pictures, still in existence, which have the unmistakable impress of Leonardo's influence, testify to the thorough training of the various pupils who worked under his guidance.

prototype of Leonardo's academy, we find some detailed information in Vasari's life of the sculptor Torrigiano, the well-known rival of Michelangelo, who, in later years, came to England, where he executed several excellent works.

In the life of this artist the biographer relates that:

Lorenzo il Magnifico allowed him to visit his want-garden, which was on the Piazza di San Marco, and which had been decorated profusely with figures from the antique and with examples of the best sculptors. In the loggie, the walks, and in all the buildings there were the noblest statues in marble, admirable works of the of art by the most prominent masters of Italy ancients, with pictures and other productions and other countries. All the treasures, in addition to being a noble ornament to the garden, were also a school or academy Vasari uses here this very word for the young painters and sculptors, as well as for all others devoted to the art of design, but more particularly for the young nobles, seeing that Lorenzo il Magnifico held the firm conare in all things capable of attaining perfecviction that those who are born of noble race tion more easily than, for the most part, are men of lower extraction, in whom we do not commonly find that quickness of perfection, nor that elevation of genius, which is so often perceptible in those of noble blood.*

About the lives of most of them we know next to nothing. Their names have been preserved to us, and, in the case of some of them, also a few dates. Nor do Leonardo's own writings supply the ing information. They abound in expositions of scientific matter, but are scant in their references to the occurrences of daily life and to the persons who constantly surrounded him. Art historians of a later date have ventured upon speculations about the school of Leonardo da Vinci, to which the great artist had given the name of an "accademia," evidently with the object of marking it out as a school of a higher order than the ordinary teaching of the painters of the day. But this very name "accademia " is not to be met with among his writings, which cover about five thousand closely written pages, and we have no other authentic information at hand to confirm the statement that his school really bore this name than the fact that the inscription "Leonardi Vincii Accademia" is to be found inside six shields of twisted ornaments, executed in woodcut, of which the original blocks have been preserved to us in the department of prints in the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris. Impressions of these knots of varying design may be supposed to have served for the covers of the portfolios in the painter's school.

At the time of Lorenzo il Magnifico there had been founded, at Florence, an accademia by several literary men, who thus intended to revive antique institutions of the time of Plato. Another accademia of similar tendencies had been founded in Rome at about the same time, but Leonardo da Vinci, was, it appears, the first who gave to a school of painters this classical name, which, at a much later date, has been accepted by all prominent similar institutions and associations of artists.

It is quite possible that Leonardo, in choosing the name of academy for his own school, intended to characterize it as an institution in which scientific principles were to be the guiding rules of study. Lorenzo il Magnifico, in whose house at Florence the Platonic academy of literary men held its meetings, had also founded in his garden a museum with which an art school was connected. About this, which appears to me to have been a

After some more observations on this subject Vasari continues:

Men of genius were always protected by Lorenzo il Magnifico, and more especially did he favor such of the nobles as he perceived to have an inclination for the study of art. It is, therefore, no matter for astonishment that masters should have proceeded from this school some of whom have awakened the surprise as well as admiration of the world. And not only did Lorenzo provide the means of instruction, but also the means of support studies without such aid. for all who were too poor to pursue their Nay, he further supplied them with proper clothing, and even bestowed considerable presents on any one among them who had distinguished himself from his fellows by some well-executed design. All which so encouraged the young students of our arts that, striving to emulate one another, many of them became excellent masters.

The guardian and head of these young men was, at that time, the Florentine sculptor Bertoldo, an old and experienced master, who had been a disciple of Donatello. From him the students received instruction, while he also had charge of all the treasures contained in the garden, with the numerous designs, drawings, cartoons, and models collected there by the hand of Donatello, Brunelleschi, Masaccio, Paolo Uccello, Fra Giovanni Angelico, Fra Filippo, and other masters, native and foreign.

Vol. iv., p. 256 ƒ.

In concluding Vasari remarks:

And, indeed, these arts can only be acquired by means of long-continued study in drawing, with frequent and careful imitation or copying of works by good masters. He who is not supplied with these facilities to progress, however powerfully aided by natural dispositions, can never attain perfection till a large portion of his life is spent.*

Neither the school in the garden of the Medici nor the accademia of Leonardo da Vinci survived their founders. They had, it appears, little in common with the old guilds, the spirit of which was scarcely in harmony with these new institutions. As long as these schools existed they depended on the strong will and on the personal influence of the men who had started them. They were well organized, and in every respect they must have had great chances of becoming permanent institutions, but evidently they were not in keeping with the spirit of the guilds, and this was sufficient to bring about their downfall. J. PAUL RICHTER.

• P. 258.

From The Cornhill Magazine.
THE RUSSIANS AT HOME.

