day, to call around his throne, what lay scattered in Europe, a world of glory as yet unconquered by his people. To have overcome the difficulties which the efforts of this Prince had to contend with, is not less admirable than the grand object which he did realise, and the still grander ones which he has left to our imagination. Had Whitehall Palace been completed as it was contemplated by Charles the First, and conceived by Inigo Jones, the Louvre and the Escurial would have found in our calumniated island, among the clouds of the North,' a more magnificent rival. The ceiling of the Banqueting-room, at Whitehall, was painted by Rubens; and it was the intention of Charles that Vandyke should have covered the walls with the history of the order of the Garter, in a friendly emulation with his master. This hall of audience for ambassadors, is stated to be only the fifty-fifth part of this gorgeous palace. But the paintings of Vandyke for the edifice of Inigo Jones exist only in a sketch in chiaro-scuro; by the civil wars the nation lost the glory of the paintings and the palace. The first collector of the productions of the fine arts in our country, was that Earl of Arundel, whose memorable marbles perpetuate his name. This travelled Earl, who had repeatedly visited the Continent, and more particularly the land of his admiration and his love, Italy, exhausted his wealth and his magnificence in the prodigality of his fine tastes. Of this father of our arts, Walpole tells, that 'He was the first who discovered the genius of Inigo Jones; and in his embassy to Vienna, he found Hollar at Prague' and did not leave him there! To this Earl, as Peacham has felicitously expressed it, "This angle of the world oweth the first sight of Grecian and Roman statues;' and Lily notices, that "this Earl brought the new way of building with brick in the city.' We discover Charles when Prince of Wales deeply busied with the arts; and at that early period, he designed inviting great artists to England. Offers of this nature he never ceased to make to those great foreigners whose immortal names still attest that there was no mediocrity in the Royal taste. The history of a manufacture of fine gold and silver tapestry shows this early ardour. This manufacture introduced into this country by Sir Francis Crane, and established at Mortlake, in Surrey, the young prince not only patronised, but conceived the idea of improving the splendid material by finer designs. Sir Henry Wotton, our ambassador at Venice, by order of the Prince, procured Cleyne, the painter, to reside in England, for the purpose of inventing the designs. Charles built a residence for the artist, whose subjects, both in history and grotesque, were a great improvement on the rude Gothic figures which they had hitherto worked on. Fine and rich tapestries were the most valued of domestic ornaments, and to raise to the utmost perfection the Mortlake tapestry, was so favourite an object with the young Prince that when at Madrid, amidst love and revels, the Mortlake tapestry was still in his thoughts, for he wrote to his council to pay L. 700 for some Italian drawings for tapestry. The taste of the youthful patron was rising faster than the genius of Cleye could advance; for Charles now sought for subjects which were of a higher character of art than the grotesque fancy of Cleyne invented. Rubens was afterwards employed, when Charles was King, in painting sketches of the history of Achilles, to be copied in tapestry at Mortlake, and Charles purchased the seven Cartoons of Raphael for the purpose of supplying more elevated subjects for this tapestry. It was no fault of Charles the First that we did not anticipate the gobelins of Louis XIV. It was on the accession to his throne that Charles made the greatest effort for the acquisition of pictures and statues. The sum may seem to us trivial for a royal purchase, yet it was effort which the King could never repeat. Charles purchased the entire cabinet of the Duke of Mantua for a sum an sense of his inquiries inspired the confidence of communication, and this monarch rarely left ingenious men, without himself contributing some information on the objects of their own pursuits. Charles could suggest a touch, even a hint, to the unfinished canvass of Rubens and Vandyke. The King himself pursued with delight the arts of design, and it has been recorded that Rubens corrected some of his drawings, and that the King handled, not without skill, the pencil of that great master. The libellous author of the 'None-such Charles,' notices his general inclination to all arts and sciences; 'his excelling so far in them as that he might have got a livelihood by them.' Lily contents himself with telling us that Charles was not unskilful in music-the truth is, that his ear and his hand were musical. The King had been taught the Viol di Gamba, and was a pupil of Coperario, or John Cooper, a celebrated English musician, who, on his return from Italy, assumed this fantastic appellative. Playford, who had frequent opportunities to observe the delight of Charles the First in music, tells us, that the King would often appoint the service and anthems himself, and accompany them, 'especially those incomparable fancies of Mr. Coperario to the organ.' supposed to be under twenty thousand | such persons he threw off the habitual pounds: which, Mr. Dallaway observes, reserve of his character. The good the King found no very easy business to pay. It should, however, be observed, that such noble productions of art had not then reached the large prices which afterwards the possessors, never the artists, could obtain. It was the taste of Charles the First, and the splendour of Philip