BOOKS.

• IdES. JAMESON'S LEGENDS OF THE MONASTIC • ORDERS.* A PHILOSOPHICAL account of the lives of.the Saints, or a hiatory. of the Monastic Orders; has yet to be written, and probably will long remain unwritten. The-extensive learning, a knowledge of the various arts that the historian must possess—agriculture, flori- culture, architecture, painting, illumination, caligraphy, and many others which the -monks improved, or. restored—may be acquired by laborious will. The varied genius, the opposite qualities of mind .necessary to appreciate justly. and display successfully the opposite characteristics of different men -in different ages, is among -the -rarest gifts of nature. -The utilitarian, who can best admire the hardy reclaimers of fen, moor, mountain, or forest, piously granted to the Church 'because they were not worth secu- lar keeping, will. look coldly , on the sometimes -misguided zeal of men who laboured, as he think, to substitute one form of superstition 'for .another, and did not always limit themselves to pious frauds. The scholar, who. remembers how much learning. is indebted to the religious orders for their preservation of the classics, will also remember how much they have destroyed, and how often "Livy's pictured page" and others of equal value have been erased te make way for some "lying legend." The mind which can best sympathize with the , devout feeling and catholic Christianity of many monks even in the darkest times, will be the most deeply shocked at the priestly pride, the personal am- bition, the secular objects, the bloody persecutions, the reckless disregard of truth, and too often the gross immorality, which have upon the whole distinguished the Romish clergy. Those who feel grateful for what the monks did for original learning, will be inclined most severely to judge their interested opposi- tion to literature when it got beyond their leading-strings, and the manner in which they would have strangled .science and philoso- phy for Church purposes, and kept the mind of man in cloistered darkness. The vivacious genius that could most effectively bring out the follies, the absurdities, the carnal grossnesses, of saintly wrestlings and saintly miracles would less clearly recognize the resolute will and daring self-struggles of many recluses; it could not apprehend the ardent devotion and spiritual love of the mystics, even if it did not altogether pervert the unctuous passion. Shakspere, in his perfect combination of the intellectual and ima- ginative faculties, seems alone to have been equal to the task. The next approach that we know of is the varied genius which produced the Dunned, the Letter to Abelard, the Moral Epistles, and the Rape of the Lock:

The object of Mrs. Jamieson would have prevented her from

writing a complete history of the Monastic Orders, even had her faculties been more fitted for its execution than a woman's can naturally be. But her Legends are-an agreeable substitute for it, and very much better than an indifferent history. This lady has reading enough to embrace the general extent of her subject, and she has realized her book learning by visits to many of the places she has to speak of, and by actual inspection of many of the pic- tures and religious houses she has to describe. She possesses prac- tical philosophy -sufficient to appreciate fully the substantial bene- fits the monks have bestowed upon the world in the useful arts, and in advancing personal if not civil freedom. It is her direct business to describe their merits as artists and as patrons of art. Her feminine feelings enable her to enter into the devout or the mystic devotion that thousands of the professed have really felt, and to put the best construction. on the warmth of spiritrial love. If she passes over the foul and filthy in asceticism, and touches very gently on the cruelty of fanaticism, or the false in the le- gendary, the omission may be regarded as a merit in a book in- tended for the drawingroom as well as for the library. The sacri- fice to critical truth in making the virtues so much more prominent than the errors or the criines, may raise a similar set-off: but the true justification is to be found in the professed end of the writer, which was to make monastic legends as exhibited in art the main feature of her book. In strictness, the leading orders of Bene- dictines, Augustines, Dominicans, and Franciscans with their nu- merous divisions and subdivisions, or the lives and characters of their founders and most distinguished members, should figure in "Legends of the Monastic Orders as represented in the Fine Arts," not according to their importance in ecclesiastical or religious his- tory, but their frequency and prominency in religious pictures. That this rule has not been rigidly observed by Mrs. Jameson., and that the reader has a general. view of the various Orders, with biographical sketches of their founders and of eminent saints, is a gain despite any critical objection founded on the professed plan.

