Pompeii for carrying off the smoke, but it is not easy to reconcile the state of elegance of the decorations of Pompeii with the supposition that the inhabitants thus consumed their own smoke.

At the corner of the Peristyle stands the "lararium," sacred to the Penates, or household gods. Upon this altar the festive offerings were placed, and the sacred fie burned in homage to the favourite gods. Close to the altar is a small room or recess, which may be supposed to be a sleeping apartment. Near this, upon the ground, will be observed the letters "C. P." Many persons would suppose these letters had some hidden classical meaning. Quite the reverse; they mark, in the most common-place manner, the parish boundary. On a recent occasion of beating the parish bounds, it was found that this Pompeian house had the privilege of being situated in two parishes, and these letters record their respective boundaries. If the house were provided, as many of them were at Pompeii, with an upper story, the staircase communicating with these apartments would be placed in this part of the house. Adjoining this room is the bath, where a slave is represented holding a "strigil," or flesh scraper, with which persons taking a bath were accustomed to have their flesh scraped in something the same manner as ostlers of the present day scrape their horses. Next to the bath, upon the right of the "tablinum,' as the visitor passes into the "atrium," is the "thalamus," or sleeping apartment of the master and mistress of the house. A small apartment in the entrance to the right of the" atrium,” with a representation of a lawyer and his client, is the room in which conferences were held with persons who had business to transact with the owner of the house. The Builder supplies the following details with respect to the origin and progress of this highly interesting court:- In the first instance, it was proposed that this should simply be a refreshment court, decorated in Pompeian style, not a complete reproduction. As the arrangements were proceeded with, the idea of refreshments there was given up; and the endeavour has been made to produce a perfect type of domestic habitation-atrium, tablinum, peristyle, triclinium, and cubicula; the floors paved with mosaics, the walls covered with paintings.

"It was designed and has been carried out by Mr. Digby Wyatt; and to Signor Abbate is strictly due the whole merit of the painted decorations of the Pompeian house, but nothing more. He is not an architect, and has never been one: but his knowledge of every detail connected with Pompeii is very great, and he has doubtless given the full benefit of his judgment in the architecture, as the architect has afforded him whatever advice he could beneficially offer throughout his work. We have seen the original sketch made by Mr. Wyatt at Naples, which shows that the idea was fully conceived before even the assistance of Signor Abbate was positively engaged. The size of every room was arranged at Naples; and then, with Signor Abbate, the various paintings to be

reproduced on every wall were selected, and the latter gentleman remained there to make his tracings and cartoons, which he brought complete to this country. Before his return to England the working drawings had been made, and the works considerably advanced. Owing to the backward state of the building, it was some months after his arrival before he could begin his work, and much of that time was spent in completing the cartoons, arranging them to suit some variations which had been made in studying out the details, and in trying experiments as to media and pigments. The moment the walls were in a fit state to begin upon, proper ornamental painters were supplied him, and Signor Abbate began his work. Mr. W. A. Parris, the son of Mr. E. T. Parris (who will hereafter, we suppose, be called St. Paul's Parris), has throughout acted as his deputy, assisting him in setting out the decorations and mixing all the tints. Mr. Thomas Hayes has been Mr. Wyatt's deputy as superintendent of the architectural arrangements. Let us add that Mr. Falkener has aided with some valuable hints, and that most of the ornamental portions have been modelled by Signor Monti."

ENGLISH AND GERMAN MODERN SCULPTURE COURT.

A considerable part of the building is set apart as courts for the exhibition of works of modern sculpture, and to these we now propose to conduct the visitor. Leaving the Pompeian house, we pass northward along the nave on the left-hand side, till we reach the collection of English and German sculptures adjoining the Stationery Court. Although in this court there are few works which are not already well known to the artist and a large portion of the public, this collection of the choicest and best of the works of modern sculptors will still afford a vast amount of instruction and delight to all classes of visitors; for the student may employ himself in tracing the influence which the old masters still exercise over modern art, or gaze with delight upon the actual achievements of modern artists of the present day; the evidences of the mastery which has been obtained over mechanical difficulties, and the success with which the sculptor has infused into the breathing marble the expression of those passions and qualities which stir to action, or fend dignity to repose. But whether it be the innocent smile of infancy, the careless enjoyment of youth, the soft loveliness of woman, man flushed with the animation of victory, instinct with courage, or marked with the expression of refined intellect; or whatsoever conception either dramatic action

or poetic fancy has embodied-in each case, youth, maturity, and declining age, will present some object in unison with its own peculiar feelings and emotions, upon which the memory will linger with delight, and the mind repose with satisfaction.

An examination of the collection of English modern sculpture will prove, in the most striking manner, that the artists of this country possess considerable affection for, and a ready appreciation of the powers of physical beauty. Their works possess to as great, and probably a greater extent than those of other countries, all those feading qualities which constitute beauty in art. The visitor will not find in English sculptures many groups in which attempt has been made to represent the combined action of several figures, such as the Farnese Bull, the Laocoon, the Elgin friezes, of ancient art; the Seven Acts of Mercy, of the Renaissance period; or the beautiful bas-reliefs of the pleasures of public gardens, by modern German sculptors. In the English collection, there are single figures of nymphs, Cupids, Pysches, athletes, and character statues, but no embodiment of scenes from sacred or national history, or from the highest order of lyric poetry. But he will not, however, fail to perceive that English sculpture is deficient only in aim, rather than form, and that, as compared with the corresponding productions of other countries, the single figures of our artists will successfully stand the test of comparison.

