VII.-The Correspondence of William Pitt, Earl of Chatham. Edited by William Stanhope Taylor, Esq., and Captain John Henry Pringle, executors of his son, John Earl of VIII.-1. Allgemeine Theorie des Erdmagnetismus. Resultate aus den Beobachtungen des Magnetischen Vereins im Jahre 1838. Herausgegeben von C. F. Gauss und W. 3. Lettre de M. de Humboldt a S. A. R. Mgr. le Duc de Sussex, Président de la Société Royale de Londres, sur les moyens propres à perfectionner la connaissance du Magnétisme Terrestre par l'établissement des stations magnétiques et d'observations correspondantes. 4. Report of the Committee of Physics, including Meteor- ology, on the objects of Scientific Inquiry in those I-Le Opere di Giorgio Vasari, Pittore e Architetto, Aretino. 2. Storie dei Municipii Italiani illustrate con documenti inediti, da Carlo Morbio, Membro della Regia Giunta II.-The Plains of Troy. Illustrated by a Panoramic Drawing taken on the spot, and a Map constructed after the latest III-1. The Dream and other Poems. The Undying One, and other Poems. By the Hon. 2. The Seraphim, and other Poems. By Elizabeth B. 3. Zophiel, or the Bride of Seven. By Maria del Occi- 4. Irene, a Poem in Six Cantos. Miscellaneous Poems. 5. Poems. By Lady Emmeline Stuart Wortley. The Knight and the Enchantress, with other Poems. The Village Churchyard, and other Poems. Hours at Naples, and other Poems. Impressions of Italy, and other Poems. 6. Solitary Hours. By Caroline Southey. The Birth-day, and other Poems. IV.-Narrative of an Expedition to the Polar Sea, in the Years 1820-21-22-23. Commanded by Lieutenant, now Ad- miral, Ferdinand von Wrangell, of the Russian Imperial Navy. Edited by Major Edward Sabine, R.A., F.R.S. V.-1. Critical and Miscellaneous Essays. By Thomas Car- 4. Chartism. By Thomas Carlyle VI.-Ideen und Betrachtungen über die Eigenschaften der Musik (Ideas and Reflections on the Properties of Music) 503 VII.-Lebensnachrichten über Barthold Georg Niebuhr, aus Briefen desselben, und aus Erinnerungen einiger seiner (Account of the Life of Barthold George Niebuhr, from his own Letters, and the Reminiscences of his most VIII.-Memoirs of the Life of Sir Samuel Romilly, written by THE QUARTERLY REVIEW. ART. I.-Rafael von Urbino und sein Vater Giovanni Santi. Von J. D. Passavant: in zwey Theilen, mit vierzehn Abbildungen. Leipzig. 1839. FOR more than two centuries every account of the life and labours of Raphael may be said to have been derived, with little material alteration, from Vasari. It would be unjust to so pleasing a narrator to attribute this solely to the indolence of the writers who succeeded him; indeed modern critics, without excusing the occasional inaccuracies of the Florentine biographer, have acknowledged that his just and artist-like criticism, and the naïveté and interest of his details, as far as they go, could scarcely be improved. It was, in short, chiefly owing to Vasari's well-earned reputation that the task of revising, and, what was far more difficult, of completing the valuable outlines he had left, was so long-unfortunately too long-deferred. Of the more voluminous accounts of the Italian painters which have appeared within the present century, the greater part, however embellished by the lively description of works of art, or illustrated by the connexion with general history, can scarcely be said to have contributed any additional facts. To this class belong the lives of Raphael by Duppa, Braun, and Quatremère de Quincy-the Italian translation of the last, overwhelmed as it is with notes, not always remarkable for their importance or correctness, may nevertheless be considered the fullest memoir that had appeared prior to the far superior work of Passavant. The credit of instituting a new kind of research in the history of art, as opposed to the habit of copying Vasari, is perhaps due in the first instance to Pungileoni. The first volume of his Life of Correggio, published in 1817, proved that it was still possible to wrest from the mouldering records of convents and similar archives a few important facts and chronological data, with which, as safe links, other materials might be connected. The same writer was equally fortunate in his patient researches at Urbino respecting Giovanni Santi, the father of Raphael, and respecting the great painter himself; but conscious, perhaps, that his Life of Correggio had failed to unite a comprehensive spirit of criticism with mere historic accuracy, he contented himself with giving the latter latter results of his investigations in two small pamphlets, as materials for future historians. Of the writers on art on this side the Alps, the first who followed the example of Pungileoni in original research, while he far surpassed the Italian in philosophic criticism, was Von Rumohr. In the two first volumes of his Italienische Forschungen,' after briefly tracing the vicissitudes of art in the dark ages, this writer gives the history of several painters of the Florentine, Sienese, and Umbrian schools. His sources were original documents and the testimonies of early writers employed to verify or correct the accounts of Vasari; his descriptions and criticisms were fresh from the works themselves in every case where this was possible. Thus a scrupulous spirit of investigation, combined with the views of an enlightened historian and not unskilful connoisseur, at once distinguish Rumohr from most of the writers on these subjects who appeared about the same time; of the two opposite qualifications of patient research and a generalising, philosophic treatment of materials thus acquired, it must, however, be admitted that the latter is ever active-with or without sufficient data. The third volume was devoted to Raphael and his contemporaries, but the account is brief, and the method this author had followed with such pains in his former volumes, he wanted either leisure or inclination to pursue. We shall have occasion, however, to show, that even in this portion he still appears to advantage in his occasional enlightened remarks on the works of Raphael. The same spirit of accurate research, the same conscientious principle as to actual inspection, a still more practised eye, and a still more artist-like feeling, are united in Passavant with a more cautious indulgence of particular opinions and impressions. philosophic criticism he is, perhaps, inferior to Rumohr; his laborious and well-arranged book might be rendered still more complete and accurate even in its facts, but on the whole it may safely be said that no production of the kind has approached it for copiousness and originality of information. The second volume will be found eminently useful, and, with very little correction, may serve as a model for future compilations of the kind; it consists of a catalogue of all Raphael's works, first arranged chronologically with reference to the periods of their production. The description of each work, with an indication of the gallery or collection, if known, where it exists, is followed by a list of the drawings or preparatory studies for the composition; these are described in like manner: then follows an enumeration of all the engravings and known copies. A second catalogue contains a list of such works as are known only from description, |