Sopra d'una dura croce,
Figlio bello! Figlio dolce!

but consoles the disconsolate Mother, doomed to honour for the sake of
us sinners--

Sei arrivata a tanti onori
Per noi altri Peccatori!

and ends by begging an alms--

Non ti vo' piu infastidire,
Bella Signora; so chi hai a fare.
Dona la limosinella
A sta povera Zingarella
true repentance and eternal life.

Vo' una vera contrizione
Per la tua intercezione,
Accio st' alma dopo morte
Tragga alle celesti porte!

And so the story ends.

There can be no doubt, I think, that we have here the original theme
of Giorgione's picture, and perhaps of others.

In the Provencal ballad, there are three gypsies, men, not women,
introduced, who tell the fortune of the Virgin and Joseph, as well
as that of the Child, and end by begging alms "to wet their thirsty
throats." Of this version there is a very spirited and characteristic
translation by Mr. Kenyon, under the title of "a Gypsy Carol."[1]

[Footnote 1: A Day at Tivoli, with other Verses, by John Kenyon, p.
149.]

THE RETURN FROM EGYPT.

According to some authorities, the Holy Family sojourned in Egypt
during a period of seven years, but others assert that they returned
to Judea at the end of two years.

In general the painters have expressed the Return from Egypt by
exhibiting Jesus as no longer an infant sustained in his mother's
arms, but as a boy walking at her side. In a picture by Francesco
Vanni, he is a boy about two or three years old, and carries a little
basket full of carpenter's tools. The occasion of the Flight and
Return is indicated by three or four of the martyred Innocents, who
are lying on the ground. In a picture by Domenico Feti two of the
Innocents are lying dead on the roadside. In a very graceful, animated
picture by Rubens, Mary and Joseph lead the young Christ between them,
and the Virgin wears a large straw hat.

HISTORICAL SUBJECTS.

PART III.

THE LIFE OF THE VIRGIN MARY FROM THE SOJOURN IN EGYPT TO THE
CRUCIFIXION OF OUR LORD.

1. THE HOLY FAMILY. 2. THE VIRGIN SEEKS HER SON. 3. THE DEATH OF
JOSEPH. 4. THE MARRIAGE AT CANA. 5. "LO SPASIMO." 6. THE CRUCIFIXION.
7. THE DESCENT FROM THE CROSS. 8. THE ENTOMBMENT.

THE HOLY FAMILY.

When the Holy Family under divine protection, had returned safely from
their sojourn in Egypt, they were about to repair to Bethlehem; but
Joseph hearing that Archelaus "did reign in Judea in the room of h