of oil colours-were already passed. Van Dyck was no more; but the adopted child of Bruges had achieved enough for his glory and that of his country, by imparting to colours a durability wanting in the works of Athens and of Rome. The centre of a catholic unity, enriched by the spoils of Rome, Italy gathered to itself the pupils of Van Dyck. After receiving instructions from this celebrated painter, Joseph Van Mander, a native of Bruges, travelled to Italy. At Venice the friendship of Dominique fully compensated him for the communication which he made to that artist of his master's discovery; and at the invitation of his new acquaintance the young painter directed his steps to Florence, there to behold the master-pieces collected by the Medici in their splendid capital. Here Van Mander sent to ask André del Castagno, a distinguished artist of Florence, if it would be agreeable to him to receive a foreign painter, who had a message for him from his friend Dominique of Venice. André was himself the bearer of the reply-" Sir," said he, "the friends of Dominique are my friends, and, moreover, are not all artists brothers ?" Van Mander accepted the invitation of the Florentine to take up his abode with him, and the two friends soon arrived at the house of the latter. Van Mander on seeing the works of André, bestowed on them the warmest praise; but when the Florentine had induced the young Fleming to exhibit his own pictures, he could not restrain his admiration of a Madeline repentante, into which Van Mander had thrown all the poesy of a religious soul, and the brilliant colouring so characteristic of the Flemish painters.

"I do not deserve these praises," said Van Mander. "This transparent varnish is not my invention. Its discovery is due to my master, Van Dyck. But what would you say were you to see his Agneau de l'Apocalypse ?”

"I know not which to admire the most, your talent or your modesty." "If you please,” rejoined Van Mander, "I will impart to you my illustrious master's secret."

"How could I ever repay so great a favour ?"
"Did you not say that all artists were brothers ?"

And for some time the friends worked together in the studio of André, who had in a short time no reason to envy Van Mander. The Florentine had, however, no pleasure in contemplating that this discovery would place him amongst the best painters of Florence at times his brow clouded, his eyes became savage, he muttered angrily; and when the good Van Mander inquired the cause of this alteration, André replied that he had recently been disappointed in love. One night André seemed more than ever occupied with his gloomy thoughts; and as his companion was unable to please him he went out to walk in the spacious streets and squares of Florence. The moon cast a gigantic shadow on the church of the Annunziata, and Van Mander had scarce reached its beautiful door-way, when he felt the icy thrust of a dagger in his breast. He tore the weapon from the wound, and perceived a man in a cloak hurrying off in the shade. Van Mander fell upon the earth. Two men who were passing that way, found him weltering in his blood, and almost exhausted.

"Already a victim," observed one; "the bullies of Venice have taken up their abode at Florence."

"Only been here eight days," said the other, painter's story, "and thus early a dagger thrust. singular."

VOL. VI.NO. XIX.

when he had heard the By the Madona, this is

Y

"Some love affair, probably."

Van Mander was conveyed, by his desire, to the house of the Seigneur del Castagno, who seemed anxious at the absence of his friend. The door opened, and Van Mander was carried in, covered with blood.

"O!" exclaimed André, "what a terrible accident;" and, weeping, he threw himself on the body of the dying man. "Weep not,” said Van Mander, “your kindness deprives death of its sting." André appeared so much affected as to be unable to speak. After moistening his parched lips with water, the sufferer, somewhat refreshed, observed, "Have I done harm to any one? It was not to rob me that the assassin struck the blow, for he fled immediately. In my country the attack is made openly, and with the sword, but here the dagger!

99

André would have called in a physician, but his friend prevented him, assuring him he was past human aid. A few minutes, and he breathed no more. On the morrow, the splendid obsequies for the deceased, attended by all the artists of Florence, attested the deep grief of the Seigneur André del Castagno, who also erected a costly monument to the memory of the young stranger. The whole city lauded the interest which he condescended to take in a foreigner; his celebrity increased, and the mother of Van Mander died blessing the name of André. Yet all this fame and honour satisfied not the Seigneur del Castagno. He was evidently suffering from some concealed remorse; his admirers said he had never forgotten the death of the young Fleming; his piety passed into a proveib, and he was called l'ami de l'étranger-the foreigner's friend.

Grief failed not to hasten the end of André. His health declined visibly; at length he could no longer handle his brushes. The physicians called in by his friends were refused admittance; he wished to die, for life was to him but a horrible punishment. Finally, feeling his approaching dissolution, he collected about him all his friends, and thus addressed them:_

"O you! whom I once called my friends, I am dying. I am too culpable to hope for pardon on earth or in heaven; still I feel that the avowal of my crime renders my last moments less painful. Many years ago, I received into my house a young foreigner who fell by the hand of an assassin-I am that assassin. Was it not infamous to stab one who had eaten at my table-whom I had called my brother? God would not be just were he to pardon so heinous an offence !"

