PAGE

98

ART.

V. THE NATIONS ON THE PERSIAN GULF.............................................

1. The Expedition for the Survey of the Rivers Euphrates and Tigris, carried on by

order of the British Government, in the years 1835, 1836, and 1837 : Preced.

ed by geographical and historical notices of the regions situated between

the rivers Nile and Indus. 4 vols. By Lieut -Col. CHESNEY, R.A., F.R.S.

2. A Geographical Memoir of the Persian Empire, accompanied by a map. By

John MACDONALD KINNEIR, Political Assistant to Brigadier-General Sir JOHN

Maloon in his mission to the Court of Persia.

3. Travels through Arabia and other countries in the East, performed by M.

NIEBUIR. Translated into English by ROBERT HERON.

4. History of suyd Said, Sultan of Muscal: together with an Account of the

Countries and People on the Shores of the Persian Gulf, particularly of the

Wahabees. By SAKIK MANSUR. Translated from the original Italian MS.

124

VI. SPECIMEN OF A MODERN Epic.........

..

Yesterday, To-day, and Forever. A Poem in Twelve Books. By EDWARD HENRY

BICKERSTETH, M.A., Incumbent of Christ Church, Hampstead, and Chap-

lajn to the Bishop of Ripon.

VII. Visit to Europe-SOME THINGS USUALLY OVERLOOKED ............

Prospectuses, Speeches, Addresses, etc., of various kinds-European and Ameri-

IX, APPENDIX-INSURANCE—GOOD, BAD, AND INDIFFERENT..................

........195

CONTENTS OF NO. XLII.

PAGB

201

1. ALFRED THE GREAT AND HIS TIMES......

1. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle. (Chronicon Saxonicum.)

2. De Gestis regum Angelorum. (Exploits of the Saxon Kings. WILLIAM of

Malmesbury.

8. Leben Alfreds des Grosson (Life of Alfred the Great.) STELBORG.

4. Biographia Britannica Literaria ; or, Biography of Literary Characters of

Great Britain and Ireland, etc., Anglo-Sizon Period. THOMAS WRIGHT.

6. Annals of the Reign of Alfred the Great, from A.D. 849 to 887. By ASSER, of

St. David's.

6. Rise and Progress of the English Commonwealth. Anglo-Saxon Period. Pol-

GRAVE.

........

230

I. MADAME DE SÉVIGNÉ AND HER LETTERS............

1. Vie de Madame de Sévigné. J. WALSH.

2. Eloge de la Marquise de Sévigné. SABATIER.

8. Madame de Sévigné and her contemporaries.

4. Les Amoureux de Mme. de Sévigné. J. BABOU.

256

m. ICELANDIC LITERATURE................................

1. A Manual of Scandinavian Mythology, containing a Popular Account of the

Two Eddas and of the Religion of Odin. By GRENVILLE PIGOTT.

2. Icelandische Volks—Sagen der Gegenwart. Von K. MAURER.

8. Specimen Litteratura Islandica. R. KR. RASK.

4. Northern Antiquities ; or, an Historical Account of the Manners, Customs,

Religion, and Laws, Maratime Expeditions and Discoveries, Language and

Literature of the Ancient Scandinavians. Translated from the French of

M. MALLET by Bishop Percy.

6. Histrire de la Poeste Scandinave. Par A. M. O. DUMERIL.

6. Poèmes Islandais. Par F. G. BERGMANN.

.......

IV. YACHTING NOT MERRLY SPORT .... ......

1. Reports by the Newspapers of Races between American and English Yachts ;

especially the Dauntless, Cambria, etc., etc.

2. Histoire de la Marine de tous les peuples, depuis la plus haute antiquité jusqu'd

nos jours.

289

V. TEB AMERICAN BAR-WILLIAM PINKNEY .....

..........

1. Life, Wrilings, and Speeches of William Pinkney. By HENRY WHEATON.

2. Life of William Pinkney. By his nephow, WILLIAM PINKNEY.

..

314

VI. SOPHOCLES AND HIS TRAGEDIES.........

1. Sophokles, sein Leben und Worken, etc. (Sophocles, his Life and Works.)

SCHOELL.

PAGE

2. The Tragedies of Sophocles. Translated into English verse. By the Rev.

THOMAS Dalk, B.A.

8. Etudes sur les tragedies grecs. PATIN.

4. Des Sophokles Antigone, Griecisch und Deutsch. (The Antigone of Sophocles,

Greek and German.) AUGEST BOCKH.

