in grace of design; and that, in a word, there is not a shadow of resemblance between the two styles." And even if there are errors in the modern system of teaching, they do not prove it to be wrong, by availing themselves of it only so far as it gives mere skill in exact technical imitation, and rejecting its higher principles; while professing to substitute a style in which these technical merits do not exist, but whose qualities of grace, purity, beauty, and expression they almost entirely miss. Let us have, if possible, closer study of nature, and more conscientious imitation of her; but why should the artist, more than the poet, resign his noble prerogative of educating his mind and eye to the appreciation of all that she offers of tender or lovely, expressive or beautiful, and not merely to discover what is commonplace, vulgar, mean, and ugly? Why should he not even do what nature herself refuses to do, unite for harmony, or contrast many diverse beauties together, provided he cull the flowers from nature herself, and they be not artificial? Again, these painters profess to imitate nature, and eschew the plagiarism of modern art; yet they go back to a period when the almost only excellence was expression, which they do not reproduce, while they borrow much that is merely grotesque. Not that the ancient painters intended it to be so; but it was the nearest approach to the imitation of nature which their imperfect scientific and technical resources permitted them to make. The truth appears to be, that there is some analogy between the progress of art and science,—every step has been the vantage-ground for further progress, both are infinite, and no one mind can master every branch of either; still, by following the natural inclination, a proper use of the knowledge of what has already been done, and the conscientious study of nature, there will ever be room for originality.

The religious spirit of early art being the product of totally different tendencies from those of modern society, we can no more recall it than we can return to the manners and customs and entire mode of thinking of that age. As Mr. Leslie happily says: "The spirit of Chaucer is not to be caught by adopting his phraseology, or by printing in black-letter; so neither shall we catch the spirit of any school or master by adopting that from it which is merely temporary."

This English revival appears but a feeble echo of a similar movement in Germany. Overbeck in Rome, and Cornelius at Munich, are its leaders. But the Germans have undoubtedly the advantage in taste, manliness, and vigour. They have, moreover, caught much of the expression and religious feeling of the early masters, without at the same time sacrificing their own independence.

*

* Communicated by Mr. T. J. Gullick, portrait-painter.

TERRA COTTA.

Terra Cotta (literally baked clay) is of great antiquity. Vases of this material 2000 years old have been found in Etruscan tombs free from stain and bright in colour, painted black, red, buff, and yellow, and sometimes gilded, ornamented with laurel, ivy, and honeysuckle, with mythological scenes or paintings of domestic life. Terra Cottas of the early Greek type are found in Egypt, and all parts of Sicily and Magna Græcia. The art of making them became extinct about 150 years B.c. In the seventeenth century terra-cotta works, in conjunction with architecture, were frequent in Italy, and were used by Bramante. The brick Tudor mansions of England were also adorned with terra-cotta ornaments, the work of Italian artists. Wedgwood, about 1770, revived the manufacture of terra cotta in England, employing Flaxman, the greatest British sculptor. In 1790 Coade and Sealey produced large architectural works at Lambeth. Terra cotta is now extensively manufactured by Minton and Blashfield.

ANTIQUITY OF COPPER-PLATE ENGRAVING.

In the peninsula of India, the art of Engraving upon plates of copper appears to have been practised long before the Christian era. It was there customary to ratify grants of land by deeds of transfer actually engraven on plates of copper, as we now write them on skins of parchment. A copy of one of these relics is given with an English translation by Mr. Wilkins in the Asiatic Researches, vol. i. p. 123. It is in the Sanscrit language, and bears date twenty years before the birth of Christ.

ENGRAVING ON WOOD.

Mr. Chatto, in Jackson's work on Wood-Engraving, makes the golden age of the art commence with Albert Durer; but it has been proved that Wood-engraving more probably began with the unknown artist who executed the cuts for Breydenbach's travels when Albert was but a boy. Mr. Chatto appears to be more correct in stating Albert Durer to have been "the greatest promoter of the art of wood-engraving towards the close of the fifteenth and in the early part of the sixteenth century; not however, as is generally supposed, from having himself en graved the numerous wood-cuts which bear his mark, but from his having thought so well of the art as to have most of his greatest works engraved on wood from drawings made on the block by himself."

ANASTATIC PRINTING,

is the avάoraois (the first raising up) of copies from a printed sheet of paper, whether letter-press or engraving; this is first

moistened with dilute nitric acid, and then pressed with considerable force by a roller on a clean surface of zinc. The acid with which the unprinted part of the paper is saturated etches the metal, and the printed portion sets off, so that the zinc surface presents a complete reverse copy of the work. The prepared plate is then washed with a solution of gum in weak phosphatic acid; the liquid is attracted by the etched surface, which it freely wets, while it is repelled by the oil of the ink in which the writing or drawing on the plate is traced. A leathern roller covered with ink is then passed over the plate, when a converse effect ensues. The repulsion from the oil, ink, and the watery surface prevents any soiling of the unfigured parts of the zinc plate, while the attraction between the oil and oil causes the ink to be distributed over the printed portions. The anastatic plate is now complete, and impressions are pulled from it by the common lithographic press.

COST OF THE GREAT PYRAMID OF EGYPT.

