appear in profile so many separate roofs. In fact, the Grecian orders, being foreign to the manners and wants of a city built on the edge of the water, will never enter into its accommodation but at the expense of half their beauty and all their consistency. Most of the mansions have two gates, some three, in the middle of their fronts. On each side are two ranges of equal windows in the basement alone. Over the gates is a stately and decorated superstructure of balconies, arcades, and gigantic windows, contrived for Venetian pageantry, and set in studied opposition to the general style of the front, which this wide vertical breach divides into two. The windows are generally arched in some mansions this arch is circular: in others it forms arabesque curves of contrary flexion, which finely contrast with the flat mass of wall. In some, even the Gothic church-window has been adopted. A great disfigurement to these mansions are the chimneys which are made prominent objects on the top. In former times the outsides of the Venetian houses were painted: even such men as Paul Veronese and Tintoretto were employed in that mode of decorating the houses: but in later times this custom has disappeared. The ceilings of the apartments are always decorated. But since the downfall of the Venetian republic, many circumstances have tended to reduce the splendour of the city. The large mansions, palaces, indeed as they may be termed, have many of them been deserted, sold, and dismantled, during the present century. Let us now cross the north of Italy to Turin. This city is the capital of Piedmont, and is more regularly built than the generality of Italian cities; it has rather a modern appearance, and is very clean, an advantage gained by the flowing of much clean water through the streets. No mean suburbs, and no mouldering walls, deform its entrance. It contains spacious and regular streets, which intersect each other at right angles, and which lead to a grand square or piazza in the middle. Through the principal streets, each side exhibits a long and regular line of porticoes, presenting many beautiful specimens of architecture; while the balconies above them, canopied with light draperies, have a very pleasing appearance. The houses and hotels generally are said to present a very elegant appearance. It has been stated, however, as a strange instance of carelessness, that in many façades of very handsome architecture, the holes are still left gaping, which supported the scaffolding at the time of their erection. Proceeding to the southward, we come to the famed city of Florence, the mansions of whose wealthy inhabitants are distinguished for much splendour. It has been observed by Mr. Bell, that in the best streets "each house is a palace; and a palace in Florence, is a magnificent pile, of a square bulky form, with a plain front, extending from two to three hundred feet, built of huge dark-grey stones, each measuring three or four feet." The general structure of these mansions is this coarse rubble work rising to a height of twenty or thirty feet from the ground. A stone seat runs the whole length of the front, which used, in former times, to be occupied by the dependants of the family, who frequently slept there, sheltered from the sun by an overhanging cornice. Large iron rings are sometimes seen fixed into the wall: these were formerly used to contain the banners of the owner,-to hold flaming torches, and to fasten horses to. The lower range of windows are grated and barred with massive iron frames, which present much of the melancholy effect produced by prison windows. On the second story is a plain and simple architrave: the windows are high and arched, placed at a considerable distance apart, and from ten to fifteen in number, according to the width of the building. The third story resembles the second in its plainness, and in the number of its windows. The roof is flat, with deep cornice, and bold projecting soffits, which give a grand and magnificent effect to the whole edifice. The chimneys are grouped into stacks, the tops of which, increasing in bulk as they rise in height, resemble a crown. The slates with which the chimneys are built are ranged so as to act as ventilators. Two or three steps lead up to the porch of the mansion, the doors of which are studded with iron, both for the sake of strength and of ornament, and the entrance is an arched massive iron gate. The gates open into a court, the base of which is surrounded by a high arched colonnade, supported by marble columns. Entering from the court, a great staircase leads to a suite of noble chambers, halls, and saloons, hung with silks, and richly adorned. The ceilings are lofty and finely painted; the beams being displayed, and carved, ornamented and gilt. The arcades of the court support the galleries, which, in former times, were generally filled with fine paintings, statues, and vases. "In such palaces," says Mr. Bell, "the rulers, the magistrate, the noble, and the merchant dined, surrounded by their family and dependents. The manner of the times bore a character of manly simplicity, which, singularly contrasted with the splendour of the rich possessions, and the importance of their political sway among nations. Their guests were seated, not by rule, rank, or birth, but in the order in which they happened to arrive. At the board of Lorenzo the Magnificent, whose court was adorned by the most distinguished men of the age, as well in letters and science as in rank, Michel Angelo and other celebrated artists were often seated next to himself. Nor did these habits lessen the respect or deference