and sterile, the appearance of the bird has occasionally led to the opinion of its being a distinct species, or at least a variety. Partridges are the most prolific of the wild gallinida, the eggs being seldom fewer than twelve in number, while they are often as many as twenty, and have on several occasions greatly exceeded that number, as the following instances will show. In the year 1793 a partridge nest was found in a fallow field on the farm of Mr. Pratt, near Ferling, in Essex, with thirty-three eggs; twenty-three of the eggs were hatched, and the birds went off; the number of the eggs was ascertained before hatching to decide a bet laid by a person who refused to credit so unusual a production. In order to cover the whole of the eggs, the female had piled up seven in a curious manner in the centre. A nest was also found in 1798, at Elborough, Somersetshire, in a wheat-field, with twenty-eight eggs. Mr. Daniel tells us that upon the farm of Lion Hall, in Essex, belonging to Colonel Hawker, 1788, the following incident was known to many persons. A partridge, instead of forming her nest as usual, on the ground, chose the top of an oak pollard, and this tree, too, had one end of the bars of a stile fastened to it, so that the passengers along the footway, in getting over the stile, disturbed and uncovered the bird before she began to sit close. The farmer, whose name was Bell, apprised Mr. Daniel of the circumstance, which he laughed at as being the report of the workpeople, and said it was only a wood pigeon they had mistaken for a partridge; but the former, who had killed some hundreds of partridges, so positively affirmed his having beheld the bird upon the nest on the tree, and also having told the eggs to the number of sixteen, that Mr. Daniel was persuaded to ride to the spot, where the partridge was seen sitting: in a few days she hatched sixteen eggs; and her brood, scrambling down the short and rough boughs which grew around the trunk of the tree, reached the ground in safety. The nest usually made by the partridge is merely a hole scratched in dry mould, or a few bents and decayed leaves strewed roughly in the hollow made by an ox or horse's hoof. Sometimes it is formed on hedge-banks, sometimes in corn or grass, frequently in clover. It is often found beneath the shelter of some low bush or tuft of grass. The eggs are generally laid about the latter end of May; they are of a greenish-gray colour, and the female sits so remarkably close, that not only does she not rise when her nest is approached, but it is difficult to drive her from it. She is at this time very bold in driving off her winged foes; and magpies, cranes, and other plunderers of nests, are valiantly opposed in their depredations. The male partridge does not share the labour of incubation, but is attentive to his mate, and joins her in defending the brood, and uses many arts to decoy visitors away from the nest. Frequent and heavy rains during the time of laying and incubation are very unfavourable; many of the eggs are chilled or drowned, and if the weather is wet when the young first leave the shell the cold benumbs the little strength they have in their legs, and they soon fall and die, even while their mother is leading them forth in search of food. The affection shown by the partridge for its young is peculiarly strong and lively. Both parents seem equally assiduous, after the birds are hatched, in leading them out, and directing them to their proper food, and in protecting them by every means in their power from their enemies. Insects, larvae, and eggs, are the food of young partridges; ant-eggs, in particular, seem necessary to their existence. At this period the male and female frequently sit close together and cover the young with their wings, exhibiting such evident marks of parental tenderness, that few persons would willingly disturb or injure them in such a situation. When they are accidentally discovered, or alarmed by a dog, they act in a manner thus described by an eye-witness: The male first gives the signal of alarm by a peculiar distressful cry, throwing himself at the same moment more immediately in the way of danger, in order to mislead the enemy; he flies, or rather runs along the ground, hanging whereby the dog is decoyed by a too eager expectation of his wings and exhibiting every symptom of debility, an easy prey, to run further from the covey. The female flies off in a contrary direction, and to a greater distance, but soon after secretly returning she finds her scattered brood closely squatted among the grass, and collecting them with haste by her jucking she leads them from the danger before the dog has had time to return from the pursuit. Partridges are easily tamed, but do not breed in con finement. An instance is given of one of these birds becoming so familiar in a clergyman's family where it was reared, that it would attend the parlour at breakfast and other times, and would afterwards stretch itself before the fire, seeming to enjoy the warmth as if it were its natural bask on a sunny bank. The dogs of the house never molested it, but at last it fell under the paws of a strange cat and was killed. The eggs of partridges are frequently collected, and hatched under domestic hens, the broods being afterwards turned into preserves for the purpose of stocking them. In this case, the food of the young birds should at first consist of the eggs of the small ant; afterwards they should be fed with fresh curds mixed with lettuce, chickweed, or groundsel. It will be some time before they can eat grain readily. 