Gentleman's Magazine: And Historical Chronicle

I HAVE this moment perused the letter of your Correspondent Mr. James Crossley, in the last number of the Gentleman's Magazine, and would beg through you to refer him to the volume of your work for the year 1825, April and July, where are to be found some extracts from the very curious and interesting volumes which he mentions. They are there communicated by Mr. W. Hamilton Reid, but that gentleman does not state the source whence he derived them. Some of these extracts have also been transferred from your pages to those of the Youth's Magazine, which may be deemed an additional evidence of the interesting nature of the volume.

I would state for the satisfaction of such of your readers as may not be able to obtain a sight of the original work, which is extremely scarce, that the larger and by far the more interesting portion of the work was republished with notes and observations by the late Rev. John Scott of Hull, under the title of "Narratives of Two Families exposed to the Great Plague of London, A.D. 1665; with conversations on religious preparation for Pestilence." Seeley, 1832. This passed through two editions in the same year. It was my impression that Mr. Scott had stated it as his opinion in his preface to the "Narratives," that Defoe was the author of the work. I find, however, that he has not. I have more than once heard him state that such was his conviction.

I have by me the copy of the work which the late Mr. Scott possessed, and I have seen another copy in a private library in London, which had evidently belonged to the family of Defoe; two of their names appearing on the title-page with the date (I believe) of the very year in which the work was published.

Yours, &c. JOHN SCOTT.

INQUISITOR cannot discover, either in the British Museum, at the Bodleian, or in other public libraries, a copy of the book quoted in White's Discovery of Brownism, (1605, 4to.) and entitled, in the margin of p. 13, “A Discourse of Certain Troubles and Excom. &c." by "G. J."

The author was GEORGE JOHNSON; and the tract relates to the English refugees at Amsterdam. As there is not a copy even in the Dissenters' libraries at Cripplegate and Finsbury, the tract must be very rare; but, if in existence, he requests to be informed.

W. of Darlington communicates the two following curious English inscriptions on

the bells of Gainford Church, co. Durham, inquired for in our vol. V. p. 2 :1st bell. SAVNT CWTBERT SAF WS VNOWERT [unhurt?]

24 bell. ++ HELP MARJ QWOD ROGER OF KYRKEBY."

This Roger of Kirkby was instituted Vicar of Gainford in 1401. The following is a more correct copy of his epitaph than that above referred to :

Hic jacet humatus Roger Kyrkby uocitatus
Templi p'latus erat istius intitulatus
Oret quisq' deo memor ut sit eius miserendo
Crimina tergendo p'cat ubiq' reo.

The third bell is modern, made by "S. S. Ebor. 1715," and inscribed with the names of the churchwardens of that date.

Mr. MANGIN remarks:-" The quantity of Roman coins exhumed in Britain, is, literally, incalculable in some parts of the west of England, as well as in the north; so great, that the pieces have no price. I wish to inquire, How came they to be thus disposed of? Some have imagined that they were flung down as offerings to the shades of the dead: some, that they were lost by the owners

through accident, or let fall in the hurry and perplexity attending the enforced departure of the Romans from Britain! They have been supposed, by others, to be the contents of shop-tills, or of the money chests of mercantile persons. Likewise it has been thought that they were thrown away as being useless, and no longer currency at the commencement of each new imperial reign. But were this the fact, surely the material of which they are chiefly composed might (and, no doubt, would) have been recast. I have often put these queries and positions to various reflecting and deeply learned persons in Bath, especially to Mr. HARRIS, SO widely known for an extensive acquaintance with classic antiquity, and his magnificent cabinet of ancient coins; but to no purpose. I, accordingly, beg leave to repeat my earnest request for the favour of a satisfactory explanation."

By an unintentional omission, we neglected to notice that the Roman bronze head, lately found at Winchester, and represented in the plate in our last number, is in the possession of Mr. Drew, jun., cutler, of that city, who has made some perfect casts of it for sale. In our next number we hope to give some further account of the recent Roman discoveries at Winchester.

GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE.

Works of Art and Artists in England. By G. F. Waagen, Director of the Royal Gallery at Berlin. 3 vols. Murray, 1838.

