inculcated by that reformer, and Zuinglius. Maximilian, in an age of perfecution, declared publicly his repugnance to all religious vio-lence, and his unalterable opinion, that to the Supreme Being alone, it belonged to judge the confcience." Nor did he content himself with only afferting this principle: his active benevolence impelled him to make every exertion, to ftop the deftructive influence of bigotry, in other countries. Touched with the cries and complaints of the Flemings, he difpatched his brother, the archduke Charles, to Philip II. with directions to remonftrate with him on his violation of their privileges, civil and religious; though this humane interpofition was ineffectual. He did not conceal his deteftation of the maffacre of St. Bartholomew, for which Rome and Madrid made public demonftrations of joy; and when Henry III. king of France, paffed through Vienna, in his flight from Poland to his own country, the emperor ftrongly exhorted him to commence his reign, by maxims and principles of toleration. It would have been happy for Henry, and his people, if he had been capable of profiting by the advice. Account of the Convent of Nuns of Clarite, at Cologne; from Mrs. Radcliffe's Journey through Holland and the etern Frontier of Germany. fides, and there was scarcely any entire intermiffion of them till evening. The places of public amufement, chiefly a fort of tea-gardens, were then fet open, and, in many fireets, the founds of mutic and dancing were heard almost as plainly as that of the bells had been before; a difgufting excefs of licentioufnefs, which appeared in other inftances, for we heard, at the fame time, the voices of a choir on one fide of the street, and the noise of a billiard-table on the other. Near the inn, this contraft was more obfervable. While the ftrains of revelry arofe from an adjoining garden, into which our windows opened, a paufe in the mufic allowed us to catch fome notes of the vefper fervice, performing in a convent of the order of Clariffe, only three or four doors beyond. Of the fevere rules of this fociety we had been told in the morning. The members take a vow, not only to renounce the world, but their dearest friends, and are never permitted to fee even their fathers or mothers, though they may fometimes converfe with the latter from behind a curtain. And, left fome lingering remains of filial affection fhould tempt an unhappy nun to lift the veil of feparation between herfelf and her mother, he is not allowed to speak even with her, but in the prelerce of the abbefs. Accounts of fuch horrible perverfions of human reafon make the blood thrill. Their fathers they can never ípeak to, for no man is fuflered to be in any part OUR inn had formerly been a of the convent used by the liter the town where fuch focieties are inore numerous than elfewhere. At five o'clock, on the Sunday alter our arrival, the bells of churches and convents began to found on all yond the gate, except when there is a neceflity for repairs, when all the votaries of the order are previously fecluded. It is not eafily that a cautious mind becomes convinced of the the exifience of fuch fevere orders; when it does, aftonishment at the artificial miferies, which the ingenuity of human beings forms for themfelves by feclufion, is as boundlefs as at the other miferies, with which the most trivial vanity and envy fo frequently pollute the intercourfes of focial life. The poor nuns, thus nearly entombed during their lives, are, after death, tied upon a board, in the clothes they died in, and, with only their veils thrown over their face, are buried in the garden of the convent. Obfervations on the diflinct Characters of Modern Whigs and Tories; from Belham's Memoirs of the Reign of George III. THE HE eftablifhed appellations of whig and tory, as defcriptive of the two grand political parties which, under thefe or equivalent terms of diftinction, will doubtlefs fubfift fo long as the prefent conftitution of government fhall remain, though greatly changed from their original fignification, it would. neverthelets be faftidious to reject. The gradations of fentiment and principle which mark their progrefs it is however of indifpenfible importance occafionally to fpecify. The principles of whiggifm may indeed, in this respect, be faid to have gained a complete triumph over thofe of the ancient tories, inafmuch as the once favourite maxims of toryifm-paffive obedience, nonrefiftance, and the divine and indefeafible right of monarchy-have fallen into general contempt. Nor can any doctrines bearing the most diftant analogy to thefe monftrous abfurdities be now maintained, without the ufe of fuch artificial and ambiguous phrafeology as, however magnificent in found and fhow, fhall vanish from the touch of reafon as mifts and vapours from the noon. day fun. Agreeably then to the viciffitudes which have, in a long feries of eventful years, taken place in the views and fentiments of the oppofing parties of the ftate, a whig muft now be understood to mean a man who, in addition to the fpeculative principles of liberty, civil and religious, which have defcended to him from his ancestors, entertains a lively and well-founded jealousy left the prerogative of the crown fhould, in confequence