The Literary History of the Adelphi and Its NeighbourhoodBrereton, Austin
History
The Literary History of the Adelphi and Its Neighbourhood
Brereton, Austin
Adelphi (London, England) -- History; Literary landmarks -- England -- London; London (England) -- History
In the second range of figures, over Edward the Black Prince and Peter
the Great, are Swift, Erasmus, Cervantes; near them Pope, Dryden,
Addison, Richardson, Moses Mendelssohn, and Hogarth. Behind Dryden and
Pope are Sterne, Gray, Goldsmith, Thomson, and Fielding; and near
Richardson, Inigo Jones, Sir Christopher Wren, Sir Joshua Reynolds,
and Vandyke. Next Vandyke is Rubens, with his hand on the shoulders of
Le Soeur, and behind him is Le Brun: next to these are Julio Romano,
Dominichino, and Annibal Caracci, who are in conversation with Phidias;
behind whom is Giles Hussey. Nicholas Poussin and the Sicyonian maid
are near them, with Callimachus and Pamphilius; near Appelles is
Corregio; behind Raphaello stand Michael Angelo and Leonardo da Vinci,
and behind them, Ghiberti, Donatello, Massachio, Brunaleschi, Albert
Dürer, Giotto, and Cimabue.
In the top of this part of the picture the painter has happily glanced
at what is called by astronomers the System of Systems, where the fixed
stars, considered as so many suns, each with his several planets,
are revolving round the Great Cause of all things; and representing
everything as affected by intelligence, has shown each system carried
along in its revolution by an angel. Though only a small portion of
this article can be seen, yet enough is shown to manifest the sublimity
of the idea.
In the other corner of the picture the artist has represented Tartarus,
where, among cataracts of fire and clouds of smoke, two large hands are
seen, one of them holding a fire-fork, the other pulling down a number
of figures bound together by serpenting War, Gluttony, Extravagance,
Detraction, Parsimony, and Ambition: and floating down the fiery gulf
are Tyranny, Hypocrisy, and Cruelty, with their proper attributes; the
whole of this excellent picture proving, in the most forcible manner,
the truth of that maxim which cannot be too often inculcated: "That
the attainment of man's true rank in the creation, and his present
and future happiness, individual as well as public, depended on the
cultivation and proper direction of the human faculties."[30]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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