and the Exodus; but these opinions have been necessarily modified of late years in view of the impossibility of making them agree with what, we know of Egyptian history. At present we are content to have analysed the very interesting documents which have been so recently published, and which throw so much new light on the history the history of the fifteenth century BC. We may perhaps be permitted to treat the problem just referred to and some others cognate with it on another occasion. In discussing the priceles treasures, archeologicat and historical, of Egypt, we avail ourselves of this opportunity to point out-not for the first time-how ill-housed is the collection which contains the most ancient and the most valuable relics of the world's history. The Ghizeh Museum is positively unfit as a building for the purpose it now serves, and wholly unworthy of its contents; moreover, it is in a particularly inconvenient situation, separated from Cairo by the Nile, and inaccessible at certain hours in the middle of the day when the swing bridge across the river is open. 6 A Commission was recently appointed to examine the building, and its report, as stated by the Times' correspondent on March 26th last, shows that the condition is even more dangerous than it was known to be. With the masses of timber in the masonry of the walls, the numerous flimsy partitions and wooden floorings, and the spacious exterior verandahs, a fire would effect the complete destruction of the building in a few hours. The Government has rejected a proposal for removing the museum into a building to be constructed for the purpose on a more accessible site on the score of expense, estimated at 130,000l., and prefers to face a probable expenditure of 90,000l. for alterations to render the present building fireproof, although the result is not expected to be satisfactory. The Caisse de la Dette is disposed to pay the cost from its reserve fund. This invaluable collection, representing the art and history of ancient Egypt, which has been gathered with enormous pains, is increasing yearly, and its disposal interests the entire scientific world. The Egyptian Ministry, however, with all good intentions, does not appreciate its value and importance; and the Premier, who is all powerful, considers it mere waste to spend money on such objects whilst it is needed for the reduction of taxation, instruction, &c.' May we not hope that the scientific world will insist upon the collection in question being adequately and securely housed, before a catastrophe takes place? ART. ART. IV.—1. Fra Paolo Sarpi. Opere. 8 vols. Helmstedt and Verona, 1761-1768. 2. Biografia di Fra Paolo Sarpi. Per Bianchi Giovini. 2 vols. Brussels, 1836. 3. Life of Fra Paolo Sarpi. By Arabella G. Campbell. London, 1869. 4. Paul the Pope and Paul the Friar. By T. Adolphus Trollope. London, 1861. 5. Paolo V. e la Repubblica Veneta; Giornale dal 22 Ott. 1605-9 Giugno, 1607. Per Enrico Cornet. Vienna, 1859. 6. Lettere inedite di Fra Paolo Sarpi a Simone Contarini, Ambasciatore Veneto in Roma, 1615, pubblicate dagli Autografi, con Prefazione e Note a cura di C. Castellani, Prefetto della Biblioteca di S. Marco in Venezia. Venice, 1892. 7. Atti del Comitato pel Monumento a Fra Paolo Sarpi in Venezia. Venice, 1892. HE historian of the Council of Trent speaks of his work in the following terins: - 'I take it for granted that my work will not have a great number of readers, and will be soon forgotten, not so much on account of the faults to be found in it, as from the nature of the matter, and I judge them by what has happened to many similar works. But without troubling myself to think whether this history will endure for ever or for long, it is enough for me that it should for the present be serviceable to those for whom I write it. If there be anyone who can turn it to his profit, for him let it be written. Posterity will judge of it according to the conjunctures of times and affairs.' * The world has grown nearly four centuries older since these words were written, and the Father's prophecy is to some extent fulfilled. The subject of his History is antiquated, and the method too elaborate and detailed for the short-winded readers of to-day. But the figure of the author is one which must always be interesting, both from his personal character, and from the position which he occupies in the contest between ecclesiastical and civil power, which under different forms and names never grows old in the history of the world. If Father Paul had never written the history of the Council, he would still be one of the most remarkable figures of the seventeenth century. His fame as a historian is posthumous, and the authorship of the History was never acknowledged by him. The name of Father Paul, never quite forgotten, has been revived and presented to modern readers by Mr. Symonds, to *History of the Council of Trent,' Book iii. 1. whose し whose admirable portrait, given in his book on the Italian Renaissance,' we refer our readers.* Born in 1552, Pietro Sarpi was a Venetian by birth and education, by origin belonging to the middle class, and connected by family ties with the Church. His father, Pietro Sarpi, had been a trader and a soldier; his mother, Isabella Morelli, was a woman of gentle character and deep devotion. He was christened after his father; the name by which he is known to fame was that which he took on assuming the habit of a monk. He owed his education to his uncle Ambrosio Morelli, a priest, and to a Servite friar, Giovanni Maria Cappella, by whom he was introduced as a child into the convent in which he spent the rest of his life; that of the Servites, or Servi di Maria, a Florentine order founded in the thirteenth century in honour of the Blessed Virgin, which had a house and a church in Venice, and enjoyed a good reputation for learning and piety. Young Pietro Sarpi was from the first a student and a thinker. He did not care for games, was much alone, and gave little promise of the courage, energy, and strength of will for which he was afterwards remarkable. He was so retired and modest that his companions called him 'la Sposa'; and at the same time so commanded their respect that no unseemly language was ever heard in his presence. Tales of youthful prodigies are tedious. The young student was not only a devourer of books, but showed a universal capacity, surpassing all his teachers