And now, my good friend, methinks I have given you a pretty fair account of the more prominent features of this city--in regard to its public sights; whether as connected with still or active life: as churches, palaces, or theatres. It remains, therefore, to return again, briefly, but yet willingly, to the subject of BOOKS; or rather, to the notice of two _Private Collections,_ especially deserving of description--and of which, the first is that of the EMPEROR HIMSELF.
His Majesty"s collection of Books and Prints is kept upon the second and third floors of a portion of the building connected with the great Imperial library. Mr. T. YOUNG is the librarian; and he also holds the honourable office of being Secretary of his Majesty"s privy council. He is well deserving of both situations, for he fills them with ability and success.
He has the perfect appearance of an Englishman, both in figure and face. As he speaks French readily and perfectly well, our interviews have been frequent, and our conversations such as have led me to think that we shall not easily forget each other. But for the library, of which he is the guardian. It is contained in three or four rooms of moderate dimensions, and has very much the appearance of an English Country Gentleman"s collection of about 10,000 volumes. The bindings are generally in good taste: in full-gilt light and gray calf--with occasional folios and quartos resplendent in morocco and gold. I hardly know when I have seen a more cheerful and comfortable looking library; and was equally gratified to find such a copious sprinkling of publications from Old England.
But my immediate, and indeed princ.i.p.al object, was, a list of a few of the _Rarities_ of the Emperor"s private collection, as well in ms. as in print.
Mr. Young placed before me much that was exquisite and interesting in the former, and splendid and creditable in the latter, department. He begged of me to judge with my own eyes, and determine for myself; and he would then supply me with a list of what he considered to be most valuable and splendid in the collection. Accordingly, what here ensues, must be considered as the united descriptions of my guide and myself:--Mr. Young having composed his memoranda in the Latin language. First, of the Ma.n.u.sCRIPTS. The _Gospels;_ a vellum folio:--with illuminated capitals, and thirteen larger paintings, supposed to be of the thirteenth--but I suspect rather of the fourteenth--century. A _Breviary ... "for the use of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy_" This vellum MS. is of the fifteenth century, and was executed for the distinguished character to whom it is expressly dedicated. This is really an elegant volume: written in the gothic character of the period, and sprinkled with marginal and capital initial decorations. Here are--as usual in works of this kind, executed for princes and great men--divers illuminations of figures of saints, of which there are three of larger size than the rest: and, of these three, one is eminently interesting, as exhibiting a small portrait of DUKE CHARLES himself, kneeling before his tutelary saint.
Here is an exceedingly pretty octavo volume of _Hours,_ of the fifteenth century, fresh and sparkling in its illuminations, with marginal decorations of flowers, monsters, and capriccios. It is in the binding of the time--the wood, covered with gilt ornaments. _Office of the Virgin:_ a neat vellum MS. of the fourteenth century--with ornamented capital initials and margins, and about two dozen of larger illuminations. But the chief attraction of this MS. arises from the text having been written by four of the most celebrated Princesses of the House of Austria, whose names are inscribed in the first fly leaf.
Here is a "_Boccace des Cas des n.o.bles_" by Laurent Premier Fait--which is indeed every where. Nor must a sprinkle of _Roman Cla.s.sics_ be omitted to be noticed, however briefly. A _Celsus, Portions of Livy,_ the _Metamorphosis of Ovid_, _Seneca"s Tragedies_, the _aeneid of Virgil_, and _Juvenal_: none, I think, of a later period than the beginning or middle of the fifteenth century--just before the invention of printing. Among the MSS. of a miscellaneous cla.s.s, are two which I was well pleased to examine: namely, the _Funerailles des Reines de France_, in folio--adorned with eleven large illuminations of royal funerals--and a work ent.i.tled _Mayni Jasonis Juris consulti Eq. Rom. Caes., &c, Epitalamion, in_ 4to. The latter MS. is, in short, an epithalamium upon the marriage of Maximilian the Great and Blanche Maria, composed by M. Jaso, who was a ducal senator, and attached to the emba.s.sy which returned with the destined bride for Maximilian. What is its _chief_ ornament, in my estimation, are two sweetly executed small portraits of the royal husband and his consort. I was earnest to have fac-similes of them; and Mr. Young gave me the strongest a.s.surances that my wishes should be attended to.[148] Thus much; or perhaps thus little, for the MSS. Still more brief must be my account of the PRINTED BOOKS: and first for a fifteener or two. It is an edition of _Dio Chrysostom de Regno_, without date, or name of printer, in 4to.; but most decidedly executed (as I told Mr. Young) by _Valdarfer_. What renders this copy exceedingly precious is, that it is printed UPON VELLUM; and is, I think, the only known copy so executed. It is in beautiful condition. Here is a pretty volume of _Hours_, in Latin, with a French metrical version, printed in the fifteenth century, without date, and struck off UPON VELLUM.
