St. James the Great, or the Elder, or St. James _Major_, was nearly related to Christ, and, with his brother John (the evangelist) and Peter, he seems to have been admitted to particular favour, travelled with the Lord, and was present at most of the events recorded in the Gospels. He was one of the three who were permitted to witness the glorification of Christ on Mount Tabor, and one of those who slept during the agony in the garden. After our Saviour’s ascension, nothing is recorded concerning him, except the fact that Herod slew him with the sword. In the ancient traditions he is described as being of a zealous and affectionate temper, easily excited to anger: of this we have a particular instance in his imprecation against the inhospitable Samaritans, for which Christ rebuked him: ‘Ye know not what manner of spirit ye are of. The Son of man is not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.’ (Luke, ix. 55.) As Scripture makes no farther mention of one so distinguished by his zeal and by his near relationship to the Saviour, the legends of the middle ages have supplied this deficiency; and so amply, that St. James, as St. Jago or SANTIAGO, the military patron of Spain, became one of the most renowned saints in Christendom, and one of the most popular subjects of Western Art. Many of these subjects are so singular, that, in order to render them intelligible, I must give the legend at full length as it was followed by the artists of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. According to the Spanish legend, the apostle James was the son of Zebedee, an illustrious baron of Galilee, who, being the proprietor of ships, was accustomed to fish along the shores of a certain lake called Gennesareth, but solely for his good pleasure and recreation: for who can suppose that Spain, that nation of Hidalgos and Caballeros, would ever have chosen for her patron, or accepted as the leader and captain-general of her armies, a poor ignoble fisherman? It remains, therefore, indisputable, that this glorious apostle, who was our Lord’s cousin-german, was of noble lineage, and worthy of his spurs as a knight and a gentleman;—so in Dante:— Ecco _il Barone_ Per cui laggiù si visita Galizia.‘