in mathematics, in experimental science, in language, logic, metaphysics, law, divinity. His intellectual power chiefly displayed itself in ease and certainty of apprehension and infallible retentiveness of memory. He saw into intricate problems at once, and never forgot what he had once comprehended. His studies were so comprehensive that one branch helped another; and as he was never superficial, so he was never narrow. The slightest acquaintance with his works will convince the reader of his power to concentrate on one subject the experience gained in others. The exactitude gained in scientific experiment is not laid aside when he approaches a historical theme; and the wide range of his historical knowledge is felt in the breadth of the grounds upon which he argues. As a boy and a youth he made such astonishing progress in learning that at the age of eighteen he was appointed professor of half-a-dozen sciences at Mantua; and at twenty-six he became Prior of the Servite convent at Venice, and not long after See also 'Quarterly Review,' No. 330, pp. 284-287. Provincial Provincial of the Order. Even in these early years he was looked upon with suspicion by the Jesuit faction: 'pratica con eretici' was the report made to the Pope when his name was recommended for a small Bishopric in partibus; and on another occasion it was remembered that no promotion could be given to an ecclesiastic who had not found the doctrine of the Trinity in the first chapter of Genesis. He gained credit as a jurist for his conduct as Provincial of the Servites in the Venetian State, and this probably brought him into notice with the Venetian Government as a man likely to be useful in practical matters. His reputation as a man of science, a divine, and a historian was at its height when, at the age of fifty-four, he was summoned to the councils of the State as Theologian to the Republic.' He was known not only in Italy, but throughout Europe as one of the first scholars of the age, and corresponded on equal terms with the leaders of thought in every branch of science and letters. The intermediate years were spent in continual study. He made himself acquainted with several Oriental languages. He got at his fingers' ends all Church history and much of universal history. He studied ancient authors, especially the historians, and among them in particular Thucydides, Tacitus, and Xenophon. He made himself a master of canon law, and by degrees of the use and custom of Venetian law. In a four years' sojourn at Rome he became acquainted with many of the statesmen and churchmen of Europe, and laid the foundation of that immense knowledge of the history of recent times in which none but De Thou came near him. He conversed there with Bobadilla, the last survivor of the companions of St. Ignatius, and learnt from him what must have gratified him vastly, that the Company of Jesus had already gone far beyond and beside the intentions of its founder. He was a friend of Contarini, Borromeo, Bellarmine, and Castagna, afterwards Pope Urban VII.; whom he never visited but the good Cardinal's face showed how greatly he loved his visits; and he never found them too frequent. But his favourite study was that of physical science. In his V own cell he carried out an infinite variety of experiments in optics, anatomy, hydraulics, astronomy, medicine, chemistry, botany, mineralogy. He studied the transmutation of metals, and on being told that the grand secret of making gold was at length discovered, said, 'Then let us take the opinion of the Turkish envoy.' The story goes on to say that the sceptical Turk replied, In that case the Grand Signior will come on his knees to beg the patronage of the Venetian State.' In the house of Morini and other nobles, and in the Academies which then flourished flourished at Venice and Padua, he met the best spirits of the day,-Porta, Fabricius, Galileo; all of whom confessed obligations to him in the course of their discoveries. It is difficult, without special knowledge of the subject, to determine Sarpi's position as a natural philosopher. There is no doubt that he was highly esteemed by his contemporaries, and that he was consulted and looked upon as an authority by the first men of his time. It was still possible in the age of Bacon and Galileo to know everything; and we cannot always ascertain exactly how much of the increase of science is due to this or that discoverer. Few men have had so much attributed to them as Father Paul. He has been accredited with discoveries concerning the valves of the veins and the circulation of the blood which anticipated those of Cesalpini and Harvey. Fabricius of Acquapendente (says Dr. Johnson) acknowledges that Father Paul taught him much about vision. He is allowed on all hands to have observed the contractility of the iris. In terrestrial magnetism Gilbert confessed obligations to him; and it is clear from his letters * that he had made extensive and independent experiments in this branch of science. Giambattista della Porta states that he learned much from Father Paul. He studied botany, mineralogy, chemistry, medicine; it is possible that he foresaw the invention, it is certain that he understood and appreciated the importance, of the telescope and the thermometer. He was a practised astronomer, and stated from observation the nature of the spots on the moon's surface. He wrote treatises on the tides and the motion of water, on the barometer, on projectiles, on the war engines of the ancients, demonstrating before Buffon the probability of the story of Archimedes' burning glasses: and we may receive these accounts with respect, when we remember that he would accept no conclusions in natural philosophy which he had not himself verified by experiment. In mathematics he had few equals. No special discoveries in this branch of science are set down to him; but it is said that he read mathematics every day of his life, that he criticised, completed, and corrected as a master, and improved Vieta's Treatise on Algebra,† that his experiments in all branches of the subject were infinite, that every part of his studies was reduced to writing, that he would spend a day and a night in solving a difficulty, and, once completed, would put it aside, saying, 'l'ho pur vinta; ora non voglio pensarci più.' His genius in mechanics was such that he would immediately * Letter XXIII., 3rd February, 1610. |