Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

in exuberance of ornament, but in a lighter and even more ephemeral style than is found elsewhere in Saracenic art, and therefore coming more under the head of decorative than of monumental art. Like their picturesque dresses and arms, this is fast disappearing before the dingy uniformity of Western utilitarian practices; and one must travel far indeed to escape the influence of Paris or of Birmingham. Still there no doubt remain, in almost every province of the empire, specimens a century or two old, which would display all that taste and beauty we so admire in other countries of the East and South. They have hitherto been overlooked, and perhaps, after all, do not deserve so much attention as the earlier Christian relics of the same localities.

CONCLUSION.

We have now run rapidly, and it must be confessed somewhat imperfectly, through all the varying forms which Mahometan art assumed during the 1000 years in which it flourished. We have seen it spreading itself in a belt across the Old World, from the shores of the Atlantic to those of the Bay of Bengal. We have seen it gathering inspiration and culling beauties from all those styles which preceded it in the countries where the Moslems settled, first employing native artists and adopting native forms, but gradually working up those forms into something new, something more beautiful and more consistent with their wants and purposes, rejecting whatever was incongruous, and extracting the beauties they required. Thus it was that the architecture of the Mahometans was at first Roman, Byzantine, Persian, or Indian, according to the country where it is found; but in all these countries we find it elaborated into a perfectly complete and original style, in the later examples of which it is only possible to detect the first elements by tracing it back through its preceding stages to the fountain head.

The people who effected all this can in no instance be called a great people; nor do their works ever reach true grandeur, nor even affect sublimity. Beauty was their aim; and gifted, as nearly all the nations of the Moslem world were, with an exquisite sensibility and the keenest perception of the beautiful, they attained to this by means of a degree of taste and refinement which seem innate in them. The grace and elegance of their architecture has never been surpassed. In the higher qualities of art, this style is certainly inferior to the Egyptian, Grecian, or Gothic style; but it surpasses them all in endless fertility of invention, as well as in the variety of ornament and detail which lend such a charm to every work they ever produced.

In this, and in many other respects, the style is worthy of far more attention than it has hitherto received; but more perhaps from what it is capable of suggesting, than from what it has actually accomplished. It never has been in the hands of a great people who could impart greatness to everything they did. The Mahometan nations were led by their exuberance of fancy, and impatience of all restraint,

to try every form, to attempt to fix every floating idea, and to take advantage of every suggestion either of nature or of art. Hence that boundless multiplicity of detail which Saracenic architecture presents, and the innumerable hints it affords for those who know that art is not confined to one or two forms, and is not to be confined by figures or by rules, but is everywhere and in everything for those who seek it honestly and for its own sake.

ALBEMARLE STREET, LONDON.
January, 1856.

MR. MURRAY'S

GENERAL LIST OF WORKS.

ABBOTT'S (REV. J.) Philip Musgrave; or, Memoirs of a Church of England Missionary in the North American Colonies. Post 8vo. 2s. 6d. ABERCROMBIE'S (JOHN, M.D.) Enquiries concerning the Intellectual Powers and the Investigation of Truth. Fourteenth Edition. Fcap. 8vo. 6s. 6d.

Philosophy of the Moral Feelings. Tenth

Edition. Fcap. Svo. 4s.

Pathological and Practical Researches on the Diseases of the Stomach, the Intestinal Canal, the Liver, and other Viscera of the Abdomen. Third Edition. Fcap. 8vo. 68.

ACLAND'S (REV. CHARLES) Popular Account of the Manners and Customs of India, Illustrated with Numerous Anecdotes. Post 8vo. 2s. 6d.

ADDISON'S WORKS. A New Edition, with a New Life and Notes. By Rev. WHITWELL ELWIN.. 4 Vols. 8vo. In Preparation. ESCHYLUS. (The Agamemnon and Choephora.) A New

Edition of the Text, with Notes, Critical, Explanatory, and Philological, for the Use of Students. By Rev. W. PEILE, D.D. Second Edition. 2 Vols. 8vo. 93. each.