of the dependents, as we may judge by the picture given by Cellini and other writers of those days. From this combination of princely power and pristine simplicity, inducing that familiar intercourse of lord and dependents, rich and poor, arose those friendly greetings, those salutations in the streets, which to this day excite the admiration of strangers." Proceeding southward from Florence, the two great cities which present themselves on the western edge of Italy are Rome and Naples,-two cities which have scarcely one feature in common,-which differ indeed as much as if they belonged to countries altogether different. At Rome there is a sober grandeur pervading everything. The visitor is in the heart of the Roman world, surrounded by innumerable evidences of past ages. There may be, and are, bigotry and superstition at Rome, but there is very little frivolity. The character of the inhabitants, and the nature of their houses, have a kind of gravity about them that does not fail to strike a stranger. In Naples it is altogether different: the fronts of their houses, like their hearts, are all window: all is light, joyous, frivolous, and-vicious. The Neapolitans, unlike other people, do not attempt to conceal their vices : they make fun of everything; they manage to extract a laugh from subjects which to others would seem to demand serious attention. The fine arts are at a lower ebb in Naples than at any other city in Italy, so that what refining influence there may be in such arts is lost to the Neapolitans. In Naples, says Mr. Forsyth, "even the lowest class enjoy every blessing that can make the animal happy,—a delicious climate, high spirits, a facility of satisfying every appetite, a conscience which gives no pain, a convenient ignorance of their duty, and a church which ensures heaven to every ruffian that pretends to faith. Here tatters are not misery, for the climate requires little covering; filth is not misery to them who are born to it; and a few fingerings of macaroni can wind up the rattling machine for the day." The inhabitants of Florence stand midway between those of Rome and of Naples, and perhaps avoid many of the vices of both. And in that particular feature in which we have at present to do with them, their dwelling, the same will apply. Give a little more sombreness to the mansions of Florence, and you have those of Rome: give them more frivolity, and you have those of Naples. The houses of Spain present that mixed character which is likely to result from the successive conquest of a country by different nations. Spain is one of the countries in Europe (the other being Turkey) which have been under the Mohammedan yoke, and this circumstance has not failed to impart to the dwellings of some parts of Spain that peculiarity which is seen in most Mohammedan dwellings ;-we mean, a large central court surrounded by buildings on every side. As we shall shortly describe these courts somewhat minutely, we will not dwell on them here. Those parts of Spain which were able to resist the Moorish invaders, have retained most of the features which distinguish Italian and French houses of the middle class,with the addition of a gloomy appendage called a jalousy, the nature of which we shall hereafter describe. The houses of Seville are thus described by Standish :"The houses of this town are perhaps the most picturesque in the world. You enter them from a porch, or zaguan, to a court, round which are marble columns, and these are found not only in the principal, but even ordinary habitations. The arches between the columns support galleries or rooms above. It is usual to inhabit the ground-floor in summer time and the upper story in winter. In the former season a canvass veil is placed over the whole court during the heat of the day, and removed at night, when the family collect together, to receive friends under the galleries, or in the courts, whilst flowers are placed round a fountain, which generally plays in the centre, the courts being often paved 176 with marble. The lamps which hang around the walls in symmetrical arrangement, the bubbling of the water, the fragrance of the flowers, the mystical green branches which spring up in every direction from large earthen pots, give an appearance of romance, which, added to the broken lights, the irregular architecture of the buildings, and the white Ionic columns of marble, present, in every house, a varying subject for the draftsman or the painter. To the sides of the walls are attached mirrors, which reflect all around, and pictures, amongst which were once works of It has been calcuart that would delight the connoisseur. lated that eighty thousand marble columns exist in Seville, but there assuredly must be a much larger number, for many are buried in the walls, others covered with plaster, and on an average every house possesses six." From Spain we proceed to that country of Europe which approaches nearest to an Asiatic character, we mean Turkey. By speaking of the capital, Constantinople, we shall form a sufficient idea of other parts. 