Passing along Adam-street, in the Adelphi, the other day, our attention was attracted by a placard announcing the Exhibition of an embossed model of Palestine, or the Holy Land. It is a very ingenious production, being a parallelogram of about twenty feet by ten, on which are represented, in relief, and distinctively tinted, the principal features of the Holy Land, and the different places connected with Scripture history, and with the most prominent circumstances recorded in the Old and New Testaments.

Palestine, or the Holy Land, which is unquestionably the most remarkable country upon the face of the earth, is, as our readers know, the Southern district of Syria; having on the North, Mount Libanus; on the South, Mount Seir, and the Desart of Pharan, in Arabia; on the East, Mount Hermon and Gilead, with Arabia Deserta; and on the West, the Mediterranean Sea. It has, at successive periods, borne the

appellation of Canaan, the Promised Land, Palestine, Judea, and the Holy Land. After the Babylonish captivity, it became successively subject to Persia, to Macedonia, to Syria, to Egypt, to Rome, to the Ottoman Turks, to the Seljuhian Turks, to the Crusaders of Europe, to the Saracens, and eventually again to the Ottoman Turks, under whose barbarous dominion it has remained for above three centuries.

To the serious and devout this model will be a source of deep interest. It is impossible to contemplate it without strongly feeling, as the detailed and well-composed description, sold in the room, expresses it," the contrast of magnificence and desolation, of holiness and depravity, of which this portion of the earth presents an example so forcible and gloomy."

In the same place is a similar model, in the shape of a circle of about ten or twelve feet in diameter, of the Northern Polar Regions,

THERE are now exhibiting at Mr. Cauty's Great Rooms, No. 80, Pall Mall, copies in water colours, executed by Monsieur de Meulemeester, a foreign artist of eminence, from the celebrated paintings in fresco by Raphael, in the " Loggia" of the Vatican Palace at Rome. The originals, which contain illustrations of the most sublime events of Holy Writ, have long been the admiration of the world; they occupied Raphael, aided by the most eminent artists of Italy, during the Pontificates of Julius II. and Leo X., and are magnificent examples of their patronage of the Fine Arts, while they establish the claim of the artist to the eulogium of the poet,

"Unrivalled master of the realms of grace."

We have not room to particularize the merit of the copies now exhibiting; they occupied the artist twelve years, and are in all their details

minute representations of the originals, reduced to one-ninth of the superficies in size; they are the more valuable as being the only complete copies, extant, of a series of paintings, now from accidental causes connected with their situation, fast hastening into decay, The conception and imagination, which the composition of these great works disclose, can only be estimated here by an inspection of the copies; there is no variety of attitude or expression, which taste of the highest order could invent or combine, that these works do not exhibit. The water-colour drawings now exhibiting are beautiful specimens of M. de Meulemeester's skill in that department of art. We are not so selfish as to desire that an interesting branch of art, brought to great perfection, indeed invented in England, should be confined to this country, but are always glad to see, both in arts and manufac tures, the spirit of improvement universally diffused.

THE gallery of Paintings and Engravings at the Imperial Hermitage of Petersburgh consists of more than 4,000 paintings, and 30,000 engravings. Among the paintings most admired are two by Paul Potter, which the Emperor Alexander purchased for 40,000 roubles when he was in Paris in 1814. This gallery has just been increased by a collection of the portraits of celebrated Russian Generals, painted by Dow, an English artist. This collection will consist of about 200 portraits, for each of which the artist is to receive about 1,000 roubles.

We should be deficient in our duty as superintendants of the Fine Arts, if we were to omit noticing a painting lately executed by Monsieur Fradelle, of which the subject is Mary, Queen of Scots, listening to the strains of her Secretary Chatelar, who is playing to her on the guitar. The story of this secretary as a favourite of the ill-starred Queen is sufficiently known. The chief merit of the picture is in the exquisite expression given to the countenances of the two characters, but particularly to that of the Queen, whose eyes dart from beneath their arched canopy at once a suppressed and most impassioned glance, mingled with a pensive tenderness finely thrown over her cheeks. On his part, the gesture of a person playing on the guitar is successfully pourtrayed, while the raising of his eyes and the inclination of his head intimate a deep feeling of interest in the subject of his song. The posture of both is suitably imagined; the minstrel leans gently over his instrument, resting on his knee; and the Queen, in a half-melting and half suffocating fulness of delight, reclines on the back of her chair, in an attitude that displays to the best advantage her fine form. With one hand she supports her fair cheek, while the other, holding a closed book, reposes languishingly on her lap. A pot of beautiful flowers stands by her on the table, in which the lily in particular droops with most expressive sadness. There is in this Eur. Mag. May, 1823.

picture a peculiarity in its design highly favourable to its effect. The engraving is the production of Mr. Say, Engraver to the Duke of York.

Mr. Bewick has in progress a large work which will be ready for exhibition next spring; the subject of the picture is, David bearing the head of Goliah to King Saul; and the principal figures are larger than life.

