business of the artist is to produce such pictures as will force a sale. If he cannot do this, he has no claims on the public, and would be better employed, both for himself and for society, in pursuing some other branch of industry. In France there is a good deal of nationality in the public feeling on this point; and the revolution has not wholly eradicated the old-fashioned notions of protection and patronage. The consequence, as it respects the modern collection of the Duc d'Orleans, is, that it contains some inferior pictures: still there is in it a sufficient number of the works of the great living masters, to redeem the rest.

Of the Orleans Gallery I could obtain no catalogue to bring away with me; but, as far as I remember, the finest specimens in it of the modern school, were the battle and sea-pieces of the admirable Vernets, that distinguished race of hereditary artists, whose excellence lies in their genius having preserved the stamp of their temperament.

There is nothing vague, nothing false in their noble pictures. Facts and nature are their study; their easels are placed before their subjects like a camera obscura; and lines, lights, tints, and shades, throw themselves on the canvas, and remain there, permanent and faithful to their great originals. Let ambitious mediocrity, with its eyes in the air, and its head in the clouds, learn from these artists that the sole inspiration of genius is truth. Pass from the pictures of the Vernets (the battle of Jemappe, for instance) to the Ossianic school of black and white masses, the sublime grotesque of fantastic grouping, with its tremendous depth of shadows and gigantic proportions; "look upon this picture and on this," and then, if you have eyes, "on this fair mountain leave to feed, and batten on this moor," if you can. Many of the pictures of H. Vernet tell stories delightful thus to read, in all the glow of nature's own colouring. Such is his picture of the Duke of Orleans seeking shelter at the

hospital of St. Gothard-an event that occurred in 1793, when he was the young and destitute Duc de Chartres. On foot, with little money, and followed by a single domestic, the duke presented himself at the convent gate. He rung the bell, and a capuchin appeared at the window, and asked in Italian, "What do you want?""Some nourishment for my companion and myself," replied the wanderer. "We

do not receive foot passengers, or persons of your sort, here," rejoined the capuchin. But, reverend father, we will pay whatever you demand," said the Duke. "No, no, the inn opposite is good enough for you," said the monk; and pointing to a miserable shed, where the muleteers stop for refreshment, he shut the window and disappeared. The scenery of Mount St. Gothard, in the hands of Vernet, with figures so interesting as those of the capuchin at the window, and the young prince with his faithful servant beneath, form one of the most interesting subjects that can be ima

gined. The "combat d'avant poste," and the "grenadier blessé," by the same artist, have been celebrated in the verse of Count Anatole de Montesquiou; but his Battle of Jemappe is, I believe, his chef-d'œuvre.

Among the modern portraits in the Orleans Gallery are the head of General Foy, and a fine picture of Madame de Stael, by Gerard. They are both living, speaking pictures. Then, what divine contemporary portraits of the times of the Ninons and the Sevignés, the delicious. siécle des memoires, upon which we are all still feeding and gloating! Times of vice and folly, of the rack and the wheel, of poisonings and lettres de cachet, why were ye so amusing? There are also portraits of ministers and mistresses of Maintenons and Pères de la

Chaise, and a fine one (by Philip de Champaigne) of Cardinal Mazarin, (who has by no means that "aria di frate" one might have expected in an Italian priest,) and a magnificent head of Cardinal di Richelieu, by the same

artist. There are likewise portraits of La Vallière,* of Mad. de Montespan, of Charlotte de Bavière Duchess d'Orleans, of Henriette d'Orleans, and many other successive beauties of the French court, bearing the cachets of Nanteuil, Mignard, and Rigaud, and Coypel. †

A series of historical pictures, by native and modern artists, of considerable merit, as paint

* This portrait of Mad. de la Vallière is painted (after an original miniature belonging to the late Duchess d'Orleans) by a charming modern artist, Madlle. Sophie Allant. There are also portraits of Oliver Cromwell, and of the Viscomte de Turenne, by Mignard, that particularly struck

us.

+ Among the old masters, is the portrait of Francis the First, by Titian. Of the modern artists whose works have been added to the superb collections of Eu and the Palais Royale, the Duc de Montpensier, the gifted and beloved brother of the Duc d'Orleans, deserves an especial notice. His pictures of Henriette of England, (queen of Charles the First,) and of Henry the Fourth, after the originals by Porbus, in the collection of the King of England, are far beyond the ordinary value of amateur productions.