cases are of carved wood, and the worm-eaten carved work, in spite of the brilliant varnish with which it has been recently covered, sufficiently attests the authenticity ascribed to it. The proprietor of the house, which has been repaired within doors, and is kept in excellent order, has placed an oblong stone on the principal front with the following inscription:

DE 1648 A 1679

ont habité cette maison solitaire,
P. NICOLE,
J. RACINE,
A. LE MAISTRE,
C. LANCELOT,
A. D'ANDILLY,
De LUZANCY,
DE PONTIS,
DE GIBRON,
JENKINS,
DE BESSI,
DES LANDES.

ARNAULD,
PASCAL,
M. DE SACI,
HAMON,
SEVIGNE,
DE SERICOURT,
PONTCHARTEAU,
D'ESPIGNOY,
VITARD,
D'ASSON,

DE BELAIR,

The interior of the house is divided

into several rooms of small enough dimensions, and the distribution of which the proprietor, from respect for their first occupants, refuses to alter. On the second story, the first door you meet has the following incription :

P. NICOLE, 1657, 58, 59.

And on that of the chamber immediately adjoining you find :

J. RACINE,

1657, 58.

And on a third :

A. ARNAULD, 1655.

One cannot walk through these almost cells and come away without saying to oneself,-These great men, how simple they were!- How little was required to make them happy!How many holy musings have been commenced and ended beneath these rustic roofs! How many fervent prayers have thence been wafted to heaven!-How many substantial volumes, which still at the distance of two centuries continue to instruct and edify us, have there been planned and executed!

In front of the house there is a gar

den, at one corner of which stands the capital of an ancient pillar, so placed as to serve for a table, and hence called la table des solitaires. It was there we rested for a while, the view from that point being delicious, stretching to the village of St. Lambert; and we said to ourselves that, doubtless, during the stillness of morn or eve, at this very spot, many a grave and pious conversation must have passed among Pascal and Arnauld, Nicole and Saci, and those young nobles who had left a cheating world in hopes of finding in such a retreat that quiet which the religion of Jesus Christ and the study of true wisdom alone can give.

But now let us go down into the valley, and trace, if we can, the vestiges of the monastery which now exists no more. The pond which Racine delighted to praise in verse, but which was rather noxious than beneficial to the convent, for it made it thoroughly drained, and vegetables and damp and unhealthy, has now been osiers now replace what once was water, greatly to the alteration of the landscape. Gardens and orchards cover the site of the monastery, every stone of which, to its very foundation, has been carried away. A dovecot, with walls three and a half foot thick, standing at the entrance to the court of the present proprietor's house, and the ivy-covered remains of an old tower, pierced with several embrasures, intended, no doubt, to overawe the factious who infested the country during the troubles of the Fronde, have alone been preserved, and remain standing marks, by the aid of which we can discover the approach to the monastery, and so far trace its cir. cumference.

The convent church stood on an eminence formed of stones brought on purpose, and its outline may still be distinctly perceived from the ground having been planted out with poplars, which in some measure represent the choir, the nave, and the aisles. Just where the grand altar stood, a pious person, of whom we have more to say presently, has erected a small chapel, for the front of which he composed the following lines now inscribed above the door :

that after his decease his property shall pass into the hands of a successor of like mind with himself, who will respect the house and carefully preserve its treasures. These were exhibited to us. They consist of a painting representing the last moments of the Diacre Paris, a bust in wax of the Mere Angelique on her death-bed, some precious manuscripts left by the Nuns of the Holy Sacrament, some curious records, and several rare works which belonged to Port. Royal. M. S**, whose fortune enables him to live easily, had made over every thing to others, reserving next to nothing for himself. His name is blessed for several leagues around on account of the schools he has founded and maintains in the circumjacent villages, and for the numerous benefits he daily bestows on the poor.

When, much to our regret, we had to leave our kind host, who had received us, unknown as we were, with so much warmth and confidence, we slowly retraced our steps up the path which had brought us into the hollow, and regained our carriage on the rising ground. We still felt oppressed at the thought that one grievous blot marks the reign of that magnificent King, who was surrounded by every attribute of worldly glory, and some of whose splendours it was attempted some months ago to revive at Versailles; it is, that he persecuted Jesus Christ, both in those of his members who continued attached to the Church of Rome, and in those who thought it their duty to separate themselves from that communion; it is to be found in his having sought the destruction in his kingdom of every seed of life, from the evangelical reformed churches of the Cevennes to the pious and peaceful retreats of Port-Royal.