ESOP'S FABLES. A New Version, chiefly from the Original Greek. By Rev. THOMAS JAMES, M.A. Illustrated with 100 Woodcuts, by JOHN TENNIEL. 21st Edition. Post Svo. 2s. 6d.

AGRICULTURAL (THE) JOURNAL. Published (half-yearly) by the Royal Agricultural Society of England. 8vo. 10s.

AMBER-WITCH (THE). The most interesting Trial for Witchcraft ever known. Edited by Dr. MEINHOLD. Translated from the German by LADY DUFF GORDON. Post Svo. 2s. 6d.

ARABIAN NIGHTS. A New Translation. By E. W. LANE. With Explanatory Notes. 600 Woodcuts. Medium 8vo. 21s.

ARISTOPHANES.

The Birds and the Clouds. Translated from SUVERN by W. R. HAMILTON, F.R.S. 2 Vols. Post 8vo. 9s. ARTHUR'S (LITTLE) History of England. By LADY CALLCOTT. Eighteenth Edition. Woodcuts. 18mo.

AUNT IDA'S Walks and Talks; a Story Book for Children. By

a LADY. Woodcuts. 16mo. 5s.

B

[blocks in formation]

ADMIRALTY PUBLICATIONS; Issued by direction of the Lords
Commissioners of the Admiralty:-

1. A MANUAL OF SCIENTIFIC ENQUIRY, for the Use of Officers in
H.M. Navy and Travellers in General. By Various Hands. Edited
by SIR J. F. HERSCHEL, Bart. Second Edition. Fost Svo. 108. 6d.

2. AIRY'S ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS MADE AT GREENWICH. 1836 to 1847. Royal 4to. 50s. each.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

APPENDIX TO THE ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS. 1836, 1837, 1842, Ss. each; and 1847, 14s. Royal 4to.

CONTENTS.

1836.-Bessel's Refraction Tables.

Tables for converting Errors of R.A. and N.P.D. into Errors
of Longitude and Ecliptic P.D.

1837.-Logarithms of Sines and Cosines to every Ten Seconds
of Time.

Table for converting Sidereal into Mean Solar Time.
1842. Catalogue of 1439 Stars.

1847.-Twelve Years' Catalogue of Stars.

MAGNETICAL AND METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVA-
TIONS. 1840 to 1847. Royal 4to. 50s. each.

ASTRONOMICAL, MAGNETICAL, AND METEOROLO-
GICAL OBSERVATIONS, 1848 to 1853. Royal 4to. 50s, each.
REDUCTION OF THE OBSERVATIONS OF PLANETS.
1750 to 1830. Royal 4to. 50s.
LUNAR OBSERVATIONS. 1750
to 1830. 2 Vols. Royal 4to. 50s. each.

8. BERNOULLI'S SEXCENTENARY TABLE. London, 1779. 4to. 58.
9. BESSEL'S AUXILIARY TABLES FOR HIS METHOD OF CLEAR-
ING LUNAR DISTANCES.

10.

8vo.

FUNDAMENTA ASTRONOMIE: Regiomonti,1818. Folio. 60s. 11. BIRD'S METHOD OF CONSTRUCTING MURAL QUADRANTS. London, 1768. 4to. 2s. 6d.

12.

METHOD OF DIVIDING ASTRONOMICAL INSTRU-
MENTS. London, 1767. 4to. 2s. 6d.

13. COOK, KING, AND BAYLY'S ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS.
London, 1782. 4to. 21s.

14. EIFFE'S ACCOUNT OF IMPROVEMENTS IN CHRONOMETERS. 4to. 28.

15. ENCKE'S BERLINER JAHRBUCH, for 1830. Berlin, 1828. 8vo. 98. 16. GROOMBRIDGE'S CATALOGUE OF CIRCUMPOLAR STARS.

4to. 10s.

17. HARRISON'S PRINCIPLES OF HIS TIME-KEEPER. PLATES. 1767. 4to. 58.

18. HUTTON'S TABLES OF THE PRODUCTS AND POWERS OF NUMBERS. 1781. Folio. 7s. 6d.

19. LAX'S TABLES FOR FINDING THE LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE. 1821. 8vo. 10s.

20. LUNAR OBSERVATIONS at GREENWICH. 1783 to 1819. Compared with the Tables, 1821. 4to. 7s. 6d.

21.