99 In Franklin's Constantinople we meet with an account of the method practised by the Arabs of Monnt Lebanon in taking the partridge, so that "to hunt the partridge upon the mountains is still, as in Scripture times, & custom of that country. The Arabs make a slight square frame of wood, of about five feet in height, over which they stretch an ox-hide perforated in three or four places. The ox-hide is moved quietly in an upright position, and the Arab concealing himself behind it, is hidden from the view of the game, which unsuspectingly allow the sportsman to come within shot of them. The Arab, seeing through one of the apertures, quietly pro trudes the muzzle of his long musket through another hole, and firing upon the birds, as they feed in coveys upon the ground, kills a great many of them.. intellect IN all these, (the articles of faith comprised in the creed the sky of my belief is serene, unclouded by doubt. Woul to God that my faith, that faith which works on the whee tion to my belief, to the full acquiescence of my man, confirming and conforming, were but in just prop and the deep consent of my conscience! The very dificulus argue the truth of the whole scheme and system for understanding, since I see plainly that so must the truth appear, if it be the truth.-COLERIDGE. WITHOUT KNOWLEDGE Magazine. PRICE ONE PENNY. THE GODDESS OF FORTUNE. Found by Mr. Gavin Hamilton, near Rome, and now in the British Museum. 593 122 A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE FINE ARTS. No. II. SECTION IV. ROMAN SCULPTURE. parent, had there been native, prior to this importation of Greek, artists. On the contrary, everything in the sculp excellence; every touch exhibits rather what has been, than presages the eminence for which we are to draw upon futurity. From Augustus to Trajan, during a period of a hundred and forty years, the principles and practice of the Greeks continued to be observed, with such difference only as political causes can easily reconcile, but with a progressive decay. The most favourable periods during this space were the reigns of Vespasian, Titus, and Trajan; for the reign of Nero, whose taste, like his morals, was corrupt, which Pliny has assumed as an epoch in the Roman school, was propitious to practice, not to improvement." (MEMES.) The taste and energy displayed by Trajan gave new animation to the arts in Greece and Italy, and his reign, together with those of Hadrian and the Antonines, has been accounted the golden age of sculpture in Rome. The distinguishing characteristic of the art as it existed in Hadrian's time, was extreme minuteness of finish, indicating the labour more of the hand than of the mind. Mechanical dexterity was displayed in careful working with the file, the chisel, and the drill, and an air of studied and affected refinement pervaded the whole, to the utter extinction of all characteristic and natural expression. "For the sublime is substituted the difficult, the florid for the elegant; and in every remaining specimen, we can readily detect the taste which preferred a poetaster to Homer, or the laboured inanities of the Sophists, to the vigorous and manly eloquence of Demosthenes and Cicero." The style thus adopted has been considered sufficiently distinct from preceding methods to be called the Roman style of sculpture; and as exhibiting the national taste for display and ornament, it is, perhaps, rightly so denominated, although it appears tolerably certain that even during the flourishing period of the art, Greek, and not native, artists were employed on all the chief works of sculpture that were produced at Rome. We have already stated that the decline of Grecian sculpture of this era discovers a descent from a state of higher ture commenced at the period of the dismemberment of the Macedonian empire, and extended through nearly two hundred years. The fatal blow to its existence was given by the success of the Roman arms. In the year 146 B.C. the celebrated city of Corinth was sacked by the conquerors, and deprived of the treasures of art which had been accumulating for ages. Athens was subdued in the year 86 B.C., and other cities sharing the same fate, the glory of Greece was extinguished, and her splendid works of art were left to the mercy of a people little qualified to appreciate their merit. The character of the Romans as the conquerors of the world is so little in accordance with the cultivation of the milder arts of peace