Part 2
Thus for about one pound sterling, to which the wages of a reaper during the harvest fortnight amount, thousands of these poor men walk fifty or sixty miles and back again, to work in the pestilential flats of the Maremma, with the prospect of catching the fever, and either dying away from home, or returning sickly and debilitated for the rest of the year. Such is, and has been for ages past, the condition of labourers in some of the most celebrated regions of Italy. In the time of the ancient Romans the country was cultivated chiefly by slaves, who were considered no better than cattle, and over whose persons the owners had unlimited power, beating them, mutilating them, or putting them to death at their will. Christianity effected a great change: the slaves became, first of all, serfs attached to the soil, and bound to perform a certain measure of work for their masters, but their persons were placed under the protection of the laws. By degrees the serfs became emancipated over the greatest part of Europe, and although most of them continued poor, they were enabled to dispose of their own labour and carry it to the best market. This is as much as human justice and benevolence have been able to effect as yet for the labourers of Europe in the course of eighteen centuries. Any further improvement in their condition must be the result of a slow progress in the general condition of society, to be accelerated by the diffusion of sound knowledge.
The only stationary population in the Maremma consists of the cow and buffalo keepers, and forest rangers. The former are always mounted and armed with a lance, with which they keep in respect the wild cows and fierce bulls, which are let to roam about these solitudes. These keepers lead a life of freedom and independence, like that of the Arabs in the desert; they are paid by yearly wages, besides which they generally rear up cattle of their own, which are allowed to feed with the rest. They retire in the summer months to the shady forests which line the sea-shore, and where the air is not so unwholesome as in the open plains. There, also, criminals escaped from the pursuits of justice take shelter, and are sometimes employed as wood rangers or buffalo drivers by the people of the neighbouring farms. The following cut, as well as that at the head of this article, represents the mode of driving cattle to the towns.
[Illustration: A man drives four head of cattle with a long stick. The cattle are yoked together.]
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THE NATIONAL GALLERY.--No. 3.
Among the restorers of art in the fifteenth century, perhaps the greatest name, whether in regard to the extent or the versatility of his powers, is that of LEONARDO DA VINCI. Other artists, his contemporaries or immediate predecessors, had done much towards the resuscitation, or rather the introduction, of a just taste, each according to the particular bent of his genius. But Leonardo, with an intuitive comprehension, seems to have seized on every principle of excellence, and although those principles were carried by his successors, at least by M. Angelo, Raffaelle, and Titian, to higher degrees of perfection, yet it is not too much to assert that in his works we discover, not the germs merely, but in visible development, the severe dignity of the Florentine, the dramatic pathos of the Roman, and the captivating splendour of the Venetian schools. The works of Leonardo are scarce. The celebrated picture of the Last Supper, at Milan, has crumbled from the walls; it is well known, however, by engravings. The picture of _Christ disputing with the Doctors_, in the National Gallery, is in all that relates to internal evidence, of unquestionable originality; although, from the difficulty of having the history of so early a picture, doubts of its genuineness have been sometimes expressed. Of its value as a great work of art there can be no doubt. It is evident, that in this brilliant and elaborate performance Leonardo has tasked his powers to the utmost. From the depth of colour and chiaroscuro, the figures stand out in the boldest relief; but in order to concentrate the interest on the person of the Saviour, the subordinate figures are kept somewhat smaller than the laws of perspective allow: an artifice not perfectly justifiable, but, in this instance, fully effective. The person of Christ is considerably older than is consonant with scriptural authority, and the countenance has an air of almost feminine mildness and amiability: indeed, it is evident that the radical lines of the physiognomy were constructed on that abstract idea of beauty which the artist had established in his own mind. Hence it is that this head of the Saviour is, perhaps, somewhat deficient in masculine energy. The expression, however, is beautiful and characteristic; and announces a being who, conscious of uttering inspired truths, encounters the authority of human wisdom without fear, and triumphs without arrogance. The noble and sedate character of this picture is nowhere disturbed by strong contrasts or violent expression. The astonishment which the Doctors may be supposed to have evinced, has subsided; and with the exception of the eager and determined theologian on the right, they appear to listen with absorbed and deferential attention to the arguments and eloquence of their divine antagonist. The drapery of the Saviour is disposed with great grace and dignity, and the hands are painted with peculiar beauty.