SEMEUR.

OBSERVATIONS ON PAINTING,

ADDRESSED TO A FRIEND.

ALTHOUGH the qualities of the mind cannot always be transmitted from one generation to another, I think that the son of a man possessing refined and cultivated taste, has peculiar advantages and opportunities for acquiring the same accomplishment. A decided taste for the fine

arts has now existed for two generations in your family; and, from my knowledge of yourself, I have every reason to hope that it may remain an heirloom with you: believe me, whatever may be your station in life, you can have no possession more gratifying to a cultivated understanding, nor more worthy the attention of a true gentleman. I wish I were capable of saying anything likely to be of use to you in the formation of this taste, but I hope you will take the will for the deed, and accept the following casual remarks, as an earnest of my desire to contribute to your

amusement.

He

It can hardly be necessary to remind you that those departments of painting which alone entitle it to rank among the fine arts, are far removed from the mere imitation of subjects presented to the eye; if such imitation, or rather mimicry of real objects were the perfection desired, wax figures would, as works of art, rank infinitely above the Cartoons of Raffaelle; and, in like manner, the scenes at a theatre would, be superior to the best performances of Claude Lorraine. who would attain eminence as a painter, must possess the mental power of rejecting every thing that is unfit or unsuitable to his proposed effect and end; whether his designs be of the human figure or landscapes, he must be capable of selecting every perfect feature which nature may at distant intervals present, and of combining and embodying those separate features in one great and glorious idea of beauty, Tò κáλov, which he must constantly endeavour to transmit to the canvas. This subject has been admirably treated by Gessner, and by Sir Joshua Reynolds in his "Discourses," a work which should be in the hands of all amateurs of painting and lovers of literature, and with which I doubt not that you are already familiar.

In considering the subject of painting, we speedily become sensible of the very limited compass of the human mind, which is lost in the region laid open to it: we must of necessity resort to mental arrangement and classification, or all our ideas would be vague and unsatisfactory.

There are various modes of classing

or dividing paintings, of which at first sight the most obvious may appear to be "figure pieces" and " landscape scenery;" but a little reflection will convince us of great objections to this mode; by adopting it, we sacrifice all distinctions of merit, placing Teniers and Ostade by the side of Raffaelle and Michael Angelo; Cuyp and Watteau in opposition to Claude Lorraine

and Poussin..

Another mode of classification is by

means of what are called the different

schools of painting: this method is a good one, and very necessary to be known; but still it does not appear to me perfectly adapted to the mere amateur, or to the man of property and leisure, who wishes to attain a general knowledge of the art, as a branch of liberal education. He requires some more general and natural arrangement, some other plan than that of having constantly to refresh his memory by a reference to books: he requires such an arrangement that his pictures may, of themselves, whenever he looks at taem, bring it with renewed force to his mind.

With a view to such an arrangement, I would divide the art generally into four principal classes, which I would name as follows:

I. The Ennobling.
II. The Pleasing.
III. The Satirical.

IV. The Imitative.

In the first or Ennobling class, I would place those great masters who have most successfully aimed at rò Káλov, the abstract ideal of perfection and beauty in forms, whether of animate or inanimate nature; and who have not applied to ornament to enhance the value of their conceptions. Borrowing from the science of Botany, I would subdivide this class into two orders.

1. The pure,

in which the artist himself is forgotten and lost in the effect produced by his performance; where all the means are eclipsed by the glorious end, and where the picture is not looked upon as a mere work of art, but as the source of those sublime ideas which are raised by it in the cultivated mind; foremost in this order, I would place

Raffaelle, Guido, Leonardo da Vinci, Claude, and Poussin.

The second order into which I divide this class is

2. The characteristic, or original, in which the hand of the master can more distinctly be traced; and where Tò κáλov, the ideal of beauty, though unimpaired, is somewhat warped, and moulded rather on the model of one mighty mind than on a general abstract; here I would place Michael Angelo, Dominichino, Annibal Caracci, Coreggio, Salvator Rosa, and a numerous host, differing in degrees of merit, according as they more or less approach the ideal of beauty, and avoid the grotesque.