that we are not surprised to find sculp ture, in all ages of their history, existing rather as a plant of foreign growth, partially cultivated in their soil, than as an indigenous production of their own clime. The passion for conquest was too prevailing to allow of enthusiasm for art. The works of Greece and Etruria were valued and admired as the fruits and trophies of their victories, but were not viewed in the light of instruments by which their own moral condition might be improved, and the barbarism of their nation in some measure removed. At the conquest of Syracuse, indeed, we find some appearance of the true feeling of admiration for the arts in the reply of Marcellus, who was accused of unjustly robbing the devoted city of its marble treasures. He declared that he had done so for the good of Rome, that the public edifices might be embellished, and that his own countrymen might acquire a taste for the arts and elegance of the Greeks. But although each victory was followed by the accession of new specimens of art to Rome, and although among these specimens, some of the most exquisite examples of Grecian performances were brought before their eyes, we do not perceive a taste for sculpture to have been awakened, in any measure corresponding with the advantages thus offered to them in the study of the best models of the art. The passion for forming collections, which is stated to have been extremely prevalent at the period to which we now allude, doubtless evinces considerable interest in works of art, and to that source do we probably owe the preservation of numerous specimens which would otherwise have been destroyed. But in the hands of the Romans sculpture soon degenerated, for they had inherited the works of Greece without any portion of the genius of their authors. During the latter period of the Commonwealth, various sculptors of distinguished name were resident in different parts of Italy, and attempts were successively made by Sylla, Pompey, and Cæsar, to elevate the arts in Rome. They collected statues, gems, &c., and invited to the capital the yet remaining sculptors of Greece, by whose labours not only Rome itself, but many of the cities of Asia Minor, Spain, and Gaul were embellished. But the chief impulse was given to sculpture as practised in Rome, during the sway of Augustus. The patronage of a monarch who could wield for his purposes the energies of the whole enlightened world, was necessarily of high advantage to the art. He carefully collected the finest works that could be procured, and fixed them in prominent situations in the city no expense was spared to enrich the different collections of statues and paintings, but of all the sculptors, whose names have reached us as having flourished in this, the best age of the arts in Rome, every one is Greek, and chiefly Athenian. Pasiteles, Arcesilaus, Tropirus, and Evander, were some of the most eminent. "The arts, indeed, were revived, but the creative spirit which infuses life and soul into their productions, which stamps them with originality and thought, could not be recalled. The character of design and of execution is evidently the same as that by which the last era of sculpture in Greece is distinguished, or rather it is superior; for settled government, ample reward, and certain honour, not only drew to Rome every man of talent, but also awakened new powers. But in the finest specimens, there is no evidence of new energies, aided by the union of two separate modifications of talent; nor in the inferior, any exhibition of the more original, though it might be ruder, efforts of an aspiring and distinct national taste. Either or both of these effects would have been ap To the munificence of Hadrian, the arts were indebted for much of the prosperity which they enjoyed at the com mencement of the second century. Several of the ancient temples which had fallen into decay, were, by his orders, restored, and others were erected in a style not unworthy of the best days of art. He completed the temple of the Olympian Jupiter at Athens, and enriched it with a statue of the god in gold and ivory, and with several other works of art, among which was a colossal statue of Hadrian himself. This prince had a splendid villa eighteen mile from Rome, the celebrated villa of Tivoli, where he collected together such a vast number of specimens of ancient art, that even up to the present time, every fresh excavation has led to the discovery of some object of interest. In 1771, Mr. Gavin Hamilton discovered the head, of which a drawing is given at p. 125. It was found in that part of Hadrian's villa called the Pantanella, and near it a similar head, but of inferior execution, which was deposited in the Vatican. The first-named head is thus spoken of by Mr. Taylor: "We cannot too strongly express our admiration of this very spirited and masterly piece of sculpture: its general character evidently shows that it represents a head of one of the Homeric heroes. Many attempts have been made to ascertain