Year: 1859




and shelf of books, from wlssl


order is accustomed to read during
pasts, both for the purpose of dscourS
yearnings for conversation natural on "
casions, and also to assist in withdrawn
wandering thoughts of the brethren from secula7V
topics. They never speak to each other, even
on these occasions, we are told, except to ask
for something they may want-a reticence
which they did not violate even when Cosmo di
Medcis dined with them, and Queen of France
waited on their table-the two great events in
the history of the society, of which prodigious
frescoes on the walls bear record.


At the end of the hall was q fresco designed
to represent the Last Supper, after the manner
of Leonardo Da Vinci and am bound to say
it was long way after it, But what struck
me about it was the burden Of provisions and
joints under which the table groaned, and the
prominence given to the prodigous ham in the
centre. Our guide informed us with undisguis-
cd pride that it was the work of one Of the
fraternity The artist evidently had felt that,
though the somewhat lenten fare provided by
Da |inc may have answered in former times.
something more substantial was required by the
apostles of this generation Another thing
struck me about this fresco The bretheren eat
no meat, nor even eggs or fish. on certain fast
days, nor do they speak at table; and yet the
apostles are represented indulging themselves
IN all the delicaces of the season, their Master
in the attitude of conversing with them freely,
according to the sacred record


After spending over an hour in wandering
from room to room, each having the same gener-
al characteristics asked to be shown the place
where they buried their dead. They took me
out again into the area, with which have al.
ready said the costels communicates. In PASS
ing to 1t through the hail. was little start
led by the fresco OF Greclan sage near the
door, of colossal size, with his finger on his
mouth, as if prescribing silence, and beside him
famous goose, its open mouth stopped with a
wedge-shaped stone, also inculcating the same
lesson. From the selection of instructors it is
evident that the artist intended the lesson should
be Ineligible to every grade of understanding.


a plot OF ground, about thirty by forty leet,
IN the area, was shown to us as the last resting
place of all OF the brethren who had died since
the foundation of the convent, nearly six humid
red years ago. When expressed my surprise
that so small space should have answered for
the burial of so many, was told that they used
no collins that in that soil decomposition went
on so fast that no traces of body remained
after lying in it five years that they erected no
tombstones, and consequently they kept on
burylng in the same little plot, and might
continue to do so for centuries to come, with.
out disturbing any one's visible remains. When
| say they erect no tombstones, mean to men,
bers OF their own fraternity. Strangers who
die there, especially if wealthy or distinguished
enough to make it an object, have tablets pla0
over their remains but they are inferred


different plat of ground, separated by !.


from that which is devoted to the monI


All these spacious and costly acc


representing caIG2lm


half milhen -