The volume forms part of a series, the first of which was devoted to legends of Angels Apostles, Fathers, Martyrs, Patron Saints, Bishops, Hermits, 'Warrior Saints, and the Magdalen; the second is occupied with the Monastic Orders • a third will contain the Ma- donna. After an introduction on the scope and philosophy of the subject, the plan of the present work is to give a sketch of the orders with their sub-orders, and the biography of the founders, followed by that of the principal members ; the intrinsic interest of the life being as much as anything else a determining element of the scale. Interwoven with or affixed to each life there is much symbolic and artistieal matter. The reader is instructed as to the proper dress and accompanying signs that should and generally do discriminate

• Legends of the Monastic Orders, as represented in the Fine Arts. Forming the Second Series of Sacred and Legendary Art. By Mrs. Jameson. Published by Longman and Co.

one person from another; a critical account is given of the most re- markable pictures in which the saint appears; and when a series of life-pictures has been painted, exhibiting the leading inci- dents of his career, the most complete is selected for description. By this means, the book accomplishes several purposes. It fur- nishes a good introduction for those who wish to pursue the study of monastic history or monastic art; it provides a clear, rapid, and elegantly-written account of both subjects, for readers to whom a popular compendium is sufficient; and it will form a su artistical guide-book to those who are about to make an in tour, pointing out as it does some of the highest or most curious pictures in the churches or collections of France, Italy, and Spain.

"How can we reason but from what we know ?" and as many of us know very little, our notions of anything beyond our ex- perience are generally erroneous, false, or at best abstract. In forming an opinion of contemporary circumstances, which are placed beyond the range of our personal knowledge, our ideas are frequently altogether exaggerated or absurd,—as the "Radi- cal at a white heat' touching the aristocracy, or the Anti-Slavery people with regard to the virtues and capabilities of the Blacks. Of remote ages the mass cannot form any idea at all ; and philo- sophy—as the cold philosophy of the last century—is sometimes mistaken. It requires both knowledge and imagination to judge justly of a state of things so widely differing from our own. Hence the necessity for caution in forming an opinion, and the utility of critical remark in the midst of narrative to guide the reader to a right conclusion. Few things have subjected the monks to more censure from the utilitarian school, than the lavish alms- giving of the monasteries; yet it was a blessing to the darkest times, and a choice of evils to a much later date.

"To understand and to sympathize with the importance attached to alms- giving, and the prominence given to this particular aspect of charity in the old pictures, we must recall a social condition very different from our own ; a period when there were no pour-laws; when the Jaws for the protection of the lower classes were imperfect, and perpetually violated ; when for the wretched there was absolutely no resource but in private beneficence. In those days a man began his religious vocation by a literal and practical ap- plication of the text in Scripture—' Sell all thou hast, and distribute to the poor.' The laws against debtors were then very severe ; and the proximity of the Wore on one side and the Turks on the other rendered slavery, a fa- miliar thing. In all the Maritime and commercial cities of Italy and 5pain, 'brotherhoods existed for the manumission of slaves and debtors. Charitable confraternities performed then, and in Italy perform now, many duties left to our police, or which we think we fulfil in paying our poor,rates. These duties of charity shine in the monastic pictures, and were conspicuous on the walls of churches, I am persuaded to good purpose. Among the most inte- resting of the canonized saints whose stories I have related in reference to art, are the 'founders of the charitable brotherhoods; and amongthe most beauti- ful and celebrated pictures. were those painted 'for these communities; for instance, for the Misericordia in Italy, the various Scuola at Venice, the Merced and the Carded An, Spain, and for the numerous hospitals for the siek, the houseless tratellers, the poor, and the penitent women (donne con- vertite). All these institutions were adorned with pictures, and in the ora- tories and chapels appended to them the altar-pieoe generally set forth some beneficent saint—St. Rocli, or St. Charles Berromeo, . the patrons of the

gae-stricken ; or St. COSMO and St.. Damian; the saintly apothecaries; or •

Leonard, the 'pretecter. of captives and debtors - or that friend of the wretched, St. Juan Ale Dios, or the benign St. Elizabeth; either standing before us as objects of devout reverence; or kneeling at the feet of the Ma- donna and her Son, and commending to the Divine Mercy all such as are any !ways- afflicted in mind,' body, or estate.' -" 'There is 'perhaps' soniewhat too much of bright colouring, or an iibsehee of shade; in the following resume of the history of the 'Beliedietines';ibut it 'furnishes a:good idea of Mrs. Jameson's style,

hod of her 'toleration. •

The effigies of the Benedictines are interesting, and suggestive under three points of view. " Pun, as the early missionaries of theNorta of Europe, who carried the light of the gospel into those wilds of Britain, Gaul, ,Saxony, Belgium' whore heathenism still solemnized impure and inhuman rites ; . who with the gos- pel, Carried also peace and civilisation! alid beeanie the refuge of the people, of the serfs, the slaves, the pbori, the !oppressed, ' against the feudal tyrants

