613 



BANCROFT, GEORGE. 



BANDELLO, MATTEO. 



514 



De Laer drew no advantages from his residence at Rome. He was 

 intimately acquainted with N. Poussin and Claude, and frequently 

 made excursions to the environs of Rome in company with those great 

 artists ; and there he found those beautiful studies of ruins, tombs, 

 temples, and aqueducts, with which he has so finely embellished his back- 

 grounds. But it was amidst the realities of active life that his genius 

 found its proper subjects. He delighted in fairs, hunting parties, the 

 exploits of banditti, rustic festivals, harvest-homes, and drolleries of 

 all sorts, subjects which the Italians comprise under the general name 

 of ' Bambocciate,' and from which the name given him in Italy was 

 derived, not, as some have asserted, from the deformity of his person. 

 De Laer was profoundly skilled in the art of graduating his objects, 

 whether through the medium of lines or colours. His effects of aerial 

 perspective are surprisingly just, and his skies are touched with a 

 depth, delicacy, and transparency which has rarely been excelled. In 

 the productions of De Laer, although they are generally on a small 

 scale, the figures are marked with all the precision, energy, and dis- 

 tinctness which might be expected in the largest performances. His 

 memory was remarkably retentive, and anything which he had once 

 marked as a fit subject for his pencil he could paint, at any distance of 

 time, with as much facility as if it was still before him. 



De Laer'g moral qualities gained for him no less respect than hi.s 

 genius. His person was extremely deformed, but this misfortune did 

 not affect in the slightest degree the natural kindliness of his feelings, 

 or the cheerfulness of his temper. His amiable character was well 

 appreciated, and co-operated with his talents in procuring him the 

 patronage and friendship of the most eminent persons in Rome. He 

 protracted his residence in that city to sixteen years, and at length, 

 at tbe earnest entreaty of his friends in Holland, left it with regret 

 fur his native country. He occasionally visited Amsterdam, but his 

 principal residence was at Haarlem. His latter years were embittered 

 by ill health and depressed circumstances, which caused him frequent 

 fits of despondency, in one of which he is stated to have thrown him- 

 self into a canal and been drowned. His death is said to have taken 

 place in 1673, or according to other accounts, in 1675. 



De Laer made several admirable etchings from his own designs, 

 which usually bear his signature. The following may be enumerated : 

 a set of eight plates of animals and rural subjects, inscribed ' P. de 

 Laer, Roma, 1636 ; ' a set of six horses, same inscription ; a blacksmith 

 shoeing a mule, ' P. y. Laer, f. ; ' a blacksmith's shop, ' P. D. Laer, f., 

 Roma.' 



* BANCROFT, GEORGE, an American historian, was born in 1800, 

 near Worcester, Massachusetts, where his father, Dr. Aaron Bancroft, 

 was a leading Unitarian minister. George Bancroft was entered at 

 Harvard College at the age of 13, and at the age of 17 graduated there 

 with first-class honours, and gained the theological prize his education 

 having been conducted with a view to his adopting his father's pro- 

 fession. From Harvard he went to Gottingen, where for two years he 

 studied history and philology under Professor Heeren ; and he there 

 received the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. During his residence in 

 Germany Mr. Bancroft formed the acquaintance of Savigny, Schlosser, 

 Schleiermacber, Varnhageu von Ense, Wolfe, and other eminent 

 scholars, from gome of whom he derived valuable aid in his historical 

 studies. After travelling through Italy, France, and England, he 

 returned to America in 1822. 



For about a year after his return Mr. Bancroft officiated AS Greek 

 tutor at Harvard College, and occasionally preached; but when he 

 resigned his tutorship he finally abandoned the ministry. He now 

 established a school at Round Hill, Northampton, Massachusetts, 

 which soon attained considerable celebrity, but which was not pecu- 

 niarily successful. Whilst here Mr. Bancroft devoted much attention 

 to his historical studies. He had not long after his return from Europe 

 made his first venture in authorship by the publication of a volume of 

 poems, and he now published translations of several of Heeren's work*, 

 aud commenced the composition of his ' History of America." The first 

 volume of this work appeared in 1834, under the title of ' A History 

 of the Colonisation of the United States ;' and successive volumes, car- 

 rying the history forward to the War of Independence, have appeared 

 at rather wide intervals down to the present time. 



The first volume of the ' History ' at once established Mr. Bancroft's 

 Ij.ition among the foremost literary men of America. But he was 

 not destined to lead a merely literary life. He had already entered 

 the political arena by being elected a representative in the General 

 Court of Massachusetts, and, after some oscillation, had taken his 

 stand aa a ' puro democrat.' On the accession of his party to office 

 in 1837, Mr. Bancroft was appointed by President Van Buren collector 

 of Boston. On the election of a new president, Mr. Bancroft of course 

 lost hia collectorship. In 1844 he was an unsuccessful candidate for 

 the governorship of Massachusetts; but about the same time, or 

 somewhat earlier, he was appointed by President Polk secretary of the 

 navy. In this office he is said to have displayed great administrative 

 ability, and the Astronomical Observatory of Washington, and the 

 Nautical School at Alexandria, are standing monuments of his tenure 

 of office. In 1846 he was appointed minister plenipotentiary to 

 England. Here his chief political service was the negociation of a 

 modification of the acts regulating navigation. During the three 

 years of his stay here, he diligently explored the public libraries of 

 London and Paris, as well as the state archives, for materials for his 



BIOO. DIV. VOF.. L 



great work ; and to its completion he has siuce his return to the 

 United States mainly directed his attention. 