the particular person whom it was intended to represent, but hitherto without success. It is considerably inclined to the right, and is looking upward with a counte nance expressive of the deepest anguish both of mind and body. The hair of the head, though not long, is in bold and distinct masses, and the beard is very short and close to the face. "We may remark a great similarity between the cha racter of this head and that of Menelaus in the French collection, supposed to have belonged to a group representing Menelaus supporting the dead body of Patroclus. We are not, however, inclined to think that the head now before us was intended to represent Menelaus, as the head of that her is in the instance just mentioned, as well as in every other instance which we are acquainted with, covered with a helmet, and the beard is much more ample." The nose in this statue, and a small portion of each r are modern, as are also part of the lobe on the left ear, a a tuft of hair on the top of the head. The bust on which the head is placed is not antique: the line of separation is marked in the wood-cut. The height is one foot, nine inches and a half. In the reign of Hadrian some of the superstitions of Egypt were introduced into Italy, and became so mixed up with the worship of the Romans, that the gods of the Nile were publicly honoured, and their statues admitted as objects of adoration. This enlargement of the catalogue of their deities caused a great demand throughout the empire, for statues and other representations connected with the Egyptian ceremonies. Accordingly we find that the villa of Tivoli was decorated with imitations of Egyptian figures and subjects, and that remains of this nature have been found in considerable number, both there and in other parts of Italy. After the death of Hadrian sculpture rapidly declined, though during the time of the Antonines some attention was paid to the art, and busts of some merit were executed. The best and most characteristic sculpture of Rome was that which adorned their public monuments, and which recorded the history of their emperors' triumphs; as in the Trajan column, where the exploits of the emperor are represented in one continued winding relief from the base to the summit, and are crowned by the statue of the emperor himself. In the difference of style and execution in the two columns of Trajan and Antoninus, may be distinctly traced the rapid decay of the art during the period which elapsed between their erection, while still later, in the arch of Septimus Severus the low condition of the art is fully manifested. The arches raised to Titus, Trajan, Severus, and Constantine are among the principal compositions of Roman sculpture. "They breathe," says Flaxman, "the spirit of the people they commemorate, which was conquest and universal dominion; they owe no inspiration to the muses, urge no claim to the epic, or dramatic; they are the mere paragraphs of military gazettes, vulgar in conception, ferocious in sentiment; on the columns and arches, the principal objects are mobs of Romans cased in armour, bearing down unarmed, scattered Germans, Dacians or Sarmatians, soldiers felling timber, driving piles, carrying rubbish, shouldering battering rams, killing without mercy, or dragging or binding captives." The efforts of Constantine, on his ascending to the imperial dignity, were directed to restore that feeling for the arts which seemed almost to have departed from Rome. He established schools of architecture, and distributed rewards and privileges among the most distinguished students, endeavouring thus to excite an honourable emulation among the youths of the capital. By these means he succeeded in raising several considerable buildings, but in adorning them he was obliged to have recourse to the sculptors of a former age, and to seek afresh in the cities of Greece and Asia Minor for such remains of ancient art as had been left by former collectors. He also gave employment to artists of his own time, but their works, chiefly in metal, showed but too plainly that the spirit of ancient art was irrecoverably lost. To give the reader some idea of the profusion of plundered specimens of art which were eventually collected together at Rome, we may state that no less than eleven thousand exquisite works of Greek and Etruscan sculpture adorned the imperial city in the time of its splendour; so that Petronius, alluding to the taste for these ornaments and the profusion of them, observes, that it was easier to meet a god in Rome than a man. The establishment of a seat of imperial government at Constantinople was a fatal blow to the greatness of Rome, and another cause for the continued decline of the arts in the latter city; yet it is from the reign of Constantine, when Christianity was established in the empire, that the dawning of modern art is recognised. It will be seen from the foregoing sketch that Roman sculpture is so inferior as to bear no comparison with that of Greece. The best works were produced by Greek