Christian Art

Author(s): G. J. W.
Source: The Crayon, Vol. 7, No. 7 (Jul., 1860), pp. 183-188
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25528084
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 THE CEAYON.
Volume VII. JULY. Part VU.

J. DURAND, EDITOR AND PROPRIETOR. PUBLICATION OFFICE, 65 WALKER STREET.

CHRISTIAN ABT. whilst not neglecting or overlooking these important

attributes, to breathe into the lifeless stone a higher life,
As far as we can judge from the monuments and which
.to portray in glowing colors not only the beauty
have survived from the remotest antiquity, all Art hasoutward and visible form, but the deeper and
of the
been religious in its origin. Impelled, as it wouldsubtler
seem, beauties of the informing spirit, and the powers
by a strong natural instinct, the great nations of old
of have
a nobler life actuated by loftier and more spiritual
devoted their utmost skill and energy to the construction
aspirations. Such has been the province and the duty
and adornment of magnificent edifices dedicated to
of Christian Art.
sacred purposes. The monumental remains of Egypt,
The strong desire to represent to the outward eye
the buried cities where the hum of a busy population
those truths on which the mind is intent, was manifested
once mingled with the murmur of the Euphrates and
at an early period of the Christian era ; and some of the
Tigris ; the elaborate temples and sepulchres of India andperhaps the very earliest efforts of Christian Art
earliest,
Ceylon; the ruined cities of Central America;are all found
bear in the rude monumental effigies of the Cata
impressive testimony to the power and universality
combs,of where truths of the highest import are signified
the devotional element in the human mind, misdirected
by appropriate symbols, and striking events in sacred
and distorted, it may be, but even in its extrem est dissimply and naively represented.
history
tortion evincing an unquenchable vitality. The transition of the Christian Church from the con
By what successive steps mankind declined from the
.dition of a persecuted sect to that of a powerful and
knowledge and service of the true God, and finally
through dominant party, was naturally followed by corres
symbolical representations came at length to worship
ponding advances in the dignity and splendor of public
gross material forms, it is beside our present purpose to No longer constrained to lurk in obscure
worship.
inquire : the earliest authentic records bear witness to
hiding-places where they could meet without fear of in
this state of degeneracy, and it may be inferred that the
terruption, the Christians were now free to devote their
stern injunction to the Israelites, not to make any wealth
graven and skill to the construction of suitable edifices ;
image, was given with special reference to the andgross
as the public service of the church receded more and
idolatries with which they had been familiar inmoreEgypt.
from the simplicity of apostolic times, an increas
It may have been with the design of weaning the chosen
ing demand was made on the powers of art, and all its
resources
people from old associations and traditional records, that were devoted to the service and adornment
the ark of the covenant, that sacred symbol of their re
of religion. I say that all the resources of art were de
ligion, was permitted so long to remain in its temporary
voted to religious purposes, and it is important to bear
shrine ; but when the proper time at length arrived, and
this in mind, that until the invasion of the heathen di
vinitiesat
the divine permission was granted to build a temple which followed after the revival of classical learn
Jerusalem, then all the resources of art were called
ing, the objects of art and the subjects on which it was
forth to furnish a structure suitable to the august employed,
design, were, with few exceptions, religious. Works
not without special ability conferred on some ofof
artthe
in those times were not produced to hang up in
workmen to qualify them for their task ; and art, if I
exhibitions, or to form part of domestic furniture, but
may so speak, was redeemed from its foi-mer profanation,
with a distinct purpose and aim, and with special regard
and solemnly consecrated to its noblest and most toappro
the places they were to occupy and to the circum
priate purposes. stances which called them forth. Hence it arose that
From the colossal buildings of the Egyptians and and! painting were closely allied with architec
sculpture
Assyrians, with profusion of symbolical decorationture and
; and hence, as we are too often compelled to ob
historical records, we pass, as it were, over a wide chasm
serve, the injury which some of the nobler works of
to the more subtle and refined art of the Greeks?to a
earlier times have suffered in being torn from their ap
more chaste and severe style of architecture, and to a
propriate places and associations. We all remember
mastery in the representation of the human form theunsur
fine description by Rogers of the grand work of
passed in all succeeding times. Grecian art mayMichael
be com Angelo, "The Tombs of the Medici."
pendiously designated as the apotheosis of physical
" Nor then forget that chamber of the Dead,
strength and beauty, attributes which in their religious
Where the gigantic shapes of Night and Day,
system formed the peculiar characteristics of divinity.
