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thing couleur derbse because it is Itali...
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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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Nians. M. Jules Oppert, Who Has Been Emp...
peculiar class 6 f literaiture , of wludh Gregory of JMttSaanztiia ^ who flourished in the middle of the fourth , century , mar be said to have been the founder , and of wMen the writings of Ausonius and Bmdentiusi Juvencusand Seduhus , Joseph of Exeter , andSeverus , may be 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 of ' titlelower empire , whilst " the golden volume of Boethiua , " as Gibbon emphatically calls it , " is npt unworthy of the leisure of Plato or Tully . " This Christian literature , both in prose and-verse , for a time excluded the writings of classical
antiquity from the scriptorium of the monastery , and we must , therefore , not Wonder if , in the'JR . egula Monachorum of St . Benedict , he simply inculcates that the monks shall " give willing attention to holy reading , ' * became 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 arid philosophers , . all liturgical writings ,, and what , in the eyes of the founder of the order of St . Benedict himself was of no less importance—those many histories and biographies which are known , to us as the uncanonical books of
the Slew Testament . Besides , Eusibras had proved , in his JDemonstratio JEvangelica , satisfactorilv to those whom he addi-essedv that the ancient philor sophers themselves knew nothing but what . they had borrowed from the sacred books of the Hebrews ; so that evfen Plato and Aristotle , whose 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 * Benedict . A taste once acquired for the beauties of style will never be entirely lost , however it may be obscured for a time by circumstances ; and even through all the dark period of
Magnificent ; of Matthias Corvinusi 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 libraries , to a proper appreciation of the mental progress and literature of a people , and , consenuentlv . tjerhaps 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 irelandJ 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 Sloane collections , and also of those libraries like the Cracherode , Burney , and Grenyille , and the library of George IIL , winch 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 p rinted by Brockhaus , of Leipzig , and the illustrations are carefully drawn and executed . If we feel inclined ocasionally
to differ from the author ' s views and deductions , we do so at ^ all times with some deferencej because throughout the book it is evident that he has been earnest to furnish the fullest and niost satisfactory information , which it was in his'power to do . W e 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 .
monkish Latinity , we find every now and then examples ljke that Of William of Mtilmesbury , whose Gesta Regum Anglorum , and Historia sui Temporis are written in classical Latin , scarcely inferior to that of the best periods . Accordingly , thoughi longdormant , the taste for classical literature revived- under the Benedictines , who . were the first transcribers bf not a few of the classics . Indeed , every one must admit the truth of the words of innocent XL , who says , very justly , " we should
have been great triflers had it not been forthe Benedictines ; . whilst Qarganelli , afterwards Pope Clement 2 QV ., calls them " the preservers of literature and history , " and adds , " notwithstanding all the , wealth and honpur 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 all the nonsensical wordings and wranglings of scholastic teaching .
Of many of the libraries of the middle ages Mr . Edwards furnishes copies of the catalogues which have come down to us in manuscript . Of these , those which relate to our own ancient monastic collections have a peculiar interest , because in many instances the identical manuscripts there described are still preserved tp us in various of our public libraries . One of the most carefully compiled of these is that of the library of Bivaulx Abbey , written in the fourteenth century , and now preserved in the library of Jesus College ; Cambridge . Theological literature , chiefly the best works of the Fathers , preponderates ; but biography and history seem also
to have been studiedby the monks of Rivaulx , as well as the classics ; astray volume or two ; bf Cicero , Priscian , Botfthiue ; and Aristotle , gracing the list . However , by far the most interesting of these English Monastio Catalogues is that of the Benedictine Monastery of Christ Church ; Canterbury , tirhioh Mr . Edwards prints from the original manuecript preserved in the Cottonian Collection in the Britislf MuBeuna . It occupies no leas than One hundred closely printed pages , and is rich in all classes of literature cultivated at the period of its compilation , about the yorir 1300 , inoluding a larger proportion of Latin classics than usually fell to the share of Monastic libraries .