artists, and the attempts of the Romans are for the most part characterized by poverty of invention, meanness of design, and unskilful execution. The art seems seldom to have met with efficient patronage, except where busts or portrait statues were required to please the vanity of individuals; accordingly we find the excellence of these latter works conspicuous above that of the other departments of art; indeed, the collection of busts of successive emperors reaching through a period of three centuries, constitutes an invaluable series, as it regards the history of art. In the illustrations which accompany our notice of Roman sculpture our readers will observe that though each of the specimens we have represented was found near Rome, there The is reason to believe that in each case the work was either in part or wholly the work of Greek artists. The statue of the Goddess of Fortune was found by Mr. Gavin Hamilton near the Via Latina, a short distance from Rome. description runs thus: "The statue of the Goddess of Fortune with a modius on her head; her right hand holds a rudder, the lower part of which rests upon a globe, and her left hand supports a cornucopia filled with corn and fruits of different kinds. The modius and the cornucopia allude to the abundance supposed to be conferred by this goddess upon her votaries. From a passage in Horace, in which Fortune is styled the mistress of the sea, it has been conjectured that the rudder is a symbol of her particular influence over that element. But it is more probable that the rudder is a metaphorical symbol of her general dominion over the affairs of the world, and this latter supposition seems to be very fully confirmed by the circumstance of the rudder being placed upon the globe. "Fortune was worshipped in very early times by the Greeks; but her image does not appear on any of the more ancient Greek medals, and indeed of the numerous figures of her now extant both in marble and bronze, not one appears to be of high antiquity. It was not till the time of the Roman emperors that the worship of this goddess was universally established. After this period one of the most common figures on the Greek and Roman coins was that of Fortune: and as a proof of the great ascendency which she was believed by the Romans to hold over the interests of mankind, no less than twenty-five temples were erected to her at Rome." Of this statue, the neck and nearly the whole of the modius are modern, and the head, though ancient, has belonged to another figure. The right hand and the whole of the rudder, except a small portion attached to the globe, are also modern, as is the left hand and the lower part of the cornucopia. The height, including the pedestal, is three feet, one inch. The terminal head of the bearded Bacchus, of which we give a representation at p. 128, was found near the Porta Latina, at Rome. It is crowned with vine-leaves, which descend on each side of the face, and with a broad ample diadem, hanging loosely over the forehead in the form of a festoon. Most of the ancient marble termini have a square cavity on each side of them, rather below the shoulders, but in the present example, these cavities are filled up by two square projections on which the ends of the diadem rest. These projections show the ancient mode of joining a number of these termini together by rails or bars, in allusion to the use to which termini were originally applied, namely as fences, and boundaries. In concluding these remarks on Roman sculpture we may naturally be led to inquire, what is the reason that a people so distinguished as this, for manly and persevering talent, should, of all the nations that have held supremacy in the earth, be the least remarkable for any bold peculiarities, or successful darings of their own genius? especially in an art where the practice is laborious, the principles grave and simple, and therefore, apparently well adapted to suit the nature of Roman talent? We have already anticipated the most evident answer to this inquiry, in alluding to the warlike and impetuous spirit of the conquerors of the world, which led them rather to action and business than to elegant acquirements. But we must also remember that the art of sculpture was the peculiar eminence of the people they had conquered, and having no respect for its professors, and considering them as little better than slaves, they were the less likely to admire and successfully to practise the art itself. Then the amazing profusion of the beautiful works of Greece, presented them with such abundant means of decorating their buildings and palaces, that there was the less inducement to employ native artists in the execution of works which could not fail of being greatly inferior to these which came ready prepared to their hand. SECTION V. MODERN SCULPTURE IN ITALY. Flaxman is of opinion that we may justly date the beginning of modern art, from that period when painting and sculpture ceased to be employed, as heretofore, on the pagan gods, but were