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Leader (1850-1860), 7th February 1857, Edition 2 of 2, Page 15

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      ^ Naturai History Is Gaining More And Mo...

      The institution might be of great service to literature and art ; even now , impaired as its utflity ia by tie action of personal regards and literary partisanship , it is of service in maintaining a higher acknowledged standard of taste and morals , -than would be maintained without it by the simple action of unaided public opinion ; and so far as it does this service it is by being administered in a strictly judicial spirit . And as oar national experience of the value of judicial integrity and strict impartiality has developed among us such a regard for these qualities , tb-at it would surprise us to hear of a man . feeing- offended with a judge for giving a decision against him , so in time the same feeling might be expected to grow up about literary criticisms : and , personal regards once habitually banished from , the literary judgment seat , we should find poets and painters no more offended with the individuals who pronounced

      unfavourable judgments on their works , than in their civic capacity they would , be angry with the judge who found the law opposed to their claims , and gave judgment against them . If we valued as we ought the influence of literature and art upon the nation , if we remembered , that bad books displace good ones , for a time at least ; that- faculties uselessly exercised on literary employment might do the State good service if properly suited with occupation ; that the standard of excellence is lowered by the toleration and laudation bestowed upon bad books and stupid writers , —we should , perhaps , begin to see that a strict judicial temper of criticism was rjo unimportant element in the vigorous and sound mental health of the nation , and should look upon the critic who ignorantly or wilfully misplaced his praise and blame , as we do upon the judge who , from ignorance of the law or corrupt intention , perverts justice and undermines the bulwarks of social order and prosperity .

      Febettaitrr 7,1857.] Ihe Leapeb, J#5

      FEBETTAitrr 7 , 1857 . ] IHE LEAPEB , j # 5

      Life Of Michael Angelo. The Li Fe Oj'mic...

      LIFE OF MICHAEL ANGELO . The Li fe oj'Michael Angelo Buonarroti ; with Translations of many of Ms Poems and Letters . Also , Memoirs of Savonarola , Raphael , and Vittoria Colonna . By John S . Harford , Esq ., D . C . L ., F . R . S . 2 vols . Longman and Co . That Mr . Harford has spared no pains in collecting the materials of this biography will very soon be apparent to the reader ; but that he has little more than diligence and love of the subject to qualify him for the task he Las undertaken , will be equally apparent . In every higher quality demanded by such a subject lie is found somewhat wanting . His style is conventional ; his mode of grouping facts , without felicity ; his criticisms vague and commonplace . We regret to be forced thus to qualify the praise which his diligence elicits ; but for the reader ' s sake we are bound to indicate the

      deficiencies in this biography , which , in spite of its varied materials , presents no picture of the great artist , no picture of his times , not even a satisfactory account of his works . The volumes are illustrated with many portraits , with copies of the cieling of the Sistine Chapel , of the pulpit of the Baptistery at Pisa , of the Basilica , and of St . Peter ' s as it actually is and as Michael Angelo designed it . They contain , moreover , memoirs of Savonarola , Vittoria Colonna , and Raphael , -which , although misplaced , will not be without interest . Had Mr . Harford ., instead of inserting separate memoirs , bethought ^ him of painting an historical picture ^ in which these celebrated persons might be seen standing in their real relation to Michael Angelo , he would have conferred a boon on the reader , who now will only regard these memoir * as so many interruptions .

      Interesting the volumes certainly are . They contain so many details about a great man that we cannot read them unmoved . Even the wellknown anecdotes find welcome . We like again to read of the impetuous student , so diligent amidst his impetuosity , so careful even of details that His biographers mention , among other instances of his assiduous application , his special care in attending to the minutest details which entered into his subjects : for instance , in painting a picture founded on a design of Albert Durer , or Martin Schoens , representing the temptations of St . Anthony ( to which he had added many grotesque figures of demons and monsters ) , ho had to introduce a group of fishes , and wishing to he true to nature , he went to the fish-market , and made drawings of the eyes and fins of various species both living and dead , which he transferred with the greatest effect to his canvas . It was thus that , even in his early youth , he aimed at uniting vigour of design with correctness of detail . This love of truth is the distinguishing mark of a real genius . Only your second-rate men believe that ' imagination' is superior to truth . Michael Angelo had imagination enough , and y « t we read :-

