but at the instant the dogs were seizing it, he ordered his people severely to flog them. This stratagem, frequently repeated, caused the poor animals to decrease in flesh; for, on nourishment being offered them, they immediately ran away. When the sportsmen returned to Arlotto's house, they complained of the extreme leanness of their hounds: but the cunning curate assured them the dogs would never take their food. The hunters threw a loaf to the famished pack, and were greatly surprised to see the dogs, preferring starvation to the lash, precipitately escape. The ingenuity of Arlotto being well known, the huntsmen supposed he had been playing some trick, and immediately left his house. In this picture, the figures of which are of the natural size, Arlotto is observed seated near a table, consulting with his cook as to the means of further prosecuting his revenge. This subject, so little known, and so difficult to explain, is somewhat injurious to the celebrity of the picture, which, in point of execution, merits great applause. The drawing of the picture is bold; the colouring, varied, natural and vigorous. This is the only production of Giovanni di San Giovanni in the museum of the Louvre. His real name is Giovanni Mannozzi. THE FAMILY CONCERT. A FAMILY, selected from the lower class of society, after having indulged themselves in the pleasures of the table, form a concert, which may be considered somewhat inharmonious, if we may judge from the varied ages of the party, which consists of an old man and his wife, together with their children and grandchildren. The old man clanking the lid of his tankard-the son blowing his bag-pipe-the three children heartily exerting all their powers to produce the greatest possible noise-while the old man and woman's apparent nasal twang, blending with the young woman's shrill pipe, seems to have occasioned so grave an expression in the phiz of the poor melancholy bird, perched on the back of the old dame's wicker chair, as nought but such overpowering discord could effect. The figures of this picture are of the natural size. Incidents of this kind were infinitely better adapted to the genius of Jordaens than historical subjects, of which this painter represented nothing but compositions of a heavier design and more ignoble character. These defects, far from being misplaced in trivial scenes, render the expression more characteristic and natural. It must, however, be admitted, that Jordaens, in all his pictures, has manifested a vigour of effect, a truth of colouring, and an energy of pencil, which will ever place him in a most distinguished rank. Rubens entertained for Jordaens, who was his disciple, a peculiar esteem. He endeavoured to bring him forward, and confided to his genius, care, and ability, several of his productions; among others the Cartoons in distemper, destined for the king of Spain, to be worked in tapestry, of which Rubens had given the outline. Although the works of Jordaens were not so highly appreciated as those of Rubens, his success was far from inconsiderable. Naturally industrious, and painting with wonderful facility, he produced such a multitude of pictures, and his income became so large, that his fortune nearly equalled that of his master. His advancement in this respect was not a little promoted by the pleasantry and amiability of his disposition, which doubtless prolonged his life to an advanced period. He died at the age of eighty-four, in the year 1678. S GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS. o seldom do we find a ruler compelled to conquer other countries in spite of himself, that historians have agreed to consecrate the memory of this king of Sweden as being that of an honour to humanity. He was one of that brief list of monarchs who acted as though conscious of being appointed to govern by divine right. The majority of those holding that doctrine, seeming to believe that Providence had appointed them specially to do the devil's work to the greatest perfection. Gustavus was the sixth in descent from the founder of his dynasty, Gustavus Erickson, and was born on the 19th of December, 1594. A revolution similar in its effect upon the royal succession to that which placed the Orleans branch of the House of Bourbon on the throne of France, had taken place during the lifetime of the father of Gustavus, who was declared king, to the exclusion of the rightful heir. He died in October, 1611, and his son, then in his 17th year, was proclaimed his successor, Whatever ability the youthful sovereign possessed, was at once called into action to defeat a claim made to his dominions by Sigismund, the head of the elder branch of the house of Vasa. The time seemed most opportune for such a contest. A boy antagonist and a legitimate title, it seemed to need scarcely an effort to obtain the coveted prize, and Sigismund, who had been named king of Poland, invaded Sweden, and advanced upon the capital. He was