her birth of the Virgin in which St. Anne wants so little
keeping up.

I have explained in my book Ex Voto, but should perhaps repeat here,
that the distinguishing characteristic of the Birth of the Virgin,
as rendered by Valsesian artists, is that St. Anne always has eggs
immediately after the infant is born, and usually a good deal more,
whereas the Madonna never has anything to eat or drink. The eggs
are in accordance with a custom that still prevails among the
peasant classes in the Valsesia, where women on giving birth to a
child generally are given a sabaglione--an egg beaten up with a
little wine, or rum, and sugar. East of Milan the Virgin's mother
does not have eggs, and I suppose, from the absence of the eggs at
Oropa, that the custom above referred to does not prevail in the
Biellese district. The Virgin also is invariably washed. St. John
the Baptist, when he is born at all, which is not very often, is
also washed; but I have not observed that St. Elizabeth has anything
like the attention paid her that is given to St. Anne. What,
however, is wanting here at Oropa in meat and drink is made up in
Cupids; they swarm like flies on the walls, clouds, cornices, and
capitals of columns.

Against the right-hand wall are two lady-helps, each warming a towel
at a glowing fire, to be ready against the baby should come out of
its bath; while in the right-hand foreground we have the levatrice,
who having discharged her task, and being now so disposed, has
removed the bottle from the chimney-piece, and put it near some
bread, fruit and a chicken, over which she is about to discuss the
confinement with two other gossips. The levatrice is a very
characteristic figure, but the best in the chapel is the one of the
head-nurse, near the middle of the composition; she has now the
infant in full charge, and is showing it to St. Joachim, with an
expression as though she were telling him that her husband was a
merry man. I am afraid Shakespeare was dead before the sculptor was
born, otherwise I should have felt certain that he had drawn
Juliet's nurse from this figure. As for the little Virgin herself,
I believe her to be a fine boy of about ten months old. Viewing the
work as a whole, if I only felt more sure what artistic merit really
is, I should say that, though the chapel cannot be rated very highly
from some standpoints, there are others from which it may be praised
warmly enough. It is innocent of anatomy-worshi