that occur at the close of the 8th chapter on the art of engraving in wood.

"The style of art which was practised by the most ancient engravers in wood, was extremely simple. The designs from which they worked were little more than outlines; such as it was customary to prepare for those who painted on glass. The engraved blocks furnished the lineaments of the figures, and the illumist supplied the rest. By degrees a few light hatchings were introduced, thinly scattered upon the folds of the draperies, and other parts of the figures; and occasionally where the opening of a door, or a window, or the mouth of a cavern was to be expressed, the block was left untouched, that it might print black in such places, and thereby diminish the task of the colourist. It was soon discovered, that with little labour of the wood-engraver, much might be done in this way. It was easy to represent the figure of Lucifer with its appropriate blackness, and at the same time to express the internal workings of his body and limbs by means of thin white lines hollowed out in the block. The ornamental borders which often surrounded the devotional cuts of those times, were rendered more attractive to the eye, by the opposition of broad white and black lines; and sometimes intermediate spaces of greater extent were enlivened by large white dots, cut out (or perhaps punched) at equal distances in the block or decorated with sprigs of foliage, or small flowers, relieved by a similar process upon a black ground. Gradations of shadow next began to be attempted in the figures and other parts of woodengravings, by means of white dots, differing from each other in their magnitude and proximity, according to the degree of darkness required. This mode of finishing engravings in wood, appears to have been practised at Mentz, amongst other places, at an early period of the invention of topography, and was afterwards occasionally resorted to by the wood-engravers of other countries, especially those of Paris, where, at the close of the fifteenth and the commencement of the sixteenth century, numerous small books of devotion were printed by Antoine Verrard, Simon Vostre, and others, in which the borders surrounding the pages were decorated by figures very delicately engraved, and relieved upon a black ground speckled over, with extreme nicety of workmanship, with minute white dots, such as have been described. These innovations in the art of wood-engraving were such as involved but little additional labour or difficulty in the execution, at the same time that they were calculated to give to the decorations of books a shewy effect: but the artists of Germany soon found them to be incompatible with the purpose of imitating by wood-cuts the appearance of their original designs, and the former and more simple method was again resorted to.

"It appears anciently to have been the practice of those masters who furnished designs for the wood-engravers to work from, carefully to avoid all cross-hatchings, which, it is probable, were consi

dered as beyond the power of the Xylographist to represent. Wohlgemuth perceived that, though difficult, this was not impossible; and in the cuts of the Nuremburg Chronicle, the execution of which (besides furnishing the designs) he doubtless superintended, a successful attempt was first made to imitate the bold hatchings of a pendrawing, crossing each other as occasion prompted the designer in various directions: to him belongs the praise of being the first who duly appreciated the powers of this art; and it is more than probable, that he proved with his own hand to the subordinate artists employed under him, the practicability of that style of workmanship which he required.

"Engraving on wood now offered inducements to its practice never before contemplated, and the greatest masters saw in it a sure method of multiplying their finest and most studied designs. Durer, as I have already said, early applied himself to the study and further advancement of an art which at once promised to reward his labours with fame and fortune; and so well had nature qualified him for the task, that before the termination of the fifteenth century, he produced his series of wood-cuts of the Apocalypse, a work which it cannot be doubted was received throughout Europe with astonishment and universal applause." (p. 756.)

We must now recur to the former portion of the work, where we have an account of the first experiments in the art, the dates of which have, with any precision, been ascertained, and the earliest the author supplies is one which is presented to the reader through the favour of Lord Spencer, who permitted it to be copied for the work before us. It was intended to represent St. Bridget seated on a bench, and in the act of writing. It is the work of an artist of some talent; the proportions are good, the attitude is easy and natural, and the folds of the drapery are well disposed. The face and hands are expressed with few lines, yet in a masterly style, but every principle of perspective is disregarded. Mr. Ottley attributes this production to an artist of the Low Countries, and considers it to be of a date not later than the close of the fourteenth century.

Of the next with which our author embellishes his work, he speaks in these terms:

"The earliest print, bearing a date, of the existence of which we have at present any certain knowledge, was discovered by Heineken, who thus described it in his writings:-'I have found,' says he, in the Chartreuse at Buxheim, near Memningen, one of the most ancient convents in Germany, a print of St. Christopher carrying the infant Jesus across the sea: opposite to him is the hermit holding up his lantern to give him light; and behind is a peasant, seen in a back view, carrying a sack, and climbing the ascent of a steep

mountain. This piece is of a folio size, and coloured in the man-¡ ner of our playing-cards, and at the bottom of it is this inscription: Christoferi faciem die quâcunque tueris,

'Illa nempe die morte mala non morieris."
MCCCCXXIII.'

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"At least,' continues Heineken, we know from this piece, with certainty, that the figures of saints, and also letters, were engraved in 1423. Nor can any fraud be suspected in this instance. The print is pasted within the cover of an old book of the fifteenth century.'Some one of the ancient monks of the convent perhaps desired to preserve it, and at that time no one troubled himself about the antiquity of engraving, or disputed about the question.'

"It was due to Heineken that I should describe this most interesting specimen of early wood-engraving in his own words; since, but for his research, it might have continued to lie unnoticed in the Convent of Buxheim, perhaps for centuries to come. It has now found an asylum worthy of so precious and rare a document in the splendid library of Earl Spencer, where it is preserved in the same state in which Heineken discovered it, pasted in the inside of one of the covers of a manuscript in the Latin language of the year 1417." (P. 90.)

In the third chapter we have a short review of the advancement of the arts of design in that part of the continent of Europe which comprises Germany and the Netherlands, in order to form some rational conjectures as to the school from which a few of the ancient books of woodengraving were derived.

