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    Seculiar class of literature , of which . Gregory of razianznm , "J ^ no flourished in the middle of the fourth century , may *> e said to have been the founder , and of wh ? cn the writing of Ausonius and firudt ^ nfius , Juvencus and Seduhus , Joseph of Exe ~ ter , andSeverus , may W said to have preserved to us a Latin nearly as pure as that of the Augustan age , and infinitely superior to that of the Pagan poets pf the lower empire , whilst " the golden volume of Boethius , " sis Gibbonemphatically calls it , " is not unworthy of the leisure of Plato or Tully . " Th ^ sChrisiaan literature , both in prose and verse , for a time excluded the writings of classical

    antiquity from the scriptorium of the monastery , and we musti therefore , not wonder ifj in the Kegula Monachorum of St . Benedict , he simply-inculcates that the monks shall " give willing attention to holy reading , " because those few words opened to his disciples the road to all knowledge then held to be valuable—the Bible * the historical and theological writings of the fathers of the Church , the works of Christian poets and philosophers , all liturgical wntings , andt what , in the eyes of the founder of thejpraer of St . Benedict himself ; was of no less importance—those many histories and biographies which are known to us as the uncanonical books of

    Magnificent t of Matthias Corvinus , King of Hungary ; of the Dukes of Urbino , and Burgundy ; and of other similar , libraries , cannot fail to claim attentive study from all lovers of literary history , as important aids , illustrative of the revival of letters . The biography of eminent men is necessary to the right understanding of the history of the period in which they flourished , and of the country to which they belong . No less so is the narrative of the rise and progress of public schools and librari es * to a proper appreciation of the mental progress and literature of a people , and , conseauentiv . uerhaps to us the most interesting portion

    of Mr . Edwards ' s work is the third book , which treats of the modern libraries of Great Britain and Ireland . In it he gives a full account of the formation and growth of the several collections which eventually became the library of the British Museum—the ancient library of the King's of England , the Cottonian Library , the Harleian Library , the Courten and Sloahe collections , and also of those libraries like the Cracherode , Burney , and Grenville , and the library of George HI ., which have been added to it from time to time since its first formation . Other public libraries in Great Britain and Ireland are also "historically" sketched , as are , too , the libraries of the Continent and of America .

    The second volume is devoted to the Economy of Libraries , hints on book-collecting , choice of authors and editions , structural requirements , classification and cataloguing , internal organisation and public service , bookbinding , ancient and modern , and all the many details upon which the well-being of a library depends . Mr . Edwards ' s style is pleasant , and free from the slang and pedantry of many more costly productions in the field of bibliography ; the work is very handsomely and correctly printed by

    Broekhausj of Leipzig , and the illustrations are carefully drawn and executed . If we feel inclined ocasiorially to differ from the author ' s views and deductions , we do so at jail times with some deference , because throughout the book it is evident that he has been earnest to furnish the fullest and most satisfactory information , which it was in his power to do . We hear that the work is appreciated both in / this country and in America , and we are glad to be able to recommend it fairly and honestly as one of the most useful books of its class .

    tile New Testament . Besides , Eusibius had proved , in his Jpemonstraiio ¦ JEvangelipa , satisfactorily to thosel whom he addressed , that the ancient philosbdheri themselves knew nothing but what they had bc ^ o weafrom the sacred books of the Hebrews ; so ; that even Plato and Aristotle * whpse works afterwards became the foundation of the schoolmen ' s' teaching , were not unrepresented in the words used by the great founder of the order of St . Benedicts A taste once acquired for

    the beauties of style will never fee entirely lost , however it may be obscured for a time by circumstaijces ; and even through all the dark period of monkish Latinity , we find every now and then examples like that of William of Mahnesbury , whose Oesta Reg-urn Anglorum , and HispoHa sui TeinpoHsaxe written - in classical Latin * scarcely- inferior to that of the best periods . Accordingly , though long , dormant , the taste for classical literature revived under the Benedictines , who were the first transcribers of not a few of the classics .

