The Columbiad: A Poem Part 33

Ascension of Christ.

Samuel presented to Eli.

Moses shown the Promised Land.

Christ among the Doctors.

Reaping scene.

Adonis and his dog.

Mothers with their children in water.

Joshua crossing the Jordan with the Ark.

Christ's Nativity.

* Pyrrhus when a child before king Glaucus.

The Man laying his bread on the bridle of the dead a.s.s. _Sterne._ The Captive. _Ditto._ Cupid letting loose two Doves.

Cupid asleep.

Children eating cherries.

St. Anthony of Padua and the Child.

Jacob and Laban with his two daughters.

The Women looking into the Sepulchre and seeing two Angels where the Lord lay.

The Angel unchaining Peter in prison.

Death of sir Philip Sidney.

Death of Epaminondas.

Death of chevalier Bayard.

Death of Cephalus.

* Kosciusko on a couch.

Abraham and Isaac. _Here is the wood and fire, but where is the lamb to sacrifice?_ Eponina with her children giving bread to her husband when in concealment.

King Henry pardoning his brother.

John at the prayer of his mother.

Death of lord Chatham. Presentation of the Crown to William the Conqueror.

Europa crowning the Bull with flowers.

West's garden, gallery and painting room.

Cave of Despair. _Spencer_.

Arethusa bathing.

Cupid shows Venus his finger stung by a bee.

Ubald brings his three daughters to Alfred for him to choose one for his wife.

* Pylades and Orestes.

Besides the two hundred and ninety-nine large finished pictures here mentioned, Mr. West has done about one hundred portraits, and upwards of two hundred drawings with the pen; which last, for sublimity of conception, are among the finest of his works. So that the whole of his pieces amount to above six hundred. Some of them are larger in size than any in the national gallery of France; and he has not been a.s.sisted by any other painter.

Mr. West is now about sixty-eight years of age. He discovers no abatement in the activity of his genius, nor in the laborious exercise of his talents. He has painted several fine pictures since the above catalogue was made. Three of which I have particularly noticed in his painting room: Tobet and Tobias with the fish; Abraham sending away Hagar with her child; Achilles receiving from Thetis the new armor; and we hear that he has lately painted the Death of Nelson. He may yet produce many more original works; tho it is presumed he has already exceeded all other historical painters, except Rubens, in the number and variety of his productions. With regard to the merit of his pictures, I cannot pretend to form a judgment that would be of any use in directing that of others. He is doubtless the most cla.s.sical painter, except Raphael, whose works are known to us.

The critics find fault with the coloring of Mr. West. But in his works, as in those of Raphael, we do not look for coloring. It is dignity of character, fine expression, delicate design, correct drawing and beautiful disposition of drapery which fix the suffrage of the real judge. All which qualities can only spring from an elevated mind.

No. 46.

_Nile pours from heaven a tutelary flood, And gardens grow the vegetable G.o.d._

Book IX. Line 287.

O sanctas gentes, quibus haec nasc.u.n.tur in hortis Numina.

Juv. Sat. 15.

No. 47.

_Tis to correct their fatal faults of old, When, caught by tinsel, they forgot the gold._

Book IX. Line 499.

The state of the arts and sciences among the ancients, viewed with reference to the event of universal civilization, was faulty in two respects. First, In their comparative estimation: Second, In their flourishing only in one nation at a time. These circ.u.mstances might be favorable to the exertions of individual genius; and they may be a.s.signed both as causes of the universal destruction of the arts and sciences by the Gothic conquest, and as reasons why we should not greatly lament that destruction.

From the political state of mankind in the days of their ancient splendor it was natural that those arts which depend on the imagination, such as Architecture, Statuary, Painting, Eloquence and Poetry, should claim the highest rank in the estimation of a people. In several, perhaps all of these, the ancients remain unrivalled. But these are not the arts which tend the most to the general improvement of society. A man in those days would have rendered more service to the world by ascertaining the true figure and movements of the earth, than by originating a heaven and filling it with all the G.o.ds of Homer; and had the expenses of the Egyptian pyramids been employed in furnishing ships of discovery and sending them out of the Mediterranean, the nations called civilized would not have been afterwards overrun by Barbarians.

