the grapes consequently are seldom to be had so good as we find them raised in a hot-house at home. In point of beauty, however, there is no comparison; for the bunches are exceedingly fine, and the grapes of a very large size. About two shillings per pound is the common price. The white muscat of Alexandria, is the common grape; purple ones are very rare indeed.

THE CONVICT.

O WHAT Would I not give to see

Those fields, where I in childhood play'd-
Beneath a spreading hawthorn-tree,
Sweet meditation's bower, Istrayed.

Musing upon a silver stream

That gently glided by my side,

A mirror to each orient beam-
That darling spot was all my pride.
Then up the hill, or down the vale,

Or o'er the variegated plain,
Where nature's sweets perfum'd the gale,
I've listen'd to the wood-lark's strain.
When echoing from a distant grove,
Stole soft on my enraptur'd ear,

His melody, the voice of love—

I then like him was free from care.
Such charms, alas! from me are flown,
In fetters I am doom'd to pine;
Freedom, dear bird, is all thine own,
For I no more san call it mine.
Gay Spring to thee brings new delights;
But secret sighs will flow from me,
'Till man performs my funeral rites,
And I enjoy Eternity!

From a little volume of pleasing Poems, by James Hipkins.

THE BRIGHT EYES OF BEAUTY.

WHEN the bright eyes of beauty I see faintly beaming

Through the dim tear of sorrow the fountain of pain,

Like the sun's brilliant orb thro' the morning-mist gleaming,

When night's sable curtain withdraws from the plain,

From the fair face of Heaven the darkest shades vanish,

And gay spring-flowers smile, tho' chill winter has frown'd

Can the breast fraught with anguish, all tears and sighs banish,

If the pure balm of Friendship be shed o'er the wound?

Ah, cold is the heart, let whoe'er may possess it, That would not cheer the soul in affliction's dark reign,

And soothe the soft bosom that strives to suppress it,

And restore beauty's eyes to their lustre again.

Useful Arts.

Ibid.

THE SEVRES PORCELAIN MANUFACTORY.

PORCELAIN, the name first applied to the fine earthenwares of China, is of Portuguese origin-from the word porcellana, a cup; the Portuguese traders being the first who introduced the beautiful China ware into England. It has been attempted to prove a different origin for the name-attributing

this to the resemblance of the glazing or varnish, and probably the colours, of porcelain to those of the shells used in some parts of the world instead of money, (cowries,) and which, from the similarity of their shape to that of the back of a little pig, were also called porcella.

The Chinese, who were in former times even more successful than they are at present, in keeping a secret, contrived to conceal all knowledge of the manufacture of porcelain from the other nations of the earth; till, in the beginning of the eighteenth century, a cunning Jesuit, who was residing as a missionary in China, succeeded in eluding the jealous vigilance so generally practised towards strangers in that country, and not only obtained specimens of the earths used in the composition of their porcelain, but also some knowledge of the processes employed in its manufacture. The practical instructions of the cunning father proved, however, of little use; but the earths transmitted by him to France were examined by Reaumur, the celebrated chemist, and he persevered in his investigations with the enthusiasm of a man of science, till he discovered the true nature of porcelain to be a semi-vitrified compound, in which one portion remains infusible at the greatest heat to which it can be exposed, while the other portion vitrifies at that heat, and enveloping the infusible part, produces that smooth, compact, and shining texture, as well as transparency, which are distinctive of true porcelain.* All that was then wanting for the perfect imitation of the admired production was the discovery of materials similar to those received from China, and the search for this object was speedily successful.

The first establishment for the manufacture of porcelain, according to the principles laid down by Reaumur, was formed in the Castle of Vincennes, by its governor, the Marquis de Faloy, in 1738; of whom it was purchased by the farmers-general, by whom it was transferred to Sèvres, a small village two leagues to the west of Paris. Here was erected the above spacious edifice, (represented on the next page,) upon the left side of the road from Paris to Versailles, and thither the manufacture was transferred in 1755.

✦ In his examination of the two porcelain earths received from China, which are called in that country pe-tun-tse and kao-lin, Reaumur made a small cake of each substance, separately, and exposed both to the heat of a porcelain furnace. One, the pe-tun-tse, was fused by this means, without any addition; while the other, kao-lin, gave no sign of fusion. He next intimately compounded the two earths, and found, when the mixture was baked, that it had acCabinet Cyclopædia, vol. 26, Treatise on Porcelain quired all the qualities of the finest Chinese ware.-and Glass.-An incidental discovery of the means of manufacturing porcelain similar to that from China had been made a German alchemist, and imi tated in France, previous to Reaumur's success; the ingenious chemist did not avail himself of such means, but relied on his own researches.

