trees, and the sparkling waters of its river; there is great truth in the fine masses of cloud which float above the distant hills. A feeling of regret is naturally excited by the "Ruins of Cambus Kenneth," to think that a pile, once so glorious, should have been brought to its present condition by the fury of a fanatical mob; but, for the painter's purpose, its ruined state only renders it the more picturesque, and Mr. G. Stanfield has given full value to what remains, particularly by the manner in which he has brought out, in the boldest relief, the lofty tower of the Abbey, which has much more of a military than a monastic appearance. There is a fine, clear distance, in which we get a glimpse of Stirling Castle, at the extremity of a long precipitous ridge.

From the feudal aspect of this Scottish scene, let us turn to a subject purely English, and entirely opposite in character-"The Last Load," of Mr. Goodall. We see there a wain laden with golden sheaves, dragging slowly through a shallow stream, in sight of the homestead, and the farmer to whom it belongs hailing its approach. The harvest has had a happy ending, not only in the abundance of its produce, but in bringing to a crisis at least one rustic courtship. Two pairs of lovers are nestled amongst the corn, and the category of marriage cannot be very remote from that pair over whose heads there floats a ribbon of bright hue, attached to a rake, an artistic device which tells their story very well. In the foreground are several figures on foot, accompanying the wain; one of these, a girl, with a wheatsheaf on her head, is finely drawn and well coloured, though perhaps a little too fair for the kind of life she leads beneath the burning sun of August. The details of this picture are excellent, as well as the effect produced by the glowing sunset and rising mists of evening.

The continental traveller who begins his journey at Antwerp, and closed it at Venice, taking the route by Vienna, may prepare himself before he goes for some of the pleasure he will receive, by first going to see the three pictures which Roberts has sent in this year. His views of "The Exterior of Antwerp Cathedral," seen from the Scheldt, and of "Venice," from the Grand Canal, are each of them very fine; but the acme of the spectator's delight is reserved for the "Interior of St. Stephen's at Vienna," which is one of the most remarkable, if it be not even the finest, that Roberts has ever painted. Its peculiarity consists in this, that the view is taken from beneath the organ-loft, looking straight down the centre aisle towards the high altar, and this necessarily makes the picture nearly three times as broad as it is high, without, however, detracting from the altitude of the interior; on the contrary, the height of the vault is, perhaps, more strongly conveyed by the concealment of the roof, than if it were exposed, and one thing, at least, has been gained by the method which Mr. Roberts has adopted-the avoidance of that multangular effect which so often disturbs the eye. For linear perspective, for atmospheric illusion, for fidelity of detail, for harmony of composition, and for breadth of treatment, this "Interior" must stand unrivalled, and were not the Cathedral itself still standing to justify its claims to the picturesque, Mr. Roberts's picture would be sufficient to disprove the absurd assertion of Dr. Dibdin, the bibliomaniac, that St. Stephen's contained scarcely anything that was worthy of notice.

Passing from the gloomy grandeur of one of the masterpieces of Gothic architecture, we again stand in the open air, and scent the sweet breath of nature, as we look upon the lovely subjects which Lee has so exquisitely painted. These are fine pictures, but our choice—and it is a most difficult one to make-lies between two-"The Avenue at Althorpe," in Northamptonshire, and "A View across a Common"-in no particular part of England, but rather in every part where beautiful scenery is to be found. We might expatiate on these two views in volumes of words, but no eloquence of description could do justice to the subjects in the way that Mr. Lee has done justice to nature. If these pictures are not destined for the same owner, each may say, that if he had not his own, he would be glad to possess the other. But Mr. Lee has not confined himself to England; a long stride has taken him into the Glenorchy Highlands, where his pencil still displays the same mastery over what is sublime as well as what is beautiful. Were not the sport of deerstalking so attractive in itself, one might well be tempted to follow it after traversing the Breadalbane estates in Mr. Lee's company.

Mr. Sidney Cooper, the frequent associate of Mr. Lee, is prolific in the style in which he has no living rival. Besides two excellent cattle-pieces"Cows at a Pool Drinking," and 66 a Group of Cattle before a Barn," in which are introduced a grey horse, and a young bull, which—no disparagement to Paul Potter-is oftener seen alive (at least in England) than the wonder of the Hague,-there are two subjects, in which the principal animals are sheep, that surpass anything we have ever seen from Mr. Cooper's pencil. In the first, a number of sheep and lambs are clustered outside a most picturesque-looking shed, from the open door of which a friendly donkey is very complacently gazing; in the second, we have the interior of the farm-shed, with the same animals housed. The last will perhaps attract the most attention, from the novelty of its treatment. It is not possible that animals, or their food, or any of the accessories of their dwelling, could be more truthfully represented.