It has wood-cuts, which are coloured of the time. From a copy of ms.
verses, at the beginning of the volume, we learn that "the author of this metrical version was _Peter Gringore,_ commonly called _Vaudemont_, herald at arms to the Duke of Lorraine; who dedicated and brought this very copy to _Renatus of Bourbon_." I was much struck with a magnificent folio _Missal_, printed at Venice by that skilful typographical artist _I.H. de Landoia,_ in 1488--UPON VELLUM: with the cuts coloured.[149] A few small vellum _Hours_ by _Vostre_ and Vivian are sufficiently pretty.
In the cla.s.s of books printed upon vellum, and continuing with the sixteenth century, I must not fail to commence with the notice of two copies of the _Tewrdannckh_, each of the date of 1517, and each UPON VELLUM. One is coloured, and the other not coloured. Mr. Young describes the former in the following animated language: "Exemplar omnibus numeris absolutum, optimeque servatum. Praestantissimum, rarissimumque tum typographicae, tum xylographicae artis, monumentum." _Lucani Pharsalia,_ 1811. Folio. Printed by Degen. A beautiful copy, of a magnificent book, UPON VELLUM; ill.u.s.trated by ten copper plates. _M.C. Frontonis Opera: edidit Maius Mediol_. 1815. 4to. An unique copy; upon vellum. _Flore Medicale decrite par Chaumeton & peinte par Mme. E. Panckoucke & I.F.
Turpin. Paris,_ 1814. Supposed to be unique, as a vellum copy; with the original drawings, and the cuts printed in bistre. Here is also a magnificent work, called "_Omaggio delle Provincie Venetae_" upon the nuptials of the present Emperor and Empress of Austria. It consists of seventeen copper-plates, printed upon vellum, and preserved in two cases, covered with beautiful ornaments and figures, in worked gold and silver, &c. Of this magnificent production of art, there were two copies only printed upon vellum, and this is one of them.
Up stairs, on the third floor, is kept his Majesty"s COLLECTION of ENGRAVED PORTRAITS--which amount, as Mr. Young informed me, to not fewer than 120,000 in number. They commence with the earliest series, from the old German and Italian masters, and descend regularly to our own times. Of course such a collection contains very much that is exquisite and rare in the series of _British Portraits_. Mr. Young is an Italian by birth; but has been nurtured, from earliest youth, in the Austrian dominions. He is a man of strong cultivated parts, and so fond of the literature of the "_Zodiacus Vitae_" of _Marcellus Palingenius_--translated by our _Barnabe Googe_: of the editions of which translation he was very desirous that I should procure him a copious and correct list. But it is the gentle and obliging manners--the frank and open-hearted conversation--and, above all, the high-minded devotedness to his Royal master and to his interests, that attach, and ever will attach, Mr. Young to me--by ties of no easily dissoluble nature. We have parted ... perhaps never to meet again; but he may rest a.s.sured that the recollection of his kindnesses ("Semper honos nomenque," &c.) will never be obliterated from my memory.[150]
Scarcely a stone"s throw from the Imperial Library, is the n.o.ble mansion of the venerable DUKE ALBERT of _Saxe-Teschen:_ the husband of the lady to whose memory Canova has erected the proudest trophy of his art. This amiable and accomplished n.o.bleman has turned his eightieth year; and is most liberal and kind in the display of all the treasures which belong to him.[151] These "treasures" are of a first-rate character; both as to _Drawings_ and _Prints_. He has no rival in the _former_ department, and even surpa.s.ses the Emperor in the latter. I visited and examined his collection (necessarily in a superficial manner) twice; paying only particular attention to the drawings of the Italian school--including those of Claude Lorraine. I do not know what is in our _own_ royal collection, but I may safely say that our friend Mr. Ottley has some finer _Michel Angelos and Raffaelles_--and the Duke of Devonshire towers, beyond all compet.i.tion, in the possession of _Claude Lorraines_. Yet you are to know that the drawings of Duke Albert amount to nearly 12,000 in number. They are admirably well