6. HOUSES OF CONSTANTINOPLE. Constantinople, like most Mohammedan cities, is more distinguished for its mosques than for its private dwellings. The general character of its streets is narrowness and meanness; but the nature of the houses depends on the locality. The houses in the suburbs called Galata and Pera, in which most foreigners who visit the city take up their residence, are inhabited by the foreign ambassadors and other distinguished strangers, and are of course built in a style somewhat worthy of their reception. But the generality of the houses are said by Wheler to be low, and to be built of wood, so that fire frequently makes much devastation among them, espeespecially from a custom which the Turks have of smoking in bed; and it is also said that these fires are not unfrequently the work of incendiaries, who are actuated by the hope of pilfering. The destruction of the houses themselves is no great matter, for the rebuilding costs but little, and the supply of timber is very abundant; but the burning of merchandize which often accompanies that of the house, is a distressing disaster to numerous families. When a fire commences, the Turks are frequently obliged either to pull down or to blow up several houses, in order to break the communication from one part of the town to another: otherwise the whole would be destroyed. A curious class of houses in Constantinople are the hans, of which there are about two hundred. These hans are a kind of large lodging house. They are immense stone The court is often buildings, inclosing a central square. ornamented with a grove of trees and fountains. The building, besides warehouses and stables on the ground floor, has three stories or galleries, one above the other, with ranges of small chambers, each of which is kept neat and clean by the servants of the han, and fitted up for the time with the carpets and slender wardrobe of the several occupiers. These hans are usually for travelling merchants; but are sometimes occupied as counting-houses by Turks who reside at Galata, Pera, or other suburbs of the city. What would appear remarkable to an Englishman accustomed to the commercial arrangements of hiring dwellings, &c., is that these hans are open to all strangers free, with the exception of a small fee to the servants. They are for men of all countries, and of every religion,-the poor and the rich,-and they have had the good effect of drawing merchants and merchandize to Constantinople. They belong to the Sultan, and the expense is defrayed by him. The private dwellings in Constantinople are not of such a description as to merit much notice here. They are chiefly distinguished for their flat roofs, by which they are known at a distance from the mosques, chapels, hans, bazaars, and baths, almost all of which have domes or cupolas. Adrianople, another city of the Empire, is the principal place ot intercourse with merchants from Northern Europe, and the dwellings present that mixed character which almost ine vitably results from such intercourse. We have now conducted the reader to warm climates, among whose natives the industrious habits of Europeans are but little exercised; where the light of Christianity has as yet but dimly shone; where woman is known only to be degraded; and where polygamy has severed the lovely ties which join man, wife, and children in domestic union. These features of national character are observable in a fearful degree throughout the whole extent of Northern Africa, from Morocco to the Isthmus of Suez;-throughout Asia Minor, Syria, Arabia, Persia, Georgia, Circassia, and indeed, we may almost say, throughout the whole of Asia southward of the cold regions of Siberia. In nearly all these countries, the houses of the inhabitants of higher and middle rank have this peculiarity which distinguishes them from the houses of Europe, that the apartments for the females-are situated in called collectively the harem, or haareem,a distinct part of the house, and are usually secluded with a jealousy which makes their inmates completely prisoners. In another Supplement we will, endeavour to convey a general notion of the dwellings in these countries. GAINSBOROUGH AND HIS WORKS. 1. THOMAS GAINSBOROUGH, who so greatly excelled among artists in the department of landscape-painting, was born in the year 1727, at Sudbury, in Suffolk. His personal history is, however, very defective, though his works are full of the truest nature, and the purest fancy. Like the best of the poets, he was born a painter. He has said of himself, that during his boyhood, though he had no idea of becoming a painter, yet there was not a picturesque clump of trees, a single beautiful tree, hedge-row, stone, or post, for some miles round about the place of his nativity, that he could not well and perfectly delineate with his pencil. Thus, the love of his art led him constantly among the ancient trees, the winding glades, and the sunny nooks. Scenes are still pointed out where he used to sit and fill his copy-books with pencillings of flowers and trees, and whatever struck his fancy; and it is said that those early attempts of the child bore a distinct resemblance to the mature works of the man. At ten years old he had made some progress in sketching, and at twelve he was a confirmed painter. We are here tempted to narrate a story of one of his early works. On one occasion he was concealed among some bushes in his father's garden, making a sketch of an old fantastic tree, when he observed a man looking very wistfully over the wall at some pears, which were hanging ripe and tempting The slanting light of the sun happened to throw the enger face into a highly picturesque mixture of light and shade: the young artist immediately drew a likeness of him, much to the poor man's consternation afterwards, and much to the amuse ment of his father, when the man was charged with the design of robbing the garden, and shown how he looked at the time. Gainsborough long afterwards made a finished painting of this Sudbury rustic; a work much admired among artists under the name of Tom Peartree's portrait. Soon after this event Gamsborougn removed to Ipswich, where he became acquainted with