5. History of the Literature of Ancient Greece. MULLER.

VII. THE ABYSSINIAN CHURCA....................................................

37

37

1. Nubia and Abyssinia-comprehending their civil history, antiquities, arts,

religion, literature, and natural history. By the Rev. MICHAEL RUSSELL,

LL.D.

2. Historia Geral de Ethiopia. Par J. T. DOS SANTOS.

3. Relation Historique de l'Abyssinie, traduit du Portugais de Lobo. Par:

LEGRAND,

4. Narrative of the British Mission to Theodore, King of Abyssinia.. By

MARMOZD RASSARN, F.R.G.S., First Assistant Political President at

Aden in charge of the Mission.

. 5. Relation du Révérend Patriarche d'Ethiope. Par MENDERY. Traduit du

Portugais.

6. Journal of Three Years' Residence in Abyssinia. By Rev. SAMUEL

GOBAT, Bishop of Jerusalem.

... 7. Matériaux pour l'Hislaire du Christianisme en Egypte, en Nubie, et en

Abyssinie. Par M. LETRONNE.

VIL. THE FRANCO-PRUSSIAN WAR

.........

War Proclamations, Despatches, Newspaper Articles, Speeches ät Sympa."

thizing Meetings, and Reports of Battles, etc., etc. July, August, Sep-

tember, 1870.

IX. NOTICES ARD CRITLCISMS.....

Education .............................................................

Biography and History .....................................................

"Belles-Lettres............................................................

X. APPENDIX-INSURANCE AND ITS CONTR&T&.......

..

.....

400

ART. I.-1. History of Art. By Dr. WILHELM LÜBKE, Pro

fessor of the History of Art. Translated by F. E. BUN

NETT. In 2 vols. London. 1868. 2. A new History of Painting in Italy, from the Second to

the Sixteenth Century, etc., etc. By J. A. CROWE and G. B. CAVALEASELLE, authors of “ The Early Flemish

Painters." In 3 vols. London. 1864. 3. Sacred and Legendary Art. By Mrs. Jameson. Third

Edition. In 2 vols. London. 1857. 4. Legends of the Madonna, as represented in the Fine Arts.

By Mrs. JAMESON. London. 1852. 5. Memoirs of the early Italian Painters, and of the Progress of

Painting in Italy. From Cimabue to Bassano. By

Mrs. JAMESON. In 2 vols. London. 1845. 6. Original Treatise, dating from the XIIth to the XVIIIth

Centuries, on the Arts of Painting in Oil, Miniature, Mosaic, and on Glass; of Gilding, Dyeing, and the Preparation of Colors and Artificial Gems. By Mrs. MERRIFIELD, author of “The Art of Fresco Painting.” In 2 vols. London. 1849.

ALTHOUGH the Augustan era was the golden age of Rome, we look in vain for any great artists of Italian birth among those who were then distinguished; they were all Greek. The Romans were so absorbed in the enjoyment of the plunder which they had carried off from the other nations of the

VOL. XXI.--NO. XLI. 1

world that they cared little for anything requiring the exercise of taste and skill. Perhaps they had neither of these qualities, or, having them, they found it more profitable, as well as easy, to employ foreigners to do all their sculpture, painting, music, engraving, and architecture for them. The statues which adorned their temples and villas were mostly those which had been taken by force from the conquered nations. Augustus tried to revive the arts, but, in his time, they were lifeless remains of what had been, and they show an immediate decline from higher excellence. His successor, Tiberius, gave no encouragement to the arts, and looked upon statues with positive contempt. Caligula directed Grecian statues to be brought to Rome, and even gave orders that the Jupiter of Phidias should be transported thither. But, representations having been made that it would be destroyed in the attempt, he consoled himself with having some of the other rare and beautiful Grecian statues decapitated and his own head put upon them. Claudius had the head of Augustus put on the statues of Alexander the Great; and Nero caused the famous statue of that hero, by Lysippus, to "be gilded. The Emperor Titus, during his short reign, did what he could to encourage the arts, but his successor, Domitian, cared little for them. Trajan, Adrian, and the Antonines patronized sculpture and architecture, and under their fostering care some fine works were produced, but mainly by Grecian artists, and Athens once more became the school of art. Marcus Aurelius was acquainted with design, but good artists were rare; and the sophists, a sect which flourished at that time, opposed all talent and genius, thinking nothing worth attention but abstruse study.

But with the reign of Commodus the arts declined rapidly, and their decay went on down to the time of Constantine the Great. That emperor, when he founded Constantinople, collected the most magnificent works of art that could be found, and summoned the best artists around him. He preserved the statues of the gods, not as objects of worship, but as beautiful