original of Lady Jane Grey. After seeing so many hideous, hard,
prim-looking pictures and prints of this gentle-spirited heroine, it
is consoling to trust in the genuineness of a face which has all the
sweetness and dignity we look for, and ought to find. Then, by way of
contrast, we have that most curious picture of Diana of Poitiers, once
in the Crawfurd collection: it is a small half-length; the features fair
and regular; the hair is elaborately dressed with a profusion of jewels;
but there is no drapery whatever--"force pierreries et tres peu de
linge," as Madame de Sevigne described the two Mancini.[83] Round the
head is the legend from the 42d Psalm--"Comme le cerf braie apres
le decours des eaues, ainsi brait mon ame apres toi, O Dieu," which
is certainly an extraordinary application. In the days of Diana of
Poitiers, the beautiful mistress of Henry the Second of France, it
was the court fashion to sing the Psalms of David to dance and song
tunes;[84] and the courtiers and beauties had each their favourite
psalm, which served as a kind of _devise_: this may explain the very
singular inscription on this very singular picture. Here are also the
portraits of Otway and Cowley, and of Montaigne; the last from the
Crawfurd collection.
I had nearly omitted to mention a magnificent whole-length of the Duc
de Guise--who was stabbed in the closet of Henry the Third--whose life
contains materials for ten romances and a dozen epics, and whose death
has furnished subjects for as many tragedies. And not far from him that
not less daring, and more successful chief, Oliver Cromwell: a page is
tying on his sash. There is a vulgar power and boldness about this head,
in fine contrast with the high-born, fearless, chivalrous-looking Guise.
In the library is the splendid picture of Sofonisba Angusciola, by
herself: she is touching the harpsichord, for like many others of her
craft, she excelled in music. Angelica Kauffman had nearly been an
opera-singer. The instances of great painters being also excellent
musicians are numerous; Salvator Rosa could have led an orchestra, and
Vernet could not exist without Pergolesi's piano. But I cannot recollect
an instance of a great musician by profession, who has also been a
painter: the range of faculties is generally more confined.
Rembrandt's large picture of his mother, which is, I think, the most
magnificent specimen of this master now in England, hangs over the
chimney in the same room with the Sofonisba.
The last picture I can distinctly remember is a portrait by Sir Joshua
Reynolds, with all his perfections combined in their perfection. It is
that of a beautiful Frenchwoman, an intimate friend of the last Lady
Spencer--with as much intellect, sentiment, and depth of feeling as
would have furnished out twenty ordinary heads; all harmony in the
colouring, all grace in the drawing.
Here then was food for the eye and for the memory--for sweet and bitter
fancy--for the amateur, and for the connoisseur--for antiquary, historian,
painter, and poet. Well might Horace Walpole say that the gallery at
Althorpe was "endeared to the pensive spectator." He tells us in his
letters, that when here, (about seventy years since,) he surprised the
housekeeper by "his intimate acquaintance with all the faces in the
gallery." I was amused at the thought that we caused a similar surprise
in our day. I hope his female cicerone was as civil and intelligent as
ours; as worthy to be the keeper of the pictorial treasures of Althorpe.
When we lingered and lingered, spell-bound, and apologized for making
such unconscionable demands on her patience, she replied, "that she was
flattered; that she felt affronted when any visitor hurried through the
apartments." Old Horace would have been delighted with her; and not less
with the biblical enthusiasm of a village glazier, whom we found dusting
the books in the library, and who had such a sublime reverence for old
editions, unique copies, illuminated MSS., and rare bindings, that it
was quite edifying.
* * * * *
[Illustration]
END OF VOL. II.
LONDON:
IBOTSON AND PALMER, PRINTERS, SAVOY STREET, STRAND.
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 1: In the throne-room at the Buckingham Palace the idea of
grandeur is suggested by a vile heraldic crown, stuck on the capitals of
the columns. Conceive the flagrant, the vulgar barbarity of taste!! It
cannot surely be attributed to the architect?]
[Footnote 2: There is a very pretty little edition of his lyrical poems,
rendered into the modern German by Karl Simrock, and published at Berlin
in 1833.]
[Footnote 3: See a very interesting account of Walther von der Vogelweide,
with translations of some of his poems in "The Lays of the Minnesingers,"
published in 1825.]
[Footnote 4: See a very learned and well-written article on the ancient
German and northern poetry in the Edinburgh Review, vol. 26.]