      —_ He was intimate with the prior of the monastery of Santo Spirito , and about this time executed for its church a crucifix in wood of a size rather less than the natural . The prior , who highly appreciated his talents , accommodated him with an apartment for the prosecution of his anatomical studies . He soon took to the dissecting knife ; but the use of it so painfully affected his nervous system , that for a time it seemed as though he must cast it away for ever . Nothing but an unquenchable desire to T v £ - T 1 UmSClf a com P lote master of design , could have enabled him to overcome this dtfnciUty . At length he was able to use it with more indifference and with almost surgical precision , and subjects were frequently supplied to him from the hospital of the monastery . "We have in this great master , " as Sir C . Bell justly observes , " a proof of the manner m which genius submits to labour in order to attain perfection . He patiently , and painfull y to himself , underwent the severe toil of the anatomist , to acquire a power of design such as it is hardly to bo supposed could le duly appreciated either then or now . " l

      Bell adds , that ho made careful examinations of the anatomical studies of Michael AtigeLo while at Florence , nnd found that ho had avoided the errors of artists of less genius , who , in showing their learning , deviate from living nature . He recognised me utmost accuracy of anatomy in his studies , particularly in his pen-and-ink sKetcnes ot the knee ; for example , every point of bone , muscle , tendon , and ligament , was marked , ami perhaps a little exaggerated . But lie found , on surveying wio iianbs oi tho statues for which some of these drawings had been made , that this peoauarity was not visible : there were none of the details of anatomy , but only the ofifacte of muscular action . . The following anecdote , which is new to us , well illustrates Michael Angelo s mastery : — Blasio d ! Vignore , - who hml been admitted to his studio , has loft behind him tho KjUtming graphic description of tho energy nnd certitude of ntroko with which « licli « el Angolo was wont to imrauo Iuh sculptural labours : —

      • .. mft y Sftv Lnat * liave H 0 (; u Michael Angulo at work nfier he had passed his sixtieth year , and although ho was not very robunt , ho cut invuy an many hoiiIub from » Woek of vwy hard marble in a quurttsr of mi hour , as thrco young Hculptora would navo effected in three or four hours , —a . thing almost incredible to one who had not actually witnessed it . Such wan the impetuosity and fire with which he pursued his «* oo « r , that I almos t thought the wholo work must havo gono to pieces ; with a mgl < J fitroko ho brought down fragment * tlireo or four fuigera thick , nud so close

      upon biis mail :, taat _ had Tie passed it evea in the slightest degree , rtaere would have been « danger of ruining- the whole ; since any such injury , unlike tixBomm af works in piaster or stucco , would have been' irreparable . " We may close out notice with the following siory : — It is often expedient , on public occasions , to humour the little caprices of self-important but amiable functionaries . A pleasant anecdote of this kind is told of the gonfaloniere Pietro Soderini . When , on the appointed day , the ceremonial of elevating the statue into its proper position had been goae through in the presence of a vast crowd of spectators , Michael Angelo himself superintended , the removal of the guard-boards . Soderini , who was at this moment just beneath the statue , expressed himself as perfectly enchanted : —* ' There is , however , " he added , one slight defect , which can easily be corrected , —the nose is rather too thick . " Michael Angelo saw that the worthy magistrate was so placed as to be incapable of really judging of this feature , but , as there was no time for discussion , he seemed to assent to the criticism , and catching up , unperceived , some marble dust , and mounting a temporary bridge on the side of the statue , affected to work lightly on the nose with a file , letting fall at the same moment some of the dust in his hand on Ihe head of Soderini . He then

      called out , " How does it look now ? " " I am perfectly satisfied , " replied the gonfaloniere . "You have actually imparted life to it . " The artist descended quite as much pleased with the success of his stratagem as the worthy functionary with lis own critical discernment .

      Henrietta Maria. Letters Of Queen Henrie...

