dozen years among literary sciolists, lie says,—“ The language used by Wither in all his various works—whether secular or sacred—is pure Saxon.” Taken literally, this assertion is manifestly ridiculous, and, allowing it every possible limitation, it is not only untrue of Wither, but of every English poet, from Chaucer down. The translators of our Bible made use of the German version, and a poet versifying the English Scriptures would therefore be likely to use more words of Teutonic origin than in his original compositions. But no English poet can write English poetry except in English,—that is, in that compound of Teutonic and Romanic which derives its heartiness and strength from the one and its canorous elegance from the other. The Saxon language does not sing, and, though its tough mortar serve to hold together the less compact Latin words, porous with vowels, it is to the Latin that our verse owes majesty, harmony, variety, and the capacity for rhyme. A quotation of six lines from Wither ends at the top of the very page on which Mr. Earr lays down his extraordinary dictum, and we will let this answer him, Italicizing the words of Romanic derivation:—
“Her true beauty leaves behind Apprehensions in the mind, Of more sweetness than all art Or inventions can impart; Thoughts too deep to be expressed, And too strong to be suppressed."
But space fails us, and we shall take up the editions of Marston and Webster in a future article.
Galleries and Cabinets of Art in Great Britain, etc. By Dr . Waagen. Forming a Supplemental Volume to the “Treasures of Art in Great Britain.” 8vo. London. 1857.
The Manchester Exhibition, although containing a vast number of works of Art, displayed but a small portion of the treasures of painting and sculpture scattered through Great Britain, in the city and country houses of the upper classes. Every year is adding greatly to the number and value of both private and public galleries in England. It is but three years 'since Dr. Waagen published his three ponderous volumes on the “ Treasures of Art in Great Britain,” and he has already found new material for a fourth, not less cumbrous than its predecessors. The larger part of this last volume is, indeed, composed of descriptions of galleries existing at the time of the publication of his first work, but the most interesting portion of it relates to the acquisitions that have been made within the last three years
A better taste, and a truer appreciation of the relative merits of works of Art, prevails in England now than at any previous time, and the recent acquisitions are distinguished not more by their number than by their intrinsic value. The National Gallery has at last begun to make its purchases upon a systematic plan, and is endeavoring to form such a collection as shall exhibit the historic progress of the various schools of painting. The late additions to it have been of peculiar interest in this view; including some very admirable pictures by masters whose works are rare and of real importance. Among them are very noble works of some of the chief earlier Florentine, Umbrian, and Venetian masters; especially a beautiful picture by Benozzo Gozzoli, (the Virgin enthroned with the infant Saviour in her arms and surrounded by Saints,)—a thoroughly characteristic specimen of Giovanni Bellini, (also a Virgin holding the Child,) in which the deep, fervent, and tender spirit, the manly feeling, and the unsurpassed purity of color of this great master arc well shown,—and one of the finest existing pictures of Perugino, the three lower and principal compartments of an altar-piece painted for the Certosa at Pavia. We know, indeed, no work by the master of Raphael to be set above this. Two of the best pictures of Paul Veronese have also just been added to the National Gallery.
Still more important are the recent private purchases. The Duke of North-umberland procured in Rome, in 1856, the whole of Camuccini’s famous collection. It contained seventy-four pictures, and many of them of great value. Among them was a small, but precious picture by Giotto,—a beautiful little Raphael,—three undoubted works of Titian, and, most precious of all, a picture, formerly in the Ludovisi collection, painted jointly by