arranged--in a large, light room--overlooking the ramparts. Having so recently examined the productions of the earlier masters in the German school, at Munich--but more particularly in Prince Eugene"s collection of prints, in the Imperial Library here--I did not care to look after those specimens of the same masters which were in the port folios of the Duke Albert. The _Albert Durer_ drawings, however, excited my attention, and extorted the warmest commendation. It is quite delightful to learn (for so M. Bartsch told me--the Duke himself being just now at Baden) that this dignified and truly respectable old man, yet takes delight in the treasures of his own incomparable collection. "Whenever I visit him (said my "fidus Achates" M.B.) he begs me to take a chair and sit beside him; and is anxious to obtain intelligence of any thing curious, or rare, or beautiful, which may add to the worth of his collection."
It is now high time, methinks, to take leave not only of public and private collections of books, but of almost every thing else in Vienna. Yet I must add a word connected with literature and the fine arts. As to the former, it seems to sleep soundly. Few or no literary societies are encouraged, few public discussions are tolerated, and the capital of the empire is without either _reviews_ or _inst.i.tutions_--which can bear the least comparison with our own. The library of the University is said, however, to hold fourscore thousand volumes. Few critical works are published there; and for _one_ Greek or Roman cla.s.sic put forth at Vienna, they have _half_ a _score_ at Leipsic, Franckfort, Leyden, and Strasbourg. But in Oriental literature, M. Hammer is a tower of strength, and justly considered to be the pride of his country. The Academy of Painting is here a mere shadow of a shade. In the fine arts, Munich is as six to one beyond Vienna. A torpidity, amounting to infatuation, seems to possess those public men who have influence both on the councils and prosperity of their country. When the impulse for talent, furnished by the antique gems belonging to the Imperial collection,[152] is considered, it is surprising how little has been accomplished at Vienna for the last century. M. Bartsch is, however, a proud exception to any reproach arising from the want of indigenous talent.
His name and performances alone are a host against such captious imputations.[153] There wants only a few wiser heads, and more active spirits, in some of the upper circles of society, and Vienna might produce graphic works as splendid as they would be permanent.
We will now leave the city for the country, or rather for the immediate neighbourhood of Vienna; and then, having, I think, sent you a good long Vienna despatch, must hasten to take leave--not only of yourself, but of this metropolis. Whether I shall again write to you before I cross the Rhine on my return home--is quite uncertain. Let me therefore make the most of the present: which indeed is of a most unconscionable length. Turn, for one moment, to the opening of it--and note, there, some mention made of certain monasteries--one of which is situated at CLOSTERNEUBURG, the other in the suburbs. I will first take you to the former--a pleasant drive of about nine miles from hence. Mr. Lewis, myself, and our attendant Rohfritsch, hired a pair of horses for the day; and an hour and a half brought us to a good inn, or Restaurateur"s immediately opposite the monastery in question. In our route thither, the Danube continued in sight all the way--which rendered the drive very pleasant. The river may be the best part of a mile broad, near the monastery. The sight of the building in question was not very imposing, after those which I had seen in my route to Vienna. The monastery is, in fact, an incomplete edifice; but the foundations of the building are of an ancient date.[154] Having postponed our dinner to a comparatively late hour, I entered, as usual, upon the business of the monastic visit. The court-yard, or quadrangle, had a mean appearance; but I saw enough of architectural splendour to convince me that, if this monastery had been completed according to the original design, it would have ranked among the n.o.blest in Austria.
