27 Germany has not had the honour of forming a regular school of painting. Mengs, Deitrich, Albert Durer, and Holbein, were Germans, and the most celebrated artists that country has produced. A few solitary artists, however, will not form a school. The Flemish school is remarkable for great brilliancy of colouring, a nobleness of conception, and the magic of the claro obscuro. Oil painting was discovered, or at least practised, first in Flanders, by John Van Eyck, who died in 1441, aged seventy-one. Peter Paul Reubens was unquestionably the founder of the Flemish school. This person was not only an admirable painter; he was endowed with many excellent qualities, and esteemed a skilful politician. He was ambassador from the Spanish king to Charles I., from whom he received the honour of knighthood. Reubens equally excelled in painting historical subjects, portraits, fruit, flowers, landscapes, and animals. The historical pictures of this master do not possess that sweetness of expression so prevalent in the works of Raphael; his principal merit lay in colouring, though he never equalled the productions of Titian. Sir P. P. Reubens was born at Antwerp in the year 1577, and died in 1640. The Dutch school may be considered as distinct from all others. The divine expression of Raphael, and the fire of Michael Angelo, are entirely disregarded by the Dutch, who have adopted a manner of painting practised alone within the precincts of their own country. Their favourite subjects are the vulgar games of the rudest peasantry, boors drinking and smoking, faithful representations of smiths' workshops with all the minutia to be found therein, and the depredations of banditti. If we view one of these subjects, painted by Teniers, the younger, we may be sure to find it a perfect chef d'œuvre. This artist possessed very prolific talents, and was, beyond doubt, the best painter of the manners of the peasantry in the Low Countries. Lucas de Leyden, who lived in the fifteenth century, generally considered as the patriarch of the Dutch school. Van Been, Vander Hilst, Cornelius Polemburg, Rembrandt, John de Laer, Van Ostade, Gerard Douw, Metzu, Meris, Cuyp, Wouvermans, Berghem, Vandevelde, and Van Huysum, were educated in the Dutch school, and have produced most admirable specimens of the art of painting. The English school did not exist until the Royal Academy in London was established in 1766. We had, however, many excellent painters long before that period, whose productions rank with those of the great Italian masters. Holbein, though a German, executed most of his celebrated works in this country. He was much encouraged by Henry VIII. and painted portraits of most of the English nobility. He died at his house in Whitehall, in the year 1554, and was buried with much solemnity. In the reign of James I. Cornelius Jansens arrived in England from Holland, and painted the king and nobility; but his talents being soon after eclipsed by Vandyke, he returned to his own country. Sir Anthony Vandyke received the first rudiments of the art from Vanbalen, of Antwerp; but after'wards became the pupil of Reubens, under whose excellent guidance he made such rapid progress in the art, that a portrait he painted of his master's wife, even at that period, is ranked among the best of his productions. Leaving Reubens, he made the tour of Italy, and at his return to Antwerp, was invited to England by Charles 1. by whom he was knighted. He married the beautiful daughter of lord Ruthven, earl of Gowry. Sir Joshua Reynolds, the great founder of the English school, was born at Plymton, near Plymouth, on the 16th of July, 1723, and was the pupil of Hudson. In the year 1750, he went to Rome, where he remained two years prosecuting his studies. At his return to his own country, he received that patronage which was due to his extraordinary talents. Sir Joshua died in London, at the age of sixty-nine, and was buried in St. Paul's cathedral with great funeral pomp. THE CARTOONS. "As on reality we gaze." These celebrated paintings are so called from the Italian word cartoni, a kind of pasteboard on which they are painted. While Raphael was in the employ of Leo the Tenth, his holiness employed this distinguished painter to make designs of the Acts of the Apostles, for the purpose of having them copied on tapestry. As soon as these tapestries were completed, the Cartoons remained neglected at Brussels, till they were purchased by Reubens for Charles the First of England, and in a dilapidated state (for they had been cut to pieces to facilitate the work of the weavers), they were brought to England. In the reign of William the Third, the pieces were put together in a most careful manner, and a gallery was built, at Hampton Court, for their reception, where, after one or two removes, they are now finally deposited. SIGN PAINTING. Sign Painting is of very ancient date, and, by some, is supposed to have its origin prior to any other painting. Many of the first masters were sign painters, for instance Ribera, or Il Spagnoleto,* was a sign painter, and in Cumberland's life of him we are told, that a Cardinal, one day passing in his coach, observed