The visitor having noticed the phases which German sculptures presented in the medieval time, will be anxious to learn the general features which characterize the works of the later artists of Germany. Debased Roman in style, in its incipient stages, German art imbibed a peculiar hardness and rigidity in its Romanesque period of transition, though occasionally attaining a really grand severity. In its earlier Gothic phase, it was truly fine, simple, and earnest in sentiment, although in its later style it grew too florid-expression degenerating into caricature-refinement into attenuation, and easy-flowing lines of form and draperies into unnatural and angular contortions. In its Renaissance period, Germany was peculiarly favoured, since in many of her sculptors' productions recurrence to antique types was happily blended with much of the old dramatic energy in composition and intention which prevailed in the best periods of the middle ages.

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Scarcely any monuments of German sculpture of a date prior to the eleventh century, are known to exist, though from soon after the year 1100 they begin to abound.* About the middle of the thirteenth century, the Gothic element appeared to develope itself in sculpture, and may be especially recognized in the tombs which date from that period. In all the old cities, in Cologne, Strasbourg, Magdeburg, Fribourg, Nuremberg, Wurtzburg, Augsburg, the churches and cathedrals were most lavishly decorated with carvings in stone, metal, and wood. It was, however, at

*Digby Wyatt's "Industrial Arts of the Nineteenth Century."

Nuremberg that the great stride was made, and the foundation laid for that excellence which subsequently so eminently distinguished that city. In the sixteenth century the reputation of Nuremberg was fully sustained by Adam Kraft, but it was reserved for Peter Visscher to carry to its utmost perfection the sculpture of the Renaissance period. After the death of Visscher, numerous artists essayed to equal his productions, but none succeeded, although much prolific genius was constantly labouring for the rich merchants, more particularly those of Augsburg. From the commencement of the seventeenth century, the pernicious taste of Bernini spread from Italy over the continent of Europe, and Germany did not escape its influence, and art dwindled to a comparative nonentity. The continued wars and troubles which devastated the nation, retarded for awhile the rekindling of the spent fire, which, at length, the ancient spirit of the German nation revived, and from the commencement of the present century her word of command in art, as it was of old in battle, has been only "Vorwarts!" Fired, no doubt, by the writings of Lessing, Goethe, Schiller, Schlegel, and many more, the youth of Germany has laboured hard; and at Berlin, Munich, Dusseldorf, and Dresden, schools have arisen, the admirable works emanating from which have redounded to the eternal honour of the present age. It is impossible to cite the names of sculptors, such as Rauch, Schwanthaler, Dannecker, Rietschel, Kiss, Drake, and Wolff, without feeling that it is our good fortune to live in the same generation with some of the finest masters of the art who have ever existed, and whose works are worthy of the high state of mental culture universal at the present day in Bavaria, and in Northern Germany generally, but more especially in Prussia.

It is impossible to do more than notice briefly a few of the more prominent of the English and German works here exhibited.

of

The Greek Hunter." Of English sculptures, "The Greek Hunter," by Gibson, will be found to be one of the finest types manly beauty in the whole building. "This statue affords," says Mr. Wyatt, a remarkable instance of the account to which the highly educated artist is frequently enabled to turn the casual combinations of form and movement, which nature provides abundantly, for the benefit of those who have the ability to appreciate and adopt the inspiration she offers. The simple incident of a boy struggling to restrain an impetuous hound, caught the eye of the accomplished sculptor of this admirable work as he was walking in the streets of Rome. His attention was at once arrested by the vigour of the contrasted action, and the idea of embodying it in marble immediately suggested itself to his mind. The result was shown in the statue which was unquestionably one of the most beautiful works of art contributed to the late Great Exhibition." Mr. Gibson has preserved all the best qualities of antique art, without allowing any peculiarities of mannerism to detract from its great merit. The graceful arrange

ment of the varied lines of the composition, the vigour of the action, the perfect balance of the figure, the manly beauty and activity of the athlete, the eagerness of the hound, the anatomical detail expressed, but not overwrought, and the admirable finish of the carving, all contribute to the perfection of a whole, eminently calculated to maintain that national reputation for excellence in works of the highest order of sculpture, which the genius of Flaxman first acquired for this country throughout Europe.

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The Bather" of Mr. Lawlor contrasts, by its loveliness of feminine beauty, with the many forms of The Greek Hunter." Throughout the whole collection there is probably not a more beautifully modelled female figure than "The Bather," and it is worthy of a place near the Venuses of the best time of Grecian art. Una and the Lion," by Bell, is a group which will always be viewed with interest by those who appreciate the beauties of Spenser, one of England's oldest poets, and who can sympathize with Una, the faithful and forsaken lady who, day after day, sought her long-lost knight through dark and tangled forest, and pathless desert, and to whom, when

"On the grass her dainty limbs did lay"

a fierce lion, bounding from the neighbouring woods, with gaping mouth rushed towards the fair lady, but as he drew nearer, awed by the beauty of his intended victim, laid aside his fury, and

"Instead thereof he kissed her weary feet,

And licked her lily hands with fawning tongue,

As he her wronged innocence did weet,"

and accompanied the poor lady as her guardian and servant upon her toilsome search.

"Oh! how can beauty maister the most strong,

And simple truth subdue avenging wrong.'

"The Eagle Slayer," by the same artist, is a most successful production. In the composition of the figure there is much that is alike bold and original, and the whole of the details are worked out with great care and tenderness. The action of the figure is vigorous and appropriate. The statue of Shakspeare, also by Bell, is remarkable for the intellectual character given to the great dramatist. Mr. Bell stands prominently forward as an artist who has done more, perhaps, than any other living artist to infuse into manufacturing industry something like purity of style and a due regard to art. A beautiful statue of Mr. Bell's, of Andromeda, cast by the Coalbrook Dale Company, was in the late Great Exhibition, where it attracted great notice, not less on account of the admirable manner in which the casting was accomplished, than in