"Od's my life now," said her Majesty," but I think she looks fitter for any thing else, Sidney!-My Lord of Essex, how think you?" "As your Majesty does," returned he; there is a meaning in that eye." "And a minute past they said there was none," thought Faustus. This liberal critique on the fair Helen being concluded, the Queen desired to see the beautiful and hopeless Mariamne. The enchanter did not wait to be twice asked; but he did not chuse to invoke a Princess who had worshipped at holy altars in the same manner as he had summoned the fair Pagan. It was then, by way of ceremony, that turning four times to the east, three to the south, two to the west, and only once to the north, he uttered, with great suavity, in Hebrew "Lovely Mariamne, come! Scarcely had he concluded, when the spouse of Herod made her appearance, and gravely advanced into the centre of the gallery, where she halted, as her predecessor had done. She was robed nearly like the high-priest of the Jews, except that instead of the Tiara, a veil, descending from the crown of the head, and slightly attached to the cincture, fell far behind her. Those graceful and flowing draperies, threw over the whole figure of the lovely Hebrew an air of indescribable dignity. After having stopped for several minutes before the company, she pursued her way,-but without paying the slightest parting compliment to the haughty Elizabeth. "Is it possible," said the Queen, before she had well disappeared-" is it possible that Mariamne was such a figure as that?-such a tall, pale, meagre, melancholy-looking affair, to have passed for a beauty through so many centuries!" "By my honour," quoth Essex, "had I been in Herod's place, I should never have been angry at her keeping her distance." "Yet I perceived," said Sydney, "a certain touching languor in the countenance-an air of dignified simplicity." Her Majesty looked grave. "Fye, fye," returned Essex, "it was haughtiness-her manner is full of presumption, aye, and even her height." The Queen having approved of Essex's decision-on her own part, condemned the Princess for her aver sion to her spouse, which, though the world alleged to have been caused by his being the cut-throat of her family, she saw nothing to justify, whatever a husband might be. A wife was a wife; and Herod had done quite right in cutting off the heads of the offenders. Faustus, who affected universal knowledge, assured her Majesty that all the historians were in error on that point; for he had had it himself from a living witness, that the true cause of Herod's vengeance was his spiteful oldmaid of a sister-Salome's overhearing Mariamne-one day at prayersbeg of Heaven to rid her of her worthless husband. After a moment of thought, the Queen, with the same indifference with which she would have called for her waiting-maid-desired to see Cleopatra; for the Egyptian queen not having been quite as comme il faut as the British, the latter treated her accordingly. The beautiful Cleopatra quickly made her appearance at the extre mity of the gallery, and Elizabeth expected that this apparition would fully make up for the disappointment which the others had occasioned. Scarcely had she entered, when the air was loaded with the rich perfumes of Arabia. Her bosom (that had been melting as charity) was open as day,-a loop of diamonds and rubies gathered the drapery as much above the left knee, as it might as well have been below it, and a woven wind of transparent gauze, softened the figure which it did not conceal. In this gay and gallant costume, the mistress of Antony glided through the gallery, making a similar panse as the others. No sooner was her back turned, than the courtiers began to tear her person and frippery to pieces,-the Queen calling out, like one possessed, for paper to burn under her nose, to drive away the vapours occasioned by the gums with which the mummy was filled,-declared her insupportable in every sense, and far beneath even the wife of Herod, or the daughter of Le 3 da,-shocked at her Diana drapery, to exhibit the most villainous leg in the world, and protested that a thicker robe would have much better become her. Whatever the two courtiers might have thought, they were forced to join in these sarcasms, which the frail Egyptian excited in peculiar severity. "Such a cocked nose!" said the Queen. "Such impertinent eyes!" said Es sex. Sydney, in addition to her other defects, found out that she had too much stomach and too little back. "Say of her as you please," returned Faustus" one she is, however, who led the Master of the World in her chains. But, Madam," added he, turning to the Queen," as these farfamed foreign beauties are not to your taste, why go beyond your own kingdom, England, which has always produced the models of female perfection -as we may even at this moment perceive will furnish an object perhaps worthy of your attention in the fair Rosamond." Now Faustus had heard that the Queen fancied herself to resemble the fair Rosamond; and no sooner was the name mentioned, than she was all impatience to see her. "There is a secret instinct in this