and military spoilers of those barbarous tunes. -

• a "St:K*01y, as the sole ,deptaitaries of learning and the arts through seve- ral centuries of ignorance ; as the collectors and transcribers of books, when a copy of the Bible was worth a king's ransom. Before the invention of printing, every' Benedictine abbey had its library and its scriptorium or writing-chamber' where.nlent monks were employed from day to day, Avm month to month, in making tranetcripta of valuable works, particularly of the Scriptures : these were either sold for the benefit of the convent, or bestowed , as precious gifts, which brought a blessing eqoally to those who gave and those who received. Not only do we owe to them the multiplication and diffusion of copies of the Holy 8criptures--we are indebted' to them for the 'preservation of many classical remains of inestimable value; for instance, of the whole or the greater portion of the works of Pliny, Sallust, and Cicero. They were the fathers of Gothic architecture ; they were the earliest illumi- nators and limners; and, to crown their cleservings under this head, the in- ventor of the gamut, and the first who instituted a -school of mune, was a

BeneffiCtilie Monk, Guido d'Arezzo. '

"Thirdly, ' as the first agriculturists who 'brought intellectual resources, calculation, and science to bear on the cultivation of the soil; to whom we , qwe experimental farming and gardening, and the introduction of a variety c eurs de l'Europe ' ; whereVer they carried the cress they carried also the try vegetables, . M. Guizot styles the Benedictines 'lea defn- p plough. It is true' that' there Were among then many who preferred study hi/manual labour; ' 'neither can it be! 'denied - that: the " sheltering leisure ' and, sober plenty' of the dlenedietine monasteries sometimes!maustered to indolence and subordination, and that the cultivation of their domains was often abandoned to their farmers and vassals. , 6 * *

"The annalists of the Ben'ediethie order proudly reckon up the worthies it has produced since its first foundation in 529; viz. 40 popes, 200 cardinals,

60 is 1,600 archbishops, 4,600 bishops, and 3,600 canonized saints. It 18 a more legitimate source of pride that by their order were either laid or preserved the foundatiens of all the .eminent schools of learning of modern

"Thus, then, the Benedictines may be regarded as in fact the thinkers and writers, the artists, the farmers, and the schoolmasters of medireval Eu- rope; and this brief imperfect sketch of their enlightened and enlightening

nor rent

influence is given here merely as an introduction to the artistic treatment of characters and subjects connected with them. All the Benedictine worthies who figure in art are more or less interesting : as for the legendary stories and wonders by which their real history has been perplexed and disfigured, even these are not without value, as illustrative of the morals and manners of the times in which they were published and represented ; while the vast area of civilization over which these representations extend, and the curious traits of national and individual character exemplified in the variety of treat- ment, open to us as we proceed many sources of thoughtful sympathy with the past, and of speculation on the possible future."

The critically descriptive parts of the book, and the accounts of the different dresses and various signs of the saints, are curious and interesfing, but are less effective for quotation than biographical matter. For a specimen of Hrs. Jameson as a biographer, we se- lect a portion of the life of St. Benedict.

" St. Benedict was born of a noble family in the little town of Nerds, in the duchy of Spoleto, about the year 480. He was sent to Rome to study literature and science, and made so much progress as to give great hopes that he was destined to rise to distinction as a pleader ; but while yet a boy, he appears to have been deeply disgusted by the profligate manners of the youths who were his fellow students ; and the evil example around him, in-, stead of acting as an allurement, threw him into the opposite extreme. At this period the opinions of St. Jerome and St. Augustine with regard to the efficacy of solitude and penance were still prevalent throughout the West: young Benedict's horror of the vicious lives of those around him, together with the influence of that religious enthusiasm which was the spirit of the age, drove him into a hermitage at the boyish age of fifteen. '10n leaving Rome, he was followed by his nurse, who had brought him up from infancy, and loved him with extreme tenderness. This good wo- man—doubtful, perhaps, whether her young charge was out of his wits or inspired—waited on his steps, tended him with a mother's care, begged for him, and prepared the small portion of food which she could prevail upon him to take. But while thus sustained and comforted, Benedict did not be- lieve his penance entire or effective ; he secretly tied from his nurse, and con- cealed himself among the rocks of Subiaco, a wilderness about forty miles from Rome. He met there a hermit, whose name was Romano, to whom he confided his pious aspirations and then took refuge in a cavern, (il sagro Speco,) where he lived for three years unknown to his family and to the world, and supplied with food by the hermit : this food consisted merely of bread and water, which Romano abstracted from his own scanty fare. "In this solitary life, Benedict underwent many temptations ; and he re- lates that on one occasion, the recollection of a beautiful woman whom he had seen at Rome took such possession of his imagination as almost to over- newer his virtue, so that he was on the point of rushing from his solitude to seek that face and form which haunted his morbid fancy and disturbed his dreams. Ile felt, however, or he believed, for such was the persuasion of the time, that this assault upon his constancy could only come from the enemy of mankind. In a cram of these distracted desires, he rushed from his cave and flung himself into a thicket of briars and nettles, in which he rolled himself until the blood flowed. Thereupon the fiends left him, and he was never again assailed by the same temptation. They show in the gar- den of the monastery at Subiaco the rose-bushes which have been propagated from the very briars consecrated by this poetical legend. "The fame' of the young saint now extended through all the country around : the shepherds and the poor villagers brought their sick to his ca- vern to be healed; others begged his prayers; they contended with each other who should supply the humble portion of food which he required ; and a neighbouring society of hermits sent to request that he would place him- self at their head. He, knowing something of the morals and manners of this community, refund at first ; and only yielded upon great persuasion, and in the hope that he might be able to reform the abuses which had been introduced into this monastery. But when there, the strictness of his life filled these perverted men with envy and alarm ; and one of them attempted to poison him in a cup of wine. Benedict, on the cup being. presented to him, blessed it as usual, making the sign of the cross ; the cup instantly fell from the hands of the traitor, was broken, and its contents spilt on the ground. (This is a scene often represented in the Benedictine convents..) He thereupon rose up ; and telling the monks that they must provide themselves with another superior, left them and returned to his solitary cave at Snbiaco ; where, to use the strong expression of St. Gregory, he dwelt with himself,—meaning thereby, that he did not allow his spirit to go beyond the bounds that lie, had assigned to it, keeping it always in presence of his con-

