Then there are the finest Hemmlings I have ever seen,--finer than those at Munich: lovely Madonnas, meek and saintly; superb adoring Kings, all glowing with cloth-of-gold and velvets and splendid jewels; beautiful quiet landscapes, seen through the arches of the stable; and angels, with wings of dazzling green and crimson. The real love with which these wonderful pictures are caressed by the careful, thoughtful artist makes them most precious. Every little flower is delicately and artistically done, and everything is invested with a sort of sacred reverence by this earnest Pre-Raphaelite. One or two Van Eycks have the same splendor and depth of feeling. These pictures look as if they were painted yesterday, so clear and brilliant are their colors. It is a pleasant circumstance, that some of the great Venetian pictures in the gallery here were gained for Spain by the judgment and taste of Velasquez. When he went to Italy with a commission from Philip IV., which it must have delighted him to execute, "to buy whatever pictures were for sale that he thought worth purchasing," he spent some time in Venice, and there bought, among other things, the Venus and Adonis of Paul Veronese, and several of the works of Tintoretto. The Titians had come to Spain before, and it was from the study of them, perhaps, that Velasquez learned to paint so well. At any rate, we know what he thought of Titian; for Mr. Sterling gives an extract from a poem by a Venetian, Marco Boschini, which was published not long after Velasquez's journey to Italy, in which part of a conversation is given between him and Salvator Rosa, who asked him what he thought of Raphael. You will like to see it, if you have not Sterling by you. "Lu storse el cao cirimoniosamente, E disse: 'Rafael (a dirve el vero, Piasendome esser libero e sinciero) Stago per dir che nol me piase niente.' "'Tanto che,' replichè quela persona, 'Co' no ve piase questo gran Pitor, In Italia nissun ve dà in l' umor, Perche nu ghe donemo la corona.' "Don Diego replichè con tal maniera: 'A Venetia se trova el bon e 'l belo; Mi dago el primo luogo a quel penelo; Tician xè quel che porta la bandiera.'" Here is a translation:-- The master, with a ceremonious air, Bowed, and then said, "Raphael, truth to tell, For to be free and honest suits me well, Pleases me not at all, I must declare." "Since, then," replied the other, "you so frown On this great painter, in Italy is none By whom, indeed, your favor can be won; For upon him we all bestow the crown." Don Diego thereupon to him replies, "At Venice may be found the good and fair; I give the first place to the pencil there; Titian is he who carries off the prize." REVIEWS AND LITERARY NOTICES. 1. _Dictionary of Americanisms_. A Glossary of Words and Phrases usually regarded as peculiar to the United States. By JOHN RUSSELL BARTLETT. Second Edition, greatly improved and enlarged. Boston: Little, Brown, & Company, 1859. pp. xxxii., 524.