    Indeed , every one must admit the truth of the words of Innocent XI ., who says , very justly , ' * we should have been great trfflers had it not been for the Ben edictines ; whilst Garganelli , af terwards Pope Clement XIV ., calls them " the preservers of literature and history , " and adds , " notwithstanding all the wealth and honour they have received , public gratitude is still greatly in their debt . " But for them the followers of Aquinas and Duns Scotus would have destroyed the very soul of literature with their endless enthymenes and syllogisms , and alt the nonsensical wordings and wranglings of scholastic teaching .

    Of many of the libraries or the middle ages Mr . ' Edwards furnishes copies of the catalogues which , have come down , to us in manuscript . Ofi } hese , those which relate to our own ancient monastic collections havp a peculiar interest , because in many instances the identical manuscripts there described are still preserved to us in venous of our public libraries . One of the TOoat cajefujUy compiled of these is that of the ~ sjiiv > ra | ry p £ RjLvs | , ulx Af bbey , written in the fourteenth century , and now preserved in tfyo library

    of Jieaus Cpllege ^ Cambridge . Theological UtoratuTe , ^ ie 'fly j * | 0 best wor ^ k ? of the Fathers , preponderates ; b ^ t biography and history seem also to have been studiedfby t ] ie monks of Bivaulx , as wallas the classics ; a stray volume or two ,, of Cicero , Mqcaan , BpStihiu , ? , and , Anato ^ l e , gracing th , e list . JTpwQver , py far the wpsfc interesting of the ^ se English Monastic Catalogues is that of the JJeriedictfne Monastery of Christ Churcl ,, Canterbury , r 1 »« h Mr . Edwards prints from the original

    manuscript preserved In the pottpnian CpHeetibn m the . British ^ Myseunj . I * occupies , no less than one Imndred closely printed Rages , and te rich in all curses of Uteraturo cultivated at tho period of its ffinifetipn , about the yew 1300 , including a larger wppojftipn of I ^ atin classics than usually fell to the share of Monastic libraries . Aa to $ be Ubrftw . es of the laity before tho int ^ uo ^ pn pf the art pf printing , Mr . Edwards fuWutjbeq nxQst copious and interesting details . Ijv 4 § i ? cL Iho portion of his first volume , wh » phi rec ^ rw tw Uterary ti oosvures amajseed by Richard de Swy » . . W » fothe * of British bibuography 5 of Petrorph , ); ho Po . et ; of Lpronssjp do Mcwoi , tho

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    thing couleuf de rose because it is Italian . He con fosses that his first impressions of Rome were those of disappointment—a case by no means un usual , though all have not the frankness to make the avowal . Too often everything good , bad or indifferent must be indiscriminatel y praised ¦• ' for is not . Italy the cradle of art , the land of beauty ? " Rome is full of statues , " says M . Coquerel " which date from Bernini and his school The clothes and hair are twisted and blown about in all directions , as if the person represented were on the open sea in a tempest and exposed to the violence of all the winds let loose at once . As for attitudes it seems as if the sculptor had chosen for his models

    some melodramatic actors or bad singers making declamatory gestures or assuming theatrical postures , because they do ^ not know Avhat to do with their persons during the symphony . This is the more distressing to see , as these revolting statues are of colossal proportions . With what a . succession of inappropriate , chubby , snub-nosed angels , legs and arms in air . is the bridge Saint-Angelo adorned ! What would the Emperor Adrian , who built this bridge , think of it , though he only saw Art in its decline ? He would speak of it as Louis XIV . did of the peasants of Teniers , and with more reason . In the Basilica of St . John Lateran , the mother and head

    of all ( he churches of the city and the world , there is a long series of colossal figures representing the Apostles , and these figures are scarcely better than those on the bridge . At St . Peter ' s it is still worse ; for here are a number of statues of the same sort , and sixteen feet in height ! Do Ave say then that no good modern statues are to be found in Rome ? There are some ; but in the proportion of one , perhaps , to five hundred ; and among those five hundred must be counted four hundred at least not only poor * but even wretched . Nothing can be more disagreeable to the eye than to see at the tops of buildings a row of these

    demoniacal figures standing out on the deep azure of the sky , waving their great arms right and left ; the heavy instruments of their martyrdom , which they carry no one knows how or even lift above their heads , often" giving them the appearance of mountebanks suddenly petrified at the moment when they were tossing on their tressels . And what do these unworthy images represent ? The most sacred personages , and even Divine beings . . ? ' You come to . the corner of a square ; and all at once you see above your head the long legs of some marble lasterwho has

    angel or other , in stucco , , or p , been hooked iip there , in a violent and impossible posture , to hold a smoky Virgin on his fingers ' ends ; the whole under an enormous peaked canopy designed to preserve from dust this miserable attempt at a chef d ' eeuvre . As I have only to do at present with the religious art inspired by Catholicism , I say nothing about the grotesque sea-deities of the Piazza Navona , which surround an obelisk placed on a mountain of rocks , of open stone-work , forty feet high . It is the union of the monstrouB and the ridiculous . "