Thicknesse, the governor of Landguard Fort, in the following curious manner. The governor was walking in the garden of a friend, when he perceived a melancholy-faced countryman, with his arms locked together, leaning over the garden wall. He pointed out the man to his friend, who, with assumed gravity, observed that the fellow had been there all day, that he was to be pitied, as being either mad or miserable. The governor then stepped forward, with an intention to speak to the madman, and did not perceive till he had got close up, that it was only a wooden man, painted upon a shaped board. The governor was informed that many had been equally deceived, and was subsequently introduced to the painter of it. Gainsborough received him in his painting room, where, he says, he found many so-so portraits, but some charming landscapes. George the Second, visiting Harwich shortly after, our artist was employed by Thicknesse to paint a view of a yacht regatta scene. The picture was engraved, and contributed to make the name of the artist known. Soon after this he went to Bath, where he chiefly occupied himself with portraitpainting, for the sake of a ready means of livelihood. He got a considerable quantity of employment. His portraits were executed at first for five, and then for eight guineas each, afterwards forty for a half-length, and a hundred for a full-length. He was occasionally very fond of fun. Once a rich citizen sat to him for his portrait, "with a new five guinea powdered bob-wig on. Gainsborough found something so comical in the look of the citizen, that he burst out into a roar of laughter, of course gave offence, and lost his commis sion. Before his arrival at Bath he had been employed by the governor to paint Landguard Fort, including the neighbouring hills, and the port of Harwich: An engraving of this picture spread abroad the name and fame of Gainsborough: Of the original painting of the fort nothing now remains: it was hung on a wall built with mortar mixed with sea-water; and so perished. Though his early sketches made in the woods of SudGainsborough and the governor were both of them bury were numerous, few of them are now known to fond of music, as well as of painting, so that, during the exist. As his reputation increased, he became less satis- years of their early acquaintance, they seem to have fied with such early proofs of talent, and gave them been mutually pleased with each other's company, the liberally away among friends and visitors. To one lady, patron being kind and the painter obliging; but, when we are told, he gave twenty of them: she pasted them the fame of the latter began to draw the attention and on the walls of her apartment, and, on her leaving Lon-favour of the public, he scrupled less to let loose his don, they became the property of the next inhabitant. His talents being now universally acknowledged, his father was persuaded to send him to town. It appears that he was not more than fourteen years of age when he left Sudbury for the metropolis; and that he studied under Hayman; one of the companions of Hogarth. In the course of time he seemed to feel that no landscapes worthy of the art had yet made their appearance, and that his own works were essentially different from those on which the other artists were engaged. This consideration probably induced him to devote himself rather to landscapes. He remained in London four years, and acquired skill and experience in the management of colours. Being now in his eighteenth year, he is spoken of as having acquired reputation by his talents, as evincing a modest gaiety in his conversation, and extreme elegance of person. It happened. in one of his pictorial excursions among the woods of Suffolk, that he sat down to make a sketch of some fine trees, with sheep reposing below, and wood-doves roosting above, when a young woman entered unexpectedly, but very a propos, upon the scene, and was at once admitted into the landscape and the feelings of the artist. This young lady was Margaret Burr, of Scottish extraction, and then about sixteen years old, who not long afterwards became his wife. natural disposition, which was of an independent and impetuous cast. The consequence of this spirit was, that the governor soon took offence, and the painter was less and less anxious to soften down the causes of offence. Governor Thicknesse has been accused of misrepresenting and vilifying our artist in his memoirs of his early friend, but in the following paragraph, at least, we look in vain for the spirit of detraction: tudes of beauty, and his pencil traced with peculiar and Nature sat to Mr. Gainsborough in all her attractive attimatchless felicity her finest and most delicate lineaments, whether it was the sturdy oak, the twisted eglantine, the mower whetting his scythe, the whistling ploughboy, or the shepherd under the hawthorn in the dule-all came forth equally chaste from his inimitable and fanciful pencil. WHEN the common topic of the weather is introduced in conversation, or presented to the mind, the agriculturist will naturally refer to its influence of vegetation; the physician to its effects on the health of the community; the man of pleasure may think only of its reference to the sports of the field; the philosopher may endeavour to seek for its cause in some preceding atmospheric phenomena; and another person of certain habits of observation may compare or con trast it with the weather of the saine period in a preceding year. Thus, in five individuals the same topic may give rise to five trains of thought, perfectly distinct from each other, yet each depending upon a very