On obtaining admission, I enquired for the librarian, but was told that he had not yet (two o"clock) risen from dinner. I apologised for the intrusion, and begged respectfully to be allowed to wait till he should be disposed to leave the dining-room. The attendant, however, would admit of no such arrangement; for he instantly disappeared, and returned with a monk, habited in the _Augustine_ garb, with a grave aspect and measured step. He might be somewhere about forty years of age. As he did not understand a word of French, it became necessary again to brush up my Latin. He begged I would follow him up stairs, and in the way to the library, would not allow me to utter one word further in apology for my supposed rudeness in bringing him thus abruptly from his "symposium." A more good natured man seemingly never opened his lips. Having reached the library, the first thing he placed before me--as the boast and triumph of their establishment--was, a large paper copy (in quarto) of an edition of the _Hebrew Bible_, edited by I. Hahn, one of their fraternity, and published in 1806, 4 vols.[155] This was accomplished under the patronage of the Head of the Monastery, _Gaudentius Dunkler_: who was at the sole expense of the paper and of procuring new Hebrew types. I threw my eye over the dedication to the President, by Hahn, and saw the former with pleasure recognised as the MODERN XIMENES.
Having thanked the librarian for a sight of these volumes--of which there is an impression in an octavo and cheap form, "for the use of youth"--I begged that I might have a sight of the _Incunabula Typographica_ of which I had heard a high character. He smiled, and said that a few minutes would suffice to undeceive me in this particular. Whereupon he placed before me ... such a set of genuine, unsoiled, uncropt, _undoctored_, ponderous folio tomes ... as verily caused my eyes to sparkle, and my heart to leap!
They were, upon the whole---and for their number--_such_ copies as I had never before seen. You have here a very accurate account of them--taken, with the said copies "oculis subjectis." _St. Austin de Civitate Dei_, 1467. _Folio_. A very large and sound copy, in the original binding of wood; but not free from a good deal of ms. annotation. _Mentelin"s German Bible_; somewhat cropt, and in its second binding, but sound and perfect.
_Supposed first German Bible_: a large and fine copy, in its first binding of wood. _Apuleius_, 1469. Folio. The largest and finest copy which, I think, I ever beheld--with the exception of some slight worm holes at the end. _Livius_, 1470. Folio. 2 vols. _Printed by V. de Spira._ In the original binding. When I say that this copy appears to be full as fine as that in the collection of Mr. Grenville, I bestow upon it the highest possible commendation. _Plutarchi Vit. Parall._ 2 vol. Folio. In the well known peculiarly shaped letter R. This copy, in one magnificent folio volume, is the largest and finest I ever saw: but--eheu! a few leaves are wanting at the end. _Polybius. Lat._ 1473. Folio. The printers are Sweynheym and Pannartz. A large, fine copy; in the original binding of wood: but four leaves at the end, with a strong foxy tint at top, are worm-eaten in the middle.
Let me pursue this _amusing_ strain; for I have rarely, within so small a s.p.a.ce--in any monastic library I have hitherto visited--found such a sprinkling of cla.s.sical volumes. _Plinius Senior_, 1472. Folio. Printed by Jenson. A prodigiously fine, large copy. A ms. note, prefixed, says: "_hunc librum comparuit Jacobus Pemperl pro viij t d. an [14]88," &c. Xenophontis Cyropaedia_. Lat. _Curante Philelpho_. With the date of the translation, 1467. A very fine copy of a well printed book. _Mammotrectus_, 1470. Folio.
