Plain Sermons by a Country Clergyman, Ram's Practical Treatise on Assets, 8vo. vol. 2. 12mo. 5s. Rev. C. Girdlestone's Twenty Parochial Inglis's New Gil Blas, 3 vols. 8vo. 11. 7s. al 18mo. 4s. Horace Delph, with English Notes, 11s. 17. 1s. Hervey's Illustrations of Modern Sculpture, No. 1., royal 4to., 68. 6d. Barker's Lempriere's Classical Dictionary, 8vo., New Edit., 16s. Abbot's Elements of Trigonometry, 78. Cunningham's Arithmetical Text-Book, 12mo., 3s. 6d. Homer's Examples for Latin Verse, 18mo. 2. Diary and Correspondence of Mrs. Simpson, 12mo., 3s. 6d. Virgil's Eneid, Book I, Latin and Eng- Dr. Belfrage's Select Essays, 12mo., 5s. 6d. lish Interlinear, 12mo. 2s. 6d. Condition of Anglo-Eastern Empire, in 1832, 8vo. 9s. Corbyn on Cholera, 8vo. 12s. Life and Characters of Gerhard Terslergen, small 8vo. 5s. Memoirs of General Lafayette and the St Mark's Gospel, Greek, Latin, and Eng- Progressive Experience of the Heart, by St. Luke's Gospel, ditto, 9s. THE FINE ARTS. FINDEN'S ILLUSTRATIONS OF BYRON. -PORTRAITS OF THE PRINCIPAL FEMALE CHARACTERS IN THE WAVERLEY NOVELS. These periodicals of the Fine Arts claim notice from their connexion with the works they illustrate, though we are not in the habit of devoting space to pictorial criticism. Of FINDEN's Illustrations of Murray's complete Edition of the Works of Byron, there are now six Numbers published, each containing seven pictures. In this galaxy of the bril. liant and the beautiful, it is not easy to single out for notice each "bright peculiar star;" and our remarks must be brief and cursory on a work which unites, in an unrivalled degree, cheapness, with talent in art, and beauty of imagination. Most of the engravings are executed by the Findens, which may often mean under their superintendence. The drawings are by different artists and amateurs; a few gems of art are by TURNER. We cannot even mention all the names of artists without unduly extending the notice. STONE, from the sketch of an amateur. In Part I., we have Byron as a sailor The illustrations improve as the num lad, at the age of nineteen-an attractive bers advance. Part III. gives us Marapicture; a View of Cadiz, by Stanfield, thon, a lovely vignette; and a Street in and one of Lochin-y-gair, that scene on Athens, an agreeable picture. Geneva, the Highland Dee, celebrated by the minor Chamouni, and a View on the Lake of poet. Belem Castle, Lisbon, is a clear and Como, are all good prints, and, along distinct print; Yanina is a fine subject, with them, we have the early love of with somewhat of the charm of oriental Byron, Miss Chaworth, at the age of costume, and of the picturesque in archi- seventeen. Though the face looks not tecture, which is more elaborately de- more than thirteen, it is full of latent veloped in subsequent views of the series. character. This head is beautifully enIn this Part is an exquisite girlish head, graved by MOTE, as are all the portraits. rea, the Maid of Athens, drawn by On the head of Ada, the daughter of 2 Byron, great pains have been bestowed: there is an expression of thought in the sweet little face, not common to childhood, and deeply affecting. The face of the little girl (now a young lady of seventeen) possesses beauty of the kind which grows as we gaze upon it. This portrait is in Part IV., which contains two charming vignettes; the Coliseum from the Orto Farnesa, and view of the Wengen Alps, by HULMANDELL; in which bare pine trees, log-houses, felled timber, peasants and cattle, and "Alps on Alps," tell that intelligible story which gives a picture its stirring vital interest. Cintra forms one of the most delightful views of the series. In delineating that variegated maze of mount and glen, the poet has inspired the painter. We have here The horrid crags, by toppling convent crowned, The Mosque of St. Sophia, from the Bosphorus, is a superb architectural subject, but too stiffly and precisely given to inspire that feeling of the majestic for which we seek in views of this nature. The water and the vessels lighten and relieve the view. Mafra, a stately and magnificent edifice, is more interesting to the architect than the lover of painting, who may turn to the Castle of Chillon-a fresh life-like portrait of a place, with which all the readers of Byron are familiar. The "massy waters" of Lake Leman are holding their troubled coil around its foundations, heaving and pitching the boats, as if they were about to descend to the dark dungeon vaults over which they are rocking. Part V., which is the most splendid in the series, contains two drawings from the magic pencil of Turner. One a lovely vignette, of which the subject is the Church of Santa Maria Della Spina at Pisa,-Italian groups