A feverish strength sustained the dying man; he raised himself in bed, as if to escape from a frightful vision, and fell back motionless. The attendants departed in silence, a priest alone remaining to pray over the corpse. When this awful truth was known, the senate of Florence ordered the name of André del Castagno to be struck out from the records of the city. His pictures were publicly burnt, his ashes were scattered before the winds, and his name was held up to universal execration.-Translated and abridged from Le Constitutionnel, Journal Politique et Litteraire.

171

OBITUARY.

ON January 10, 1837, died John Robinson, M.D., at his house in Hall Gate, Doncaster, aged 59. He was born at Cawood Hall, near Spalding, Lincolnshire, acquired his medical education with the celebrated Dr. Harrison, and obtained his degree at Edinburgh. Subsequently he settled for a short time in Derby, but afterwards removed to Doncaster, where he practised about thirty years, with great credit and extensive usefulness. He acted for many years as physician to the Dispensary, and the poor will long remember his honest, upright manner, and genuine benevolence, with feelings of gratitude. He also gave his gratuitous services to the Yorkshire Deaf and Dumb Institution from its commencement till about a year before his death, when Dr. Scholfield was requested to accept the office. Such was his urbanity that he was respected by all parties and all classes; and by the unprejudiced practitioners of his time his name is associated with the pleasing recollection of his having been the first physician who devoted his talents to the relief of diseases of the spine on Dr. Harrison's principles of spinal Pa. thology. When Dr. Robinson was pupil to Dr. Harrison, at Horncastle, in Lincolnshire, and when Dr. H. began his spinal practice in London with such decided success, he communicated not only the principles, but all the manual and mechanical part of the treatment, to his favourite pupil, our late worthy friend; and nothing could be more pleasing than to witness the warm friendship which subsisted between these two gentlemen-the pupil honouring the master, and the teacher repaying this regard, through a long life, with marked confidence and esteem, until death claimed the younger man as his victim. We have often admired the magnanimity with which Dr. Robinson bore the odium which is attached to any new species of practice; but he knew and felt that it was one eminently calculated to mitigate, and often to cure, the maladies resulting from curvature of the spine. It was conviction that urged him "through evil report and good report,” and he lived to see even the most vehement opponent admit the value of the system and the importance of the practice. There was in all Dr. Robinson's actions the impress of good principles, and he conscientiously persevered in that which his intellect decided to be correct; and although he valued the good opinions of his cotemporaries, yet he never compromised his consistency or integrity to obtain it. He might not be always right, but he was never intentionally wrong. He was invariably candid and just, never indulging in spleen at disappointment, nor did he make the errors of others a subject of comment. To his cotemporaries he was just, and particularly appreciated any kindness or attention; but he was likewise much pained when he experienced the contrary, if unmerited; and when he finished his earthly career there was but one sentiment manifested, that of great regret at his somewhat unexpected summons to "that bourn from whence no traveller returns."

January 16, 1837, at his father's house, in Glasgow, in his 36th year, Robert Macnish, M.D., author of Philosophy of Sleep, Anatomy of Drunkenness, Catechism of Phrenology, Book of Aphorisms, &c., works well known to the majority of our readers.

January the 17th, at his house, in Newhall-street, Birmingham, aged 36, Mr. George Parsons, Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, and one of

the Surgeons to the Birmingham Infirmary. The great loss which has been sustained by the death of this most estimable and highly-talented gentleman, will be most severely felt by all classes of society. The varied acquirements which his mind, ever active in the pursuit of knowledge, had made in the different branches of literature and science, made his society particularly valuable to all those who had the pleasure of enjoying it. The successful manner in which he employed his professional skill to relieve the sufferings of the poor, the generous sympathy he displayed in their distresses, and the untiring exertions he made to relieve their wants, have obtained for him the affectionate attachment of this large and important portion of the community. The extensive attainments of Mr. Parsons in the various branches of science, rendered him a most valuable acquisition to the Philosophical Institution of Birmingham, which he joined in the year 1827, and was appointed Secretary in the year 1829. Mr. Parsons was a frequent contributor to several of the medical periodical publications; and some very interesting papers of his, containing a statistical account of the diseases of this town are published in the Reports of the Midland Medical Asseciation. He held the office of Local Treasurer of the British Association for the Promotion of Science.

