of St. Francis; and that on each side of the window are paintings of
St. Louis of Toulouse, St. Louis king of France, St. Elizabeth, of
Hungary, and St. Claire,--"all much restored and repainted." Under such
recommendation, the frescos are not likely to be much sought after; and
accordingly, as I was at work in the chapel this morning, Sunday, 6th
September, 1874, two nice-looking Englishmen, under guard of their
valet de place, passed the chapel without so much as looking in.

You will perhaps stay a little longer in it with me, good reader, and
find out gradually where you are. Namely, in the most interesting and
perfect little Gothic chapel in all Italy--so far as I know or can
hear. There is no other of the great time which has all its frescos in
their place. The Arena, though far larger, is of earlier date--not pure
Gothic, nor showing Giotto's full force. The lower chapel at Assisi is
not Gothic at all, and is still only of Giotto's middle time. You have
here, developed Gothic, with Giotto in his consummate strength, and
nothing lost, in form, of the complete design.

By restoration--judicious restoration, as Mr. Murray usually calls it
--there is no saying how much you have lost, Putting the question of
restoration out of your mind, however, for a while, think where you
are, and what you have got to look at.

You are in the chapel next the high altar of the great Franciscan
church of Florence. A few hundred yards west of you, within ten
minutes' walk, is the Baptistery of Florence. And five minutes' walk
west of that is the great Dominican church of Florence, Santa Maria
Novella.

Get this little bit of geography, and architectural fact, well into