[Footnote 5: The legend of this charming saint, one of the most popular
in Germany, is but little known among us. She was the wife of a margrave
of Thuringia, who was a fierce, avaricious man, while she herself was
all made up of tenderness and melting pity. She lived with her husband
in his castle on the Wartsburg, and was accustomed to go out every
morning to distribute alms among the poor of the valley: her husband,
jealous and covetous, forbade her thus to exercise her bounty; but as
she regarded her duty to God and the poor, even as paramount to conjugal
obedience, she secretly continued her charitable offices. Her husband
encountered her one morning at sunrise, as she was leaving the castle
with a covered basket containing meat, bread, and wine, for a starving
family. He demanded, angrily, what she had in her basket! Elizabeth,
trembling, not for herself, but for her wretched proteges, replied, with
a faltering voice, that she had been gathering roses in the garden.
The fierce chieftain, not believing her, snatched off the napkin, and
Elizabeth fell on her knees.--But, behold, a miracle had been operated
in her favour!--The basket was full of roses, fresh gathered, and wet
with dew.]
[Footnote 6: See Taylor's "Historic Survey of German Poetry." Herman
was afterwards murdered by a band of conspirators, and Thusnelda, on
learning the fate of her husband, died brokenhearted.]
[Footnote 7: The notices which follow are abridged from the essay "on
Ancient German and Northern Poetry," before mentioned--from the preface
to the edition of the Nibelungen Lied, by M. Von der Hagen--and the
analysis of the poem in the Illustrations of Northern Antiquities.
My own first acquaintance with the Nibelungen Lied, I owed to an
accomplished friend, who gave me a detailed and lively analysis of the
story and characters; and certainly no child ever hung upon a tale of
ogres and fairies with more intense interest than I did upon her recital
of the adventures of the Nibelungen.]
[Footnote 8: Dietrich of Bern (i. e. Theodoric of Verona,) is the great
hero of South Germany--the King Arthur of Teutonic romance, who figures
in all the warlike lays and legends of the middle ages.]
[Footnote 9: See the Illustrations of Northern Antiquities, p. 213.]
[Footnote 10: In the altercation between the two queens, Chrimhilde
boasts of possessing these trophies, and displays them in triumph to her
mortified rival; for which indiscretion, as she afterwards complains,
"her husband was in high anger, and _beat her black and blue_." This
treatment, however, which seems to have been quite a matter of course,
does not diminish the fond idolatry of the wife,--rather increases it.]
[Footnote 11: This list will be subjoined at the end of these Sketches.]
[Footnote 12: Sofonisba Augusciola, one of the most charming of portrait
painters. She died in 1626, at the age of ninety-three.]
[Footnote 13: I regret that I omitted to note the _name_ of the artist
of this magnificent work. There is a still more admirable monument of
the same period in the church at Inspruck, the tomb of the archduke,
Ferdinand of Tyrol, consisting, I believe, of twelve colossal statues
in bronze.]
[Footnote 14: The first stone of the Valhalla was laid by the King of
Bavaria, on the 18th of October 1830.]
[Footnote 15: The Einheriar are the souls of heroes admitted into the
Valhalla.]
[Footnote 16: Daniel.]
[Footnote 17: Lithography was invented at Munich between 1795 and 1798,
for so long were repeated experiments tried before the art became useful
or general. Senefelder, the inventor, was an actor, and the son of an
actor. The first occasion of the invention was his wish to print a
little drama of his own, in some manner less expensive than the usual
method of type. The first successful experiment was the printing of some
music, published (1796) by Gleissner, one of the king of Bavaria's band:
the first drawing attempted was a vignette to a sheet of music. In the
course of his attempts to pursue and perfect his discovery, Senefelder
was reduced to such poverty, that he offered himself to enlist for a
common soldier, and, luckily, was refused. He again took heart, and,
supported through every difficulty and discouragement by his own
strong and enthusiastic mind, he at length overcame all obstacles, and
has lived to see his invention established and spread over the whole
civilized world. Hitherto, I believe, the stone used by lithographers
is found only in Bavaria, whence it is sent to every part of Europe and
America, and forms a most profitable article of commerce. The principal
quarries are at Solenholfen, on the Danube, about fifty miles from
Munich.
Senefelder has published a little memoir of the origin and progress of
the invention, in which he relates with great simplicity the hardship,
and misery, and contumely, he encountered before he could bring it into
use. He concludes with an earnest prayer, "that it may contribute to the
benefit and improvement of mankind, and that it may never be abused to
any dishonourable or immoral purpose."