THE love of travel is an instinct probably more strongly developed in Englishmen than in any other nation, and it seems, therefore, the more strange how comparatively few have cared to visit Russia, and even these few for the most part within recent years. At a time when the rigor of a more than ordinary severe famine is throwing a lurid light upon the darker side of the national life, it seems opportune to try to lift the veil with a somewhat kinder hand, and to show what there is that is pleasing or promising in the Russian people.

purchases, with much gesticulation and frequent reference to a pocket dictionary. I had all the usual current home ideas or prejudices about the people and country, such as that the Russian character is "essentially sad and silent, rendered so owing to long years of oppression;" that their own language is so difficult that they find all other languages comparatively easy, and so can speak them fluently; and, finally, that they were a partially civilized, semi-Asiatic people, much behind the ordinary West-country European. To take just these three points, I may say that a residence in the country has at least modified such ideas. I found them chatty, companionable, and cheerful, always ready to amuse and to be amused, and singularly hospitable. It is quite the exception to meet with a fluent linguist (I do not speak now of the highest class, nor of the Poles, who are often singularly gifted in this way); many knew a little French or German, and were often ready to assume a much deeper knowledge than they possessed; they spoke it, indeed, much as would the average middle-class Englishman, i.e., badly. One rarely meets a Russian who knows English, and still more rarely one who can speak it, except in St. Petersburg or Moscow. As to the last point, that they are semi-barbarous, one should remember that there are so many varieties of type in this huge empire that it is not fair to judge the whole nation by what one may find to be the case in one part of the country. Certain peculiarities of manner, habit, or dress, to which I will refer hereafter, do incline one at times, perhaps unfairly, to take this view. I think the Russian middle and the rising generation of the peasant class are fairly educated, if allowance be made for the living under an autocratic government rigidly prohib iting all freedom of discussion and all liberty of the press.

One of the now, happily, annually in- There has lately appeared in a magazine creasing band of officers, military and a powerful article on the " Demoralization civil, who have recently availed them- of Russia." It is the most stupendous selves of the facilities offered by govern- indictment of a whole nation, its govern ment to learn the language, I have often ment, and its institutions that I have ever been asked to write a short sketch of the read. Its bitterness is perhaps partially nine or ten months which I passed-explained by the fact that the writer is, I everywhere most pleasantly in widely am told, a member of that great, unique, distant parts of the dominions of the Great White Czar.

I went to Russia knowing nothing of the people or the country, and with just sufficient knowledge of the language to enable me to ask my way about and to make ordinary necessary inquiries and

and persecuted race, with all their wonderful history and marvellous fidelity to their traditions and faith, stretching back to a past beside which the history of ancient Greece shrinks into insignificance; and there can be no doubt that the "chosen people "— with whom I am much in sym

and schools, doctors, merchants, etc. the class, in fact, among which the ordinary Englishman finds himself cast in his attempt to live in a family and learn the

pathy have suffered, and are suffering deeply from the Russians. It was a distinct relief to me after reading that article to reflect that I had just returned from a ten months' residence in the country (dur-language) which strike an Englishman as ing which time I had travelled nearly seven thousand miles by river, land, or sea, from one end of European Russia to the other, from Warsaw to the Crimea, the southern provinces round the Sea of Azov, through the Caucasus to Tiflis and Baku, and throughout the whole length of the Volga, from Astrakhan to NijniNovgorod, stopping en route at Tzaritzin, Saratov, Samara, Simbirsk, and Kazan, to Moscow, Kharkov, and Kiev in central Russia), and that I had met with nothing justifying so overwhelming and so bitter an attack. And yet my teachers and travelling companions were sometimes Jews, sometimes Poles, and sometimes Russians, and I lived in eight different families, my object being not merely to try to learn the very rich and beautiful language, but also to see as much of the different classes of people and of the country as possible. This may not have been the best way to study the language with a view to passing an examination, but it undoubtedly enabled me to see more of this great and interesting land and nation (with its many varieties of type) than I could have done otherwise, and it greatly enhanced the pleasure of my visit.

being "not nice," and form to a great extent the ground on which we occasion. ally vote them as barbarous. Small matters, to which it would be a pity to attach undue importance, arrest one's attention, such as frequently eating with their knives as we use a fork; no salt-spoons either in hotels or private houses, the aforesaid knife being employed to help oneself to salt, sometimes stretching half the length of a table to get at it instead of asking that it should be passed; simplifying the carving of a fowl, for instance, by a liberal use of the fingers; using the same knife and fork for various courses, and helping oneself to vegetables, etc., by sticking one's fork into the dish and extracting what is required; and many other little points similar in kind. One common practice should be mentioned: the men, and sometimes the ladies, carry about a little pocket-comb, which is used in the most unconcerned way, anywhere, in a train, at a railway station, or on entering a room, without any apology. The hair is often worn by the men without any parting, sometimes rather long, and brushed or combed back or straight up, which gives them rather a wild appearance. These are some of the peculiarities of manner and ways which, however small, somewhat jar on an Englishman.