There are four pictures by CORREGIO in the National Gallery, and although neither of them can be said to exhibit the excellence of that great master in its fullest extent, they are yet fine and beautiful specimens of his various and extraordinary powers. The two groups of children’s heads which hang on the staircase are painted precisely on the same principle with the groups of angels in the Cupola at Parma,--a style which in breadth and grandeur has never been equalled, except by Michael Angelo in the Sistine Chapel. The two small pictures exhibit the extremes of Corregio’s style: that of _Christ praying in the Garden_, leaning to the last degree of depth and concentration; the other, that of _The Holy Family_, being made up of semi-tones, and scarcely exceeding, either in its lights or shadows, the medium of half-tint. The colouring, too, is negative, never approaching to a primitive hue; but the execution is exquisitely pure and delicate. If in this work Corregio is at all inferior to himself in his usual power of expression, the deficiency is amply compensated in the picture of _Christ praying in the Garden_, which may be cited as one, among the few works of art, in which every part of the picture is made a vehicle of the presiding sentiment. The whole scene is enveloped in gloom and solemnity. No genial hues enliven the colouring, a part even of the principal light formed by the mantle of Christ being composed of pale blue, an arrangement rarely admitted by Corregio or any other great colourist: the only tint approaching to warmth is that of the drapery of the Angel, a subdued red, which, for the purpose of harmony, is faintly repeated on the groups in the middle distance. The first pale grey of dawn appears breaking over the horizon; but the general effect of the picture is that of intense gloom, in the midst of which we discern the sleeping Disciples, and farther off the Jews approaching to seize on Christ. The figure of the Redeemer himself, isolated, amidst darkness and danger, while his friends slumber and his enemies pursue him, is a sublime and touching impersonation of suffering virtue appealing to God from human persecution, but bowing with implicit resignation to the Almighty will. In this picture, Corregio exhibits what we so often wish for in Rembrandt, principals worthy of the beautiful accessories by which they are surrounded.
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ART OF WRITING.
Mr. Mariner, in his account of the Tonga Islands, has given us a most curious and interesting description of the surprise and perplexity with which the powers of this invention were contemplated, for the first time, by some of the natives of the Tonga Islands. Mr. Mariner, shortly after the commencement of his captivity amongst these savages, had, in the hope of thereby obtaining his liberty, written a letter, with a solution of gunpowder, on a piece of paper which he obtained from one of the natives; and he confided it to the care of a chief, with directions that it should be given to the captain of any ship which might appear on the coast. Finnow, the king, however, having heard of this transaction, his suspicions were excited, and he immediately sent to the chief for the letter, and obtained it. “When it was put into his hands,” the narrative proceeds, “he looked at it on all sides; but not being able to make anything of it, he gave it to Jeremiah Higgins, who was at hand, and ordered him to say what it meant. Mr. Mariner was not present. Higgins took the letter, and translating part of it into the Tonga language, judiciously represented it to be merely a request to any English captain that might arrive to interfere with Finnow for the liberty of Mr. Mariner and his countrymen; stating that they had been kindly treated by the natives, but nevertheless wished to return, if possible, to their native country.... This mode of communicating sentiments was an inexplicable puzzle to Finnow; he took the letter again and examined it, but it afforded him no information. He considered the matter a little within himself; but his thoughts reflected no light upon the subject. At length he sent for Mr. Mariner, and desired him to write down something; the latter asked what he would choose to have written? He replied, Put down me. He accordingly wrote ‘Fee-now’ (spelling it according to the strict English orthography); the chief then sent for another Englishman, who had not been present, and commanding Mr. Mariner to turn his back and look another way, he gave the man the paper, and desired him to read what that was: he accordingly pronounced aloud the name of the king, upon which Finnow snatched the paper from his hand, and, with astonishment, looked at it, turned it round, and examined it in all directions. At length he exclaimed, ‘This is neither like myself nor anybody else! Where are my legs? How do you know it to be I?’ And then, without stopping for any attempt at explanation, he impatiently ordered Mr. Mariner to write something else, and thus employed him for three or four hours in putting down the names of different persons, places, and things, and making the other man read them. This afforded extraordinary diversion to Finnow, and to all the men and women present, particularly as he now and then whispered a little love anecdote, which was strictly written down, and audibly read by the other, not a little to the confusion of one or other of the ladies present; but it was all taken in good humour, for curiosity and astonishment were the prevailing passions. How their names and circumstances could be communicated, through so mysterious a channel, was altogether past their comprehension. Finnow at length thought he had got a notion of it, and explained to those about him it was very possible to put down a mark or sign of something that had been seen, both by the writer and reader, and which should be mutually understood by them; but Mr. Mariner immediately informed him, that he could write down anything that he had never seen: the king directly whispered to him to put Toogoo Ahoo, the king of Tonga, whom he and Toobo Nuha had assassinated many years before Mr. Mariner’s arrival. This was accordingly done, and the other read it; when Finnow was yet more astonished, and declared it to be the most wonderful thing he had ever heard of. He then desired him to write ‘Tarky,’ the chief of the garrison of Bea, whom Mr. Mariner and his companions had not yet seen; this chief was blind in one eye. When ‘Tarky’ was read, Finnow inquired whether he was blind or not? This was putting writing to an unfair test! And Mr. Mariner told him that he had only written down the sign standing for the sound of his name, and not for the description of his person. He was then ordered, in a whisper, to write, ‘Tarky, blind in his left eye,’ which was done, and read by the other man, to the increased astonishment of every body. Mr. Mariner then told him, that in several parts of the world messages were sent to great distances, through the same medium; and being folded and fastened up, the bearer could know nothing of the contents; and that the histories of whole nations were thus handed down to posterity, without spoiling by being kept, as he chose to express himself. Finnow acknowledged this to be a most noble invention; but added, that it would not do at all for the Tonga Islands; that there would be nothing but disturbances and conspiracies, and he should not be sure of his life perhaps another month.”