If I remember rightly, a detailed history of the art was given in one of
the early numbers of the Foreign Review.]
[Footnote 18: The population of Munich is estimated at about 60,000. It
does not enter into my plan, at present, to give any detailed account
of the public institutions, whether academies, schools, hospitals, or
prisons; yet I cannot but mention the prison at Munich, which more than
pays its own expenses, instead of being a burthen to the state; the
admirable hospital for the poor, in which all who cannot find work
elsewhere, are provided with occupation; two large hospitals for the
sick poor, in which rooms and attendance are also provided for those who
do not choose to be a burthen to their friends, nor yet dependent on
charity; the orphan school; the female school, endowed by the king;
the foundling and lying-in hospitals, establishments unhappily most
_necessary_ in Munich, and certainly most admirably conducted. These,
and innumerable private societies for the assistance, the education, and
the improvement of the lower classes, ought to receive the attention of
every intelligent traveller.
There are no poor laws in operation at Munich, no mendicity societies,
no tract, and soup and blanket charities; yet pauperism, mendicity,
and starvation, are nearly unknown. For the system of regulations by
which these evils have been repressed or altogether remedied, I believe
Bavaria is indebted to the celebrated American, Count Rumford, who was
in the service of the late king, Max-Joseph, from 1790 to 1799.
Several new manufactories have lately been established, particularly
of glass and porcelain, and the latter is carried to a high degree of
perfection.]
[Footnote 19: Ida of Saxe-Meiningen, sister of the queen of England.]
[Footnote 20: It is difficult to translate this laconic proverb, because
we have not the corresponding words in English: the meaning may be
rendered--"_according to the country, so are the manners_."]
[Footnote 21: When the city was besieged by Wallenstein in 1632.]
[Footnote 22: Born at Nuremberg in 1494.]
[Footnote 23: See the admirable "Essay on the Early German and Northern
Poetry," already alluded to.]
[Footnote 24: Anthony, the present king of Saxony. He is, however, in
his dotage, being now in his eighty-fifth year.]
[Footnote 25: The description of Dresden and its environs, in Russel's
Tour in Germany, is one of the best written passages in that amusing
book--so admirably graphic and faithful, that nothing can be added to
it _as a description_, therefore I have effaced those notes which it
has rendered superfluous. It must, however, be remembered by those who
refer to Mr. Russel's work, that a revolution has taken place, by which
the king, now fallen into absolute dotage, has been removed from the
direct administration of the government, and a much more popular and
liberal tone prevails in the Estates: the two princes, nephews of the
king, whom Mr. Russel mentions as "persons of whom scarcely any body
thinks of speaking at all," have since made themselves extremely
conspicuous;--Prince Frederic has been declared regent, and is
apparently much respected and beloved; and Prince John has distinguished
himself as a speaker in the Assembly of the States, and takes the
liberal side on most occasions. A spirit of amelioration is at work in
Dresden, as elsewhere, and the ten or twelve years which have elapsed
since Mr. Russel's visit have not passed away without some salutary
changes, while more are evidently at hand.
Mr. Russel speaks of the secrecy with which the sittings of the Chambers
were then conducted: they are now public, and the debates are printed in
the Gazette at considerable length.]
[Footnote 26: Augustus II. abjured the Protestant religion in 1700, in
order to obtain the crown of Poland.]
[Footnote 27: The first tenor at Dresden in 1833.]
[Footnote 28: An opera by Franz Glazer of Berlin. The subject, which is
the well-known story of the mother who delivers her infant when carried
away by the eagle, or rather vulture of the Alps, might make a good
melodrama, but is not fit for an opera--and the music is _trainante_
and monotonous.]
[Footnote 29: Zingarelli composed his _Romeo e Giulietta_ in 1797: Bellini
produced the Capelletti at Venice in 1832, for our silver-voiced
Caradori and the contr'alto Giudita Grisi, sister of that accomplished
singer, Giulietta Grisi. Thirty-five years are an age in
the history of music. Of the two operas, Bellini's is the most effective,
from the number of the conceited pieces, without containing
a single air which can be placed in comparison with five or six
in Zingarelli's opera.]
[Footnote 30: Lord Byron.]