WE consider this work, as relates to the fine arts in England, and particularly to painting, to be one of the most important which has been published. The author, Dr. Waagen, as his translator observes, unites a profound knowledge of the subject, with such an accuracy of judgment, refinement of taste, and nicety of discrimination, as claim the highest respect for his opinions, delivered as they are with a conscientious impartiality, and an enthusiastic love and admiration of all that is beautiful and noble in the whole domain of the fine arts. Dr. Waagen also derives no small advantage from his being a foreigner, coming to the critical survey of our possessions in art, with a mind totally uninfluenced by the force of long received and established opinions; and without any prejudices to mislead, any caprices or fashionable opinions to submit to, or any fear of giving offence to the possessor, which so often impairs our confidence in the judgment of the critics of our own country. Dr. Waagen confesses that, though Mr. Smith proves himself, in his excellent Catalogue Raisonnée, to be a refined connoisseur, yet that many of his opinions on pictures to which he cannot assent, proceed more from regard to their possessors,* than from want of better judgment. must add also, that all the judgments in Dr. Waagen's letters were formed on the spot, and committed to paper before the freshness and force of the impressions were impaired. Dr. Waagen brought to this country such recommendations, from the hand of royalty itself, as to ensure the civility of the "surly porter," and to throw back the hinges which too reluctantly open to the amateurs of our own country, and reveal the noble treasures which princely wealth has collected, with a yet more princely and enlightened munificence and liberality; assuredly to more than one of our nobles, may be applied the praise which that fine scholar P. Victorius applies to Cosmo de Medicis, the Duke of Florence.-" Supellectilem illam egregiam relictam sibi a majoribus, suis diligenter servare, et semper aliquos studiosè conquisitis et magnis sumptibus paratos, ipsis addere, multosque et omnium lectissimos illi civibus suis, cupiditatis hujus rectissimæ explendæ desiderio flagrantibus passim dari." We trust that in England our picture galleries, the knowledge of whose treasures are not only gratifying to the curiosity of the public, but necessary to the improvement of the student, will not be liable to a sarcasm, similar to that which called the libraries of some wealthy Italians, not ßißio0nkas but Bißriorápovs. To the possessors themselves, the admission of scientific and enlightened persons to view and judge of their collections, will always be of the highest value. No individual judgment, however estimable or renowned, is implicitly to be trusted, in matters requiring such delicacy of feeling, accuracy of eye, and extension of knowledge. We all know

* Catalogue Raisonnée of the Works of the most eminent Dutch, Flemish, and French Painters. 8vo. 7 vols. By John Smith.

the extraordinary evidence given by Mr. Payne Knight, at once a scholar and virtuoso of the first rank, on the Elgin Marbles; we know the mistake of the Gem engraved by Pistrucci, and purchased as an antique by the same person; we know that the authority of the two greatest painters in England, induced Mr. Angerstein to give a large price for a pseudoCorregio; and that the most extensive and longest experience will not secure the critic from partial errors, to which, as Dr. Waagen justly observes, the frame of mind, and more or less leisure in viewing a work of art, and even the light and situation in which it is placed, will have great influence in the formation of an opinion. Dr. Waagen possesses the true character of German frankness and simplicity; he seems always actuated by the love of truth, as alone leading to the advancement of art; and we are pleased to find that when he gave, as his principles obliged him to do, an unfavourable character of a picture, previously highly esteemed by its possessor,-when he plucked the borrowed splendour of the plumage from it,-when he erased the long-cherished name from the catalogue,—his knowledge and his impartiality secured him from offence. From more than one, whose galleries he visited, he seemed to receive the same honest and plain avowal which Henry the Fourth of France made to the great Casaubon, when he appointed him librarian. -" Qu'il voulait qu'il fut en sa librarie, qu'il verroit ses beaux livres, et lui diroit ce qui etait dedans, où il n'entendait rien."

The chief object of Dr. Waagen's inquiry and observation in England, was in our collections of pictures; but his observations on the kindred arts of sculpture and architecture are equally worthy of attention. We will therefore in the first place show our readers how the later architecture of our metropolis appears through the prism of the foreign critic, whose eyes had been accustomed to the classical buildings of Berlin and Munich.

"The outside of the brick houses in London is very plain and has nothing agreeable in the architecture, unless it be the neat and well-defined joints of the brick-work. On the other hand, many of the great palace-like buildings are furnished with architectural decorations of all kinds, with pillars and pilasters, &c. There are, however, two reasons why most of them have rather a disagreeable effect. In the first place, they are destitute of continuous simple main lines, which are indispensable in architecture to produce a grand total effect, and to which even the richest decoration must be strictly subordinate. Secondly, the decorative members are introduced in a manner entirely arbitrary, without any regard to their original meaning, or to the destination of the edifice. This absurdity is carried to the greatest excess in the use of columns; these originally supporting members, which, placed in rows in the buildings of the ancients, produce the combined effect of a pierced wall, which bears one side of a space beyond, are here ranged in numberless instances, as wholly unprofitable servants directly before a wall. This censure ap

