to have fallen into disuse; those which remain to us of this period are comparatively heavy in design and coarse in execution; for as the architecture of the time was itself much debased, it could not be expected that the architectural enrichments of brasses and stained glass would be exempted from the same fate. Probably one of the latest examples of this canopy was that of Bishop Goodrich in Ely Cathedral (1554). Of this however the figure and part of the legend are all that remain.

These few remarks, though very incomplete, may be of some use in directing the student in this branch of antiquities, and we trust that, as the science progresses, these minuter parts of church decoration will receive the attention they are entitled to; for in them the developement of art may be no less surely traced than in the architecture itself to which they were accessories; as well in the pattern of an orphrey, or the canopy of a brass, as in the mouldings of an arch, or the tracery of a window

La Vita di GESÙ CRISTO dipinta da Fra Giovanni da Fiesole, detto il Beato Angelico; Designata ed incisa da G. B. NoсCHI. Imperial folio. FIRENZE. 1843.

THIS is a series of thirty-six plates engraved in outline by M. Nocchi, from the original pictures of the Blessed Angelico, now preserved in the gallery of the Academia delle Belle Arti, in Florence. The severe purity and intensity of feeling displayed in the designs are such as to be above praise or description. Criticism, as it seems to us, is disarmed as one looks at these pictures, while they excite instead the deepest emotions of religion. We suppose the scenes of our LORD'S life were never represented more solemnly than by this the chief of mystical painters," the Painter of Paradise," as he is termed in the preface. The series seems singularly well adapted by its extreme simplicity for introduction in the decorative painting of the interiors of our own churches. We could wish it were more accessible, than it can be in the present expensive form, for use in the religious education of the young.

With a very few exceptions, the subjects are taken from the Holy Gospels. The first plate is an interesting portrait of the beatified painter. Among them is the famous Last Judgment, which the Count de Montalembert considers the chef-d'œuvre of Christian painting,* and of which he has engraved the figures of the Guardian Angel giving the kiss of peace to the blessed soul in his Traité sur le Vandalisme et le Catholicisme dans l'Art.

A life of the Blessed Angelico, chiefly from Vasari, is prefixed, and an interesting preface by Sig. Tanzini. It should be added that these outlines are the size of the originals.

We may here announce that M. Nocchi is now engaged in engraving in outline a series of full-sized heads, from the frescoes of San Marco. The proofs which we saw at Florence of this work leave no doubt that it will be one of extreme beauty and value.

* Tableau Chronologique des Ecoles Catholiques de Peinture en Italie.

E

THE CAMBRIDGE CAMDEN SOCIETY AND THE

ROUND CHURCH.

We could not with propriety omit all notice of the interesting and unexpected proceedings which have lately taken place in regard to the Camden Society, nor the judgment of the Court of Arches in the case of the Stone Altar in the Round Church: a full account of the former will be found in our present number. These events the Press, with its usual inaccuracy in regard to all but merely secular matters, has perversely linked together, as if the Camden Society and the Round Church were inseparable ideas. It is well known that even the Restoration Committee has not interfered in the affairs of the church, (much less the Camden Committee), since December 31, 1843; nor ever had any concern directly or indirectly in the litigation about the Altar, which was set on foot by the advice of an eminent civilian, and with the express approbation of the Diocesan (the incumbent having interposed a caveat to the consecration), in order to get the church reopened for Divine service, by obtaining a settlement of the matter in dispute by a competent tribunal. The churchwardens, on the part of themselves and the parishioners, are of necessity the promoters of the suit, and answerable for the costs of it; and can only be relieved of them by the assistance they may receive from those who shall consider that the parishioners and the Society, and not the incumbent, are in this case the objects of a vexatious persecution. The assertion as to the proposed dissolution of the Society having been suggested by the sentence pronounced by the Court of Arches is purely gratuitous; it will be seen indeed, on a perusal of the proceedings, that no allusion to the subject, nor occasion for any, occurred at the meeting. The best answer however to such a statement is to be found in the fact that the question has been already carried by appeal to the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council.*

With regard to the other proceeding, the recommendation of the Committee, we have been too long and too deeply interested in the Society, though no longer speaking with authority, to trust ourselves to enlarge upon it, or to speculate on its results. Nobody, we think, can doubt of its gracefulness and propriety. None can find in it a questionable motive, except such as are incapable of conceiving a right motive where a wrong one can be found. We are quite satisfied that it was the right step; we might almost say it was an unavoidable one, and that the only thing within the Committee's option was the choice of the time, happily selected when an act of deference to authority, on the part of a body, be it remembered, of whose constitution such deference was an essential element, retained its gracefulness by being as yet safe from any imputation of meaner motives. No one can suspect intimidation here. One can imagine how impatient the Committee must have been for the moment when their purposed announce

We have been requested to state that contributions to meet the costs of the suit will be received by Archdeacon Thorp, as Chairman of the (late) Restoration Committee, and may be paid to his account at Messrs. Mortlock's, Cambridge; or at Messrs. Smith, Payne, and Smith's London.