from her which, by the hot tears of innumerable believers, and the experiences of mercies there enjoyed by many sorrowing hearts, are associated with all that is most holy and consecrated on earth.

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre stands upon a rocky eminence, declining steeply to the north and east. It properly consists of three different chapels, united in one church. Near the entrance to the south is that of the Crucifixion; to the west, that of the Holy Sepulchre; and to the east, united with the long nave of the Greek Church, is the Chapel of the Discovery of the Cross.

'We will not reason about the traditions respecting other places outside Golgotha and the Holy Sepulchre, devoted to the edification of the devout; if the events did not occur on the very spots, they must have taken place a few paces distant; and the pious heart will willingly be reminded by visible objects of the transactions these holy places commemorate. They were formerly divided between eight different nations, but since the last conflagration, belong almost exclusively to the Greeks, who have left the Latin, Armenian, Coptic, and Syrian Christians, only a few spots for the celebration of their worship. The Latins call their chapel that of the Appearance, because here the Lord appeared to Mary his mother, after the resurrection. The Armenians possess the chapel of Helena; the Copts have only a small chapel to the west of the grave; and the Syrian Christians another under the work of the western side of the rotunda. Several of the monks and clergy of the four nations constantly linger about the church for the regular performance of the service; and many of the pilgrims spend some days and nights there, a custom that does not contribute much to the external cleanliness and dignity of the church. It is generally shut, and the provisions are received through a hole; but on Sundays and holidays it is open at the hours of service. It cannot, unfortunately, be a matter of regret that a Turkish guard is there to keep order; for otherwise the contentions of the Christians would be still fiercer than at present.'-Pp. 187-191.

Another brief extract, and we have done.

In reading the account given of the Bedouins, their manner of life, &c., which, as far as correctness is concerned, is borne out by the statements of other recent travellers, the learned Tischendorff among the rest, we were particularly struck with some remarks on the present religious state of that singular people, which well deserve the attention of our missionary societies:

'Their religion,' says Dr. Strauss, is very simple; they, indeed, call themselves Mohammedans, but very few keep the fasts, or make pilgrimages to Mecca. The Koran is almost unknown; and mosques they have none. Their religion has remained the same as it was at the time of Abraham; it is faith in God, who made heaven and earth-who is enthroned in heaven, and from whom every good gift comes. They seek to obtain his favour by strict rectitude, until he calls them from the ranks of the living. As their tenets are less opposed to the Christian faith than those of many other nations, it would be easier for mis

sionaries to work among them; and if the efforts of true Christian love were successful in arousing them from their religious indifference, which, unhappily, has hitherto been entirely unattempted, they would become living, earnest members of the Church.'-P. 135.

From the extracts we have given, the reader will perceive that Sinai and Golgotha' is a work of no common order. To convince himself of this, we strongly recommend its perusal ; the more so, as the English version is both faithful and elegant, and furnishes a very favourable specimen of the skill and knowledge of the translator.

ART. VIII. Catalogue of Works of Ancient and Medieval Art, exhibited at the house of the Society of Arts. London. 1850. THE temporary collection recently open under the above title, at the Society of Arts, has been of a character previously unknown to England; and in its comprehensiveness and exceeding preciousness, unrivalled, perhaps, in Europe. The value of such collections has been practically recognised in almost every leading Continental city. By the English Government alone above all by its delegates, whose office it is to be styled Trustees of our national museums and galleries has this value, in common with so much else, been ignored. One exception must be made, in favour of the Museum of Economic Geology-an institution, into the management of which more vitality and common sense have been infused, than into that of any of its fraternity. Ornamental art as connected with manufacture, and thus with science, is here partially illustrated. Especially we would notice a series of English pottery, recently purchased, which will be accessible when the museum is reopened in its new location in Piccadilly. Until that step was taken, the country which has so greatly distinguished itself in this branch of artmanufacture, supplied no means of forming an acquaintance with the history and progress of such manufacture. The Museum at Sèvres was the nearest point at which such information could be gained.. ugh di barald wed

I

Towards a comprehensive practical History of Art, and of Civilization as represented by Art, in those remains which afford the most direct and suggestive of all ethnographical evidence, nothing has been systematically attempted. The British Museum, it is well known, has been formed without plan, and managed without intelligence-too common a case, in such matters, unfor

ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL ART.

tunately, with us English. The valuable accumulations it contains have been mainly the result of accident-whether chance purchases, or miscellaneous contributions from private liberality. In the department of art this is pre-eminently illustrated. Such material in this direction as it contains is at once special and incomplete a very splendid series of Etruscan and Greek pottery, and of Greek sculpture; an assemblage of Egyptian antiquities; a recent accession from Nineveh; while the remaining links in the great series of universal history are left altogether. unrepresented, with some few fragmentary exceptions.ht The value of such a collection as that of the Society of Arts, though in their case necessarily restricted by its temporary character, and by the exclusion of the unpaying public, is of a very high order, and twofold: in supplying facilities, first, for impressing true principles on the designer; secondly, for enlarging the knowledge of the public. High credit must be accorded to that more intelligent party in the society, who, opposed, we regret to state, by a self-interested and mechanical section of the members, have, among other good works, carried out the above scheme; with the co-operation of a numerous body of antiquarians and collectors. When we consider the impromptu nature of the collection, the success of their efforts was remarkable; and also, very significant evidence of the vast amount of artistic treasure dispersed through private cabinets in England.

