le. It is,
however, to be kept in mind that some such mode of introduction was
customary in all works of this order and period. The Byzantine MS.,
already alluded to, is prefaced still more singularly: "Que celui qui
veut apprendre la science de la peinture commence a s'y preparer
d'avance quelque temps en dessinant sans relache ... puis qu'il adresse
a Jesus Christ la priere et oraison suivante," etc.:--the prayer being
followed by a homily respecting envy, much resembling that of
Theophilus. And we may rest assured that until we have again begun to
teach and to learn in this spirit, art will no more recover its true
power or place than springs which flow from no heavenward hills can rise
to useful level in the wells of the plain. The tenderness, tranquillity,
and resoluteness which we feel in such men's words and thoughts found a
correspondent expression even in the movements of the hand; precious
qualities resulted from them even in the most mechanical of their works,
such as no reward can evoke, no academy teach, nor any other merits
replace. What force can be summoned by authority, or fostered by
patronage, which could for an instant equal in intensity the labor of
this humble love, exerting itself for its own pleasure, looking upon its
own works by the light of thankfulness, and finishing all, offering all,
with the irrespective profusion of flowers opened by the wayside, where
the dust may cover them, and the foot crush them?

110. Not a few passages conceived in the highest spirit of self-denying
piety would, of themselves, have warranted our sincere thanks to Mr.
Hendrie for his publication of the manuscript. The practical value of
its contents is however very variable; most of the processes described
have been either improved or superseded, and many of the recipes are
quite as illustrative of the writer's credulity in reception, as
generosity in communication. The references to the "land of Havilah" for
gold, and to "Mount Calybe" for iron, are characteristic of monkish
geographical science; the recipe for the making of Spanish gold is
interesting, as affording us a clew to the meaning of the mediaeval
traditions respecting the basilisk. Pliny says nothing about the
hatching of this chimera from cocks' eggs, and ascribes the power of
killing at sight to a different animal, the catoblepas, whose head,
fortunately, was so heavy that it could not be held up. Probably the
word "basiliscus" in Theophilus would have