The order of these, when they were treated methodically, seems to have
followed the customary list of the deadly sins. The more pressing,
however, the occasion is, the more directly does the preacher make for
his main point. He begins perhaps in one of the great churches of the
Order, or in the cathedral. Soon the largest piazza is too small for
the crowds which throng from every side to hear him, and he himself can
hardly move without risking his life. The sermon is commonly followed
by a great procession; but the first magistrates of the city, who take
him in their midst, can hardly save him from the multitude of women who
throng to kiss his hands and feet, and cut off fragments from his cowl.
The most immediate consequences which follow from the preacher's
denunciations of usury, luxury, and scandalous fashions, are the
opening of the gaols--which meant no more than the discharge of the
poorest debtors--and the burning of various instruments of luxury and
amusement, whether innocent or not. Among these are dice, cards, games
of all kinds, written incantations, masks, musical instruments, song-
books, false hair, and so forth. All these would then be gracefully
arranged on a scaffold ('talamo'), a figure of the devil fastened to
the top, and then the whole set on fire.
Then came the turn of the more hardened consciences.
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