"It is remarkable that we have no account of the painters who flourished within this vast tract of country previous to the close of the fourteenth century, and that all the earliest among them were natives of the Low Countries."

"Descamps, who copies Van Mander, commences his history of Flemish and German art with Hubert and John Van Eyck, of Maasyk, on the banks of the Meuse: the former was born in 1366, and died in 1426; the latter, who invented oil-painting, was born four years after his brother Hubert, and died in 1441. Roger of Bruges, and Hugues Vander Goes, of the same place, are next mentioned. Then follow Albert Van Ouwater of Harlem, contemporary, or nearly contemporary, of the Van Eycks; Guerard of Harlem, his disciple; and Dirk Van Harlem, who was born about 1410, and died 1470; Hans Hemmeliuck or Memmilinck, of Bruges, one of whose pictures was dated 1'479; Guerard Vander Meire of Ghent, Jan Mandyn of Harlem, and Volckaert of the same city; Quintin Metzis of Antwerp; Jerome Bosche of Bois-le-Duc, celebrated for his talent in subjects of whimsical and extravagant imagery: and Cornelius Enghelbrechtsen of Leyden, who was born in 1468, and died

in 1533."

"Nor can Van Mander, although himself a Fleming, be accused of any undue partiality to the Low Countries, in thus devoting the early part of his work so exclusively to the history of the Dutch and Flemish painters. These were really artists of ability and reputation, whose performances were not only esteemed in Germany and the Low Countries, but in Italy, whither they found their way in considerable numbers at an early period, and were highly prized. And, in truth, in an account written in the early part of the sixteenth century, by an anonymous writer, supposed to be a native of Padua, in which are described the works of art then existing at Padua, Cremona, Milan, Pavia, Bergamo, Crema, and Venice, we find frequent and respectful mention of the works of most of the above-named artists of Holland and the Low Countries; whereas, of the painters of Germany we find no mention whatever; except of Albert Durer, and of one Jeronimo Todeschino, concerning whom I can find no information in other writers.

"In short, whoever will be at the pains to look over the list of the painters of these countries, with a map of Germany before him, will be presently convinced that all those, whose names have been deemed worthy of remembrance, from the time of the Van Eycks to that of Albert Durer, were, if we except Michel Wolgemut, natives and residents either of Holland or Flanders. The immense tract of country, properly called Germany, had, no doubt, its artists; but the German school of painting can hardly be said to have commenced before Albert Durer." (p. 105.)

After some farther reflections, our author proceeds to deduce the following conclusions.

"From all this it is fair to infer that, however the arts of painting and engraving may have been practised throughout Germany, long previous to the commencemant of the fifteenth century, the honour of having first contributed to their improvement belongs more especially to the artists of the Low Countries, and others who inhabited the western extremities of Germany. And hence I am strongly of opinion, that those early block-books, whose pretensions to antiquity are not unattended by some claims to our approval of them as works of art, appertain more properly to the ancient schools of Holland and Flanders, than to that of Germany: an opinion, indeed, which a comparison of some of the best of them with others, professedly and indisputably executed in Germany, will tend not a little to support.

"I know but of three works of the kind that are entitled to this distinction: the "Biblia Pauperum," or "Poor Man's Bible;" the "Historia seu Providentia Virginis Mariæ ex Cantico Canticorum;" and the "Speculum Humanæ Salvationis.” As for the "Ars Memorandi," the "Historia Sancti Johanuis Evangelistæ, ejusque Visiones Apocalypticæ," and the "Ars Moriendi," of which there are so many editions, and all the other block-books which CRIT. REV. VOL. IV. August, 1816.

Q

Heineken has so elaborately described-they are evidently of another and very inferior school; and whether executed in Germany, or the Low Countries, were probably the rude manufacture of the ordinary card-makers." (p. 108.)

The Historia Veteris et Novi Testamenti seu Biblia Pauperum, is a book of forty leaves, of a small folio size, printed by means of friction, apparently from the same number of engraved blocks of wood, on one side of the paper only. These printed pages are placed two by two, facing each other, and the blank sides of each two leaves are likewise opposed to each other; and being pasted together, the whole has the appearance of a book printed in the ordinary way on both sides the paper. The prints vary a little in the size; but they are about ten inches in height, and seven and a half in breadth. Each print contains three sacred historical subjects, disposed in compartments, and four half-length figures of prophets, and other holy men, in niches-two above, and two beneath the principal subjects. The inscriptions are in Latin. "I am very much inclined," says Mr. Ottley, "to think it of a date not later than 1420; but I speak with less confidence on this point, as, from the commencement of the 15th century until near its close, very little change of style is to be discovered in the designs of the artists of those schools," (the Low Countries and Holland.)

The Historia seu Providentia Virginis Mariæ, ex Cantico Canticorum, is a small folio volume, comprehending thirtytwo subjects, taken from the Book of Canticles, and printed two on each leaf, from engraved wooden blocks, on one side of the paper only. These prints are interspersed with passages of texts, in large characters, on scrolls, fantastically disposed among the figures; a circumstance which gives to the whole work a very singular appearance, and occasioned Heineken to defame it, by calling it the most Gothic among all the block books. The writer we have just named mentions two editions of this book: the first, according to his opinion, engraved and published in Germany; the other copied from it in Holland or Flanders. Several groups of figures from this work are presented for the gratification of the reader; and we much regret, on all such occasions, that the nature of our undertaking does not admit of our supplying them.

The Speculum Humanæ Salvationis (called also the Speculum Figuratum) has been celebrated in the annals of typographical controversy. It seems to hold a middle situa