Two of the noblest churches in Italy typify the twofold aspect of this great visitation—the Cathedral of Siena and the Cathedral of Milan. The former, the vast building that crowns the Tuscan Hill, is but a fragment of what was originally conceived. It was actually in course of erection, and would have been hardly less in size than the present St. Peter's had it been completed. The transepts were already raised, and the foundations of the enormous nave and choir had been laid when the plague fell upon the city. The works were necessarily suspended, and from that day to this have never been resumed. Little more than a generation had passed from the fatal year when the most glorious Gothic edifice on Italian soil was already rising from the plain of Lombardy—a symbol [p219] of new life, new hopes, new greatness, which would surpass the greatness of the buried past. And this, be it observed, was no creation of Prince or Potentate; it was essentially the idea, the work, the achievement of the people of Milan themselves.[397] What gives, perhaps, the predominant interest to the century and a half which succeeded the overwhelming catastrophe of the Black Death is the fact of the wonderful social and religious recovery from a state almost of dissolution. It is not the place here even to enter upon so interesting and important a subject. It must suffice to have indicated the point of view from which the history of the immediately succeeding generations must be regarded. In spite of wars and civil commotions it was an age of distinct progress, although the very complexity and variety of current and undercurrent is apt at times to daze the too impatient inquirer, who wishes to reduce everything to the simple result of the definitely good, or the definitely bad. FOOTNOTES: [366] _Cf._ T. Amyot, _Population of English Cities_, _temp. Ed. III._ (_Archæologia_, Vol. xx, pp. 524-531). [367] _England before and after the Black Death_ (_Fortnightly Review_, Vol. viii, p. 191). [368] W. Cunningham, _Growth of English Industry and Commerce_, p. 304. [369] _Fortnightly Review_, viii, p. 192. This is, of course, true, but without qualification might give the reader a false impression as to the condition of the English peasant in the middle ages. Most of what Mr. Thorold Rogers says is applicable to all classes of society. Dr. Cunningham (_Growth of English Industry and Commerce_, p. 275) takes a truer view: "Life is more than meat, and though badly housed the ordinary villager was better fed and amused." [370] B. Mus. Cott. MS., Faust, B. v, fol. 99b. [371] R. O., Originalia Roll, 26 Ed. III., m. 27. [372] _Ibid._, 27 Ed. III., m. 19. [373] _Ibid._, 26 Ed. III., m. 25. [374] Ed. Twysden, col. 2699. [375] B. Mus. Cott. MS., Faust, B. v, fol. 98b. [376] R. O., Q. R. Mins. Accts., Bundle 801, No. 1. [377] Introduction, p. ix.