model factory-school in the town of Bradford, Yorkshire, where, "from the number of mills in its vicinity, a large attendance of factory children might be anticipated, and where the opportunities of sound religious education are well known to be lamentably deficient." In the same town a large school-room has also been opened for daily instruction, the progress made in which, during a short trial of six weeks, has been most encouraging. Numerous other schools of this kind have been opened with complete success. The progress made, as ascertained by an inspector, at the various schools under care of the Society, forms the next (and a pleasing) topic. After this we come to the regulations for the foundation of training-schools. The extensive arrangements for a college of schoolmasters, which has been fitted up at Stanley Grove, Chelsea, and the mode in which the teachers are trained; the establishment of instruction for adult masters to supply present emergencies (until the training-schools shall have been long enough in existence to provide their own teachers); are subjects on which we have not space to dwell. We could wish any alternative had been left us, rather than that of hurrying thus rapidly over matters of such vital importance; but we hope we have said enough to awaken curiosity, and trust that every churchman will read the Report itself, and seriously weigh its claims to his consideration.

The Pilgrim's Staff and Christian's Daily Walk. By H. Smith, Sec. King's College. Houlston & Hughes.

This is a compilation evincing at the same time extensive reading, good taste in selection, and sound practical piety. There are 365 pages, each devoted to one day in the year, and containing two Scripture texts; with, under each, illustrative extracts from the writings of the fathers, or modern divines of approved excellence. The judgment which has throughout guided the selection cannot be sufficiently praised.

Coloured Illustrations of British Birds and their Eggs. By H. L. Meyer. Fraser.

We imagine that this work will find a place in the libraries of all who take delight in the study of Ornithology. The illustrations are very beautiful, both in design and colouring, and are accompanied by descriptions which, without losing their accuracy, are sufficiently enlivened by anecdote to take away that dryness which often renders scientific works unreadable. The work is publishing in monthly parts, each of which contains three illustrations of birds, and one of their eggs; the latter being drawn of the natural size.

Second Report of the Society for the Treatment and Attendance of Poor Persons afflicted with Diseases and Distortions of the Spine, Chest, and Hips. Houlston & Hughes.

The benevolent object of this Society really seems carried out to an extent far beyond what might have been expected from the smallness of the funds for its assistance. The success which has attended the peculiar treatment of Dr. Verral must be highly gratifying.

The Child at Home. Talboys.

A little Monthly Magazine for very young children, inculcating Scripture truth in the simplest and most pleasing manner.

THE

KING'S COLLEGE MAGAZINE.

MARCH, 1842.

MEMOIR OF RAPHAEL.

Ir is, perhaps, but reasonable to expect that he who engages to satisfy men's curiosity concerning those who have in any age, or by any means, rendered themselves famous, when many have undertaken the same office before him, should have good reasons to show why he sets himself to the task of informing others, and should be able to justify himself from the charge of undue presumption. And such an one, too, has little encouragement; for, besides the anticipation of failure, he knows that, if he succeed in pleasing, he has done no more than many others have done far better; and, if he miss his aim, his disgrace is the greater, for having fallen where many others have stood. The readers, then, of this paper, when they see the words which head it, may be supposed to look for some new fact, some hitherto unheard of discovery, now for the first time to be brought to light; some announcement of private documents, or information from authentic sources; or, if for nothing novel, at least for an interesting narrative, or an old and well-known story amusingly illustrated, and arrayed in a new dress; and we may imagine their contempt when they find the author declaring that he is unable to offer the one, or presume the other. It is his intention only to place before such of his readers as have not opportunity or inclination to search into more extensive and more worthy treatises, in a short and compendious form, those particulars in the life and character of the greatest painter of modern times, which will be most likely to interest the general reader. If he succeed in interesting, his

greatest desire is accomplished; if he fail, his fall cannot be dangerous, from the humble position which he has taken.

The subject of this memoir was born at Urbino, in 1483; at a period most famous for the greatest professors of the arts, and for the most magnificent patrons. It seemed, indeed, as if Nature had crowded into the same era the greatest of her imitators, that, by their mutual emulation and their exertions, the art of painting might be brought to a height of perfection which it has never since attained. The father of Raphael was one Giovanni di Santi, a painter of inferior talents, who could contribute but little to the advancement of his son's genius by his instructions, beyond initiating him in a simple style, free from the stiff and formal mannerism of his age.