in boats in the foreground; and towers, and turrets, and enriched buildings, springing from the water, like the creations of enchantment. This, decidedly, is the most brilliant vignette of the whole, yet brilliant is not the term. The Hellespont Sestos and Abydos, is a clear, truth-telling picture. The Acropolis is another master-piece of Turner;-sunset behind the dark temple-crowned mountain, and ruinclad steeps rising boldly from the wide plain, over which parties of Turkish troops are careering, with flying banners and glancing scimitars. Noble action, and majestic repose, are the grand elements of this splendid specimen of Turner's pencil. Santa Maura possesses nearly the same character as the view on the Hellespont. The stretch of mountains rising sheer from the water, is hard and stiff; the bridge not unlike the jagged edge of a small saw; but the foreground rich and pictorial. The Piazzetta of St. Mark's Place, Venice, in this number of the illustrations, is an effective picture in its own style. It is by Prout. There is a distant view of the churches beyond the Lagune. The enriched surface of the pillars, and the fret-work of that old artist Time, are spiritedly engraved. Ithaca and Delphi are interesting subjects. In the latter the rocky gulf is boldly given; the scanty waterfall is very bald and very stiff. The Sixth Part of the illustrations abound in beauty. There are four home views; three of them by Westall,-Newstead Abbey; the Old Fountain at Newstead; and Hucknall Church. These, the two first especially, are charming unpretending pictures. The foliage in the Old Fountain, and the ivy embowering the windows of the Abbey are delicately handled. Lochin-y-gair, the second, is a true Highland landscape; groups of deer scattered over a rough heath in the foreground, with a few broad-topped pinetrees; a castle smoke rising peacefully in the middle distance, and the vale opening on a view of wild and dreary Scottish mountains. Malta, though the artist is Turner, does not steer clear of the pasteboard hardness of surface and outline, inseparable from a view of rows of houses. Cadiz, by Colonel Batty, though otherwise a fine picture, is liable to the same insuperable objection. The Maid of Saragossa, an imaginary portrait, we presume, is not taken "in her softer hour." It is, however, a fine, unexaggerated, dark, female countenance; expressive of strength of character, but of no passion. Lady Byron's picture is in this number. From an incidental, but it may be an incorrect source, we learn that her ladyship sat on purpose for this portrait, that her picture might go among the other embellishments of this edition of her husband's works. Apart from the knowledge of the fact, that this is the portrait of the wife of Byron, of a lady mixed up with so many calamities and mysteries, there is nothing noticeable in the countenance, one way or another. It is a neutral physiognomy; the face of a person likely to hold on the even tenor of her way, if once fairly set out upon it; of a quiet, calm, unpretending woman, without one strik ing feature, or any indication of a character beyond the common-place. The pleasure with which we have gone over this work of art, marks a high opinion of its merits. It is beautiful in itself, unrivalled in cheapness, and, from its connexion with this new edition of Byron, will be always interesting and valuable, and in a few years rare. ILLUSTRATIONS OF MODERN SCULPTURE, No. I., with Descriptive Prose and Illustrative Poetry. By J. K. HERVEY. We hope the periodicals of the Fine Arts, which are becoming so plentiful, will drive half the Annuals to the wall, and that we shall have works which are one thing or another. This is a splendid publication. The Specimens of Sculpture are selected from the finest works of the best modern artists. They are beautifully drawn by Corbould, and engraved with great care and delicacy. There are three plates in the Number. The Happy Mother, from a work of Westmacott, is exquisitely soft; the picture of maternal affection in beautiful repose Patient as the brooding dove. traits which a vivid preconception rejects A Dancing Girl, Canova, forms the se- The Scott Gallery of Beauties commences under many disadvantages. The artist who assumes the nearly impossible task of passing off as the real persons, por A series of fine female portraits, like these, are worth having, (when they can be obtained so cheaply,) although they may not do that impossible thing, realize a million differing fancies of their fair pro totypes. There is dogmatism in our first opinion. Though this splendid creature may not be our Flora, she may be many a man's Flora; and though this is not our Mysie Happer, we never saw a fairer. THE ALBUM WREATH.