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of poverty he embodied in rhyme, imperfect as regards metre and language, but very remarkable for common sense. 1 According to his ideas, Poverty, commended by those who observed it as a rule, was by no means com mendable, though it might exist without vice. Involun tary poverty led the world but too frequently to evil, judges to corruption, dames and damsels to dishonour, and men in general to lying, violence, and theft. As to poverty elect, it was very obvious that it was as fre quently evaded as observed. Yet, as regards the obser vance, that certainly could not be good which required no discretion, knowledge, or qualities of any kind, nor could that justly be called virtue which excluded what is good. But this common sense view did not prevent Giotto from doing his duty by the Franciscans; and though he might scorn the general reverence in which they were held, or could perceive their weaknesses, he worked for them diligently and well, serving them as he no doubt served others, caring as little for their peculiarities as for party distinctions in lay employers. It is indeed, from the out set, characteristic of Italian artists that they were welcome every where, and that they yielded service to Ghibelline or Guelph with the same readiness as Raphael did later to the friends and foes of the court of Urbino. Continuing the cycle of subjects, Giotto devoted a second compartment to the allegory of Chastity, a fit comprehen sion of which as of the two remaining ones the student may gather from the following: On the left foreground three figures representing the three orders of Franciscans, the monk, the nun, and the terziario or lay brother, might be seen gladly greeting S. Francis, accompanied by a band of angels and soldiers of the faith. Whilst an angel presents the cross to the nun, S. Francis ex tends his hand to the would be monk, and the lay brother seems animated with the utmost desire to join the holy company. This group is appropriately significant of the ardor of S. Chiara, Bernard of Quintavalle, and another to accept 1 See Giotto’s Canzone on po- I II. p. 61. anil in Vas. Vol. I. Verty in Rumohr, ub. snp.Vol.jp. 348.