this time he contented himself with drawing up his
garments round his neck and sitting down in the shallow water among
the crowd who were splashing about and jestingly baptizing one
another. The prohibition of Jordan water was to appease the shipmen;
for it was thought to cause storms when carried over the sea.

We have not time to follow Fabri in more detail. On 24 August he left
Jerusalem with a small company of pilgrims who had not been deterred
from undertaking the journey to Sinai. There was much dispute about
the route they should follow. Some were for going by sea to
Alexandria, others wished to march down the sea coast; but finally
they made up their minds to go straight South across the desert.
Starting from Gaza on 9 September they reached St. Catherine's on the
22nd. Five days of very hard work sufficed for them to see all the
sacred sites and ascend the many towering peaks; and here again Fabri
impressed upon his companions that the days of miracles were over, and
that in these evil times God would show no more. On 27 September they
set forth again, and journeying through Midian reached Cairo on 8
October; having picked up on the shore of the Red Sea oyster shells
which should be an abiding witness of their pilgrimage. On 5 November
they set sail from Alexandria; but summer had departed from the sea,
and the winds blew obstinately. Three times they beat up to Cape
Malea, before they could round the point and make sail for the North;
and it was not till 8 Jan. 1484 that they landed in Venice. The
pilgrimage was over after seven months, and with what Guilford's
chaplain calls 'large departing of our money'.

X

THE TRANSALPINE RENAISSANCE

Hitherto we have viewed the age mainly through the personality of
individuals. It remains to consider some of the features of the
Renaissance when it had spread across the Alps--to France, to Spain,
to Switzerland, to Germany, to England--and some of the contrasts that
it presents with the earlier movement in Italy. The story of the
Italian Renaissance has often been told; and we need not go back upon
it here. On the side of the revival of learning it was without doubt
the great age. The importance of its discoveries, the fervour of its
enthusiasm have never been equalled. But though it remains
pre-eminent, the period that followed it has an interest of its own
which is hardly less keen and presents the real issues at stake in a
clearer light. Awakened Italy fel