fusing an admiration of the character of Ames. We naturally imitate what we admire, and it is not possible to imitate Ames, without exalting human nature; and refining to perfection the love of virtue, of liberty, our country and mankind.

THE FINE ARTS.-FOR THE PORT FOLIO.

THE MODERN FRENCH SCHOOL.LIFE OF DAVID.

THE name of David stands in the French school preeminent alike for genius and for crime. When the revolutionary tempest desolated the loyalty of France, he forsook his pencil and became one of the directing demons of the storm. Amongst the number of that ferocious band who, by their suffrages, doomed their sovereign to death, we find the name of this painter. Unsatiated with the murder of his king, he became the ferocious confederate and adviser of the sanguinary Robespierre and Marat. His character may be collected from the following anecdote. He was once asked how many victims had fallen in one day to the frenzy which then pervaded France? and he replied, one hundred and twenty, only, and further added, that the heads of twenty thousand more must fall before the great work of philosophy could be accomplished. He would attend at the guillotine, and with perfect composure, catch the last agonies in the countenance of the expiring victim, and rejoice in the opportunity so afforded of imparting such horrible energy to his canThere is no fear, therefore, but that the name of David will descend to posterity. During the sanguinary scene's of the revolution he remained true to his party; but the republican David now finds in a monarchy that protection he denied in a republic. He is now the favourite painter of Buonaparte, and by a singular revolution of fortune, having assisted in the murder of one sovereign, becomes the flatterer of the next. Fortunate would it be for him if the works of his pencil were the only memorials of his name. But whatever his actions may have been, they cannot impair the splendid memorials of his genius. He is considered the most illustrious painter in France now living, and his

vass.

historical pieces are executed with a boldness and sublimity which nothing but genius can inspire.

This painter possesses all that rigid devotion to antique so characteristic of the French school, to which he superadds all the charms of the most exquisite colouring. He seems formed to create a new era in the annals of French painting, for he unites the charms of Titian's colouring to the classical design of Poussin. His draperies are cast in the most graceful manner, and all his attitudes betoken elegance and grace. With a knowledge of antique he combines a genius so bold and inventive, that however ordinary may be the subject which is touched by his pencil, he immediately, as by a talisman, communicates some new and heretofore undiscovered charm.

From his numerous works we have selected for the present number, the picture of Brutus on his return home after the condemnation of his children, in which the artist has endeavoured to portray the triumphs of the public duties over the private feelings of a magistrate. He has just performed the highest and most generous-sacrifice which the interests of his country demanded. But on returning to the bosom of his family, he is met by the reproaches of his despairing wife, and the agonies of his wretched daughters. He is no longer a magistrate, no more a Roman citizen-but a man and a father-one moment is given to parental tenderness, but with the next revives the inflexible integrity of the judge. He retires into a corner of his apartment, and there, enveloped in his mantle, and in obscurity, at the feet of that Rome whose liberties he has saved, and holding in his hands the fatal letter of his sons to Tarquin, the evidence at once of their guilt and his justice, listens in silent horror to the cries of his family, as the lictors are returning from the execution of his children.

INTERESTING PARTICULARS RELATING TO THE BARON DE MONTESQUIEU-BY LORD CHARLEMONT.

In travelling through France I happened, luckily for me, to get acquainted with Mr. Elliot, a gentleman of Cornwall, whose Edward, afterwards lord Elliott.

excellent understanding, cultivated and improved by the best education, and animated by a mind of the most pleasing cast, rendered him the most agreeable of companions. We travelled together for some time, and finding ourselves not very far from Bourdeaux, we determined not to miss the opportunity of going there, not so much prompted thereto by the beauty of the town, and the adjacent country, as by our ardent desire of seeing, and of knowing, the president Montesquieu. Arrived at Bourdeaux, our first inquiry was concerning the principal object of our journey; but how great was our disappointment, when we found he had left the city, and was gone to reside at a country seat, four or five hours distant. To leave our longing unsatisfied was truly mortifying to us; and yet what could be done? At length, after a long deliberation, we determined to strike a bold stroke; and, getting the better of all timidity, perhaps propriety, we sat down and wrote a joint letter, in which we candidly told the president our reasons for visiting Bourdeaux, our sad disappointment, our eager wishes for the honour of his acquaintance, which, as English subjects, we most particularly desired, con cluding by begging pardon for our presumption, and leave to wait on him at his villa. Neither did we languish long for an answer; it quickly arrived, in every respect as we would have wished, and consisted of modest acknowledgments for the ho nour we did him, assertions of the high esteem in which he held our country, and the most hearty and pressing invitation to come to him as soon as our occasions would permit. The first appointment with a favourite mistress could not have rendered our night more restless; and the next morning we set out so early that we arrived at his villa before he was risen. The servant showed us into his library, where the first object of curiosity that presented itself was a table, at which he had apparently been reading the night before, a book lying upon it open, turned down, and a lamp extinguished. Eager to know the nocturnal studies of this great philosopher, we immediately flew to the book; it was a volume of Ovid's works, containing his elegies, and open at one of the most gallant poems of that master of love. Before we could overcome our surprise, it was greatly increased by the