Printed by Schoeffher. A fine, white, tall copy; in its original wooden binding. _Sti. Jeronimi Epistolae_. 1470. Folio. Printed by Sweynheym and Pannartz. In one volume: for size and condition probably unrivalled. In its first binding of wood. _Gratiani Decretales_. 1472. Folio. Printed by Schoeffher. UPON VELLUM: in one enormous folio volume, and in an unrivalled state of perfection. Perhaps, upon the whole, the finest vellum Schoeffher in existence. It is in its original binding, but some of the leaves are loose. _Opus Consiliorum I. de Calderi_. 1472. Idem Opus: _Anthonii de Burtrio_. 1472. Folio. Each work printed by _Adam Rot, Metensis_: a rare printer, but of whose performances I have now seen a good number of specimens. These works are in one volume, and the present is a fine sound copy. _Petri Lombardi Quat. Lib. Sentent_. Folio. This book is without name of printer or date; but I should conjecture it to be executed in Eggesteyn"s largest gothic character, and, from a ms. memorandum at the end, we are quite sure that the book was printed in 1471 at latest. The memorandum is as follows: "_Iste liber est magistri Leonardi Fruman de Hyersaw_, 1471."
Such appeared to me to be the choicer, and more to be desiderated, volumes in the monastic library of Closterneuberg--which a visit of about a couple of hours only enabled me to examine. I say "_desiderated_"--my good friend--because, on returning home, I revolved within myself what might be done with propriety towards the _possession_ of them.[156] Having thanked the worthy librarian, and expressed the very great satisfaction afforded me by a sight of the books in question--which had fully answered the high character given of them--I returned to the auberge--dined with an increased appet.i.te in consequence of such a sight--and, picking up a "white stone,"
as a lucky omen, being at the very extent of my _Bibliographical_, _Antiquarian_, and _Picturesque Tour_--returned to Vienna, to a late cup of tea; well satisfied, in every respect, with this most agreeable excursion.
There now remains but one more subject to be noticed--and, then, farewell to this city--and hie for Manheim, Paris, and Old England! That one subject is again connected with old books and an old Monastery ... which indeed the opening of this letter leads you to antic.i.p.ate. In that part of the vast suburbs of Vienna which faces the north, and which is called the ROSSAU--there stands a church and a _Capuchin convent_, of some two centuries antiquity: the latter, now far gone to decay both in the building and revenues. The outer gate of the convent was opened--as at the Capuchin convent which contains the imperial sepulchres--by a man with a long, bushy, and wiry beard ... who could not speak one word of French. I was alone, and a hackney coach had conveyed me thither. What was to be done.
"_Bibliothecam hujusce Monasterii valde videre cupio--licetne Domine?"_ The monk answered my interrogatory with a sonorous "_imo_:" and the gates closing upon us, I found myself in the cloisters--where my attendant left me, to seek the Princ.i.p.al and librarian. In two minutes, I observed a couple of portly Capuchins, pacing the pavement of the cloister, and approaching me with rather a hurried step. On meeting, they saluted me formally--and a.s.suming a cheerful air, begged to conduct me to the library.
We were quickly within a room, of very moderate dimensions, divided into two compartments, of which the shelves were literally thronged and crammed with books, lying in all directions, and completely covered with dust. It was impossible to make a selection from such an indigested farrago: but the backs happening to be lettered, this afforded me considerable facility. I was told that the "WHOLE LIBRARY WAS AT MY DISPOSAL!"--which intelligence surprised and somewhat staggered me. The monks seemed to enjoy my expression of astonishment.
I went to work quickly; and after upwards of an hour"s severe rummaging, among uninteresting folios and quartos of medicine, canon-law, scholastic metaphysics, and dry comments upon the decretals of Popes Boniface and Gratian--it was rather from courtesy, than complete satisfaction, that I pitched upon a few ... of a miscellaneous description--begging to have the account, for which the money should be immediately forthcoming. They replied that my wishes should be instantly attended to--but that it would be necessary to consult together to reconsider the prices--and that a porter should be at the hotel of the _Crown of Hungary_, with the volumes selected--to await my final decision. As a _book-bill_ sent from a monastery, and written in the Latin language, may be considered _unique_ in our country--and a curiosity among the _Roxburghers _--I venture to send you a transcript of it: premising, that I retained the books, and paid down the money: somewhere about _6l. 16s. 6d_. You will necessarily smile at the epithets bestowed upon your friend.
Plurimum Reverende, ac Venerande Domine!
Mitto c.u.m hisce, quos tibi seligere placuit, libros, eosdemque hic breviter describo, addito pretio, quo n.o.bis conventum est; et quidem ex catalogo desumptos:
Florins.