science and his God. ,

"But now Subiace could no longer be styled a desert; for it was crowded with the huts and the cells of those whom the fame of his sanctity, his vir- tues, and his' miracles had gathered around him. At length, in order to in- troduce some kind of discipline and order into this community, he directed them to construct twelve monasteries, in each of which he placed twelve disciples with a super* over them. Many had come from Rome and from other cities; and amongst others came two Roman Senators, Ancius and Ter- tullus, men of high rank, bringing to him their sons., bfaurus and Placidus, with an earnest request thot he would educate them in the way of salvation. Meatus was at this time a boy of about eleven or twelve years old, and Pla- cidus a child not more than five. Benedict took them under his peculiar care, and his community continued for several years to increase in number and celebrity-, in brotherly charity, and in holiness of life. But of course the enemy of mankind could not long endure a state of things so inimical to his power : ' he instigated a certain priest, whose name was Florentius, and Who was enraged by seeing his disciples and followers attracted by the su- perior virtue end humility of St. Benedict, to endeavour to blacken his repu- tation, and even to attempt his life by meow of a poisoned loaf; and this not availing, Florentine introduced into one of the monasteries seven young women, in order to corrupt the chastity of his monks. Benedict, whom we have always seen much more inclined to fly from evil than to resist it, de- parted from Subiaco; but scarcely bad he left the place, when his disciple Mourns sent a messenger to tall him that his enemy Fiorentino bad been crushed by the fall of a gallery of his house. Benedict, fur from rejoicing, wept for the fate of his adversary, and ire .• • a severe penance on Maurus .Thr an expression of triumph at the ju, cut that had overtaken their enemy. "Paganism was not yet so completely banished from Italy but that there existed in some of the solitary places temples and priests and worshipers of the false gods. It happened (and the case is not without parallel in our own times) that while the Bishops of Rome were occupied in extending the power of the Church, and preaching Christianity in far distant nations, a nest of idolaters existed within it kw miles of the capital of Christendom. In a consecrated grove near the summit of Monte Cassano, stood a temple of Apollo, where the god, or as he was than regarded, the dtemon, was still wor- shiped with unholy rites. "Benedict had heard of this abomination : be repaired therefore to the neighbourhood of Monte Cassino; he preached the kingdom of Christ to these deluded people • converted them by his eloquence and his miracles, and at length persuaded them to break the statue, throw down the altar, and burn up their consecrated grove. And on the spot he built two chapels,

in honour of two saints whom he regarded:remodels, the. one of the oon- templatir, the other of the active religious. liTe—St. Jelin the Baptist and St. Martin of Tours."

The volume is illustrated by pintos,. drawn and etched by Mrs. Jameson, and sometimes, it may be said compiled, so far as-taking parts of a picture- or bringing together from various pictures two or more figures to illustrate the text These plates not only prove the varied accompllshinents of the fair artist-author' and illustrate the text by an exhibition to the eye, but give. a character of dress to the volume, and serve in a. small degree as contributions to the history of legendary religious art. There are also wood- cuts that answer the same end.