his fellow-townsmen; he had grown +to be unpopular. + +The compassionate Bishop at once flung his own cloak over the youth's +shivering shoulders; his charity drew forth a pitying chorus of +approval. The people, who had hitherto despised Francis as a fool, saw +him suddenly in a new light; they marvelled at this singular proof of +self-abnegation. + +Thus the first-fruits of his mission were reaped from the impression +created in many of these bystanders, who during the past two years had +scornfully witnessed and mocked at his good deeds and his devout life. + +The reality of the scene represented in this fresco is marvellous; it +at once tells its own story. The compassionate Bishop puts his cloak +round the naked youth, who holds up his hands in the act of +renunciation, while the stern-looking Pietro bustles forward to snatch +at the money and clothing, and also apparently to strike a blow at his +son, but is held back by a wealthy-looking fellow-citizen in an +ermine-lined cloak and tippet. + +In another fresco Francis is preaching to the birds at Bevagna; in +another we see the arid summit of La Vernia above the Casentino +valley, where, in his later years, he is said to have received the +Stigmata. Another fresco full of beauty and interest is called "The +Mourning of the Nuns of San Damiano." It shows how, after the saint's +death, his body was carried past the convent of San Damiano, on its +way to sepulture at San Giorgio; the saintly Clara had been for some +years Abbess of the little convent in the wood, and she and the Poor +Clares, her Sisters, wept over the body of their beloved founder. + +These frescoes, and the thoughts they recall, are deeply interesting, +and yet the Upper Church is not so delightful as the Lower one is,--at +least, we did not find it so fascinating, although, in addition to the +frescoes, the painted windows are full of beauty; there is rather too +much light; one misses the rich mellowness of atmosphere which fills +the Lower Church with a dim mystery of splendid colour, especially one +misses the work of the Sienese painters. + +The way to La Vernia, judging by the fresco, must have been terribly +rugged. The favourite resort of St. Francis, when he retired from the +distractions of life at La Portioncula, to give himself more fully to +prayer and contemplation, was Le Carceri; the cells are still to be +seen in a ravine on the side of rugged Monte Subasio, some way north +of San Damiano. Le Carceri is a series of caves in the solid rock, +containing the monks' cells; it is backed by a wood, and has the hill +torrent before it. The walk there from Assisi is full of beauty, and +it is not a very long way from Piazza Nuova, leaving Assisi by Porta +Cappucini. Here the saint had frequent talk with the birds in the +woods near Le Carceri; the ilex tree is still shown on which the +winged disciples perched while Saint Francis talked with them. + + [Illustration: OUTSIDE SAN FRANCESCO] + +It was at Le Carceri that he invited the nightingale to try which +could sing longest to the praise and glory of God. Brother Leo +declined to join in this trial, but the saint and the nightingale sang +on through the night, till Francis, completely exhausted, had to yield +victory to the bird. + +While we stood gazing at the frescoes, thinking of all these things, +Fra Antonio said softly: + +"The Signora and the Signori have now seen all I can to-day show +them." + +We longed to linger, but already the kind man had given us much of his +time; he quaintly added, "It is, moreover, my dinner-hour." + +Then we took leave of the kind Fra, and said we would come again. We +went out by the west door under the fine window, and rejoiced in the +very lovely view before us. We wished our guide a good appetite, and +he stood watching us as we went down one flight of the double range of +steps leading from the Piazza of the Upper Church to the Lower one. + +We were tired when we came out into the sunshine, and we sat down in +the shade opposite a fountain, at the foot of the steps. + +A girl came presently up the hill behind us, her bare feet white with +dust. She carried on her red-kerchiefed head a tall copper pitcher +with dinges which bespoke it the worse for wear; her skirt was short +and dark, and the light blue bodice laced up behind showed a white +undervest. In a minute she began to run fast, deftly balancing the +tall pitcher. Then we saw behind her a long-legged lad, evidently bent +on arriving first at the fountain. The two figures seemed to fly along +the dusty road; the lad outran the girl, and, when she reached him, +panting and choking with laughter, he had the courtesy to fill her +pitcher for her, and helped her in raising it to her head. + + [Illustration: SAN FRANCESCO, THE UPPER CHURCH.] + +It is wonderful how these women can so surely support the loads they +carry on their heads; the burden is sometimes a huge round basket, +three feet across, full of grapes or heavy vegetables. + +We rarely saw a man thus burdened; he seems to content himself in +Italy, as he does in France, with looking on and admiring, while the +women do the work. + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +ASSISI--IN THE TOWN + + +Our little hotel, the Albergo Subasio, is close to San Francesco, and +from its windows commands a most exquisite view of the valley and the +richly-tinted hills. If time served, one could spend hours in enjoying +the beauty of this landscape, so full of colour and of variety. + +We passed by San Francesco, and up the long, solemn street which it +seems to guard. Grass grows freely between the stones that pave the +street, which mounts very steeply; farther up were shops, but all were +full of silence. No one seemed to be alive within the dark openings on +either side, though from the wares displayed it was evident that +inhabitants were not far off; doubtless all sound asleep at this time +of day. + +At the top of the street on either side are tall old grey palaces; one +of these, on the right, has a projecting roof, supported by long and +beautifully-carved brackets. This is the Ospedale, with its curious +door. On the left is the Palazzo Allemanni; over every door and window +is the legend, _In Domino confido_. + +The blue mountains, each range paler and more exquisite in tint as it +rose behind another, were seen through a glimmering veil of +sparsely-planted olives, and seemingly ended the street we were +mounting; but, going on, we presently came out on the Piazza di +Minerva. + +Here is a fine, very ancient portico, supported by five columns of +travertine, once the front of a temple to Minerva. Behind it is the +more modern church of Santa Maria della Minerva. We were now on the +site of old Roman Assisi, for the Forum lies below the Piazza, and one +goes down steps to it. Formerly a flight of steps in front of the +temple led to the Forum, and the effect must have been very fine; now +the artificially raised ground of the Piazza takes away from the +apparent height of the portico, which has no longer so lofty a +position in the general view as of old. It seems a pity that the space +round it is not clearer. + +Up a turning not far from the Temple of Minerva we came to the +cathedral of Assisi, San Rufino, built by Giovanni da Gubbio in +twelfth and early part of thirteenth century. It has an interesting +brown façade and a picturesque campanile; its three fine doorways and +rose windows are full of beauty, but the interior is comparatively +modernised, although a triptych by Niccolo da Foligno is worth seeing. +There are many frescoes and pictures in Assisi, by Matteo da Gualdo, +Tiberio di Assisi, l'Ingegno, and one at least by that rarely found +master, Fiorenzo di Lorenzo. There are some in the small church of San +Paolo, near the Temple of Minerva, some in the Palazzo Pubblico, and +elsewhere. Beyond the Piazza Grande is the house wherein Metastasio +was born. + +But we found it difficult to detach our interest from Francis +Bernardone, who is truly the moving spirit of Assisi, and, turning +downwards to the right, we were soon in the little square of Chiesa +Nuova. We knocked at the church door, and, after some delay, a very +old monk, wearing the Franciscan habit, opened it. + +He only nodded or shook his head in answer to our questions. The +interest attaching to Chiesa Nuova lies wholly in the fact that it +stands on the site of the Bernardone house. The shop of El Poverello's +father is still preserved in the Via Portici. The high altar in Chiesa +Nuova is supposed to occupy the place of the saint's bedchamber; a +side-chapel on the right is an unaltered room of the house, that in +which his mother, Madonna Pica, dreamed her wonderful dream. The door +is still standing at which, in her vision, the angel appeared to her, +with the tidings that her expected child would be born in a stable; +this is said to be a later invention of the Franciscans. There is a +dark cave in the church, said to be part of the cellar in which his +father imprisoned Francis to cure him of his so-called fanatical +follies. It looked dismayingly dismal. He was probably flung in here +on his return from San Damiano. The little Piazza before the church +was not that which witnessed the young saint's renunciation of the +world, and heard his memorable vow. That scene took place in front of +the now decayed romanesque church of Santa Maria Maggiore, near the +Bishop's palace. This was one of the churches partly restored by St. +Francis, who rebuilt its eastern end. It was probably on the Piazza +here that Francis flung down money and clothing, and, sheltered only +by the Bishop's mantle, borrowed the serge garment of a rough +countryman, and began his new life. + +Francis, when he left the Piazza, was free. He at once set to work to +repair San Damiano, begging bricks and other needful materials from +the more charitable of the citizens. He next restored another chapel +in the neighbourhood; this completed, he fell to work on the wayside +shrine to which his mother had often taken him as a child, the +well-known chapel of the Little Portion of St. Mary, or, as it is to +this day called, La Portioncula. + +It