engaged to illustrate subjects connected with Christian worship. Thus from the time of Constantine the arts slowly and gradually revived, and an original character made itself apparent, even in the rude and almost frightful attempts of the early Christians. While inspired, perhaps, with a taste for sculpture by means of the scattered remains of Grecian art, they drew, at the same time from their own resources, and were by no means servile copyists of the artists of a former age. In those early days many of the artists united the three professions of painting, sculpture, and architecture, and sculpture can scarcely be said to have assumed a distinct and appropriate character until the time of Nicolo Pisano, who commenced his profession early in 1200, and exhibited a surprising degree of skill and talent in his art. His works, with those of his son Giovanni and his scholars, still adorn many of the cities of Italy. In the cathedrals of Pisa, Pistoja, Siena, and Orvieto, are magnificent marble pulpits enriched with bassi relievi and statues. These are the works of the Pisani, and give a high idea of their taste and feeling. The façade of the cathedral of Orvieto is decorated with relievi in white marble by the same artists, illustrating some of the principal facts recorded in the Sacred Writings. These performances have attracted much admiration on account of the simplicity and grace manifested in the arrangement of the several groups, and in the form of the individual figures. Nicolo Pisano lived to an advanced age, and though several excellent works were performed by his scholars, it was not till the succeeding century that a worthy successor appeared. This was his grandson, Andrea Pisano, who in the year 1330 executed a work of great beauty at Florence, illustrating the life of St. John. It is in bronze, and forms one of the gates of the Baptistery in that city. His marble statues were considered by Flaxman to be inferior to those of Nicolo and Giovanni, his predecessors. The first academy of design was established at Florence, in 1350, and at the close of the same century sculpture was once more firmly established throughout Italy, and itinerant sculptors, not unskilful in their art, wandered from thence over Germany, France, and even England, where their works have been traced in the sculptured ornaments of Gothic edifices. Thus did the mild genius of Christianity prove favourable and mainly instrumental in the revival of the arts. "Upon the age now passing in review," says Memes, "when Freedom again rises, we behold genius also revive, as if the sweeter sensibilities and the manlier virtues had altogether slumbered through the long long night of ignorance and despotism. It is thus that spring, breathing on bank and wild wood, unchains the bud and the blossom from the tenderest floweret to the hardy oak." The labours of the fifteenth century in all the elegant arts will ever hold a distinguished place in history. In the first year of that century no less than six great masters were competitors for the same public work, the bronze doors of the baptistery of Florence, and each of these competitors afterwards became the head of a flourishing school. Their names are, Brunelleschi, Ghiberti, Jacomo della Quercia, Nicolo Lamberti, Francisco di Valdambrino, and Simon dei Colle. Ghiberti, then a youth of twenty-three, was the successful candidate, and the work thus assigned to him occupied forty years of his life, and is one of the proudest triumphs of modern art. The southern door of this edifice had previously displayed the talents of Andrea Pisano: the northern and eastern doors were to carry to future generations the fame of Lorenzo Ghiberti. The northern door represents the life of our Saviour,-the eastern door the most striking events of the Old Testament history. Michel Angelo is said to have admired them so highly that he declared them fit to be "the gates of Paradise." "Among the illustrious names for which this period was remarkable, that of Donatello stands deservedly conspicuous. The works of this artist are exceedingly numerous, and are scattered all over Italy: they are executed in every variety of material, and in various degrees of magnitude. His marble statue of St. George was greatly admired by Michel Angelo, as was also the statue of St. Mark, decorating the same building, the church of Or San Michele at Florence. Respecting the latter statue it is said that, after surveying it for some time, Michel Angelo exclaimed, Mark, why dost thou not speak to me?" The scholars of Donatello have been divided into two classes, those who were fellow-labourers with him, and whose celebrity is chiefly owing to the assistance they lent him in his great works, and those more legitimate disciples who, without following servilely in the track of their master, derived their knowledge in the first place from his precepts, and subsequently added to, and even improved on the principles with which they set out. Respecting this age it has been justly said that