sufficient to carry the trouble-tossed mind of the writer heavenward beyond the reach of his tormentors; but in the artificial age to which he belonged his free thought was for ever checked and clogged by the fetters of classical pedantry, just as, to the shame of the age be it stated, his hands were loaded with manacles in the foul dungeon of St. Anna. The Renaissance or 'new birth unto liberty' in poetry was not by any means with him. Art is next put forward as the especial field of the Renaissance influence; but when the arts of design' are taken one by one, neither in architecture, sculpture, nor painting can the period commonly assigned to the Renaissance be said to bear the stamp of liberty. 'Renaissance architecture [writes Mr. Ruskin] is the school which has conducted men's inventive faculties from the Grand Canal to Gower Street; from the marble shaft and the lancet arch, the wreathed leafage and the glowing and melting harmony of gold and azure, to the square cavity in the brick wall.'1 No touches certainly are required to complete that picture. In sculpture the observation is so obvious as almost to appear trite, that it reached its zenith with Michael-Angelo— in which case Mr. Symonds's appellation of prophet or seer of the Renaissance is not well chosen-and that after that it declined to a servile copying of the classical or living model or an equally servile imitation of the chefs-d'œuvre of antiquity. The Renaissance cannot therefore be said to be a 'new birth to liberty' in sculpture. Nor yet in painting, for the same universal consent which bids all sculpture lead up to a climax in Michael-Angelo would make Raphael represent the culmination of the art of painting, and thence the decline of art is gradual but steady till it reaches those depths of which Mr. Symonds's latest volumes afford such convincing proof. Lastly, science. Was it a new birth unto liberty' which narrowed down to the study of the mere physical sciences of this material world the knowledge which in the thirteenth century was centred upon Him who created it all, by whose breath it was made, and by whose word 'The heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up'? How infinitely grander, freer, 1 Chapters in European History, vol. i. p. 284, quoting Lectures on Architecture, p. 134. 21 St. Peter iii. 10. VOL. XXV.NO. L. CC and more noble was the conception of the Schoolmen which placed theology on the throne of science, round which the other sciences revolved, borrowing their light from thence! 'With the old Schoolmen that God was the basis of all truth, the foundation of all sciences, was not a piece of pious rhetoric, but a scientific axiom. Necessary truth is unchangeable, they said, simply on account of His immutability; His All-Holy Nature is the source of morality, His Eternal Word the sanction of certainty. In this spirit they pursued their labours in every department of human thought, freely using in their search after truth every instrument proper for its discovery: observation, induction, deduction, abstraction, speculation.' 1 When, therefore, the Revival of Letters' had for its result the study of the humanities of literature to the exclusion of, or with the purpose of discrediting, the study of theology, in other words, the knowledge of God, man, by the exchange of the infinite for the finite, restricted instead of enlarging the confines of his reason, and the Renaissance must forego her claim to having wrought 'a new birth unto liberty' for science. What, then, was the Renaissance? If it is to be taken in the sense of a 'new birth unto liberty,' we have seen that it will not fit the period generally assigned to it in history by one great school of writers upon the subject. The evidence of facts would rather indicate that it ceased to exist at the time when, by a common but vague and misleading acceptation, it is supposed to have begun-that is, at that period of European history when from one cause or another the spirit of religion ceased to guide those highest intellectual faculties which, as they are derived from God, can only receive from Him their fullest and most perfect development. We must retrace our steps further down the stream of time, but we need not leave the beautiful country with which the word is pre-eminently connected, when we can find in Dante, Donatello, and Michael-Angelo living examples of the Renaissance in the highest, truest sense of the word; nor is the word 'living' misapplied, for from Him who can alone give immortality they derived the inspirations which have rendered their works immortal. Mr. Symonds's indictment against the Church of Rome is tremendous, and it is just, but he does not realize that the flagrant errors of the Catholic reaction were due to her having lost sight of her spiritual character and her divine commission, not because she insisted upon them too much. Chapters in European History, vol. i. p. 294. 1 What he terms in one place 'a venerable delusion' and in another 'the false deities of an antiquated religion,' is in truth the faith once delivered to the saints,' which was placed in sore jeopardy when those who should have been its guardians were the victims of worldly ambition and vice. But the remedy is not to be found in rationalism, which it is much to be regretted has 'penetrated and permeated the Christian races,' nor yet in Protestantism, nor any rash handling of the faith of Christ. "Vie più che indarno da riva si parte, Par. xiii. 121-9. Nor can the heart created to love, serve, and worship, rest content with the mere cold negation of error. Nearly half a century ago one of those earnest minds and zealous natures who, from the very ranks of the Church of Rome, have from time to time pleaded with fearless self-sacrifice the cause of truth and justice, suggested, while leaving the events of history to slumber in the 'domaine paisible