s enigmatic visions, and his false certitude about the
Divine intentions, never ceased, in his own large soul, to be ennobled
by that fervid piety, that passionate sense of the infinite, that active
sympathy, that clear-sighted demand for the subjection of selfish
interests to the general good, which he had in common with the greatest
of mankind. But for the mass of his audience all the pregnancy of his
preaching lay in his strong assertion of supernatural claims, in his
denunciatory visions, in the false certitude which gave his sermons the
interest of a political bulletin; and having once held that audience in
his mastery, it was necessary to his nature--it was necessary for their
welfare--that he should _keep_ the mastery. The effect was inevitable.
No man ever struggled to retain power over a mixed multitude without
suffering vitiation; his standard must be their lower needs and not his
own best insight.

The mysteries of human character have seldom been presented in a way
more fitted to check the judgments of facile knowingness than in
Girolamo Savonarola; but we can give him a reverence that needs no
shutting of the eyes to fact, if we regard his life as a drama in which
there were great inward modifications accompanying the outward changes.
And up to this period, when his more direct action on political affairs
had only just begun, it is probable that his imperious need of
ascendancy had burned undiscernibly in the strong flame of his zeal for
God and man.

It was the fashion of old, when an ox was led out for sacrifice to
Jupiter, to chalk the dark spots, and give the offering a false show of
unblemished whiteness. Let us fling away the chalk, and boldly say,--
the victim is spotted, but it is not therefore in vain that his mighty
heart is laid on the altar of men's highest hopes.

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX.

THE GARMENT OF FEAR.

At six o'clock that evening most people in Florence were glad the
entrance of the new Charlemagne was fairly over. Doubtless when the
roll of drums, the blast of trumpets, and the tramp of horses along the
Pisan road began to mingle with the pealing of the excited bells, it was
a grand moment for those who were stationed on turreted roofs, and could
see the long-winding terrible pomp on the background of the green hills
and valley. There was no sunshine to light up the splendour of banners,
and spears, and plumes, and silken surcoats, but there was no thick
cloud of dust to hid