of the prodigious increase of its influence, ultimately abforb the whole power and authority of the other branches of the government, and with them the liberties of the nation at large, in its vaft and tremendous vortex. A modern whig acknowledges and deeply regrets the improvidence of his ancestors in contributing, by the facility of their compliances, to the accumulation of an immenfe public debt, and the establishment of a standing army, both of which are yet in a ftate alarmingly progreffive. He can fcarcely forgive thofe extravagant ebullitions of loyalty which could facrifice the most facred principles of the conftitution to the intereft or ambition of the reigning family, in prolonging, by a moft unjuftifiable ftretch of power, the exiftence of parliaments to a term of dangerous duration, and in furnishing to a minifter, little fcrupulous of expedients, and regardlefs of confequences, the means of univerfal and unbounded corruption. Whatever palliations of the fatal [*A 3] fyftem fyftem then adopted, the peculiarity of that minifter's fituation, and the fituation of the country at large, in a political view, might then afford, had, it was affirmed, been long fince entirely at an end; but the fame fyftem is nevertheless refolutely and uninterruptedly purfued, recovering, Antaus-like, from every apparent or accidental fall with renewed and redoubled vigour. On the other hand, the modern tories, although the defcendants of thofe who long entertained a moft inveterate enmity against the family upon the throne, and who, from motives not of the pureft patriotifm, vehemently oppofed, in the former reigns, the unconftitutional measures of the whigs, having at length entirely fhaken off their old attachments, and being taken into favour and invefted with power under the marked and too partial protection of the court, fuddenly became its open and zealous advocates-combining, as far as the fpirit of the times would admit, the fpeculative errors of one party with the practical errors of the other. The neceffity of ftrengthening the prerogative of the monarch, and of fupporting the dignity of the crown, was from this time the inceffant theme of their argument and declamation. Conceffions and indulgencies were, in their estimation, things incompatible with the majefty of the regal character. The high, harth, and peremptory tone of authority uniformly marked every act of government under the almost conftant predominance of this dangerous faction during the prefent reign, from the commitment of a printer, or the profecution of a libeller, to thofe measures of provocation and oppreffion, terminating in a war which rent in twain and had well nigh fubverted the empire. This party, now grown ftrong and confident, by an unexpected return of profperity, affumed. with oftentatious audacity, the appellation of the king's friends, in which novel capacity they hefitated not to give their eager and ardent fupport to thofe measures of court policy, which had been ever reprobated by the tories of elder days, as in the highest degree pernicious and unconftitutional. The standing army, fo long the theme of their invective and reproach, was now affirmed to be neceflary for the prefervation of the national tranquillity; the public debt was pronounced a public be nefit; the connection with Hanover was honourable and useful; the influence of the crown was the happy means of confolidating the harmony of the different branches of govern ment; a long parliament was faid to be attended with no fuch inconvenient confequences as had been previously and erroneously appre hended: and every attempt to reftore that equality in the reprefentation, or rather to remove thofe glaring inequalities fo inconfiftent with the fpirit of the conftitution and the practice of former ages, was oppofed and rejected by them in terms of unbounded obloquy and deteftation, as leading to nothing lefs than the abfolute fubverfion of government. They profefled, on all occafions, their dread of innovation and novelty--not adverting to the conitant declaration of the ancient tories, that the things to which they objected were themfelves innovations wholly extrane ous to the conftitution-and that they who merely wished to reftore were moft unjustly accused of a fondness fondness for innovation, or a dangerous propensity to tamper with the conftitution, by trying new and hazardous experiments Although the high and prepofterous notions once prevalent refpecting the authority of the church had, in common with the old opinions relative to civil government, gradually fallen into difrepute, the tories of the prefent reign have been invariably characterized by the ftrength of their attachment to the ecclefiaftical establishment, which they are delighted to applaud and extol as a model of purity and perfection. Any fuggeftion of the expediency of a reform in the church, whether in relation to the irregula rities of its difcipline, or the errors of its doctrine, as exhibited in a fet of obfolete and unintelligible articles of faith, are received by this clafs of men with a fort of horror, as leading to foul fufpicions of fectarian herefy, or atheistical profanenefs; while the diflenters of all denominations are, on the contrary, viewed by them with eyes