other hand, and looks up as if Omnipotence would in pity spare her to him, but

part they must: body and soul must part.

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This bas relief is one of the most admired works of our author; and so admirably is the action of waking expressed that the limbs seem to move before our eyes in solemn procession. The figure of the Genius appears in its naked beauty and innocence : the female is entirely draped; and her countenance is shaded by a hood in the repose of death, whilst its beauty bespeaks purity of soul.

The youth is in the heroic style and presents a noble bearing: his limbs are naked ; and his action is full of expression :

"Our time is fixed and all our days are number'd; How long, how short, we know not: this we know, Duty requires we calmly wait the summons, Nor dare to stir 'till Heaven shall give permission.

A WIFE PRAYNG AT THE TOMB
OF HER MOTHER.

“The new made widow too, I've sometimes spied,
Sad sight! slow moving o'er the prostrate dead :
Listless she crawls along in doleful black,
While bursts of sorrow gush from either eye,
Fast falling down her now untasted cheek,
Prone on the lonely grave of the dear man she drops."

Here we have a virtuous and affectionate wife, recently bereft of her husband, kneeling in sorrow and prayer at the foot of a column, on which is an urn of antique form, containing the ashes of her departed husband. Her figure is draped in a manner to correspond with her sorrow and bereavement : over her head and shoulders is a veil: her hands are joined in prayer; and a settled melancholy overspreads her countenance. On the opposite side is the Genius of Death, drooping his head in sorrow, and leaning on an inverted torch symbolic of extinguished life. In the other hand he holds a bunch of poppies emblematic of the sleep of death; and his wings reveal his supernatural nature and express his rapid flight throughout the various regions of the Earth. This Composition is particularly recommended by its unaffected simplicity and grace.

THE FLIGHT OF THE SOUL.

anticipating heav'n, She bursts from the thraldom of incumbring clay, And, on the wing of exstacy upborne,

Springs, into liberty and light and life. "

The Ancients represented the flight of the soul by a butterfly after having made its escape from the mouth of the deceased; and of this we have

various illustrations on the sarcophagi in the Capitoline Museum.

Our sculptor has idealized a pious soul under a female form despoiled of worldly robes, and vested in the mantle of celestial holiness. Spirited away from her earthy abode and borne aloft to the mansions of bliss, she appears buoyant in air: her arms are crossed on her bosom; and a Crucifix, the emblem and the instrument of Redemption, is pressed to her heart. Her beauteous countenance looks up to heaven and is illumined by a smile that seems caught as it were from a glympse of the Ecstatic Vision. The rich and radiant mantle, that envelopes and enshrines her form, seems to float in air as light as gossamer. Beneath is the Genius of Death contemplating, not with grief but with a placid smile, her glorious flight to heaven, and leaning on his inverted torch to imply that his mission is fulfilled.

MONUMENT TO PIUS VII.

His Holiness is seated and dressed in full Pontifical robes: on his head is the triple tiara; and his right hand imparts the Pontifical benediction. At either side stands on the basement of the monument a semicolossal statue, one representing Wisdom and the other Strength, both female figures. Wisdom wears on her head a wreath of laurels, and holds in her hand an open volume, whilst the right

hand is raised towards the face in an attitude expressive of profound meditation. The owl, the symbol of wisdom, appears at her feet. Strength is clothed in a lion's skin, which comes over her head and is brought round the loins in front: her arms are crossed on her bosom; and her face is turned upwards, to indicate that she is not human but divine; whilst at the same time she treads under foot a club, the emblem of human force. On either side of the Pope's chair is a winged figure or Genius, seated at some little distance on a level with the basement of the chair; and both are looking towards the Pope. One holds a closed volume, and the other points to an hourglass. Over the door of the sepulchral chamber are the Pope's family arms.

Although bearing the impress of decrepitude the figure of the Pope is imposing. The expression of the countenance is severe, it being furrowed with age and care; yet it is not unrelieved with mildness and benignity. Without departing from simplicity the robes produce a rich effect.

The Figure symbolic of Wisdom is in the purest style of art, and at once impresses on the beholder the idea of profound meditation. The eyes are not fixed on the page but look off, as if to indicate the deliberation and study with which the Mysterious Volume is to be perused. The figure is chaste, beautiful and significant, and altogether corresponds with the character of Christian Wisdom.

Divine Strength is also well expressed by a fe

male figure, who, unequal to wield the emblem of human force, tramples it under foot; whilst, to show that she possesses power from above to defend Religion, her head is covered with the face of a lion, and her loins girded with his skin; and, with arms meekly crossed on her bosom, she looks towards Heaven as her unfailing resource. Such allegorical figures harmonize well with the character of Pius VII. It must however be confessed that the monument is not on a scale large enough to occupy its site; and that it is otherwise disadvantageously located, as the light coming from the opposite window does not furnish sufficient contrast of shade to make the figures stand out in grand and imposing relief.

NEMESI S.

The goddess of Vengeance, ever ready to punish vice and reward virtue both by sea and land, was represented by the Ancients with wings, a helm and a wheel, and is called by Plato the messenger of Justice. She was particularly worshipped at Rhamnus in Attica, where she had a celebrated statue ten cubits high, made of Parian marble by Phidias. The Romans offerred sacrifice to her before they declared war to show that their wars were undertaken on just grounds and under the auspices of the avenging Nemesis. If then she wings her