[12] 2 Cel., 3, 110; Rule of 1221, _cap._ 10.

[13] See the reference to the sources after the Canticle of the
Sun.

[14] 2 Cel., 3, 138.

[15] This incident appeared to the authors so peculiar that they
emphasized it with an _ut oculis videmus_. 2 Cel., 3, 67;
_Spec._, 119a.

[16] _Spec._, 123a; 2 Cel., 3, 58.

[17] I have combined Celano's narrative with that of the
Conformities. The details given in the latter document appear to
me entirely worthy of faith. It is easy to see, however, why
Celano omitted them, and it would be difficult to explain how
they could have been later invented. 2 Cel., 3, 138; _Conform._,
42b, 2; 119b, 1; 184b, 2; 239a, 2; _Spec._, 123a ff.; _Fior._,
19.

[18] After the Assisan MS., 338, f^o 33a. Vide p. 354. Father
Panfilo da Magliano has already published it after this
manuscript: _Storia compendiosa di San Francesco_, Rome, 2
vols., 18mo, 1874-1876. The Conformities, 202b, 2-203a 1, give a
version of it which differs from this only by insignificant
variations. The learned philologue Monaci has established a very
remarkable critical text in his _Crestomazia italiana dei primi
secoli_. Citta di Castello, fas. i., 1889, 8vo, pp. 29-31. This
thoroughly scrupulous work dispenses me from indicating
manuscripts and editions more at length.

[19] Matthew Arnold, Essays in Criticism, First Series.
Macmillan & Company, 1883.

[20] 2 Cel., 3, 58; _Spec._, 123a.

[21] _Spec._, 124a. Cf. _Miscellanea_ (1889), iv., p. 88.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XIX

THE LAST YEAR

September, 1225-End of September, 1226

What did Ugolini think when they told him that Francis was planning to
send his friars, transformed into _Joculatores Domini_, to sing up and
down the country the Canticle of Brother Sun? Perhaps he never heard of
it. His _protege_ finally decided to accept his invitation and left St.
Damian in the course of the month of September.

The landscape which lies before the eyes of the traveller from Assisi,
when he suddenly emerges upon the plain of Rieti, is one of the most
beautiful in Europe. From Terni the road follows the sinuous course of
the Velino, passes not far from the famous cascades, whose clouds of
mist are visible, and then plunges into the defiles in whose depths the
torrent rushes noi