Mr. Tite, the architect, states the original dimensions of the Great Pyramid near Gizeh to have been 764 square feet at the base, and 480 feet of perpendicular height; covering 43 acres, 1 rood, 22 perches of ground. It consumed 89,028,000 cubic feet of stone; and Mr. Tite adds, that it could not now be built for less than thirty millions sterling! The joints of the large casing blocks of granite were so fine as to be scarcely perceptible, not thicker than paper; and the mortar was so adhesive, that the stones in some cases broke through their substance rather than give way at their jointing.

PLYMOUTH BREAKWATER.

This great artificial island or mole in the centre of Plymouth Sound is not less than one mile long. It contains no fewer than three and a half millions of tons weight of rubble stone, quarried in the adjacent hills, and deposited in the sea at a depth of from thirty-six feet below low-water mark to ten feet above high-water mark. Besides this there is a dressed stone pier or platform along the top, containing two and a half millions of cubic feet of dressed stone. The cost was a million and a half of sterling money, and the work has no parallel in the hydraulic architecture of any kingdom. Some idea of the mass of stones combined together to form the Plymouth Breakwater may be formed by imagining that, if piled up over the area of Trafalgar Square, London, they would form a pyramid 600 feet high-a height exceeding that of Nelson's monument standing on the top of St. Paul's.-Sir John Rennie, F.R.S.

Language and Books.

THE SANSCRIT LANGUAGE.

SANSCRIT, according to H. T. Colebrooke, signifies the polished dialect. It is sometimes written Shanscrit, and also Sanskrit. It is a dead language; but Sir William Jones has said of it "that it is more flexible than Greek, more copious than Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either." It is the source of all the spoken dialects of India; and although more difficult than Greek, yet, as its structure bears the closest resemblance to that of the classical languages, a knowledge of it may be acquired with the greatest facility by a Greek or Latin scholar. If the beauties of its literature and its philological bearing on the dead and living languages of Europe have attracted the attention of so many scholars in England and on the Continent, how much more weighty are the motives which should induce the candidate for the Indian civil service to break ground in the study of this language ?-Times Journal.

STYLE OF HERODOTUS.

66

Perhaps few persons are aware how often they imitate this great historian. "Children and servants," said a writer in the Edinburgh Review, in 1828, are remarkably Herodotean in their style of narration. They tell every thing dramatically. Their says he and says she are proverbial. Every person who has had to settle their disputes, knows that, even when they have no intention to deceive, their reports of conversation always require to be carefully sifted. If an educated man were giving an account of the late change of administration, he would say, 'Lord Goderich resigned; and the king, in consequence, sent for the Duke of Wellington.' A porter tells the story as if he had been behind the curtains of the royal bed at Windsor: So Lord Goderich says, "I cannot manage this business; I must go out." So the king, says he, “Well, then, I must send for the Duke of Wellington-that's all."' This is in the very manner of the father of history." Mr. Dickens's "Sarah Gamp" is a fine specimen of this Herodotean manner.

ANALYSIS OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE.

The English language consists of about 38,000 words. This

includes, of course, not only radical words, but all derivatives, except the preterites and participles of verbs; to which must be added some few terms, which, though set down in the dictionaries, are either obsolete, or have never ceased to be considered foreign. Of these, about 23,000, or nearly five-eighths, are of Anglo-Saxon origin.* The majority of the rest, in what proportions we cannot say, are Latin and Greek: Latin, however, has the larger share.

It will thus be seen that the Anglo-Saxon, even if we look at the mere number of words, has contributed our principal source of strength. Sharon Turner, from our most popular writers, adduces a much greater preponderance of the Anglo-Saxon element; but he has not set down in figures the numbers of the two classes of words contained in any of these passages. Sir James Mackintosh analysed three or four of them. We now give an analysis of the whole The passages in question are from the Bible, Shakspeare, Milton, Cowley, Thomson, Addison, Spenser, Locke, Pope, Young, Swift, Robertson, Hume, Gibbon, and Johnson. In five verses out of Genesis, containing 130 words, there are only 5 not Saxon. In as many verses out of the gospel of St. John, containing 74 words, there are only 2 not Saxon. Of the remaining passages,

that from

In none of these passages is the number of foreign words greater than one-third; in many of them less than one-tenth. In all there are 1492 words, of which only 296 are not Saxon. Taking this as a criterion, the Saxon would constitute about four-fifths of the language, instead of five-eighths, or about thirty-two-fortieths, instead of twenty-five fortieths.-Edinburgh Review, No. 141.

WHAT IS THE CHARACTER OF CHAUCER'S DICTION?

To this question, a writer in Blackwood's Magazine replies: "A great delusion exists upon this point. Some ninety or a hundred words that are now obsolete, certainly not many more, vein the whole surface of Chaucer; and thus a primâ facie impression is conveyed that Chaucer is difficult to understand,

* Dr. Bosworth, the eminent Anglo-Saxon scholar, has published a work by King Alfred in the original Anglo-Saxon and in an English version. The text is from two existing manuscript copies: the subject is a description of Europe, Asia, and Africa, with the voyages of Ohthere and Wulfstan.