Missale Rom. pro Pataviensis Ecclae ritu. 1494 5 Missa defunctorum. 1499 3 Val. Martialis Epigrammatum opus. 1475 25 Xenophontis Apologia Socratis 3 Epulario &c. 1 De Conceptu et triplici Mariae V. Candore 1 ac demum Trithemii Annales Hirsaug. et Aristotelis opera Edit. Sylburgii 35 ----- 73 Quae cuncta Tibi optime convenire, Teque valere perpetim precor et opto.
P. JOAN. SARCANDER MRA.
_Ord. Serv. B.M.V._
This is the last _bibliomaniacal_ transaction in which I am likely to be engaged at Vienna; for, within thirty-six hours from hence, the post horses will be in the archway of this hotel, with their heads turned towards Old England. In that direction my face will be also turned ... for the next month or five weeks to come; being resolved upon spending the best part of a fortnight of those five weeks, at _Ratisbon_, _Nuremberg_, and _Manheim_.
You may therefore expect to hear from me again--certainly for the _last_ time--at Manheim, just before crossing the Rhine for Chalons sur Marne, Metz, and Paris. I shall necessarily have but little leisure on the road--for a journey of full 500 miles is to be encountered before I reach the hither bank of the Rhine at Manheim.
Farewell then to VIENNA:--a long, and perhaps final farewell! If I have arrived at a moment when this capital is comparatively thinned of its population, and bereft of its courtly splendors--and if this city may be said to be _now_ dull, compared with what its _winter_ gaieties will render it--I shall nevertheless not have visited it IN VAIN. Books, whether as MSS. or printed volumes, have been inspected by me with an earnestness and profitable result--not exceeded by any previous similar application: while the company of men of worth, of talents, and of kindred tastes, has rendered my social happiness complete. The best of hearts, and the friendliest of dispositions, are surely to be found in the capital of Austria. Farewell. It is almost the hour of midnight--and not a single note of the harp or violin is to be heard in the streets. The moon shines softly and sweetly. G.o.d bless you.
[134] In Hartman Schedel"s time, these suburbs seem to have been equally distinguished. "Habet (says he, speaking of Vienna) SUBURBIA MAXIMA et AMBICIOSA." _Chron. Norimb._ 1493. fol. xcviii. rev.
[135] Schedel"s general description of the city of Vienna, which is equally brief and spirited, may deserve to be quoted. "VIENNA autem urbs magnifica ambitu murorum cingitur duorum millium pa.s.suum: habet fossa et vallo cincta: urbs autem fossatum magnum habet: undique aggerem prealtum: menia deinde sp.i.s.sa et sublimia frequentesque turres; et propugnacula ad bellum prompta. aedes civium amplae et ornatae: structura solida et firma, altae domorum facies magnificaeque visuntur. Unum id dedecori est, quod tecta plerumque ligna contegunt pauca lateres. Cetera edificia muro lapideo consistunt. Pictae domus, et interius et exterius splendent. Ingressus cuiusque domum in aedes te principis venisse putabis." _Ibid._ This is not an exaggerated description. A little below, Schedel says "there is a monastery, called St. Jerome, (much after the fashion of our _Magdalen_) in which reformed Prost.i.tutes are kept; and where, day and night, they sing hymns in the Teutonic dialect. If any of them are found relapsing into their former sinful ways, they are thrown headlong into the Danube." "But (adds he) they lead, on the contrary, a chaste and holy life."
[136] I suspect that the houses opposite the Palace are of comparatively recent construction. In _Pfeffel"s Viva et Accurata Delineatio_ of the palaces and public buildings of Vienna, 1725 (oblong folio,) the palace faces a wide place or square. Eighteen sculptured human figures, apparently of the size of life, there grace the topmost ball.u.s.trade in the copper-plate view of this truly magnificent residence.
[137] [Recently however the number of _Restaurateurs_ has become considerable.]
