are well calculated to give the reader a high idea of the softness, brilliancy, and finish, which, perhaps, render Gerard Dow the brightest ornament of the Flemish school.

This celebrated painter was born at Leyden, in the year 1613, and from his earliest years displayed such a love of drawing, that his father placed him under the engraver Bartholomew Dolendo. He afterwards received instruction from Peter Couwhorn, a painter in glass, and in a short time made such progress that he was soon able to assist his father, who followed the occupation of a glazier. But taking a dislike to his new profession, from the danger attached to painting the lofty church-windows, in his fifteenth year he became a scholar of the famous Rembrandt. It was doubtless from this great master that Gerard Dow acquired his unrivalled management of light and shade; but in most other respects, no styles could be more opposite than that of these two artists. The former was distinguished by the marvellous art and freedom, the rapid boldness with which, too often neglecting the minor but highly important details, he struck out and sketched his subject; the latter emulating Rembrandt in the wonderful effects of his chiaro-scuro, displayed a delicacy of touch, a carefulness of design, a softness and purity of colouring, which, added to his careful treatment of the slightest minutiæ, place him almost alone amongst his country

men.

From this difference of character and treatment, it may readily be imagined that Gerard Dow gave the preference to Rembrandt's early pictures, before success and rapidity had degenerated, as soothe to say was sometimes the case in his later works, into a negligent boldness, and with which his own distinguishing qualities had little sympathy.

Although Gerard Dow's pictures, and consequently his figures, are almost without exception on a small scale, yet he was by no means insensible to the advantages of drawing in larger proportions. One of his scholars, Carl Moor, who left us his testimony that he was in the habit of reducing his figures from larger designs, and that he constantly impressed upon the minds of his pupils the necessity of studying nature, affirming that nothing was more injurious than for an artist to devote himself exclusively to painting small figures, as it must inevitably lead to incorrectness and negligence. In him, however, truth and fidelity to nature were so conspicuous that he has avoided the errors into which a less skilful artist would inevitably have fallen. There is nothing petty in his manner; on the contrary, his works are excellent models of cabinet pieces, for so they may justly be called. It is but very rarely that naked figures occur in them; the few pieces, however, which exist, display also his great skill in this branch of the art.

As was naturally to be expected the pre-eminent merits of Gerard Dow soon attracted the admiration of his brother artists and the public. Immense sums were

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given for the works, and one patron, Mr. Spiering, gave him the sum of one hundred guilders a year, on condition of receiving the first offer of purchasing his pictures, at such prices as the artist himself might choose to fix. He used to put down the number of hours during which he was engaged on each work, and these were paid at the rate of a pound Flemish per hour. That the sums thus paid must have been considerable, will be evident to any who have had an opportunity of admiring the minute care which Gerard Dow bestowed upon his productions. Of this his biographer, Sandrart, relates a remarkable instance on his visit to the artist's study, in company with Peter van Laar. His guests, after admiring the beauty of a picture on which he was engaged, were particularly struck by a little broom, which, as usual, was exquisitely finished. Dow informed them that he had devoted three days to this apparently inconsiderable object. This and similar anecdotes have been repeated by most of his biographers; however, they must hardly be taken literally, as Carl Moor, this scholar before-mentioned, and who must have had good opportunities of observing the method and manner of his master, assures us that he by no means painted so slowly as is commonly supposed, and in fact the number of his works in some measure contradicts the generally received opinion. He probably belonged to those artists who, by patient and judicious employment of their time, effect what seems extraordinary and wonderful to men less happily gifted.

Gerard Dow was likewise a painter of portraits; but it is recorded, and highly probable, that his careful finish tried the patience of his sitters somewhat severely. According to Sandrart, he had taken five days to finish one of the hands in the portrait of Mrs. Spiering, the lady sitting for him the whole of the time. But such a sacrifice could hardly be expected except in a family so enthusiastically his admirers, and thus fortunately he was enabled to devote his time to these gems of art, which will always remain equally the admiration of the painter, the connoisseur and the public.

Notwithstanding the great pains bestowed upon his pictures, they convey no idea. of labour or stiffness, their softness and delicacy charm the spectator, and so great was his knowledge of colours, and so perfect his skill in mixing them, that they retain their original lustre to the present day; and it has been remarked that they display the same beautiful effect at whatever distance they may be viewed. One of his most celebrated pictures, that of the Doctor attending the sick Woman, exists in three or four copies, which are executed with such skill that it is difficult to decide which is the original. Turin possesses several of his best works, some exist at Florence, and several are to be found in different galleries, private and public.

Gerard Dow died, according to some of his biographers, in the year 1674; others, leaving the year unnamed, fix the period of his death about the year 1680. He passed the last years of his life in affluence, and left behind him several scholars

who occupy a distinguished rank in the Flemish School. Among the most eminent of these may be named Godfrey Schalken, Francis Mieris, John Peter Slingelandt, and Hermann Swanefeld.

MOGADO R.

or

THE city of Mogador was founded by Sultan Muly Mohammed in 1760, and is the nearest port to Morocco, from which it is about forty-eight leagues distant; Saffi, Asfi, which still enjoys the title of capital of the province, and which is ten leagues nearer to the city of Morocco, having been abandoned as a port from its insecurity, being exposed to the westerly winds. Mogador contains about twelve thousand inhabitants, of whom one thousand three hundred are Jews, and only fifteen or twenty Europeans. The revenue of the customs, previous to the recent attack by the French, was estimated at forty thousand pounds sterling. The town is called Suera by the Mussulmen, the name Mogador being confined to the island; this latter name was given in honour of a saint called Sidi Mogodul, whose tomb, anterior to the foundation of the town, is to be seen on the coast opposite Suera. The walls and ramparts, against which the sea breaks with great violence, were built with great skill and labour by European engineers, among whom was a Frenchman of the name of Cornut. Workmen were also brought from Europe, and some Frenchmen who had been made slaves, were employed on the work. Cornut served the Sultan of Morocco for ten years, but returned to France in a state of poverty. Muly Mohamined transferred thither the inhabitants of Agadir, (Santa Cruz,) and obliged the richest Moors in the neighbouring provinces to colonize here. Every facility for trading and for introducing Europeans to settle there was promised, and the town soon enjoyed a population of twenty-five thousand persons. But, with a short-sighted want of faith, the severe duties and restrictions soon drove away the greater part of the merchants, and the population was reduced to one half. The situation of Mogador has gained for it the name of Suera, or the picture. The minarets and the ramparts bristling with cannon, form, at a distance, a brilliant and imposing view. The island, on the east side of which the vessels are moored in the port, is sheltered from the west and north winds, but exposed to the south-western gales, which frequently cause severe damage. Mogador, until the appearance of the French squadron, had never been bombarded by a European force, although it has been twice besieged on the land side, in the course of civil wars. In its most flourishing times