We have got to the end of the list of the pictures that we have seen. Of those we have heard of, we may mention a fine "View in the Oberland," and the "Exterior of the Crystal Palace," by Harding-her Majesty, to whom the latter belongs, having graciously permitted the artist to send it in for exhibition; a very small landscape by Mulready, wonderfully finished; a "River Mill," by Creswick, in his usual style of excellence; and a remarkable picture by Edward Cooke, a perfect daguerrotype for fidelity—it is part of the "Ducal Palace at Venice," and its accuracy will satisfy the precisest requirements of the architect.

There are some omissions this year which we regret. Neither Herbert nor Egg have sent anything. Historical painting is not so rife amongst us, that we should be content to lose two of its ablest exponents.

NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE.

FRANCESCO SFORZA.*

is

THE appearance of the volumes before us, so shortly after the publication of Mr. Dennistoun's "Memoirs of the Dukes of Urbino," might seem to indicate that the history of Italy during the middle ages an unexhausted field. It may not present the most popular form of literature to which a writer could devote himself; but it will always have attractions for the scholar and man of taste; and as there is still an abundance of unused materials-not to be picked up on the surface, but to be collected by patient and diligent research we hope that the "Life and Times of Francesco Sforza" will not be the last work of medieval biography to which we shall be called upon to give our

attention.

In connecting the hero of these volumes with the time at which he flourished, Mr. Urquhart has entirely confined himself to its historical and political aspects. "The narration," he observes, "of the life of any eminent public man, the investigation of the circumstances which contributed to his rise, and the exhibiting the individual qualities which enabled him to turn them to account, ist generally supposed to afford a tolerably good exposition of the age in which he lived, and of the people among whom his lot was cast." But to show these relations between the individual and his times, we must not merely inquire how far he influenced the character of the age, but also how far the mind and habits of the age had their influence upon himself; and an examination like this, when referring to a period of transition, is generally surrounded with curious and valuable materials. The biographical history of Italy, from the fourteenth to the sixteenth century, is indebted for its enduring interest to its connexion with literature, science, and the arts. Its petty sovereigns would long since have been forgotten if their names had not been associated with those of the scholars and men of genius whom they persecuted or protected. There is also something of romance in the domestic incidents of these periods; and there is a picturesqueness in their manners and customs, to which any work connected with them must owe one of its principal charms. It is true that the harvest has already been gathered; but a diligent reader in the public libraries of Italy may still find rich gleanings lying abundantly before him.

From investing his work with these incidental attractions, Mr.

* Life and Times of Francesco Sforza, Duke of Milan, with a Preliminary Sketch of the History of Italy. By Wm. Pollard Urquhart, Esq. 2 vols. Blackwood, Edinburgh and London, 1852.

† Sic in orig.

June-VOL. XCV. NO. CCCLXXVIII.

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Urquhart has carefully abstained: the succession of battles and political changes, in which the Duke Francesco bore a conspicuous part, are related with the calm gravity of history; and if any one wishes to pass quietly through the labyrinth which they present, he cannot have a more careful and intelligent guide than Mr. Urquhart.

About a hundred and fifty pages of his first volume are devoted to an epitome of the general history of Italy, from the subversion of the Roman Empire to the approach of the fifteenth century, when the dynasty of the Sforzas commenced. Francesco was the son of the founder of his house, and was the father of that Duke of Milan whose assassination-powerfully narrated both by Machiavelli and Sismondi-had its motive in circumstances which have all the character of romance, and led to consequences' more extensive and important than have ever followed any similar event. Mr. Urquhart informs us that the life of Francesco Sforza, written by his secretary Simoneta, and published in the twenty-first volume of the "Rerum Italicarum Scriptores," has afforded the principal materials for his work; and he occasionally illustrates its incidents by references to the standard historians. There were other authorities to which he might have advantageously referred.

On

Verri, whose "Storia di Milano" was republished in 1824, would have supplied him with interesting information on the laws, the morals, and the commerce of the Milanese at the time of Francesco's assumption of power, and with some additional facts as to the events which preceded it. most occasions, his deep knowledge of his country's records gives the historian of Milan the weight and authority of a writer living at the period which he undertakes to describe.