impatience," observed the Doctor, craftily; "for, according to tradition, the fair Rosamond had much resemblance to your Majesty, though, of course, in an inferior style." "Let us judge-let us judge," replied the Queen, hastily, "but from the moment she appears, Sir Sydney, I request of you to observe her minutely, that we may have her description, if she is worth it." This order being given, and some little conjuration made, as Rosamond was only a short distance from London, she made her appearance in a second. Even at the door, her beauty charmed every one, but as she advanced, she enchanted them; and when she stopped to be gazed at, the admiration of the company, with difficulty restrained to signs and looks, exhibited their high approbation of the taste of Henry II. Nothing could exceed the simplicity of her dress and yet in that simplicity she effaced the splendours of day-at least to the spectators. She waited before them a long time, much longer than the others had done; and, as if aware of the command the Queen had given, she turned especially towards Sydney, looking at him with an expressive smile, but she must go at last; and when she was gone,-" My lord," said the Queen, "what a pretty creature! I never saw any thing so charming in my life. What a figure! what dignity without affectation! what brilliancy without artifice! and it is said that I resemble her. My lord of Essex, what think you?" My lord thought, would to Heaven you did; I would give the best steed in my stable that you had even an ugly likeness to her. But he said, "Your Majesty has but to make the tour of the gallery in her green robe and primrose petticoat, and if our magician himself would not mistake you for her, count me the greatest of your three kingdoms." During all this flattery with which the favourite charmed the ears of the good Queen, the poet Sydney, pencil in hand, was sketching the vision of the fair Rosamond. Her Majesty then commanded it should be read, and when she heard it, pronounced it very clever; but as it was a real impromptu, not one of those born long before, and was written for a particular audience, as a picture is painted for a particular lightwe think it but justice to the celebrated author, not to draw his lines from the venerable antiquity in which they rest, even if we had the MS. copy; but we have not-which at once finishes the business. After the reading, they deliberated on the next that should succeed Rosamond, the enchanter, still of opinion, that they need not leave England when beauty was the object in question, proposed the famous Countess of Salisbury-who gave rise to the institution of the garter-the idea was approved of by the Queen, and particularly agreeable to the courtiers, as they wished to see if the cause were worthy of the effect, i. e. the leg of the garter; but her majesty declared that she should particularly like a second sight of her lovely resemblance, the fair Rosamond. The doctor vowed that the affair was next to impracti cable in the order of conjuration,-the recall of a phantom not depending on the powers submitted to the first enchantments. But the more he declared, against it, the more the Queen ing until he was obliged, at last, to submit, but with the information, that if Rosamond should return, it would not be by the way in which she had entered or retired already, and that they had best take care of themselves, as he could answer for no one. The Queen, as we have elsewhere observed, knew not what fear was and the two courtiers were now a little re-assured on the subject of apparitions. The doctor then set about accomplishing the Queen's wishes.-Never had conjuration cost him so much trouble, and after a thousand grimaces and contortions-neither pretty nor polite, he flung his book into the middle of the gallery, went three times round it on his hands and feet, then made the tree against the wall, head down and heels up; but nothing appearing, he had recourse to the last and most powerful of his spells-what that was must remain for ever a mystery, for certain reasons; but he wound it up by three times summoning with a sonorous voice,-" Rosamond! Rosamond! Rosamond!" At the last of these magic cries, the grand window burst open with the sudden crash of a tempest, and through it descended the lovely Rosamond into the middle of the room. The Doctor was in a cold sweat, and while he dried himself, the Queen, who thought her fair visitant a thousand times the fairer for the additional difficulty in procuring this second sight, for once let her prudence sleep, and, in a transport of enthusiasm, stepping out of her circle with open arms, cried out, "My dear likeness!" No sooner was the word out, than a violent clap of thunder shook the whole palace; a black vapour filled the gallery, and a train of little fantastic lightnings, serpentined to the right and left in the dazzled eyes of the company. When the obscurity was a little dissipated, they saw the magician, with his four limbs in air, foaming like a wild boar,-his cap here, his wig there, in short, by no means an object of either the sublime or beautiful. But