Greece first and there are several of that description here now-speak of the Roman buildings much less respectfully than I have ventured to do. Something must be ascribed to the strength of the first impressions, and to the vanity which induces people almost always to overrate what they have seen, particularly if it is at all difficult of access; but still their opinion is so decisive and so universal, that I am persuaded it is founded in truth. * * * * There are, I apprehend, but few specimens of completely pure architecture among the Roman churches.

Many of them are particularly ugly, St. Paul's without the Walls for certain, which outside looks like a huge barn. In others, even of those that have just pretensions to beauty, the defects are still obvious enough to strike the eye at once of an unskilful beholder. However, they are all worth seeing, at least once, either for what they are, or for what they contain ; and on the whole they give one a very high notion of the riches, taste, and liberality of papal Rome-even exclusively of St. Peter's, which forms a class of itself."

The impressions from a first view of the magnificent temple of apostacy, that have been formed by different persons, we have found to be singularly unlike. Our own was that of majesty and beauty, united with wonderful effect, not equalling the Gothic cathedral perhaps in the former, but in the latter quality far surpassing it: and on the whole, when strong and sudden feelings have subsided, more fitted to produce and sustain a permanently pleasing impression. We remember Lord Dudley saying to us as we entered together one of the Florentine churches during the performance of the service-" If I could but believe that all this is true, how beautiful would it be ; "--but our business is to give his opinion of St. Peter's.

"I suppose (he writes), I should generally speaking be reckoned among those that are inclined to undervalue Rome both ancient and modern. But, whatever praise I have subtracted from other objects, I am disposed to keep upon this one. My expectations were of course great, but they have been more than fulfilled. Indeed, I had no notion that such an effect could be produced by a mere building. There is no getting accustomed to its grandeur and beauty. I see it every day, but my veneration and delight are as great as ever. The Duomo of Milan has not even prepared you for it. You have, I dare say, often seen and heard the common remark, that, owing to the accuracy of its propertions, people are not aware of its prodigious size, when they first enter it. This observation, however, has not been confirmed by my own experience. Its size is what struck me most at the first mo. ment, and before I had time to attend to

the symmetry of its from, and the richness and exquisite workmanship of its ornaments. It has too, another quality which one should not perhaps have expected to find, united to so much grandeur and magnificence-that of being remarkably cheerful. But it is a decent, tempered cheerfulness, which is perhaps quite as well suited to its destination, as the awful gloom of the Gothic churches. I say this, though I am extremely fond of Gothic architecture. Indeed, if I could imagine anything finer than St. Peter's, it would be a Gothic church of the same enormous dimensions, in as pure a taste, and as finely executed as the cathedral at York. You have seen a great many fine palaces at Genoa. They can hardly be upon a grander scale than those at Rome, which are by much the most magnificent habitations I ever saw for private persons, in point both of size and of exterior decoration."

The "immondizia" of Rome seems to have affected Lord Dudley much more than it did us; though, perhaps, there was some real difference as to the state of the city between January, when he dates his letter, and when we were enjoying its blue skies and golden prospects in that charming season "twixt Midsummer and May."

"Now comes the drawback upon the splendid and interesting objects in Rome, and which I own diminishes their effect, GENT, MAG. VOL. XIII.

in my eyes at least, to a wonderful degree. It is the extreme filth and shabbiness of the wretched town that surrounds them. 2 Y

* "Look homeward now!" When we reproach the Italians for suffering the works of Raphael to perish, let us not be unmindful that, we are falling into the same sin. See what was said before the Committee on the Fine Arts, in evidence of the present state of "the Raising of Lazarus" in our gallery; and see also what Dr. Waagen says on the same subject, in his "Arts and Artists in England."-Vol. i. 191. What answers Mr. Seguier?

Lord Dudley did not always speak so unreservedly and unconditionally of his want of taste for the fine arts; but he used to say, that his residence in Italy, where pictures of all kinds abound, made him care for none but the masterpieces of art.

ated in the higher mysteries of his art, and obliged at first to take upon trust much of that which was afterwards made clear to him by further study and labour, what shall we say about the sincerity of those who, knowing so much less, pretend to feel so much more?* for my part, I think of them as much as I should think of any body who, being just able to pick out the meaning of a Latin sentence, should affect to admire the language and versification of the Georgics. So much by way of apology, pro me ipso et pro omai Mummiorum domo.' I learn from others that the riches in all that belongs to the fine arts, which Rome still contains, are quite prodigious. They have been a good deal diminished by the robbery of the French, and by the poverty of Prince Giustiniani, and the baseness of Prince Borghese, who both sold their collections. But what remains is sufficient to afford an inexhaustible subject of admiration to artists and connoisseurs. It is but justice to the French to say, that, though they deprived Rome of some of its greatest ornaments, yet in other respects they rendered it great service.' My good friend Eustace wrote under the influence of a most childish prejudice. when he represented them as enemies of the fine arts. Napoleon was beginning to improve Rome with

