New-York tribune., 1903-01-18

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,ver. quickly fell in with the valorous ideas OF
-ra loader Provenzano Salvani, and the ENJOYS
we're sent back to Their masters with this mes
o. we have heard and understood your
.-,-5- and we bid you return to the Cap
-, -,-,e-al and the officials of your Commune,
"a tn Them that We viii give them our reply
4aoa q, face" Every preparation was thereupon
made for a desperate struggle. Posting their
drummer Cerreto Ceccoliri. on The top OF the
J,a7szzo Narescotti to watch the fray and to
-erort zhat he saw to the non-combatants left
habi-5 The Sienese issued forth with their
-srra.eio OF battle-car, and proceeded TO cleanse
-ba landscape with the blood of so many OF
t},air foes that the few Florentines left alive
fsfr1v prayed TO be made prisoners. No fewer
shan -hirty-six Of them were glad to allow
market woman, one Usiglia, TO bind them with
hs~ carriers. and followed her back to the city
~as Httle chickens follow a hen In the hour
Ct their triumph. returning to the city with
spons and captiyes, the Sienese permitted them
selves a stroke Of sardonic humor:
A. The head of the procession they placed one
NJ The Florrntine ambassadors who had brought
+b.rr TWO davs before the insulting message OF
his S5-rory. He passed along, his hands bound
behind him and seated on an ass with his head
tov-a~7 lis tail Tied to the beast and trailing
behind il ia the dust OF the highway, was the
ancient standard Of Florence
i was the rroudest day in siena's history.
Ney.- again was she to know such glory. The
hard won pre-eninence of the city was to suffer
shock after shock and though the old walls re-
sounded again with shouts Of triumph. they
u,.ra 10 witness many q humiliation until in
The middle Of The sixteenth century, Cosimo de
ye5fci took possession Of the city by virtue OF
an arrangement wiki Philip of Spain, then in
control of its Gestini.s, and merged 1t IN the
Tuscan state over which he ruled, thus carry
ing his Florentires to their long sought goal
i u.s. On The whole. a tragic story that MI
Douglas tells though the touch OF comedy is
rarely absent. The second half Of his volume
is devoted TO the art Of Sena, its architecture,
s,1l1ture and painting IN all three divisions
f7a has inspiring material with which TO deal
The cathedral with its exquisite FACADE, is one
n the nohIest in Italy: the PalaZzo Pubblco,
with Us beautiful tower, is a masterpiece IN
us kind and there are many other stately
buildings in Siena. Baldassare Peruzzi, one OF
the best architects Of the Renaissance, was
-ienese In sculpture the city benefited greatly
By the labors Of the Pisani, and it can claim
that epoch making master, Jacopo Della Querold
for its own. The list Of its painters is adorned
with some. Tesplendent names, those OF Ducclo'
Sirnone Martini IiDpo Mennii, and the Loren
zetti among them. followed in later times by
81
r7alntirg for the Library of the Cathedral lloSe
fascinating panels in commemoraton Of the lie
OF -4Ineas Sylvius Piccolonlini, which we are
glad TO fnd Mr.. Douglas appTaising with sound
critical reservations, but in tone more apprecl-
atiye than that which appears 10 nave com
1nended itself in recent years to more than one
writer on the Cmbrian master. This historian
IS indeed unusually sympathetic. and some OF
his cterizations are delightfully."- apt
So5on7a for example. is most feIlcltousiE oe-
scrfred as "a kind Of artistic DR.. JekYlI and MI
Hyde." and nothing could better sum up Becca-
fl,rI who had scarcely spark Of genius, thah
the remark that his career reseInbled that OF
one Of Dr. Smiles heroes" The author has some
thing TO say also about the pavement masters
the coldsuiths the woodcarvers and mlnlatur-
lists. tie makers Of stained glass and medals
and The potters, and he has concluding chap
ter treating Of the little done for literature
and science by natives of Siena- There Is a
good index, and in addition to the excellent nan
tones from photographs Of buildings statuary
and paintings, scattered laVishly through lhe
yalrrra there are several serviceable maps.
Altogether this is a worknanlike and valuable
rrr-rif-5-tor to italian history.