Turned into stone, rest everlastingly ;
It remained for succeeding ages and later schools of art,
Yet still are breathing, and shed round at noon

Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year I860, by J. DURAND, in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of

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 184_THE C?l-^YO-Sr._ work?with its own distinctive features and attr
A two-fold influence?only to be felt?
A light, a darkness, mingling each with each ; One very marked distinction is to be noticed be
Both and yet neither. There, from age to age, the cathedrals of France and En gland?namely, t
Two ghosts are sitting on their sepulchres.
That is the Duke Lorenzo. Mark him well. dominance of sculpture in the former, and its co
He meditates, his head upon his hand.
tive scarceness in our own. There is a wonderfu
What from beneath his helm-like bonnet scowls ?deur of design and beauty of execution in the scu
Is it a face, or but an eyeless skull ? forms which adorn the lofty portals of the pri
'Tis lost in shade ; yet, like the basilisk, French churches ; which can scarcely fail to impr
It fascinates, aud is intolerable. most careless observer with a sense of grandeur,
His mien is noble, most majestical !, awaken far deeper feelings in those who endeavo
Then most so, when the distant choir is heard
alize the spirit of the authors and to read the s
?t morn or eve?nor fail thou to attend
meanings which they designed to convey. I can d
On that thrice-hallowed day when all are there ;
more than make a passing allusion to this subjec
When all, propitiating with solemn songs,
Visit the Dead. Then wilt thou feel his power."refer for an impressive example to the central d
?Rogers' Italy. of the west front of Notre Dame of Paris?repres
the last judgment?with the triumphant hosts of
And with the music of this exquisite description sound martyrs, and other' saintly personage
prophets,
ing in our ears, how feeble and disappointing is therounding
effect the throne of the Redeemer and Judge.
when we see a fine cast of this great work, as in the also content myself with a passing refe
I must
Crystal Palace at Sydenham, surrounded with to all aman
subject of great interest?the comparative me
ner of incongruous associations. Greek and medieval sculpture. There is someth
From the close connection of art with religion, it
the highest examples of Grecian art which we m
naturally resulted that the works of Christian art, whe
that of ecclesiastical times?a perfection of ease,
ther in stone, in fresco, or on canvas, were free andfrom
physical beauty peculiarly its own,?but on the
that unmeaning character which is too often chargeable
hand there is a refinement of expression and a sol
on more modern productions. In Gothic architecture, of feeling in the great works of Christian art wh
which had attained its culminating perfection before missthe
in the consummate efforts of classical times.
art of painting, the form and position of the sacred
posture ediand drapery of the best sacred sculptures
fice, and everything- connected with it, downis,tomoreover,
the if not the perfect ease and graceful
minutest details of ornament, were designed to the convey,
others, a dignified and severe simplicity, whi
directly or through significant symbols, some portion
tirelyofharmonizes with the intended effect ; but e
truth and instruction ; to be in some sense to the sionunlet
has evidently been the leading aim of the arti
he has succeeded well in his task.
tered spectator in the place of a written sacred literature.
In those great architectural monuments which remain to is something half ludicrous, half painful,
There
us, those priceless reliques which have escapedturn the ra
suddenly from these great works, to sculpt
the debased times which succeeded, in which inf
vages of time, the devastation and neglect of mis-directed
zeal and callous indifference, we may still readskill in won
is wasted in putting figures into fantastic and u
drous characters the deep meanings which werepositions,present and in complicated arrangement of drap
to the minds of the founders, and the fine sense of Inbeauty
many French sculptures, to which I now more
and propriety by which everything was brought into refer, the person seems to be a sort of acces
ticularly
harmony with the first great object of rearing to a stately
the drapery, which must be carefully support
and solemn temple suited to impress the mind with reli or kept in position by a sort of acrobatic
the hands,
gious awe, and not unworthy of the high and in sacred
balancing. In the greater works we are scarcel
purposes to which it was designed. scious of the excellence of the drapery and attitu
" With living wiles which are conducive to the general effect of the w
Instinct?to rouse the heart and lead the will and do not perceive the consummate art employed
By a bright ladder to the world above." we carefully examine the details.