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On one point, we have a serious complaint to make the utter absence of Method, the slovenly neglect of rational sequence in the arrangement. As a result, one chief benefit of the collection-its historic teaching-was, for the general public, lost. The Catalogue' is systematic; based upon the principle of classification according to material. And the succinct sum maries prefixed to each classified group deserve great praise, for their intelligence and appropriateness; contributing to render the Catalogue what, as a whole, it undeniably is a valuable permanent record. But the arrangement of the collection itself was anything but a worthy companion; casting great discredit on whomsoever were concerned in it. The guiding motive seemed to have been simply the production of a Show; of mere prettiness of effect, worthy the ambition of the Housemaid of the establishment. But for the value of the articles displayed, we should have believed that functionary, or, perhaps, an assistant from a neighbouring shop in the Strand, had been the presiding genius. In all future attempts, we counsel the Society to call in, not the taste of the housemaid and the showman, but the aid of common sense and of a cultivated insight. And then, instead of a Rareeshow, we shall have an instructive, embodied Text-book. In the first case, we have goldsmith's work of all ages promiscuously

huddled together or dispersed; examples of three or four separate epochs of pottery mingled indiscriminately; and to one kind (Henry II. of France ware), a place apportioned among ivories and wood carvings; of these latter, again, other specimens scattered elsewhere. In the second, we should have one consistent, ordered series, grouped strictly according to material, and, above all, chronologically, and in distinct sections: so that, even at the first glance, a meaning should be obvious to the most cursory observer; and by others, more attentive, a comprehensive historic summary be read. Even to the connoisseur, such a series would be highly interesting; though he could dispense with it-possessing within his own mind the key to such a disjointed nightmare of an arrangement as the Society's. But by half the visitors of the late collection, we doubt whether any but the vaguest notions were brought away: of general splendour of effect, and preciousness of art, realized in the productions of many ages. The patient comparison of catalogue and collection, and the mental effort requisite for unravelling the net, few were likely to give. This result was the more lamentable, as the sacrifice of method was needless. In any case, splendour of effect had been inevitable.

We have one other suggestion to make to the Society, or its managers that a more liberal courtesy be shown in forwarding the views of such, as like ourselves, may be desirous of frequenting their exhibitions for a literary purpose.

The immediate purpose of the exhibition was to aid, indirectly, our manufacturing efforts for the Great Exhibition of 1851; to supply an influence for good upon English design. The collection was certainly relevant in that aspect; but the ensuing interval is too brief, and our present system, or no-system, of decorative design, too firmly established, to allow much room for hope in this direction. Invigorated copyism we shall undoubtedly have, of some of the myriad forms of beauty thus assembled. How far this is in itself desirable, is more than questionable. The real benefit which could not but accrue, is of a far more certain and unmixed character: the popularizing works of highest beauty, and the witnesses of healthful systems of artistic working; the indirect enforcement of true principles, and the direct increase of the general knowledge of times too little understood at the present day by the majority. Through such means as these, quite a new light may reveal itself to the eyes of many. New aspects of the past, and new relations of the old to the new, will, one by one, present themselves to those not wholly incapable of thought. But the exhibition was too temporary an one to accomplish very much, even in this way; to complete the work it began. The phrase most current among the visitors was still,

how curious! rather than, how true! or, than better still, perhaps, no phrase at all, but silent digestion of the lessons with which those works of art were pregnant. Irreverent wonder, or vague admiration, rather than intelligent appreciation, were the prevailing feelings. The most are still unprepared for the study of such things; for apprehending them from the right point of

view.

"Ancient and Medieval,' the exhibition was styled. But the latter and larger section was mediaval in a very loose sense; as much or more Cinquecento and Renaissance. A greater proportion of work purely medieval, as also of medieval English work, was much to have been desired. The perfection attained in all strictly decorative design of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, similar to that realized in the architecture, of which it was the attendant, would then have been more obviously and adequately enforced. This preponderance of sixteenth and seventeenth century-work was an inevitable consequence, perhaps, of the prevailing direction in which the attention of our ordinary collectors is aroused; and of the far greater paucity of remains from the more remote periods.

Classic antiquity was represented by a series of Etruscan pottery, and Roman bronzes, and cameos. From the East, were a few choice scattered examples: embossed and enamelled weapons; specimens of Damascene work; and, above all, an exquisitely graceful, faery vase, lovely in contour, and purely oriental in ornamentation-outline subordinated to the most delicate effects of colour, produced by lapislazuli and precious stones: a vase this, eloquent of the magic and fancy of the Thousandand-One Nights.'

Thus, the three leading divisions of ornamental production, in which true principles have been exemplified, after three so distinct types-classic antiquity, the medieval time, and the Oriental nations-all, in one way or another, put in their appearance. An exhibition, permanent or temporary, of sufficient extent to admit the adequate illustration, not only of medieval, but also of classic and Oriental art, would, indeed, be necessarily large; but also, inconceivably rife with significance and suggestion. It would place before us, by proxy, all hitherto-realized, true developments. By the Orientals, especial attention would be claimed, for a due representation of the general case ;-of the relations borne by the ornamental art of the East, to the other members in the great family group of universal art.

There was, however, no lack of significance in the array of works mostly medieval or akin, to which the exhibition in question was confined. The universal application of art-and of art in directions with which we of the present day are little accus