By the contraction of the world, I mean the greater swiftness, ease, and safety with which men can pass from one part of it to another, or communicate with one another across great intervening spaces. This has the effect of making the world smaller for most practical purposes, while the absolute distance in latitude and longitude remains the same. The progress of discovery is worth tracing, for it shows how much larger the small earth, which was known to the early nations, must have seemed to them than the whole earth, which we know, seems to us. [Illustration] THE ARTISTIC GENIUS OF TWO CITIES A COMPARISON OF THE NATIVE POETS & ARTISTS OF FLORENCE & LONDON “The quantity of production,” says Mr. Bryce, “bears no relation to the quality. Still less does the amount of good work produced in any given area depend upon the number of persons living in that area. Florence between A.D. 1250 and A.D. 1500 gave birth to more men of first-rate poetical and artistic genius than London has produced since 1250; yet Florence had in those two and a half centuries a population of probably only from forty to sixty thousand. And Florence herself has since A.D. 1500 given birth to scarcely any distinguished poets or artists, though her population has been larger than it was in the fifteenth century.” THE GENIUS OF THE GOLDEN AGE OF FLORENCE, 1250 TO 1500, FAR EXCEEDED THAT OF LONDON FROM 1250 TO THE PRESENT DAY Poets and Artists Born in Florence from 1250-1500 Alberti, Leon Battista, 1404-1472, architect, painter Albertinelli, Mariotto, 1474-1515, painter Andrea del Sarto, 1487-1531, painter Angelico da Fiesole, Fra Giovanni, 1387-1455, painter Botticelli, Alessandro, 1447-1510, painter Cavalcanti, Guido, 1255-1300, poet, philosopher Cimabue, Giovanni, 1240-1302, painter Credi, Lorenzo di, 1459-1537, painter Dante, Alighieri, 1265-1321, poet Donatello, 1386-1466, sculptor and painter Ghiberti, Lorenzo, 1378-1455, sculptor Ghirlandajo, Domenico, 1449-1494, painter Gozzoli, Benozzo, 1420-1498, painter Leonardo da Vinci, 1452-1519, painter, sculptor Lippi, Fra Filippo, 1412-1469, painter Lippi, Filippino, 1459-1504, painter Lorenzo, Don, 1370-1425, painter Medici, Lorenzo de, 1448-1492, poet Orcagnia, Andrea di Cione, 1329-1368? sculptor, painter Perugino, Vannucci Pietro, 1446-1524, painter Pesellino, Francesco di, 1422-1457, painter Pesello, Giuliano, 1367-1446, painter, sculptor Pollajuolo, Antonio, 1429-1498, sculptor, painter Pollajuolo, Piero, 1443-1496, sculptor, painter Robbia, Andrea della, 1437-1528, sculptor Robbia, Luca della, 1399-1482, sculptor Rossi, Giovanni Battista de, 1494-1541, sculptor, painter Ruccellai, Giovanni, 1475-1525, poet Spinello, Aretino, 1334-1410, painter Ucello, Paolo, 1397-1475, painter Verocchio, Andrea, 1435-1488, sculptor, painter