As might naturally be expected from greater fac
Sculpture, as a Christian art, has been so closely allied
of execution and greater pliancy of material, the
with architecture that we can scarcely separateof the two has been much wider and more inclusive t
painting
in a cursory review of the subject. It must bethat borneof sculpture. With the gradual development o
in mind that the grand works of Gothic architecture,
?must we add with the wider departure from the
those great poems in stone, if I may venture so to cal?of Christian faith??the subjects for illustr
plicity
them, although allied with each other by general became
features almost indefinitely multiplied. The le
and by one pervading spirit, and infinitely varied
eventsinin sacred history, and the glories of the hea
design and execution, each one being a separate hierarchy
original no longer sufficed to allay the devot

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 THE CBAYON._ 185
I say, conveyed
cravings of the times, but saints and martyrs?a a widely different meanin
wondrous
different were
mythology of real and imaginary personages accents to many a weary and tr
called
and not seldom
in to swell the train?legends and allegories embodying carried far into the heart
solemn truths, were translated intotruths
visible which
facts, it
andis at
our privilege to read w
length, from a radical misconceptionofofoutward symbols.
the character of I cannot believe th
realmand
the Divine Redeemer, ail that is gentle, of Christendom,
graceful, one or two small lu
and lovely, and benignant, in pure, alone
Unf?llen humanity,
excepted, was utterly benighted in mor
tian darkness,
was transferred to one exalted type?the after the first few centuries o
Virgin Mother,
the Queen of Heaven?henceforth towere
era be the central
past. It cannot, indeed, be qu
figure in Christian art, the object the truths of homage
of universal Christianity did suffer porten
and fealty, until the hosts of heaven andsuccumbed
were overlaidto thewith superstitious incum
deities of Greece and Rome, and went the Cyprian
on increasingVenus until the times of the
assumed the vacant throne. but I am convinced that our judgments w
The decline of Christian art, which began
be unjust, almost
and worse than unjust, if we fa
contemporaneously with the perfect masteryallowance
charitable in execu for those who, gropin
with has
tion attained by the great Italian painters, butsometimes
a feeble and glimmering, light
been attributed and may be attributable steps,in some
did degree
nevertheless follow the guidance
with
to this very perfection of skill, but far morehumble
chieflyand sincere hearts ; nay more
to the
altered spirit and to the increasingbelieve
corruption
that to and de not seldom may have
them
generacy of the times ; it is quite certain
clearerthat many
insight of truths of deepest im
into
the works of earlier masters, while manydeficient
who,inudramatic
clouded with their own conce
power and pictorial skill and arrangement,
scorn on have
theaignorance
degree of past ages and la
of humility
of beauty, purity, and simplicity of feeling and patient research which li
and expression,
which we miss sometimes in the works of alloftrue
more skillful
knowledge.
painters of later years. An opposite view of the question is take
It is time to inquire, very briefly, what
who has been
finding much thethat is amiable and att
influence of Art on those who havedieval been art,
habitually
much that con is stately and solemn
versant with its efforts, aud to whom it has
of the earlyserved
church, as a
whilst a cold and forma
means of instruction, perhaps as almost
to the only
brood accessible
over our own times, rush to the co
means in an unenlightened age ? Thethe question is often
true remedy remodern shortcomings a
for
garded from two widely different points lies inof view, from
a return to the splendid rites an
which conclusions as widely different have beenof
adornments drawn.
the past, forgetting or ov
By some persons it is determinedimportantin a very circumstance
easy and that a vast amoun
compendious manner. Religion, say mingled
they, became
with utterly
the good which they admir?
