son," the flower of promise," which gives early indication of producing fruit. His entire figure is animated, and beautiful: his taper ing limbs accord with his aerial attributes, the wings; and his countenance breathes his characteristic sweetness. His hair is bound with a braid; and his flowing ringlets seem to sport with the breeze. In a word the statue before us is altogether in character; and the invention and execution are alike creditabe to its author.

DIANA,

a statue.

"Eternum telorum et virginitatis amorem Intemerata colit. "

Virg. Eneid. II.

Diana was a favourite goddess with the ancients. Her famous temple at Ephesus, deemed one of the seven wonders of the world, was an attestation of the veneration in which she was held in Ionia. She had also a temple at Delos, which was the resort of all the most beautiful virgins in Greece. She was designated by various names and represented under various forms, having been Luna in heaven, Diana on earth and Proserpine in hell :

Terret, lustrat, agit, Proserpina, Luna, Diana, Ima, Suprema, feras, sceptro, fulgore sagitta.

Her characteristic attribute was the chaste Diana; and all whose virtue was assailed had recourse to her for aid and protection, witness the well known story of Alpheus and Arethusa. To shun the society of men, she devoted herself to hunting, and was usually accompanied by a number of chosen vir.. gins, who, like herself, abjured the use of marriage. On one occasion bathing in a fountain with her attendant Nymph, she was accidentally seen by the unfortunate Actaeon, whose indiscretion she severely punished by changing him into a deer, under which form he was torn to pieces by his own dogs. Accordingly the statue before us represents her surprised by the incautious Hunter; and the moment chosen by the artist is when she is supposed to have just perceived him looking at her form. Her beautiful countenance therefore is filled with virtuous indignation; and the action of her hands, endeavouring to yeil her bosom, well expresses her innate chastity of soul. She is seated on the rocky margin of the fountain; and is undressed, prepared to enter; and now shines forth in all its beauty, loveliness and splendour her goddess form. She wears a celestial diadem, on which are the moon and stars by her side is a dog, her faithful companion of the chase, whose pricked up ears. seem to intimate his vigilant care to defend his mistress

against all intrusion. On the other side are the bow and quiver, her wonted accompaniments. We shall not dwell on the beauty of the statue of Diana, as we feel convinced that its artistic merit must at once strike the eye of every beholder with just admiration.

"And Cupid sharpening all his fiery darts Upon a whetstone stain'd with blood of hearts. "

Horace gives an allegorical description of Cupid's active and mischievous employment; but our Moore, to whom we acknowledge our weighty obligations in illustrating the preceding subjects, observes that the description of Horace is softened in the above lines of Secundus by the omission of the epithet ❝ cruenta.

ferus et Cupido

Semper ardentes acuens sagittas
Cota cruenta.

In the beautiful statue before us the unpitying god of love is employing himself in sharpening an arrow on a wheststone: he kneels on one knee;

and in one hand he holds his bow to shoot one of his newly sharpened arrows at some fair victim. In this statue the beauty of his animated countenance commands our warmest commendation: his roseate lips seem to exhale honey dew; and his hair twines softly in silky ringlets:

"Enough-'tis he! 'tis all I seek.

It glows; it lives; it soon will speak!

INNOCENCE MOURNING THE DEATH
OF A DOVE,

a statue.

"Oh fair! oh purest! be thou the dove
That flies alone to some sunny grove,
And lives unseen, and bathes her wing,
All vestal white, in the limpid spring.

This symbolical figure of Innocence is undraped, and "the shining Parian," which seems to reflect the hallowed glow of the chaste moon, presents the naked beauty of her form in all its virginal purity:

"Like Parian marble pure and bright" (a).

(a) Horace seems to have taken this idea from some ancient statue, so bright, that the eye could not look upon

She is seated with her eyes turned towards heaven, and seems to mourn the loss of her dove, which but a moment ago rested on her snow white bosom, and now lies dead at her feet. Sweet, lovely Innocence, may thy fair form never meet the eye of licentiousness; and, like the dove, thy emblem, mayest thou live on in unsullied purity, until thou soarest to realms of light and happiness.

it long and steadily. Pliny mentions a Hecate in the temple of Diana at Ephesus, and says that the priests advised the people to be cautious of looking at it too earnestly; so strong was the lustre of the marble," tanta marmoris radiatio est. "(Spence Polyment.).