Holy-Days and Holidays 



the civilization of the ancient world and our 

 own ? Perhaps, to compare small with great, 

 there are some who feel to-day as did Michael 

 Angelo in his patriarchal age, when he had 

 outlived the exuberant and -imaginative spirit 

 of the Renaissance, and was confronted with 

 the "frozen orthodoxy" of the Catholic 

 reaction. "And now he began to feel the 

 soothing influence which since that time the 

 Roman Church has often exerted over spirits 

 too noble to be its subjects, yet brought within 

 the neighbourhood of its action ; consoled and 

 tranquillized, as a traveller might be, resting 

 for one evening in a strange city, by its stately 

 aspect and the sentiment of its many fortunes, 

 just because with those fortunes he has nothing 

 to do." * 



Truly the earth is full of trouble. The 

 nations rage furiously together and the peoples 

 imagine a vain thing. In this secluded isle we 

 get our newspapers in a lump once a week. 

 This serves to heighten the effect of their 

 terrific contents. At home the perusal of 

 different editions hour by hour produces a 

 comparatively listless frame of mind ; interest 



* Pater, " the Renaissance." 

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