VROMANS, VICTORIA.

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hours spent in this way the besieged capitulated, and marched out with all the honours of war. D'Argenville, who tells the story, grows quite enthusiastic over it. "Nothing," he says, "could have been better contrived, and it was very obvious, from the systematic conduct of the whole affair, that it was not alone the industrious Wynants but a military man who was present in that comical company."

Poor NICHOLAS VROMANS' versatility found vent in a less harmless pastime. He had either never read of Dædalus or had forgotten his fate, for our artist expended great pains in the construction of a machine which was to carry him, bird-like, through the air. On the first attempt he broke his leg; but the crazed enthusiast went on constructing other machines of a similar character, and wasted his time in fabricating useless pieces of mechanism, when he might have been producing good paintings.

The literary attainments of VICENTE VICTORIA obtained for him a celebrity not less than that for which he was indebted to his pencil. The latter part of this Valencian's life was spent in Rome, where he obtained the appointment of antiquarian to Pope Clement II., and was also elected a member of Queen Christina's Academy of the Arcadians. He wrote with purity both in Spanish and Italian; and the sonnet in the former language, preserved by Palomino, and quoted by Mr. Stirling, is a happily conceived eulogy on the art of painting, not

altogether innocent of conceits, but earnestly written,

and expressive:

Emula del criador, arte excelente
Misteriosa deidad, muda canora
Sin voz sirena y sabia encantadora
Verdad fingida, engaño permanente,
Del alma suspension, sombra viviente
Erudita y no garulla oradora,

Libro abierto, que mas enseña y ora,
Que el volúmen mas docto y eloqüente:
Quanto el juicio comprehende, ama el anhelo
Si advierte en ti; y en tu matiz fecundo
Obra naturaleza halla el desvelo.

Admiro en ti casi un criador segundo
Pues Dios crió de nada tierra y cielo,

De casi nada tú haces cielo y mundo.

ERASMUS QUELLINUS has the merit of having been accomplished in poetry, architecture, and philosophy, as well as painting. EL GRECO (Domenico Theotocupuli) held the pen as well as the pencil, and wrote on the arts of painting, sculpture, and architecture, all of which he professed. RAFAEL MENGS cultivated letters, and published compositions in German, Spanish, and Italian, each of which languages he wrote with fluency. Chemistry and mathematics were among the favourite pursuits of JOSEPH PORTA. He wrote several scientific treatises, which he ordered to be burnt during his last illness, together with a number of designs and sketches. He appears to have been highly esteemed by the men of science in his day, whom he assisted by his researches.

The varied powers of the worthy Carthusian, LUIS PASCAL GAUDIN, are thus quaintly and laconically summed up in the conventual record: "Vir quidem picturæ arte præclarus, theologiâ præclarior, virtuteque (patrum qui eo vixerunt testimonio) præclarissimus."

To artists we are indebted for some of the most valuable contributions to the history of art and the biography of its eminent professors; and every reader will readily recognise his obligations to Vasari, Palomino, Pacheco, Vanmander, Corneille de Bie, Cean Bermudez, Sandraat, Houbraken, Reynolds, Northcote, Leslie, and others.

And with this general acknowledgment, before taking leave of the subject, let us give audience to two ladies, who have been kept all this time waiting in the ante-chamber, and who are both entitled to greater courtesy at the hands of ourselves. To one of these ladies-Mademoiselle VERELST-we might almost apply Byron's description of Donna Inez, to wit:

A learned lady, famed

In every Christian language ever named,
With virtues equall'd by her wit alone,
She made the cleverest people quite ashamed,
And e'en the good with inward envy groan,
Finding themselves so very much exceeded

In their own way by all the things that she did.

But we will hear the testimony of M. Descamps on this point. At the time of the incident hereinafter referred to, Mademoiselle Verelst was residing

with her uncle and aunt in London, where the young lady followed her profession as a portrait painter. One evening, says our authority, accompanied by her aunt and a friend, our fair artist visited the theatre, occupying a box in the dress circle, in which were also seated half-a-dozen German gentlemen, who were much struck with the beauty and maidenly reserve of Mademoiselle Verelst. Their admiration was expressed to each other in very exaggerated terms in their own language, and they were no doubt somewhat embarrassed at hearing a reproof from the young lady couched in the purest German, who prayed to be spared a repetition of praise so enthusiastic on their part, and so dangerous to herself. The German gentlemen offered a prompt apology, and continued their conversation much in the same strain in Italian: this elicited a second reproof conveyed in

That soft bastard Latin

Which melts like kisses from a female mouth,

And sounds as if it should be writ on satin.

This was worse and worse, and extorted from one of them the remark, "We really must respect the delicacy of this young lady, whose mind is as charming as her face;" and in proof of his own. desire to carry out this sentiment, the Latin tongue was chosen as the vehicle of his words. But Mademoiselle Verelst could open a battery upon them from all points. "Your sex," said she, in

ELIZABETH CHERON.

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Ciceronian dialect, "enjoy a monopoly of honours and dignities; why should you seek to deprive our sex, therefore, of a language which opens to us the portal of the sciences?" The Germans were fairly staggered; they did not venture to prolong the conversation in Hebrew or Chaldaic, as they did not happen to be acquainted with either of these tongues, so they maintained a discreet silence, until one of the party, a nobleman, ventured to solicit, on his own behalf and on that of his friends, permission to pay their respects to this learned young lady, at the residence of her friends on the following morning. In reply to which, Mademoiselle Verelst informed them that she was a portrait painter, residing with her uncle, and that it therefore formed part of the duties of her profession, to extend a courteous reception to those who honoured her with a visit. The Germans called upon the fair linguist next morning, sat for their portraits, paid for them after a munificent rate, and did not fail to noise abroad the talents and grace of the accomplished artist.

The other lady to whom we have referred, Mademoiselle ELIZABETH CHERON, achieved a two-fold reputation as a painter and a poet. The ability she displayed in the latter capacity, led to her reception into the Accademia dei Ricoverati, at Padua, where, according to the absurd custom observed in those absurdly-named associations, Mademoiselle Cheron obtained the appellation of the Muse Erato.