corrupted under the malign influences pomps ofand
the stately
papacy,solemnities of religion
surviving only in outward forms ; and theyan might seem
idolatrous worto the outward gaze,
ship was substituted in its place, differing littleparasitesof
gorgeous from the tropical forests, well-
pagan idolatries which had fallen the
into decayof
growth ; all
the the
trunk round which they
appliances of art being so many subtle
ting snares of
likewise Satan
that it is impossible to breathe
to lure the unthinking multitude intoforms
fatal superstitions.
from which the animating spirit has
Our Puritan ancestors reasoned much Having endeavored,
after this fashion, very imperfectly
and we have to thank those honestaccount
and well-meaniD<r,
of what Christian art has been, le
but over-zealous iconoclasts, for the adestruction
moment at of the many
existing condition and th
a precious monument of antiquity, modern
in their art. war against
heathen superstitions. This view of the matter
I can imagine has
that if one the
of the devout old Italian
merit ?f simplicity, but not, I think, that of truth.
painters could revisit the earth, I and be conducted in
cannot but believe that even in the darkest period of
vision through the annual exhibitions of England for the
the middle ages, there was much of lastgenuine
few years, he devotion
would be not a little astonished at
mingled with the prevailing worship ; that those
what he saw, and beyond works
measure perplexed to deter
mine what and
upon which we, in our superior wisdom the purpose and aim of many of our artists
enlighten
ment, sit in judgment?some with mighta be,critical eyeifto
and what religion, any, they might chance
beauties or defects of composition,toothers
possess. He with brains
would certainly come to the conclusion
decently furnished with ready-made thatsystems of,
we had a patron belief
saint or martyr named Harold,
and notions which, like the Lesbian square,
whose are suited
annual obsequies were celebrated as duly as the
to take the dimensions of all ages and
wound times,
of Thammuz and to
was lamented by the Syrian damsels
on the banks these
pronounce oracular judgments on all-;-that of Adonisworks
; but what could he think of

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 186_THE CBAYON,_
However
the great mass of our pictures and of those we may chose to designate o
interminable
portraits, bearing as little resemblancecontents
as mightofwell
our be
modern exhibitions, it is qu
to the saints and martyrs of olden times. Indeed,
whatever it
is mean, vulgar, trivial, degradi
must be owned that after examining the in aim
best or treatment, must be at once excl
productions
rankwe
of our living artists, the contrast felt when ofstep
Christian
into Art; and when this ru
the National Gallery is not of the most agreeable
plied, kind.
it is to be feared that the works ad
But what shall we say of the mean, low,ranktrivial, vulgar
will form but a very small minority.
things, I will not call them pictures, which form however,
Although, no in there is much to des
considerable proportion of the liningsEnglish
of galleries ; and are, nevertheless, encou
art, there
of the ignoble army of portraits?portraits of ladies,
which justify the expectation of better t
future.
