to her mother; the face of Herodias is almost entirely faded, which may
be a farther guarantee to you of the safety of the rest. The subject of
the Apocalypse, highest on the right, is one of the most interesting
mythic pictures in Florence; nor do I know any other so completely
rendering the meaning of the scene between the woman in the wilderness,
and the Dragon enemy. But it cannot be seen from the floor level: and I
have no power of showing its beauty in words.]

But I can assure you, in the first place, that St. Louis is by no means
altogether new. I have been up at it, and found most lovely and true
colour left in many parts: the crown, which you will find, after our
mornings at the Spanish chapel, is of importance, nearly untouched; the
lines of the features and hair, though all more or less reproduced,
still of definite and notable character; and the junction throughout of
added colour so careful, that the harmony of the whole, if not delicate
with its old tenderness, is at least, in its coarser way, solemn and
unbroken. Such as the figure remains, it still possesses extreme
beauty--profoundest interest. And, as you can see it from below with
your glass, it leaves little to be desired, and may be dwelt upon with
more profit than nine out of ten of the renowned pictures of the
Tribune or the Pitti. You will enter into the spirit of it better if I
first translate for you a little piece from the Fioretti di San
Francesco.

_"How St. Louis, King of France, went personally in the guise of a
pilgrim, to Perugia, to visit the holy Brother Giles._--St. Louis,
King of France, went on pilgrimage to visit the sanctuaries of the
world; and hearing the most great fame of the holiness of Brother
Giles, who had been among the first companions of St. Francis, put it
in his heart, and determined assuredly that he would visit him