    THE FINE ARTS IN ITALY IN THEIR BKLICHOUS ASPECT , By Ath . Coquerel , Jun ., Suffragan Pastor of the Reformed Church , Paris . London : E . T . Whitfleld , 1859 . The book before us will naturally meet with appreciation or disapprobation , according as its readers range themselves on the side of one or the other of the various schools of painting and architecture . But while opinions will differ as to the value pf the observations it contains upon art , and its criticisms will be accepted or rejected as they may be found to coincide more or less with the preconceived views of each reader ? yet , taken in

    an prthodox and Protestant point of view , " The Fiuq Arts in Italy" is a book calculated to do good service to the cause of truths The common sense impartial judgment prpnounced upon the exemplineatigns of Catholic superstitions manifested in the artistic decoration of Italian churches is quite refreshing after the morbid sentimentalism wiw which th 9 subject has been so often treated by Protestant writers . The tone pf M , Cpquerel's remarks , generally speaking , is quite distinct from that-of some of our English , authors , who apparently see in tho artistic aberrations depicting tho Immaculate Conception and the pictorial and sculptured illustrations of legendary talcs of saints and monastic orders , the vitality and reality , not

    the mere husk and shell of Chmafoanity . Such writers , while professing to treat religious art in a purely , poetic and oosthestic sense , arc apt to be carried away by enthusiasm to a point incompatible with tho simple and spiritual adoration of that Being who refuses to bo worshipped through the medyum , of " images " and stones , " graven by art and man ' s device ? Our Huguenot author , while gazjng with tike ecstasy of true artistic appreciation upon the ohefa-d ' eeuvres of Itoman Catholic genius , seldom forgets thqt they are only specimens of human skill tp be admired , not vehicles of worship , pr ine , an 9 of access to pirn who is at all times M a CM at hand and not afar off . " ' Nor is his a blind unreasoning admiration which sees

    every-Ample justice is , however , done in these pages to the wondrously eloquent remains of ancient Rome—the Temples of Mars the Avenger , ot Vesta , of Fortuna Virilis , the Forum of Trajan , the Tomb of JBibulus , the four-faced Janus , and other mementoes of departed greatness , including that glorious structure , the Pantheon . In dwelling upon the creations of tho painters ninny pages are devoted to the description of the conceptions ot Raphael ; and a most eloquent analysis ot the " Transfifniration" affords an instance , already sufficiently familiar it is true , of the . unscrupulousnessofRome in combinmg the fictitious with the . real whenever' her o % yn glorification may tnus be enhanced . On that canvas two figures appear which have no place there by ng h , thougbiiiot unworthv of tho honour in point of _ skilful execuiuorenzo

    tion . They represent San Julian and ban , and are introduced there in complnncnt to tjvo of the Medici , Lorenzo the MagniQcont and Im brother . The flagrant absurdity of making two saints of the Catholic paradise witnesses to tho Transfiguration is only too much in "ccprclanto with the practice of tho Roman Church . It ww a requirement on the part o the Aiaibishop of WTarbonne , who ordered the pictu t . He was himself a Medici , the son of Julian , ana nephew of Lorenzo , and booame Pope unciei «»« title of Clement VII . , .. „„ . M . Coquorel has some very intoresling «» ia 8 U « gestive remarks upon tho gradual dovolopment oi the dogmas of the Roman Cntliolio Church , lion the times of Paganism . The Virgin iin Infant Jesus , it appears , wore never yoprc » entc < i as an isolated sxibject before tho sixth eculuiy . Tho portrait of Jesus Christ is found but twice in

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    668 THE I / EABI 1 B , TLitera ^

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), May 28, 1859, page 668, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2296/page/12/