portraits of gentlemen, portraits of mayors, Amongst
portraits of the favorable symptoms of
aldermen, portraits of common-councilmen, inanimate
be reckoned a growing appreciation of the
grandinsipid,
portraits of all manner of fat, heavy, stupid, old masters,
un and of the feelings an
meaning faces, relieved here and there inspired
at wide intervals
their efforts ; and I think I ma
by a genuine portrait of a genuine man or woman which
increasing sense of the dignity and impor
rises above the upholsterer's standard andto the dignity
of the of than folly of employin
worse
a picture or work of art. I often think of what
gifts ofan honestintellect on trivial and un
human
farmer once said of his landlord, "what a splendid
jects. In architecture a movement has c
ploughman that fellow would have made made if in
he the
had right
not direction ; the invalua
been born a gentleman," and say to myself " what splen
early times are carefully and reverently
did sign-painters some of those fellows would have made,
everywhere we see new churches arising
not had
if fortune, instead of making them artists, been constructed
left them for some centuries
to follow their proper vocation, and adorn our way-side
decided change of opinion on one subject
inns with Red Lions, Kings' Heads, GreennectedDragons, and
with Christian Art has taken place
other zoological curiosities." j even of the most rigid opponents of any
Another species of art, to which I can only make
of pomp a
or ceremony in public worship ;
passing reference, forms a conspicuous portion
that squareof our with lime-washed walls
boxes
annual perplexities?an art which aims,likelikebarns,
the child in
are alone suited to the simplici
the legend of St. Augustine, to compress infinity
service, into a dying out. It should n
is quietly
few square inches, by force of mechanicalof drudgery
surprise if altered views and feelings w
; for
now we have not merely three or four men of undoubted
Christian Art, and a desire for its revival sh
itself sometimes
genius, who have submitted to toil in self-imposed fetters, in eccentric ways, and
votaries should
but a host of feeble imitators, who re-produce their go astray. Of one thing
assured, that
faults without possessing any of their redeeming merits.such a revival will not be b
What the ultimate effect of this style bywill be on men
a servile imitation of the past, or by
capable of great things remains yet tobreathe
be seen new
; to what
life into departed forms ; a
it has led in one notable instance mayof bethe
seen in a and
past, pic an intelligent appreciat
ture exhibited last year entitled "Spring,"
vadingwhich
spirit is,
is indeed essential ; but as in
indeed, so utterly strange that the modern dipus, who
-" The grandeur of the forest tree
annually solves the riddles of our picture-galleries, was
Comes not by casting in a formal mould
well-nigh confounded by this sphynx of a picture, and
But from its own divine vitality."
could say no more than that :
Even so Art must shape itself according
" Somehow it came into his pate, pulses and according to the circumstances
And still is floating in his brain, has tp deal ; nor can we look for any heal
This work was meant to illustrate
ing growth except so far as the informin
Some modern Dante's tragic strainsent and free to work " at its own sweet
Who, doomed in former times to pass
If we glance for a moment at the indef
In English company his gay days,
subjects,with which Christian Art was con
Saw, carpeted with ghostly grass,
mer times, it will be obvious that many o
A field of penance for young ladies,
Where treacherously amiable longer be available for modern artistic tr
tiful as many of these may be to the cult
And vainly-joyous young girl-blossoms,
Recline in penance miserable suggestive as they may be to the imagina
Under the red-hot apple-blossoms ; enter deeply into the spirit of the past, w
And sip boiled milk, all scalding hot,
back the unreasoning faith and the forgo
Out of a poisoned porridge-pot."
which reconciled all incongruities of p

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 _THE CHAYO IST. 187
Many, too, are the subjects which we should nowplacing
In thus re Landscape Painting in the r
verentially forbear to portray, although Christian
formerlyArt,
con I am not sorry to shield myself un
sidered fit objects tobe represented to the authority
outward eye
of a ; reverend poet, himself no mean prof
and one great object on which the highest instrength
the art which
of he celebrates :
Art was lavished, would now be dethroned from her lofty
He that built up this world for man and beast,
eminence, and remain to us but as a lovely type of pure
And made it beautiful. He made the eye,
and gentle womanhood. We must be content to relin
That none his gracious bounty might deny?
quish much and we can well afford to do so ; for
That indeed
all might worship, greatest and the least.
the subjects to be drawn from sacred sourcesHealone
gave are
the Painter mind, that, Nature's priest,
illimitable, and amongst the legends of martyrs and
He should go forth, and bid the passers-by
Behold
saints and confessors there is a rich treasury of in all things that around them lie
themes
replete with deep and solemn meaning, and of allegories of God, that glory be increased.
The temple
embodying truths of eternal import. I cannot I thank thee, Lord, that underneath this hand,
refrain
Mountains have risen, green vales and forests grow
from making a short quotation from Mrs. Jameson's ad
E'en now, as these ideal clouds expand,
mirable remarks on the constantly recurring figure of
Feigned minstrels from out thy golden throne,
St. Michael trampling Lucifer under foot : The maker of a mimic world I stand,
Adorning thy creation through my own.
