This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1893 Excerpt: ...certainly does him very great credit. Some of the columns rest on the backs of lions, and the upper part of the pulpit is surrounded by a screen of marble presenting a great many figures in high and low relief. many and Holland, and we observed as we went about the city some very elaborate gates, also of iron, which are placed inside the principal doors of the best of the houses. Then they have lantern-holders placed along the front of every palace, and usually on each story, so that they add very much to the picturesqueness of the streets. Some of these lanternholders are in the forms of leaves or flowers, and some represent the heads of various kinds of animals. Many of the windows in Siena are of stained glass, and some of this glass dates from a long time ago. "In the cathedral and elsewhere we saw several pictures of St. Catherine, and learned that she was a native of Siena. According to history, she was born here in 1347, and became a nun about 1366. She is said to have negotiated a peace between the Florentines and Pope Urban VI. in 1378; she favored Pope Urban when his authority was disputed by Clement VII., and made very earnest efforts to terminate the quarrel between them. We were told that we could visit her house, and did not neglect the opportunity to do so. "The house stands in one of the poorest parts of the city, which is now. as in the fourteenth century, the quarter occupied by the fullers and dyers; St. Catherine, it seems, was the daughter of a dyer and fuller. Close by is the old fountain of Fontebranda, which is mentioned by Dante in one of his poems. A portion of the original building has been torn down, but the cell which St. Catherine inhabited is said to be in exactly the same condition as when she lived there. "It ...