the Fourth of Spain, which first raised their value in the estimation of Europe. At the dispersion of the collection of paintings of Charles the First, their number amounted to about five hundred pictures, besides many which had been embezzled. When we consider the straitened means of the King, and the short space of fifteen years in which that collection had been formed, we have evidence how earnestly it occupied the royal attention, and the whole may be considered as his own creation. The foundation of this royal collection of pictures was a few Italian and Flemish paintings, which, in the days of Henry the Eighth, had been scattered among our palaces, lying unregarded as old furniture, and which, we are told, had received scarcely a single accession in the succeeding reigns. At all times Charles had in his mind his collection, and called the attention of his friends, or his agents to his aid. When the Marquis of Hamilton was acting under the King of Sweden, in a campaign in Germany, the King adds this postscript to one of his letters, 'I hope shortly you will be in a possibility to perform your promise concerning pictures and statues of Muncken; therefore now in earnest do not forget it. Nor was the Monarch less careful in their preservation; for when the Queen's great masque was to be performed at Whitehall, Charles ordered a temporary building to be erected for this spectacle at a considerable charge, lest his pictures in the Banqueting-house should be damaged by the lights. Charles the First acknowledged that he had learned much by conversation. It is certain that he encouraged a familiar intercourse with travellers, artists, mechanics, and men of science. With Charles could plan a palace with Inigo Jones, and decide on the age of a medal with Selden. Such, indeed, had been his early studies, that a learned man has described him as 'that great antiquary Charles the First.' The il lustrious Harvey in one of his writings, recounts with singular gratification the delight Charles received from observations made by that great anatomist, while dissecting before the King the deer in Hampton-court. The numerous works which this King suggested to authors, and the critical judgment with which he decided on works of literature, place Charles the First among the most literary monarchs. His critical conceptions were quick; for when Sir Edward Walker was reading his manuscript Rebus in adversis facile est contemnere vitam; Charles suggested to the poet Shirley Thy fame is equal, happier is thy fate, There are some delightful literary anecdotes of Charles. The King had been harassed by the zealot Obadiah Sedgwick repeatedly pressing the King for his opinion on his fanatical 'Leaves of the Tree of Life;' a mystical explanation of the second verse of the twenty-second chapter of the Revelations. The King, having read part of the manuscript, returned it, with his opinion, that, 'After such a work, he believed the composer stood in some need of sleep.' The happy ambiguity of this playful criticism, accepted in the better sense, gratified this Parlia some mentary preacher. There was In a conversation on writing plays in rhyme, one party affirming that the bondage of rhyme would confine the fancy, and Lord Orrery being of a contrary opinion, as arbiter, Charles commanded his Lordship to employ some of his leisure in a dramatic com- | his Court should resemble the literary position, in rhyme, which produced 'The Court of the Medici. He assembled Black Prince.' But it was not only about him the great masters of their in the lighter graces of poesy that the various arts; and while they acquired fine taste of Charles delighted: more the good fortune of the royal patronage, serious and elevated objects equally and were dignified by his honours, they engaged his attention. Charles was more largely participated in this sort desirous that the national history should of affection which the real lovers of be composed by a man of genius. He art experience for the persons of great had been pleased with the historical artists. We may rate Charles's taste Essay of Lord Bacon's Henry VII. at the supreme degree, by observing. With great judgment he fixed on Sir that this monarch never patronized Henry Wotton for a complete history: mediocrity: the artist who was honoured and to stimulate that very elegant writer, by his regard was ever a master-spirit. granted him a munificent pension of Father of art in our country, Charles five hundred pounds. Charles unques- seemed ambitious of making English tionably. was himself a writer of the denizens of every man of genius in history of his own times; and however Europe; and of no monarch have been we may determine on the authenticity recorded such frequent instances of the of the much disputed Icon Basilike, deep personal interest entertained for there will be found some portions, and individuals. Charles, with his own hand, some peculiar expressions, which, it is wrote to Albano, to invite that joyous not probable, perhaps possible, that any painter of childhood to reside at the one could have written but himself. Court of England. When another Certain it is, that the manuscripts of artist, Terrentius, was condemned to the King were numerous. No monarch perpetual imprisonment, Charles, in the has had his pen so constantly in his excess of his admiration for his works, hand. During his long confinement at interceded for the wretched man; pleadCarisbrooke Castle, his life offers a ing only for the artist, the rarity and beautiful picture of the imprisonment excellence of his works were alone dwelt of a literary character. The King had on by the King. Rubens and Vandyke, his constant hours for writing, and he with