Romola . h bare sword; wealth had been pouredout for prayers at her shrine, for chantings andchapels and ever-burning lights; and lands hadbeen added, till there was much quarrelling forthe privilege of serving her. The Florentineswere deeply convinced of her graciousness to them,so that the sight of her tabernacle within theirwalls was like the parting of the cloud, and theproverb ran, that the Florentines had a Madonnawho would do what they pleased. When were they in more need of her pleadingpity than now ? And already, the evening before,the tabernacle containing the miraculous hiddenimage
Romola . h bare sword; wealth had been pouredout for prayers at her shrine, for chantings andchapels and ever-burning lights; and lands hadbeen added, till there was much quarrelling forthe privilege of serving her. The Florentineswere deeply convinced of her graciousness to them,so that the sight of her tabernacle within theirwalls was like the parting of the cloud, and theproverb ran, that the Florentines had a Madonnawho would do what they pleased. When were they in more need of her pleadingpity than now ? And already, the evening before,the tabernacle containing the miraculous hiddenimage had been brought with high and reverendescort from LImpruneta, the privileged spot sixmiles beyond the gate of San Piero that lookstowards Piome, and had been deposited in thechurch of San Gaggio, outside the gate, whence itwas to be fetched in solemn procession by all thefraternities, trades, and authorities of Florence. But the Pitying Mother had not yet enteredwithin the walls, and the morning arose on. OF THE ROMOLA IN HER PLACE. 237 unchanged misery and despondenc3^ Pestilencewas hovering in the track of famine. Not onlythe hospitals were full, but the courtyards of pri-vate houses had been turned into refuges and in-firmaries ; and still there was unsheltered early this morning, as usual, members of thevarious fraternities who made it part of their dutyto bury the unfriended dead, were bearing away thecorpses that had sunk by the wayside. As usual,sweet womanly forms, with the refined air andcarriage of the well born, but in the plainest garb,were moving about the streets on their daily er-rands of tending the sick and relieving the hungry. One of these forms was easily distinguishable asRomola de Bardi. Clad in the simplest garmentof black serge, with a plain piece of black draperydrawn over her head, so as to hide all her hair,except the bands of gold that rippled apart on herbrow, she was advancing from the Ponte Vecchiotowards the Por Santa Maria, — the str
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1890, bookpublisherbosto, bookyear1893