du passé,' a noble future for 'l'institution Catholique languissante et persécutée, principalement par les pouvoirs qui affectent de s'en déclarer protecteurs. Il pensoit qu'elle devoit étendre ses racines presque desséchées dans le sein de l'humanité même, pour y puiser de nouveau la sève qui lui manquoit et qu'en unissant sa cause à celle des peuples, elle pourroit recouvrer sa vigueur éteinte, régulariser le mouvement social et le hâter en lui imprimant ce caractère religieux qui naturellement lié à tous les instincts de l'homme est aussi une force et la plus grande. Quelque chose de semblable à ce qui se passa lors de la première prédication de l'Evangile paraissoit nécessaire pour ramener au Catholicisme 1 'Since he returns not such as forth he went, He goes far more than vainly from the shore To fish for truth, who lacks art competent. Parmenides, Melissus, and (with more) Brissus, this plainly to the world disclose ; Who went, and knew not whither their way bore. So did Sabellius, Arius, and those Whose folly made them mar, as swords, the pure defaillant les populations qui s'en éloignoient. La fraternité universelle proclamée par Jésus, cette doctrine si belle, si constante, si divine, recueillie dans les profondeurs désolées de l'âme humaine y ranima soudain les germes flétris du vrai et du bien, que Dieu y avait déposés originairement. Ce qu'une société égoiste et corrompue avait abaissé le Christ le releva, Rénovateur des lois immuables, de l'oubli desquels étaient sortis tant de maux, tant de crimes, tant d'oppressions, il effaça devant le commun Père, qui ne fait point d'exception entre ses enfants, toutes les distinctions créées par l'orgueil et la cupidité. Il plaça le pauvre en face du riche, le foible en présence du fort, et il demanda quel est le plus grand? Et le plus grand, ce ne fut ni le fort à cause de sa force, ni le foible à cause de sa foiblesse, ni le riche à cause de son opulence, ni le pauvre à cause de sa dénûment, mais celui qui accompliroit plus parfaitement le souverain précepte d'aimer Dieu et les hommes. Les droits les plus sacrés, parce qu'ils n'avoient d'autre défense qu'eux-mêmes, furent les droits de ceux à qui jusque là on n'avait reconnu aucuns droits : les devoirs les plus étendus furent les devoirs de ceux qui s'étoient cru au-dessus de tout devoir. Le titre de serviteur devint la définition même du pouvoir. On dut se faire le dernier pour être le premier.' 1 Since these eloquent words were penned, the future of Italy has advanced far upon its way, and Mr. Symonds does not paint his picture in too bright colours when he says that 'in this year of grace we have before us the spectacle of a resuscitated Italy. In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the work of her heroes, Vittorio Emmanuele, Mazzini, Garibaldi, and Cavour, stands firmly founded. The creation of united Italy, that latest birth of the Italian genius, that most impossible of dreamed-of triumphs through long ages of her glory and greatness, compensates for all that she has borne in these three hundred years.' 2 But when, in order to traverse the space of time in front,. incalculably longer than that which is left behind,' he proceeds to invoke the assistance of faith, hope, and charity, we feel that we need hardly recall to so practised a student of Dante that these are theological virtues placed on that account in the highest spheres of the Paradiso, and that they would point to a greater future yet, which, still beginning with Italy, may extend to the uttermost parts of the earth-a future which will only be fulfilled when united Christendom shall once more join in the worship of Him 'in knowledge of Whom standeth our eternal life, whose service is perfect freedom.' 1 Affaires de Rome, par F. Lamennais, vol. i. pp. 5, 6. ART. VI. THE CULTURE OF THE HORRIBLE : MR. HAGGARD'S STORIES. 1. The Witch's Head. A Novel. By H. RIDER HAGGARD. (London.) 2. King Solomon's Mines. By H. RIDER HAGGARD. Fortyeighth thousand. (London, 1887.) ་ 3. She. A History of Adventure. By H. RIDER HAGGARD. Sixth edition. Thirty-first to Thirty-fifth thousand. (London, 1887.) 4. Allan Quatermain. Being an Account of his further Adventures and Discoveries in company with Sir Henry Curtis, Bart., Commander John Good, R.N., and one Umslopogaas. By H. RIDER HAGGARD. 1887.) (London, 5. Jess. Third edition. By H. RIDER HAGGARD. (London, 1887.) IT requires no little consideration rightly to estimate the relation which novels bear to life in the present day. Whilst great advance has been made in every branch of human knowledge, and the accumulation of facts renders a mastery of any subject harder for ourselves than it was for our forefathers, the hurry and pressure of modern life tends to make those books most popular which awaken interest without demanding the exercise of thought. To meet this condition of the public mind every conceivable lesson, sacred and profane, scientific and artistic, historical and social, orthodox and sceptical, is disguised under the garb of fiction, until mere stories probably exercise a larger influence at this moment than at any other period in the world's history. If we may judge from some recent indications, we shall soon be reaping the natural result of this indulgence of modern craving for naked intellectual indolence. We have still amongst us many authors who worthily maintain the high dignity acquired for fiction by Miss Austen and Sir Walter Scott, by Thackeray and George Eliot; but is there not some reason to fear that novel-writing is rapidly descending to the level of mere narrative of startling incident? Is description of adventure not taking the place of delineation of character? Is the hasty dash of the scene-painter to supersede the thoughtful finish of the genuine artist? Is a taste springing up-to which some popular authors are not ashamed to pander-which craves |