but six thousand; but the thirty-four thousand then left to be accounted for did not all perish in the siege, for seven hundred families, preferring exile to slavery, wandered forth into voluntary banishment. surrounding country. Thither every | of April, 1555, Siena surrendered. Beevening almost all Siena resorts to breathe fore the siege it numbered forty thousand fresh air and to see and be seen. To go inhabitants, at its close there remained back three hundred years: when Charles V. heard of the surrender of the Spanish garrison he was furious, and the year 1553 saw a Spanish army of vengeance carrying fire and sword into the Sienese territory. This army was checked by the unexpected and heroic resistance of the little town of Montalcino, which was closely invested for eighty days. But in the following year came another army, under the ferocious Marignano, and this time the Spaniards penetrated to the very walls of the city, and twenty-five thousand Spaniards and soldiers of Cosimo bivouacked before the gates. All the citizens were called to arms, and the priests and monks were compelled to work on the fortifications. Three ladies, named Forteguerri, Piccolomini, and Fausti, organized three battalions of women. Three thousand maidens worked on the ramparts and in the trenches. The general-in-chief was Pietro Strozzi, a Florentine exile, and a bitter personal enemy of Cosimo. He determined to relieve Siena by a coup de-main against Florence. Marignano marched to prevent him. Twe two armies met at Marciano, where the Sienese suffered the crushing defeat of Scannagallo, caused by the treachery of the commander of the French cavalry in the service of Siena, who had been bought by Marignano with the price of twelve tin flasks filled with pieces of gold. The Sienese lost all their artillery and fiftyfive banners, while twelve thousand men fell either killed or wounded. The siege now became more strict and more dreadful—little or no quarter was given. Fifteen hundred peasants, caught by Marignano while endeavoring to take supplies into the city, were hanged within sight of the despairing citizens, so that a Spanish historian, an eye-witness, adds: "The trees seemed to produce more dead bodies of men than leaves." Still the citizens would not yield, and they even carried their patriotism to the height of inhumanity to their own flesh and blood, several times turning out of the gates hundreds of "useless mouths," consisting of the old, the sick, the infirm, and of women and children, who either perished by the Spanish sword, or became the prey of wild beasts, or died from cold and hunger. Within the city, to the ravages of the sword and of famine were added those of pestilence, and at length, on the 17th It is impossible not to sympathize with one's whole heart with a gallant little people thus protracting a struggle for liberty and their ancient independence, almost to the point of extermination, against such a ruler as Charles V., and such a general as Marignano; but it is just to remember that the republic of Siena, during the whole of its existence, had displayed more and worse vices than did even the little republics and states of ancient Greece. There was never an end to the cruel feuds and bitter party hatreds which rent asunder the city state; and he who had rendered the greatest service to the republic was the most likely to become the object of the envy and hatred of his fellow-citizens, who would often even clamor for his blood. Aonio Paleario, of whom I shall have occasion shortly to speak, thus writes of the republic in 1530: "The city rises on delightful hills, its territory is fertile and produces everything in abundance, but discord arms the citi zens against one another, and all their energy is consumed in factions; " and it is worthy of notice that it was unsafe for him to settle in Siena until the Spanish domination was, for the first time, firmly established after 1530. Upon the surrender of the republic in 1555, Charles V. handed it over in fief to his son, Philip II. of Spain, and he, in turn, at the treaty of the Chateau de Cambray (1559), made it over to Cosimo dei Medici, whom Italian historians are wont to call the Tiberius of Tuscany. From that time Siena remained an integral part of the grand duchy of Tuscany, until after exactly three hundred years, in 1859, it decided by a plébiscite, first among its sister cities, to place itself under the tricolor flag of United Italy. From the earliest times, and during the most stormy periods of its independent existence, the republic of Siena was a lib. eral patron of the art of painting, and the deep religious feeling and tender devotional beauty of the works of its great masters, from the thirteenth century downwards, still appeal to the traveller as well from the altars