717


portraits,  cards,  dice,  gaming  boards,  etc.,  was  formed  in  the  square.  The
interior  of  the  pyramid  was  filled  with  combustible  materials  and  on  the
top  was  a  monstrous  image  representing  the  carnival.  A  great  proces-
sion of  citizens,  monks   and    children,  bearing    red  crosses   and    olive


•■THE  FATES,"  BY   MICHAEL  AXGELO.
branches,  marched  to  the  "  pile  of  vanities,"  the  little  ones  sang,  the
great  bell  of  the  Palazzo  tolled,  the  multitude  shouted  and  the  pyramid
went  up  in  great  clouds  of  smoke  and  sheets  of  flame.    The  same  square


7i8


PANORAMA    OF    NATIONS.
witnessed  his  martyrdom,  with  two  of  his  fellow  monks,  and  there  also
his  enemies  saw  him  narrowly  escape  the  "  ordeal  by  fire  "  which  was  to
prove  him  a  child  of  God  or  of  Satan.
"  The  convent  of  San  Marco,  in  which  Savonarola  lived  during  his
protracted  conflict  with  Rome,  stands  almost  unchanged  from  his  day.
The  walls  are  covered  with  exquisite  frescoes  by  Fra  Angelica,  an  artist
of  so  devout  a  spirit  that  he  is  said  always  to  have  painted  on  his  knees.
In  the  cell  occupied  by  Savonarola  are  shown  his  Bible,  the  margin
filled  with  annotations  in  his  own  hand,  and  a  volume  of  his  sermons."

PALACES  AND  GARDENS.
Next  to  the  Palazzo  Vecchio  is  a  great  palace  founded  by  Cosmo  I.,
in  the  first  floor  of  which  are  deposited  the  public  archives  and  a  library

of  150,000  volumes  and  12,000  MSS.
