THE CARTOONS.-No. 1. In the Cartoons of Raffaelle England may congratulate herself on being in possession of the noblest works of art which have ever been produced by human genius. The history of these designs, subsequently to their completion, as well as that of the tapestries which have been copied from them, is extraordinary. Estimated originally as the most splendid ornaments of regal and pontific state, they have since been exposed to all the vicissitudes of fortune;-seized as the spoils of war, dispersed in revolutions, disfigured by ignorance, and mutilated by avarice. Happily, the seven compositions at Hampton Court, if compared with others of the series, still to be seen in tapestry, must rank among the finest of the number, and they are in good preservation. Two or three others are said to be extant. The rest of the set, originally twenty-five, it is to be feared, have perished. It was within a few years of his death, and during the meridian of his powers, that Raffaelle was engaged by Leo X. to design this series of subjects, taken from the Life of our Saviour and the Acts of the Apostles. When finished, the Cartoons were sent to Brussels to be woven in tapestry, under the superintendence of Bernard Van Orlay, at a cost of 70,000 crowns. It seems surprising that when the tapestries were completed the Cartoons were not reclaimed and brought back to Rome: the circumstance, however, explains itself by referring to the events of the period. Both Raffaelle and his munificent patron, Leo, had died in the interval; and the succeeding pontiff, Adrian VI., a man of narrow capacity and destitute of taste, bestowed not a thought on those arts which had distinguished the reign, and were destined to immortalize the memory of his illustrious predecessor. It is more inexplicable, that among the persons who superintended the execution of the tapestries, there were not some who were capable of appreciating the excellence anl value of the originals, more especially as Van Orlay and Michael Coxis, both engaged in those works, had been pupils of Raffaelle. From whatever cause, the Cartoons were thrown by as things of no value, and left to moulder and decay among the lumber of the manufactory: it has been said that they were even exhibited occasionally in the front of the house as signs, indicating the vocation carried on within. From this state of degradation they were redeemed by Charles I., at the recommendation of Rubens, and brought to England. The obligation due to this monarch, to whose taste we owe the acquisition of the Cartoons, is to be extended to Cromwell, by whose discernment they were secured to the country during the sale and dispersion of the royal collection. They were purchased at the immediate command of the Protector, whose sagacity seems in this, as in most other instances, to have outgone that of his contemporaries, on whom the showy ostentation of Andrea da Mantegna appears to have made a stronger impression than the chaste and intellectual grandeur of Raffaelle. The triumphs of Julius Cæsar, painted by the former, were valued at £2000; the Cartoons of the latter at £300. After this period these works were again consigned for a long time to obscurity and neglect. They had been sent by King Charles II. to Mortlake to be copied in tapestry by an artist named Cleen, who superintended a manufactory of arras at that place, originally established by James I. Here they met with no better treatment than they had formerly encountered at Brussels; for it was found, when they were afterwards opened and inspected by the command of King William, that they had been so carelessly packed as to have sustained considerable injury. By The Cartoons are shown, with the other pictures, to visitors, upon payment of a fee to the person who goes round the apartment. We hope, when the new National Gallery is finished, that they will be removed to London, so that the public may be delighted and improved by their contemplation without the exaction of sixpences and shillings. 18. The Ascension. 19. Noli me tangere. 20. The Descent of the Holy Ghost. 23, 24. Children at Play, catching Birds, &c. The first seven above enumerated are those at Hampton Court. Two others are said to be in the possession of the King of Sardinia; and a third, one of the compartments of the Slaughter of the Innocents, is in this country, having been accidentally discovered, and purchased by P. Hoare, Esq. The rest, with the exception of a few dismembered fragments, are all lost: the designs, however, are still visible in the tapestries at Rome. Such is the history of those noble productions. But notwithstanding the neglect and partial destruction to which they were so barbarously consigned, their reputation was in the mean time promulgated and established through the medium of the tapestries. Nor can there be a stronger proof than this of their deep and intrinsic excellence, which could make itself felt and understood through a mode of copying so coarse and inefficient; although we must admit that, considered not as transcripts of fine art, but merely in the light of splendid furniture, nothing can be more magnificent than those stately hangings of arras. The two sets first manufactured were intended by Leo X., the one for the apartments of the papal palace, the other as a present