Exhibition of Mythological Paintings. By Professor Reina. This collection is the production of one foreign artist, and is now open to the public at No. 56, Pall Mall; as we shall give a detailed criticism of these paintings in our next number, we shall at present confine ourselves to an enumeration of the subjects, which are sufficiently interesting to excite and gratify_the curiosity of the public: The Holy Family, a copy from the St. Jerome of Correggio; A Pastoral; Juno at her Toilet; The Infernal Judgment; The Scourging of Christ; The Assemblage of Beauties before Venus, Love and Paris; The Market of Souls; Sappho and Phaon; The Net of Love; The Burning of Troy ; The Rival of Love.

Mr. Muss is at present engaged on several works of considerable importance; a highly finished enamel and other works for that distinguished patron of the Fine Arts H. P. Hope, Esq.; two splendid stained-glass Windows for Watts Russell, Esq., one of which is after the celebrated picture of the Ascension of the Virgin, by Guido, in the possession of Watson Taylor, Esq.; a splendid stained-glass Window for the Catholic Chapel building at Richmond, by Mrs. Doughty; a stained-glass Window for St. Bride's Church, Fleet-street, after the Descent from the Cross, by Reubens ; a stained ornamental Window for St. Andrew's Undershaft, in St. Mary Axe; an enamel of Sir Francis Baring, after Sir Thomas Lawrence, &c. &c.

Mr. Martin is now studying his picture of the Fall of Nineveh, or the Death of Sardanapalus, which is expected to surpass his Belshaz zar's Feast.

I

An abridged History of the Life and Actions of Joan of Arc, surnamed the Maid of Orleans; with a description of the Monument erected to her Memory at Domremy, also of the Cottage where this Heroine was born, and the Old Things it contains, and the Feast of Inauguration celebrated on the 10th of September, 1820. By M. Jollois.

THE ancients, grateful to the heroes whose valour delivered their country from a foreign yoke, raised altars to their memory, and placed their illustrious defenders far above the weakness of humanity by exalting them to the rank of demi-gods. A purer faith does not allow to the moderns these profane apotheoses; but at least they may commemorate noble actions by erecting monuments, the sight of which may lead the spectator to emulate the great services rendered to a state which knows so well how to reward great deeds, accomplished for its glory and safety.

These thoughts must occur to the mind on perusing this excellent work, which contains an account of the monument erected in honour of Joan of Arc, at Domremy, her native place.

The descendant of the King Charles, whose crown was saved by this heroic female, caused this monument to be erected to her memory. A fountain, with a quadrangular base, is built upon the borders of the Meuse, in the middle of a public place, and embellished by a plantation of poplars. This fountain has four separate pilasters, surmounted by an entablature and double pe

ing is a cippus, on which stands the bust of Joan of Arc. Such a monument as this perfectly agrees with the character of this heroine simple and austere in her life, and pure in her manners as the clear waters that wash the foot of the modest temple consecrated to her glory. The inscription upon the frieze is in harmony with the general effect of the edifice, and the thoughts it gives rise to; it contains these words: "To the memory of Joan of Arc." The heart of every Frenchman who reads these words will add, "To the memory of her who broke the English yoke, and recalled victory to the French banner."

The inauguration of the monument took place on the 10th September, 1820, before the deputations of the towns of Nancy, Toul, Commercy, and Vaucouleurs; the national guards of the neighbouring towns; the prefect and the counsel general of the department of Vosges; a deputation from the city of Orleans, which was delivered by Joan, surnamed by the French the "Maid of Orleans," and a vast concourse of people from the adjacent towns and villages; having the appearance of a national assembly, or those festivals celebrated by the ancients in honor of great actions and high virtues. Crowns were placed on the brow of the virgin of Vaucouleurs by young girls from Dreux and Domremy, dressed in white, and by their innocence and rustic simplicity recalling to remembrance that the heroine, whose war-like exploits they celebrated, had been like themselves a country girl, and employed in the humble station of a shepherdess.

After an appropriate speech de

livered by the Prefect of the department of Vosges, the Mayor of Orleans in few words delivered the purport of his journey, and his opinion upon it. Then the Duke of Choiseul-Stainville, a Peer of France, made a speech, in which he said, "During the last invasion of France by hordes of Foreigners, these strangers were surprised that a country so fertile in heroes* should not then produce one to show them the road they had so often taken-that of retreat and flight; they went under arms to Domremy, to contemplate all that remained of the habitation of her who, though only a simple shepherdess, had driven their predecessors from before her; and foreign princes, uncovering their proud heads, bowed before the statue of this humble heroine. A Prussian Count even dared to ask the proprietor of the ancient habitation of Joan of Arc to sell him the statue preserved there; upon a refusal he offered to buy the whole house, but the stranger's gold could not corrupt him; he preserved for his country a monument of glory and immortality. Gerardin was the name of this Frenchman who refused 6,000 francs from the Prussian, and was satisfied with 2,500 francs given him by the Counsel-general of the department of Vosges, that the house of Joan of Arc might become national property. The King, pleas ed at this noble and disinterested action of Gerardin, conferred on him the Cross of the Legion of Honour. Soon after the King gave 12,000 francs towards the erection of a monument to Joan of Arc, 8,000 francs to found a free-school for the instruction of the young women of Domremy, Dreux, and the surrounding villages, and also a capital of 8,000 francs, producing 400 francs a year, for the maintenance of a sister of charity to superintend the school. The King likewise gave the marble bust which

decorates the monument, and ordered M. Laurent, who, as well as Joan, was born in the department of Vosges, to paint a picture to

ornament the interior of the paternal house of this female warrior.

