representations of the Blessed Virgin without touching on doctrines
such as constitute the principal differences between the creeds of
Christendom. I have had to ascend most perilous heights, to dive
into terribly obscure depths. Not for worlds would I be guilty of a
scoffing allusion to any belief or any object held sacred by sincere
and earnest hearts; but neither has it been possible for me to write
in a tone of acquiescence, where I altogether differ in feeling
and opinion. On this point I shall need, and feel sure that I shall
obtain, the generous construction of readers of all persuasions.




INTRODUCTION


I. ORIGIN AND HISTORY OF THE EFFIGIES OF THE MADONNA.

Through all the most beautiful and precious productions of human
genius and human skill which the middle ages and the _renaissance_
have bequeathed to us, we trace, more or less developed, more or less
apparent, present in shape before us, or suggested through inevitable
associations, one prevailing idea: it is that of an impersonation in
the feminine character of beneficence, purity, and power, standing
between an offended Deity and poor, sinning, suffering humanity, and
clothed in the visible form of Mary, the Mother of our Lord.

To the Roman Catholics this idea remains an indisputable religious
truth of the highest import. Those of a different creed may think fit
to dispose of the whole subject of the Madonna either as a form of