part of the last century, and is now
resumed.

In 1798 they were taken by the French from Rome and sold to a Jew at
Leghorn, and one of them was burnt by him in order to extract the gold
with which they were richly interwoven; but happily they did not
furnish so much spoil as the speculator hoped, and this devastation
was arrested. The one that was destroyed represented Christ's Descent
into Limbus; the rest were repurchased for one thousand three hundred
crowns, and restored to the Vatican in 1814.

We have alluded to two sets of these tapestries, and it is believed
that there were two; whether _exactly_ counterparts has not been
ascertained. We have traced the migrations of one set. The other was,
according to some authorities, presented by Pope Leo the Tenth to our
Henry the Eighth; whilst others say that our king purchased it from
the state of Venice. It was hung in the Banqueting House of
Whitehall, and after the unhappy execution of Charles the First, was
put up, amongst other royal properties, to sale. Being purchased by
the Spanish ambassador, it became the property of the house of Alva,
and within a few years back was sold by the head of that illustrious
house to Mr. Tupper, our consul in Spain, and by him sent back to this
country.

These tapestries were then exhibited for some time in the Egyptian
Hall, Piccadilly, and were afterwards repurchased by a foreigner.
Probably they have been making a "progress" throughout the kingdom, as
within this twelvemonth we had the satisfaction of viewing them at the
principal town in a northern county. The motto of our chapter might
have been written expressly for these tapestries, so exquisitely
accurate is the description as applied to them of the gold thread:--

"As here and there, and every where unwares
It shew'd itselfe and shone unwillingly;
Like to a discolour'd snake, whose hidden snares
Through the greene gras his long bright burnisht back declares."

The cartoons themselves, the beautiful originals of these magnificent
works, remained in the Netherlands, and were all, save seven, lost and
destroyed through the ravages of time, and chance, and revolution.
These seven, much injured by neglect, and almost pounced into holes by
the weaver tracing his outlines, were purchased by King Charles the
First, and are now justly considered a most valuable possession. It is
supposed that the chief object of Charles in the purchase was to
sup