It was certainly a noble and praiseworthy action to establish for poor children a royal school on the very spot where a daughter of the poor was raised up to save the monarchy, by expelling the foreign power from the territory which it sullied by its usurpation and influ

ence.

There are in M. Jollois's work some curious and interesting details on the antiquities, more or less preserved, which still embellish the house of Joan of Arc, and the restorations going on to prevent further dilapidation. This history will be as much read for the interest of the subject as for the talent of the writer. M. Jollois's style is grave and simple as becomes an historian. Amongst the number of the vouchers published at the end of the narration are all the official documents relative to that infamous trial and horrible death ordered by a Pontiff, in the name of a God of peace, love, and mercy, actuated by the vilest sentiments that can dishonour the heart of man.

M. Jollois also gives a description of the monument just erected, of the house of Joan of Arc, and the festival celebrated to inaugurate the monument.

The work is accompanied by eleven copper-plates, designed with taste and carefully engraved, preceded by a frontispiece representing the bust of Joan, crowned by France. This noble and graceful composition is by M. Lafitte, artist to the King; a figure representing France with her brow encircled by a crown of laurels, places a similar one upon the bust of Joan; a winged genius standing behind France bears the sacred standard that guided the warrior to battle; another genius seated on the pedestal upon which the bust is placed, supported by a shield, holds in one hand the sword that saved France, and with the other points to the chains and remains of the funeral pile, strewed upon the earth. The trunk of a column, raised upon a

base, bears the names of the places signalized by the exploits of Joan: Orleans, Gergeau, Beaugency, Troyes, and Rheims. The first plate represents the topographical plan of the village of Domremy and its environs; in the second plate is a view of the village and valley of the Meuse where it is situated; the third is the entry to Joan's house, and the church; the fourth is the general view of the church and monument; the fifth contains a geometrical plan of the house and the habitations surrounding it; also a correct copy of the sculptures, statue, and inscriptions formerly placed over Gerardin's door, and which are still visible; the sixth plate represents the general plan of the monument, the school, and the house of Joan of Arc; the seventh, which is one of the finest in the collection, is a perspective of the monument, surrounded by overshadowing poplars, and in the distance is seen the Meuse, and the mountains rising on each side of the valley through which the river runs; the eighth is the geometrical plan and elevation of the monuiment; the ninth represents, on a large scale, an interior and exterior view of the house; the tenth is the plan, elevation, and cupola of the school of Mutual Instruction, instituted at Domremy; the last plate is a view of the place at the time of the inauguration of the monument.

The work we have just given an account of deserves, for the beauty of its typographical execution, to be placed in every library by the side of the most expensive works; and for the subject it treats of, by the side of those books which revive in every generous mind the most glorious recollections.

Nachrichten über den jetzigen Zustand der Evangelischen in Ungarn.

State of the Protestants in Hungary. By Gregory de Berzeviczy, 8vo. Leipsick, 1822.

The Catholic and Protestant religions are in directly opposite situations in Hungary and Great Britain:

here the Catholics are oppressed, and the English clergy prevent their emancipation; in Hungary the Protestants are oppressed by the Catholic clergy. In both countries the oppressed address, in vain, petitions to the government; their petitions fall into the hands of men who, through ignorance, fanaticism, or interest, are resolved to listen to no demand of this kind, however just.

But in England the constitution protects every subject; and, though less favourable to the Catholic than the Protestant, maintains, in some degree, the rights of each. Hungary has her constitution also, but what a difference between the national representations of the two countries! In the two English Houses of Parliament there are generous voices always ready to speak in favour of misfortune, which also finds a powerful support in public opinion. In the Hungarian diet, prelates, richly endowed, intolerant, and unenlightened, exercise a preponderating influence; the nobles coincide with the prelates, and if the Protestants address themselves to the ministers at Vienna, they are sure to find prelates, nobles, monks, and chiefs, to receive their complaints with indifference.

The Catholic clergy are indefatigable in Hungary in persecuting the unhappy Protestants, who uselessly invoke the edict of toleration promulgated by the Emperor Joseph II. and the constitution which secures the liberty of conscience. If a Protestant and Catholic marry they are almost compelled to educate their children in the Catholic faith; intolerant priests oppose the interment of Protestants in Catholic burying grounds, and brand them with the name of heretics. When a father, for reasons best known to himself, embraces the prevailing religion, his children are forced to imitate his example; and, if they refuse, means are used similar to those practised by Louis IV. who made converts by the help of his dragoons.

Priests are seen, accompanied by the police, surrounding dying men, to prevent them from receiving the consolatory aid of their envangelical pastors. M. de Berzeviczy, an Hungarian landholder, relates these facts,