a tattered figure employed in painting a board, affixed to the outside of one of the ordinary houses in the streets of Rome. The youth and wretchedness of the spectacle engaged his pity, and the singular_attention with which he pursued his work attracted his curiosity. It was Il Spagnoleto, in the act of earning his bread, of which his appearance made it evident he was absolutely in want. He then proceeds to state, that the Cardinal, after some preliminary conversation, took him home in his coach, and ordered him apartments in his palace, where he pursued those studies that rendered him afterwards so eminent. Signs and sign painting were first introduced into England in the reign of Edward the Third, from France. London afterwards became famous for its signs, every shopkeeper or dealer having one; indeed, extravagant sums were laid out on this then requisite decoration. They were not then affixed to the house, but were placed on posts, or hung thereon on hinges, on the edge of the foot path. "Old London's signs did creek, creek, creek, For every gust of wind did make them speake." We are told, that in the reign of Richard the Second, a lord mayor of London imported not "cashmeres and laces," but women, from Flanders, and kept stew-houses where the dainty and squeamish were to deal in this kind of merchandize; and further, that Henry the Seventh also granted his license to twelve bordillos or stews, having signs painted on their walls, to distinguish them and invite the passenger. The little Spaniard. ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF THE CHANDOS PORTRAIT It was first in the possession of Sir William Davenant, who died insolvent, and afterwards of John Owen, his principal creditor. After his death, Betterton, the actor, bought it. Betterton made no will, and died very indigent; he had a large collection of portraits of actors, which were bought at the sale of his goods, by Bullfinch the printseller, who sold them to one Mr. Sykes. The portrait of Shakspeare was purchased by Mrs. Barry, the actress, who sold it afterwards, for forty guineas, to Mr. R. Kech. Mr. Nicol of Colney Hatch, Middlesex, marrying the heiress of the Kech family, this picture devolved to him. By the marriage of the Duke of Chandos with the daughter of Mr. Nicol, it became his Grace's property, and by the marriage of the Duke of Buckingham into the Chandos family, it now adorns the collection at Stowe. MUSIC. "All Nature's full of thee: the summer bower Brook calls to brook, as down the hills they stray; To thunder's deep-ton'd voice, or ocean's sullen roar." The origin of music is lost in the mazes of antiquity; and all hypotheses on the subject are very little better than mere conjecture. The practice of this science being universal in all ages and countries, it is absurd to attribute its invention to any one man, or any particular nation; yet, as no people can carry back their researches into antiquity to so early a period as the Egyptians, modern writers seldom attempt to trace the history of music beyond their era. Apollodorus gives us an account of the origin of music in that country, which we must, perhaps, only regard as a fanciful idea of the writer, though it is not altogether improbable. He ascribes the origin of the art, and the invention of the lyre, to the Hermes, or Mercury of the Egyptians, surnamed Trismegistus, or Thrice Illustrious; and who was, according to Newton, the secretary of Osiris, The Nile having overflowed its banks at the periodical period for the rise of that wonderful river, on its subsidence to its usual level, several dead animals were left on the shores, and among the rest a tortoise; the flesh of which being dried and wasted in the sun, nothing remained in the shell, but nerves and cartilages, and their being tightened and contracted by the drying heat, became sonorous. Mercury, walking along the banks of the river, happened to strike his foot against this shell, and was so pleased with the sound produced, that the idea of the lyre suggested itself to his imagination. The first instrument he constructed was in the form of a tortoise, and was strung with the sinews of dried animals. It is probable that vocal music was practised, or at least that the ancients were acquainted with the difference in the tones of the human voice, and its capabilities for harmony, before instruments were thought of; and the latter, without doubt, owed their origin to the observation of effects flowing from natural causes. Thus Diodorus, Lucretius, and other authors, attribute the invention of wind instruments to observations made of the whistling of the wind in reeds, and in the pipes of other plants. The different tones of sounding strings must have been observed very early, and thus have given birth to stringed instruments: whilst instruments of percussion, such as tabors or drums, probably originated from the sonorous ringing of hollow bodies when struck. In the first conception all these instruments were rude and imperfect, and would afford little pleasure to the musician of the present day. Indeed, in the first effort, we can fancy the inventors themselves amazed at the effect