I would not arbitrarily exclude all portrait painters from the Ennobling class; those who can seize the spirit and momentary expression of a countenance, as well as the mere outline and colour, deserve high rank in the art; an instance of this occurs in the celebrated portrait of Gevartius by Vandyck; neither do I reject all who draw scenes and landscapes from nature; ancient Aricia, now in the National compare that view of La Riccia, the Gallery, with any of the landscapes of Watteau, and the distinction which I would make will, I think, be evident.

II. In the second class, the Pleasing, I would place those painters who have delighted the eye and raised agreeable images in the mind by means of the ideal of beauty in the effect produced by harmony of colours, and the judicious management of light and shade. I consider that Titian, Guercino, Canadinghen are of those who range in letti, Rubens, Swanefeldt, and Everthis class, of which also our two countrymen, Morland and Gainsborough, were distinguished ornaments : indeed, I am not sure but that the ideal of grace and beauty, which the latter of these artists has bestowed upon the peasantry of his country, may claim a still higher rank in the art. I would allow an honourable place in this class to Quentin Matsys, the painter blacksmith of Antwerp; it is true that he has not always chosen the most pleasing subjects, but his admirable picture of the Misers," now in one of the state apartments at Windsor

Castle, proves him at least to have been perfectly master of the harmony of colours; and indeed we occasionally meet with parts in his works which might almost be mistaken for the earlier studies of Raffaelle.

III. In the third or Satirical class, of which Hogarth is the unrivalled head, I place a tribe of artists who have evinced powerful and original, but very low minds; and who, having no idea of the beautiful, are at home only in the absurd pictures of this class may possess true harmony of colouring, and may astonish or even amuse us; but they never can elevate or improve the tone of the human mind; the instruments and details employed in them to produce effects, are generally borrowed from mean or familiar objects, and are, in consequence, totally devoid both of sublimity and novelty.

IV. In the fourth or Imitative class, I would place those artists whose works are mere imitations of nature; I would subdivide it into two orders :

1. The judicious,

wherein the artist, though he be incapable of improving upon that which is placed before him, yet prefers and

selects such scenes as are in themselves agreeable; many artists of the Flemish, and a few of the Dutch School, belong to this order; Hobbima, Cuyp, and Jan Both justly rank in it, and the courtly mannerism of Watteau can claim no higher distinction.

2. The servile.

In this lowest grade of art I place those who, by means of mere mechanical dexterity, give close and exact representations of their models, which are generally unpleasant and disgusting in the Dutch school, and only accidentally interesting in any case. Teniers and his innumerable imitators, of whom I think Ostade the lowest, belong to this order, wherein bowls, cups, and brooms, the vacant stare of intoxication, the insane fury of anger, the leer of low humour, and the broad grin of animal gratification, may be seen to the life: all breadth of effect is here sacrificed to relief, and the vulgar of all ranks are pleased with objects appearing, as they phrase it, "to stand out from the picture."

Do not suppose that I place flower and fruit painting thus low in the art; on the contrary, I think that to give to the leaves and petals of flowers their natural and unconstrained elegance, to place them in groups devoid of stiffness and formality, and to give to fruit its roundness, without losing the charm of breadth of effect, are real triumphs of art, which well deserve to rank it in the second or Pleasing class.

I have not unfrequently heard amateurs express regret that Titian, Rubens, and Rembrandt should not have united the grandeur of Raffaelle to their own unrivalled harmony of colouring; but this regret seems to me founded upon very erroneous ideas. Severe grandeur is incompatible with that grace and ornament which are essential to a different style of art, and which especially delight us in the works of Titian; if even Coreggio, in attempting to combine them with grandeur, has sometimes lapsed into affectation, what shall we say to artists of the Satirical class aiming at the higher excellencies, the ideal perfection of beauty? This is indeed most absurd rivalry. We cannot easily forget Ho

garth's endeavours at the sublime-his picture of Paul before Felix," for instance instead of the realization of those ideas which we naturally form of such a subject, we find only a disgusting caricature without the slightest pretension either to dignity, beauty, or propriety.

A painter, unless he be a mere imitator, will always transmit to his canvas some reflection of his own intellect; and he whose mind is not blest with true dignity, can never rival the great leaders of the art; neither can any person, without correct ideas of the harmony of colours, ever tread in the path of Titian and Rubens; though an artist who might attain eminence in the lower grades of the profession may readily fail altogether by attempting that, which to him is impracticable. In art, as in nature, there are certain qualities which are incompatible with each other, and as I consider this to be the immutable decree of Providence, so likewise I think that to lament it is vain and unreasonable.