Mr. Edward Backhouse, the original compiler of the work now before us, and of whom a biographical sketch is given, was a native of Darlington, and a member of the Society of Friends. He died in 1879. His object in commencing the compilation of this work is best told in his own words: “In second month, 1874, or about that period, I was standing painting in my own room, when an impression was made upon my mind, which I believed to be from the Lord, that I ought to devote my leisure in my latter days to writing a portion of Church history; especially with a view of exhibiting to the Christian world, in a popular manner, the principles and practices of the Society of Friends. So I forthwith began to explore Church history generally, because the history of Friends was quite familiar to me; and, ultimately, as I saw that I greatly differed from many excellent historians in the inferences I drew from many events in the history of the Church, I was induced to attempt myself to write a history of Christianity, which I thought might prove useful to some as exhibiting the principles and practices of the Churches, viewed from a Quaker standpoint, and compared as nearly as I could with apostolic precedent.” With this view he studied the Anti-Nicene Christian Library, and read the ecclesiastical histories of Eusebius, Socrates, Scholasticus, Sozomen, and Theodoret; and among modern compilations made use of Du Pin, Mosheim, Neander, Burton’s Church History, and some others. The work is illustrated by several photographs of Roman antiquities, &c., including the Arch of Titus, the corridor and staircase in the Catacomb of Pontianus, and fragments of sculpture of the fourth and fifth centuries.

We have received from Paris two most interesting works in connection with the great Italian artist, Leonardo da Vinci; they are the production of M. Ravaisson-Mollien, who has devoted all his time, his energies, and his learning to the editing of the Vinci MSS. preserved at the library of the French “Institut” in Paris.

It is unnecessary to go here over the ground occupied by our author in his preliminary brochure, and to give the history of the MSS. in question. Suffice it to say that at an early time they were scattered throughout the principal collections in Europe, and that the fears entertained by Leonardo da Vinci himself respecting the non-publication of his numerous treatises on art and on science seemed likely to be fulfilled. No sooner had death removed Francisco Melzi, Leonardo’s favourite pupil and friend, than the invaluable codices entrusted to his care were dispersed and mutilated; as even one single page would fetch a considerable sum of money, the MSS. were broken up into small fragments, so as to satisfy the curiosity of the greatest possible number of amateurs; and in order to obtain any given work in its complete form, it would be necessary to seek the elements of that work at Milan, Windsor, and Kensington. Numerous treatises have thus been lost or are perhaps buried under the dust of public and private libraries, and the materials now at our disposal represent only a small part of the whole collection, such as Francisco Melzi originally possessed it, and such as in all probability the artistic world will not see it again.

By a piece of singular good luck the “Institut de France” possesses twelve volumes of Leonardo da Vinci’s writings; they were indexed towards the end of the last century by an Italian savant, named Venturi, who had examined them carefully, and had even published some extracts from them; these volumes are lettered A—M, and have the great merit of giving the consecutive views of the author on the subjects which he had studied. This point is of the highest importance in the case of a man such as Leonardo da Vinci, who lost no opportunity of showing the interdependence of the several branches of science, and the light they all throw upon one another. M. Ravaisson-Mollien has accordingly undertaken the arduous task of editing the entire works of Leonardo da Vinci, so far at least as they are known to exist, and we earnestly trust that he may be able to accomplish his rather ambitious design.

The first two volumes of the entire collection are now before the public, and thus we are to a certain extent in a position to appreciate M. Ravaisson-Mollien’s qualities as an editor; we feel no hesitation in saying honestly that they are all that one could wish, and we do so the more readily because he has been attacked in the most unjust manner by M. J. P. Richter, whose English edition of the Windsor MSS. was brought out some little time ago. Errare humanum est is a motto the application of which is especially true in the case of the Vinci MSS.; M. Ravaisson-Mollien himself acknowledges frankly that he may have, and that he has probably, been guilty of a few mistakes; but that the principles by which he is guided in his task are perfectly sound we do not entertain the slightest doubt, and without prolonging the discussion any further we shall merely refer the reader to the articles in the Times newspaper for January last, the Italian Nuova Antologia for October, 1883, and the Journal des Savants for July, 1882.

Our business is more especially with the second volume of the collection, but it will not be amiss to remind our friends of what are the contents of the first. In addition to several passages already published but given more correctly here, and bearing upon drawing, painting, sculpture, and hydraulics, we have the commencement of a treatise on perspective, together with essays on movement, weight, percussion, projectiles, heat, light, sound, astronomy, cosmology, and geography. The Italian text, reproduced in fac-simile by photography, is printed on parallel pages with a literal French translation, and an excellent bibliographical preface describes, not only the twelve codices of the French Institute, but all the other MSS., either complete or fragmentary, which are dispersed throughout Europe.

The second volume is the reproduction of Codices B and D; the former of these is generally regarded as the gem of the whole collection, on account of the beauty, energy, elegance, and variety of the sketches which illustrate it, whilst the latter seems to be a corrected or revised copy of one of the chapters in Leonardo da Vinci’s treatise on painting, a treatise in which some curious and valuable remarks on optics serve as an introduction to the author’s lecture (if we may so say) on perspective. Nothing but the actual inspection of this magnificent folio can give the slightest idea of the artistic finish which characterises it, and of the extreme variety of its contents. From considerations on morality, on the soul, and on the spiritual world, Leonardo da Vinci goes on to examine questions on architecture, sculpture, agriculture, roads, draining, &c. &c., he discusses the possibility of aerial locomotion, describes the systems of warfare adopted by the ancients, dwells at some length on the properties of steam, and explains the theory of the camera-obscura. The fac-similes are 188 in number; a very complete alphabetical index, preceded by the errata of the two first volumes, terminates this second instalment.

Before bringing to a close this very imperfect notice we must mention a brochure recently published containing, first, an article by M. Courajod on a marble bust of Beatrice d’Este, preserved at the museum of the Louvre, and which, if not the work of Leonardo da Vinci, was certainly executed by one of his pupils; secondly, an essay by M. Ravaisson-Mollien on the great artist’s botanical knowledge, together with a letter of M. Fillon treating of the same subject.

Let us, in conclusion, pay a just tribute of praise to the liberality with which M. Quantin, the publisher, has facilitated the production of this splendid monument raised to the memory of Leonardo da Vinci.

In English Etchings, Part xl. (D. Bogue, 3, St. Martin’s-place), we have another of those beautifully executed “bits” of “Old London” which are worth preserving, before they are swept away to make room for “improvements.” The spot represented is that portion of Lower Thames-street opposite Billingsgate. The church of St. Magnus, close by London-bridge, forms the centre of the picture. This is one of Wren’s churches, and was built in 1676, the old church, which was founded at the beginning of the fourteenth century, having been destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666. The etching is the work of Mr. Frank J. Short, and is most effective in its treatment.