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Moreover, posies rare, and anagrams,
Signifique searching sentences from names,
True history, or various pleasant fiction,
In sundry colours mixt, with arts commixion,
All in dimension, ovals, squares, and rounds,
Arts life included within natures bounds:
So that art seemeth merely naturall,
In forming shapes so geometricall;
And though our country everywhere is fild
With ladies, and with gentlewomen, skild
In this rare art, yet here they may discerne
Some things to teach them if they list to learne.
And as this booke some cunning workes doth teach,
(Too hard for meane capacities to reach)

So for weake learners, other workes here be,
As plaine and easie as are A B C.

Thus skilful, or unskilful, each may take
This booke, and of it each good use may make,
All sortes of workes, almost that can be nam'd,
Here are directions how they may be fram'd:
And for this kingdomes good are hither come,
From the remotest parts of Christendome,
Collected with much paines and industrie,
From scorching Spaine and freezing Muscovie,
From fertill France, and pleasant Italy,
From Poland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany,
And some of these rare patternes have beene fet

Beyond the bounds of faithlesse Mahomet:

From spacious China, and those kingdomes East,

And from great Mexico, the Indies West.

Thus are these workes, farrefetcht and dearely bought,
And consequently good for ladies thought.

Nor doe I derogate (in any case)

Or doe esteeme of other teachings base,

For tent worke, rais'd worke, laid worke, frost worke, net worke,

Most curious purles, or rare Italian cut worke,

Fine ferne stitch, finny stitch, new stitch, and chain stitch, Brave bred stitch, Fisher stitch, Irish stitch, and Queen stitch,

The Spanish stitch, Rosemary stitch, and Mowse stitch

The smarting whip stitch, back stitch, and the crosse stitch

All these are good, and these we must allow,

And these are everywhere in practise now:

And in this booke there are of these some store,
With many others, never seene before.
Here practise and invention may be free.
And as a squirrel skips from tree to tree,

So maids may (from their mistresse or their mother)
Learne to leave one worke, and to learne another,
For here they may make choice of which is which,
And skip from worke to worke, from stitch to stitch,
Until, in time, delightful practise shall

(With profit) make them perfect in them all.

Thus hoping that these workes may have this guide, To serve for ornament, and not for pride:

To cherish vertue, banish idlenesse,

For these ends, may this booke have good successe."

273

CHAPTER XVII.

TAPESTRY FROM THE CARTOONS.

66

For, round about, the walls yclothed were

With goodly Arras of great majesty,
Woven with gold and silk so close and nere,
That the rich metal lurked privily,

As faining to be hidd from envious eye;

Yet here, and there, and every where unwares

It shew'd itselfe and shone unwillingly;

Like to' a discolour'd Snake, whose hidden snares Through the greene gras his long bright burnisht back declares." FAERIE QUEENE.

RAPHAEL, whose name is familiar to all " as a household word," scems to have been equally celebrated for a handsome person, an engaging address, an amiable disposition, and high talents. Language exhausts itself in his eulogy.* But the

*For example:-" Egli avea tenuto sempre un contegno da guadagnarsi il cuore di tutto. Rispettoso verso il maestro, ottenne dal Papa che le sue pitture in una volta delle camere Vaticane rimanessero intatte; giusto verso i suoi emuli ringraziava Dio d' averlo fatto nascere a' tempi del Bonarruoti; grazioso verso i discepoli gl' istruì e gli amò come figli; cortese anche verso gl' ignoti, a chiunque ricorse a lui per consiglio prestò liberalmente l'opera sua, e per far disegni al altrui o dar gl' indirizzo lasciò indietro talvolta i lavori propri, non sapendo non pure di negar grazia, ma differirla.”—Lanzi,

vol. ii.

Consequently when his body before interment lay in the room in

extravagant encomiums of Lanzi and others must be taken in a very modified sense, ere we arrive at the rigid truth. The tone of morals in Italy" did not correspond with evangelical purity;" and Raphael's follies were not merely permitted, but encouraged and fostered by those who sought eagerly for the creations of his pencil. His thousand engaging qualities were disfigured by a licentiousness which probably shortened his career, for he died at the early age of thirty-seven.

Great and sincere was the grief expressed at Rome for his untimely death, and no testimony of sorrow could be more affecting, more simple, or more highly honourable to its object than the placing his picture of the Transfiguration over his mortal remains in the chamber wherein he died.

which he was accustomed to paint, " Non v' ebbe si duro artefice che a quello spettacolo non lagrimasse."—" Ne pianse il Papa."

Of his works:-"Le sue figure veramente amano, languiscono, temono, sperano, ardiscono; mostrano ira, placabilità, umiltà, orgoglio, come mette bene alla storia: spesso chi mira que' volti, que' guardi, quelle mosse, non si ricorda che ha innanzi una immagine; si sente accendere, prende partito, crede di trovarsi in sul fatto.-Tutto parla nel silenzio; ogni attore, Il cor negli occhi e nella fronte ha scritto; i piccioli movimenti degli occhi, degli narici, della bocca, della dita corrispondono a' primi moti d' ogni passione ; i gesti più animatie più vivi ne descrivono la violenza; e cio ch' è più, essi variano in cento modi senza uscir mai del naturale, e si attemperano a cento caratteri senza uscir mai dalla proprietà. L'eroe ha movimenti da eroe, il volgar da volgare; e quel che non descriverebbe lingua nè penna, descrive in pochissimi tratti l'ingegno e l'arte di Raffaello." p. 65. "Il paese, gli elementi, gli animali, le fabbriche, le manifatture, ogni età dell' uomo, ogni condizione, ogui affetto, tutte comprese con la divinità del suo ingegno, tutto ridusce più bello."-p. 71.

I have thought this long extract pardonable as applied to one whose finest designs are now, through so many channels, rendered familiar to us.

It was probably within two years of the close of his short life when he was engaged by Pope Leo the Tenth to paint those cartoons which have more than all his works immortalised his name, and which render the brief hints we have given respecting him peculiarly appropriate to this work.

The cartoons were designs, from Scripture chiefly, from which were to be woven hangings to ornament the apartments of the Vatican; and their dimensions being of course proportioned to the spaces they were designed to fill, the tapestries, though equal in height, differed extremely in breadth.

The designs were,

1. The Nativity.

2. The Adoration of the Magi.

3.

4. The Slaughter of the Innocents.

5.)

6. The Presentation in the Temple.
7. The Miraculous Draught of Fishes.
8. St. Peter receiving the Keys.

9. The Descent of Christ into Limbus. 10. The Resurrection.

11. Noli me tangere.

12. Christ at Emmaus.
13. The Ascension.

14. The Descent of the Holy Ghost.
15. The Martyrdom of St. Stephen.
16. The Conversion of St. Paul.
17. Paul and Barnabas at Lystra.
18. Paul Preaching.

19. Death of Ananias.

20. Elymas the Sorcerer.

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