Among those who have contributed to
this invaluable assemblage, are Poussin, Carlo Dolci, Guido, Claude
Lorraine, Salvator Rosa, Murillo, Reubens, Teniers, and Reynolds.
The collection was principally formed by John, the third duke, and
Charles, his successor, who were munificent patrons of the arts. All
the modern pictures, of which there are a considerable number, were
collected by the former duke.

The last general repairs of Belvoir Castle are stated to have cost the
noble owner upwards of 60,000L. The structure has been more than once
extensively injured by fire. A conflagration there in October, 1816,
consumed a large portion of the ancient part of the castle, and
several of the pictures. Among them was Sir Joshua Reynolds's
_Nativity_, a composition of thirteen figures, and in dimensions 12
feet by 18. This noble picture was purchased by the late Duke of
Rutland for 1,200 guineas.

* * * * *

THE PAINTER'S LAST PASSION.

A hectic hue is on my feverish cheek,
And slowly throbs my pulse--but it will cease;
And cease, too, will the visions instinct,
Impalpable, and deep, that haunt my soul!
Death, who can dash the chalice from the lips
Of Pleasure's votary, and hush the lyre
While poetry is breathing on its strings;
Death, who can quench the spirit which portrays
Beauty's resemblance on the marble urn,
Will steep my feelings in oblivion's gloom,
Ere wintry winds disperse the sunny leaves
That cluster round the bosom of the rose.
But I have communed with enchanting shapes,
And felt the silver gush of many a song
Amid the air, until my spirit seem'd
Instinct with glorious draughts of paradise!
Mine eyes have scarcely closed their burning lids
For many a night; and I have watch'd the stars
That smiled upon me from the brow of heaven,
Like deep blue orbs familiar to my youth;
But now abstraction clouds me, and the fire--
Ambition's fire--it can be nothing less--
Deserts its lonely shrine; but I must give
The last bright touch to this bewitching form,
This pictured rainbow of my solitude!
I have invested her with loveliness
More pure than beings of the earth assume,
And Memory calls her beauteous image back
From the forgotten things of distant years,
Warm, eloquent, and holy, as the balm
Of flow'rs impearl'd with dew, which summer skies
Diffuse around--I mark the marble brow
Of polish'd symmetry, the eyes