DISTANCES of the MOON'S CENTRE from the PLANETS. 1822, 38.; 1823, 48. 6d. 1824 to 1835, 8vo. 4s. each.

22. MASKELYNE'S ACCOUNT OF THE GOING OF HARRISON'S WATCH. 1767. 4to. 2s. 6d.

23. MAYER'S THEORIA LUNE JUXTA SYSTEMA NEWTONIANUM. 4to. 2s. 6d.

24.

25.

TABULE MOTUUM SOLIS ET LUNE. 1770. 4to. 5s.
ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS MADE AT GOT-
TINGEN, from 1756 to 1761. 1826. Folio. 7s. 6d.

1

PUBLISHED BY MR. MURRAY.

ADMIRALTY PUBLICATIONS-continued.

26. NAUTICAL ALMANACS, from 1767 to 1859. 8vo. 2s. 6d. each.

SELECTIONS FROM THE ADDITIONS up to 1812. 8vo. 5s. 1834-54. 8vo. 5s.

27.

28.

8vo. 2s. each.

29.

SUPPLEMENTS, 1828 to 1833, 1837 and 1838.
TABLE requisite to be used with the N.A.

1781. 8vo. 58.

30. POND'S ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS. 1811 to 1835. 4to. 21s.

each.

31. RAMSDEN'S ENGINE for DIVIDING MATHEMATICAL INSTRUMENTS. 4to. 58.

32.

ENGINE for DIVIDING STRAIGHT LINES.

4to. 5s.

33. SABINE'S PENDULUM EXPERIMENTS to DETERMINE THE FIGURE OF THE EARTH. 1825. 4to. 40s.

34. SHEPHERD'S TABLES for CORRECTING LUNAR DISTANCES. 1772.. Royal 4to. 21s.

35.

TABLES, GENERAL, of the MOON'S DISTANCE from the SUN, and 10 STARS. 1787. Folio. 58. 6d.

36. TAYLOR'S SEXAGESIMAL TABLE. 1780. 4to. 15s.

37.

TABLES OF LOGARITHMS. 4to. 37.

38. TIARK'S ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS for the LONGITUDE of MADEIRA. 1822. 4to. 5s.

39.

CHRONOMETRICAL OBSERVATIONS for DIFFERENCES of LONGITUDE between DOVER, PORTSMOUTH, and FALMOUTH. 1823. 4to. 58.

40. VENUS and JUPITER: OBSERVATIONS of, compared with the TABLES. London, 1822. 4to. 2s.

41. WALES' AND BAYLY'S ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS. 1777. 4to. 218.

42. WALES' REDUCTION OF ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATIONS MADE IN THE SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE. 1764-1771. 1788. 4to. 108. 6d.

AUSTIN'S (SARAH) Fragments from German Prose Writers. Translated, with Biographical Notes. Post Svo. 10s.

Translation of Ranke's Political and Ecclesiastical History of the Popes of Rome. Third Edition. 2 Vols. 8vo. 248. BABBAGE'S (CHARLES) Economy of Machinery and Manufactures. Fourth Edition. Fcap. 8vo. 6s.

Table of the Logarithms of the Natural Numbers from 1 to 108000. Fourth Edition. Royal 8vo. 6s.

98. 6d.

Ninth Bridgewater Treatise. Second Edition. 8vo.

Reflections on the Decline of Science in England,

and on some of its Causes. 4to. 158.

Exposition of 1851; or, Views of the Industry, the Science, and the Government of England. Second Edition. 8vo. 78. 6d.

BANKES' (RIGHT HON. G.) STORY OF CORFE CASTLE, with documents relating to the Time of the Civil Wars, &c. Woodcuts. Post 8vo. 10s. 6d.

BASSOMPIERRE'S Memoirs of his Embassy to the Court of England in 1626. Translated, with Notes. Svo. 9s. 6d.

B 2

« ZurückWeiter »