pictures were lost to the country, and now embellish some of the foreign galleries.

These misguided men could not make a change in politics without venting their inglorious spite upon these choice works of art. What could burning of pictures have to do with any necessary alteration that was to be made in restraining, within due bounds, the kingly prerogative? This, and other questions might be asked, but will never be answered, because no satisfactory answer can be given.

However, in the language of Shelley,

-I thank thee. Thou hast given

A boon which I will not resign, and taught
A lesson not to be unlearned. I know
The past, and thence I will essay to glean
A warning for the future, so that man
May profit by his errors, and derive
Experience from his folly."

"There is no part of history so generally useful as that which relates to the progress of the human mind, the gradual improvement of reason, the successive advances of science, the vicissitudes of learning and ignorance, which are the lights and darkness of thinking beings, the extinctions and resuscitations of the arts, and the revolutions of the intellectual world. If accounts of battles and invasions are peculiarly the business of princes, the useful or elegant arts are not to be neglected: those who have states to govern have also understandings to cultivate."*

There are, unfortunately, some few in every society who cannot or do not understand the moral and the beauty of the symbolic arts. These deserve our warmest pity. On this subject I beg leave to present them with a few extracts from Digby's "Mores Catholici," of which "every line is a lesson, every page a history."

"Man must have pleasure; if he find it not in the house of God, he will seek it in the false joys of the world."

"The artists in mosaics and paintings knew the necessity of making art symbolic rather than imitative; that proves the inconsistency of the moderns, who would admire and preserve the monument of Catholic genius, but destroy the idea which produced it."

and smooth, blooming cheeks of James I. He was content that his face should go forth marked with all the blemishes that had been put on by time, by war, by sleepless nights, by anxiety, and perhaps by remorse; but with valour, policy, authority, and public cares written in all its princely lines and natural hues. If men truly great knew their own interests, it is thus that they would wish their minds to be portrayed. * Johnson.

"The objectors to paintings and images may as well object to God for having made the lights of Heaven so resplendent and the herbs so beautiful and odoriferous."

"The Creator sees man in making beautiful things to adore him with, only imitating his own works."

"The first essential qualification for understanding symbolic language is a revering spirit."

"From things insensible alone ye learn

That which, digested rightly, after turns
To intellectual."

DANTE.

"What is mysticism must be mystically reviewed. Religion, love, nature, state-everything in the church is full of divine signification and mystery. The divine offices correspond to that sentiment of beauty under the religious feelings which, in the unity of our life of perception, divides itself into the epic of inspiration, the dramatic of resignation, and the lyric of devotion."

Thus says another elegant writer: "The ancient artists were attentive to emblems and attributes, and whatever could make or identify their subject."* But the men, or rather the unimaginative monsters of that day, were bent on destruction, and, therefore, resolved,

-With fire, sword, and desolation,

To make a thorough godly reformation;" HUDibras.

and thus "were things destroyed-were hurled to things unborn."

In their blind rage for destruction, they overlooked the common principles of this delightful art. Hear what a modern writer advises his pupil:

"He who from nature takes a view;

Must copy and improve it too ;.

He ne'er will as an artist shine,

Who copies nature line by line." DR. SYNTAX.

A painting or statue must be something more than mere outline, to call up the passions of the human heart. It is, therefore, the part of genius to add those embellishments which are calculated to raise the noblest emotions of the soul.

As "experience is a great teacher, it is a professor that neither reasons nor debates, but carries such conviction and proof that no one but an imbecile or a madman disputes." “Oh, ye of little faith," go to Thebes, a city built four thousand years past, and "there learn by time, travel, and study." You will find a piece of sculpture representing a judge, with a picture on

* Forsyth.

his breast exhibiting truth with her eyes shut, and himself surrounded with books. Or reflect on Albert Durer's celebrated design of melancholy personified: this inimitable picture, by "a genius of universal talent and the Homer of his art,' shows a sad woman leaning on her arm, with fixed looks and neglected habit, surrounded by the instruments of science, and occupied with their problems. Or go and search for Holbein's "Dance of Death," which exhibits a pungent satire on human vanities. After these peregrinations, surely no one would entertain the abominable thought of destroying the most inimitable works of art merely because they may appear mystical or allegorical.

"Let them go down the stream of time's historic page,

From clime to clime-record from age to age." CAMPBELL.

DECORATIVE HOUSE PAINTERS.

AMONG the decorative painters of ceilings, halls, and staircases may be mentioned Louis Laguerre, a native of Paris, who came to England in 1683. His works still remain at Hampton Court, Burleigh, Blenheim, and a few other places. The saloon. at Blenheim is his best performance: the compartments represent the costume of various nations, and the ceiling a vast allegory. This artist was, in the first instance, chosen to paint the cupola of St. Paul's cathedral, for which designs were also offered by Antonio Pellegrini, who painted the stair-case and ceilings at Castle Howard with Marco Ricii, another artist of reputation in the same class.

