The Stones of Venice, Volume 2 (of 3), by John Ruskin

2. FEBRUARY. _Sitting in a carved chair, warming his bare feet at a

blazing fire._ Generally, when he is thus represented, there is a pot hung over the fire, from the top of the chimney. Sometimes he is pruning trees, as in Spenser: "Yet had he by his side His plough and harnesse fit to till the ground, And tooles to prune the trees." Not unfrequently, in the calendars, this month is represented by a female figure carrying candles, in honor of the Purification of the Virgin. His sign, Pisces, is prominently carved above him.