January 22, 1837, at his residence, Howland-street, London, Dr. Thornton, the celebrated botanist.

January 24, aged 67, Joseph Sabine, Esq., F.R.S., L.S., H.S., Z.S., &c., many years Honorary Secretary to the London Horticultural Society, and a well-known amateur of Botany. Mr. S. was brought up to the bar; but shortly after he had begun to practice, he received an appointment under government, at a salary of £600 a year. This office he held till 1835, when he was put upon the retired allowance of £350. per annum. In 1810, Mr. S. joined the Horticultural Society, of which he was made Honorary Secratary on May 1, of the same year, upon the resignation of R. A. Salisbury, Esq. After Mr. S. ceased to be Hon. Secretary, he became an active member of the Zoological Society, and was the means of greatly increasing its collection of ornamental plants, in the Regent's Park.

On the 4th of February, John Latham, M.D., F.R.S., L.S., A.S., closed his long and honourable career, at Winchester, in his 97th year. A biographical sketch of this celebrated naturalist will appear in our next number.

Science has recently sustained a severe loss in the death of Edward Turner M.D., who departed this life February 12, at his residence at Hampstead, aged 40. He died of inflammation of the lungs, which commenced in an attack of influenza. He had suffered inany years under chronic affection of the intestines, by which his strength was greatly reduced. Dr. T. was born in Jamaica, but was early removed for his education to England, and obtained his degree at Edinburgh. Having determined to make Chemistry his chief study, he then went to Göttingen, where for two years he devoted his whole attention, under Prof. Stromeyer, to that science and Mineralogy. He returned to Edinburgh in 1824, and began to lecture on his favourite science. On the foundation of the London University, he was appointed Prof. of Chemistry at that Institution, to the success of which, as a medical school especially, he has contributed an ample share. His class was large and flourishing; his lectures were remarkable for the simplicity and clearness with which the most apparently complicated principles and facts were ex

pounded, and he was considered the model of an effective teacher. As a chemist, Dr. T. was early known as a most acute and original observer, and he was distinguished for the extent and accuracy of his knowledge in all depart

ments.

At Paris, M. Van Praet, a bibliographer of the first eminence in nearly all branches of learning.

At Upsala, in the 87th year of his age, Professor Adam Afzelius, the last surviving pupil of the immortal Linneus.

The learned botanist of the Cape of Good Hope, M. Persoon, is no more; he died in Paris, at a very advanced age, having lived there since he enjoyed a pension from his Government, which was granted to him on giving up his Herbarium to the Museum at Leyden. His works on Cryptogamea are excellent, and his Enchiridium Botanicum is one of the most useful works of the kind ever published.

LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.

MR. John Britton, F.S.A., has published a Catalogue Raisonné of his unique Collection of Works on Cathedral and Architectural Antiquities, and other choice Literary and Graphic Works, which are offered at somewhere about half the cost of the publishing prices.

The Bridal of Naworth, a Poem, in three cantos, has just been published by Simpkin, Marshall, & Co.

Mr. Hoskins, the author of Travels in Ethiopia, has in the press an account of a Visit to the Great Oasis, with an account, Ancient and Modern, of the Oasis of Amun and the Oases of the Libyan Desert, now under the dominion of the Pasha of Egypt.

A new edition of Inglis's Spain is in the press, with an introductory chapter, giving some account of the lamented author, and an outline of the proceedings in the Peninsula since his decease.

The Rev. T. R. Everest has lately published a second edition of his Popular View of Homœopathy.

Modern India; or Illustrations of the Resources and Capabilities of Hindostan, a work from the pen of Henry H. Spry, Esq., M.D., of the Bengal Medical Staff, which promises to add greatly to the information already extant concerning the British Empire in Hindostan.

SELECT LIST OF NEW PUBLICATIONS,

FROM JANUARY 1, 1837, TO MARCH 8, 1837.

Addison's Indian Reminiscences, 8vo., 14s.

Antrobus's Social Bearings and Importance of Education, 8vo., 10s.

Barton and Castle's British Flora Medica, vol. 1, 8vo., 21s.

Boullaye le Gouz' Tour in Ireland, 1644, edited by Croker, post 8vo., 5s.

Brenton's (Capt.) Naval History, 2 vol. 8vo., 31s. 6d.

Campbell's (Thomas) Letters from the South, 2 vol. 8vo., 31s. 6d.

Castle's Linnæan Artificial System of Botany, 4to., 5s.

Cooper's (J. F.) Recollections of Europe, 2 vols. post 8vo., 21s.