ipture history. On one
side of the sarcophagus is Christ enthroned, with Can Mastino kneeling
before Him; on the other, Christ is represented in the mystical form,
half-rising from the tomb, meant, I believe, to be at once typical of
His passion and resurrection. The lateral panels are occupied by statues
of saints. At one extremity of the sarcophagus is the Crucifixion; at
the other, a noble statue of Fortitude, with a lion's skin thrown over
her shoulders, its head forming a shield upon her breast, her flowing
hair bound with a narrow fillet, and a three-edged sword in her
gauntleted right hand, drawn back sternly behind her thigh, while, in
her left, she bears high the shield of the Scalas.

Sec. LVI. Close to this monument is another, the stateliest and most
sumptuous of the three; it first arrests the eye of the stranger, and
long detains it,--a many-pinnacled pile surrounded by niches with
statues of the warrior saints.

It is beautiful, for it still belongs to the noble time, the latter part
of the fourteenth century; but its work is coarser than that of the
other, and its pride may well prepare us to learn that it was built for
himself, in his own lifetime, by the man whose statue crowns it, Can
Signorio della Scala. Now observe, for this is infinitely significant.
Can Mastino II. was feeble and wicked, and began the ruin of his house;
his sarcophagus is the first which bears upon it the image of a virtue,
but he lays claim only to Fortitude. Can Signorio was twice a
fratricide, the last time when he lay upon his death-bed: _his_ tomb
bears upon its gables the images of six virtues,--Faith, Hope, Charity,
Prudence, and (I believe) Justice and Fortitude.

Sec. LVII. Let us now return to Venice, where, in the second chapel
counting from right to left, at the west end of the Church of the Frari,
there is a very early fourteenth, or perhaps late thirteenth, century
tomb, another exquisite example of the perfect Gothic form. It is a
knight's; but there is no inscription upon it, and his name is unknown.
It consists of a sarcophagus, supported on bold brackets against the
chapel wall, bearing the recumbent figure, protected by a simple canopy
in the form of a pointed arch, pinnacled by the knight's crest; beneath
which the shadowy space is painted dark blue, and strewn with stars. The
statue itself is rudely carved; but its lines, as seen from the intended
distance, are both tender and masterly. The knight is laid i