is barely furnished, but it is seldom without shelves of books and a window opening upon a distant prospect; the teacher expounds to his pupils the great volume on the desk before him; the priest administers consolation to the dying and the bereaved, and encourages the feeble of spirit and the sinful; the preacher discourses to his brethren and the crowding people the Blessed Word; the nuns of the sisterhood perform their daily offices of religion, the panel of the confessional slides back for them, they wash the feet of the poor, they sit at table together; all the pieties of their life, which knew no close human relation, which knew only God and mankind, are depicted; and now and then there is a thought, too, of the worldly life outside--here the beautiful youths stop to gaze at the convent gates barred against them. There are other cuts, also, of landscape, towers, and cities. The great themes of religion are not forgotten--the Resurrection and the Judgment unfold their secrets of justice and of the life eternal. In all the religious spirit prevails, and gives to the whole series a simple and sweet charm. One may look at them long, and be content to look many times thereafter. [Illustration: FIG. 17.--The Stork. From the “Ortus Sanitatis.” Venice, 1511.] [Illustration: FIG. 18.--View of Venice. From the “Fasciculus Temporum.” Venice, 1484.] [Illustration: FIG. 19.--The Contest of Apollo and Pan. From Ovid’s “Metamorphoses.” Venice, 1518 (design, 1497).] [Illustration: FIG. 20.--Sirens. From the “Ortus Sanitatis.” Venice, 1511.] [Illustration: FIG. 21.--Pygmy and Cranes. From the “Ortus Sanitatis.” Venice, 1511.] [Illustration: FIG. 22.--The Woman and the Thief. From “Æsop’s Fables.” Venice, 1491 (design, 1481).] [Illustration: FIG. 23.--The Crow and the Peacock. From “Æsop’s Fables.” Venice, 1491 (design, 1481).]