-A weekly periodical intended for ladies and young persons, consisting of original poetry, select sentences, and so forth; printed on tinted paper, with blank pages, and Medallion borders, for appropriate illustrations and sketches. It is too cheap. Luxuries in printing, as in every other art, must be paid for. The design is better than the execution, which is not very effective, nor can be at such price. Some of the verses are pretty. MAJOR'S CABINET GALLERY OF PICTURES, NO. I., WITH Critical and Historical Descriptions, by ALLAN CUNNINGHAM. The plan of this publication is excellent. It is to give in monthly numbers a series of pictures from the finest specimens of paintings, by the old and modern masters, which are to be found in the public or private galleries of Britain. Nor is there any law, we presume, to limit the selections to pictures within the four seas. There is no reason why transcripts of the beauties of the Italian galleries may not be brought to our own fire-sides. Mr. Major's first number contains three prints, Bacchus and Ariadne, by TITIAN, from the National Gallery. Christ in the Sepulchre, by GUERCINO, and the Market Cart, a charming English composition by GAINSBOROUGH. These pictures, fair transcripts of the valuable originals, may be brought to any table in the three kingdoms, at the cost of half-a-crown; and along with them a rare Cicerone, Mr. Allan Cunningham, telling us their story, and the history of their makers, and how to look at them. The printed illustrations of this number make sixteen pages of elegant letter-press. It is like the prints with which it is stitched up, of superroyal size, and will, with them, make a expositor to tantalize provincials with his splendid volume. Is it judicious in the eloquent eulogium on the colouring of the original TITIAN? Do not his just criti cisms on the GUERCINO intimate that this is not the sort of subject for a popular selection? The GAINSBOROUGH will please every body. Of it the illustrator says, truth, airiness, and beauty; all is home"The picture before us is one of singular bred about it. The stamp of Old England is impressed upon it every where." Those late agreeable works of Mr. Allan Cunningham's-his somewhat embellished LIVES OF BRITISH PAINTERS have given him ease, fulness, and facility in handling this subject; but besides his ability in this department, we are certain he could give professional people most useful hints in making a popular selection from the best paintings, for English purchasers. Mr. Major deserves praise for his attempt; and is safely entitled to our best wishes for his success, since nothing short of continuing to combine the same degree of talent and beauty, with cheapness, can, now-a-days ensure prosperity to his work. PYNE'S POCKET SKETCHING COMPANION. Many of these little sketches possess character, spirit, and freedom. Those in No. I. are capital. Our cheapness in prints will soon be, if it be not already, as wonderful as in needles, pins, and cottons. We shall beat the globe, which some of our first publishers have already challenged. THE DRAMA. EVERY body says, and consequently every body believes, that the palmy days of the Drama are for ever gone, and its glory utterly shadowed; the fact, waiving its melancholy attire, is interesting were it only for speculation's sake; as there stands not, perhaps, out of Euclid, a prettier problem for solution, than an inquiry into the causes of the present degraded state of theatricals. We are not about to work it, but will content ourselves with simply naming, for the edification of the thoughtless, a few of those which have been enumerated. Ingenuity is ever most fertile, where uncertainty prevails, and accordingly this lamentable consequence has been severally ascribed to the frown of fashion,-to the capricious disfavour of the press, the straightened purses of pleasure-hunters, the misguidance of managerial monarchs,-public apathy,— monopolies, the absence of general talent, as well among histrionic artisans, as in dramatic composition,--and a crowd of minor suppositions, any one of all which, were sufficient to have wrought, in a greater or less degree, to the sore prejudice of the acted drama. Now fashion may have done much, but fashion, though a leader, is itself led; managerial influences may have accomplished much, for they are as omnipotent as they have been, allegedly deleterious; but (to pass by the other attributed reasons as of less comparative force) much more in the opinion of many whose thoughts are worth the having, has been effected by the hearty, unqualified, and concurrent censure in which the press has, for some years past, indulged. If