SUNDAY READINGS.
P. 500, c. 1.—“Savonarola,” sä-vo-nä-roˈlä. (1452-1468.) A celebrated Italian reformer. In his early ministry he effected important reforms and gained great political influence. Being sent to Florence he became the leader of the liberal party which succeeded the expulsion of the Medici. Having refused to submit to papal authority he was excommunicated, and popular favor leaving him he was executed. Savonarola published several works in Latin and Italian, among which was the one here quoted from, De Simplicitate Christianæ Vitæ, “On the Simplicity of the Christian Life.”
READINGS IN ART.
P. 500, c. 2.—“St. Bees.” A college in the village of Cumberland. St. Bees was so called from a nunnery founded here in 650, and dedicated to the Irish saint, Bega.
“Ship Court.” A part of the district known as Old Bailey, near Ludgate Hill, in London. The house in which Hogarth was born was torn down in 1862.
P. 501, c. 1.—“Hudibras.” See page 306 of The Chautauquan, note on Samuel Butler.
“Thornhill.” (1676-1734.) He was a historical painter of some celebrity. His chief productions are the cupola of St. Paul’s cathedral, which Queen Anne commissioned him to paint, and the decoration of several palaces. He was the first English artist to be knighted, and he sat in Parliament several years. No doubt his greatest honor was to be Hogarth’s father-in-law.
“Watteau,” vätˌtōˈ. (1684-1721.) A French painter of much original power, who holds about the same place in the French schools as Hogarth in the English. His subjects were usually landscapes, with gay court scenes, balls, masquerades, and the like, in the foreground. The brilliancy of his coloring and the grace of his figures are particularly fine.