and walls of its many churches as in the Instituto delle the huge Church of St. Dominic, and passes into the cloisters, now occupied as a studio by the distinguished sculptor Sarrocchi, to remember that this was long the abode of the "angelical doctor," St. Thomas of Aquinas. Belle Arti, where the treasures of many of It is interesting, too, as one comes unthe suppressed convents have been col-der the shadow of the enormous mass of lected. That the love of painting is not dead in this one of its old haunts is shown by the splendid mosaics executed on the façade of the cathedral by Signor Luigi Mussini, the distinguished painter, director of the institution just named, and by Signor Franchi, who is also attached to the institution. The excellence of the school of wood-carving in Siena is shown by the yearly increasing amount of delicate and costly work entrusted to Siena houses by connoisseurs of this branch of art in England; and it is interesting that the whole of the internal ornamental woodwork on, I believe, the last Cunard liner was executed here. The saints of the Middle Ages gave place in the sixteenth century to thinkers and reformers. Foremost among them must be mentioned Lelius and Faustus Socinus, uncle and nephew. Born of an old and famous Sienese family, and descended from a series of eminent jurisconsults, equally distinguished by great erudition and extreme conservatism, Lelius Socinus threw himself with such ardor Few buildings in Italy, or indeed in the into the ranks of the reformers as soon to world, present a more imposing appear- distance and shock them. He visited, in ance than does the cathedral, built on the succession, France, England, the Low very summit of one of the hills on which Countries, Germany, and Poland, and in Siena stands; though it takes time to the end settled at Zürich, where he died accustom the eye to the alternate courses at the age of thirty-seven in 1562. His of white and black marble of which it is nephew, Faustus, after passing twelve built, and architectural critics find fault years at the court of the grand duke of with its style. None, however, can deny Tuscany, with whom he was a great favorthe extraordinary richness and imposing ite, suddenly went into voluntary exile in effect of the interior. More even than the Germany, and for the remainder of his cathedral, the numerous and massive pal-life devoted himself with ardor and enaces, seemingly capable of defying all enemies, including time, attest the development to which architecture had attained in Siena in the Middle Ages. In all, Siena gave nine popes to Rome, a gift possibly of doubtful advantage; but of the benefit to Christendom of the saints that were born in Siena there can be no doubt. Of these the greatest was Catherine, the daughter of a dyer, who, in her short life of thirty-three years, by her greatness of soul and absolute saintliness of character, became a power in Christendom, and by effecting the return of the papacy from Avignon to Rome, influenced, to an extent difficult now to estimate, the history of the whole world. The purity of the style of her letters is as remarkable as the force of her character and the saintliness of her life, and she is justly regarded, with Dante, Petrarch, and Boccaccio, as one of the founders of that lingua Toscana which has become modern Italian. Her life and life's work have been treated with such fulness and with so deep a sympathy by Mrs. Josephine Butler in her recent touching biography of the saint that I will say no more of her here.* Within the last few months Monsignor Capel has been holding services in English in a church attached to what was once the house of the father of St. Catherine, for the especial benefit of the English in Siena. thusiasm to the dissemination of the views that had become associated with the name of his uncle. Maltreated and persecuted, he at length found a refuge near Cracow, where he died in 1604, at the age of seventy-five. Uncle and nephew left behind them an enormous body of heterodox divinity, now never opened but by professed students; but the ideas and influence of these two great men, received and handed on by later thinkers, were probably never more rife and potential than now, after nearly three centuries. He was First among the great reformers to whom Siena gave birth stands the majestic figure of Bernardino Ochino. born in 1487, just four years after Luther. He was a born saint, and endeavored by a life of privation and austerity to carry heaven by assault. He first joined the Franciscans, their rule of life appearing to him the most austere of any of the monastic orders, and when that of the Capucines seemed to him still more rigorous, he left the former and joined the latter. As in the case of Luther, then in his Far be it from any one to