      HENRIETTA MARIA . Letters of Queen Henrietta Maria , including her Private Correspondence with Charles tfieFirst . Edited by Mary Everett Green . Bentl « y . It would not be easy to overpraise the industrious zeal of Mrs . Everett Green . This volume ., not large or pretentious , is the result of toil and patience , of a Mnd very uncommon in our days . Mrs . Green has ransacked the public archives and private libraries of England and France . First , while searching the French State-paper Office , she exhumed a variety of the Queen ' s letters ; others were furnished by individuals interested in Iver literary objects , but the greater part of the correspondence has been dug out of the Harleian collection , in the British Museum . Here she found a volume containing the letters to Charles I ., ninety-nine folios , transcribed by an English copyist totally unacquainted with the French language , partly in the ordinary character , but principally in cypher . The scribe had obviously copied from the originals as . they lay in a heap before him , -without regard to date , place , or unity : —• '

      Several which evidently occupied different sheets of paper , are separated in the transcripts , and the commencement and termination are many pages apart ; sometimes the sense of a letter will break off abruptly , vrithout any seeming break in . the MS ., the copyist having proceeded with an entirely different letter , as though it were a continuation of the same . Added to this , the words are ofteu run into one another , or one wore is divided into two : those letters of the alphabet -which the queen formed somewhat alike , as y and r , are perpetually interchanged , and the misspellings are abundant . . Mrs . Green had to compile her keys from the deciphered passages , but as three or four cyphers were us ed , this process was tedious in the extreme . She then translated the letters , arranged them chronologically , and published them with slight annotations . Her laborious and conscientious performance of this task deserves the warmest commendation and the most unreserved encouragement .

      The letters themselves are important materials of history . They illustrate much that was previously indistinct in the annals of the period , but they do not serve to qualify in the least the judgment that had been passed by all competent writers on . the character of Henrietta Maria . The daughter of Henry IV . was a vain , arrogant , selfish intriguer ; cold-blooded , vicious , and animated by that sensuous pride which degrades its possessor . She was the evil genius of her husband ' s court , the instigator of some of the king ' s worst crimes , the flatterer of his follies , the self-seeking accomplice of his treasons . Her first thought after his death , as expressed in her letters , was in connexion with her own personal loss—not of her husband , but of her dignity . She had been " unqueened , " she did not say " widowed . " Not only was it her constant effort to fortify Charles in his obstinacy , she frequently urged him only to make such compacts as he could annul and disavow upon a favourable opportunity . Mrs . Green is justified in saying that in strength

      and decision of character Charles was far surpassed by Henrietta Maria ; the husband and the vvife , however , were probably equal in the wickedness of their designs . Their correspondence , as now published , commenced in the spring y of 1642 , when the queen went to Holland to obtain the assistance of the Prince of Orange , and to pawn her own jewels , as well as those of the Crown , embezzled for that purpose , among the opulent Low Country merchants . From that moment it becomes apparent how she goaded on the king in his course oi illegality and violence . "My whole hope lies in your firmness and constancy , and -when I hear anything to the contrary I am mad . " The Icing ' s pearl buttons , and ruby collar , and the queen ' s chain and cross , were haggled for by the Jews oi Amsterdam , wliile Henrietta Maria continued to apply the spur : " Remember your own maxim , that it is bettor to follow out a bad resolution than to change it so often ; to begin , and then to stop , is 3 'our ruin : "—

      I understand they are willing to give you tonnngo and poundage for three years . I repeat to you , that if you cannot have it as you ought , that is to say , in your own power to dispose of it , you \ nm a thing against yourself : you see it by experience , for all that has been hitherto done with it , has been ; against you . While Hull was being invested , she wroto : — You must have Hull , and if the man who ia in it does not submit , you have already declared him a traitor , you must have him alive or dead ; for thin ia no longer a more play . You niu « t declare yourself ; you have testified your gentleness enough , you muut show your justice . Go on boldly : God will assist you . And ngiiin , still more vigorously : —¦

      I have wished myself in the place of James in Hull ; I would have flung tho rascal over the wnlls , or ho should have done the eamo thing to mo . She supplied the king actively with money , men , horses , cannon , pistols , cnrbineB , muskets , and gunpowder ; sho was the living incentive of the civil war ; she objected to every compromise . When Charles informed her that he had been counselled to send and ask the advice of the judges , she told him that , without jealousy , she considered such a plan ridiculous ; tho throne was the fountain *" of legality ; neither the legislature , nor any court ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 7, 1857, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_07021857/page/15/