the different parts of the picture, and produce that flicker (as it sometimes is called) so captivating to the eye under his management, but so apt to offend it when attempted by inferior artists, or by those who are less thoroughly masters of the principles of harmony than that great painter. All these dazzling effects are heightened by the spirited management of his pencil, by those sharp, animated touches, which give life and energy to every object.

Correggio's principal attention in point of form, was directed to flow of outline, and gradual variation: of this he never entirely lost sight, even in his most capricious fore-shortenings; and the style of his 'light and shadow is so congenial, that the one seems the natural consequence of the other. His pictures are always cited as the most perfect models of those soft and insensible transitions, of that union of effect, which above every thing else, impresses the general idea of beauty. The manner of his pencilling is exactly of a piece

with the rest; all seems melted together, but with so nice a judgment, as to avoid, by means of certain free, yet delicate touches, that laboured hardness and insipidity, which arise from what is called high finishing. Correggio's pictures are indeed as far removed from monotony, as from glare; he seems to have felt beyond all others, the exact degree of brilliancy which accords with the softness of beauty, and to have been with regard to figures, what Claude was in landscape.

The pictures of Claude are brilliant in a high degree; but that brilliancy is so diffused over the whole of them, so happily balanced, so mellowed and subdued by the almost visible atmosphere which pervades every part, and unites all together, that nothing in particular catches the eye; the whole is splendour, the whole is repose; every thing lighted up, every thing in sweetest harmony. Rubens differs as strongly from Claude, as he does from Correggio; his landscapes are full of the peculiarities, and picturesque

accidents in nature; of striking contrasts in form, colour, and light and shadow: sun-beams bursting through a small opening in a dark wood-a rainbow against a stormy sky-effects of thunder and lightning-torrents rolling down trees torn up by the roots, and the dead bodies of men and animals-are among the sublime and picturesque circumstances exhi bited by his daring pencil. These sudden gleams, these cataracts of light, these bold oppositions of clouds and darkness which he has so nobly introduced, would destroy all the beauty and elegance of Claude: on the other hand, the mild and equal sunshine of that charming painter, would as ill accord with the twisted and singular forms, and the bold and animated variety of the landscapes of Rubens*.

The distinct characters and effects of light and sha dow on the great face of nature, which have been imitated by Rubens and by Claude, may not unaptly be compared to the no less distinct characters and effects of smiles on the human countenance: nothing is so captivating, or seems so much to accord with our ideas of beauty, as the

If the general brilliancy and dazzling effects of that splendid painter, may justly be opposed to the more mild diffusion

smiles of a beautiful countenance; yet they have sometimes a striking mixture of an other character. Of this kind are those smiles which break out suddenly from a serious, sometimes from almost a severe countenance, and which, when that gleam is over, leave no trace of it behind

Brief as the lightning in the collied night,

That in a spleen unfolds both heaven and earth;
And e'er a man has time to say, behold!

The jaws of darkness do devour it up.

This sudden effect is often hinted at by the Italian poets, as appears by their allusion to the most sudden and dazzling of lights;—gli scintilla un riso-lampeggia un riso-il balenar' d'un riso.

There is another smile, which seems in the same degree to accord with the ideas of beauty only. It is that smile which proceeds from a mind full of sweetness and sensibility, and which, when it is over, still leaves on the countenance its mild and amiable impression; as after the sun is set, the mild glow of his rays is still diffused over every object. This smile, with the glow that accompanies it, is beautifully painted by Milton, as most becoming an inhabitant of heaven.

To whom the angel, with a smile that glow'd
Celestial rosy red, love's proper hue,

Thus answer'd.

of light in Claude and Correggio, the deep midnight shadows which Rembrandt has spread over the greater part of his canvas, may be opposed to it with equal justice; and the whole of the comparison between these painters may serve to shew, how much the picturesque delights in extremes, while the beautiful preserves a just medium between them. The general character of Rembrant's pictures is that of extreme force, arising from a small portion of light amidst surrounding darkness; and though it be true that Rubens and Correggio, and even Claude, have produced effects of that kind, yet it was only occasionally, and where the subject, as in night scenes, required them; whereas in Rembrant they result from his prevailing principle: and it hardly need be said, how much more they are suited to objects and circumstances of a picturesque, than a beautiful character. Rembrant's pencilling, where it is most apparent (for he well knew where to soften it) is no less different from that of the painters I have mentioned, than the principle on