attempt to rob the Roman Catholic Church of the halo shed upon it by the holy life of such, a saint, but it would be at least open to argument whether, had Catherine lived one hundred and fifty years later, she would not have taken her stand by the side of Vittoria Colonna and rejoiced in the dawn of the Reformation. German monastery, the severest discipline | the executioners. The Lord will know and most wearing austerities could not give peace to his soul, a peace which he found only in simple trust in the divine mercy. in Italy, and especially in Siena, and his sermons and works, though prohibited and cursed by the pope, were widely disseminated and read throughout the peninsula. And now I must bring to a close these reminiscences of illustrious Sienese by a notice of one who, though not born in Siena, was for many years professor in its university, on which he conferred great honor by the lustre of his genius and the brilliancy of his eloquence Aonio Paleario. Born at Veroli, in southern Italy, in 1503, he from his earliest years threw himself, heart and soul, into the revival of learning and letters, in that new birth of the intellect to which Europe, and Italy especially, were just awakening. When twenty-seven years old he visited Tuscany, and spent a year among like-minded friends of learning at Siena. Thence he well how to find me wheresoever I may be, when he wills that my blood shall be shed." He decided upon leaving Italy forever, and a few days later, taking the Ochino was possessed of a wonderful road of Milan and Aosta, he crossed the eloquence, which stirred men's hearts as great St. Bernard, and descended to with the voice of a trumpet. Since Sa- Geneva, where he was received with open vonarola's death no such potent preacher arms, and nominated pastor to the Italian had appeared in Italy. Under his preach- | refugees, who were beginning to flock to ing for a charitable object at Naples, five the city of refuge as the only means of thousand scudi were raised. After listen- escape from the clutches of the Inquisiing to him the men of Perugia promised tion. From his secure asylum upon the to be reconciled to one another, and to shores of Lake Leman, Ochino continued forego the bitter hatred of centuries. to hold close and affectionate correspondCharles V., after hearing one of his ser-ence with those like-minded with himself mons, exclaimed, "This man would make the very stones weep." A singularly noble presence, a face wasted by vigils and labors, with hair prematurely grey, and above all the knowledge of the purity and unaffected piety of his life, heightened the effect of his eloquence. He passed from city to city of Italy preaching, and was everywhere received with almost princely honors. His headquarters were often in the Capucine convent, close to his native city, and the archives of Siena contain many letters which passed between him and its rulers, which show the strong love he always bore to his birthplace. He was elected general-superior of his order, and in 1542 was invited to preach the Lent sermons in Venice. All Venice flocked to hear him, and the enthusiasm evoked by his eloquence knew no bounds. But the papal legate was listening to his words, and on one occasion rose, inter-proceeded to the University of Padua, rupted him, and commanded him to be silent in the name of the Holy Father. So great, however, was the popularity of Ochino, that three days later he was again allowed to enter the pulpit, and this time before even a larger audience. Upon reaching Verona, after leaving Venice, he received a summons to appear before the Holy Office at Rome. What that summons implied he well knew, and he determined to disobey it. There is among the manuscripts belonging to the library of Siena a letter from Ochino to Vittoria Colonna, dated August 22, 1542, in which he tells her that, having learned from his friends how pretended heretics are dealt with at Rome, he has resolved not to appear there, because he would there have only one of two alternatives, either to deny Christ, or to die in torments: "Deny Christ I never can," he writes; "to die, by the grace of God, I am ready, as he himself may dispose of me, but not to give myself voluntarily into the hands of principally in order to attend the lectures of Lampridius on Demosthenes. Within less than a year he was recalled to Siena by the danger of one of his friends in that city, Antonio Bellanti. The family of Bellanti had rendered the most signal and distinguished service to the republic, only, however, to be repaid by base ingratitude. Their palace had been pillaged by the mob, and Antonio himself thrown into prison upon a capital charge based upon an obsolete law of the republic which punished with death any one who introduced salt into the city to the detriment of