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FEBETTAitrr 7,1857.] IHE LEAPEB, j#5
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LIFE OF MICHAEL ANGELO. The Li fe oj'Mic...
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HENRIETTA MARIA. Letters of Queen Henrie...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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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 ,
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Citation
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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/
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