It is so common and so in harmony with our inmost being,
that we rather feel its presence than observe it. It is the visi ?Rev. John Eagles.
ble, palpable reflection ofthat great truth stamped into our very
Assuming,
souls, ?and shadowed forth in every form of ancient as I trust we may, that we shall wit
belief?the
increasing appreciation
final triumph of the spiritual over the animal and earthy part of of the dignity of art and
responding
our nature. This is the secret of its perpetual repetition, and elevation of tone in the works of m
this the secret of the untired complacency with artists,
which the question naturally occurs in what w
we re
gard it ; for even in the most inefficient attempts at expression,
influences of art will be brought to bear on socie
we have always the leading motif distinct and true ; the respect
in this winged the past will afford no example to su
virtue is always victorious above, and the bestial vice ishabits
altered always and manners of life of modern tim
prostrate below, and if to this primal moral significance be
former ages every church (indeed, almost every
added all the charm of poetry, grace, animated movement, which
building) was in some sense a gallery of art, acc
human genius has lavished on this ever-blessed, ever-welcome
at all
symbol, then, as we look up at it, we are " not only times
touched to all classes, in which the works of
but
artists
wakened and inspired," and the whole delighted might be seen in a suitable position and surr
imagination
with sympathy
glows with faith ano? hope, and grateful triumphant suitable associations. In our own times, as f
religious
?so at least I have felt, and I must believe that structures are concerned, we are carefu
others have
felt it too. clude the public from a too familiar acquaintan
them, excepting those who can afford to pay f
I am far from thinking that Christian Art need be, or
privilege ; but even if this rule should be altered,
will be confined to subjects directly and professedly
not seem probable, or indeed consistent with the
religious or devotional in character. The spirit of
simplicity ofProtestantism, that we should return
Christianity is neither narrow nor exclusive in its sym
elaborate decoration of earlier ages, or that paint
pathies and tendencies, but fitted to embrace in its com
sculpture should to any considerable extent be em
prehensive grasp all that is pure, lovely, and noble, only
in adorning our churches. A wider range may
rejecting and excluding, as utterly alien, lowed
whatever is
to architecture, which may be taxed to the ut
essentially mean and base. For this reason, we may re
of its resources to render our Christian temples
gard as one of the most hopeful signs of of the times the
the high service to which they are consecrate
formation of a true school of landscape art, which indeed
regard being had to the main purpose of awake
is always a redeeming feature amidst much that is dis
solemn and reverential feeling, without distract
couraging in our annual exhibitions. It may be that to
attention thedetails. As a general rule, however,
works of some great masters of earlier times exhibit
art must be more widely diffused and becom
qualities and excellences to which we have not yet
generally at
denizened as a household thing ; there
tained, but in deep feeling of natural beauty?in
instinctive craving for something of the sort?a
Reverent watching of each still report shrinking from bare walls?and one can scarcely
any of the humblest cottages of the poor withou
Which nature utters from her rural shrine,
some pictorial decoration, however wretched and
and in faithful rendering of the glories pery
of theitvisible
may be. In process of time we may hope
creation, the efforts of many of our modern landscape
better class of work may displace what is wholly
painters have, as it seems to me, gone beyond all the
less, and that amongst the more educated clas
attainments of preceding ages. improved feeling will banish many staring fami

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 188_THE CBAYON,_
traits?cruel misrepresentations of notCOMPABATIVE
unworthyANALYSIS
peopleOF DANTE AND MILTON.
?and other trash which too often afflicts the eye in
BY MRS. E. VALE SMITH.
houses where we might look for better things. I am not
II.
altogether without hope that a worthy acquaintance of
my own will some day displace that objectIt has of
not his
unfrequently
fond happened, in the history
literary
parental gaze wherein seven gawky children, men,
with that their popular fame has rested up
wings
one out of many
under their chins, bearing but little resemblance toworks.