belonged to the Benedictine abbey on the heights of Subasio, whence +a priest occasionally came down the mountain to celebrate mass for +worshippers. Francis found much comfort in this service, and it was a +delight to him to restore with his own hands the little building to a +weather-proof condition. + +One day the Gospel read by the officiating priest greatly impressed +Francis; it seemed to him that the life he was leading could not be +altogether pleasing to God, because its aim was only the saving of his +own soul: he ought surely to incite others to share the light he had +received. From this time there began in him that intense hunger after +souls which was, next to his love of God, the chief motive-power of +his life. He had once been pre-eminent in folly, and by his +vainglorious and prodigal example had led many souls to sin: he was +bound, he decided, not only to submit himself joyfully to every trial, +as a means sent to subdue his will and his self-pleasing nature, but +he must try to prevail on others to follow the same discipline. + +His character seems to have developed with every fresh demand on his +exertions, a development caused not so much by impulse, as by a humble +feeling that he had not done nearly enough to prove his penitence. + +He walked to Assisi, and began to preach in its streets. He at once +attracted listeners; disciples soon followed. + +The first of these was a wealthy noble, called in the _Fioretti_ and +elsewhere in connection with Francis, Bernard di Quintavalle. This +nobleman, also called in the _Fioretti_, "Bernard of Assisi, who was +of the noblest and richest and wisest in the city," wisely began to +take heed unto St. Francis,--how exceeding strong must be his contempt +of the world, how great his patience in the midst of wrongs, because +albeit abominated and despised for two whole years by everyone, he +seemed yet more patient; Bernard began to think and to say to himself, +"This could not be, unless the Brother has the fulness of God's +grace." He invited the preacher that evening to sup and lodge with +him, and St. Francis consented thereto.... Thereat Bernard set it in +his heart to watch his sanctity, wherefore he let make ready for him a +bed in his own proper chamber, in the which, at night-time, ever a +lamp did burn. And St. Francis, for to hide his sanctity, when he was +come into the chamber, incontinent did throw himself upon the bed, and +made as though he slept; and likewise Bernard, after some short space, +did lie him down, and fell to snoring loudly.... St. Francis, thinking +truly that Bernard slept, rose up from his bed, and set himself to +pray ... "My God, my God" at intervals through the night. When morning +came, Bernard professed himself ready to become a follower of the new +teaching. Francis, though overjoyed in his heart, told his convert +that this was a task so great and difficult that it behoved them to +seek for Divine guidance in the matter. He proposed that they should +go together to the Bishop's house, and find there a good priest he +knew; and, after mass had been said for them, that the priest, at the +request of Francis, should open the missal thrice and read each time +the words at which it opened. + +At the first opening the words were, "If thou wilt be perfect, go and +sell that thou hast," etc. + +At the second opening the words were, "Take nothing for your journey," +etc. + +At the third, "If any one will come after me, let him deny himself, +and take up his cross and follow me." + +Bernard at once obeyed Christ's words: he sold all his possessions, +distributed his money among the poor and suffering, and went to live +with El Poverello, as Francis was called, in a small hut not far from +the lazar-house. The house of Bernard still stands, also the room in +which the friends talked; it is now called Palazzo Sbaraglini, and is +in the same street as the home of Clara Scifi. + +The next convert who came to seek Francis in the hut, to ask leave to +share his labours in tending the lepers, was the learned Pietro di +Cataneo, a canon of the cathedral of San Rufino. The third was Fra or +Fratello Egidio, called in English "Brother Giles," a poor labourer, +who proved to be one of the most remarkable of the group termed by +Francis his "Knights of the Round Table." Egidio seems to have been +willing as well as able to set his hand to any work he was asked to +do. Besides helping to tend the lepers, these men begged their daily +bread in the streets of Assisi, and Francis preached constantly, +sometimes in several adjacent villages the same day, so fervently that +crowds flocked to listen. + +The number of penitents soon increased, and, seeing this, Bishop Guido +of Assisi, at first so kind, grew jealous of the new power of the +penitent brothers. He advised Francis to join either the Dominican +community, or the Benedictines, a branch of whom had already +established themselves on the heights of Subasio. + +"Your present life," the Bishop said, "is impracticable." + +Francis answered that, "as the Bishop knows, money is at the root of +all quarrels, therefore I and my brother penitents, wishing to live in +peace, prefer to be without it." + +As time went on the number of penitents increased. Francis was +perplexed how to dispose of them; he felt also that if he could gain +the Papal sanction the power of his mission would be strengthened. He +resolved to make a pilgrimage to Rome, in order to ask Pope Innocent +the Third to consider his Rule, and to give it his approval. + +Eleven of the brothers went with him cheerfully to the Imperial City, +singing hymns of praise as they walked. They were received very +coldly: it was considered that such a dusty, travel-soiled handful of +men, with so small and insignificant a leader, could not have the +capacity to found a new Order, and that its Rule of Poverty, +Obedience, and Chastity was unseemly and preposterous. + +But when at length Francis was admitted to the Pope's presence, +Innocent saw in the face of his suppliant something that pleaded too +powerfully to be resisted, and, after a little more delay, against the +advice of his worldly, pleasure-loving cardinals, he gave his sanction +to the objectionable Rule, and named the new community, The Order of +Brothers Minor. + +They quitted Rome as soon as they could; they seem to have suffered +much privation on their homeward journey, so that they were glad, as +they approached Assisi, to find and take refuge in a small, empty +dwelling at Rivo Torto, near the leper-house. + +They established themselves here, but their number increased so +rapidly that they soon outgrew their quarters, and were shown that +they were unwelcome guests. + +When he found that he and his followers could no longer live by +themselves at Rivo Torto, Francis went to Guido, the Bishop of Assisi, +and begged to be allowed the use of an oratory, or of any chapel, in +which he and his brethren could say the Hours of Prayer. He was told +that no such building could be allotted him; and, almost weeping with +earnestness and baffled hope, Francis climbed the side of Subasio till +he reached, near the top, the abbey of the Benedictines. As this side +of the great hill belonged to the Abbot, the kindly man, who seems to +have fully sympathised with Francis, granted him the chapel of "the +Little Portion of St. Mary," to have and to hold for his own. + +At once the overjoyed Francis and his disciples, as has been said, set +to work and built themselves huts to dwell in, near their place of +worship. + +Next to the rapidity with which the new Order made its way, its most +remarkable feature was its social aspect. + +In those days, when the haughty nobles and the still more haughty +Church dignitaries seem to have ignored the existence of the +peasantry, we find in the Franciscan brotherhood, from its beginning, +a complete union of all classes. Its first four members were a canon, +a nobleman, a rich merchant's son, and a labourer. + +The Palazzo Scifi, in which the future Santa Chiara (the first member +of the Second Order founded by St. Francis) was born, is only a very +short distance from the church, afterwards built on the site of the +old San Giorgio, and called, in memory of the Abbess of the Poor +Clares, Santa Chiara. + +On his return from Rome, when it became public talk that he had +received tonsure, with the Pope's sanction to his Rule for the Order +of Brothers Minor,--Frati Minori, as they were called,--Francis found +himself in much higher favour with the Assisans. + +Instead of the street preaching he and his Brothers had daily +practised, he was offered the pulpit of San Giorgio; but that church +was found too small for the multitudes who flocked to hear El +Poverello, he was therefore invited to preach in the cathedral of San +Rufino. This was considered a great honour, and it fixed public +attention on the founder of the new brotherhood. + +It was in San Rufino that this beautiful young girl, named Clara +Scifi, daughter of the powerful Count Favorini Scifi, as despotic as +he was powerful, heard the new preacher. Listening with rapt attention +to these new doctrines of Poverty, Obedience, and Chastity for the +love and glory of God, and in imitation of his life, the girl +contrasted this teaching with the life lived around her. This new way, +the way of the Cross, opened out to her a new revelation. + +At that time, her father, a cruel and violent despot, had just laid +his commands on her, his elder daughter, to wed a young noble of +Assisi. While the girl listened to the saintly preacher, her heart and +mind were deeply stirred; she determined to ask the Poverello's advice +in her trouble. How could she follow out the purpose that had formed +in her heart, that of leading the life he pictured, if she wedded the +husband destined for her by her father. Her mother, the Lady Ortolana +del Fiume, a daughter of the Fiumi, those hated enemies of the +Baglioni of Perugia, and rivals of the Nepi of Assisi, was a devout +and good woman. But Clara shrank from consulting her on this subject, +lest she might breed discord between her parents; she therefore opened +her heart to her