I. THE ROBIN. I 5 



But the fatallest_ institutor of proud modern 

 anatomical and scientific art, and of all that 

 has polluted the dignit}^, and darkened the 

 QJiarity, of the greater ages, was Antonio 

 PoUajuoIo of Florence. Antonio (that is to 

 say) the Poulterer — so named from the trade 

 of his grandfather, and with just so much of 

 his grandfather's trade left in his own dis- 

 position, that being set by Lorenzo Ghiberti 

 to complete one of the ornamental festoons 

 of the gates of the Florentine Baptistery, 

 there, (says Vasari) " Antonio produced a 

 quail, which may still be seen, and is so 

 beautiful, na}^, so perfect, that it wants nothing 

 but the power of flight." 



14. Here, the morbid tendency was as 

 attractive as it was subtle. Ghiberti himself 

 fell under the influence of it ; allowed the 

 borders of his gates, with their fluttering birds 

 and bossy fruits, to dispute the spectators' 

 favour with the religious subjects they en- 

 closed ; and, from that day forward, minute- 

 ness and muscularity were, with curious 

 harmony of evil, delighted in together ; and 

 the lancet and the microscope, in the hands of 

 fools, were supposed to be complete substitutes 