supported in his attempt by the Czar of Russia: but the genius of Gustavus was sufficient for the emergency. Hastily summoning the forces of his small kingdom, he led them in person against the enemy, and a series of brilliant successes soon taught the invaders the policy of concession. Worn out and dispirited with constant defeat, they sued for peace, which was granted them on the mediation of England, upon terms the most honourable and advantageous to Sweden, the city of Riga, and the greater part of Livonia being ceded by the vanquished. It is hard to say what share the recollection of past glories may have had in prompting the future conduct of Gustavus, who, it is probable, felt that the power which nature and circumstances had combined to invest him with, ought to be constantly employed for the extirpation of evil. A Protestant whose creed influenced his conduct, it was hardly possible that he could look with calmness on the sufferings of his fellow-believers in Germany. The difference of nationality would seem more than compensated by the identity of religious faith; and in defending the cause of the oppressed, it might seem to him that he was earning a special right to the favours of Providence. More than a hundred years had now elapsed since Luther fixed his first challenge on the gates of Wittenburg, and the bitterness of polemical hatred worked up to intensity by the infliction of worldly injuries, had at length got beyond the boiling point in the reign of the Emperor Matthias, whose zeal for the advancement of religion induced the persecution of the Protestants, which ended in the thirty years war, thirty years' absolute reign of Satan upon earth, a period during which the fiends below were subjected to all the tortures of envy, and the locality of Pandemonium became a matter of dispute. Infants were born whose cries were drowned in the shouts of murder, and when they too had become parents in their turn, the soldier still reaped where the peasant had sowed, and human victims were still offered up on the altar of Jesus. Slaughter, even in these present times an honourable branch of human industry, had grown to be thought the only rightful occupation, until at length the labour market became overstocked, and the land was declared unable to pay the required wages. Had the contest been left to the ultimate decision of the native combatants, the swords of the German mercenaries would have convinced the world of the damnable nature of the doctrines of the reformation. Feeling themselves in danger of total annihilation, the Protestants invited the aid of the king of Sweden, and Gustavus at once took measures to comply with their requests; but, anxious to justify himself to the world, he published a declaration to all the courts of Europe, in which the hostility evinced towards him by Austria on all occasions, was put forth as the grounds of his proceedings. Partaking somewhat of the barbarism of the north, this absurd sense of propriety may be excused on the score of his partial knowledge of civilizaHe had not yet obtained the degree of enlightened knowledge, which would have taught him to vindicate the destruction of countless thousands, and the subversion of all God's gifts in the necessity of satisfying a worthless ambition, or avenging the wounded feelings of a harlot. Napoleon asked, as the necessary means for ensuring the gaining of battles, to be provided with men and rations; but the Swedish commander commenced his campaign with a mere handful of soldiers. He landed in Pomerania on the 24th of June, 1630, with only 8,000 troops: but made such use of this small force, that the Duke of Pomerania was compelled to surrender his capital, and place the whole country at the disposal of Gustavus. Here he was reinforced by the aid of six regiments of Scottish soldiers, under the command of the Duke of Hamilton; and, with the sum of 50,000 rix-dollars in his military chest, he advanced upon the Duchy of Mecklenburg. His want of arms and ammunition was supplied by the capture of the fortress of Wolgost, and if up to this moment his troops lacked any other incentive to fight than the prospect of pay and plunder, an argument was furnished them in the dreadful cruelties practised by the Imperialists upon the wretched inhabitants who fell into their hands. The advantages gained by the Swedes multiplied daily; and the emperor became so much alarmed as to make advantageous offers of peace-offering as an inducement the absolute cession of Pomerania. Gustavus replied that his cause was that of the oppressed Protestants, whose emancipation he came to effect, and that no prospects of personal advantage should tempt him to abandon them. This answer put an end to all ideas of negociation, and the king pushed his conquest until his flag waved triumphant in eighty fortified places, the whole of which he had taken in the space of eight months. The danger now menaced the very existence of the Empire, |