For his disposition, which was always remarkable for its great suavity, and for his great love of the graceful, and pursuit of ideal beauty, he was probably indebted, like many other great men, to his mother, whose tenderness had considerable effect in developing that warmth of imagination, and susceptibility of mind, which so emis nently characterise his works. His earliest studies were directed towards the works of Fra Carnivale, a painter who, for that age, possessed merit of no common order; and he was soon after placed under the care of Pietro Perugino, of whose style he speedily-became master, and whose powers he rapidly surpassed. In those paintings in which he imitated Perugino's manner, a great improvement over his teacher may be detected, and a beauty in his female figures which Perugino never equalled. This is particularly displayed in his Nuptials of the Virgin, in the church of St. Francis, in which, though the composition bears a strong resemblance to that adopted by his master, the marks of a new and original manner are evident. The heads of the most prominent figures have a degree of beauty which Raphael himself hardly ever surpassed in his later years; and, in the words of the translator of Lanzi," in this group we should look in vain for that scantiness of drapery, that dryness and mannerism, and that affectation of beauty, which, in Pietro's works, sometimes degenerate into the insipid.". This shows how far the young artist, scarcely yet in his seventeenth year, had already surpassed the works of a practised professor; and how, with little study and inferior opportunities, his own extraordinary and innate talents could support him in the higher branches of the art. Having acquired some degree of reputation for what he had already done, and raised much expec

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tation of his future celebrity, he became engaged at Siena on an historical painting of considerable magnitude, which was designed to represent the memorable actions of Æneas Silvius, Piccolomini, who afterwards became Pope Pius II. An undertaking so vast as this had never as yet been committed to a single artist; historical subjects such as this were new to Raphael; and no ordinary. powers of invention were required to furnish eleven pieces, representing the incidents in the life of a man engaged in most various scenes, and in contact with courts of the greatest possible luxury and magnificence. However, little daunted by the magnitude of his undertaking, the young artist prepared all the sketches necessary, but was induced to discontinue his work, in consequence of his haste to proceed to Florence, that he might have an opportunity of viewing the works of Da Vinci and Buonarotti. Arrived at Florence, with the principles of his system already formed, he now merely studied to perfect himself in its execution, and to acquire a store of ideas for any work he might undertake. He there formed a friendship with many of the painters; but history does not inform us whether he ever became acquainted with Michael Angelo and Leonardo da Vinci. He executed many works during his stay in that city, and was about to commence a grand enterprise, when he was recalled to Rome by his uncle Bramante, who had recommended him to the Pope, Julius II., for the proposed paintings at the Vatican. At Rome he was naturally led to study the remains of Grecian art, and from that study he acquired the delicacy and grace which are so remarkable in his figures; and, under the tuition of Bramante, he became so thoroughly versed in ancient architecture, that he was judged not unworthy of superintending the building of St. Peter's. He was now brought into competition with his great rival Buonarotti, who was assisted by Fra Sebastiano. Nor are the subjects on which they were employed unworthy of these great men: they were employed to portray the mysteries and advancement of the Christian religion, military achievements which had effected its establishment, and those past events which had shone in the reigns of the two greatest pontiffs, Julius II. and Leo X.; and no favourable circumstance was wanting to stimulate these noble minds to the highest exertions. About this time Raphael was employed to paint some of the chambers of the Vatican: the subject was intended to illustrate the sciences; and in this, under the department of Philosophy, he introduced what has been called the School of Athens. Such was the superiority

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of his conception and execution, that the Pope ordered all the paintings in the same chamber to be effaced, that Raphael's hand alone might be seen in the whole. The first chamber was com pleted in the year 1511. It happened about this time that Raphael, improved by the contemplation of such exalted subjects, began to impart to his figures a grandeur and majesty which he had not as yet employed; and about this same period, Michael Angelo, having enraged the pontiff, was obliged to leave his paintings in the Sistine Chapel, and fly to Florence. It is said by the partisans of the latter painter, that Raphael profited by the absence of Buonarotti; and, after having viewed the paintings, adopted a different style, and forthwith produced the Prophets and Sibyls in the Church della Pace. This question produced a fierce controversy, contested with much acrimony on both sides; and many were the arguments brought forward, and bitter the recrimination used, on such an unimportant point. It is not, however, in our power to debate the question; but it seems as probable that Raphael was more indebted to the study of ancient figures and torsi⚫than to his contemplation of the works of his rival; though the latter may have given a new turn to his thoughts. Raphael still continued painting, and leaving fresh proofs of his transcendent genius in every thing he touched; but soon, with his happiest effort, his life was to end. About this period he planned and executed the Cartoons, which alone, if he had never attempted another work, would have gained for him immortality. It was about two years before his death when he undertook them, at the instigation of the Pope, and he completed twenty-five, on subjects taken from the Seriptures. It is quite needless to attempt the description of them, as they are well known from able engravings. Of the twenty-five, seven were purchased by Charles I., by the advice of Rubens, then in England: when the king's effects were sold they passed into the hands of Oliver Cromwell, and have remained in England ever since.

Michael Angelo, on his return to Rome, annoyed by the reports of his rival's superiority, furnished his friend Sebastiano with designs for several large works, hoping, by this union of their talents, to overcome Raphael: Sebastiano took for his subject the Raising of Lazarus; Raphael the Transfiguration. This painting, so well known by description that it is needless again to describe it, was his masterpiece, and is said to possess far greater beauties than any previous work; in the head of our Saviour,