aunt, Bianca Guelfucci, who seems fully to have +sympathised with her niece's perplexity. + +Francis was sorely troubled when the trembling girl sought him out at +the Portioncula, and begged him to advise her. He said she must not +act rashly, she must prove the reality of her vocation before he could +counsel her to take the veil, and thus withdraw herself from her +parents' guardianship. He bade her wrap herself in a sackcloth robe, +with a hood drawn over her head so as to conceal her face, and thus, +clad like a mendicant, beg her bread from door to door through the +town of Assisi. Clara did this secretly; but it only added to the +fervent strength of her vocation, and finally Francis consented to her +wish. + +On the night of Palm Sunday the girl quitted the Scifi Palace, and, +accompanied by her aunt Bianca Guelfucci and a waiting-maid, went +rapidly out by the Porta Nuova, and across the starlit plain. As they +drew near the little brown chapel, surrounded by a thick wood, they +heard the Brothers of the Poor chanting a Psalm, and, waiting till +this had ceased, the trembling Clara knocked on the door and asked +leave to enter. + +Francis bade her come in, and he questioned her a little, then bade +her kneel; she obeyed, and took the vows he prescribed, after which he +cut off all her golden hair and laid it as an offering on the altar. +When her companion had wrapped her in the veil and sackcloth garment +of the Order, El Poverello led her and her aunt, through the dark +night, to the way they had to follow to reach the convent of the nuns +of San Paolo, about an hour's distance from Assisi. He told her that +she would there be safe from persecution. + +This Second Order of Franciscans was called, when Clara had +established herself at San Damiano, the Sisterhood of "the Poor +Clares." Her sister Agnes soon joined Clara, provoking the stormy +displeasure of her father and her uncle, who was savagely cruel in his +treatment of this young girl. The church of Santa Chiara was built +after Clara's death by Fra Campello, in red and cream-coloured marble. +It has a graceful campanile, and the flying buttresses are very +remarkable; they spring completely across the pathway beside the +church. + +The building was begun in the year after Santa Clara's death, but the +nuns remained at San Damiano for fifteen years longer; then the body +of their foundress was removed to Santa Chiara, and they took up their +abode in the convent adjoining the church. There are interesting +pictures in this fine building, especially in the chapel of San +Giorgio, and by this date the chapel probably contains the famous and +very ancient crucifix brought here from San Damiano, before which +Francis was kneeling when he heard the voice bidding him rebuild the +ruined houses of God. This crucifix was, I think, when we saw it, in +the convent of Santa Chiara, but we heard that it would be placed by +the altar of the chapel. + +Santa Chiara was built on the site of the old church, San Giorgio, the +first burial-place of Francis, but it is not clear how much of the +original edifice was spared by Fra Campello when he designed the new +building; there is much mention of the older church in the _Life of +Francis Bernardone_. Clara was buried in the chapel of San Giorgio, +but her tomb there was not discovered till 1850. + +There was great rejoicing in the town at this discovery; her remains +were carried through Assisi with much splendour of ceremonial, and +were followed by an immense procession. The coffin was reburied in a +crypt made to receive it in front of the high altar, reached by a +double flight of steps. The public are permitted to go down to view +the body of the saint in a glass case; candles are ever burning before +it. + +We did not, however, visit the crypt, and our gentle-faced conductress +seemed surprised by our lack of devotion. + +When we set out to visit San Damiano, and again passed by the church +of Santa Chiara, we noticed the contrast of colour between the +rose-tinted church and the brown convent walls. + +We followed the road till it reached a gate on the brow of the hill. +Here is a lovely view over rugged hill and fertile valley, wilder and +more picturesque than any we saw from Perugia. A breeze had sprung up; +now and again a light purple cloud-shadow varied the rosy tint of +Subasio, already darkened in places by ravines that gaped in his +rugged side, while the glint of a mountain rill showed here and there +like a stray gem on the grassy tufts that helped to mark its course. +Leaving the gate, we went down the steep descent on the right, between +silvery veils, the deep valleys being clothed with olive-groves; +their pale leaves gleamed in the sunshine against bright green +berries, and ancient trunks so gnarled and shrunken that we wondered +at the abundant crop of fruit overhead. Huge brown patches glowed like +velvet on these grey trunks; and through the silver veil we saw ranges +of hills in varied shades of blue, a more delicate tint indicating the +valleys that lay between them. + +There was not anywhere a hope of shade, unless we climbed the bank and +walked on the rough ground under the olive-trees, but these did not +grow closely enough to give shelter worth having, and the road under +foot being fairly smooth, we trudged downhill in the sunshine. + +The way proved longer than we expected. At last, concealed among +trees, we found San Damiano. + +We rang a bell beside the entrance; after a long pause, our summons +was answered by a beautiful young Franciscan, who showed us about +very courteously. He first took us into the quaint little chapel, and +pointed out an ancient crucifix; he told us how an angel had come +during the night, and had carved the unfinished head of the figure. He +showed us on the right of the entrance the hole below the window into +which St. Francis flung the money gained at Foligno by the sale of his +possessions; also, he showed the little cracked bell with which Santa +Chiara summoned her Sisters to prayer. + +It is interesting to learn that, though she ran away from her father's +house at night to adopt a religious life, Clara's mother, the Lady +Ortolana, after Count Scifi's death, was received into the Second +Order, and joined the community under her daughter's rule, then called +the Poor Ladies of San Damiano. + +Behind the little chapel is the choir of the nuns, left just as it was +when Santa Chiara died. The refectory on the other side of the +cloisters is also unaltered, and above it is the dormitory of the +nuns; at the end is Clara's cell. Every step makes the poetic history +more real. There is still the little garden in which this sweet, brave +woman took daily exercise, and tended the flowers she so dearly loved. + +When we came out we found the artist of our party sketching. Beside +him was a small boy about seven years old, a curiosity as to clothing. +He had on part of some ragged knee-breeches, the remains of a shirt, +and a portion of a straw hat; he seemed a bright, intelligent little +fellow. He was very much interested in the sketch, and delighted to be +talked to in his own language. Between his praises he held out a grimy +little hand, in a saucy, smiling way. + +Said the artist, "How much would you like, my man,--would a hundred +lire suit you?" + +The urchin grinned all over. "Si, Signore, I should much like a +hundred lire, but I would take less!" + +We went back up the olive-bordered hills to the pleasant little inn, +which seems to hang over the lovely valley behind the house. Just +before reaching Hotel Subasio there is a picturesque view looking +upwards, the great convent and churches of San Francesco towering +above us. + +Even apart from the touching interest with which the story of St. +Francis invests the little town, Assisi is delightful, so many +churches and religious houses exist there, full of picturesque charm +is the exquisite setting of landscape beyond and around them. + +Wherever one looks between the old grey houses, one sees the valley +full of rich colour, and the far-off, softened outlines of the hills. +The town on market-days is very bright and cheerful. + +It is a steep climb up to the old grey castle, the Rocca di Assisi; it +sits there crowning the hill like a falcon in its eyrie, the little +town beneath its feet; and what a wonderful prospect it dominates! + +To the west is Perugia, on its group of hills; eastward glistens many +another town, sometimes sheltered in a hollow of the hills, sometimes +standing out as Foligno does on the plain beyond. + +Behind the castle there is the wildest of ravines; Monte Subasio is +full of strange nooks and glens, of which the most interesting is that +of Le Carceri, the group of cells built in the mountain caves by +Francis and his brethren. He retired here for prayer and penance when +he found his life at the Portioncula distracting. Close by is the +little mountain stream of the Tescio, and the ilex-wood in which +Francis held discourse with the nightingale. + +In thinking and writing about St. Francis, one forgets the history of +Assisi. Till the Roman invasion of Umbria, this history seems chiefly +traditional. Dardanus is said to have built Assisi before he built +Troy; in consequence of a dream that came to him while he lay sleeping +on the slope of Subasio, he founded the famous Temple of Minerva, and +the city grew up round it. + +Goethe greatly displeased the Assisans by journeying to their city +only to see this temple; he passed by San Francesco without so much as +entering the church. + +The number of subterranean passages leading to the Rocca from all +parts of the town seems to prove that the little city greatly needed +shelter from surrounding foes. + +From the time that the Etruscans possessed themselves of a large part +of Umbria, and built the city of Perugia, Assisi was constantly +persecuted by this powerful neighbour, till the Romans overspread the +country, conquering the Etruscans, and the grim, hitherto unconquered +city of Perugia, burning most of it to the ground. + +In the Middle Ages, Assisi had frequently to submit to the despotism +of great leaders of Condottieri and others who bore rule in +Perugia,--Galeazzo Visconti, Biordo Michelotti, Forte Braccio of +Montone, Nicola Piccinino, Sforza, and others. Before these, however, +Charlemagne is said to have taken the city and utterly destroyed it. +After its destruction, the citizens built walls around their new town, +they also built the castle on the hilltop. This was at one time +occupied by Frederick Barbarossa, and then by Conrad of Suabia and +other despots. + +The two noble houses of the Fiumi and the Nepi, one being Guelph and +the other Ghibelline, though less bloodthirsty than the Baglioni and +the Oddi of Perugia, seem to have been constantly at strife till the +advent of St. Francis, who prevailed on them to live more peaceably. + +Later on there was again terrible strife and carnage in Assisi, and +when his lordship the Magnifico Gianpaolo Baglione took upon himself +to settle matters, famine and misery almost destroyed the inhabitants +of the brave little city. Miss Lina Duff Gordon, in the chapter called +"War and Strife" of her charming _Story of Assisi_, gives a vivid +account of this siege. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +ASSISI--SANTA MARIA DEGLI ANGELI + + +It is better, perhaps, after visiting Chiesa Nuova, to go next to St. +Mary of the Angels at the foot of the hill, instead of visiting San +Francesco, the saint's memorial church; for at the Portioncula, within +the walls of Santa Maria, Francis lived and worked and died. Most of +the Brothers whose names have come down to us were received into the +Order within the walls of the little chapel. + +The vast baldness of Santa Maria's nave, rebuilt less than a hundred +years ago, in consequence of the damage caused by an earthquake, was +very uninteresting, but at the east end is the brown Portioncula, the +home of Francis and of his first followers; for the little chapel +remained uninjured when the earthquake shattered the walls of the +outer church. + +The dark walls of the Portioncula are covered with votive offerings, +and over the entrance is a fresco by Overbeck. Looking within, it is +difficult to imagine how the events recorded in the _Fioretti_ could +have found room to happen in the tiny place. + +On the right is a chapel, the site of the cell of St. Francis; his +portrait is over the altar, and there are frescoes of his companions. +Our guide, a Franciscan, looked as if he had come direct from the +thirteenth century, but he had not brought thence the warm, loving +glow that must have radiated from the founder of his Order. + +The great interest of the place is its story. The Portioncula was a +well-known shrine, and had existed for years before Francis restored +it from its ruinous condition. It has been told how, when he was a +child, the saint was often taken by his mother to the little chapel, +and prayed there beside her. Two years after he renounced his home and +his father, Francis was kneeling here in prayer when he received his +second inspiration. According to his biographers, he hastily rose, +and, taking up a bit of cord near at hand, tied it round his waist, as +the outward badge of the Order of Poor Brethren. + +Our guide's scanty hair stood erect, and his red-veined blue eyes +stared at us, as the Gorgons did in the Etruscan tomb. At first he +would scarcely speak. He may have thought heretics would not +appreciate his information. When we came to the little rose-garden +outside the Chapel of the Roses, and talked to him about flowers, he +thawed; he told us how an unbelieving English traveller had begged a +rose-tree, so that he might try it in English soil, and how next year +the Englishman had written to say that the rose-tree was covered with +thorns; whereas at Santa Maria degli Angeli, these roses, brought here +from St. Benedict's monastery near Subiaco, have been thornless ever +since the day when St. Francis carried the original bushes from the +Benedictine garden at Il Sacro Speco, and planted them here. + +Our guide said we ought to pay our next visit when the roses were in +blossom, "a sight to be met with in no other place." He took us into a +chapel, where, under the altar, is the den into which the saint +retired for penance--a most wretched hole; then we went into the +sacristy, to see a Perugino. In another little chapel is the portrait +of El Poverello, a very remarkable face, painted on a plank which once +formed part of the saint's bed. There is a terra-cotta statue of him +by Andrea della Robbia. + +We went back to the church, and looked again at the Portioncula. In +it Clara, or Chiara, took the vows, and here her beautiful hair was +shorn from her head by St. Francis. Other memories of Santa Chiara +cling about this church of Santa Maria. Perhaps the Third, or +universal, Order was here determined on. The space outside has never +been built on, because it was here that the memorable meeting took +place between Clara and St. Francis, in answer to her repeated +petitions that they might eat bread together. The meeting is very +quaintly described in _I Fioretti_. Clara had often asked for this +privilege; this time the Brothers seconded her request, and Francis +granted it. He had, as soon as was possible, obtained for her the +little church of San Damiano, and had built up little huts beside it +for her and the poor ladies, who so soon joined her community. Clara +passed the rest of her life among the Sisters, and died Abbess of the +"Poor Clares" of San Damiano. + +The community of Brethren met on the open space twice yearly; the +great chapter of the Order convened by St. Francis eleven years after +its beginning, recorded in the _Fioretti_, took place on this vacant +ground. The number of the brethren must have increased very rapidly, +for several thousands came over the hills and along the valleys from +far-off parts of Italy to look their founder in the face, and to +receive his instructions and his blessing. Among others came San +Dominic, with some of his followers, and the Bishop of Ostia, Cardinal +Ugolino, afterwards Pope Gregory IX. + +The space occupied by Santa Maria must have been covered by the +village of huts built by St. Francis and his Brothers. In an old map, +these huts are shown built at regular distances on three sides of the +Portioncula; among them is one larger than the rest, probably the +Refectory or the Infirmary of the Brothers. Doubtless they lived here +a happy family life, though Francis began early to send them out to +found branches of the Order in other directions. The first sent away +from the nest-like home was Bernard of Quintavalle, to Bologna; here +he had to suffer insult and persecution, but he soon won many converts +by his preaching, and established a community of Brothers Minor in +that city, over which Francis appointed him guardian. This enterprise +was repeated over and over again, with success, till, in his hunger +after souls, several years later, El Poverello set forth with a couple +of Brothers to Damietta to convert the Soldan, who is said to have +permitted him to visit the Holy Sepulchre. His visit failed in its +object, but it is spoken of by Jacques de Vitry, Bishop of Acre, as a +fact. + +He was never tired of exhorting his brethren to live joyfully, so as +to make others happy. Their cares and the sorrow for sin which would +from time to time beset them, they should, he told them, pour out to +God in their prayers; he also exhorted them to live always according +to the Rule of the Order. + +The Popes seem to have troubled him by their persistent efforts to +persuade him to alter the extreme simplicity of this Rule, and to +assimilate his teaching with that of the other Orders. But St. +Francis, always most humble and gentle in his denials, pleaded so +earnestly and so sweetly for the original lines on which he had begun, +that he succeeded in gaining his point both with Innocent the Third, +and his successor Honorius. Even his dear friend Ugolino, the Cardinal +Bishop of Ostia, tried hard, when he succeeded to the Papacy as Pope +Gregory the Ninth, to convince El Poverello that union with the +Dominican Order would be a gain to the Church, but the saint's sweet +humility at last conquered Ugolino. These discussions, however, which +made needful journeys to and from Rome, involved much loss of time, +as well as mental weariness, and wore out his decreasing strength. + +He was, after a time, constantly suffering, but always cheerful and +uncomplaining. His greatest trial seems to have been the tendency he +saw, especially in the more recent converts, to relax the strictness +of the Rule in regard to Poverty; when he heard, during a journey +which would take him past Bologna, that larger and more comfortable +houses had been built for the Brethren there, he at once showed his +displeasure by passing by the city without stopping to greet the +Franciscans therein. + +He always returned with fresh joy to the Portioncula, and his life +there with his dear sons; a hard life, supported by the work of their +own hands. + +The gentle saint seems to have had plenty of dignity when called on to +rebuke a wrongful act; we see this in his dealings with one of his +early converts, Brother Juniper, that delightfully simple but most +indiscreet of the Minor Brothers, yet of whom Francis said, after +pondering on his simplicity and patience in the hour of trial: + +"Would to God that I had a whole forest of such Junipers." + +Indeed, on that day Brother Juniper was in sad disgrace with the other +monks. He was visiting a sick Brother, and, being afire with the love +of God, asked the sick man with much compassion, "Can I do thee any +service?" + +Replied the sick man: + +"Much comfort would it give me if thou couldst get me a pig's +trotter." + +Straightway cried Brother Juniper: + +"Leave that to me; you shall have one directly." + +So he went and took a knife from the kitchen, and in fervour of spirit +ran through the wood in which certain pigs were feeding; he threw +himself on one of them, cut off its foot and ran away. Returning to +the house, he washed and dressed and cooked the foot; and when, with +much diligence, he had prepared it, he brought the foot right