modern sculpture attained its manhood. A character of truth and simplicity, faithful imitation of nature, and just expression, visibly begin from the time of Nicolo Pisano, whose own style was remarkable for sweetness and absence of pretension. A degree of meagreness and restraint long pervaded the early school, yet even in the works of the fourteenth century, the art being chiefly dedicated to devotional purposes, and to the memory of departed worth, "an air of dignified sincerity, a touching portraiture of the gentler affections, diffuse over the mind of the spectator a melancholy yet pleasing serenity, to be felt rather than described." In the succeeding century the style becomes more elevated yet not less true: the execution at the same time is bold and felicitous, and the imitation is faithful to nature. One department of sculpture attained an eminence in the fifteenth century which has not been surpassed. This is the high and the low relief practised by Donatello and Ghiberti, where the sacred subjects represented appear to have imparted to the genius of the sculptors a portion of their own sacred dignity and holy feeling. It would be foreign to our purpose to describe the works, or even to record the names of the meritorious artists who filled Italy during the fifteenth century: suffice it to say that so great was the advancement in sculpture, so numerous the schools of art, that the age in its bright prospects has been compared to that of Pericles: "it wanted but a Phidias to crown its prosperity, and in Michel Angelo the genius of Greece seemed to be supplied." This extraor dinary man united the professions of sculptor, painter, and architect, and was illustrious in each. The opinions respect ing him may differ in many respects, but all must agree that his works have a strongly marked character of their own, and possess wondrous power and dignity. His vast and almost superhuman conceptions were executed in a most astonishing manner, and with a perfect knowledge of the true principles of his art. Michel Angelo Buonarotti was born in 1474, and living to the advanced age of ninety, was the means of influencing the efforts of art during the greater part of the sixteenth century. "Anatomy," says Flaxman, "motion and perspective of figure, the complica tion, harmony, and grandeur of his grouping, with the advantage and facility of execution in painting and sculp ture, besides his mathematical and mechanical attainments, in architecture and building, which, together with the many and prodigious works he accomplished, demonstrate how greatly he contributed towards the restoration of art." Some of the most renowned works in sculpture by Michel Angelo are the colossal statue of Moses, a grand, but not altogether pleasing performance; the statues of Lorenzo and Giuliano di Medici; the David; the Virgin and dead Saviour, &c. Several of his works are left in an unfinished state. Impatient of slow progressive toil, yet full of activity and industry, his power of performance could not keep pace with his rapidity of conceiving and designing magnificent undertakings. In the course of his history, which we shall hereafter lay before our readers, in a separate form, it will be also apparent that he had many difficulties to contend with in the execution of his works, arising from the jealousies or ignorance of those by whom he was sur rounded. The following opinion on the most celebrated work of this artist may be taken, with some little modifica tion, as giving a good idea of the general character of his performances. "The Moses, on the tomb of Julius the Second, amid the creations of genius rises a solitary and matchless monument. Without model among the produc tions of antiquity, it has remained inimitable and unimitated in modern times. Neither in Nature do we find its prototype: it is the extraordinary conception of an extraordinary mind. Thus isolated by its own peculiar sublimity of character, this statue exhibits a striking resem blance of the imagination whence it derived existence. We behold a being who awes, who subdues, yet who fails to interest, for with such humanity entertains no communion of feeling. Here the sublime is too exclusively sought in the vehement and the marvellous; every effort is forced; every trait exaggerated, and the whole shows a daring eriginality, verging on the extravagant and the false." Notwithstanding the faults which the manner of Michel Angelo threw more or less into all his productions, the majesty and grandeur of his statues compensated in a great measure for minor defects. In the numerous imitators of this great man we find that for the most part the manner of the artist, including the faults, is carefully retained, while the stamp of originality and genius is wanting to atone for the latter. Michel Angelo died in 1564, and was buried in the church of Santa Croce, in Florence, and a monument is raised to him, in which is a basso relievo, by himself, of a Madonna and Child. This monument is the work of his pupils, and |