The Middlebury register. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1850-1882, 1854-08-16

nose, with its dilatablc nostrils and
Shakespeare, Bacon, Newton, have all the
low, full, meditative eye brows, the very
reverse of the fantastic, high-archcd, wan
dering ones Of Francis the First. " Non
cuigue datum est habere naSunb lit is
not given to every one to have nose)
says Lavater plaintivcly. forgetting that
to some the gods grant too much noso, as
he might have seen in moment in the
looking glass
The painters form here an interesting
series from the monastic, calm. pious
contemplative faces of Fra Angelica and
Massaccio with whom painting was
rather all aspiration and religious duty
than a trade, to the solemn, aristocratic
Vcnetians, who became rich aud emo.
bled by their art, and the great men who
pursued art as passion, like Michael
Angelo, the Barsoker, and Raphael,
sweet-eyed and sanity, and so on to the
full.bloodcd, vigorous Flcmings, with
whom Art was both trade and digni.
ty but not a religion. How We group
them together when we think of Titan
visited by Michael Angelo, the friend of
Raphael and Giulio Romano, or of
Velasquez walking at night with Claude
and Poussin on the rampant at Rome,
while, Guido was painting his Aurora"
in the same city, and Albano too was
there not idle, or we see Rubens, a very
king among painters, busy at his " Dcs-
cent from the Gross" while robust Jor-
daens and Snydcrs, Brauwcr and young
Teniers are looking on. Here is Giotto,
whom Cimabue took from tending sheep:
and the Carracci. the sons of poor tai.
lor, like Andrea del Sarto; and here is
the slow, surewitted Domenchino, whom
the savage cut-throat Spagnolotto perse-
cuted to death; and Guido, the Carrac-
els pupil, who escaped with difficulty the
same fate only to die more miserable
than Correggio. We see here those en-
thusiasts to whom Art was all in all /;
who sat beside the galley slaves as they
toilcd, to watch the straining muscles,
and who exposed themselves to the risk
of shpwreck for the sake of marine eff.
feet.
Among the great composers we sec
the usual popularity ofthe physiognomy.
following the changes of a century
Palcstrina is austerc and calm Ciinaro.
so sensual and fat; Haydn has little of
the petit.maitre about him but the
democratic Beethoven, whom he prophe.
sled would turn out mere pianist looks
sublime, with his deep eyes, suffering
face. and hair like wild beasts name.
There are several casts here of the
Cesar-like head of Napoleon, the very
type Of dominion and serene. cold imper-
turbable wisdom; but Canova's and
Thorwaldsen's basis, though both grand
and calm, fail in point of actual portrait
ufes of Isabel, or the leoninc faces that
Delarocbe and David have painted. H.
Isabel you trace the great Corsican, from
the pale, cynical, melancholy young Off
cor of artillory. and the grave, conscious
dignity of the Consul to the unhealthy
and flbby features Of the latter En-.
reror, when, as Lamartno says, his face
appeared as if gildcd by the bile that
tinged his blood, aud when his head hab-
itually hung down, like Wordsworth's 5
heavy with trance like meditation and
" h petit c0porai" of the Fantassins had
become, in the soldiers language. "le
pere peaSif" Of the Old Guard Round
this eagle clusters the eaglcts. Here are
all the Marshals, whom his keen eye de-
tected. like Alexander. in every rank Of
life Murat, the landlords son: Junot and
Ney, the poor privates Bernadottc, the
brave sergeant; Mossena, the vintnor's
boy 4; and Kieber, the young architect
Here, too, is Hoche, the stable. boy, who
once dared to land in ireland Moreau,
the renegade, and Desaix, whom Bona
parte wept for at Marengo and Lauucs,
whose mind, he said, was continually
growing, and who resembled an old Ro-
man rather than French Marshal. OF
this invincibe band few were native
Frenchmcn. Junot was a Swiss, Mac
donald Scotchman and Kellerman, and
Kleber were Germans. Here is Klebler
who Napoleon said sometimes slept, but
when he awoke it was the awakening cf
the lion. looking eager as if trying to
pierce the battlesmoke. appraised like a
Vulcan starting from his forge Hochc
handsome as Murat, and less theatrical
than that King Franconi )" aud Mo.
reau, proud, beautiful, and cruel as a
Catiline.
The poets muster strong, and elbow
the very kings who let them starye.
Here is that Corneille, whom Racine pc.
tltioned for so warmly; and who, never
thelcss, died in poverty and neglect,
while. France was still reading the "Cid"
with wonder and delight. Here is Tas =.
so, sad'cyed, but calm; Ariosto viva
cious and wild Dante, thin. checked and
suffering Metastasio, the boy who was
found poor ,mprovisatore in the streets
now full.wigged and heavy ,joled Pc
trarch, dignified and majestic aud Col
doni, intelligent aud acute.
One may read a nations history here
in the faces of its kings, In crowned
murderer and crowned adulterer YOU
may trace every gradation of human
crlminality and human folly from the
lust and vanity of Francis the First to
the bloodsucking fanaticism OF Charles
the Ninth-the inflated greed of Louis
the Fourteenth, and the refined degrade.
tion of Louis Quinzc, Here is Louis
the Eleventh, bis wrinkled face drawn
down with superstitious terror, and wrung
by fear rather than repentance Henry
the Fourth, bold and sagacious, but un-
prlnciplcd, vain and lewd Charles the
Ninth, a sort of royal pickpocket, with
hang'dog, Jack Sheppard face, more fit
for the galley bench than the scat of
state Erancis the First hnaSstrnnn and