to Henry VIII. a England. These works were destined to encounter a greater variety of adventures than even the original Cartoons. The first account we have of their appearance was during the pontificate of Paul IV., by whose order they were suspended on high festivals in one of the vestibules of the basilica of St. Pe'er. It is said that they excited delight and astonishment not only among the learned in art, but that they were viewed by the populace with enthusiastic and unsated avidity. In the sack of Rome, in 1526, they were carried away, but were restored during the reign of Julius III. by the Duc de Montmorenci. Again, in 1798, they made part of the French spoliations, and were actually sold to a Jew at Leghorn, who burnt one of them for the purpose of extracting the precious metal contained in the threads. As it was found, however, to furnish very little, the proprietor judged it better to allow the others to retain their original shape, and they were soon afterwards re-purchased from him by the agents of Pius VII., and rein stated in the galleries of the Vatican. The second set of tapestries, intended by Leo X. as a present to Henry VIII. of England, were accordingly transmitted to that monarch, although it is affirmed by some authorities that he obtained them by purchase from the state of Venice. On their arrival in England, they were hung up in Whitehall, and descended, as a royal | at once sublime and beautiful; it is that of triumphant appanage, through the reigns of Edward VI., Mary, Elizabeth, James I., and Charles I. After the death of that unfortunate monarch, they were purchased by the Spanish ambassador in London (Don Alonso de Cardanas), who carried them to Spain, and from him they devolved to the house of Alva. From a palace belonging to the dukes of that name, they were purchased, a few years since, by Mr. Tupper, our Consul in Spain, and restored to this country. They were afterwards exhibited for some time at the Egyptian Hall, in Piccadilly, finally re-purchased by a foreigner, and by him taken back to the continent. virtue and Divine power, yet touched by the traits of recent suffering. It may be added that the costume is different from that in which he is elsewhere represented. It is simply a white drapery, which nearly envelopes his figure, but leaves one of the shoulders uncovered: this indicates that he has arisen from the dead. The whole subject, although so finely amplified, is yet so condensed, and presses on the mind with such truth of delineation, that while we look on the picture, we feel a difficulty in believing that the event could have happened in any other manner than as it is there represented. THE WEEK. 66 As the finest examples of the higher qualities of art, the Cartoons have been sedulously studied and copied, wholly or partially, by the most eminent painters: copies DECEMBER 6.-The birth-day of GEORGE MONK, the first of the seven at Hampton Court, by Sir James Thorn- Duke of Albemarle. He was born at Potheridge, in hill, were presented by Francis Duke of Bedford to the Devonshire, in 1608, and was a younger son of Sir Royal Academy, and another set is in possession of the Thomas Monk. The family had been long one of great University of Oxford, the gift of the Duke of Marl-wealth and respectability. George, according to the borough. They have been engraved in this country by account of Aubrey the antiquary, was a strong, lusty, Dorigny, and by his scholars, Dubosc and Somereau. well-set young fellow, and in his youth happened to The beautiful and elaborate plates of the seven Cartoons, slay a man, which was the occasion of his flying into the to which the late Mr. Holloway devoted a large portion Low Countries, where he learned to be a soldier." of his life, will form a lasting monument of that artist's He had previously, however, followed the profession of talent and perseverance *. arms, and was engaged in the expeditions to Cadiz and the Isle of Rhé. Before he returned from the Netherlands he had attained the rank of Captain. He afterwards served in the army which Charles I. sent against Scotland in 1610; and upon the Scottish Pacification was employed against the Irish rebels, and obtained a regiment, where he gained so much the good will of the soldiery that they used to call him "honest George Monk." Having thus joined the royal side in the alreadycommencing national troubles, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel, and soon after appointed Governor of Dublin, and eventually made Major-Gene ral of the Irish Brigade. His services in the cause of the King, however, were terminated by the fight of Nantwich, on the 21st of January, 1644, in which the royal troops under Lord Byron sustained so complete a defeat from the parliamentary commander Lord Fairfax. Monk was among the numerous prisoners; and, being consigned to the Tower, lay there for above two years, forgotten, it is said, by his party when the exchanges took place, though the King once sent him a present of a hundred guineas. He occupied himself during this long detention in composing a professional treatise, which was published some time after his death, under the title of Observations on Military and Political Affairs.' It was while here, also, that he first became acquainted with Ann Clarges, the daughter of John