And upon the fourteenth chapiter of Saint Mathew, speakinge of the daunsynge of Salome, the Daughter of Herodias, hee sayth, that when a wanton daunsynge is hadde, or used, the Deuill, daunseth by and by, or altogeather.

The former married the widow of his half-brother Alexander, who was executed; and the latter married Herodias, wife of Philip, also his half-brother.

If "the race of birds was created out of innocent, light-minded men, whose thoughts were directed toward heaven," according to the word of Plato, then Ardea herodias must long ago have fallen from grace.

Thais, in Lucian, inveigled Lamprias in a dance, Herodias so far pleased Herod, that she made him swear to give her what she would ask, John Baptist's head in a platter.

Ahasuerus would have given Esther half his empire, and Herod bid Herodias "ask what she would, she should have it."

Like the daughter of Herodias in sacred history, she despatched a tribune with orders to bring her the head of her enemy; and when it was brought to her, and she found a difficulty in recognizing those withered and ghastly features of a once-celebrated beauty, she is said with her own hand to have lifted one of the lips, and to have satisfied herself that this was indeed the head of Lollia.

I was shown (as indeed I already knew) that Jesus was thus silent because Herod was in a state of excommunication, both on account of his adulterous marriage with Herodias, and of his having given orders for the execution of St. John the Baptist.

He was determined not to condemn our Lord, both because he experienced a secret and indefinable sensation of terror in his presence, and because he still felt remorse at the thought of having put John the Baptist to death, besides which he detested the High Priests for not having allowed him to take part in the sacrifices on account of his adulterous connection with Herodias.

According to a legend, the daughter of Herodias was a renowned acrobat, and on a bas-relief in the Cathedral of Rouen we find this Jewish dancer turning somersaults before Herod, so as to fascinate him, and thus obtain the decapitation of John the Baptist.

Salome, the Daughter of Herodias.

Patteson brought news of the coronation of Lady Anne this coming Easter, and he begs father to take a fool's advice and eat humble pie; for, says he, this proud madam is as vindictive as Herodias, and will have father's head on a charger.

Her movement across the floor before the tyrant and his guests at table, the quaint fluttering of her drapery, the well-bred admiration of the spectators, their horror when she brings the Baptist's head to Herodias, and the weak face of the half-remorseful Herod are expressed with a dramatic power that shows the genius of a poet painter.

And even more lovely than Salome are a pair of girls locked in each other's arms close by Herodias on the daïs.

He married his own brother's wife, Wicked Herodias.

The damsel was Herodias' daughter: She to the queen hastes, and besought her To teach her what great gift to name.

Instructed by Herodias, came The damsel back; to Herod said, "Give me John the Baptist's head; And in a charger let it be Hither straitway brought to me.

When painters would by art express Beauty in unloveliness, Thee, Herodias' daughter, thee, They fittest subject take to be.

(ON A PICTURE OF HERODIAS'S DAUGHTER BY LUINI.) Alas, Salome!

"For Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife.

"For Herodias's sake, his brother Philip's wife.

"For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison, for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife.

"For the sake of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip."Bible and Mur. cor.

"For this reason, again," continues the Saint, "the Apostle says 'A woman is not permitted to teach, nor to have dominion over her husband.'" Bishop Marbodius calls woman a "pleasant evil, at once a honeycomb and a poison" and indicts the sex, something on the order of Juvenal or Jonathan Swift, by citing the cases of Eve, the daughters of Lot, Delilah, Herodias, Clytemnestra, and Progne.

Herodias the white.

Moreover, the "Violin Player," formerly in the Sciarra Palace, at once reminds us of the "Barberigo" portrait at Cobham, while the "Herodias with the Head of John Baptist," dated 1510, now in the collection of Mr. George Salting, shows conclusively how closely related were the two painters in the last year of Giorgione's life.