natural and obvious principle of suggestion, 22 1841.] THE SATURDAY MAGAZINE. BRUNELLESCHI, AND THE CATHEDRAL OF S. MARIA DEL FIORE, II. IN 1420, the most celebrated architects of Europe again assembled at Florence, Brunelleschi was included in the number, and he flattered himself with the idea, that this grand convocation would supply him not so much with competitors, as with worthy witnesses of his triumph. Whoever will reflect (says Quatremère de Quincy) on the existing state of the building art, reduced by all Europe to the conceptions and processes of the Gothic, to the entire exclusion of the architecture of ancient Greece and Rome; whoever will think of the novelty of a vault of such lofty dimensions, and of such a diameter, that it has never since been surpassed, need not be astonished at the weakness, or the absurdity of the projects which were presented to this numerous assembly; it seemed like a struggle for superiority in ignorance and marvellousness. Some proposed to raise up pillars, whence should branch off arcs as supports to the timber work destined to bear the weight of the cupola : others advised a great pillar in the middle as a central support: some recommended them to build up a mountain of earth by way of scaffold: they were to mix a large number of pieces of money in this earth, and when the work was finished, they might trust to the cupidity of the multitude to carry off this natural scaffold. Brunelleschi had not foreseen that true knowledge, if put upon its trial before ignorant judges, must be condemned: since, if it gained the cause, the judges would condemn themselves. When he presented his project, they railed at it as absurd: they did not understand him when he proposed to erect two cupolas, the one within the other, so as to leave a large empty space between them; but they laughed outright and called him madman, when he declared that he would employ no interior support,— no timber-work, to centre these immense vaults. Brunelleschi believed for a moment that the fruit of so many years of toil was all lost. This assembly had He encou to one single architect. A colleague was, therefore associated with him: this was Lorenzo Ghiberti, of whom Brunelleschi had formerly been the rival, was still the enemy, and had refused to become the associate. This man accepted the inglorious participation in a work to which he had contributed nothing, and from which his incapacity alone would have been sufficient to exclude him. Brunelleschi became furious: the first impulse of his indignation prompted him to abandon the work and his native city for ever; his friends, however, managed to pacify him, and when he had cooled down, his course of action again showed his sagacity. He feigned illness, and thus left Ghiberti sole master of the works, in which situation Brunelleschi well knew that his incapacity for the task would quickly be displayed. Nor was he deceived. The frequent embarrassment and indecision of Ghiberti soon betrayed his ignorance, and some great and palpable errors into which he fell, opened all eyes to the percepAfter turmoil and difficulty, therefore, great tion of it. Brunelleschi was nominated sole architect and director in chief of the whole edifice. From this moment he devoted his whole energy to the work. The smallest details did not escape his vigilant foresight. He directed each workman, but kept in his own hands the choice and destination of materials for his He had by this time displayed his model, by means of artist had comprehended all the details, small as well as This great and celebrated enterprise, in spite of the multiplied embarrassments and cares which it procured him, was far from occupying the entire life of Brunelleschi. His celebrity caused his assistance to be sought for in many of the great works which were executed in Among other productions, we may mention the church his time, both in civil and in military architecture. of San Lorenzo, and the celebrated Pitti palace, both at Florence. Brunelleschi had the satisfaction before his death to The elements of Brunelleschi's scheme were quite see his cupola completed, with the exception of the exunknown to his competitors. Accustomed to the light-ternal tambour, and a few ornamental details, which he ness of form, and construction of the Gothic, they only could afford to leave another less gifted individual to knew how to raise to a great height, by means of butcomplete. ways; and tresses, walls hollowed out in a variety of groined vaults formed of small courses of masonry, where the whole thrust was divided and received by many points of support. But it was above all things necessary, in the erection of the projected cupola, to establish a new system of construction, to employ more powerful materials, more massive and simple points of support; so to act, that the construction, in this vast circumference, should of itself act as scaffold and point of support. Brunelleschi's model would have proved how all this could be done; but he was content to silence his opponents by argument alone: he did silence them, and obtained the suffrages of his judges; but his employers, in the absence of his model, would not allow him to proceed with the work to a greater height than twelve fathoms. When truth is once established it is firm and immoveable: truth cannot be in opposition to itself, but envy and detraction often exert their nefarious powers to obscure it. It was whispered about that the glory of Florence was sullied by intrusting so magnificent a work His remains Brunelleschi died in the year 1444. A COUNTRYMAN was shown Gainsborough's celebrated picture |