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LARGE-HEADED QUADRUPEDS.
The great teeth of such quadrupeds as the Hippopotamus require proportioned jaws, and, consequently, the bones of the head are of great strength and weight. Thence arises a necessity for the head being supported by a particular ligamentous apparatus, which in the bull is vulgarly called the _paxwax_ (the ligamentum muchæ). This ligament extends from the prominent spines of the vertebrae betwixt the shoulders, to the occiput or back of the head, so as to suspend the head, and of course without muscular exertion or waste of vital energy. This ligament, however, differs from the common ligaments which knit the bones together, in being elastic; without which property it would check the motions of the head. On this subject of the wonderful provisions evinced in the bones of the head and neck of the larger animals, we were much interested in what was lately delivered by Sir C. Bell, the anatomical Professor in the Royal College of Surgeons. On exhibiting the skull of the elephant, and leading his audience to remark the weight of the grinding teeth, the length of the tusks, and the size and strength of the jaws, he observed it was impossible that such an enormous engine of mastication could be suspended at the end of a long neck. Jockies, he said, attended very particularly to a light head and a short neck in a horse; a heavy head and a long neck brought too great a weight to bear upon the fore-feet. If such slight differences in the shape were observed to produce defects in the horse, the consequent imperfection would be incalculably greater in the elephant. But in this animal, nature, instead of projecting the head on such a neck as would enable the mouth to reach the ground, diminishes the depth of the vertebrae of the neck in a very remarkable manner, so as in fact to fix the head to the body without the intervention of a neck. But how was the animal to feed? since the want of a neck and the projection of the tusks made grazing in the usual way impossible. This implied the necessity of a trunk, which is equivalent to a hand, and enables the animal to feed itself without projecting the head to the ground. By these and similar illustrations, the Professor proved design in the structure of the skeleton; and contrasted the heads of the horse, the elephant, and the giraffe.
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WITCHCRAFT.
The reigns of Philip and Mary and James I. were not sufficiently removed from the darkness of the middle ages to render enactments like the following ridiculous, even in the mouths of the legislature:--
“All persons who shall practise invocation or conjuration of wicked spirits, any witchcraft, enchantment, charm, or sorcery, whereby any person shall happen to be killed or destroyed, shall, with their aiders and abettors, he accounted felons, without benefit of clergy; and all persons practising any witchcraft, &c., whereby any person shall happen to be wasted, consumed, or lamed in his or her body or members, or whereby any goods or chattels shall be destroyed, wasted, or impaired, shall, with their counsellors and aiders, suffer for the first offence one year’s imprisonment and the pillory, and for the second the punishment of felony without clergy.”
The like penalties are annexed to declaring by sorcery where any hidden or stolen treasure or goods may be found.
Again, “if any person shall consult, covenant with, entertain, employ, feed, or reward any evil or wicked spirit, or take up any dead man, woman, or child out of his, her, or their grave; or the skin, bone, or any other part of any dead person to be employed in any manner of witchcraft, sorcery, charm, or enchantment[1],” &c., he shall suffer death as a felon, without benefit of clergy.
Let us thank God, who has put the means of civilization in our way, that (in the words of Sir Walter Scott) “the grosser faults of our ancestors are now out of date; and that whatever follies the present race may be guilty of, the sense of humanity is too universally spread to permit them to think of tormenting wretches till they confess what is impossible, and then burning them for their pains.”
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Footnote 1:
1 James, c. 12.
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_Heraldry._--A sanguine Frenchman had so high an opinion of the pleasures to be enjoyed in the study of heraldry, that he used to lament, as we are informed by Menage, the hard case of our forefather Adam, who could not possibly amuse himself by investigating that science, nor that of genealogy.