Ad tp the libraries of the laity before the miMauottdn of tho fttt of printing , Mr . Edwards furnishes most copious and interesting details . IJaaeedj the portion of his first volume , which re-< S 6 ) M t ^ u l ^ parytreaaureBaihasBGdby Eiohard do Bury , tjWe father of British bibliography ? of refrflrobythfc -Ptfot : of JWronsso de Medici , the
616$ Thi Jmptb. .Fiim«»^
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Thing Couleur Derbse Because It Is Itali...
thing couleur derbse because it is Italian . He con fesses that his first impressions of Rome were those of disappointment—a case by no means un usual , though all have not the frankness to mako the avowal . Too ^ often ^ e very thing good , bad , or indifferent must be indiscriminatel y praised - for is not jtaly the cradle of art , the land of beauty ? ' " Rome is full of statues , " says M . Coquere ! " 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 what 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 , lc ^ s and arms in air , is the bridge Saint-Angelo adorned '
What would the Emperor Adrian , who built this bridge , think of it , though lie only saw Art in its decline ? He would speak of it as Lonis XIV . did of the peasants of Teniers , and with more reason . In the Basilica of St . John Lateran , the mother and head of all the 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 lieight ! Do we say then that no
good modern statues are to be found in Rome ? There ate 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 . and all at
'« . ' . You come to the corner of a square ; once you see above your head the long legs of some angel or other , in stuccoj marble , or plaster , who has been hooked up 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 ' ceiivre . As I have only to do at present with the religious art inspired by Catholicism , I say no-¦ thing about the grotesque scarcities of the Piazza Navona , which su rround an obelisk placed on a mountain of rocks , of open stone-work , forty feet high , It is the union of the monstrous and the ridiculous . " Ample justice is , however , done in these pages to thei wondrously eloquent remains of ancient Rome—the Temples of Mars the Avenger , ot Vesta , of Fortuna Virilis , the Forum of Trajan , the Tomb of Bibulus , the four-faced Janus , and other mementoes of departed greatness , including that glorious structure , the Pantheon . In dwelling upon the creations of the painters many pages arc devoted to the description of the conceptions oi Raphael ; and a most eloquent analysis oi the « Transfiguration" affords . an instance , already sufficiently familiar it is true , of the unscrupulousness of Rome in combining tho hotiUous with the real whenever her own glorification may tnuu
THE FINE ARTS IN ITALY IN THEIR RELIGIOUS ASPECT . By Ath . Coquerol , Jun ., Suffragan Pastor of the Reformed Church , Paris . London : E . T . Whltfleld . 1850 . 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 of 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 orthodox and Protestant point of view , " The Fine Arts in Italy" is a book calculated to do good service to the cause of truth . Tho common sense impartial judgment pronounced upon the exemplifications of Catholic superstitions manifested in the artistic decoration of Italian churches is quite refreshing after the morbid j ^ entimentaHam wiwi which tho subject has been so often treated by Protestant writeVs . The tone of M . OoquercFs remarks , generally spooking , is quite distinct from that of some of our English authors , who apparently see in the artistic aberrations depicting tho Immaculate Conception and the pictorial and sculptured illustrations of legendary tales of saints
and monastic orders , the vitality and reality , not the more husk and shell of Clmstianity . Such writer ? , while professing to treat religious art in a purely poetic and cesthetic sense , arc apt to bo carried away b y enthusiasm to a point incompatible with the simple and spiritual adoration of that Being who refuses to be worshipped through tho medium of " images " and stones , " graven by ' art and man ' s device . Our Huguenot author , while gazing with the ecstasy of true artistic appreciation upon tho ckefa-ffmuvres of Roman Catholic genius , seldom forgets that they are only spooimens of human skill to pe admired , not vehicles of worship , or moans of access to Him who is at all times " a God at hand and not afar off ' . " Nor is his a bltod unreasoning admiration , which sees
evorybe enhanced . On that canvas two figures appear which have no placo there by ri § H though not unworthy of tho honour in point of skilful execution . They represent San Julian and San Lorenzo , and are introduced there in compluncnt to two of the Medici , Lorenzo tho Magnificent and s brother . The flagrant absurdity pi making Uo saints of the Catholic paradise wtnosaes to tbo Transfiguration is only too much m f <><» dn" °° with tho praotioo of tho Roman Church . H w «» a requirement on the part o tho Ail - bishop of Narbonno , who ordered tho l"oUm j He was himself a Medici , tho eon of Julian ,, ana nephew of Lorenzo , and becanio Pupa undei tuo title of Clement VII . . . U . Coquerol has some very interesting « ml * "B costive remarks upon tho giwlunl _ dovolopmc . t o the dogm ^ of thq Roman Cuthol . o Church , Horn the times of Paganism . Tho Virgin » ml »" Iqfant Jesus , it appeurs , wove ntm-r rf P 1 * H d"ltU as an isolated subject before tho wxil » con < u , VThe portrait ! of Jesus Clmst is found but twice >»
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 28, 1859, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28051859/page/12/
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