its master-pieces. What wonder is it, then, that the success of her
_Sacred and Legendary Art_, confined as the two volumes necessarily were
to legends of angels and archangels, evangelists and apostles, the
Fathers, the Magdalene, the patron saints, the virgin patronesses, the
martyrs, bishops and hermits, and the patron saints of christendom,
should have led Mrs. Jameson to continue her labours? The first part of
such continuation is now before us, under the title of _Legends of the
Monastic Orders_: and most fitting it is that the three great divisions
of the regular ecclesiastics should be thus commemorated, since of them
Mrs. Jameson aptly remarks, that while each had a distinct vocation,
there was one vocation common to all:--"The Benedictine Monks instituted
schools of learning; the Augustines built noble cathedrals; the
Mendicant Orders founded hospitals: _all_ became patrons of the Fine
Arts on such a scale of munificence, that the protection of the most
renowned princes has been mean and insignificant in comparison." Nor is
this their only claim; for the earliest artists of the Middle Ages were
monks of the Benedictine Order. "As architects, as glass painters, as
mosaic workers, as carvers in wood and metal, they were the precursors
of all that has since been achieved in Christian Art: and if so few of
these admirable and gifted men are known to us individually and by name,
it is because they worked for the honour of God and their community, not
for profit, nor for reputation." The merits of Mrs. Jameson's first
series were universally acknowledged. The present volume may claim as
high a meed of praise. If possible, it exceeds its predecessors in
literary interest, and in the beauty of the etchings and woodcuts which
accompany it. As a handbook to the traveller who wanders through the
treasuries of Art, it will be indispensable; while to those who are
destined not to leave their homes it will be invaluable, for the light
it throws upon the social condition of Europe in those ages in which the
monastic orders had their origin. It is a volume highly suggestive both