From the foregoing account, it will be seen that the literary life of Macvey
Napier was of that kind in which the individuality of the author is lost in the
association of which he forms a part. In this way, it would be difficult to
particularize his writings, which are scattered over such extensive fields as those
of the "Encyclopedia" and "Edinburgh Review." But such is now the fate of
many of the most talented of our day, whose anonymous productions melt
away into the mass of journalism, and are forgot with the occasion that called
them forth. Such men, however, do not live idly nor in vain, and their history
is to be read in the progress of society, which continues to go onward with an
always accelerating step. This was eminently the case of Macvey Napier during
a life of literary exertion that continued over a course of thirty years. He died
at Edinburgh, on the 11th of February, 1847, in the seventieth year of his age.
NASMYTH, Alexander.—This excellent artist, the father of the Scottish school of landscape painting, was born in Edinburgh, in the year 1758. Having finished his early education in his native city, he went, while still a youth, to London, where he became the apprenticed pupil of the Scottish Vandyke, Allan Ramsay, son of the author of the "Gentle Shepherd." Under this distinguished master, Nasmyth must have been a diligent scholar, as his future excellence in portrait painting sufficiently attested. Italy, however, was the land of his artistic affections; and in that beautiful country, where nature and art equally unfold their rich stores for the study of the painter, he became a resident for several years. During this period he ardently devoted himself to his chosen profession of historical and portrait painting. But this was not enough to satisfy his aspirations. The silent but attractive beauty of nature, over its wide range of varied scenery, led him at his leisure hours among the rich Italian landscapes, which he studied with the fondness of an enthusiast and the eye of a master; and in this way, while he was daily employed in copying the best productions of the Italian schools, and learning, for the purpose of imitating, their excellencies, he was also a diligent attendant at the fountain-head, and qualifying himself to be a great landscape painter, in which, afterwards, his distinction principally consisted. To these were added the noble productions of ancient and modern architecture, that breathe the breath of life through inanimate scenes, and speak of man, the soul of creation—the mouldering walls and monuments of past generations and mighty deeds, alternated with those stately palaces and picturesque cottages that form the homes of a living generation. It was not enough for Nasmyth to delineate these attractive vistas and noble fabrics, and store them in his portfolio, as a mere stock in trade upon which to draw in future professional emergencies. He, on the contrary, so completely identified himself with their existence, that they became part and parcel of his being. This he evinced some fifty years after, when Wilkie, then fresh from Italy, visited the venerable father-artist, and conversed with him upon the objects of his recent studies. On that occasion Nasmyth astonished and delighted him by his Italian reminiscences, which were as fresh, as life-like, and full of correct touches, as if he had but yesterday left the country of Raffaele and Michael Angelo.
On returning from Italy, Nasmyth commenced in earnest the profession of a portrait painter in his native city. In those days personal vanity was to the full as strong in Edinburgh as it is at present, while portrait painters, at least artists worthy of the title, were very scarce; and it was not wonderful, therefore, that the talents of Nasmyth in this department should soon find ample
