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THE

NORTH BRITISH REVIEW.

NOVEMBER, 1847, AND FEBRUARY, 1848.

VOLUME VIII.

AMERICAN EDITION, VOLUME III.

NEW YORK:

PUBLISHED BY LEONARD SCOTT & CO.,
79 FULTON STREET, CORNER OF GOLD.

1848.

TILUET

THE

NORTH

NORTH BRITISH REVIEW.

No. XV.

FOR NOVEMBER, 1847.

ART. I.-Sketches of the History of Chris.' in science, in metaphysics, Scotland has ever

tian Art. By LORD LINDSAY. 3 vols. London, 1847.

HERE is a book whose very title is attractive, and the name of whose author is a guarantee that it shall not be lacking in interest. We believe that the expectations thus raised will not be disappointed on perusal. We are not, indeed, prepared to give an unqualified approval to the theory according to which Lord Lindsay has arranged his work, and which, as developed in his pamphlet, "Progression by Antagonism," did, we confess, rather stimulate thought, and stir up objections, than command our assent. But we honour and hail his artistic enthusiasm; and we think that the public, owe to him no small tribute of thanks for having thrown so fresh a glow over a comparatively dark period of history-and for having raised, as from the dead, images so vivid and so attractive, of artists whose very names we fear have been hitherto unknown to a large number even of our better-informed countrymen. Amid the din of railways, and the strife of politics, and the jarring tones of theological controversy, it is indeed refreshing to turn aside for a while, and fanned by the breezes of a southern clime, to seek among marble palaces and cloistered aisles the traces of by-gone ages, and of master-spirits now passed into the solemn realities of eternity. In this utilitarian age, we think it no small matter of congratulation, when we find any one devoting himself to the pursuit of truth and beauty for their own sakes-and we think it matter of special congratulation to Scotland, that one of her sons should come forward as the expounder and historian of art. In philosophy,

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held a distinguished rank. But in art, in imagination, in short in the aesthetic (a word brought into use by the Germans, but for which we know not an adequate substitute), we fear she can claim but an humble place. To adopt the phraseology of Lord Lindsay's somewhat peculiar theory, her character is Medo-Persian rather than Hindoo-reason preponderates over imagination. And as her character has doubtless been mainly influenced by her religion, the reproach has been cast upon Presbyterianism, that it is a stiff, rigid, ungracefult hing-which may indeed syllogistically define truth, but which has no perception of beauty. The character of John Knox has indeed been fully cleared from the heavy charges of reckless iconoclasm with which his adversaries loaded it. Dr. M-Crie has amply vindicated the hero of the Scottish Reformation from any share in the destructive excesses to which it gave rise. Yet still, we fear that the reproach is not altogether causeless, and that it has arisen in no small degree from the undue jealousy with which many excellent men regard the imagination and i's works, because they have not clearly perceived the relation which it holds to religion and its truths. We may be allowed to digress for a moment, in order to say a word on this point; and in illustrating it, we would borrow somewhat from Lord Lindsay's classification, and view imagination as the connecting link between the perceptions of sense and the intuitions of spirit. We affirm then, that the imagination, when it maintains its own place-not enslaving the spirit and rendering it subject to sense, not deifying itself and usurping the higher functions of the spirit, but acting as the mediating link, raising the sense into commu

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