though he came off the worst, yet no one in the adventure escaped quite clear, except Rosamond. The lightning burned away my Lord of Essex's right brow; Sir Sydney lost the left moustachio; her Majesty's head-dress smelt villainously of the sulphur, and her hoop-petticoat was so puckered up with the scorching, that it was ordered to be preserved among the royal draperies, as a warning, to all maids of honour to come, against curiosity. SKETCH OF THE PROCESS OF FRESCO PAINTING. Of all the modes of art made use of by painters, that species of wall-painting called al Fresco is the most masterly and beautiful; for by it may be accomplished in a single day, more than can be effected during several by any other method. It was much in use among the ancients, and the old moderns (i vecchi moderni) also followed it at an early period. It is done by working upon the fresh mortar, so that whatever is commenced must be continued and completed on the same day; because, by delaying it ever so little, the mortar forms a slight external crust, upon which mouldy spots are thrown out to the destruction of the work. The wall upon which the painter is employed requires to be continually moistened, and the colours must be of an earthy, not of a mineral nature, and the white of burnt tiburtine. No style of art demands so resolute and swift a hand, or such a calculating and difficult judgment; because, while the ground continues soft and moist, the colours exhibit an appearance entirely different from that which they present when it is dry. Perfection in this branch of art is of most rare and difficult attainment, and requires an extraordinary degree of practice; for many of our painters who have succeeded wonderfully in oil and tempered colours, have almost entirely failed in Fresco. It is the most manly, the boldest, and most durable of all the modes of painting; and if preserved from violent accidents, and the inclemencies of the weather, so far from decaying through the mere lapse of time, it seems thereby to gain a continued increase of harmony and beauty. It becomes clearer by exposure to the air, defends itself from water, and even withstands the effects of strong percussion. But especial care must be taken to avoid retouching From the Italian of Georgio Vasari, a cotemporary of the great Fresco Painters. with colours which contain glue, gum, dragant, or other tempering mixtures, because, besides that they prevent the wall cement from exhibiting its accustomed clearness, the colours are clouded by that retouching, and in a short space of time become almost entirely black. However, those who seek to excel in fresco painting, must work boldly while the plaster is fresh, and without any retouching a secco, that is, after it is dry; which, besides being a weak and un-artist-like thing in itself, renders the paintings worth less and perishable. It is customary with artists before beginning a fresco painting to make accurate drawings of the subject upon strong card or pasteboard, which are called cartoons; and when the work is commenced in fresco, a single figure or piece of the cartoon is cut out and placed upon the newly-plastered wall, and its outline marked out on the place which the painted figure is intended to occupy, and thus the painter advances from day to day, and is able to judge of the proper relative position of all his figures without fear of error. The leading lines are also designed, by tracing the cartoon with a sharppointed iron instrument, which leaves a corresponding trace beneath on the moist plaster, and the pasteboard being then removed, the work of colouring is immediately commenced, and to a certain extent completed at a heat. The same method of tracing is used by some of our painters on wood and canvass, only the cartoons are never cut out in outline, but composed of entire portions or divisions, which are rubbed on the back with charcoal or black powder, and being traced in front with the iron instrument, the subject is thereby designed on the wood or canvass. Yet many of our oil painters never have recourse to this system; which, however, is reckoned indispensable in fresco painting. He who hit upon this invention shewed an ingenious fancy, for in these previous cartoons the artist is enabled to judge of the effect of the whole together, and thus to alter and amend at will, a thing impossible after the commencement of the work in fresco. We shall next say a few words regarding that mode of art, which the Italians call painting a tempera. This was chiefly in use among the painters of the Greek school prior to, and for some time after, the age of Cimabue. These old masters, to remedy the inconvenience arising from the disjoining of the wood on which they are generally painted, used to glue over its surface linen cloth or canvass, upon which they chalked out their drawings, and afterwards finished them with colours tempered after the following fashion. After beating up the yolk of an egg, they bruised in it the tender branches of the fig-tree, so as to press out the milky juice with which they abound, and with this simple mixture they