there be one power of easier achievement, and of more general exercise than another, it is the power to find fault; and that disposition is of prescriptive right, exhibited upon all fitting occasions by the critics of this favoured land, in a peculiar degree, for grumbling is the birthright of every Englishman. Undeniably one unceasing growl, most untowardly for the dynasty of the drama, has issued from the sensorial throats of our literary guardians, the primum mobile of which it were now difficult to discover. All our scribes, it is quite certain, have long concurred, with most felicitous unanimity, in smothering it under the cumuli of their rancorous hostility. Fierce as fightingcocks in their general inter-enmity, they have united in accordant fraternity to pour upon it the phials of their aggregated wrath, or to use it in commonality, as the waste-pipe for the escape of their unlovely humours; that there has been fair reason for much of this acerbity, no one can doubt, and no one can doubt, moreover, that it has necessarily increased the evil it sought to redress. The continued strain of this unrelenting vituperation could not fail ultimately to induce a corresponding tone among those who were its warmest supporters; and the public, a sad weak-minded monster, enjoying a grunt to the full as well as his betters, rose of course en masse and followed in the merciless desecration, till at length every seventeen-year-old frequenter of the two shilling galleries began to babble forth second hand iterations, touching the decline of the drama and the pervertion of its legitimate objects, with as much confident flippancy as any learned Theban of them all. very soul, (let him consult his conscience,) and though he jauntily turn his countenance contemptuously from it, his latent attachment is firm and faithful, and its interests are still dear to him. Much as it is decried, few subjects are more attractive; and, had he common penetration, he would see that the vivid eagerness he unconsciously manifests for all kinds of theatric intelligence, (which, because he clothes his thoughts in hard and unpleasant words, he fancies he despises,) betrays but his unconquered regards. The public, however, still cherishes towards the drama feelings of greater fond. ness than he cares to avow, or has shrewd ness to suspect. He loves a play to his It is partly on account of the univer sality of this feeling, denied as it may be, partly because our purpose is not altogether unsolicited, and partly from reasons which are not the less cogent for being unmentioned, that we have come to the intention of directing our profundity towards the drama, and those of its collateral branches which form the source, if not of amusement, of animadversion to thankless multitudes. We have therefore invested ourselves with all proper parental attributes, and shall straightway exercise our important functions, by watching over its doings, directing its steps, pointing out the course of duty, and, so far as our authority shall extend, enforceing its fulfilment. Publicity is a mighty incentive to good behaviour, and we shall record its advancement to, or retrogression (if further be possible) from the propriety of excellence with even-handed impartiality, lamenting for the error of its ways; in its well-doing rejoicing. As our remarks will be based upon as much liberality as is consistent with truth in its nudest state, and an indifferently fair share of comparative honesty, we shall be sore wounded if our sagacity do not supply such a monthly commentary as shall at least show our desire to serve the interests thus taken under the wings of our protection, and prove to the outermost ends of the earth, the rigorous equity of our decisions, tempered, as they ever are, with clemency in this, as in all other matters, submitted to our decretal judgment. MUSIC. THE only publications that have reached us for notice this month are three vocal sacred quartetts, composed by the late C. W. Bannister, and edited by his son Mr. H. J. Bannister, who has added to each a separate piano-forte accompani ment. The late Mr. Bannister's compositions are, we believe, much esteemed by the dissenting congregations in England. The quartetts before us, entitled Nebo, Shirley, and Consummation, are well con structed compositions, in the anthem style The subjects are simple and melodious; and the harmony is uniformly accurate and effective. Although not, perhaps, exactly calculated to gratify the scientific amateur, these compositions well deserve the extensive circulation they have obtained. They are the productions of a tasteful and well-informed musician, and are well fitted to inspire devotional feeling. |