In 1759, Louis XV., at the solicitation of Madame de Pompadour, purchased the manufactory, and, since that period, it has formed part of the domains of the French crown.* It is a handsome building, and contains a museum of a complete collection of foreign china, and the materials used in its fabrication; a collection of the china, earthenware, and pottery of France, and the earth of which they are composed; and an assemblage of models of all the ornamental vases, services, figures, statues, &c., that have been made in the manufactory since its first establishment. Altogether this manufactory is one of the finest of its kind in Europe; and its processes exhibit the union of the fine and useful arts in the most advantageous position. In the library attached, is an assemblage of illustrated works, and a considerable number of statues and busts from the antique, all which must aid the taste of the manufacturers. The The manufactory suffered considerably from the Revolution, and was several times about to be dissolved. At length, in 1800, it attracted the attention of the Government; in 1801, M. Brongniart, a distinguished geologist and mineralogist, was appointed director; and to his scientific knowledge the establishment is principally indebted for the celebrity it has acquired since the Revolution.

painters of the establishment are of the first merit, and even the principal masters of the French school do not think it derogatory to their noble art to improve by their occasional suggestions and designs, the embellishment of a coffee-cup or a dinner-plate; neither ought the French artists to consider such assistance a misappropriation of their taste and talents, since Raffael even painted or gave designs for painting in enamel on glazed earthenware; and he, who has produced the most sublime triumphs of painting, deigned also to embellish a china dish! Mr. Brockedon saw a specimen of the latter description about two years since in one of his excursions amongst the Alps.

To the reader entirely unacquainted with the varieties of porcelain, it may be as well to mention that the porcelain of Sèvres is distinguished by its superb, deep blue edge. Mr. A. Aikin, in his ingenious paper on Pottery, in the last volume of the Transactions of the Society of Arts, observes, that the manufactory at Sèvres has been for several years in a gradually advancing state, "with regard to the whiteness, compactness, and infusibility of the body, the elegance of the

forms, the brilliancy of the colours, the elaborateness of the drawing, and the superb enrichments of the gilding." These characteristics must be the result of the splendid combination of the fine and useful arts to which we have alluded.* From a glance at the ingenious processes of the manufactory, we learn that-

"The porcelain originally manufactured at Sèvres, called porcelaine tendre, was a composition of glass and earths, susceptible of combining by fusion. That now manufactured, called porcelaine dure, is formed of kaolin, from the quarries near Limoges, alkali, sand, saltpetre, and nitre, to which, when in a state of fusion, clay is added. It requires a great fire to be hardened. What is called biscuit de Sèvres is this substance not enamelled. The paintings are executed upon the porcelain after it is hardened, and it then requires only a slight degree of heat to fix the colours and enamel. M. Brongniart, director of the manufactory, has successfully applied the pyrometer to the firing of porcelain after it has been painted. The pyrometer is a kind of steel-yard with a needle placed at the extremity of a bar three feet in length. In the middle of this bar is a tube containing twenty-nine inches of porcelain and seven inches of silver. That end of the bar at which the silver is placed is introduced into the oven in which the porcelain is to be fired, and the heat, by dilating the silver sets the needle in motion by means of a wheel at the extremity of the bar, and this shows the degree of heat required. In firing of porcelain, wood alone is employed. An ingenious method has also been discovered of printing the patterns upon porcelain, by which the execution is more perfect, and it is effected in much less time. The beautiful blue known by the name of bleu de Sèvres, the manner of obtaining which was supposed to be entirely lost, has been re-discovered by M. Brongniart, who has likewise applied himself with the greatest care to find out the art by which the beautiful glass in ancient church windows was coloured. His exertions have in some degree been crowned with success. In one of the show-rooms may be seen a beautiful Sappho; and in the museum some other pieces, which, in colour, equal the ancient specimens; except the red, which he has not yet been able to rival.

"The number of workmen exceeds one hundred and fifty. The expenses amount to 220,000 or 250,000 fr. a year, but the receipts are equal. The former are paid by the Civil List, and the latter are paid into the Royal Treasury."

In this country, the late Mr. Wedgwood accomplished similar improvements in our pottery, though in less costly materials. The forms of Wedgwood's ware, principally from the antique, will, however, for chaste elegance, bear comparison with those of any manufactory in Europe.

This being a royal establishment, all Sèvres porcelain has on its under surface a peculiar initial mark in blue, surmounted with the French crown.

The show-rooms at Sèvres contain an assemblage of costly articles. An exhibition of the finest productions is made annually at the Louvre, in Paris, when the king selects such objects as he thinks proper, for which the price fixed is paid. The inspection of the Sèvres manufactory is one of the sights of the environs of Paris, which the tourist may profitably include in his visit to St. Cloud, or Versailles.