[Footnote 31: "Tieck," says Carlyle, "is a poet _born_ as well as
made.--He is no mere observist and compiler, rendering back to us,
with additions or subtractions, the beauty which existing things have
of themselves presented to him; but a true Maker, to whom the actual
and external is but the _excitement_ for ideal creations, representing
and ennobling its effects. His feeling or knowledge, his love or scorn,
his gay humour or solemn earnestness; all the riches of his inward
world are pervaded and mastered by the living energy of the soul which
possesses them, and their finer essence is wafted to us in his poetry,
like Arabian odours, on the wings of the wind. But this may be said of
all true poets; and each is distinguished from all, by his individual
characteristics. Among Tieck's, one of the most remarkable is his
combination of so many gifts, in such full and simple harmony. His
ridicule does not obstruct his adoration; his gay southern fancy
lives in union with a northern heart; with the moods of a longing and
impassioned spirit, he seems deeply conversant; and a still imagination,
in the highest sense of that word, reigns over all his poetic world."]
[Footnote 32: Vide Shelley's Epipsychidion.]
[Footnote 33: Mr. Russel is quite right in his observation that the
Correggios are hung too near together: the fact is, that in the Dresden
gallery, the pictures are not well hung, nor well arranged; there is too
little light in the inner gallery, and too much in the outer gallery.
Lastly, the numbers are so confused that I found the catalogue of little
use. A new arrangement and a new catalogue, by Professor Matthai, are in
contemplation.]
[Footnote 34: Spence.]
[Footnote 35: Lanzi says, that many of the works of Lavinia Fontana
might easily pass for those of Guido;--her best works are at Bologna.
She died in 1614.]
[Footnote 36: At Althorpe.]
[Footnote 37: The Miss Sharpes were at Dresden while I was there,
and their names and some of their works were fresh in my mind and eye
when I wrote the above; but I think it fair to add, that I had not the
opportunity I could have wished of cultivating their acquaintance. These
three sisters, all so talented, and so inseparable,--all artists, and
bound together in affectionate communion of hearts and interests,
reminded me of the Sofonisba and her sisters.]
[Footnote 38: She is the "Julie" celebrated in some of Goethe's minor
poems.]
[Footnote 39: Since this was written, in November 1833, Retzsch has sent
over to England a series of these _Fancies_ for publication.]
[Footnote 40: We have among us a young German painter, (Theodor von
Holst,) who, uniting the exuberant enthusiasm and rich imagination of
his country, with a just appreciation of the style of English art, is
likely to achieve great things.]
[Footnote 41: "Belier! mon ami! commence par le commencement!"--_Contes
de Hamilton._]
[Footnote 42: A manor situated on the borders of Derbyshire, between
Chesterfield and Mansfield.]
[Footnote 43: The Cavendishes were originally of Suffolk. Whether this
William Cavendish was the same who was gentleman usher and secretary to
Cardinal Wolsey, is, I believe, a disputed point.]
[Footnote 44: Bishop Kennel's memoirs of the family of Cavendish.]
[Footnote 45: Lodge's Illustrations of British History.]
[Footnote 46: Scott's Memoir of Sir Ralph Sadler.]
[Footnote 47: Lodge's "Illustrations."]
[Footnote 48: This celebrated letter is yet preserved, and well known
to historians and antiquarians. It is sufficient to say that scarce any
part of it would bear transcribing.]
[Footnote 49: See two of her letters in Sir Henry Ellis's Collection.]
[Footnote 50: See some letters in Ellis's Collection, vol. ii. series 1,
which show with what constant jealousy Lady Shrewsbury and her charge
were watched by the court.]
[Footnote 51: In All Hallows, in Derby. After leaving Hardwicke, I went,
of course, to pay my respects to it. It is a vast and gorgeous shrine of
many coloured marbles, covered with painting, gilding, emblazonments,
and inscriptions, within which the lady lies at full length in a golden
ruff, and a most sumptuous farthingale.]
[Footnote 52: As the measurements are interesting from this fact, I took
care to note them exactly; as follows:--length 55 ft. 6 inches; breadth
30 ft. 6 inches; height 24 ft. 6 inches.]
[Footnote 53: Horace Walpole, as an antiquarian, should have known that
Mary was never kept _there_.]
[Footnote 54: It had formerly been richly painted, and must then have had
an effect superior to tapestry; the colours are still visible here
and there.]
