Junius fuppofes this picture to have been rated a little too high.

NOTE X. VERSE 216.

Yet oft to gain fublimer heights he ftrove.] Grace is the well-known excellence of Apelles, but that he sometimes very happily attempted the fublime, we learn both from Plutarch and Pliny, who speak of his force and energy-The Alexander of Philip, fays Plutarch, was invincible, the Alexander of Apelles inimitable.

He painted, fays Pliny, things that surpass the power of painting, quæ pingi non poffunt, Tonitrua, fulgura fulgetraque

NOTE XI. VERSE 228.

While chilling damps upon the pencil hung.] That the Romans attained to no degree of excellence in Painting or Sculpture, feems to be confeft, and accounted for in the following paffage of Tully's Tufculan Difputations, Lib. i.

An cenfemus, fi Fabio, nobiliffimo homini, laudi datum effet quod pingeret, non multos etiam apud nos futuros Polycletos, et Parrhafios fuiffe? honos alit artes, omnefque incenduntur ad Studia Gloriâ, jacentque ea femper quæ apud quofque improbantur.

The

The fine arts neceffarily languifh without pub lic protection or encouragement: but public ho nours at Rome flowed in a very different channel. While the Roman boafted his confummate skill in every art of empire and government, he avowed, in many works of genius and taste, his inferiority with an air of triumph.

Excudent alii fpirantia mollius æra,

Credo equidem vivos ducent de marmore vultus :
Orabunt caufas melius, cælique meatus
Defcribent radio, et furgentia Sidera dicent.
Tu regere imperio populos, Romane, memento:
Hæ tibi erunt artes, pacifque imponere morem:
Parcere fubjectis et debellare fuperbos.

Eneidos, Lib. VI.

NOTE XII.

VERSE 244.

There ftudious Vinci treafur'd every rule.] Lionardo da Vinci was born near Florence in 1445. He was perhaps a man as univerfally accomplished ás ever exifted. Not only admirable beyond his predeceffors in his own profeffion of Painting, but an excellent Architect and Mufician, and of great skill as an Anatomift. Befides all these talents, he was, according to Vasari, the best extempore rimer of his time. His Hiftory and Works are well known. The fingular circumftance of his dying in the arms of Francis the Firft, king of France, is mentioned by a French poet of the present age, 66 Lorfque

"Lorfque Francois premier, Roi digne d'être heureux,

Tint Leonarda mourant dans fes bras genereux."

And the particulars of his death are thus curiously recorded by Vafari, who speaks in raptures of his various and exalted talents:

Finalmente venuto vecchio, ftette molti mefi ammalato, et vedendofi vicino alla morte, fi volse diligentemente informare, de le cofe catoliche, & della via buona, et fanta religione christiana, et poi con molti pianti confeffo e contrito, fe bene e' non poteva reggerfi in piedi, fofte nendofi nelle braccie di fuoi amici, e fervi, volse divotamente pigliare il fantiffimo facramento, fuor del letto: fopragiunseli il Rè che fpeffo e amerevolmente le foleva vifitare : per il che egli per riverenza rizzatofi a federe ful letto, contando il mal fuo & gli accidenti di quello mostrava tuttavia quanto aveva offefo dio, et gli huomini del mendo, non avendo operato nel arte come fi conveniva: onde gli venne un parofifmo meffagiero della morte. Per la qual cofa rizzatosi il Rè, et prefola la tefta per aiutarlo, & porgerli Favore, accio che il male lo allegeriffe; lo fpirito fuo, che diviniffimo era, conoscendo non potere havere maggiore honore, fpirò in braccio à quell rè nella etá fua d' anni 75.

Vafari Vita di Lionardo da Vinci, p. 10, 11.

VOL. I.

F

NOTE

NOTE XIII. VERSE 251.

Gigantic Angelo his wonders wrought.] Michael Angelo Buonaroti was born near Florence 1474, and died at Rome 1564.

This illuftrious man is too well known, both as an Architect and a Painter, to need any encomium: he was also a Poet. His Rime were printed by the Giunto at Florence, in quarto, in 1623. The following Sonnet, which is to be found in Vasari, to whom it is addreffed, is at once a proof of his poetical talents, and his religious turn of mind: it may ferve also as a leffon to vanity, in fhewing that even a genius of the sublimest class entertained great apprehenfion concerning the mortality of his fame.

Giunti è già 'l corfo della vita mia,
Con tempeftofo mar per fragil barca,
Al comun porto, ov' à render fi varca
Conto e ragion d' ogni opra trista, e pia.
Onde l'affettuofa fantasia

Che l'arte mi fece idolo e monarca,
Cognofco hor ben quant 'era d'error carca
E quel ch' a mal fuo grado ognun defia.

Gli amorofi penfier, gia vani, e lieti
Che fien or' s'a due morti mi avicino ?
D'una fo certo, e l' altra mi minaccia.
Ne pinger ne fcolpir fia piu che queti
L'anima volta a quello amor divino

Ch' aperfe a prender noi in croce le braccia.

A letter, addreffed to his friend Vafari, on the death of Urbino, his old and faithful fervant, fhews, that he united the foft virtues of a most benevolent heart to the fublime talents of an elevated mind. -This letter is printed both in Vafari, and in the firft volume of Raccolta de Lettere fulla Pittura, &c. p. 6.

NOTE XIV.

VERSE 254.

Tafte, Fancy, Judgment, all on Raphael smil'd.] Raffaello da Urbino was born in 1483, and died 1520. His amiable qualities as a Man were not inferior to his exalted talents as an Artist.

The

reader will not be difpleafed to fee the fingular eulogium which the honeft Vafari has beftowed on the engaging manners of this most celebrated Genius.

Certo fra le fue doti fingulari ne fcorgo una di tal valore che in me fteffo ftupifco; che il cielo gli diede forza di poter moftrare nell'arte noftra uno effetto fi contrario alle compleffioni di noi pittori quefto è che naturalinente gli artefici noftri, non dico foli i baffi, ma quelli che hanno umore d' effer grandi (come di questo umore l'arte ne produce infiniti) lavorando nell' opere in compagnia di Raffaello, ftavano uniti e di concordia tale che tutti i mali umori in veder lui s'amorzavano: e ogni vile e basso pensiero cadeva loro di mente. La quale unione mai non fu piu in altro tempo che nel F 2 fuo.