The 'History of America,' is a work of great research, and, while 

 the author states his own opinions decidedly and strongly, it is per- 

 vaded by a fair and just spirit. The style is vigorous, clear, and 

 frank not often rising into eloquence, ( but frequently picturesque, and 

 always free from imitation aud from pedantry. It is in fact what it 

 professes to be a national work, and it is worthy of its great theme. 

 Besides the ' History,' Mr. Bancroft has published several orations of 

 the usual order of American 'celebration' oratory, and has contributed 

 articles to various reviews and periodicals. 



(Griswold, Prose Writers of America; Homes of American 

 Authors, &c.) 



BANCROFT, RICHARD, Archbishop of Canterbury in tho reign 

 of James I., was born at Farnworth, in Lancashire, in September 

 1544. He was first a student of Christ's College, Cambridge, where, 

 in 1567, he took the degree of B.A., aud thence removed to Jesus 

 College, where he commenced M.A. in 1570. In 1575 he was pre- 

 sented to the rectory of Teversham, in Cambridgeshire, by Cox, bishop 

 of Ely ; and instituted, in 1534, at the presentation of the executors 

 of Henry Earl of Southampton, to the rectory of St. Andrew's, Holbora. 

 In 1585 he was made treasurer of St. Paul's Cathedral, prebendary of 

 Brounsbury in St. Paul's iu 1589, of Westminster in 1592, and of 

 Canterbury in 1594, about which time he distinguished himself by a 

 sermon preached at St. Paul's Cross against tlie ambition of tho 

 Puritans. On May S, 1597, he was consecrated Bishop of London. 

 From this time he had iu effect the archiepiscopal power; for Whit- 

 gift being then advanced in years, and unfit for business, committed 

 the sole management of ecclesiastical affairs to Bishop Bancroft. In 

 1600 Queen Elizabeth associated him with Dr. Parkins and Dr. Swale, 

 in an embassy to Embden, to put an end to the differences between 

 the English and Danes ; but the embassy had no effect. In the begin- 

 ning of King James's reign Bancroft took part in the conference at 

 Hampton Court between the bishops aud the Presbyterian miuisters, 

 aud carried himself in so imperious a manner that even James thought 

 it necessary to check him. According to Fuller however it was 

 observed, that " Bancroft, when out of passion, spake most politicly." 

 In 1G04, upon Whitgift's death, he was promoted to the archbishopric 

 of Canterbury ; and in 1608 was elected Chancellor of the University 

 of Oxford, in the room of the Earl of Dorset. He died November 2, 

 1610, of the stone, in his palace at Lambeth. 



Baucroft filled the see of Canterbury with great reputation : he was 

 a learned controversialist, an excellent preacher, an acute statesman, 

 and a vigilant governor of the Church. He was however rigid in hia 

 treatment of the Puritans, and on that account has been spoken of 

 with some severity, lie was the chief overseer of the authorised 

 translation of the Bible. By his will he bequeathed his body to be 

 buried in Lambeth Chapel ; and all the books in his study to the 

 archbishops for ever. His remains were however interred in Lambeth. 

 Church. His published works were as follows : ' Discovery of the 

 untruths aud slanders against Reformation,' in a sermon preached 

 February 1588; 'Sermon on 1st John iv. 1,' London, 1588; 'Survey 

 of the pretended Holy Discipline,' London, 1593 ; 'Dangerous Positions 

 and Proceedings published under the pretence of Reformation, for the 

 Presbyterial Discipline," London, 1595. 



(Biographia, Brihmniea, edit. 1778, vol. i. p. 577 ; Wood, Fasti Oxon.; 

 Bishop Kennett, MS. C'Mecliom, MS. Lansd. Brit. Mus. 983, fol. lj, 

 157; Chalmers, Biog. Met.) 



BANDE'LLO, MATTEO, was born at Castelnuovo di Scrivia, in 

 the province of Tortona, in North Italy, iu the latter part of the 15th 

 century. He entered the order of St. Dominic, of which his uncle was 

 a member. The young Bandello was an inmate of the Convent delle 

 Grazie at Milan at the time that Leonardo da Vinci was painting his 

 famous Last Supper iu the refectory of that house, aud he there 

 heard Leonardo relate a story which afterwards furuished him with 

 the subject of one of his novels. In 1501 his uncle, being elected 

 general of the whoje Dominican order, took Bandello with him in the 

 travels which he was obliged to undertake in the discharge of his new 

 duties. They visited Florence, Naples, and other parts of Italy. 

 Having returned to his convent at Milan, Baudello was obliged to ruu 

 away when the Spaniards entered that city in 1525, his father having 

 taken part with the French. His apartments were plundered, aud he 

 lost all his books and papers; but he found an asylum with Cesare 

 Fregoso, an Italian officer in, the French service, whom he accompanied 

 to several courts of Italy, and afterwards to France, where he obtained, 

 in 1550, from Henry II., the bishopric of Agen. Baudello left the 

 care of his flock to the Bishop of Grasse, reserving to himself part of 

 the income of his see. He died in the year 1561. Bandello's ' Novelle ' 

 or tales are written somewhat after the manner of those of Boccaccio, 

 though in less pure- Italian. In fluency of narrative, and vividness of 

 description, Bandello rivals and even at times surpasses the Tuscan 

 novelist. On the score of morality, most of his tales are as excep- 

 tionable as those of Boccaccio. One of his pathetic tules is on the 

 subject of Romeq and Juliet, which however had been already treated 

 by Luigi da Porto, a contemporary writer, from whom it would seem 

 Btindello took it. Tbe first edition of liaudello's novels is that of 

 Luoca, 1554, in 3 vols. 8vo. A fine edition of Baudello's novels was 

 published iu London, 1740, 3 voli. 4to. Bandello was well acquainted 



It 