the Sometimes a brief poem, or
inhabitants of this world, and none ateven
all,
a few
as Istriking
humbly sentences, has immortalized a na
hope, to those of heaven, are perchedwhich, but for
for ever onthat one happy effort, would have r
solid
clouds, to the amazement and horror ofmained involved in the comparative obscurity wh
all unprejudiced
beholders. covers their contemporaries, and which these fortuna
We may also confidently predict that the general ones have thus eclipsed, occasionally, it would see
diffusion of knowledge, which seems likely to go on more by accident than purpose. Who thinks of Gr
without check or restraint, will not be limited to what as a professor of modern history, as a compiler of tab
is termed in the utilitarian cant of the day, " useful of chronology and botany, as the author of certain fi
knowledge ;" but that in course of time works of art of Pindaric odes, or as the poetic eulogist of Milton ? N
the noblest order may be made generally accessible to one out of many thousands ; while his " Elegy " is d
all classes (at least in large towns), in public libraries, tined to a perpetuity and popularity coextensive wit
mechanics' institutes, lecture-rooms, and elsewhere. It the language in which it was penned. Neither th
is not unknown to persons who have had much in name, labors, or self-sacrifice of the Rev. Charles Wo
tercourse with the poor, that many of them evince a real would probably ever have been heard of, outside of
taste for even the higher class of literature, and it is not own parish, had he not one day given to the worl
unreasonable to believe that in like manner many would few sympathetic and soul-stirring verses, commemoratin
derive instruction and delight from a literature which the death of Sir John More. What pictures of chiva
addresses itself to the eye. Indeed, it must be borne in of fair ladies and brave knights instantly start into livel
mind that a large proportion of all men's knowledge is remembrance as we hear pronounced the name of Spe
derived through the medium ofthat "magic organ, but for ser ! Yet to his own day, how much more needful w
whose powerful charm earth were a rude uncolored chaos that "Treatise on the State of Ireland," which
still ;" much more, in fact, than studious and bookish men wrote, than the " Fairy Queen." That remarkable wo
are wont to allow; and we can ill afford to neglect any, even on Conic Sections, with all the mathematical and sci
the slightest, and most indirect influence for good, which tific writings of Pascal, are forgotten* in the immed
can be brought to bear upon mankind. I have little and lasting fame which gathered upon the author of
sympathy with those who believe that the mechanical " Provincial Letters."
triumphs of modern times, and the vast progress of And thus it has been, to some extent, with Dante a
physical science are inconsistent or incompatible with the Milton ; of all which they wrote, the " Divina Comedi
highest development of the powers of imagination, and and " Paradise Lost " have alone united the suffrages
that such developments can indeed only have full play the learned and unlearned in a common admiratio
in comparatively rude and ignorant times. I believe j Yet, unlike some of the instances above referred
that Art and Science, each in its own appointed way, this was no accidental result : Dante, at the close of h
and in its own proper sphere, are destined to achieve vast "Vita Nuova," declared his intention of thereaft
services for mankind ; the one in searching out the won writing a work which should immortalize his love, a
drous laws of nature aud in extending man's dominion Beatrice's virtues : and in many passages of his Co
over the material world ; the other in interpreting the dia the perfect consciousness is avowed that his poem
mysteries of the visible creation, and in giving utterance will live for ages, giving fame or infamy to whomsoe
to feelings and aspirations which we lack the power to he praises or decries in its verses. Six hundred years
express until some master spirit shapes them into" form an ever-increasing reputation, show that his conscio
and color, or fixes them for ever in living words : both of prophecy was based on something far sounder th
them as powerful auxiliaries of intellectual and moral vanity. Milton, too, throughout his prose writings, c
culture, and as reverent handmaids of Religion, whose tinually gives the plainest hints, nay, does not hesita
service will constitute their highest glory. ?. ?g. 8K. to say that he " aims at immortality," as in his letter
Deodati (1637). " Do you ask me what is my thought
So may God prosper me, it is nothing less than imm
It would be a great advantage to some school masters if they tality. My wings are spreading, and I meditate to fl
wonld steal two hours a day from their pupils and give their but while my Pegasus yet lifts himself on very tend
own minds the benefit of the robbery.?Boyes. pinions, let me be prudent," etc. And again, in one o
his polemical works, he says, addressing the Deity, "

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