ial, gleaming with gold, irrigated by
limpid streams, glorious with beautiful flowerets that bloom amid the
verdure, the exuberance of nature harmonizing marvelously with the joy
of the elect.

And in that midst their sportive pennons waved
Thousands of angels, in resplendence each
Distinct and quaint adornment. At their glee
And carol smiled the Lovely One of heaven
That joy was in the eyes of all the blest.[30]

Not unworthy of the divine poet is Angelico's heavenly composition in
which as in the Dantesque Paradise is shed

Light intellectual replete with love,
Love of true happiness, replete with joy,
Joy, that transcends all sweetness of delight.[31]

Together with these verses of Dante, Fra Angelico, while endeavouring
to depict the dance of the blessed, may well have called to mind these
verses of a sacred laud, which is said to be by Iacopone da Todi and
(whether his or not) describes in popular language the celestial
_carola_[32] of the saints:

Una rota si fa in cielo
De tutti i Santi in quel zardino,
La ove sta l'amor divino
Che s'infiamma de l'amore.

In quella rota vano i Santi
Et li Angioli tutti quanti;
A quello Sposo van davanti:
Tutti danzan per amore.

In quella corte e un' alegreza
D' un amor dismisuranza:
Tutti vanno ad una danza
Per amor del Salvatore.

Son vestiti di vergato,
Bianco, rosso e frammezzato;
Le ghirlande in mezo el capo:
Ben mi pareno amatori.

Tutti quanti con ghirlandi,
Paren giovin' de trent' anni:
Quella corte se rinfranchi,
Ogni cosa e piena d'amore.

Le ghirlande son fiorite,
Piu che l'oro son chiarite:
Ornate son di margarite,
Divisate di colore, ecc.[33]

Above from the heavenly Jerusalem stream rays of golden light, and two
angels who are passing into the portal, are aerial and luminous, as
bright and splendid spirits.

[Illustration: The dance of the blessed.
(Details from the Last Judgment)]

Less original is the representation of Hell, which is copied straight
from the fresco in the Pisan Camposanto. Not only the same division of
_bolge_ (hell-pits), but even the repetition of motives in the souls
that fill them; the only and notable difference is the figure of
Lucifer which instead of being in the centre occupies the base of the
picture. At the summit "Eriton cruda, che richiamava l'ombre a' corpi
sui," is precisely in the same attitude as in the Pisan Camposanto, a