which he has left such monuments at the same magnificence and good taste of Paris. By his order immense accumulafrom some of the ancient ruins, an opetions of earth and rubbish were removed ration by which in all instances the appearance of them was much improved, made. From what I have said (and inand in some curious discoveries were you must be aware, that what is wanted deed from what you well know already,) here is not any new buildings. All that is already exist, and set them off to advan necessary is to take care of those that tage, and above all, to cleanse the Aualready directed his attention to all these gean filth of this imperial city. He had objects, and in a few years Rome would have assumed quite a new aspect, and, in my opinion at least, the loss of all that was taken away, would have been more than compensated by the improvement of what remains. Consider for instance, if you happen to have a plan of Rome, what an effect would have been produced in one single instance by throwing down the wretched houses, that now come up to the colonnade of St. Peter's, and opening a magnificent street to the Castle of St. spirit of improvement is gone, and the Angelo and the Tiber. But the whole power," &c.

We now give the editor's parting words, and sincerely do we hope that all obstacles may be removed which serve to impede a further publication, and that the unfinished portrait may be completed without interruption, by the same friendly and able hand which has commenced it.†

* Would not Lord Dudley's argument tend to prove that pictures can only be understood and truly admired by painters? a picture consists of the colouring and the composition; but many an eye, besides that of the artist, is gifted with the power of understanding the harmony of colours; and with regard to the composition of a picture, it surely is not beyond the reach of good taste and careful judgment. The unprofessional admirer is also less subject to be biassed than the painter by favourite views and systematic principles. George the IV. for instance (we know from the best authority,) had a really good taste in pictures to a certain extent; and he knew the point where his knowledge stopped.

+ We cannot withhold the satisfaction of extracting the Bishop's very able and interesting character of the late Dean of Christ Church, Dr. Cyril Jackson; ó ToλVκλειτὸς καὶ πολυμαθής: whose memory will be preserved, when his contemporaries and his pupils have passed away, equally by the Bishop's pen, and by the chisel of Chantrey

"I cannot let this sentence pass, without bearing_testimony to the extraordinary merit of the individual here alluded to, Dr. Cyril Jackson. During 30 years that he presided over Christ Church, he uniformly consulted not only the particular interests of that body, but the general good of the university, of which it was the principal component part. His talents for government, his knowledge of the world, his insight into character, his native energy, his thirst for knowledge, his universal information, his classical taste, his learning, and his love of learning, all conspired to fit him admirably for the station which he adorned. Added to these qualities, there was a generous desire to encourage and reward merit, and infuse a love of liberal and honourable pursuits into young minds, over whom his personal qualities gave him a commanding influence. If measured by that which is perhaps the surest test of intellectual ability, ascendancy, imperceptibly acquired over all with whom a man has to

ENGLISH ARMOUR AND ARMS, IN THE REIGNS OF ELIZABETH AND JAMES 1. (With a Plate.)

THE following document, which by the kindness of a friend is here printed from the original, becomes interesting on a consideration of the circumstances under which it was framed. It contains, in the first place, a catalogue of the military stores of the City

do, his superiority was decisively proved. If he carried too far his attachment to the little platoon he belonged to in society,' it was more than compensated by the great public services which through that medium he rendered, and by the disinterested part he took in establishing the system of examination for degrees. By this system a new spirit was breathed into the university, and the comparative importance of his own college was proportionally reduced, a consequence to which he could not be blind, but which did not restrain him from promoting zealously what he felt to be an act of duty, in all persons enjoying endowments for the encouragement of learning, and invested with a public trust for that purpose."

*Since the volume was written, the Editor observes that fresh restraints are imposed upon him, which tend to make any future publication a matter of great uncer. tainty.

* See a letter of Lord Harrington in Park's Nugæ Antiquæ; and also a letter of the Princess in Ellis's Collection of Letters; copied in Nichols's Progresses, &c. of James I. vol. i. p. 590; vol. iv. p. 1068.

Of the latter part of the document, a copy was communicated to Mr. Nichols's Progresses (iv. 1068), by Mr. T. Sharp, as a Council-house minute. It is there thus headed, "Delivered forthe of Armory the 7th of November 1605, when the Lady Elizabeth laye at Mr. Hopkins." The paragraphs 2 and 10 are omitted, but in other respects it agrees with the present copy. Mr. Breers (the first name mentioned,) was M.P. for Coventry, and Henry Prince of Wales slept at his house in 1612. (Progr. of K. Jas. ii. *459.)