He met his death with patient dignity, having, indeed, disastrously shared the enthusiasms of his age, but taken no share in its crimes.
But the Renaissance, like the religious revivals initiated in Italy, arrived in Scotland weak and weary; hence the church did not share in the new enthusiasms of the faith of St Francis, and art was trampled on by the magnates who hated poetry and painting.
The great common institution of the church, common enthusiasms, prejudices and envies, were available for the second.
Finlay's enthusiasms were diverse, yet achieved a remarkable consistency in his hands.
The princes were Italians; they shared-the common enthusiasms of the nation for art, learning, literature and science; they studied how to mask their tyranny with arts agreeable to the multitude.