lovingly +to the sick man. + +And the sick man ate it up greedily, to the great comfort and delight +of Brother Juniper, who with glee told his invalid how he had made +assault upon the pig. + +Meanwhile the swineherd, who saw Brother Juniper cut off the foot, +went and told all the story to his lord, who, when he was ware of it, +came to the house of the Brothers, crying out that they were +hypocrites and thieves and knaves. + +"Why have ye cut off my pig's foot?" he shouted. + +At the noise he made, St. Francis and the Brothers came out, and with +all humility the saint made excuses, and promised to make reparation +for the outrage. + +But for all that he was no whit appeased, but with much insult and +threats went away from the Brothers, full of anger. + +And St. Francis bethought him, and said within his heart, "Can Brother +Juniper in his indiscreet zeal have done this thing?" + +He called Juniper to him secretly, and said: + +"Didst thou cut off the foot of a pig in the wood?" + +Whereat Brother Juniper, not as if he had committed a crime, but as if +he had done a deed of charity, answered cheerfully: + +"It is true, dear Father, I cut off that pig's foot. Touching the +reason why, I went out of charity to visit a sick Brother." He then +narrated the facts, and added, "I tell thee, Father, that, considering +the comfort given by the said foot to our Brother, if I had cut off +the feet of a hundred pigs as I did of one, in very sooth methinks God +would have said, 'Well done.'" + +Whereat St. Francis said very severely, and with righteous zeal: + +"Brother Juniper, why hast thou caused so great a scandal? Not +without reason doth this man complain of us; he is perhaps already +noising it in the city. Wherefore I command thee, by thy obedience, +that thou run after him till thou come up with him, and throw thyself +on the ground, and confess thy fault, promising to make such +satisfaction that he may have no cause to complain of us, for of a +truth this has been too grievous an offence." + +Brother Juniper marvelled much at the words, being surprised that +anyone should be angry at so charitable a deed. He answered: + +"Doubt not, Father, that I will straightway pacify him; why should he +be so disquieted, seeing that this pig was rather God's than his, and +that great charity hath been done thereby?" + +Francis was constantly journeying about, preaching in all the villages +through which they passed, as well as in the castles which frowned +down on them, founding new houses of the Order in and near the larger +towns; he travelled great distances, and carried everywhere with him +the element of joy, showing it forth in the lovely hymns which he and +his Brothers carolled along the high-road to lighten the fatigue of +their journeys. + +Reading the _Fioretti_, one feels intimately acquainted with several +of the Brothers Minor,--with gentle Fra Leone, "the little sheep of +God"; with Fra Rufino, styled by Francis "one of the three most holy +souls in the world"; with Fra Masseo, who seems, in one recorded +instance, to have affected incredulity in regard to the saint's +humility. + +In those days the Portioncula and its village were surrounded by a +wood, and St. Francis often said his prayers therein; one day as he +came from them, he was met at the entrance of the wood by Fra Masseo +of Marignano, a man of much sanctity, discretion, and grace, for the +which cause St. Francis loved him much. + +Said Masseo, "Why to thee? Why to thee? Why to thee?" + +Quoth Francis, "What is thy meaning?" + +Brother Masseo answered: + +"I say, why doth all the world come straight to thee? and why do all +men long to see thee, to hear thee, and obey thee? Thou art not a man +comely to look at, thou hast not much learning, thou art not noble: +whence is it, then, that to thee the whole world comes?" + +Hearing this, St. Francis, all overjoyed in spirit, lifting up his +face to Heaven, stood for a great while wrapped in meditation. + +Anon returning to himself again, he knelt him down, and rendered +thanks and praises unto God; and then with great fervour of spirit he +turned him to Brother Masseo, and said: + +"Wilt thou know why to me? Wilt thou know why to me? Wilt thou know +why to me the whole world doth run? This cometh unto me from the eyes +of the most High God, which behold in every place the evil and the +good: for those most holy eyes have seen among sinners none more vile, +none more lacking, no worse sinner than I.... Therefore hath He chosen +me to confound the nobleness and the strength and the greatness and +the beauty and wisdom of the world, to the intent that men may know +that all virtue and all goodness come from Him, and not from the +creature, and that no man may glory in himself; but whoso will glory +may glory in the Lord." + +He often told his Brothers they must never forsake the Portioncula, +which he and they also so dearly loved. But his strength was almost +spent, and when he was only forty-two, two years before his death, he +appointed Brother Bernard vicar-general of the Order, so that he might +give himself up more completely to meditation and prayer before the +end came. + +He had founded a community near Rome, and appointed a good and +discreet Guardian thereto; but this Brother seems to have had some +difficulty in controlling the outbreaks of Brother Juniper, who had +been sent to this Roman home. + +There came a time when all the other Brethren had to go out. + +Quoth the Guardian, "Brother Juniper, we are all going out; see to it +that when we return you have cooked a little food for the refreshment +of the Brothers." + +Replied Brother Juniper, "Right willingly; leave that to me." + +Said Brother Juniper to himself, "It is a pity that one Brother should +always have to be in the kitchen, instead of saying prayers with the +rest. Of a surety, now that I am left behind to cook, I will make +ready so much food that all the Brothers will have enough for a +fortnight, and the cook will have less to do." + +So he went with all diligence into the country, and begged several +large cooking pots; he got also meat, fowls, eggs, vegetables, and +firewood in plenty; then he put all the eatables in the pots to cook, +to wit, the fowls with their feathers on, the eggs in their shells, +and so with the rest. + +After a while the Brothers came back to the home, and one of them +going to the kitchen, saw many great pots on an enormous fire; he sat +him down and looked on with amazement, but said nothing, watching the +care with which Brother Juniper did his cooking, and how he hurried +from one pot to the other. Having watched it all with great delight, +the Brother left the kitchen, and, finding the other Friars, said to +them: + +"I have to tell you Brother Juniper is making a marriage feast." But +the Brothers took his word as a jest. + +Presently Brother Juniper lifted the pots from the fire, and rang the +dinner bell. The Brothers sat down to table, and he came into the +refectory with his dishes, red-faced with his exertions. + +Quoth he, "Eat well, and then let us all go and pray: no one need +think of the kitchen for a while; I have cooked enough food for a +fortnight." + +And Brother Juniper set his stew on the table. But there is not a pig +in the whole countryside that would have partaken of it. + +Then Juniper, seeing that the Brothers did not eat thereof, said: + +"These fowls are strengthening for the brain, and this stew is so good +it will refresh the body." But while the Brothers were full of wonder +at his simplicity, the Guardian was wroth with the waste of so much +good food, and reproved him roughly. + +Then Brother Juniper threw himself on the ground and humbly confessed +his fault, saying, "I am the worst of men." + +After this he went sorrowfully out of the refectory. The Guardian, +touched by his humility, asked the Brethren to be kind to Juniper, who +had, with good intentions, erred through ignorance. + +Such pity had Brother Juniper for the poor, that when he saw anyone +ill-clad or naked he would at once take off his tunic, and the cowl of +his cloak, and give it to the beggar. + +Wherefore the Guardian commanded him that he should give to no poor +person his tunic or any part of his habit. + +Now it happened that a few days after, he met a poor man half-naked, +who asked alms for the love of God. + +"I have nothing," quoth he, "I could give thee save my tunic, and my +Superior hath enjoined me not to give it to anyone, but if thou take +it off my back I will not say thee nay." + +He spoke not to the deaf, for straightway the poor man pulled his +tunic off his back and went away with it. + +And when Brother Juniper returned to the house, and was asked what had +become of his tunic, he answered-- + +"A poor man took it off my back and went away with it." His charity +had become incessant. + +More than once our gentle saint had visited La Vernia, a bleak and +rugged mountain some four thousand feet above the Casentino valley. On +these occasions, his friend the Count Orlando Cattani of Chiusi, had +caused a hut to be built for him near the hilltop. On this last visit, +Francis felt a pressing need of solitude, so that he might more +entirely give himself to prayer. He took with him the three men who +are said to have written the charming sketch of him, called, in the +French version of it, _La Légende des trois Compagnons_, Fra Leone, +Fra Masseo, and Fra Angelo. + +When they had travelled for two days, Francis became so weak he could +go no farther, so the Brothers found a peasant with an ass, and +persuaded him to lend it to their teacher. In doing this they gave his +name, Francis of Assisi. + +The peasant was greatly impressed, for, throughout Italy and beyond, +this name was a name of power; some way up the mountain of La Vernia, +or, as it is also called, Alvernia, the peasant leading the ass said +to its rider: + +"I hear that you are Francis of Assisi; well, then, I will give you a +bit of advice: Try to be as good as people say you are, and then they +will not be deceived in you." + +For answer Francis scrambled down from the ass's back, and, kneeling +before the amazed peasant, he thanked