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_A Threat explained._--“Your unchristian virulence against me,” said a Huguenot who had been persecuted for preaching, “shall cost hundreds of people their lives.” This menace brought the author into trouble; he was cited to a court of justice, and was charged with harbouring the most bloody designs against his fellow-subjects. “I am innocent,” said he, “of all you lay to my account. My only meaning was, that I intended (since I could not act as a minister) to practise as a physician.”--If the Huguenot had practised without the requisite knowledge he would have kept his promise.
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_Pride._--A Spaniard, rising from a fall, whereby his nose had suffered considerably, exclaimed, “Voto a tal, esto escaminar por la tierra!” “This comes of walking upon earth!”
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_Advertisements._--We are sometimes astonished at the impudent assertions of quacks in their public announcements at the present day. Their predecessors, however, went somewhat further, as the two following advertisements taken from the original edition of the Spectator will show:--“An admirable confect which assuredly cures stuttering and stammering in children or grown persons, though never so bad, causing them to speak distinct and free without any trouble or difficulty; it remedies all manner of impediments in the speech, or disorders of the voice of any kind, proceeding from what cause soever, rendering those persons capable of speaking easily and free, and with a clear voice, who before were not able to utter a sentence without hesitation. Its stupendous effects in so quickly and infallibly curing stuttering and stammering, and all disorders of the voice and difficulty in delivery of the speech, are really wonderful. Price 2_s._ 6_d._ a pot, with directions. Sold only at Mr. Osborn’s Toy-shop, at the Rose and Crown, under St. Dunstan’s church, Fleet-street.”
“Loss of memory, or forgetfulness, certainly cured, by a grateful electuary, peculiarly adapted for that end; it strikes at the primary source, which few apprehend, of forgetfulness, makes the head clear and easy, the spirits free, active, and undisturbed; corroborates and revives all the noble faculties of the soul, such as thought, judgment, apprehension, reason, and memory, which last in particular it so strengthens as to render that faculty exceeding quick, and good beyond imagination; thereby enabling those whose memory was before almost totally lost to remember the minutest circumstance of their affairs, &c. to a wonder. Price 2_s._ 6_d._ a pot. Sold only at Mr. Payne’s, at the Angel and Crown, in St. Paul’s Church-yard, with directions.”
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_Doubtful Improvement._--A set of parish officers applied to Snetzler (a celebrated organ builder) to examine their organ and to make improvements on it--“Gentlemen,” said the honest Swiss, “your organ be wort von hondred pound, just now--well--I will spend von hondred pound upon it, and it shall then be wort fifty.”
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ANCIENT PAINTINGS.
[Illustration: Grotesque representation of a Portrait Painter’s Studio.]
During the progress of the excavations at Pompeii, a painting was found in the Casa Carolina, which scarcely held together to be copied, and fell in pieces upon the first rain. It is of grotesque character, and represents a pigmy painter whose only covering is a tunic. He is at work upon the portrait of another pigmy, clothed in a manner to indicate a person of distinction. The artist is seated opposite to his sitter, at an awful distance from the picture, which is placed upon an easel, similar in construction to ours. By the side of the artist stands his palette, which is a little table with four feet, and by it is a pot to wash his pencils in. He therefore was working with gum, or some sort of water-colours: but he did not confine himself to this branch of the art, for to the right we see his colour-grinder, who prepares in a vessel placed on some hot coals, colours mixed with wax and oil. Two amateurs enter the studio, and appear to be conversing with respect to the picture. On the noise occasioned by their entrance, a scholar seated in the distance turns round to look at them. It is difficult to explain the presence of the bird in the painting-room. The picture is not complete: a second bird, and on the opposite side a child playing with a dog, had perished before Mazois (an artist who has preserved some of the most valuable remains at Pompeii) copied it. This picture is very curious, as it shows how few things, in the mechanical practice of painting, have been changed during 2000 years.
There is another picture preserved at Pompeii, representing a female employed in making a copy of the bearded Bacchus. She is dressed in a light green tunic, without sleeves, over which she wears a dark red mantle. Beside her is a small box, such as we are told by Varro painters used, divided into compartments, into which she dips her brush. She mixes her tints on the palette, which she holds in her left hand.
[Illustration: Painting of a Female Artist.]
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_Union for Ill_.--When the Prince of Conde and Cardinal de Retz, two leaders of opposite factions in France, were viewing the curious garden of a hermit who was famous as a florist, they amused themselves by keeping him attentive to their discourse while they trod to pieces his best flowers on each side of the path. He soon discovered their plan, and, shaking his grey locks, “Alas!” said he, “how much were it to be wished that you could agree in plans to relieve your distressed country with the same readiness which you show in joining to persecute a helpless solitary.”
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