qualified or tempered the colours with which they were in use to paint. For this process mineral colours are chiefly employed, and these are partly composed by the chemists, and partly found in caves. Every colour is proper for this kind of work, except that species of wall-white made from lime, which is too strong. I may add, that the azure colours are tempered with gum or glue, because the yellow tone of the egg has a tendency to turn them green. WORKS PREPARING FOR PUBLICATION. LONDON. The Poetical and Miscellaneous Works of Alexander Pope, including the Notes of Warburton, Warton, and various Commentators, with a new Life of the Author, and Annotations. By Mr Roscoe of Liverpool. The Res Literaria is now completed with the termination of the 3d volume, unless a Supplement, containing a fuller Index, and a few Addenda et Corrigenda, should hereafter be deemed necessary. It is a Bibliographical and Critical Miscellany. Its main object is Italian literature; and the Latin writers of Italy of the middle ages, such as Pontanus, Titus, and Hercules Strozzi, Flamminius, Sannazarius, &c. The bibliography of Italian poetry is very extensive, and contains many notices of rare volumes, several of which have escaped the researches even of the best Italian bibliographers. But French literature and Genevan literature have also in the third volume their share of attention. The three volumes contain nearly 250 articles. The impression is confined to 75 copies, of which only a portion has been sent to England (to Mr Triphook.) The first volume was printed at Naples in Sept.-Dec. 1820; the second at Rome, Jan.-March, 1821; the third at Geneva, May, 1821-April, 1822. The third volume exceeds in size the other two, having 600 pages and upwards. The Odyssey of Homer, translated into English prose, as literally as the idioms of the Greek and English languages allow, with explanatory Notes, by a Member of the University of Oxford, will soon appear in two vols. 8vo. Gems from the Antique, drawn and etched by R. Dagley, author of "Select Gems," &c. with Poetical Illustrations. By the Rev. G. Croly, A.M. Author of Cataline, &c. Sir Egerton Brydges has printed at Geneva, a Miscellaneous Volume of Criticism and Fragments, called The Anti-Critic, of which the impression is confined to 75 copies. The Life and Remains of Dr Clarke, consisting for the most part of original letters and extracts from his unpublished Journals and MSS., are about to be published by subscription in one vol. 4to. Professor Finn Magnussen's Northern Mythology is now advertised under the title of The Doctrine of the Edda, and its Origin." It will be published by the bookseller Gyldenhal, in four volumes, of 20 or 25 sheets each, printed to match the translation of the Older Edda. A Fourth Volume of the Lucubrations of the Hermit in the Country. Signor Santagnello, author of Diego di Villamora, has published an Italian romance in his native language, entitled La Zingaro. Mr John Hunt will shortly publish "The Vision of Judgment," by Quevedo Redivivus, suggested by the composition of Mr Southey, so entitled. We understand this production is from the pen of Lord Byron. Mr Francis Faber, who has passed three summers and two winters in Iceland, during which he travelled over that remarkably mountainous country, with a view to the study of Zoology, and especially of Ornithology, and who returned to Denmark last autumn, has sent a large collection of birds and their eggs to the Royal Zoological Museum of Copenhagen, has just published a preliminary view of his discove ries, under the title of "Prodromus of Icelandic Ornithology." A learned Jewish Merchant of Warsaw, of the name of Nathan Rosenfield, has written a History of his Native Country, (Poland) from the best authorities, in the Hebrew Language. The Rev. R. T. England of Cork, editor of the Letters of the Abbe Edgeworth, &c., is preparing for the press a very interesting "Life of the celebrated Father O'Leary." Lord Byron has in the press a new Tragedy, in five acts, entitled Werner, or the Inheritance. We are also threatened with another "Mystery." The concluding part of Lanages' Decorative Painting, with upwards of twenty original plates, will, it is expected, be ready for delivery in the course of the present month. 66 English Melodies," selected from the original Scores, and early printed copies in the library of William Kitchener, M.D. is stated to be in the press. Military Memoirs of the Great Civil War, by John Gwynne, being an Account of the Earl of Glencairn's Expedition, as General of His Majesty's Forces in the Highlands of Scotland, in the years 1653 and 1654. By a Person who was Eye and Ear Witness to every Transaction. With an Appendix. One Volume 4to. The School for Mothers, or the Politics of a Village, a Novel. 3 vols. 12mo. Moral Hours, a Poem, by the Rev. J. Jones, is announced. Mr Wilson, teacher of dancing, and author of several works on dancing, has in press the Danciad, or Dancer's Monitor, being a descriptive sketch in verse of the different styles and methods of dancing quadrilles, waltzes, country-dances, reels, &c. |