plies in an especial manner to most of the works of the deceased architect Nash. In truth, he has a peculiar knack of depriving masses of considerable dimensions of all effect, by breaking them into a number of little projecting and receding parts; but in the use of the most diverse forms and ornaments, he is so arbitrary, that many of his buildings-for instance, the new palace of Buckingham House, and some in the neighbourhood of Waterloo Place, look as if some wizard enchanter had suddenly transformed some capricious stage-scenery into sober reality. This architect is even more capricious in some of his churches; for instance, All Souls, in Langham Place, a circular building in two stories, with Ionic and Corinthian columns, surmounted by a pointed sugar-loaf. But what shall we say to the fact, that the English, who first made the rest of Europe acquainted with the immortal models of the noblest and chastest taste in architecture and sculpture of ancient Greece in all their refinement, when it was resolved, a few years ago, to erect a monument to the late Duke of York, produced nothing but a bad imitation of Trajan's pillar. This kind of monument,

we know, first came into use among the Romans, a people who, with respect to the gift of invention in the arts and in matters of taste, always appear, in comparison with the Greeks, as half-barbarians. The very idea of insulating the column proves that the original destination, as the supporting member of a building, was wholly lost sight of. Besides this, the statue placed on it, though as colossal as the size of the base will allow, must appear little and puppet-like compared with the column; and the features, the expression of the countenance, the most important designations of the intellectual character of the person commemorated, are wholly lost to the spectator. In Trajan's pillar, the bas-reliefs on the shafts give at least the impression of a lavish profusion of art; but this

Duke of York's column, with its naked shaft, which, besides, has not the advantage of the Entasis, has a very mean, poor appearance. If the immense sums expended in architectural abnormities had always been applied in a proper manner, London must infallibly have been the handsomest city in the world. I must, however, add, that several buildings are honourable exceptions; among the older ones, I would only mention Somerset House, which, by its simple proportions, corresponding with its great extent, produces the effect of a regal palace; and of modern buildings, the new Post-Office, built by the younger Smirke, the exterior and interior of which, in elegant Ionic order, has a noble effect."

We have said that we conceive Dr. Waagen's taste and connoisseurship to be of a very high order: his eye very quick and discriminating, and knowledge of art extensive and profound. It would therefore be unpardonable were we to pass over without extract some parts of his observations on the Elgin Marbles, though at the expense of other specimens of art but the modern receptacles of art possess nothing approaching to these divine works, the bright consummate flow of the finest genius of the most refined and mature æra. In these wonderful sculptures, of the higher imaginative and abstract nature, the ideal is seen in its true character and perfection, in all the wisdom of form, purity of taste, and flow of grace, beauty, and elegance. Here the mind of the spectator is addressed by the grandeur of the thoughts, and the simple energy of the expression; here may be seen all that ancient art could combine, and modern has not been able to effect;-purity without dryness, grace without affectation, nobleness without pomp, and richness of invention that is inexhaustible. Indeed, in these and works like these, which baffle all analysis, criticism has nothing but to admire, and art to emulate. Κρίνειν οὐκ ἐπεοίκε θεηΐα ἔργα βροτοῖσι Πάντα γὰρ ἵερα ταῦτα καὶ ἁδέα.

"Thus, then,' said the admiring artist as he traversed that awful vestibule which contains the gigantic crystallisation of primeval civilisation, where we either shew the granite statues of the Memnonium, and the colossal monuments of the age of Sesostris, and of the ancient capital of Egypt, thus, then, I behold, face to face, those monuments which came from the work-room and many from the hand of Phidias himself, which the ancients themselves most highly extolled, of which Plutarch says they exceeded all others by their magnitude, and by their beauty and grace were inimitable. The thought that the greatest and most accomplished men of antiquity, Pericles, Sophocles, Socrates, Plato, Alexander the Great, and Cæsar, dwelt with admiration on these works, dif. fused over them, in my eyes, a new charm,

and heightened the enthusiastic feeling with which I was penetrated. * * * * I never, perhaps, found so great a difference between a plaster cast and a marble as in these Elgin Marbles. The Pentelic marble, of which they are formed, has a warm yellowish tone, and a very fine and at the same time a clean grain, by which these sculptures have extraordinary animation, and peculiar solidity. The block, for instance, of which the famous horse's head is made, has altogether a bony appearance, and its sharp flat treatment has a charm of which the plaster-cast gives no notion. It produces the impression, as if it were the petrified original horse that issued from the hand of the God, from which all real horses have, more or less, degenerated, and is a most splendid justification of the reputation which Phidias

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Gentleman's Magazine: And Historical Chronicle, Volume 165