of jealoufy and hatred, and affiduously held up on all occafions as the inveterate enemies of at least one part of the confiitution, and as the doubtful friends at beft of the other: and every idea of enlarging the limits of the toleration allowed them by law, and much more of extending to them the common privileges of citizens, they have uniformly exclaimed againft with affected terror and real malignity. Defcription of the feveral Merits of Albert Durer, Michael Angelo, and Leonardo da Vinci, by Mr. Fufeli; from Seward's Anecdotes. has, ALBERT DURER. HE indifcriminate use of the words genius and ingenuity perhaps, no where caufed more confufion than in the claffification of artifts. Albert Durer was a man of great ingenuity without being a genius. He ftudied, and, as far as his penetration reached, established certain proportions of the human frame, but he did not create a ftyle. He copied, rather than imitated, the forms that furrounded him without remorfe, and tacked deformity and meagernefs to fullnefs and beauty. He fometimes had a glimpse of the fublime, but it was only a glimpse. The expanded agony of Chrift on the Mount of Olives, and the myftic. mafs of his figure of Melancholy, have much fublimity, though the expreffion of the laft is weakened by the rubbish he had thrown about her. His Knight attended by Death and the Fiend is more capricious than terrible; and his Adam and Eve are two common models fhut up in a rocky dungeon. Every work of his is a proof that he wanted the power of imitation, of concluding from what he faw to what he did not fee. Copious without tafte, anxioufly precife in parts, and unmindful of the whole, he has ra ther fhewn us what to avoid, thán what we are to follow. Though called the father of the German fchool, he neither reared fcholars, nor was imitated by the German artifts of his or the fucceeding century. That the importation of his works into Italy fhould have effected a temporary change in the prin ciples of fome Tufcans, who had ftudied Michael Angelo, is a fact which proves, that minds at certain periods may be fubject to epidemic [*A4] influence. influence as well as bodies. That feffion of Mr. Coke, of Norfolk, M. Angelo, when a boy, copied with a pen Michael Wolgemuth's print of the Temptation of St. Antony, and bought fish in the market to colour the devils, may be believed; but it requires the credulity of Wagenfeil to fuppofe that he could want any thing of Albert Durer, when he was a man. The legend contradicts itself; for who ever before heard of the bronzes of Albert Durer? MICHAEL ANGELO. M. Angelo, punctilious and haughty to princes, was gentle and even fubmiffive to inferior artifts, Gulielmo Bugiardini, a man of tiney talents and much conceit, had been applied to by Meffer Ottaviano de Medic: to paint the portrait of M. Angelo for him. Bugiardini, familiar with M. Angelo, obtained his confent. He fat to him; defired to rife after a fitting of two hours; and perceiving at the first glance the incorrectness of the outline, What the devil, faid he, have you been doing? You have fhoved one of the eyes into the temples; pray look at it. Gulielmo, after repeatedly looking at the picture and the original, at laft replied, with much gravity, I cannot fee it; but pray fit down and let us examine again. M. Angelo, who knew where the caufe of the blunder lay, fat down again, and patiently fubmitting to a long fecond infpection, was at laft peremptorily told that the copy was correct. If that be the cafe, faid he, nature has committed a miftake; go you on, and follow the dictates of your art. There exifts now at Holkham, among the pictures collected by the late lord Leicester, and in the pof the only copy ever made of the whole compofition of the celebrated Cartoon of Pifa. It is a fmall oilpicture in chiaroscuro, and the per formance of Baftiano de St. Gallo, furnamed Ariftotile, from his learned or verbose defcants on that furprifing work. It was painted at the defire of Vafari, and transmitted to Francis I. by Paolo Giovio, bishop of Nocera. How it could escape the eyes of the French and English connoiffeurs or artifts, who had accefs to the collections, of which it conftituted the chief ornament, is a myftery, which, for the 'honour of the art, none can wish to unravel. Nothing is trifling in the hiftory of genius. The following ftrange incident, extracted from the life of M. Angelo, written by his pupil, or rather attendant, Afcanio Condivi, deferves notice, because it is related from the mouth of M. Angelo himself. Some time after the death of Lorenzo de Medici, Cardiere, a young improvifatore, entertained by his fon Piero, fecretly informed M. Angelo, with whom he lived in habits of friendship, that Lorenzo de Medici had appeared to him in a ragged pall of black over his naked body, and commanded him to announce to his fon, that in a fhort time he fhould be driven into exile, and return more. M. Angelo exhorted him to execute the commands of the vifion; but Cardiere, aware of the haughty infolent temper of Piero, forbore to follow his advice. Some mornings after this, whilft M. Angelo was bufy in the cortile of the palace, Cardiere, 'terrified and pale, comes again, and relates, that the night before, when yet awake, Lo renze, |