The claim was preferred to a native painter, Sir James Thornhill, though his rank is rather that of a clever painter than an artist of genius. He stands alone among his compatriots as a successful follower of the Italian and French styles of decoration, and in the invention, readiness, and freedom of pencil requisite for distributing numerous groups over large surfaces, while in every qualification of an artist he is at least equal to any of his cotemporaries. It is to be lamented that Thornhill never visited Italy, but was content to form his taste upon the French school. There is much grandeur in the composition of the history of the apostle in the dome of St. Paul; but as there is an architectural defect in the frame-work, with all the merit, it is a defect upon the general aspect of the building. Many of his works have perished in the changes of the fashion. Among the best of those remaining are the halls at Greenwich hospital, and some at Blenheim, which display

many beauties of his own and all the defects of his age, which his talents were not able to surmount. Although he was much employed, he felt severely the unjust predilection for foreigners, which has ever been the bane of English art; and, while Lafosse had received thousands for his paintings at Montague House, Thornhill was forced to submit to be paid for his public work by the square yard: however, he enriched himself very honourably by his works, repurchased the estate of his ancient family, was chosen member of parliament for Weymouth, and died, universally esteemed as an artist and a man, in 1734. After his death this branch of painting went out of fashion. The valuable copies of the cartoons of Raffaele, now the property of the Royal Academy, were painted by him.

The close of the century brought forth one of the greatest geniuses in the art of design the world ever saw-William Hogarth. He, like the apostle of old, taught ethics with the engraver; with that simple tool, forcibly, but coarsely, directed by his inspired hand, he humorously portrayed the maxim, Castigat Ridendo Mores,"* with the most irresistible effect.

His early humble efforts were displayed, or rather employed, (for he was only a copier,) in engraving family arms upon silver and gold plate; but the astonishing powers which nature gave him as a writer, engraver, and painter, soon began to develope themselves. He furnished plates for the booksellers, among which his illustrations of Hudibras, the greatest poetical satire of that or any other period, would alone have immortalized him. Here the very gods of mirth and satire might make a bow of devotion, and Silenus himself would smile with contempt at his own feeble powers. That volume, thus illustrated, combining at once the united powers of two such superlative geniuses, ought to have driven melancholy away from the face of the earth. No artist's works have afforded so much delight as his: the criticisms, essays, and descriptions of them are very numerous; and the following couplet, by Whitehead, are trite and expressive of his industry, and the genii over whom it was exercised:

"Load, load the pallet, boy! Hark! Hogarth cries,
'Fast as I paint, fresh swarms of fools arise.'"

The following just and eloquent character of this great man is from the pen of his biographer, Mr. Allan Cuningham: "His character as an artist is to be gathered from numerous works at once original and unrivalled. His skill as an engraver spread his fame as a painter; and all who love the dramatic * The manners of the age are corrected by ridicule.

representation of actual life-all who have hearts to be gladdened by humour-all who are pleased with judicious and welldirected satire-all who are charmed with the ludicrous looks of popular folly, and all who can be moved with the pathos of human suffering, are admirers of Hogarth. That his works are unlike those of other men is his merit, and not his fault. He belonged to no school of art; he was the produce of no academy; no man, living or dead, had any share in forming his mind or in rendering his hand skilful. He was the spontaneous offspring of the graphic spirit of his country, as native to the heart of England as its independence; and he may be fairly called, in his own walk, the first-born of her spirit. He painted life as he saw it. He gave no visions of bygone things no splendid images of ancient manners: he regarded neither the historian's page nor the poet's song: he was contented with the occurrences of the passing day, with the folly or sin of the hour; but to the garb or fashion of the moment he adds story and sentiment for all time."

In No. 555 of the "Spectator" there is mentioned an academy of design of painting in 1712, with Sir Godfrey Kneller president: it soon fell into decay. The Royal Academy had their charter 1765: that soon broke up. In 1768 the present one was formed, which was about the last in Europe. The Edinborough Royal Academy was established 1754. One has recently been established in Dublin.

06

MUSIC.

The birds instructed man,

And taught him songs before the art began;

And while soft evening gales blew o'er the plains,

And shook the sounding reeds, they taught the swains,

And thus the pipe was formed and tuneful reed." LUCRETIUS.

"Music is a kind of language," says Metastasio," and as such it possesses that advantage over poetry which a universal language has over a particular one; for this last speaks only to its own age or country, the other speaks to all ages and all countries. I think it will be universally admitted that a musical sound, when produced by a fine voice, a rich-toned violin, or a mellow horn, excites pleasing sensations. Ay, so powerful are the effects of harmony and melody, that it is said " a song may reach those whom a sermon flies."

It is stated by all writers down to the present time, that "the singing of madrigals was, in the time of Elizabeth, the