There are a number of extravagant and poetical legends relating to St. Thomas. I shall here limit myself to those which were adopted in ecclesiastical decoration, and treated by the artists of the middle ages.

When St. Thomas figures as apostle, alone or with others, in all the devotional representations which are not prior to the 13th century he carries as his attribute the builder's rule, of this form

Now, as he was a fisherman, and neither a carpenter nor a mason, the origin of this attribute must be sought in one of the most popular legends of which he is the subject.

"When St. Thomas was at Cesarea our Lord appeared to him, and said, The king of the Indies, Gondoforus, hath sent his provost Abanes to seek for workmen well versed in the science of architecture, who shall build for him a palace finer than that of the Emperor of Rome. Behold, now, I will send thee to him;' and Thomas went, and Gondoforus commanded him to build for him a magnificent palace, and gave him much gold and silver for the purpose. The king went into a distant country, and was absent for two years; and St. Thomas meanwhile, instead of building a palace, distributed all the treasures entrusted to him among the poor and sick; and when the king returned, he was full of wrath, and he commanded that St. Thomas should be seized and cast into prison, and he meditated for him a horrible death. Meantime the brother of the king died; and the king resolved to erect for him a

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most magnificent tomb; but the dead man, after that he had been dead four days, suddenly arose and sat upright, and said to the king, The man whom thou wouldst torture is a servant of God; behold I have been in Paradise, and the angels showed to me a wondrous palace of gold and silver and precious stones: and they said, "This is the palace that Thomas the architect hath built for thy brother King Gondoforus." And when the king heard these words, he ran to the prison, and delivered the apostle; and Thomas said to him, Knowest thou not that those who would possess heavenly things, have little care for the things of this earth? There are in heaven rich palaces without number, which were prepared from the beginning of the world for those who purchase the possession through faith and charity. Thy riches, O king, may prepare the way for thee to such a palace, but they cannot follow thee thither.""

The builder's rule in the hand of St. Thomas characterises him as the spiritual architect of King Gondoforus, and for the same reason he has been chosen among the saints as patron of architects and builders.

There is in this legend or allegory, fanciful as it is, an obvious beauty and significance, which I need not point out. It appears to me to be one of those many legends which originally were not assumed to be facts, but were related as parables, religious fictions invented for the instruction of the people, like our Saviour's stories of the "Good Samaritan," the

Prodigal Son," &c., and were rendered more striking and impressive by the introduction of a celebrated and exalted personage our Saviour, the Virgin, or one of the apostlesas hero of the tale. This beautiful legend of St. Thomas and King Gondoforus is painted on one of the windows of the cathedral at Bourges, -an appropriate offering from the company of builders in that ancient city. It is also the subject of one of the finest of the ancient French mysteries, which was acted with great applause at Paris in the 14th century.

But in the historical subjects from the life of St. Thomas the first place must be given to the one scriptural incident in which he figures as a principal person. "The Incredulity of St. Thomas" occurs in all the early series of the life of Christ, as one of the events of his mission, and one of the proofs of his resurrection. On the ancient gates of San Paolo it is treated with great simplicity as a sacred mystery, St. Thomas being the principal personage in the action, as the one whose conviction was to bring conviction to the universe. Christ stands on a pedestal surmounted by a cross; the apostles are ranged on each side, and St. Thomas, approaching, stretches forth his hand. The incident, as a separate subject, is of frequent occurrence in the later schools of Italy, and in the Flemish schools. The general treatment, when given in this dramatic style, admits of two variations: either St. Thomas is placing his hand, with an expression of doubt and fear, on the wounds of the Saviour; or, his doubts being removed, he is gazing upwards in adoration and wonder. Of the first, one of the finest examples is a well-known picture by Rubens, one Musée, of his most beautiful works, and extraordinary for the truth of the expression in the countenance of the apostle, whose hand is on the side of Christ; St. John and St. Peter are behind. In Vandyck's picture, St. Thomas stoops to examine Petersburg. the Saviour's hand. In a design ascribed to Raphael, we have the second version: the look of astonished conviction in St. 11.116. Thomas. Nicolò Poussin has painted it finely, introducing Louvre. twelve figures. Guercino's picture is celebrated, but he has committed the fault of representing the two principle figures both in profile.

The legendary subject styled "La Madonna della Cintola," belongs properly to the legends of the Virgin, but as St. Thomas is always a principal personage, I shall mention it here. The legend relates that when the Madonna ascended into heaven in the sight of the apostles, Thomas was absent; but after three days, he returned, and doubting the truth of

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her glorious translation, he desired that her tomb should be opened; which was done, and lo! it was found empty. Then the Virgin, taking pity on his weakness and want of faith, threw down to him her girdle, that this tangible proof remaining in his hands might remove all doubts for ever from his mind hence in many pictures of the Assumption and Coronation of the Virgin, St. Thomas is seen below holding the sacred girdle in his hand. For instance, in Raphael's beautiful "Coronation" in the Vatican; and in Correggio's "Assumption" at Parma, where St. Thomas holds the girdle, and another apostle kisses it.

The belief that the girdle is preserved in the cathedral at Pistoia has rendered this legend a popular subject with the Florentine painters; and we find it treated, not merely as an incident in the scene of the Assumption, but in a manner purely mystic and devotional. Thus, in a charming bas-relief Fl. Acad. by Luca della Robbia, the Virgin, surrounded by a choir of angels, presents her girdle to the apostle. In a beautiful picture by Granacci, the Virgin is seated in the clouds; beneath is her empty sepulchre; on one side kneels St. Thomas, who receives with reverence the sacred girdle, on the other kneels the Archangel Michael. In simplicity of arrangement, beauty of expression, and tender harmony of colour, this picture has seldom been exceeded. Granacci has again treated this subject, and St. Thomas receives the girdle in the presence of St. John the Baptist, St. James major, St. Lawrence, and St. Bartholomew. We have the same subject by Paolino da Pistoia; by Sogliani; and by Mainardi, a large and very fine fresco in the church of Santa Croce at Florence.

v. p. 78.

Fl. Casa
Ruccellai.

Capella Baroncelli.

A D. 1480.

A poetical and truly mystical version of this subject is that wherein the infant Saviour, seated or standing on his mother's knee, looses her girdle and presents it to St. Thomas. Of this I have seen several examples; one in the Duomo at Viterbo.

I shall return to this subject in the legends of the Madonna,