him with all his heart and soul +for his counsel. + +There is a plateau at the hilltop surrounded by pines and huge +beech-trees, but before reaching this the whole party was so exhausted +by the long climb in the heat of August sunshine, that they sat down +to rest beneath the spreading branches of an oak-tree. The birds, +accustomed to live in solitude, came fluttering round them, and +settled especially on the shoulders and head of St. Francis. + +When they reached the top, Francis bade his companions stay in their +customary refuge while he went on by himself. He seems to have stayed +alone, in a shelter contrived by the Brothers, for forty days, during +which Fra Leone brought every night and morning some bread and water, +which he left at the door of the refuge. A falcon used to tap at the +door at dawn to awaken St. Francis. He is said to have received the +vision of the Stigmata here on Michaelmas Day, and soon afterwards, +leaving two of the Brothers in charge of the retreat on the mount, he +took a touching leave of them, and of the place itself. He thanked the +birds who had so lovingly welcomed his arrival, and especially Brother +Falcon, as he termed it, for his daily summons. + +He then took his way, on horseback this time, with as little delay as +possible, accompanied by his devoted Leo, till he reached the +Portioncula, sorely exhausted and full of pain. Still he was bent on +starting at once for the south, and seeking to win fresh souls for +Christ. His strength rapidly decreased, and his sight had begun to +fail him. He was advised to make a journey to Rieti, where Pope +Honorius, being driven out of Rome, was then staying, The Pope had +with him a famous doctor, who it was hoped might cure St. Francis. But +he had not much faith in earthly remedies, and declined to go to +Rieti; when, however, St. Clare and some of the Brethren pressed him +to spend a little time of rest and refreshment at San Damiano, he was +glad to go there. + +Though he was in constant suffering, he seems really to have enjoyed +this visit. Saint Clare had caused a willow hut to be built for him in +her garden, and though at night rats and mice tormented him, his +joyousness and his poetic power returned with their early vigour; for +it was during these weeks of peaceful outer life, though blind, and +suffering from hæmorrhage of the lungs, that he composed his famous +Canticle. + +It happened that one day, while seated at table in the refectory of +San Damiano, before the meal began, Francis seemed all at once to be +wrapped in a kind of ecstasy. When he roused from this, and became +fully conscious, he exclaimed, "May God be praised!" + +He had just composed the Canticle of the Sun. + + "Altissimu, onnipotente, bon signore, + tue so le laude, la gloria, e l'onore et onne benedictione. + Ad te solo, altissimo, se konfano + et nullu homo ene dignu te mentovare. + + Laudate sie, mi signore, cum tucte le tue creature + specialmente messor lo frate sole, + lo quale jorna, et illumini per lui; + Et ellu è bellu e radiante cum grande splendore; + de te, altissimo, porta significatione. + + Laudato si, mi signore, per sora luna e le stelle, + in celu l'ài formate clarite et pretiose et belle. + + Laudate si, mi signore, per frate vento + et per aere et nubilo et sereno et onne tempo, + per le quale a le tue creature dai sustentamento. + + Laudato si, mi signore, per sor acqua, + la quale è multo utile et humele et pretiosa et casta. + + Laudato si, mi signore, per frate focu, + per lo quale enallumini la nocte, + ed ello é bello et jucundo et robustoso et forte. + + Laudato si, mi signore, per sora nostra matre terra, + la quale ne sustenta et governa + et produce diversi fructi con coloriti flori et herba. + + Laudato si, mi signore, per quilli ke perdonano per + lo tuo amore et sostegno infirmitate et tribulatione, + beati quilli ke sosterrano in pace, + ka da te, altissimo, sirano incoronati. + + Laudato si, mi signore, per sora nostra morte corporale, + da la quale nullu homo vivente po skappare; + guai a quilli ke morrano ne le peccata mortali; + beata quilli ke se trovarà ne, le tue sanctissime voluntali, + ka la morte secunda nol farrà male. + + Laudate et benedicete mi signore, et rengratiate + et serviteli cum grande humilitate." + +The following is the almost literal rendering by Matthew Arnold:-- + + "O most High, almighty, good Lord God, to Thee belong + praise, glory, honour, and all blessing! + + Praised be my Lord God, with all His creatures; and + specially our brother the Sun, who brings us the day, and + who brings us the light; fair is he, and shining with a + very great splendour: O Lord, he signifies to us Thee! + + Praised be my Lord for our sister the moon, and for the + stars, which He has set clear and lovely in heaven. + + Praised be our Lord for our brother the wind, and for air + and cloud, calms and all weather, by the which Thou + upholdest in life all creatures. + + Praised be my Lord for our sister water, who is very + serviceable unto us, and humble, and precious, and clean. + + Praised be my Lord for our brother fire, through whom Thou + givest us light in the darkness; and he is bright, and + pleasant, and very mighty and strong. + + Praised be my Lord for our mother the earth, the which + doth sustain us, and keep us, and bringeth forth divers + fruits and flowers of many colours, and grass. + + Praised be my Lord for all those who pardon one another + for His love's sake, and who endure weakness and + tribulation; blessed are they who peaceably shall endure, + for Thou, O most Highest, shalt give them a crown! + + Praised be my Lord for our sister the death of the body, + from whom no man escapeth. Woe to him who dieth in mortal + sin! Blessed are they who are found walking in Thy most + holy will, for the second death shall have no power to do + them harm. + + Praise ye and bless ye the Lord, and give thanks unto Him, + and serve Him with great humility." + +He lingered many weeks at San Damiano, being greatly refreshed by the +sweet peace he found there, and his gentle and sympathetic talks with +his early convert, St. Clare, who seems to have been as capable and +practical as she was good and holy. After a while she persuaded him to +journey to Rieti, and take the advice of the doctors. + +At Rieti all those who had previously known him were greatly shocked +by the change in his health. The doctors seem to have tormented him by +their efforts to restore his sight, even branding his forehead with +red-hot irons; Francis bore all with the utmost patience and +sweetness, striving to conform himself to the pattern set by his +Divine example. + +When he at last set forth to return home, he could go no farther than +Assisi; Bishop Guido had sent him a pressing invitation to stay in his +palace, while a strong guard was appointed to protect him on the way, +the fame of his sanctity having made him so precious that it was +feared an attempt might be made to capture his poor suffering body. + +His four most devoted followers nursed him through the weeks that +followed, these were Leo, Angelo, Masseo, and Rufino. + +He remained some months at Assisi, and amid his worst sufferings +poured out such hymns of joy and thankfulness, that Fra Elia, who +doubtless was already coveting the power that would so soon be in his +grasp, remonstrated with the dying saint. + +Sick persons, Elia said, were expected to edify others by their +resigned and saintly demeanour, not by singing so loud that they could +be heard outside the palace walls. Francis had often asked his +companions to join in his songs; his own sweet voice had become +feeble. + +He had more than ever need of joy, for with the best intentions one of +his most saintly companions was troubling his peace by recounting the +changes worked in the simplicity of the Rule which Francis so dearly +cherished: how larger monasteries were erected for the increasing +communities, instead of the small, roughly built houses which he had +always prescribed as suited for the abodes of begging friars; friars +vowed to possess nothing of their own. Francis listened, but he had +already seen these changes: he bade the Brother have faith and trust +in God, and never to forsake the Rule or the Portioncula. + +Soon after this he expressed a wish to return to the little shrine if +he had power to make the journey, adding quaintly: + +"I cannot go so far afoot, my Brothers; you must be good enough to +carry me." + +Half-way to the Portioncula he bade his bearers stop. Raising his +hand, he gave his last blessing to the town of Assisi, which he could +no longer see because of his blindness. + +Soon after his arrival he asked Fra Leo to summon by letter the Lady +Jacoba dei Settesoli, a widow who lived in Rome, being the mother of +two Roman senators. He knew her devotion to him, and to the +Franciscan Orders, and he feared she would grieve if he did not bid +her farewell. + +Just as the letter was finished, a trampling of horses was heard +outside, and Madonna Jacoba appeared; she had felt anxious about her +beloved teacher, and had set forth of her own accord to see him. + +She was only just in time; very soon afterwards, having dictated his +testament and received the last rites, he passed away. + +All Italy mourned him, but the grief of the people of Assisi was +indescribable. On the way to his burial place in San Giorgio the +procession stopped outside San Damiano, so that Clare and her Sisters +might come forth and take a last farewell of their revered Father. + +The death of St. Francis has been well told by Miss Lina Duff Gordon +in _The Story of Assisi_. + +The more one studies the life of this gentle saint, who lived and +worked for the love and glory of God; the devotion shown in his +ardour to save souls; the practical help he gave to all; his complete +abnegation of self, and the happiness which he showed to be the duty +of every one, the more one wonders at the frequent persecution of +Franciscans. They seem to be best off at La Vernia. When we at last +drove away from Assisi, along the dusty roads, which, to those who +read the _Fioretti_, are full of flower-like memories of the +sweet-natured saint and his favourite companions, Fra Leone, Fra +Egidio, Fra Masseo, and others, the sun was setting gloriously; +Subasio glowed like a carbuncle as it reflected the gold and scarlet +splendour opposite, and while this glow faded slowly into purple, the +long line of the houses of Assisi blushed like a rose beside the +mountain. We watched till the purple became a rich grey, painted with +pale brown tints, while the sky just above the ridge of hills was +palest green, changing into yellow above. Long lines of purple barred +these delicate tints, and on the bluer, now cool, sky opposite lay +rounded masses of white cloud with grey under-edges. + +It was dark before we drove up the steep road into Perugia, and +reached our comfortable quarters in the Hotel Brufani. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +ADDIO PERUGIA + + +September had nearly fled, yet the leaves in the Tronto garden had +hardly begun to change colour; the air, however, was now extremely +cold as soon as the sun had departed. The wine-carts which daily +thronged the streets warned us that the vintage would soon be over. + +Day after day, as we looked from our windows in early morning, we saw +flocks of sheep with their attendant shepherds, and herds of goats +coming down in great numbers from the mountains. They trooped past our +windows, and took their way along the dusty road towards the Maremma. + +The poor, tired herdmen looked picturesque in ragged thin trousers +and patched coats; they wore high-peaked hats, and had a sort of +make-believe appearance as they trudged along on foot behind their +beasts. Every now and then came a padrone mounted on a mule, sometimes +on a horse, with quaint trappings; he always carried a long pole and a +huge roll of green baize in front of him. We did not see any women or +children, but we were told that the shepherds take their families +along with them in these spring and autumn migrations, for they will +go back to the hills as soon as winter is over. As we watched them we +felt sadly that we too must soon say goodbye to Perugia. + +One of our last walks was to Monte Luce; and, coming back towards +Perugia, we stopped and watched the sun set; as it sank behind the +purple, bleak hills the sky above them was blood-red; higher up, +stretched in long broad lines, was a mass of greenish slate-coloured +clouds. On the right these were reft, and showed a sea of golden +glory; while, still higher, clouds of paler grey sailed over a rosy +veil that stretched itself across a sky of luminous green. As we went +on, the blood-red tint paled and faded; the clouds above took a darker +hue, and loomed, with storm-laden, broken edges, over the deep valley +that lay between where we stood and the projecting bastion, a view +crowned by the weird tower of San Domenico. This stood up in startling +vividness against the almost appalling gloom that had so quickly +gathered. + +Around us the view opened widely, the triple range of hills showed a +sullen grey of differing tints; on some of them, where the light was +lurid with a tawny tinge, it was plainly raining; yet, although +thunder seemed imminent in the humid clouds that hung lower and lower +over the valley, we were told that probably there would not be a storm +at Perugia. Certainly, we had perfect atmosphere and perfect weather. +The hill-city seemed to us in all ways very healthy--a place where +winter and spring, summer and autumn, might alike be spent with charm +and profit by those travellers who love the nature and art of Italy. + + + + +CHAPTER XV + +LAKE THRASYMENE AND CORTONA + + +The most interesting part of the journey to Cortona is the view of +Lake Thrasymene, with its reedy shores and islands, near the +picturesque little town of Passignano. + + [Illustration: OLIVE BRANCH.] + +As one leaves the station below Cortona, and mounts the hill to the +grandly placed town, Thrasymene comes in sight again, and adds much to +the beauty of the landscape. It is almost worth while to go to Cortona +for the sake of the drive up from the station, and the exquisite view +from the city walls, ponderous marvels of stone-work. But Cortona is +not a desirable place to sleep in. The inn, when we stayed there, was +not at all comfortable, and although the town is placed at such a +height, the moss growing outside the houses tells how damp is the +atmosphere. + +If Perugia had seemed ancient, Cortona appeared antediluvian. +According to the old historians, Perugia sent soldiers to fight +against Troy, but Cortona boasts of having given birth to Dardanus, +the founder of Assisi. + +It was late afternoon when we reached the top of the hill, and when we +took our way from the inn through the hilly, twisting streets to the +Porta Colonia, the sun had already set, although the sky still glowed. + +Lake Thrasymene looked pale and weird against the olive landscape. +Before us was a deep valley backed by a warm, purple mountain ridge; +behind us was the stupendous Etruscan wall. We followed the course of +this down the steep descent, for Cortona is built on the side of a +rocky hill which yet towers above it. The blocks of travertine in +the wall are even larger than those at Perugia. Nestling between them, +we found a wealth of ferns; ceterach and several delicate aspleniums +growing freely among these grim records of past ages. + + [Illustration: OLIVE-TREES, LAKE THRASYMENE.] + +Suddenly, while we were stooping to look closely at the ferns in the +fading light, there came to us, as if from the clouds, a full-voiced +chant; deep organ notes swelled above the sweet tones of treble +voices. + +We looked up and saw that a convent is built above the walls. We stood +for some time on this side of the hill listening to the aerial music. +Behind us was the deep purple of the valley,--the vast plain below was +changing into a brown olive, a wild, desolate-looking expanse; but +there was overhead a peculiar clearness of atmosphere. + +The young moon hung high above the convent towers; its light helped us +to find our way over the rough ground, till at last we reached one of +the city gates, and went back through the dark streets to our inn. + +There was not a deserted or sleepy look about the place. People were +gossiping and trafficking in the streets, and there were plenty of +customers in the shop we went into. + +Our bedroom at the inn looked alarmingly dismal; large and lofty, it +contained an enormous four-poster with a heavy, dark green canopy and +curtains. Everything looked and smelt damp; but when we asked to have +the bed aired, our host said, "Such a thing is impossible at this time +of year." + +Next morning we found a busy market on the hilly Piazza. The town hall +is here, and some women spreading out orange and scarlet handkerchiefs +in the loggia above gave colour to the scene; but the people looked +somewhat squalid and dirty after our bright Perugians; moreover, +Cortona folk are indifferent and sometimes uncourteous to strangers. + + [Illustration: PALAZZO COMUNALE, CORTONA.] + +We turned into a side street to see a fine palazzo; then, crossing +the market-place, went on to the Palazzo Pretoria. The walls of this +building, both in the street and those round the inner quadrangle, are +curiously decorated with small shields bearing the arms of ancient +magistrates; they reminded us of the Bargello walls in Florence. + +We went upstairs, and were told that the custode of the museum was not +in, but if we waited he would be sure to come soon. We had, however, +to send more than one messenger in search of him before he appeared. +There are many Etruscan and some Roman antiquities in this museum, but +its chief treasure is the famous candelabrum. This holds sixteen +lamps; between each lamp is a head of Bacchus, while eight satyrs and +eight sirens, placed alternately, form a marvellously rich border. +Within this circle is represented a fight with wild animals, then +waves and fish, with a Medusa's head as centre. The colour of the +candelabrum, an exquisite mingling of blue and bronze, is beautiful. +Near it is a painting on stone--a female--said to be very ancient. + + [Illustration: BRONZE CANDELABRUM.] + +After the museum we went into the cathedral; the pictures painted by +Luca Signorelli for his native town are here. Luca was born at +Cortona, and was a pupil of Piero della Francesca. Near the choir is a +beautifully carved marble tomb, in which the people believe the Consul +Flaminius was buried after the battle of Thrasymene. + +We had not time to visit the baptistery opposite, which also contains +pictures by Luca and by Fra Angelico. We were anxious to see the view +from the church of Santa Margherita, above the town. Her statue stands +just outside the cathedral; a little dog crouches at her feet. + +Margherita was not a native of Cortona; she lived for pleasure only; +on her repentance she entered a Franciscan convent here, and passed a +life of charity and holy penitence for her sins. Her conversion is +said to have taken place on the sudden death of one of her lovers. + +As he left her house, accompanied by his little dog, he was +assassinated. The little dog came back to Margherita's house, and by +its cries attracted her notice; it then pulled at her gown, till it +induced her to follow to where her lover lay dead. For this reason +Santa Margherita is always represented with a little dog beside her. + +We went along the road past the platform, where there is a fine view +over the Chiana valley, and turned in to old San Domenico to see the +pictures. The campanile of this church is a picturesque feature of +Cortona. We could only see two of the pictures, neither of them very +remarkable. Another was being restored, the custode said. The walk +from this point up to Santa Margherita was delightful. The sunshine +was brilliant, and the air had a delicious touch of autumn crispness. +The way beside the wall is steep, but there are constant views over +the country, and gradually, as we mounted, Lake Thrasymene revealed +itself in pale blue-green loveliness; a projecting hill, however, +partly blocks the view, and only allows about half of the lake's grand +expanse to be seen. The yellow turf was gay with wild flowers, some of +them rare specimens. When we at last reached the church, we were +rewarded for our climb. + +Santa Margherita was designed and probably built by Niccolo and +Giovanni Pisano, but it has been very much restored; the view from +its platform is magnificent. In front is a screen of tall cypresses, +between which the purple hills show exquisitely. The spacious church +originally designed by Niccolo Pisano has been re-modelled, but there +is a beautiful monument to Santa Margherita by Giovanni Pisano. Santa +Margherita's tomb reminded us of Pope Benedict's at Perugia. The saint +lies sleeping with her little dog at her feet; in a bas-relief she +yields her soul to angels, who bear it to Heaven. + +The Fortezza behind the church is said to command a still finer view, +but we were quite satisfied to sit on the flowery turf enjoying the +surpassing loveliness below us. Hills and valleys, far-reaching +plains, the still lake, and the sky overhead, seemed to vie with one +another in beauty, yet to blend into such perfect harmony that the +sensation of gazing was one of complete repose. + +Down a long, long flight of irregular steps we found our way to the +quaint little church of St. Nicholas. While we sat gazing we had +watched a woman go down these steps, so we felt sure they would lead +us somewhere; they took us to the queerest little up-and-down village +imaginable, a village of mendicants; every one begged of us, the +children being very pertinacious. + +One bright-eyed monkey of a boy, with bare brown legs and feet, and a +red cap stuck over one eye, followed us down the broken way, dancing +and chattering as he came. All at once he stopped and pointed to three +younger children, sitting in a mud pool outside a cottage door, even +more ragged and dirty, but quite as bright-looking as he was. + +I asked him if he had a father or a mother, but he shook his head. + +"Oimè, Signora!--io son padre di famiglia," he said, with a merry +laugh, and he pointed again to the black-eyed urchins. + +We joined in his laugh; his face and his tiny outstretched hand were +irresistible. He shouted for joy when we dropped a coin into it; after +this, at the end of every turning we passed, there was our +bright-eyed, dirty little beggar, with outstretched brown hand and the +sauciest of smiles. When we shook our heads at him he capered away, +the soles of his slender brown feet almost as high as his head. + +The little church of San Nicola is hidden away among the houses, with +a quaint little grassed cloister court in front of it, and a row of +ancient cypresses. On one side is a little cloister walk; a +vine-covered pergola supported itself by filling up the small space +inclosed. In the church is an altar picture, painted on both sides, +this is said to be one of the last works of Luca Signorelli. The +fresco, said also to be his, has been much restored. This little +church belonged to a confraternity, and the seats still remain along +the sides of the front court in which the Brethren have sat in +council, or from which they have enjoyed the view over the wall that +borders this quiet cloister. + + * * * * * + +As we drove rapidly downhill to the station, we looked at the country +through a silver veil, for the olive-trees are larger here than at +Perugia, and they literally cover the first part of the steep +descent,--so steep that the road has to descend by terraces zig-zagged +along the side of the hill. + +We had told our red-haired, blue-eyed driver to take us to the +Etruscan grotto, and he presently stopped at a rough break, with large +stones placed so as to form irregular steps. + +The man was in fear lest the horse should run away, and was greatly +excited. He went on chattering patois to that effect; but though I +told him I was quite able to climb up by myself, he would stand at the +top of the steps hauling me up with one hand and flourishing his whip +with the other, as if he were performing a circus feat. + +We left him there, and presently entered a solemn grassed avenue of +gigantic cypresses, their pale grey stems gleaming in the sunlight. +This avenue slopes upward, and at the end the ruined grotto shows +between the lines of tall dark trees; it is very curious, circular in +form, with neatly finished compartments in it for the urns. These have +all been taken away; only part of the circular top of the sepulchre +remains, lying near the ruined stone; but even in its fractured state +it is very impressive; alone on the hillside, screened from the +immense prospect before it by a surrounding of olive-trees. As we +drove down to the railway, far below us, it seemed to us it had been +quite worth while to stay at Cortona for the sake of this wonderful +drive down the steep hillside; but the town is probably safer from +damp in August than we found it in October. + + + + +INDEX + + + Alunno, Niccolo, 75. + Statue of, 81. + + Angelus, the, 136. + + Apennines, 7. + + Assisi, way to, 165. + Albergo Subasio, 176. + Carceri, le, 224. + Chiara Scifi, or S. Clare, conversion of, 244. + Churches-- + S. Chiara, 249. + S. Damiano, 214-216, 252, 283. + S. Francesco, campanile, 180. + Lower church, 179. + Cloister garden, 201. + Upper church, 202. + S. Giorgio, 233. + S. Maria degli Angeli, 172, 260. + Rose garden, 262. + S. Maria Maggiore, 234. + Nuova, 233. + S. Paolo, 233. + Cathedral of S. Rufino, 232. + Fra Egidio, 240. + Elia, 194. + Leone, 168. + Masseo, 273. + S. Francis, birth and parentage, 206; + dream of, 208; + visits lazar house, 210; + breaks with his friends, 211; + his father's anger, 213; + goes to S. Damiano, 214; + conversion of, 215; + markets at Foligno, 215; + renounces the world, 221; + converts Bernard and others, 237; + goes to Rome, 241; + gains Pope's sanction to Order of Brothers Minor, 242; + lives at Rivo Torto, 242; + preaches in S. Rufino, 245; + founds second Order the Poor Clares, 248; + visits the Soldan, 266; + his last visit to La Vernia, 280; + vision of the Stigmata, 282; + visits S. Chiara, 283; + composes Canticle of the Sun, 284; + visits Bishop Guido, 289; + returns to the Portioncula, 291; + Madonna Jacoba di Settesoli visits him, 291; + he dies, 292. + Brother Juniper, 268, 276, 279. + Palazzo Sbaraglini, 239. Scifi, 244. + Piazza S. Maria Maggiore, 221. + Porta Cappucini, 224. Nuova, 214. + La Portioncula, 235, 243, 247, 260, 265, 268. + Rocca di Assisi, 255. + Roman Assisi, 232. + Temple of Minerva, 231. + Tomb of S. Francis, 193. + + + Baglione, Astorre, 48, 49, 52, 53. + Atalanta, 47, 58, 59, 62. + Gianpaolo, 56-58, 60, 61, 63, 65. + Grifonetto, 50-53, 55, 59, 61, 62. + Simonetto, 48. + + Baglioni, the, 45-47. + + Bergamo, Damiano and Stefano da, intarsia by, 126. + + S. Bernardino of Siena, 33, 37. + + Bevignate, Fra, 33. + + Bonfigli, Benedetto, 5, 73. + + + Cacciolfo, 87. + + Cimabue, 190. + Frescoes by, 202. + + Cortona, 299. + Candelabrum, 307. + Cathedral, 308. + Church of S. Domenico, 310. + S. Margherita, 310. + S. Nicholas, 313. + Etruscan grotto, 315. + Palazzo Pretoria, 307. + + + Dante's mention of Assisi and of S. Francis, 175. + + Ducci, Agostino, 105. + + + Foligno, 81. + Cathedral, 82. + S. Maria infra Portas, 83. + S. Niccolo, 83. + Palazzo Deli, 83. + Tribunale del Commune, 82. + + Forte Braccio, 39, 43, 44. + + Fra Angelico, 75, 112. + + + Giotto, 188. + Frescoes by, 188, 192, 195, 205. + + Guidalotti, Abbot of S. Pietro de' Casinensi, 42. + + + Keys of Assisi and Siena, 34. + + + Lorenzetti, Pietro, of Siena, 191. + + Lorenzo, Fiorenzo di, 73, 74, 233. + + + S. Margherita, 309. + + Martini, or Memmi, Simone, of Siena, 192. + + Matarazzo, 46, 54, 64. + + Michelotti, Biordo, 42, 43. + + Montefalco, 83. + + + Nelli, Ottaviano, frescoes by, 82. + + + Perugia, 1. + Belle arti Albergo, 10. + Bellucci, Signor, 17. + S. Bernardino of Siena, 111-118. + Oratory of, 97, 105, 111. + Betti, Signor, 15, 16. + Brufani hotel, 10. + Cappella del Cambio, 72. + Charms, 17-20. + Churches-- + S. Agata, 101. + S. Angelo, 158. + S. Bernardino, 105. + S. Domenico, 23. + S. Ercolano, 14, 133. + S. Lorenzo, 35. + Madonna di Luce, 102. + S. Maria Assunta, 134. + S. Maria Nuova, 40. + S. Pietro de' Casinensi, 119. + S. Severo, 38. + Corso, 32. + Cupa, La, 138. + Daybreak at, 11. + El gran tradimento, 54-57. + Etruscan wall, 15. + Fontana Borghese, 79. + Fonte Maggiore, 33. + Griffin, 34. + Market, 24. + Monte Luce, 134. + Mosaic pavement, 148. + Palazzo Antinori, 151. + Baglione, 14. + Canonica, 33. + del Capitano del Popolo, 27. + Pubblico, or Comunale, 32, 34, 35. + Passeggiata Pubblica, 119. + Perugino, 4, 5, 73. + House of, 101. + Piazza del Duomo, 32, 35, 41. + dei Gigli, 38. + Grimani, 16. + Monte Sole, 38. + del Papa, 36. + Sopra Mura, 24. + Vittor Emanuele, 14. + Pinacoteca, 69, 75. + Pope Benedict XI., statue of, 24. + Boniface, 123. + Julius III., statue of, 36. + Paul III., 13, 66. + Porta Augusta, 151, 152. + Buligaia, 156. + Costanzo, 119, 129. + Eburnea, 142. + Marzia, 13, 15. + S. Pietro, 129. + S. Angelo, 158. + Susanna, 13. + Sala del Cambio, 69, 70. + Tombs of the Volumnii, 130. + Via Appia, 143. + Women, 28, 29, 30. + + Piccinino, Nicola, 44. + + Piero della Francesca, 69, 73. + + Pinturicchio, 87-89. + + Pisano, Giovanni, 33, 34, 184. + + Pisano, Nicolo, 33. + + Ponte San Giovanni, 80. + Sunsets, 128. + Veduta, La, 119. + + + Raffaelle, 3, 4. + + Rocca di Vicenza, 87. + + Rossi, 34. + + + Sabatier, Monsieur Paul, 171, 206. + + Sanzio, Giovanni, 3. + + Savonarola, 37. + + Spello, 84. + Amphitheatre, 91. + Capuchin Convent, 91. + Churches-- + Santa Maria Maggiore, 87. + Capella del Sacramento, 87. + Frescoes in, 87. + San Andrea, 89. + Porta Augusta, 92. + Porta Veneris of Hispellum, 84. + + Spoleto, 43, 200, 209. + + Subasio, Monte, 7, 80, 81. + + + Tasso, Domenico del, intarsia by, 70. + + Thrasymene, Lake of, 300. + + Trevi, 87. + + + Ugolino, Bishop of Ostia, 265. + + + Vannucci, Cristoforo, 4. + Vannucci, Pietro, 4, 70. + La Vernia, 224. + S. Vincent Ferrier, 113. + + + Witches, belief, in, 20. + + + + + Printed by + MORRISON & GIBB LIMITED + Edinburgh + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 43754 *** |