ne: for the Italian <cipollino>, a kind of
greenish-white marble splitting into coats like an onion, <cipolla>;
hence so called.

41. Olive-frail: a basket made of rushes, used for packing olives.

42. Lapis lazuli: a bright blue stone.

46. Frascati: near Rome, on the Alban hills.

48. God the Father's globe: in the group of the Trinity adorning the
altar of Saint Ignatius at the church of Il Gesu in Rome.

51. Weaver's shuttle: Job 7.6.

54. Antique-black: Nero antico. Browning gives the English
equivalent for the name of this stone.

58. Tripod: the seat with three feet on which the priestess of
Apollo sat to prophesy, an emblem of the Delphic oracle.

Thyrsus: the ivy-coiled staffer spear stuck in a pine-cone, symbol
of Bacchic orgy. These, with the other Pagan tokens and pictures,
mingle oddly but significantly with the references to the Saviour,
Saint Praxed, and Moses. See also line 92, where Saint Praxed is
confused with the Saviour, in the mind of the dying priest. Saint
Praxed, the virgin daughter of a Roman Senator and friend of Saint
Paul, in whose honor the Bishop's Church is named, is again brought
forward in lines 73-75 in a queer capacity which pointedly
illustrates the speaker and his time.

66. Travertine: see note "Pictor Ignotus," 67.

68. jasper: a dark green stone with blood-red spots, susceptible of
high polish.

77. Tully's: Marcus Tullius Cicero (106-46 B. C.).

79. Ulpian: a Roman jurist (170-228 A. D.), belonging to the
degenerate age of Roman literature.

99. <Elucescebat>: he was illustrious; formed from <elucesco>, an
inceptive verb from <eluceo>: in post classic Latin.

102. Else I give the Pope my villas: perhaps a threat founded on the
custom of Julius II and other popes, according to Burckhardt, of
enlarging their power "by making themselves heirs of the cardinals
and clergy . . . Hence the splendor of tile tombs of the prelates
. . . a part of the plunder being in this way saved from the hands
of the Pope."

108. A vizor and a Term: a mask, and a bust springing from a square
pillar, representing the Roman god Terminus, who presided over
boundaries.

BISHOP BLOUGRAM'S APOLOGY

1855

No more wine? then we'll push back chairs and talk.
A final glass for me, though: cool, i' faith!
We ought to have our Abbey back, you see.
It's different, preaching in basilicas,
And doing duty in some masterpiece
Like this of brother Pugin's, bless his heart!
I doubt i