Clarges, a blacksmith of the Strand, who was his laundress, and whom he married after having kept her for some time as his mistress. She had been married before to a farrier of the name of Thomas Radford; and it has been asserted that this person was still alive, when she gave her hand to General Monk in 1652. Aubrey says that her mother was "one of the fine women barbers; and that her father's was the cornershop, the first turning on the right hand as you come out of the Strand into Drury Lane." Monk's future fortunes, as some suppose, were much indebted for their complexion to the management of his wife; but his own extraordinary prudence had perhaps a much greater share in them. He long refused to accept a command under the Parliament; but finally accepted a command against the Irish who were considered rebels both by King and Parliament, and was thereupon liberated from the Tower. In 1651 he accompanied Cromwell of his expedition for the reduction of Scotland; and when the latter returned to England in August to stop the progress of the King, who had taken the opportunity of his absence to march towards the south, he left Monk in Scotland To enter on an analysis of the style of Raffaelle, would far exceed the limits which we can assign to this article: we purpose to return to the subject, and shall in the meanwhile confine our remarks to the Cartoon engraved in this number, Christ delivering the Keys to St. Peter. To any other artist than Raffaelle, this subject would not, perhaps, have presented any striking capabilities, as the action and expression, however solemn and pathetic, is deficient in that variety and force which gives effect to graphic representation. But wherever human feelings were brought into play Raffaelle found the elements of his art; and his power in marking the diversities of character, and in discriminating the shades of sentiment, have never been more strongly evinced than in this work. The Redeemer stands alone, distinguished by a majestic simplicity of action. With one hand he points to a flock of sheep, symbolically introduced in illustration of the text, "Feed my sheep ;" with the other he consigns the keys to St. Peter, who kneels with devout reverence to receive them. The Apostles are formed into a compact group, and appear earnest to receive the last commands of their Master, previously to their separation and dispersion to preach the Gospel in all parts of the earth. St. John, the beloved of Jesus, presses eagerly forward, the veneration he evinces being mingled with an expression of affectionate attachment. Behind him stands an apostle whose action is less animated than that of his brethren: it has altogether the cold and sedate demeanour of a person of sceptical temperament. This is undoubtedly St. Thomas; and next to him, in fine contrast, is a disciple who stretches out his hands towards Christ, and turning to the incredulous apostle with an expostulatory and somewhat indignant air, seems to say, Are you yet convinced? Every head in the group has its peculiar physiognomy, with the expression properly belonging to it. Some express the most entire and deferential acquiescence in the preference given to St. Peter, while across the countenance of others steal the signs of jealous dissatisfaction; for Raffaelle, although he has given the Apostles an exterior befitting men who have been called to so high and solemn a vocation, yet shows that as men they are not entirely divested of human weakness. The expression of the Saviour is *The series of wood-cuts, which we are about to publish in this work, of the seven Cartoons, will, we trust, enable thousands of persons who have never seen the originals, or even engravings of them, to judge of the grandeur and beauty of these noble compositions. Engraving on wood is not unsuited to the boldness of their style, with five thousand men to complete the subjugation of the country. On the 14th of that month accordingly Monk took by storm the important fortress of Stirling, and on the 1st of September forced his entry in the same manner into the town of Dundee; after which he was admitted without opposition into Aberdeen, St. Andrews, and all the other principal places of the kingdom. He continued at the head of affairs in Scotland, where he ruled with a steady but not a harassing despotism, till the death of Oliver Cromwell, and the confusion that arose under the short protectorate of Richard. In this crisis he set out for England at the head of a powerful force, and arrived in London on the 3d of February, 1660. It is supposed by some writers that in taking this step he had not settled with himself what part he should act, but had determined to be guided by circumstances in his choice of the scale into which he should throw his sword. Locke, in his Life of Lord Shaftesbury, says, "Monk had agreed with the French ambassador to take the government on himself, by whom he had promise from Mazarin of assistance from France, to support him in this undertaking. This bargain was struck between them late at night, but not so secretly, but that Monk's wife, who had posted herself behind the hangings, where she could hear all that passed, finding what was resolved, sent immediately notice of it by her brother Clarges to Sir Anthony Ashley Cooper (afterwards Lord Shaftesbury). She