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the style of the epoch alleged. In the sacristy hang four other paintings, evidently by the same hand; and if le Calvaire went far towards establishing the truth of Pereira's assertion, one of these others, le Saint Pierre, was indeed decisive as to the identity of the artist of Vizeu with Vasco the Great. "Je ne peux pas are the Count's words

"Je ne peux pas vous dire quelle joie j'ai éprouvée, lorsque en entrant dans la sacristie j'ai apperçu aussitôt, en face de la porte, la superbe tableau de Saint Pierre. L'impression était décisive; en un instant la question fut tranchée pour moi. Je dis pour moi, car je n'impose ma manière de voir à personne."-p. 369.

Vasco's style inclines to that of Albert Durer and the old German school, notwithstanding the current that had lately set in towards Italy. With this remark we must finish our observations upon that part of the work before us which relates to painting: the Count we apprehend to be a man of taste and experience; though we feel bound to say, that in some of his remarks we think he rather confounds the Flemish and the Dutch schools.

An inquiry into the state of the arts generally, must doubtless embrace several branches of art besides painting: accordingly we have letters dedicated to architecture, sculpture, and to what the Portuguese call azulejos, which seem to resemble, as nearly as possible, the old blue and white Dutch tiles, of which we all have a vision, lining the ample sides of the old-fashioned chimneycorners, into which we snuggled in days of yore. In Portugal they find themselves employed in a much more exalted use, than that homely one to which our fathers applied them :

Tantôt

"Il y a peu d'églises, peu de maisons qui n'en renferment. ils encadrent les portes des édifices, tantôt ils ornent les vestibules et les escaliers. Dans la plupart des maisons, même dans les plus pauvres, les murs intérieurs en sont garnis jusqu'à la hauteur de trois pieds ou davantage. Il y a des maisons qui en sont recouvertes extérieurement depuis leur base jusqu'au toit."—p. 427.

The designs on them are in relief; and the character of these, together with the form of the azulejo, afford a clue to the date of the manufacture. Those of the 17th and 18th centuries are considered the finest.

Of the sculpture of the Portuguese the Count is unable to speak highly, with the exception of carving in wood. Architecture, however, has been more fortunate; yet in regard to this there is one curious feature (if we understand our author right), that the largest buildings not only do not exhibit any regularity of construction, but remain, many of them, in an unfinished con

dition. The palace at Mafra is a notable exception. The various buildings partake of the same characters of style as were common in the rest of Europe, during the 13th and 14th centuries. We do not know whether we be correct in the surmise, but we gather from a remark which the author records with approbation, that the buildings of that period present the eye with occasional glimpses of a later (perhaps we should say, of an earlier) style. The remark is touching the architecture of the time of Emmanuel, C'est la résistance du style gothique contre le style de François 1er: in other words, there are indications of a struggle going on between the old pointed style which had issued from Germany, and the resumption of the ancient orders. If, however, he merely mean by this, to intimate that Portugal was slower than France to abandon the one, and revive the other, this is no more than was to be expected; for the cinque-cento tide-wave, which was first raised on the shores of Italy, however early it may have set towards the other countries of Europe, can only be said to have reached these in succession, as they lay further removed from the centre of motion. Thus Spain did not feel it in its full force, till the time of Charles V.'s addition to the palace of the ancient kings of Grenada; and in England we were strangers to it till the 17th century.

In his 14th letter the author enters into a discussion upon the masons' marks to be found on the stones of the old buildings', with the great variety of which he seems much struck; and this leads to some remarks (chiefly from the pen of M. Falkenstein, of Dresden) upon the freemasonry of the middle ages, and the authorship of the beautiful convent of Batalha, which owes its origin (as is well known) to a vow made to the Blessed Virgin by John I., before the glorious battle of Aljubarrota, in 1385. It has been asserted by Murphy (who travelled in Portugal at the close of last century), that Batalha was commenced under the superintendence, if not upon the plans, of one Stephenson, an Englishman, invited to the Portuguese court by Philippa, daughter of John of Gaunt and queen of John I. of Portugal. That this monarch did invite from distant countries the most celebrated architects and most skilful masons, we know on the authority of Luiz de Sousa; or, as we should rather have expressed it, he invoked the assistance of some of the great corporations of freemasons; corporations which, we know, had planted their lodges in, and enrolled among their members natives of, every European kingdom from England to Greece. Murphy professes, indeed, to have derived his information from the employés in the royal

1 This discussion is accompanied by two pages of plates.

archives at Lisbon; but however proud we might be to have the name of an Englishman associated with a building so magnificent and unique, we must hesitate before adopting this opinion as matter of fact; for the present learned cardinal-patriarch of Lisbon has proved the want of exactness with which Murphy wrote, (see the extracts from his Mémoires Historiques, quoted in Appendix III. to Letter X.,) and we find no such name as that of Stephenson in the list of directors of the works at Batalha, given in L. de Sousa's history. On the other hand, it is a curious fact that this superb convent bears so strong an analogy to our Minster, at York, that Comte Raczynski records his persuasion of their common origin.

"Que le plan de l'église de Batalha soit l'œuvre 'd'un Portugais ou d'un Anglais, tant il y a que les deux édifices sont nés d'inspirations artistiques analogues, homogènes et contemporaines, le style des deux églises me parait identique."-p. 336.

