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of that mind have been more strongly marked upon the history of his
country or species, than the rise of kings, the policy of statesmen, or the
fortune of conflicts.
   Authors have stated, that a time of peace is favourable to the improvement
of the arts, and that they fall into disrepute during periods of conflict
and
public disquietude.   This may be true as a general rule; but it was not
under such    circumstances that the   arts revived  after  a  sleep of 
some
centuries.  At the close of the fifteenth century, Italy was enjoying a tran-
quillity, and consequently a degree of ease and luxury, such as it had not
experienced since the days of Augustus.     A  mild and paternal government
had given an impetus to trade, and greatly improved the condition of agri-
culture; but the art of painting made no corresponding progress. When half
a century had passed, the scene was changed. Italy became the seat of war,
devastating, cruel war, the field on which Charles and Francis the First
alternately won and lost; the kingdom was shaken to its very centre, by
internal disquietude and public commotion; but at this inauspicious period,
Michael Angelo lived.    At one moment we may imagine him          to be
con-
structing the defences of Florence, his native city, and fighting at her
walls;
but at another, producing those splendid works, which have immortalised his
name, and which not only restored ancient art, but also created a style
before altogether unknown. Peace may be favourable to the growth of talent
and the extension of knowledge, but it is in the moment of popular, national,
or continental excitement, that genius bursts forth; and (like the meteor
which flashes but for a moment, yet traces on the face          of nature
 the
evidence  of its existence), astonishes and   confuses the   beholder, leaving
records of its power which man cannot imitate, which time cannot efface.
  The encouragement of the rich and powerful is also thought necessary for
the growth of art, and this is true in regard to a certain grade of art,
but
not in its application to art itself. Genius, which is but the personification