[138] In Hartmann Schedel"s time, there appears to have been a very considerable traffic in wine at Vienna: "It is incredible (says he) what a brisk trade is stirring in the article of wine,[139] in this city. Twelve hundred horses are daily employed for the purposes of draught--either for the wine drank at Vienna, or sent up the Danube--against the stream--with amazing labour and difficulty. It is said that the wine cellars are frequently as deep _below_ the earth, as the houses are _above_ it." Schedel goes on to describe the general appearance of the streets, and the neatness of the interiors, of the houses: adding, "that the windows are generally filled with stained gla.s.s, having iron-gratings without, where numerous birds sing in cages. The winter (remarks he) sets in here very severely." _Chron.
Norimb_. 1493, fol. xcix.
[139] The vintage about Vienna should seem to have been equally abundant a century after the above was written. In the year 1590, when a severe shock of earthquake threatened destruction to the tower of the Cathedral--and it was absolutely necessary to set about immediate repairs--the _liquid_ which was applied to make the most astringent _mortar_, was WINE: "l"on se servit de _vin,_ qui fut alors en abondance, pour faire le _platre_ de cette batise."
_Denkmahle der Baukunst und Bildneren des Mittelalters in dem Oesterreichischen Kaiserthume_. Germ. Fr. Part iii. p. 36. 1817-20.
[140] There is a good sized (folded) view of the church, or rather chiefly of the south front of the spire, in the "_Vera et Accurata Delineatio Omnium Templorum et Caen.o.biorum_" of Vienna, published by Pfeffel in the year 1724, oblong folio.
[141] This head has been published as the first plate in the third livraison of the ECCLESIASTICAL ANTIQUITIES of Vienna--accompanied by French and German letter-press. I have no hesitation in saying that, without the least national bias or individual partiality, the performance of Mr. Lewis--although much smaller, is by far the most _faithful_; nor is the engraving less superior, than the drawing, to the production of the Vienna artist. This latter is indeed faithless in design and coa.r.s.e in execution. Beneath the head, in the original sculpture, and in the latter plate, we read the inscription M.A.P. 1313. It is no doubt an interesting specimen of sculpture of the period.
[142] Vol. ii. p. 312-313.
[143] There is a large print of it (which I saw at Vienna) in the line manner, but very indifferently executed. But of the last, detached group, above described, there is a very fine print in the line manner.
[144] See p. 245 ante.
[145] As in that of the _Feast of Venus in the island of Cythera_: about eleven feet by seven. There is also another, of himself, in the Garden of Love--with his two wives--in the peculiarly powerful and voluptuous style of his pencil. The picture is about four feet long. His portrait of one of his wives, of the size of life, habited only in an ermine cloak at the back (of which the print is well known) is an extraordinary production ... as to colour and effect.
[146] I am not sure whether any publication, connected with this extraordinary collection, has appeared since _Chretien de Mechel"s Catalogue des Tableaux de la Galerie Imperiale et Royale de Vienne_; 1784, 8vo.: which contains, at the end, four folded copper-plates of the front elevations and ground plans of the Great and Little Belvederes. He divides his work into the _Venetian, Roman, Florentine, Bolognese_, and _Ancient and Modern Flemish Schools_: according to the different chambers or apartments. This catalogue is a mere straight-forward performance; presenting a formal description of the pictures, as to size and subject, but rarely indulging in warmth of commendation, and never in curious and learned research. The preface, from which I have gleaned the particulars of the History of the Collection, is sufficiently interesting. My friend M. Bartsch, if leisure and encouragement were afforded him, might produce a magnificent and instructive work--devoted to this very extraordinary collection. (Upon whom, NOW, shall this task devolve?!)
[147] See the OPPOSITE PLATE.
[148] The truth is, not only fac-similes of these illuminations, but of the initial L, so warmly mentioned at page 292, were executed by M.
Fendi, under the direction of my friend M. Bartsch, and dispatched to me from Vienna in the month of June 1820--but were lost on the road.
[149] Lord Spencer has recently obtained a copy of this exquisitely printed book from the M"Carthy collection. See the _aedes Althorpianae;_ vol. ii. p. 192.
[150] [I annex, with no common gratification, a fac-simile of the Autograph of this most worthy man,
[Ill.u.s.tration]]