But we must bring this notice to a close. The author promises us a dictionary, and a résumé of the whole, containing such corrections or additions as subsequent information may seem to render necessary, accompanied by plates. We cannot, however, conclude without tendering our thanks to the Comte Raczynski (who is, we understand, the Prussian ambassador at the Court of Lisbon) for his very interesting work. We shall always be glad to welcome more from his pen; especially while he acts up to his motto:"Chercher la vérité, rejeter les absurdités, et douter tout qu'on ne sait pas."

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58, line 25, for "may have acted as he did solely from an unwillingness to appoint" read acted as he did solely from an unwillingness "to appoint

20, for a flamen, read an arch-flamen, and add reference, Ep. iii, 19

66,

71,

1, for 5th read 6th

110,

111,

115,

123,

11, for unavoidably read unaccountably

7, for so long as Aa and B = a read so long as Aa' and B = b′ 3, for produce in money read produce or money

8, for lower on C read lower than on C

27, for not unquestionably read most unquestionably

NOTICES OF RECENT PUBLICATIONS,

ETC.

1. Prynne's Sermons. 2. Harvey's Sermons. 3. Margoliouth's Lectures. 4. The Retrospect-Hooper's Translation. 5. Anthologia Ďavidica. 6. Dr. Moore on the Body in relation to the Mind. 7. Groves' Pasilogia. 8. Gurney's Charles I. 9. Bickersteth on the Creed. 10. Tales of Female Heroism. 11. Trench's Portrait of Charity. 12. Bishop of Barbados Charge. 13. Galloway on the Revelation. 14. Biber's Sermons for Saints' Days. 15. Napier's Florentine History. 16. The Abbess of Shaftesbury. 17. Stories of the Crusades. 18. Rev. Tunstall Smith on the Sacraments. 19. Theodore, edited by Rev. W. Nevins. 20. Festivals and Fasts explained. 21. Meditations by Gerhard - Heylin's English Church-Manual of Devotions. 22. Bohn's Standard Library. 23. Reverence due to Holy Places. 24. Blackburn's Hand-book round Jerusalem. 25. Paley's Manual of Gothic Architecture. 26. Songs of the Wilderness, by the Bishop of Montreal. 27. Miscellaneous.

1.—Sermons, preached at the Parish Church of St. Andrew, Clifton. By GEORGE RUNDLE PRYNNE, B.A. London: Burns.

WE very much like these Sermons. They are published "by request," as the title-page informs us; "with a view of forwarding the erection of a new church in a poor mining district, in the county of Cornwall," as the advertisement speaks. They are just what sermons should be-short, practical, sound, and earnest. The author loses no time in long-winded introductions, but goes straight to his point at once; and, though the writing is by no means offensively rugged, he is evidently more careful for the matter than the manner. We will present the reader with an example or two, selected almost at random. His third sermon is entitled "The Magi, examples of Christian wisdom;" and having pointed out their courage, perseverance, and promptitude, in following the indications of God's will, he says

"Self, if not fought against, will soon convince us that the heavenward path is not so narrow or strait as it really is, and so will relax our energies, stifle our holy desires, chill our souls, and make us lax and languishing in an affair which demands all our ardour and zeal. We are not generally so easily checked when in pursuit of some worldly

good. We can easily then persuade ourselves to make sacrifices in order to its attainment. But when it is for the things invisible the struggle is to be made, we are apt to be easily frightened, and turned aside, and persuaded that the task is too hard for us. Such a state of mind cannot surely be that in which we would wish to die; and if not to die, then not to live, for in the midst of life we are in death.'. . . We must not take it for granted that all is right because all goes on easily and smoothly with us. The converse is nearer the truth, and we should rather fear that that way cannot be a safe one for us which requires no sacrifices or efforts, on our part, to enable us to persevere in it: 'for strait is the gate, and narrow the way, which leadeth unto eternal life, and few there be that find it.'"—pp. 39, 40.

Of all the subjects treated of in Holy Scripture few are more awful than that of spiritual blindness; and none, we fear, to the signs of which in themselves men in general are more blind. We extract with pleasure the following passage, bearing upon this subject, from Sermon XI. :—

"Now, of all the sins of which a man is capable, none seems to run more directly contrary to salvation than that of wilful blindness. It excludes that divine light, without which we cannot advance a step in the way of salvation. If we reject this light, we have nothing to walk by. We throw a moral obstacle in the way of receiving any further graces. These God reserves only for those who profit by what He gives, and seek more. . . . . If, by wilful sin, we have changed the light that was in us into darkness, our case is, indeed, a desperate one; for not only do we lose the light, but also all desire of it. . . . What I mean may be illustrated by the case of the blind man of Jericho. . . . Instead of saying, 'Lord, that I may receive my sight,' we secretly pray that we may see nothing that will serve to trouble or disturb us. What wilt thou that I should do unto thee?' might our Lord reply to the prayer of such. Wilt thou that I should save thee without grace? that cannot be. Desirest thou grace without light? I have none such to bestow. Or, dost thou expect that I should overpower your will, and sanctify you, in spite of yourself? That is contrary to the laws of my providence, and justice forbids my altering them.'

Should these sermons reach a second edition, we think their author would not do amiss to revise them in point of language, as here and there they bear marks of rather careless writing. Such as, for instance, "too puffed up," for "too much puffed up." Again, in the last quoted passage, "dost thou expect that I should overpower your will, and sanctify you?" He spells the past participle of to“ dim," dimned; we should be glad to know, by what analogy? However, these are small matters; and it is only a pity that a blemish of any sort, however trifling, should be found in such excellent sermons.

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