the revenue. It is a sad illustration of the virulence of party hatred during the last years of the existence of the republic, that no one dared to undertake the defence of the accused. Paleario did not hesitate a moment, but hurried back to Siena, and before the tribunal of the republic, in one of the halls of the Palazzo Pubblico, delivered a magnificent oration in defence of his friend, a discourse which, read | nor evil in my good. The hour has come But Paleario was not only a poet, an orator, and an enthusiast for classical learning: he came of pious parents, among his intimate friends were some of the most eminent and pious churchmen of the day, and he longed for a thorough reformation of the Church without a schism. By degrees he awoke to the conviction that this was an impossibility; and when once he clearly perceived this, his position was decided. Henceforth his life was a constant struggle against the persecution of the friars. They succeeded in driving him from the University of Siena, and he took refuge at Lucca, where he was appointed professor of eloquence. Here he remained from 1546 until 1555, in which year his implacable enemies compelled him to leave, and he repaired to Milan. He was constantly warned by his friends of the danger of the boldness of his utterances as to the necessity of a reform of the Church, and that his only chance of safety was flight beyond the Alps; but he would not heed them, and indeed seemed to think that his mission in the world was to be a confessor. At the age of sixty-six he was arrested in Milan by the agents of the Inquisition, and taken as a prisoner to Rome. There he was sentenced to death on the 15th of October, 1569, and the sentence was carried into execution on the 3rd of July, 1570. And now let us turn to a letter preserved among the man. uscripts in the Public Library of Siena. It is the farewell of Paleario to his wife and children, and is as follows: To Marietta Paleario. MY DEAREST CONSORT, -I desire that thou shouldst not find displeasure in my pleasure, Therefore, my beloved consort, comfort thyself in the will of God and in my contentment, and look well to the little family left in deep dismay, and bring them up and guard them in the fear of God, and be thou to them both father and mother. I am already seventy years old and useless. Our sons must labor with virtue and with sweat of the brow to provide God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ and what is necessary to live honorably. May the Communion of the Holy Spirit be with your spirits. ROME, July 3, 1570. AONIO PALEARIO. With this are a few lines to his sons Lampridio and Fedro, in which he gives some directions about his small property. This letter thus begins: My most courteous lords (the Inquisitors) are not wanting in politeness to me to the very last, and allow me to write to you. It pleases God to call me to Himself by means that you will understand, though they will appear bitter and sharp to you. If, however, you and satisfaction, in order to conform myself to consider that it is with my entire contentment the will of God, so it ought to content you. It was on the evening of the 2nd of July that eight members of the Confraternity of San Giovanni Decollato, a philanthropic society which devoted itself to rendering services to the condemned in the hour of death, presented themselves at the prison of Tordinona, and informed Paleario that he had only a few hours to live. They obtained permission for him to write the letters above quoted, and faithfully transmitted them to his wife at Colle. Just as day was breaking over the eternal city, he was led out to die. The scaffold was erected on the bridge of St. Angelo. He was strangled, and his body was then thrown into the flames. Truly, never did Christian philosopher and confessor go forth to meet his death with more sublime serenity. It may be asked, how stands it now with Protestantism in the city of Ochino and Paleario? As in the greater part of Italy, in Spain, and elsewhere, the Holy Office did its work thoroughly, and crushed and burned out the Reformation. So far as I know, beyond one or two Swiss and English, there are no Protestants in Si ena. A very handsome Waldensian temple was erected in a leading boulevard near to the Church of St. Dominic more than a year ago, and though no service | which the vines had been trained. At has yet been held there, yet as a large this season, too, women and boys are to building is now in process of construc- be seen up among the branches gathering tion beside it to serve as a presbytery, it may be hoped that the church will soon be opened. Occasional Waldensian services are now held in the house of a Swiss resident. But I have dwelt, I fear, too long upon the memory of some of those who shed lustre upon Siena