seldom courted elegance, but always when he did, with enviable success. Even now, though they are nearly in a state of evanescence, the Three Nymphs in the Garden Scene of St. Michele del Bosco, seem moulded by the hand, and inspired by the breath, of Love.-But Lodovico sometimes indulged, and succeeded, in tones austere, unmixed, and hardy: such is the flagellation of Christ in the church of St. John the Baptist, of which the tremendous depths of flesh tints contrasts with the stern blue of the wide extended sky, and less conveys than dashes its terrors on the astonished sense.

"Agostino Caracci, with a singular modesty which prompted him rather to propagate the fame of others by his graver, than by steady exertion to rely on his own power for perpetuity of fame, combined, with some learning, a cultivated taste, correctness, and, sometimes, elegance of form, and a Corregiesque colour, especially in fresco. His most celebrated work, in oil, is the Communion of St. Jerom, formerly at the Certosa, now with its rival picture on the same subject, by Domenichino, among the spoils of the Louvre.

"Annibal Caracci, superior to his cousin and his brother, in point of execution and academic prowess, was inferior to either in taste and sensibility and judgment. Of this, the best proof that can be adduced, is his master work, that on which rests his fame, the Farnese Gallery; a work, whose uniform vigour of execution nothing can equal but its imbecility and incongruity of expression. The artist may admire the splendour, the exuberance, the concentration of powers, displayed by Annibal Caracci; but the man of sense must lament their misapplication in the Farnese Gallery."

KATHARINE OF ARRAGON.

THIS, the most unfortunate, and perhaps the most innocent of Henry's wives, was the fourth daughter of Ferdinand, King of Arragon, and of Isabella, in her own right, Queen of Castille and Leon; so celebrated under the names of Ferdinand and Isabella, catholic sovereigns of Spain. Many circumstances had concurred to unite Henry the Seventh of England in a strict alliance with Ferdinand, whose vigorous policy, always attended with success, had rendered him the most considerable monarch in Europe. There was a remarkable similarity of character between the two kings; both were full of craft, intrigue, and design; and though a resemblance of this nature be in general a slender foundation for confidence and friendship, such was the distant situations of Henry and Ferdinand, and so little did they clash in politics, that no jealousy had, on any occasion, ever subsisted between them. The King of England was anxious to complete a marriage which had been seven years in agitation between Arthur, his eldest son, and the Infanta Katharine; and the union took place when the Prince of Wales was in his sixteenth, and the Princess in her eighteenth year. The portion given with Katharine, was 200,000 ducats--the greatest that had been given for many ages with any princess, and her jointure was the third part of the principality of Wales, the dukedom of Cornwall, and of the earldom of Chester; and in case she should live to be queen of England, her jointure was left indefinite :-but it was agreed that it should be

as great as that of any former queen. But the marriage proved, in the issue, unprosperous. The young prince, a few months after, sickened and died, much regretted by the nation. Henry the Seventh, desirous of continuing his alliance with Spain, and extremely unwilling to restore Katharine's dowry, obliged his second son, Henry, whom he created Prince of Wales, to contract himself to the widow of his brother. The Pope's dispensation was considered sufficient to remove all objections, and to obviate the murmurs of the people, who might dislike a marriage in itself so disputable, a dispensation was obtained on the 26th of December, 1503, taking notice," that in the petition, lately presented to the Pope, by Henry and Katharine, it had been declared, that her former marriage with Arthur, Prince of Wales, had, perhaps, been consummated." This was, at the time so seriously believed, that Henry was not called Prince of Wales till some considerable time after his brother's death; nor was he created Prince, till every suspicion of her pregnancy had subsided. He, himself, made every opposition that could be expected from a youth of twelve years of age; but as the king persisted in his resolution, their second nuptials were at length effected; an event, which was afterwards attended with the most important consequences.

It must be recollected that Arthur was not yet sixteen, but this will not be considered a sufficient reason for presuming that the marriage was not consummated. The depositions of his attendants would appear to set the matter beyond all possibility of doubt.-One of them deposed, that during the night, the Prince called for drink, declaring, "that he was thirsty, for he had been in Spain, which was a hot country. It was even supposed, that his death was occasioned by his early marriage. Against these facts, if true, we have only the solemn denial of Katharine.