[Footnote 55: Mary's own account of her occupations displays the natural
elegance of her mind. "I asked her grace, since the weather did cut off
all exercises abroad, how she passed her time within? She sayd that all
day she wrought with her needle, and that the diversitie of the colours
made the work appear less tedious, and that she continued at it till
pain made her to give o'er: and with that laid her hand on her left
side, and complayned of an old grief newly increased there. Upon this
occasion she, the Scottish queen, with the agreeable and lively wit
natural to her, entered into a pretty disputable comparison between
carving, painting, and working with the needle, affirming painting, in
her opinion, for the most commendable quality."--_Letter of Nicholas
White to Cecil._]
[Footnote 56: I was as much delighted by these singular fire-screens
as Horace himself could have been; they are about seven feet high. The
yellow velvet suspended from the bar is embossed with black velvet, and
intermingled with embroidery of various colours and gold--something
like a Persian carpet--but most dazzling and gorgeous in the effect.
I believe there is nothing like them any where.]
[Footnote 57: Now replaced by the family portraits brought from
Chatsworth.]
[Footnote 58: Margaret Cavendish, wife of the first Duke of Newcastle.]
[Footnote 59: Anecdotes of Painting. Reigns of Elizabeth and James I.]
[Footnote 60: Dante. Inferno, Canto 28.]
[Footnote 61: Life of Johnson, vol. ii. p. 144. Boswell asked, "Are you
of that opinion as to the portraits of ancestors one has never seen?"
JOHNSON. "It then becomes of still _more_ consequence that they should
be like."]
[Footnote 62: This picture and the next are said to be by Richard
Stevens, of whom there is some account in Walpole, (Anecdotes of
Painting.) Mary also sat to Hilliard and to Zucchero. The lovely picture
by Zucchero is at Chiswick. There is another small head of her at
Hardwicke, said to have been painted in France, in a cap and feather.
The turn of the head is airy and graceful. As to the features, they have
been so marred by some _soi-disant_ restorer, it is difficult to say
what they may have been originally.]
[Footnote 63: Waller's lines on Lady Rich.]
[Footnote 64: William, sixth Duke of Devonshire.]
[Footnote 65: "Lady Dorothy Savile, daughter of the Marquis of Halifax:
she had no less attachment to the arts than her husband; she drew in
crayons, and succeeded admirably in likenesses, but working with too
much rapidity, did not do justice to her genius; she had an uncommon
talent too for caricature."--_Anecdotes of Painting._]
[Footnote 66: He was a monster; and no wife of the coarsest plebeian
profligate could have suffered more than did this lovely, amiable being,
of the highest blood and greatest fortune in England. "She was," says
the affecting inscription on her picture at Chiswick, "the comfort and
joy of her parents, the delight of all who knew her angelic temper, and
the admiration of all who saw her beauty. She was married October 10th,
1741, and delivered by death from misery, May 2nd, 1742.
But how did it happen that from a condition like this, there was no
release but by _death_?--See Horace Walpole's Correspondence to Sir
Horace Mann, vol. i. p. 328.]
[Footnote 67: I was much struck with the inscription on a stone tablet,
in a fine old wood near the house: "This wood was planted by Sir William
Spencer, Knighte of the Bathe, in the year of our Lord 1624:"--on the
other side, "Up and bee doing, and God will prosper." It is mentioned in
Evelyn's "Sylva."]
[Footnote 68: See the accounts of Sir John Spencer, in Collins's
Peerage, and prefixed to Dibdin's "AEdes Althorpianae."]
[Footnote 69: Henry, first Earl of Sunderland.]
[Footnote 70: This Lord Sunderland not only changed his party and his
opinions, but his religion, with every breath that blew from the court.]
[Footnote 71: Horace Walpole's Correspondence, vol. ii. p. 227.]
[Footnote 72: Anne Brudenel.]
[Footnote 73: See Pepys's Diary.]
[Footnote 74: I was told that a female servant of the family was so
terrified by this picture that she could never be prevailed on to pass
through the door near which it hangs, but made a circuit of several
rooms to avoid it.]
[Footnote 75: She is supposed to have been poisoned by her husband, at
the instigation of the Chevalier de Lorraine.]
[Footnote 76: Elizabeth Brooke, poisoned at the age of twenty.]
[Footnote 77: See the scene between Beck Marshall and Nell Gwyn,
in "Pepys."]
[Footnote 78: Walpole.]
[Footnote 79: The gay, gallant St. Evremond, besides being naturally
ugly, had a wen between his eye-brows. There is a fine picture of him
and Hortense as Vertumnus and Pomona, in the Stafford gallery.]