relation to each other, except when they are seen together at the foot of the cross, or lamenting with the Virgin over the body of the Saviour: but such was the popularity of these extraordinary legends towards the end of the thirteenth and in the beginning of the fourteenth century, that I think it possible such may exist, and, for want of this key, may appear hopelessly enigmatical.

In a series of eight subjects which exhibit the life of St. John prefixed to a copy of the Revelations', there is one which I think admits of this interpretation. The scene is the interior of a splendid building sustained by pillars. St. John is baptizing a beautiful woman, who is sitting in a tub; she has long golden hair. On the outside of the building seven men are endeavouring to see what is going forward: one peeps through the key-hole; one has thrown himself flat on the ground, and has his eye to an aperture; a third, mounted on the shoulders of another, is trying to look in at a window; a fifth, who cannot get near enough, tears his hair in an agony of impatience; and another is bawling into the ear of a deaf and blind comrade a description of what he has The execution is French, of the fourteenth century; the taste, it will be said, is also French; the figures are drawn with a pen and slightly tinted the design is incorrect; but the vivacity of gesture and expression, though verging on caricature, is so true, and so comically dramatic, and the whole composition so absurd, that it is impossible to look at it without a smile.

seen.

ST. MARTHA.

Ital. Santa Marta, Vergine, Albergatrice di Christo.
Patroness of cooks and housewives.

Fr. Sainte Marthe, la Travailleuse.
June 29. A. D. 84.

The impor

MARTHA has shared in the veneration paid to her sister. tant part assigned to her in the history of Mary has already been adverted to; she is always represented as the instrument through whom Mary was converted, the one who led her first to the feet of the Saviour. "Which thing," says the story, "should not be accounted as the least

1 Paris Bibliothèque du Roi, MS. 7013, fourteenth century.

of her merits, seeing that Martha was a chaste and prudent virgin, and the other publicly contemned for her evil life; notwithstanding which, Martha did not despise her, nor reject her as a sister, but wept for her shame, and admonished her gently and with persuasive words; and reminded her of her noble birth, to which she was a disgrace, and that Lazarus, their brother, being a soldier, would certainly get into trouble on her account. So she prevailed, and conducted her sister to the presence of Christ, and afterwards, as it is well known, she lodged and entertained the Saviour in her own house." 1

According to the Provençal legend, while Mary Magdalene converted the people of Marseilles, Martha preached to the people of Aix and its vicinity. In those days the country was ravaged by a fearful dragon, called the Tarasque, which during the day lay concealed in the river Rhone. Martha overcame this monster by sprinkling him with holy water, and having bound him with her girdle (or, as others say, her garter), the people speedily put an end to him. The scene of this legend is now the city of Tarascon, where there is, or was, a magnificent church, dedicated to St. Martha, and richly endowed by Louis XI.

The same legends assure us that St. Martha was the first who founded a monastery for women; the first, after the blessed Mother of Christ, who vowed her virginity to God; and that when she had passed many years in prayer and good works, feeling that her end was near, she desired to be carried to a spot where she could see the glorious sun in heaven, and that they should read to her the history of the passion of Christ; and when they came to the words, " Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit," she died.

As Mary Magdalene is the patroness of repentant frailty, so Martha is the especial patroness of female discretion and good housekeeping. In this character, she is often represented with a skimmer or ladle in her hand, or a large bunch of keys is attached to her girdle. For example, in a beautiful old German altar-piece attributed to Albert Dürer, she is standing in a magnificent dress, a jewelled turban, and holding a well-known implement of cookery in her hand. In a missal of Henry VIII.3, she is represented with the same utensil, and her

Il Perfetto Legendario.

2

Queen's Gal.

3 Bodleian MSS., Oxford.

name is inscribed beneath. In general, however, her dress is not rich but homely, and her usual attributes as patron saint are the pot of holy water, the asperge in her hand, and a dragon bound at her feet. In the chapels dedicated to the Magdalene, she finds her appropriate place as pendant to her sister, generally distinguished by her close coif, and by being draped in blue or dark brown or grey; while the Magdalene is usually habited in red. When attended by her dragon, St. Martha is sometimes confounded with St. Margaret, who is also accompanied by a dragon but it must be remembered that St. Margaret bears a crucifix or palm, and St. Martha the pot of holy water; and in general the early painters have been careful to distinguish these attributes.

St. Martha, besides being a model of female discretion, sobriety, and chastity, and the patroness of good housewives, was, according to the old legends, the same woman who was healed by Christ, and who in gratitude erected to his honour a bronze statue, which statue is said to have existed in the time of Eusebius, and to have been thrown down by Julian the Apostate.'

When Martha and Mary stand together as patronesses, one represents the active, the other the contemplative, Christian life.

Martha is generally introduced among the holy women who attend the crucifixion and entombment of our Lord. In a most beautiful Entombment by Ambrogio Lorenzetti, Martha kisses the hand of the Saviour, while Mary Magdalene is seen behind with outspread arms: Lazarus and Maximin stand at the head of the Saviour.

LAZARUS, the brother of Martha and Mary, is revered as the first bishop and patron saint of Marseilles, and is generally represented with the mitre and stole. There are at least fifty saints who wear the same attire; but when a figure in episcopal robes is introduced into the same picture, or the same series, with Martha and Mary, it may be presumed,

1

It is perhaps in reference to this tradition that St. Martha has become the patroness of an order of charitable women, who serve in the hospitals, particularly the military hospitals, in France and elsewhere, - her brother Lazarus having been a soldier.