Few churches are dedicated to St. Matthew. I am not aware that he is the patron saint of any country, trade, or profession, unless it be that of tax-gatherer or exciseman; and this is perhaps the reason that, except where he figures as one of the series of evangelists or apostles, he is so seldom represented alone, or in devotional pictures. In a large altar-piece, the ‘San Matteo’ of Annibal Caracci,[105] he is standing before the throne of the Madonna, as a pendant to John the Baptist, and gives his name to the picture: but such examples are uncommon. When he is portrayed as an evangelist, he holds a book or a pen; and the angel, his proper attribute and attendant, stands by, pointing up to heaven, or dictating; or he holds the inkhorn, or he supports the book. In his character of apostle, St. Matthew frequently holds a purse or money-bag, as significant of his former vocation (56). Neither are pictures from his life of frequent occurrence. The principal incident, entitled the ‘Calling of Matthew,’ has been occasionally, but not often, treated in painting. The _motif_ is simple and not easily mistaken. St. Matthew is seated at a kind of desk with money before him; various personages bring tribute; on one side is seen Christ, with one or two of his disciples, generally Peter and Andrew; St. Matthew is either looking towards him with an expression of awe-struck attention, or he is rising from his seat, as in the act to follow: the mere accessories and number of the personages vary with the period of the composition and the taste of the painter. 1. The earliest instance I can cite, probably the oldest which has come down to us, is in a Greek MS. of the ninth century.[106] St. Matthew sits with both hands on a heap of gold, lying on a table before him: he looks round at Christ, who is a little behind. 2. St. Matthew is about to rise to follow the Saviour; by Matte di Ser Cambio of Perugia, who has represented his patron saint in a small composition.[107] 3. In the Queen’s Gallery at Buckingham Palace, there is a very curious and interesting picture of this subject, by Mabuse, which once belonged to King Charles I., and is quaintly described in the old catalogue of his pictures ‘as a very old, defaced, curious altar-piece, upon a thick board, where Christ is calling St. Matthew out of the custom-house; which picture was got in Queen Elizabeth’s days, in the taking of Calus Malus (Cadiz), in Spain. Painted upon a board in a gilded arched frame, like an altar-piece; containing ten big figures, less than half so big as the life, and some twenty-two afar off less figures. Given to the King.’ In the foreground there is a rich architectural porch, from which St. Matthew is issuing in haste, leaving his money-bags behind; and in the background is seen the lake of Gennesareth and shipping. This picture was among the booty taken in Essex’s expedition against Cadiz in 1596, and probably stolen from some church.