ing away with him from this centre of the old Umbrian
art-world a considerably larger stock of ideas and information upon the
subject than he carried thither with him.

But now for the special experience which it is my present object to
share with the reader. We went as a matter of course into the Duomo or
cathedral. We did not enter the huge old church in the hope of seeing
its special and much-boasted treasure, "the marriage-ring of the Virgin
Mary." And if such had been our object, it would have been baffled, for
the ring in its casket of mediaeval jeweler's work (which really is
worth seeing, as far as may be judged from engravings of it) is only
shown on St. Joseph's Day; and being locked up under Heaven knows how
many different keys, all in the custody of an equal number of
ecclesiastical bigwigs, no human power short, I suppose, of that of the
pope in person, can get at the relic on any other occasion. But what we
did see--what instantly arrested and riveted our attention--was a modern
painted window which has been put up for the adornment of the chapel
where the ring is kept. It is by far the finest specimen of modern
painted glass which I have seen in any country; and I have seen a great
deal of all the manufactures, English, Belgian and Bavarian, which have
recently been competing for the approval of the artistic world. The
window in question in the cathedral at Perugia fills a plain Gothic arch
seven metres in height by one metre eighty-five centimetres in width,
and it is divided into two parts by a slender column of stone eighteen
centimetres broad. The window which fills this space is occupied by a
representation of one subject only, the Virgin and Child in--or rather
sitting in front of--the stable; Saint Joseph leaning on his staff and
gazing at the Divine Infant; a knot of shepherds in adoration, some
bringing gifts and others playing on bagpipes, exactly similar to the
instruments still used in the Neapolitan Apennines; other figures in the
middle distance; beyond these a delicious bit of mountain-landscape; "a
glory" above; and in the arch of the window a half-figure representation
of God the Father. The composition, drawing and disposition of this
design, which I had subsequently an opportunity of examining in the
cartoon, is truly masterly. The figure of the Virgin, with long flowing
locks of the richest and most sunny auburn, is of very great beauty and
quite Peruginesque in style and conception. He