, and the work here, whatever it may once have been, is now
no longer remarkable.

2. The Salutation of Mary by Elizabeth. This group, again, bears no
analogy to the Salutation chapel at Varallo, in which Tabachetti's share
was so small that it cannot be considered as in any way his. It is not
to be expected, therefore, that the Saas chapel should follow the Varallo
one. The figures, four in number, are pleasing and well arranged. St.
Joseph, St. Elizabeth, and St. Zacharias are all talking at once. The
Virgin is alone silent.

3. The Nativity is much damaged and hard to see. The treatment bears no
analogy to that adopted by Gaudenzio Ferrari at Varallo. There is one
pleasing young shepherd standing against the wall, but some figures have
no doubt (as in others of the chapels) disappeared, and those that remain
have been so shifted from their original positions that very little idea
can be formed of what the group was like when Tabachetti left it.

4. The Purification. I can hardly say why this chapel should remind me,
as it does, of the Circumcision chapel at Varallo, for there are more
figures here than space at Varallo will allow. It cannot be pretended
that any single figure is of extraordinary merit, but amongst them they
tell their story with excellent effect. Two, those of St. Joseph and St.
Anna (?), that doubtless were once more important factors in the drama,
are now so much in corners near the window that they can hardly be seen.

5. The Dispute in the Temple. This subject is not treated at Varallo.
Here at Saas there are only six doctors now; whether or no there were
originally more cannot be determined.

6. The Agony in the Garden. Tabachetti had no chapel with this subject
at Varallo, and there is no resemblance between the Saas chapel and that
by D'Enrico. The figures are no doubt approximately in their original
positions, but I have no confidence that I have rearranged them
correctly. They were in such confusion when I first saw them that the
Rev. E. J. Selwyn and myself determined to rearrange them. They have
doubtless been shifted more than once since Tabachetti left them. The
sleeping figures are all good. St. James is perhaps a little prosaic.
One Roman soldier who is coming into the garden with a lantern, and
motioning silence with his hand, does duty for the others that are to
follow him. I should think more than one of these figures is actually
carved in wood by Tabachet