work, filled him with admiration, and so much was he delighted that, eager to make acquaintance with Bréguet, he immediately set off for Paris. The result was a strong mutual regard between the two men, which was so great that the English watchmaker left his son for two years with Bréguet, in order that he might be instructed by so great a master in the principles of their art. This is a truly pleasing and instructive example of mutual confidence and good will, worthy of the imitation of men of genuine talent, who are too often kept apart by a spirit of jealous rivalry. Before the revolution broke out in France, Bréguet had already founded the establishment which afterwards produced so many masterpieces of mechanism and clockmaking, and his reputation was rapidly increasing. Although quite indifferent to politics, he fell under the suspicion of the dominant party, and owed his safety only to the interposition of some friends, at whose solicitation he was permitted to leave France. He repaired to England, where he lived two years, and, by the generous assistance of a kind friend, was enabled to continue, without embarrassment, his mechanical researches, together with his son, who had accompanied him in his exile.

On his return to France, he found his establishment had been destroyed, but he opened a new one, and eventually it became more prosperous and successful than the former.

M. Bréguet died in 1823, leaving behind him a personal character not less remarkable than his pro

fessional talent. So great were the attractions of his manners and conversation that the best society of Paris welcomed him to their circles, and among them he found some of his most intimate friends. It is said that he retained the naïveté of youth and even of childhood, and found something to admire everywhere, save in his own productions. He was simple, consistent, and equable in temper. Timid, without losing self-possession; and, in some respects, he was thought to resemble the excellent La Fontaine. Modest and retiring, he would never quit the humble abode in which fortune had crowned his industry and skill: there he delighted to welcome the promising young men of his own trade, to whom he was always a firm friend, and many of whom he was able to assist, from the deep interest he took in their welfare. He made all around him happy, and was himself the happiest of the whole. Even the infirmities of increasing age did not diminish his zest for social intercourse; and when death overtook him, he was busily engaged in a work upon horology.

For a just appreciation of Bréguet's labours, we cannot do better than refer to the statement of the judicious critic M. Charles Dupin. He tells us that this celebrated clockmaker brought all parts of his art to such perfection that nothing can be more delicate and ingenious than his mechanism. He particularizes his detached escapement and also that called natural, where no oil is required, and in the mechanism of which there is no spring. Another, and still finer

work, is that of the duplex escapement. Bréguet also contrived a plan for preserving the mechanism of portable marine watches or chronometers from the injury caused by the rolling and pitching of vessels, and, still further, discovered a method to prevent their movements being deranged even by a blow or a fall to the ground.

An English officer, General Brisbane, had one of these chronometers, which he subjected to the greatest trials, by constantly wearing it on horseback, and during several long voyages. In sixteen months, its greatest variation was only a second and a half.

At the time when Bréguet accomplished this admirable result, the English Parliament had offered a reward of 250,000 francs* to the artist who would make a chronometer for ships which should not exceed two seconds. No one had gained this prize when he exceeded the limit as above stated.

The renown of Bréguet's name has been maintained by the skill of his nephew, who carries on his uncle's studies with great success, and retains the gold medal in the family.

*Upwards of £10,000.

LORENZO GHIBERTI & QUINTIN MATSYS.

GHIBERTI, b. 1380-d. 1456. MATSYS, b. 1466-d. 1529.

THE art of working in metal has ever been highly esteemed, and many artisans of the middle ages have left masterpieces of beauty in this department, testifying the taste and industry with which they wrought; but the annals of those times are very sparing of the names of the men whose works now excite the admiration of connoisseurs, as they gaze on models of finish both in design and execution.

At the end of the thirteenth century, a goldsmith named Raoul, renowned for his talents in this line, was ennobled under the reign of Philip the Bold. This was the first instance of honourable distinction con

ferred on one belonging to the working classes in

France.

At a somewhat later period flourished the two distinguished artists Lorenzo Ghiberti and Quintin Matsys. The first of these will ever be remembered by his celebrated work, the bronze gates of the Baptistery of Florence, of which copies in miniature, executed by M. Barbidienne of Paris, were shown at the great exhibition of 1851.

Ghiberti was born in Florence, towards the close of the fourteenth century. He received his first instruc

tions from his stepfather, who practised the art of the goldsmith, at that time much in repute (especially with the Florentines), and which extended to the designing of all kinds of ornamental work in metals. The youth learned drawing, the art of modelling and casting metals, and he also acquired some knowledge of painting; so that, when obliged, in consequence of a pestilence which desolated his native city, and the distressed state of affairs consequent thereupon, to fly thence to Rimini, he found employment in painting a fresco in one of the princely palaces there.

He tells us how, with great diligence and ardour, he applied to his task, his mind being quite turned toward the study of painting; but, scarcely had he completed his fresco, when a circumstance occurred which afforded him the opportunity of signalizing himself, not only as the greatest artist of his own time, but as one whose works have commanded the admiration of after-ages. This was the competition for a second pair of brazen doors for the Baptistery at Florence, worthy to accompany those of Andrea Pisano. executed about 1340. This memorable competition attracted all the artists of the highest eminence, and from among them seven were selected to make trial of their skill, including Donatello, Brunelleschi, and Ghiberti. The first of these, a youthful artist, scarcely eighteen years of age, had already attracted public notice. A year was given them to produce a model in bas-relief for one of the panels-the subject being the sacrifice of Isaac. At the end of that time,