9(3 



jngs in fresco, on the -walls of St. Stephen's* chapel, lately 

 discovered, are quite fresh, though executed in th« year 

 134:8. They display a gross ignorance of anatomy, pro- 

 portion, and perspective; and are very inferior to the 

 paintings, Avhich had appeared almost a century before in 

 Italy. 'i" Yet we must suppose them the work of the best 

 artists England then afl'orded, stimulated to exertion by 

 royal bounty,t and the spirit of religion. The patronage, 

 which siiperstiition afforded to refinement, and the imitative 

 arts, was enthely relative, and the advantages derived from 

 it local and temporary. The spirit of false religion, and 

 priestly craft, produced advantages in a period of extreme 

 grossness and barbarism. Thus, good grew out of evil; 

 while the arts and policy, of the priests and monks, con- 

 tributed to awaken and disseminate some little knowledge, 

 and love of literature, and the fine arts, where they had 

 been hitherto unknown. The effect of pilgrimages, to sa- 

 cred places and shrines of saints, though they originated 

 in gross superstition, was the civilization of mankind, and 

 the advancement of art's. Men were thus led to a more 

 extensive commerce with each other; and what began in 

 bigotry ended in knowledge and politeness. They were 



forcibly 



* Sucred plays are mentioned, by Mathew Paris, to have been acted in t!ie 

 year 11 10, in the abbey of Dunstable: tlie autlior was Gulfrid, a Norman, 

 A\ho was afterwards abbot of St. Albans. 



t In llie year 127C. 



I They were executed by the orders of Edward III. : tliey represent the 

 catast'.Ojihc of Job's lamily. 