There was also a work by the Abbate Ratti, who published, in 1794, two quarto volumes entirely devoted to the House of Sforza; and, if not very engagingly written, they may be considered an authentic record, as he had access to the archives of the family, and dedicated the result of his labours to his pupil, the Duke Francesco Sforza Cesarini. This descendant of so distinguished a house was then the Gonfalonier of Rome; and at a later period we recollect seeing another descendant of the Sforzas who was a cardinal. He was a person, by-the-by, of expensive tastes, and was the subject of some scandal at the pontifical court, in consequence of having resisted, with dangerous and unclerical weapons, the officers who had come to serve him with a process arising out of his pecuniary embarrassments.

Though the Abbate's volumes could not have furnished the materials for Mr. Urquhart's ample narrative, there is much in them which might have supplied him with collateral illustrations, or have referred him to other sources of information.

In speaking of the origin of the family, its biographer discredits the anecdote so often repeated, as to the augury of the axe thrown into the tree, which is said to have decided its great founder in his vocation to arms; but, notwithstanding the attempt to invest him with hereditary nobility, it is still something more than probable that the military adventurer who, through his immediate descendants, gave a line of dukes to Milan, of sovereign lords to Pesaro, queens to Poland and to Naples,* and * Ippolita Maria Sforza, Duchess of Calabria, died before her husband succeeded to the throne. She was the mother of King Ferdinand II.

an empress to Germany, was originally but a small proprietor of the soil, if not a labouring peasant.

Amongst his many sons, the one who resembled him most in valour and in military skill, was the future Duke of Milan. He was born in the camp; he passed his life in arms; and it would have been happy if he had also met death in battle, rather than in the manner in which it is said to have so suddenly overtaken him. The circumstances attending this unworthy close of his brilliant career are mentioned as admitted facts in the second volume of the work before us. But the story seems to rest on the single authority of an obscure chronicler. Neither of the writers to whom we have before referred makes any allusion to it. Verri, on the contrary, says distinctly, Malgrado la scostumatezza di quei tempi, egli fu sempre alieno dal disordine, nè si lasciò sedurre alla lascivia; and attributes his death to the injudicious use of a remedy he had adopted for removing some of the remaining appearances of the dropsy with which he had been for two years afflicted. A more careful reference to contemporary records might have freed his memory from the stain. The passage relied upon by Mr. Urquhart is from Cristoforo da Saldo ("Istoria Bresciana"), and we would rather refer to it than transcribe it.

As Ratti includes upwards of sixty memoirs in his two dry-looking quartos, his notices are, in some instances, as brief as the articles of a biographical dictionary; but they are accompanied by very copious notes. To the Duke of Milan he devotes about fifteen pages; and the events which Mr. Urquhart, with the amplifications of an agreeable style, spreads over a couple of volumes, are told very nearly as briefly as follows.

To

On

He was born at S. Miniato, in Tuscany, in 1401, and being deprived of the early superintendence of his father (owing to his frequent absence in the field), he was educated at the court of Ferrara, with the sons of the Marchese Nicolò d'Este. When twelve years old, he was invited to the court of Ladislaus, King of Naples, in whose service the elder Sforza was then engaged. Soon after his arrival at Naples he was made Conte di Tricarico; and the king, pleased with his intelligence and frankness, desired that he should at once devote himself to a military career. this suggestion he willingly acceded. He followed his father through his subsequent battles, and under the most difficult circumstances gave proofs of his activity, courage, presence of mind, and extraordinary talent. Sforza's death, at the siege of Aquila, Francesco joined his forces to those of the other captains who were in the service of Naples and the Pope; and his great superiority as a general becoming unequivocally manifest, he was next invited to take employment under Filippo Visconti, Duke of Milan, who received him with marked favours, and for whom he did good service against the Venetians, the Florentines, and at Lucca. He also carried his arms into Umbria and the Marches; and having possessed himself of a considerable portion of these territories, the reigning pontiff thought it politic to arrest his further progress by giving him the investiture of them during his life, with the title of Marchese, and the office of Gonfalonier of the Church-in those days a distinguished honour, which had previously been conferred upon his father. Visconti, who was naturally timid, suspicious, and ungrateful, began to be jealous of his able general. He has been charged with having often exposed him to unnecessary danger, and even with having sought his life; but Francesco bore this treatment