I found them a pleasant, hospitable, and social people, always ready to fraternize and help me in every way in their power. I was told sometimes by Englishmen in the country that they were a very childish people; in the ease with which they are willing to be amused this may be so, and also, perhaps, in a certain disregard of conventional appearances. I remember once seeing a Russian general and a colonel and be it noted that officers invariably wear uniforms and swords-sit ting on the ledge of a shop window in the principal street of one of the largest cities of the empire, discussing some matter with great animation, and wholly unaware of any incongruity in their position and of my somewhat bewildered stare. Imagine such a scene in Regent Street! My tutor, however, assured me it was nothing out of the ordinary, and laughed at my surprise. One certainly meets with little ways and usages common amongst the ordinary great middle class (if I may so call the class from which spring the immense majority of officers of the army, ordinary tchinovnicks or officials, students, lawyers, professors of the universities

It is generally well known that the Rus sians live more indoors than we do, and are very partial to closed windows. The houses are kept surprisingly warm all through the long, severe winter by stoves built usually into the wall, and running from floor to ceiling, and often some of the windows are never opened till the summer comes round again! One or more of these windows generally has a single pane which opens or revolves, and this may be occasionally opened for a few minutes, perhaps once a day. What exercise Russians take is usually more of a gentle promenade than anything else; they will stroll up and down the principal street in the town, or in some small public square or garden, for hours, quite contentedly. Thus, in spite of the unique opportunity for skating which their long winter gives them, it is rare to find any Russian who can skate well. If you do find two or three good skaters, you will probably learn on inquiry that they are Englishmen or Germans! I was, however,

somewhat surprised to find most of the | the policy of the present reign (and to a Englishmen who are in the country on duty (as I was, for the purpose of learning the language) anything but pleased or contented with the life they were obliged to lead. I remember well on one occasion an athletic young Saxon shrugging his shoulders and exclaiming, as some figure went by muffled up in a great fur coat of which the collar turned up as high as the top of the head, without using the sleeves, but holding the garment on as one might a shawl or blanket, with the hands very carefully folded inside," Look at that now! I think I could "(pulling himself up and clenching his fist) bowl over two or three of these fellows myself." Incidentally it may be remarked that this way of wearing a great-coat, even in summer, is almost universal, i.e., without using the sleeves; so much so, that it is frequently so worn in the army by all ranks in uniform, and there is a special word in the language which designates this peculiar way of wearing a coat. I tried so to wear it once or twice; but it really is troublesome to keep on, and I am at a loss to understand how a custom neither convenient nor becoming can have become so general as to be distinctly national.

I will first note the points about the Russians, their ways and customs, which I did not like, and then touch on those which struck me favorably. First, then, their religion and priests. The Russian priest remains to-day, in spite of a great improvement in his position of late years, what I am told he has always been the poorest specimen of his kind to be found anywhere. It is a very remarkable thing that a nation superstitiously reverent in many ways should have such a poor standard of clergy. To say that they are illpaid is not a sufficient explanation, for this is true often of the Roman Catholic clergy, who none the less command respect. But the average Russian priest is tolerated as a necessity, as a necessary evil. A more unkempt, untidy, slovenly set of men it would be hard to find anywhere. Russians often told me that they were ill-read, and generally untrustworthy. Certainly, in no family where I lived did any priest ever set his foot as a visitor or guest, nor was he desired. They form a distinct caste, and as a rule only the children of the priest can become priests. They wear their hair long, and though I have seen some fine patriarchal-looking men amongst them, such were in a very small minority.

Then as to the religion. It is part of

certain extent it is also traditional) to multiply churches in every Russian town. When a new town is captured by the Russians, the first thing they do is to partly fortify it and build one or more churches. The churches are often open all day-as they should be everywhere and‍ there are generally some officials or alms-collectors somewhere within the building. If you hear a little louder talking going on than usual, it is probably some two or three members of the order gossiping together, or talking over the railing which surrounds the platform where the reading or chanting is done to some member of the congregation about matters entirely disconnected, judging by appearances, with the service, and, indeed, sometimes while some other reader, or preacher, or chanter, is actually taking part in the service. They move about and talk to each other without the smallest regard to the fact that another priest is officiating at the time not two yards from where they may be standing. I once saw a priest combing his long hair with his pocket-comb on one side of the railed-in platform, while on the other side the choir were singing! The churches are full of pictures inside, and sometimes outside, often beautifully painted; images and candles in every direction, and the amount of apparently aimless kissing, bowing, crossing, prostrations, etc., is somewhat bewildering. No member of the royal family travels in Russia without ostentatiously visiting the principal church at each town for a special service. He or she may be known to be not a very religiously disposed person, yet all such services are set forth unctuously and at length in telegrams, not merely in the local journals, but in all the newspapers throughout the empire. It would appear to be part of the policy of the present reign, a sort of attempt to kindle enthusiasm and fanaticism in and for the so-called "orthodox" faith, and to trade on the ignorant superstition of the peasant class, teaching them to despise those who hold any other faith or creed. From this point of view they do well to maintain an ignorant and subservient priesthood.

Thus we find the singular anomaly of a government apparently full of zeal (officially) for the propagation of one form of faith among its subjects, and for the suppression of all other forms, while the individual members of that government are notoriously indifferent to religion; and the people in the main, except the peasantry, no less so. And again, there exists in