was zealous for the restoration of the King, and promised Sir Anthony to watch her husband, and inform him from time to time how matters went. Upon this notice Sir Anthony summoned the Council of State, and before them indirectly charging Monk with what he had learned, proposed that, to remove all scruples, Monk would at that instant take away their commissions from such and such officers in his army, and give them to those whom he named. By this means the army ceased to be at Monk's devotion, and was put into hands that would not serve him, in the design he had undertaken." Whatever truth there may be in this story, Monk soon after declared openly for the King; and the restoration followed without a hand being raised against it. On the 25th of May, Charles was received by the General at Dover; and on the following day the latter was honoured with the Order of the Garter. Soon after he was created Duke of Albemarle. In 1666, in the second year of the war, commenced in 1665 against Holland, Monk was appointed with Prince Rupert to the joint command of the English fleet, and in this capacity, on the 24th of July, he encountered the two Dutch Admirals, Ruyter and the younger Van Tromp, in the Downs, and in the course of a fight which lasted for two days, sunk and burned twenty of the enemy's ships, four thousand of their men being killed and three thousand wounded. This able military and naval commander died on the 3d of January, 1670, at the age of sixty-two. STATISTICAL NOTES. ENGLAND AND WALES- -(CONTINUED). (28.) THE woollen manufacture was, in early times, by far the most important in England, and was distributed pretty equally throughout the whole country. Towards the end of the seventeenth century, the value of the wool shorn in England was estimated at £2,000,000 a year; and it was supposed that the entire value of the woollen articles produced was £8,000,000, of which about £2,000,000 were exported. At an average of six years ending with 1789, the annual official value of the exports was only £3,544,160 a year, and in 1802, being the largest amount of any known year, they had risen to £7,321,012. In 1812 they had sunk to £4,376,479, and in 1830 were £5,558,709, official value, and £4,850,884, declared value. The total value of the manufactured woollens annually produced in Great Britain may at present be calculated at from £20,000,000 to £22,000,000; and the number of persons employed in it does not exceed 400,000. The woollen manufacture has always been an object of solici tude with Parliament, though it may be doubted whether it has derived any substantial advantage from the numerous acts that have been passed respecting it, such as the acts prohibiting the exportation of English wool, and for encouraging the manufacture in various ways; as, for instance, the act of Charles the Second, enacting that the dead should be buried in woollen shrouds, which remained in force more than one hundred and thirty years. The rise of the cotton manufacture, and the comparative decline of the fabric of woollens, shows how little it is in the power of acts of parliament to keep industry in its old channels, when circumstances far more influential than kings or laws tend to drive it into new and more productive ones. The constant prayer of manufacturers to governments should be that of the citizens of Paris to Colbert, when that minister offered his assistance to their trade "Laissez nous faire ;”— "leave us alone." (29.) The progress of the linen manufacture in England, of late years, has not been considerable, owing partly to the rise of the cotton manufacture, and more especially to the efforts that have been made to bolster up the manufacture of linen in Ireland and Scotland. As an instance of the extraordinary notions that were formerly entertained upon the plainest matters of public economy, it is a fact that, in 1698, when Parliament addressed King William the Third, representing that the progress of the woollen manufacture in Ireland was such as to prejudice that of this country, and that it would be for the public advantage if the former were discouraged and the linen manufacture established in its stead, his Majesty replied, “I shall do all that in me lies to discourage the woollen manufacture in Ireland, and encourage the linen manufacture, and promote the trade of England." The system of bounties is now at an end, but we persisted in it for more than a century, endeavouring to force a trade in linens by enabling our merchants to sell them abroad for less than they cost. In 1825 the bounties paid on British linen exported amounted to £209,516, being between a sixth and seventh part of the entire value of the exports; and the bounty on Irish linen exported the same year was £87,549, being about a tenth part of the value of the exports. The exports of linen from the United Kingdom in 1829 amounted to 57,698,372 yards, of the declared value of £1,953,607. The export from Ireland direct to foreign countries was about one-seventeenth part of the whole. The entire value of the linen manufacture of Great Britain and Ireland was estimated by Dr. Colquhoun at £15,000,000, which, however, Mr. M'Culloch considers as very much exaggerated. Perhaps it may be fairly valued at £10,000,000; and setting aside a third part of this sum as the value