But the sciences of Geography, Navigation and Commerce, with their consequent improvements in Natural Philosophy and Humanity, could not, from the nature of things at that time, become objects of great encouragement or enterprise. Talent was therefore confined to the cultivation of arts more striking to the senses. As these arts were adapted to gratify the vanity of princes, to help carry on the sacred frauds of priests, to fire the ambition of heroes, or to gain causes in popular a.s.semblies, they were brought to a degree of perfection which prevented their being relished or understood by barbarous neighbors.

The improvements of the world therefore, whether in literature, sciences or arts, descended with the line of conquest from one nation to another, till the whole were concentred in the Roman empire. Their tendency there was to inspire a contempt for nations less civilized, and to teach the Romans to consider all mankind as the proper objects of their military despotism.

These circ.u.mstances prepared, thro a course of ages, and finally opened a scene of wretchedness at which the human mind has been taught to shudder.

But some such convulsion seemed necessary to reduce the nations to a position capable of commencing regular improvements. And, however novel the sentiment may appear, I will venture to say that, as to the prospect of universal civilization, mankind were in a better situation in the time of Charlemagne than they were in the days of Augustus.

The final destruction of the Roman empire left the nations of Europe in circ.u.mstances similar to each other; and their consequent rivalship prevented any disproportionate refinement from appearing in any particular region. The principles of government, firmly rooted in the Feudal System, unsocial and unphilosophical as they were, laid the foundation of that balance of power which discourages the Cesars and Alexanders of modern ages from attempting the conquest of the world.

It seems necessary that the arrangement of events in civilizing the world should be in the following order: _first_, all parts of it must be considerably peopled; _second_, the different nations must be known to each other; _third_, their wants must be increased, in order to inspire a pa.s.sion for commerce. The first of these objects was not probably accomplished till a late period. The second for three centuries past has been greatly accelerated. The third is a necessary consequence of the two former. The spirit of commerce is happily calculated to open an amicable intercourse between all countries, to soften the horrors of war, to enlarge the field of science, and to a.s.similate the manners, feelings and languages of all nations. This leading principle, in its remoter consequences, will produce advantages in favor of free government, give patriotism the character of philanthropy, induce all men to regard each other as brethren and friends, and teach them the benefits of peace and harmony among the nations.

I conceive it no objection to this theory that the progress has. .h.i.therto been slow; when we consider the magnitude of the object, the obstructions that were to be removed, and the length of time taken to accomplish it.

The future progress will probably be more rapid than the past. Since the invention of printing, the application of the properties of the magnet, and the knowledge of the structure of the solar system, it is difficult to conceive of a cause that can produce a new state of barbarism; unless it be some great convulsion in the physical world, so extensive as to change the face of the earth or a considerable part of it. This indeed may have been the case already more than once, since the earth was first peopled with men, and antecedent to our histories. But such events have nothing to do with the present argument.

No. 48.

_Herschel ascends himself with venturous wain, And joins and flanks thy planetary train,_

Book IX. Line 601.

The planet discovered by Herschel was called by him Georgium Sidus; but in all countries except England it is named Herschel, and probably will be so named there after his death and that of the patron to whom his grat.i.tude led him to make this extraordinary dedication.

I would observe that, besides the impropriety of giving it another name than that of the discoverer, it is inconvenient to use a double name, or a name composed of two words. Let it be either George or Herschel.

The pa.s.sage referred to in this note was written before the discovery of the three other planets which are now added to our catalogue. Could my voice have weight in deciding on the names to be given to these new children of the sun, I would call them by the names of their respective discoverers, Piazzi, Gibers and Harding, instead of the senseless and absurd appellations of Ceres, Pallas and Juno. The former method would at least a.s.sist us in preserving the history of science; the latter will only tend farther to confuse a very ancient mythology which is already extremely confused, and increase the difficulty of following the faint traces of real knowledge that seems couched under the ma.s.s of that mythology; traces which may one day lead to many useful truths in philosophy and morals.

No. 49.

_To build on ruin'd realms the shrine of fame, And load his numbers with a tyrant's name._