The productions of Sèvres have declined in value and beauty since the Revolution; previous to which was manufactured a complete service made for Louis XVI., of which each plate cost 241. In the palace of the Tuilleries 'there is, or was, a superb vase of Sèvres porcelain, which cost 1,000.

bels; and its apex terminated with a small cross, &c. It presents, in the whole, a pleasing contrast with the rude outlines of some of the cruciform monuments which have, from time to time, ornamented our pages. Relics of this description are becoming rare in places where they were formerly unheeded.

MICHAEL ANGELO'S " LAST JUDGMENT." THE history of this celebrated painting perhaps the most wonderful specimen of the fresco art in the world-is extremely interesting. It occupies one end of the Sistine Chapel, in the Vatican, at Rome. M. Angelo had already embellished the walls of the chapel with his magic hand, when the Pope, Paul III." was so anxious to have the benefit of his talents, and yet found him so difficult to be prevailed upon, that he went in person to his house with ten cardinals to beg him to execute a painting of the last judgment. The great master complied, was employed eight years upon the work, and opened it to the public in Christmas, 1542. This end of the chapel was before occupied by three paintings of Pietro Perugino. There is an original letter existing from M. Angelo to Pietro Aretino, the poet, from which we may ascertain the fact, that the design was entirely his own. He says, 'I was delighted and grieved by the receipt of your letter. I was delighted at its coming from you, whose merit is so remarkable; and I was also much grieved, because as I have finished great part of the story, I cannot execute your ideas, which are of such a cast, that if the day of judgment had taken place, and you had actually seen it, your words could not describe it better.' At the end he dissuades him from coming to Rome to see the progress of the painting.

The letter of Aretino is also preserved in the same collection: and the following is that part of it, which contains his ideas upon the subject, which M. Angelo was to represent. It is dated Venice, September 15, 1537. "In my opinion you ought to be satisfied with having surpassed every one else in your other works; but I perceive, that with the termination of the universe, which you are now employed in painting, you think to surpass the commencement of the world,* which you have already painted: that your works surpassed by themselves may give you a triumph over yourself. Who would not be dismayed in applying his pencil to such a terrific subject? I see Antichrist in the middle of the crowd with a semblance, which none but you could conceive. I see the terror in the countenances of the living: I see the symptoms of extinction in the sun, the moon, and the stars. I see fire, and air, and earth, and water, as it were, yielding up their spirit. I see Nature at a distance confounded, Alluding to the paintings on the ceiling, finished

in 1512.

concentrating her barrenness 'in the decripi. tude of age: I see Time dried up and trembling, who being come to his utmost limit is seated on a withered trunk; and while I perceive the hearts in every breast agitated by the trumpets of the angels, I see Life and Death overwhelmed by the horrible confusion : for the former is labouring to resuscitate the dead, the latter is preparing to overthrow the living. I see Hope and Despair conducting the ranks of the good and the crowds of the wicked: I see the theatre of clouds coloured by the rays proceeding from the pure fires of heaven, upon which Christ is seated amongst his hosts, surrounded by splendour and by terrors. I see his face glitter; and darting out fiery sparks of a light delightful and terrible; he fills the righteous with joy, the wicked with alarm. Meanwhile I see the ministers of the abyss, who with horrid look, with the glory of saints and martyrs, make game of the Cæsars and the Alexanders, telling them how conquest over self differs from conquest of the world. I see Fame with her crowns and her palms under foot, tossed aside amidst the wheels of her chariots. Finally, I see the great sentence issuing from the mouth of the Son of God. I see it in the form of two rays, one of salvation, and the other of damnation; and as I trace them flying downward, I perceive their fury impinge upon the elemental frame, and with tremendous thunderings dissipate and dissolve it. I see the lights of Paradise, and the furnaces of the abyss, dividing the darkness, which has fallen upon the face of the air; so that the thought, which represents to my imagination the destruction of the last day, says to me, If we tremble and are afraid in contemplating the work of Buonarrotti, how shall we tremble and be afraid, when we shall behold ourselves judged by him, who ought to judge us!" The last judgment, impossible as it seems to be conceived by mortal thought, has at least met with two masters, who have placed it sensibly before us, and in some measure brought it down to the level of our imaginations.

After all, we see this sublime work in the most disadvantageous manner: it is now more than two centuries and a half since it was completed, and the action of damp united with the smoke from the incense and the candles has thrown a great obscurity over the whole. In the present age we may perhaps be allowed to regret, that the great masters painted so much in fresco. M. Angelo was accustomed to say, that painting in oils was an occupation for women: so convinced was he of the greater difficulty and merit of executing works in fresco. He confirmed this observation by his practice; and though he unquestionably amused himself occasionally with oils, it is asserted upon the best authority, that there is not one undisputed