sides, we think that there exists, very generally, in this country, a disposition to assist young men in obtaining an education, if they really desire assistance. We have never known a young man of energy, talent, and perseverance, fail of obtaining an education, who honestly and industriously set himself about it. The education societies, though intended to benefit, exclusively, theological students, illustrate, nevertheless, the feelings of our citizens on this subject.

Again; the differences of rank and social condition are less in this than in any other country. A man more readily here, than elsewhere, receives the reward of his toils. If he have acquired knowledge, he is not obliged to ask admittance to the walks of more elevated rank; he, at once, if in other respects deserving, finds himself in the company of those of kindred studies with himself.

Hence the importance of the remark in the latter part of the third chapter. Men who desire knowledge, are by no means obliged to quit their ordinary walks of business in order to obtain it. We have known able political economists, chemists, mathematicians, astronomers, among men who were pursuing a daily and laborious avocation. Let no man say, I am a mechanic, a tradesman, and I cannot be learned. This is the language of the slothful man, who saith, "there is a lion in the way." If you are not learned, it is your own fault, and not the fault of your occupation. That very occupation will afford you time and means, if have but the energy and talent to improve them. AM. ED.]

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CHAPTER IV.

Artists rising from the lower to the higher Branches:-B. Cellini; Q. Matsys; Ibbetson; Kent; Towne; Kirby; Schiavoni; Hogarth; Sharp; Thew; Caslon. Late Learners:-Cromwell; Sir W. Jones; Cato the Censor; Alfred; Moliere; Sainte Palaye; Carter; Valerianus; Vondel; Pitot; Paucton; Ogilby. NOTE.

THERE is one mode, in which ingenious and aspiring workmen have sometimes raised themselves above the trade to which they were bred; of which we may give a few examples, as it does not imply any violent abandonment of their original occupation, but, on the contrary, arises, in some degree, naturally, out of pursuits into which it has led them. We allude to cases of the mere working mechanic elevating himself into an artist, in a department kindred to that of his first exertions; and cases of the artist himself making his way from a lower to a higher department of his art. Thus, in Italy especially, it has not been uncommon for working goldsmiths, or those of them at least who have been employed in copying designs in the metal, to carry the study of their profession so far as to attain proficiency in the art of design itself; and some individuals, thus educated, have become eminent painters or sculptors. BENVENUTO CELLINI is one instance, who, while serving an apprenticeship to a goldsmith, acquired a knowledge not only of chasing, but also of drawing, engraving, and statuary, and afterwards became one of the greatest sculptors of his age and several others might be mentioned. Workers in gold and silver, however, are not the only sort of smiths who have in this way attained to a proficiency in the fine arts. The old Dutch painter, QUINTIN MATSYS, was originally a blacksmith and farrier, on which account he is often called, the Blacksmith of Antwerp, the town where he

pursued this humble vocation. Having, when a young man, been attacked by a disorder, which left him too much debilitated to return to the heavier work of his trade, which was his only means of support, for himself and a widowed mother, he was forced to turn his attention to the fabrication of such light and ornamental articles as it was then fashionable to construct of wrought iron; and he obtained considerable reputation, in particular, by an enclosure and covering of this description, which he made for a well, in the neighborhood of the great church of Antwerp. He began, however, at length, to find even such work as this too laborious; and was in great difficulties as to what he should do, when the thought occurred to him, or rather to one of his friends, that, as he had shown considerable talent for the art of design, in many of the ornamental articles he had been in the habit of making, it might be worth his while to try what he could accomplish in a simple style of drawing: for example, in painting a few of those small pictures of saints, which were wont to be distributed by the religious orders of the city to the people, on occasion of certain of their solemn processions. The idea was adopted, and Matsys succeeded in his new attempt, to the admiration of every body.

