ers of his day there were Leonardo da Vinci, Giorgione, and Titian; of his compeers there was the gigantic genius -Michelangelo; and Bramante, the architect of St. Peter's, and Ariosto, the poet, and Christopher Columbus, the discoverer. All these belonged to Italy. In Portugal lived Vasco da Gama, the discoverer; in England, Sebastian Cabot; in Germany, we find Copernicus, Holbein, Albert Dürer, and Martin Luther; while in France lived the brilliant satirist,- Rabelais. What a list of names! These men lived four hundred years ago. In four hundred years hence how many names of che nineteenth century will be as famous and worthy of fame as the names of Columbus, Luther, Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Raphael? It is rev Yes, art is the great and universal refreshment. For Art is never dogmatic; holds no brief for itself; you may take it or you may leave it. It does not force itself rudely where it is not wanted. erent to all tempers, to all points of view. But it is willful—the very wind in the comings and going of its influence, an uncapturable fugitive, visiting our hearts at vagrant, sweet moments; since even before the greatest works of art we often stand without being able quite to lose ourselves! That restful oblivion comes, we never quite know when and it is gone! But when it comes, it is a spirit hovering with cool wings, blessing us, from the least to the greatest, according to our powers, a spirit deathless and varied as human life itself. GALSWORTHY in The Atlantic. |