of the raw material, and 20 per cent. as profits and return for wear and tear of capital, &c., we have £4,667,000 to be divided as wages; and supposing each individual to earn on an average £15 a year, the total number employed would be 311,000 persons. (30.) Iron mines have been wrought in this country from a very early period; and, during the last century, the progress of the manufacture has exceeded the most sanguine expectations. In 1740 the quantity of pigiron manufactured in England and Wales amounted to about 17,000 tons, produced by fifty-nine furnaces. The quantities manufactured at the under-mentioned epochs in Great Britain were as follows :— The quantities produced in 1827 in the different | Sir George Staunton ascertained that its diameter was districts were, About three-tenths of this quantity is used as cast iron, and the other seven-tenths as wrought iron, being formed into bars, bolts, rods, &c. The exports of the different sorts of iron amount, at present, to about 110,000 tons, which, at £10 a ton, would be worth £1,100,000. In 1767, the iron exported from Great Britain amounted to only 11,000 tons, and in 1806 not more than 25,000. The total value of the pig-iron now produced in Great Britain, at £6 a ton, may be estimated at nearly £4,200,000, and the additional labour expended in forming the pig-iron into bar-iron, &c. may probably add £1,200,000 to its value, making it worth, in all, about £5,400,000. The prices of iron have lately so much declined, that pig-iron, which in 1824 and 1825 sold at from £12 to £14 a ton, fell in 1826 to £8 or £9, and is now only worth from £4. 10s. to £5 a ton. It seems to be feared that, supposing prices not to rise, many of the furnaces now in blast will have to be laid aside. We recommend those who desire full information as to the history and prospects of our iron trade, to consult the treatise on the Manufacture of Iron,' published by the Society of Useful Knowledge. "Of that one contemptible mineral," says Mr.Locke, speaking of iron, "he who first made use, may be truly styled the father of arts and the author of plenty." [To be continued.] THE DRAGON-TREE OF OROTAVA. NEAR the town of Orotava, in the island of Teneriffe, there is an enormous many-headed palm of the species called the Dragon-Tree (in French, Dragonnier), which has been described by the scientific traveller Humboldt, and more recently by Maria Graham. This tree is situated in the garden of M. Franqui. There are existing documents which show that the trunk of this tree had attained its present vast size in the fifteenth century. Its height is about 60 feet; its circumference near the root is 48 feet. At the height of ten feet above the soil, 12 feet. The trunk divides into a great number of branches which rise in the form of a candelabra, each of which is terminated by a bunch of leaves. It still bears flowers and fruit. Humboldt has given, in the Atlas to his large work, a plate from a drawing of this palm, taken in 1776;-the above wood-cut is copied from a sketch in Maria Graham's 'Journal of a Voyage to Brazil,' made after one-half of the crown of the tree had fallen in 1819. This remarkable tree is considered by Humboldt to be one of the oldest inhabitants of this globe. The species is of very slow growth; and it is judged that a thousand years must have elapsed before this specimen had attained maturity. National Prejudices.-In estimating the worth of nations, justice requires that, while their vices are put into one scale, their virtues should as conscientiously be poised in the other. Individuals and nations are equally stung with a sense of and then great and good actions are all forgotten. This wrong, when their crimes are acrimoniously recapitulated, fatal forgetfulness is the origin of that rancour which has so long desolated the earth. It distracts private families, confounds public principles, and turns even patriotism itself into poison. Let those, who have but the smallest love for the happiness of mankind, beware how they indulge this pernicious propensity. He, who in every man wishes to meet a brother, will very rarely encounter an enemy.-Holcroft's preface to his translation of Count Stolberg's Travels through Germany, &c. p. viii. THE SEASONS. THE Seasons are my friends, companions dear! And I will hear him on his mountain seat, When in her humid scarf she leaves the hills, Till vesper rising slowly, widow'd nun, [These verses are extracted from a poem containing passages of considerable beauty, entitled 'The Solitary,' by Charles Whitehead, which was published some months since.] The Office of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge is at 59, Lincoln's-Inn Fields. LONDON:-CHARLES KNIGHT, PALL-MALL EAST. Manchester, ROBINSON; and WEBB and SIMMS. Shopkeepers and Hawkers may be supplied Wholesale by the following Falmouth, PHILP. Hull, STEPHENSON. Kendal, HUDSON and NICHOLSON. Leeds, BAINES and NEWSOME. Lincoln, BROOKE and SONS. Liverpool, WILLMER and SMITH. Newcastle-upon-Tyne, CHARNLEY. Norwich, JARROLD and SON. Nottingham, WRIGHT. Oxford, SLATTER. Plymouth, NETTLETON. Portsea, HoRSEY, Jun. Sheffield, RIDOR. Staffordshire, Lane End, C. WATTS Worcester, DEIGHTON. Dublin, WAKEMAN. Edinburgh, OLIVER and Boru, Glasgow, ATKINSON and Co. 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