produced, and starting with surprise or fright, "E'en at the sound themselves had made." The progress of improvement, however, was soon visible: and there cannot be a doubt, but that the music of the ancients was of a very high order. NOTATION. The invention of Notation, and of musical characters, is of ancient date, being generally ascribed to Terpander, a celebrated poet and musician of Greece, who flourished about the 27th Olympiad, or 671 years before Christ. Previously, music being entirely traditional, must have depended much on the memory and taste of the performer. LETTERS IN MUSIC. Gregory the Great (as he is commonly called), about the year 600, substituted the Roman letters ABC, &c. as the names of notes, in lieu of the more complicated Greek ones; by which the study of the science was greatly simplified.-See Dr. Burney's History of Music. ORIGIN OF DIVIDING MUSIC INTO BARS. "Thou, oh Music! canst assuage the pain, And heal the wound, which hath defied the skill Each wild emotion at thy wond'rous will; Or lightest up the flames of soft desire, As through the mind thy plaints harmonious thrill, A power divine doth dwell amid the sacred quire.” The River Derwent. In the 16th century, music began to be considered part of a polite education. In a collection called Queen Elizabeth's Virginal Book, some very difficult pieces of that era are preserved, several of which are by Tallis and Bird, two eminent composers of English sacred music. The English musicians of this period were equal to any of those on the continent; and it is difficult to say whether the Italian, German, or French schools, deserve the preference. At the beginning of this century, the mode of dividing music into bars appears to have been first used. ORIGIN OF THE DOMINANT IN MUSIC. The 16th century is remarkable for many improvements in the theory and practice of music, which have led to the present high state of the art. In 1590, a schoolmaster of Lombardy (Charles Monteverde), invented the harmony of the dominant; he was also the first who ventured to use the seventh and the ninth of the domi nant, openly and without preparation; he likewise employed the minor fifth as a consonance, which had always before been used as a dissonance. The same professor introduced the double dissonances, and diminished and altered chords. About the same time L'Viadana de Lodi conceived the idea of giving to the instrumental bass, a different melody from that of the vocal, to which it had previously strictly adhered. He also invented the figured or thorough bass. CONCERTS. In 1776, the Concerts of Ancient Music were established in London, chiefly at the suggestion of the Earl of Sandwich.—An institution intended to preserve the solid and valuable productions of the old masters from oblivion, and of which Mr. Joah Bates was for many years the sole conductor. John Bannister, master of Charles the Second's band, was the first person who commenced public concerts in London, about the year 1762. In the year 1813, the Philharmonic Concerts were established in London, with a view chiefly to the cultivation of instrumental music. These concerts are still continued, and embrace nearly all the eminent professors in the metropolis. TRUMPETS. The Trumpet is said, by Vicentio Galileo, to have been invented at Nuremberg; and there is extant a memoir, which shows that trumpets were made to great perfection by an artist in that city, who was also an admirable performer on that instrument; it is as follows: "Hans Meuschell of Nuremberg was famed for his accuracy in making trumpets, as also for his skill on playing on the same alone, and in the accompaniment with the voice, was of so great renown, that he was frequently sent for to the palaces of princes, the distance of several hundred miles. Pope Leo the Tenth, for whom he had made several trumpets of silver, sent for him to Rome, and after having been delighted with his exquisite performance, dismissed him with a munificent reward." They were, according to chronology, first sounded before the English kings A. D. 790, which, if true, will date back their origin some centuries. ORGANS. "The imprison'd winds releas'd, with joyful sound In Madam Genlis's "Knights of the Swan" is the following interesting anecdote relative to the origin of organs :-As we could not enjoy at Bagdat the free exercise of our religion, we agreed that on solemn festivals we should meet in a room, and chaunt the mass. Our apartment was toward the street; and the people stopping to listen to us, soon discovered the motive of these religious exercises. Mahometan intolerance was alarmed, and an edict was published, prohibiting the Christians, under pain of death, from assembling to celebrate their religious rites. They were allowed, however, the privilege of performing them individually. Upon this (having a genius for mechanics) I conceived the idea of constructing an instrument, which might imitate all those with which I was acquainted, and even the human voice. I endeavoured to supply it, at the same time, with so prodigious a volume of sound, that it might produce to the ear the effect of a concert. I worked at my invention night and |