study the Umbrian school at leisure; and last, but not least, the Sala
del Cambio, or Hall of Exchange, where Perugino may be seen in his
glory. It is not a hall of imposing size, so that nothing interferes
with the impression of the frescoes which gaze upon you from every
side as you enter. Or no; they do not gaze upon you nor return your
glance, but look sweetly and serenely forth, as if with eyes never
bent on earthly things. The right-hand wall is dedicated to the sibyls
and prophets, the left to the greatest sages and heroes of antiquity.
There is something capricious or else enigmatical in the mode of
presenting many of them--the dress, attitude and general appearance
often suggest a very different person from the one intended--but the
grace and loveliness of some, the dignity and elevation of others, the
expression of wisdom in this face, of celestial courage in that, the
calm and purity and beauty of all, give them an indescribable charm
and potency. At the end of the room facing the door are the "Nativity"
and "Transfiguration," the latter, infinitely beautiful and religious,
full of quiet concentrated feeling. We were none of us critics: none
of us had got beyond the stage when the sentiment of a work of art is
what most affects our enjoyment of it; and we all confessed how much
more impressive to us was this Transfiguration, with its three quiet
spectators, than the world-famous one at the Vatican. Although
there are masterpieces of Perugino's in nearly every great European
collection, I cannot but think one must go to Perugia to appreciate
fully the limpid clearness, the pensive, tranquil suavity, which
reigns throughout his pictures in the countenances, the landscape, the
atmosphere.

[Illustration: TODI.]

We found it hard to rob Perugia even of a day for a pilgrimage to the