has written on the fly-leaf of the
MS., "I would not wish to hurt the honest pride of any Italian; but the
works of a great genius are the property of all ages and all countries:
and I hope it will be recorded to future ages, that England possesses
the original MS. of one of the four greatest epic poems the world has
produced, and, beyond all doubt, the only one of the four now existing."
There is no date to this MS. The first printed edition of the
Gerusalemme is dated 1580.

There are other rare and valuable MSS. in this Museum, the most
remarkable of which are a Commentary in Latin on the epistle of St. Paul
to the Romans, by Cardinal Grimani. It is adorned with exquisite
miniature illustrations, painted by Don Giulio Clovio, called the
Michael Angelo of miniature painters. "The figures are about an inch in
height," says Mrs. Jameson, "equaling in vigor, grandeur, and
originality, the conceptions of Michael Angelo and of Raffaelle, who
were his cotemporaries and admirers." Also, a missal of the fifteenth
century, containing ninety-two miniatures by Lucas van Leyden and his
scholars, executed in a truly Dutch style, just the reverse of those of
Clovio, except in point of elaborate finishing.

GEORGE MORLAND.

The life of this extraordinary genius is full of interest, and his
melancholy fall full of warning and instruction. He was the son of an
indifferent painter, whose principal business was in cleaning and
repairing, and dealing in ancient pictures. Morland showed an
extraordinary talent for painting almost in his infancy, and before he
was sixteen years old, his name was known far and wide by engravings
from his pictures. His father, who seems to have been a man of a low and
sordid disposition, had his son indented to him as an apprentice, for
seven years, in order to secure his services as long as possible, and he
constantly employed him in painting pictures and making drawings for
sale; and these were frequently of a broad character, as such commanded
the best prices, and found the most ready sale. Hence he acquired a
wonderful facility of pencil, but wholly neglected academic study. His
associates were the lowest of the low. On the expiration of his
indenture, he left his father's house, and the remainder of his life is
the history of genius degraded by intemperance and immorality, which
alternately excites our admiration at his great talents, our regrets at
the profligacy of his conduct, and our pity for