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contemplative tranquillity, (il riposo di Claudio), he feels almost tempted to make a pilgrimage to the palace of Colonna, at Rome, where so many of this great master's pieces are still to be seen. Recalling to our imagination images of innocence and simplicity, we compare them with passages of the wise and admirable Fenelon; whose descriptions of the island of Calypso, of Betica, of Egypt, of Cyprus, of Crete, and of the Elysian Fields, are in the first style of excellence.

XII.

If the imperfections of the Madonnas of Carlo Maratt are only to be observed, by comparing them with those of Raphael, as we are taught to believe, the defects of Claude are only to be discovered by comparing his groups and his dispositions, with the groups and dispositions of the matchless TITIAN;-the Sovereign of Landscape; as Raphael was the Sovereign of graceful Attitudes. Studying Nature in detail, he finished for immortality, and exemplified the truth of that axiom, which teaches, that simplicity is the offspring of judgment and genius. Like the rose-tree of Jericho 1, which neither withers nor decays,—— and, therefore, the best escutcheon for a painter's monument, the pictures of Titian still continue to blush with all their golden tints'; and are as beautiful, as first they were, when newly painted. In the union of force and softness of tint; in lightness of touch; in felicity of combination, and in harmony of colouring, he was unrivalled.

Anastatica hierochuntica.

Aureo Titiani radio, qui per totam tabulam gliscens cam vere suam denunciat.

He was the Virgil of landscape :-and the back-ground to his picture of the Martyrdom1 of St. Peter is said to be the finest landscape, ever issuing from a mortal's hand!

CHAPTER II.

BUT however beautiful the works of the most celebrated masters may be, when we would compare them with the productions of Nature, how comparatively poor and feeble do their efforts appear! Insipid are the outlines of Salvator Rosa, the aerial tints of Claude, and the romantic groups of Ruysdale and Poussin. Thus, as in every other instance, how far inferior to Nature are the finest efforts of our best masters. No wonder! since language itself has comparative poverty, when it would presume to describe the variety, which is observable in almost every prospect, that the eye beholds. Fields, vales,

1. The picture of Titian," says the Abbe Du Bos, which represents Peter Martyr, massacred by the Vaudois, is not perhaps the most valuable of his pieces for richness of colour; and yet Ridolf* acknowledges that it is not only the most generally known, but the most universally applauded. The reason of which seems to be, that the action of this picture is more engaging; and that Titian has treated it with a greater resemblance of truth, and with a more elaborate expression of the passions, than any of his other pieces."Critic. Reflect. on Painting, Poetry, and Music, vol. i. ch. x.

Guido has a small picture on the same subject. That of Tifian is grand in every essential of magnificence; that of Guido delicate, graceful, and exquisitely finished. The former was transported to the Louvre at Paris, where it remained till 1815; when it was replaced in the church of Giovanni e Paolo at Venice.

* P. 151.

glens, rivers, and mountains, even when described by the most powerful pen, do but glide before the imagination in mysterious confusion: if, therefore, one scene cannot be represented with precision, how shall we attempt to give even a faint idea of its numerous combinations? And how numerous those combinations are, may be, in some measure, conceived from the knowledge, we possess, of the almost infinite combinations of sound.

Winkelmann's antagonist was, assuredly, wrong, when he asserted, for the honour of the arts, that the mallows of Veerendal, and a rose of Van Huysum, bewitch us more than the best favourites of the botanists; and that a landscape of Dietrich is more agreeable to the fancy, than even the Thessalian Tempe. To the works of art we can give length, breadth, and thickness; we can also colour them with appropriate shades; but who can measure the productions of Nature? Who sketch with such enchanting skill? The painter may select individual objects,—an ivied bridge, a hanging tower, an embattled castle, and the larger creations of landscape;-these he may, by a judicious disposition of his materials, form into an entire whole: but the effort is one, and the effect is one: it changes not with the seasons; it knows none of the vicissitudes of winter; and, therefore, never glows with the renovation of spring.

This exhaustless variety produces in the mind a continual thirst after novelty. For were there but few combinations, and still fewer objects, the mind would recoil upon itself, and its powers be confined, as it were, in a prison. But as the variations of natural objects are unlimited, its faculties are proportionately enlarged; and, in

consequence, bearing an analogy with magnetical induction, the more it receives, the more capable is it of the powers of receiving. Thus, man's appetite for novelty is nothing, but the general result of Nature's unbounded. power of gratifying his thirst.

II.

If the final cause of sublimity be to exalt the soul to a more intimate alliance with its Creator; and that of beauty to enable the mind to distinguish perfection and truth :-the love of novelty may, not unreasonably, be supposed to be planted in our nature, in order to stimulate the mental powers to that degree of activity, which enables them continually to feel the effects of beauty and sublimity.

The lover of landscape, therefore, is ever on the watch for new combinations. Having derived enjoyment from a mountainous country, he finds a sensible gratification in traversing extended plains, boundless heaths, and in permitting his eye to wander over an interminable track of ocean. Without darkness, even the brilliancy of the sun would be no longer splendid; without harmony, the most agreeable melody would fatigue the ear; and without the interchange of varied objects, even the finest landscape in Gascoigny, or Savoy, would pall upon the sight.

A general love of novelty, however, which is not indulged as a beneficial mean for improvement, resembles the rose of Florida, the bird of Paradise, or the cypress of Greece. The first, the most beautiful of flowers, emitting no fragrance:-the second, the most beautiful of birds, eliciting no song;-the third, the finest of trees, yielding no fruit. It has, not inaptly, been called a

species of "adultery." It characterizes a weak and superficial mind; ill qualifies it for honourable exertion; and peculiarly unfits its possessor for selecting brilliant subjects to exercise his fancy; or from furnishing correct and sound materials to form and elevate the understanding.

To a judicious love of novelty, on the other hand, may we refer some of the pleasures, we derive from contrast; the various changes of climate and seasons; the observance of manners and customs of nations; the charms of science; and the delights of poetry. Since, by directing the attention to a diversity of objects, the mind roves, as it were, in an enchanted theatre; imbibing rich and comprehensive ideas, that administer, in a manner the most vivid and impressive, to the organs of perception and taste. Directed to its proper end,—the enlargement of the understanding, by the acquirement of knowledge,-it conduces to the improvement of every art, and contributes to the perfection of every science.

III.

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As the passion of legitimate love is engendered and confirmed by intimacy of connexion, so, on the other hand, the passion of admiration is awakened by distance, and kept alive by continual novelty. For these two passions, -so often confounded with each other, are not more different in their origin, than in their results. What we love becomes more endeared to us by repetition; what we admire ceases to please us, when it ceases to be new. Thus is it with scenery. The vine in our garden, the oak that shades our cottage, the woods, that shelter us from the north, are not more high, more shady, more neat, or more fruitful, than other oaks vines, cottages, and woods;

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