From that time, painting became his profession, and he devoted himself to it with so much zeal and success as not only to acquire a great deal of reputation in his own day, but to leave several works which are still held in considerable estimation. Among these, is one at Windsor, The Misers,' which has been often engraved; and certainly deserves all the popularity that has so long been attached to it. It consists of two figures, eagerly employed in counting money. The extreme satisfaction in the countenances of each of these persons is most happily expressed; and this expression indicates a more genial feeling than belongs to the character of the Miser.' The probability is, that the picture represents two bankers, or usurers, of the painter's city; who derive that satisfaction from a contemplation of their richestheir gold, their bills, and their bonds-which the pos

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session of wealth is supposed to communicate in every situation. The accessories of the picture-the candlestick, the rolls of paper, the parrot-are delineated with a fidelity rarely excelled. At any rate, the work has excellence enough to be considered the chef-d'œuvre of the artist, and such as might fairly have won him the hand of his mistress-who is said to have accepted the painter," after having rejected the "blacksmith."

The late JULIUS CESAR IBBETSON was originally a ship-painter; but, by the cultivation of his talents, became so eminent a painter of landscapes, that Mr. West used to compare him to the Dutch Berghem, one of the greatest artists his country has produced in that department. WILLIAM KENT, another English artist, who practised both history and portrait painting, in the earlier part of the last century, but is better known for his architectural designs, and the graceful and picturesque style of ornamental gardening which he was the first to introduce in England-had acquired the rudiments of his art while serving his apprenticeship to a coach-painter. FRANCIS TOWNE, a landscape painter of great taste and unrivalled industry, who acquired a handsome fortune in the exercise of that art, but principally as a teacher of drawing, commenced his career under similar auspices. JOHN JOSHUA KIRBY, who, about the middle of the last century, distinguished himself by a series of drawings of the monumental and other antiquities of the county of Suffolk, and was elected a member both of the Royal and Antiquarian Societies, was originally a house-painter. So was the celebrated Italian painter, SCHIAVONE, whose parents were so poor, that although he early showed a propensity for the art in which he afterwards so eminently excelled, they were unable to afford him any better initiation into it; but who, even in this humble situation, cultivated his talents with so much success, that he recommended himself, by his performances, to the notice of the great Titian, and was employed by him to paint the ceilings of the Library of St. Mark.

The famous HOGARTH acquired his knowledge of drawing, while serving his apprenticeship to an engraving

silversmith; and commenced his professional career by engraving coats of arms and shop-bills. The late WILLIAM SHARP, whose eccentricities are so well known, but who was certainly also one of the ablest engravers England ever produced, was educated only to the subordinate branch of the profession, called bright engraving, or that which is occupied with such articles as dog-collars and door-plates. ROBERT THEW, another English engraver of eminence, originally employed himself merely on visiting cards and shop-bills. Finally, to omit other instances for the present, WILLIAM CASLON, the celebrated typefounder, began life only as an engraver of the ornaments on gun-barrels; from which he proceeded, in the first instance, to attempt cutting letters for the bookbinders. Some of his performances in this line having, we are told, been accidentally seen by Mr. Bowyer, the printer, that gentleman sought him out; and, after forming an acquaintance with him, took him one day to a foundery in Bartholomew Close, when, after having shown him something of the nature of the business, he asked him if he thought he could now undertake to cut types himself. Caslon requested a day to consider the matter; and then answered that he thought he could. Upon this, Mr. Bowyer and two of his friends advanced him a small capital; and with no other preparation, he set up in his new business. In this he speedily acquired such reputation, that instead of the English printers importing their types any longer from Holland, as had before that time been the custom to a very considerable extent, those cast by him were frequently exported to the Continent.

The great disadvantage which had to be surmounted by some of the individuals we have just mentioned, and others similarly situated, was the time they had lost before commencing the pursuit to which they eventually dedicated themselves. This circumstance involved the necessity of acquiring an acquaintance, sometimes, even with the most elementary principles of their art, at a period of life when their habits were already formed, and a certain degree of aversion contracted for what we may