by their genius and virtue in the past. form, but after all not so beautiful as the oak, which nowhere flourishes better than here in Tuscany, if only allowed to do so. It is painful to look at the denuded condition of Italy as regards wood,* and then think of the magnificent forests of oak that have been felled within the last thirty years to provide sleepers for its railway system. the grapes, and the great, white, largehorned, meek-eyed oxen draw primitive vans through the fields on which are the tubs or baskets in which the grapes are collected. The landscape, as seen from the walls, is occasionally relieved by groves of the stone pine and copses of oak and other trees. These latter are, I fear, becoming scarcer year by year, for The old city sits a queen upon three the Sienese seem to have less respect for hills, and from every point in the sur- trees than even the Italians generally, rounding country its cathedral, its towers and to have no compunction in cutting and walls form a picture of singular them down. There is but one exception beauty. In its medieval walls, still intact to this sad rule, and that is the cypress, a and perfect, were once no fewer than grove or avenue of which every Italian thirty-eight gates; of these, thirty have gentleman strives to have around his been closed, so that eight remain open. villa. Very beautiful is its flame-like The circuit of the walls is seven kilometres, and they enclose an irregular starshaped space, a good deal of which is laid out in olive-yards and gardens. Once Siena numbered one hundred thousand inhabitants; now there are but twentyfour thousand. After the ravages of the plague, in 1348, and the last struggle for the freedom of the republic in 1554-5, many houses were razed, and the ground To return to the view from the walls occupied by them was turned into gar- of Siena. The distant hillsides are covdens, as we now see them. The sur-ered with ilex and oak, but for the most rounding country, as seen from the walls part only scrub, as the charcoal-burner is of the fortress, appears one great olive- always at work, and long before the trees yard and vineyard. The vines are either have reached maturity they fall before the trained upon mulberries or upon other inexorable axe. These bills stretch away, trees, rarely upon olives. In the winter range beyond range, into the distance, and the grey, silvery sheen of the olives stands in the soft waning light present the most out against the bright red earth, which exquisite shades of purple. To the south has given its name to "burnt Siena;" the wooded Monte Amiata rises to a height but with the spring the young corn planted of fifty-six hundred feet, about half-way everywhere between the olives and the distant between Siena and Rome, while to mulberries covers the ground with exqui. the north the main chain of the Apensite verdure; and when the vines and nines, on the confines of Modena, rises other trees put out their leaves towards the middle of May, it is difficult to conceive of a fairer green than the country exhibits. In a month or six weeks all is changed; hill and valley alike are golden with ripe grain, and as soon as the grain is harvested the land reverts to its native redness, though late in the autumn this is relieved by some green crops, as welcome to the eye as they doubtless are to the cattle for whose sustenance they are intended. Last year the yield of grapes was exceptionally abundant, and it was curious, as one drove along distant country lanes, to see great purple clusters hanging by the roadside from the topmost branches of oaks and other trees upon Since this article has been in type, I have heard of an English family who thirty years ago found the neighborhood of Siena beautifully wooded with oaks. Twenty years later they returned to find the greater part felled, and two years since nearly all were gone. Men of good position and in other respects sane seem afflicted with a mischievous madness which shows itself in an utter hatred of trees. A few years back between the outer and inner gate at Camollia was a superb avenue of ilex. Every tree was felled in one year by a tree-hating sindaco, and now in this most exposed place there is not a particle of shade against the blazing Italian sun. A mile outside the city are some fine with fine old oaks on either side, through whose umvillas, and there used to be some lovely shady lanes, brageous foliage the hot sun could not penetrate. These having no other idea but to make what he calls a oaks have nearly all been slaughtered, the proprietor campo pulito-a clean field; and even where along little hollow flows a rivulet, erst shaded by willows, the fiat has gone forth, and all the trees are at this mo ment being felled. They make a desolation, and call it a campo pulito. a |