other illustrious names, Charles read much. We have an interesting had made his own; and we cannot read catalogue of the books he called for a history of foreign art without meetduring this period. Yet there exist no ing with the name of Charles the First, autographs of Charles, except some let- -so closely had his patronage or his ters. This seems to indicate some pur- kindness connected this monarch with his posed destruction. We know that the contemporary artists in every country. King revised the folio Memoirs of Sir Edward Walker, and that he supplied Clarendon, from his own memorials and journals, with two manuscripts, fairly written, on the transactions of the years 1645 and 1646. What became of these originals, with others, which were seized in the royal cabinet taken at Naseby? If it be true, as it appears, that Charles instigated Clarendon to compose his history, posterity may admire the King's exquisite discernment. There was not another man of genius in the royal circle, who could have been more happily selected. Charles appears to have designed that No royal history opens domestic scenes of equal fascination with those which occurred in the constant intercourse of the grave and stately Charles with his favourite companions, the artists themselves. His conversations with them were familiar and unreserved. In the breakfast-room of Charles the First were hung, by his special order, the portraits of his three favourites, Rubens, Mytens and Vandyke. Vandyke, by the desire of Charles, married an English lady, and resided in England. The King would frequently go by water to the painter's house in Blackfriars to his studio, and often sitting to Vandyke himself, would commission the Queen, his family, and his courtiers, to allow no rest to his facile and unwearied pencil; they delighted to view themselves in the unshadowy splendour of his portraits. A traditional story was floating in the last century, the probability of which seems to authenticate the fact. Vandyke was painting the portrait of Charles the First, while the Monarch was complaining in a low voice to the Duke of Norfolk of the state of his finances. The King perceiving that Vandyke was listening, said to him laughingly, And you, Sir! do you know what it is to want five or six thousand pounds?' "Yes, Sir', Vandyke replied; 'an artist who keeps open house for his friends, and whose purse is always at the command of mistresses, feels too often the emptiness of his strong-box.' In this unreserved manner Charles indulged himself with the artists. Beck, whose facility in composition was extraordinary, was aptly complimented, by Charles familiarly observing to him, "Faith, Beck! I believe that you could paint riding! It is not wonderful that a monarch, who so well knew how to maintain his personal dignity, and was even coldly formal in the court circle, should have been tenderly remembered by every man of genius, who had enjoyed the flattering equality of this language of the heart, and this sympathy of companionship. A celebrated performer on the flute, who afterwards became so eminent during the Protectorate, as to be appointed music professor at the University of Oxford, Dr. Thomas Wilson, with equal pride and affection, remembered, that he was often in attendance on Charles, who, in the intensity of his delight, used to lean over his shoulder while he played. Old Nicholas Laniere, who subscribed one of his plates as being 'done in my youthful age of 74,' was one of those artists, as Lord Oxford designates them, 'whose various talents were so happy as to suit the taste of Charles the First, musician, painter, and engraver.' Laniere was one of the King's active agents for the selection of works of art, while he himself could add to them. He outlived the persecution of that political period, and shed tears many years after in the funereal hymn on his royal master, set by himself. But if it be delightful to view Charles the First indulging the most kindly feelings to artists, it is more so to find that he knew and entered into their wounded feelings, and could even forgive their caprices. The King's earliest Picturer,' as he is styled in the royal warrant, was Daniel Mytens, a Flemish artist, who has left us one of the finest heads of Charles the First in his happier days, ere care and thought had stamped their traces on his majestic countenance. On the arrival of Vandyke, great as was Mytens' reputation and the favour he enjoyed, the artist fancied that his sun had set, his 'Occupation had gone!' In a sullen humour, Mytens requested his Majesty's permission to retire to his native home. Charles having learned the cause of this sudden attack of spleen, used the wayward genius with all a brother's tenderness. The King healed the infirmity of genius, assuring the jealous artist, that 'He could find sufficient employment both for him and Vandyke.' It was no doubt after this, that Charles hung the portrait of his old artist between the two greatest masters of art; and it is pleasing to record, that the brothers in art, with the monarch as their common friend, became brothers in their affections; for Vandyke painted the portrait of Mytens. The King's constant attendance on Rubens, the honours he bestowed on him, and the noble offers he made him, are not sufficiently known. painter found, and felt in Charles the First, a congenial spirit. Having painted the history of St. George, representing Charles, 'wherein, if it be possible, he had exceeded himself,' says a contemporary writer, Rubens would not part with the original, till he had finished a copy for himself, that, as he said, the picture might remain in his house of Antwerp, 'as a perpetual monument This great |