sociates and Academicians. We must, however, refrain from entering further upon a matter, the consideration of which does not perhaps come strictly within our province, more particularly as it is one that has, we believe, already undergone some discussion.

The works which most abound in the present exhibition of the Society of Painters in Water-colours are, as usual, landscapes and rustic figure-pieces, many of which are highly attractive, if it be only on account of the pleasing localities and groups of peasantry represented by them. There are, however, several interiors and poetical subjects of great interest; and the exhibitors being all men of experience, there is not a single contribution that can be called absolutely bad.

In

The largest and most elaborate performance is No. 125. The Murder of the Bishop of Liege-G. CATTERMOLE. this production we have ample evidence of Mr. Cattermole's manipulative skill, as well as of his intimate knowledge of the art of design. We doubt, nevertheless, whether the figure referred to in the accompanying quotation from Quentin Durward is sufficiently prominent. The spectator does not, without looking very closely into the details, perceive the "uplifted bare and sinewy arm" of the Bishop's assailant; nor does the latter, when discovered, seem to possess the necessary degree of energy. The figure and representation of the Prelate are admirable. The subordinate characters are also well introduced, and the ensemble presents very much the effect of an oil painting. Mr. Cattermole is occasionally a little inky; but here that defect of colour is not apparent. No. 254. New Hall, Warwickshire, by the same artist, is on a minor scale; and though what is commonly considered slight and sketchy, may be consulted as an excellent study of ancient armour.

No. 57. Scene in the Highlands—W. EVANS. We hardly know which to approve the most in Mr. Evans's landscapes, the simplicity of his figures, or the beauty of his scenery. The whole of the six or eight examples of his in the gallery, are executed in the most artist-like manner, and, at the same time delightfully true to nature. No. 66. An Irish Peasant, is especially worthy of examination.

No. 75. Dale Turnpike-gate, near Brighton-F. NASH. The spot represented by this drawing, which will be readily recognised by many, is singularly attractive, and has, if we mistake not, very frequently been seized upon as one welladapted to the purposes of the sketcher; but we will venture to say that it was

never more successfully treated than in the present case by Mr. Nash. The pencilling is free and masterly, the colouring natural, and the identity perfect.

No. 191. The Dromios-H. RICHTER. We have seen more pleasing specimens of Mr. Richter's talent as a figure-painter, than the illustration here given of a passage from the Comedy of Errors, which is not particularly happy either in the design or the execution. The tone of colour is disagreeable; and, in the treatment of his subject, the artist has approached too closely to caricature. The features of the Dromios need not surely have been so coarse and repulsiye.

No. 248. View on the Thames, near Henley-P. DE WINT. The pictures of this gentleman do not appear to us to be so numerous as usual; what he has, however, are, if possible, an improvement upon his former achievements, and herein may probably be found the cause. The example we have pointed out is one of those performances which can only be produced by a close attention to nature, and it betrays less of the mechanism of the art than is sometimes to be detected in the works of the same master.

No. 317. Dresden; and No. 340, Louvain-S. PROUT. A pair of street views, in which the architecture is in the best style of the artist, and the figures scarcely inferior to those of Canaletti, Guardi, and other painters of similar subjects of the Italian school; a particular in which the moderns, generally speaking, are so lamentably deficient. Mr. Prout has several other specimens to which we might allude with equal commendation. No. 97, Abbeville, in particular, is inimitable.

The

His

No 313. Study of a Head-W. HUNT. Mr. Hunt's little pictures are doubtless faithful sketches of the objects they are intended to represent. In his portraiture, however, there is invariably a want of relief, a fault which is still more apparent in his fruit and flower subjects. study exhibited under the above title is a favourable specimen of his manner. portraits of boys holding candles, paper lanterns, and the like, are repetitions of his former pieces; these accessories being obviously re-introduced for the sole purpose of throwing upon the faces a strong reflexion of light: a species of quackery, if we may so call it, which, so constantly resorted to, seems to bespeak a poverty of invention. No. 12. The Interior of an old Priory, is coarse, and yet not particularly effective; a remark that will equally apply to No. 88, Scared, another attempt at powerful effects of light. No. 118. Arundel Castle · COPLEY FIELDING. Mr. Fielding's prolific pen

cil has again been chiefly employed on the varied and picturesque scenery of the west of Sussex. The sweeping tracts to be found in many parts of that county are evidently localities in which his genius greatly delights, and certainly no description of landscape can be more happily suited to the peculiarities of his pencil. This view of the ancient edifice we have named is, nevertheless, one of the choicest specimens of his in the present exhibition. No. 130. View on the Downs above Telscomb, Lewes, though sketchy, is exceedingly fresh and effective.

No. 48. Scene from Burns-A. CHISHOLM. Good in colour, and extremely well painted. The effect is also pleasing and natural.

No. 37. Venice J. HOLLAND. A neatly-executed drawing; but, like most of the works of the artist, wanting in originality. Bonington has many admirers, of whom Mr. H. is not the least ardent.

175. Charles V. Emperor of Germany visiting Francis I. in Prison after the Battle of Pavia-JOSEPH NASH. A clear and well-painted picture, with considerable brilliancy and harmony of colouring. The expression of the figures is also appropriate to the scene which the work is intended to commemorate.

No. 253. Weary Travellers-F. TAYLER. In the rustic groups exhibited by this artist, we always find so much to praise, and so little to blame, that it is with reluctance, and also with great distrust of our own judgment, that we presume to ask him, if he has not this year indulged rather too freely in the use of a favourite yellow tint? His figures, as seen in the numerous works now exhibited, are all admirably true to nature, and, with the single defect that we fancy we discover in some of them, as regards colour, perfectly faultless. His Weary Travellers may be pointed to as one of his most pleasing contributions to the present collection. BARRET and he always work excellently together.

No. 247. A Dutch Canal; and No. 255, Sketch-J. S. COTMAN. A pair of exquisitely finished pictures, in which are displayed great facility in drawing and originality of style.

No. 112. A Bull-Fight at Seville-J. F. LEWIS. The artist has not given himself sufficient space for the just representation of a Spanish bull-fight; and the figures he has introduced are consequently huddled together, in a way that was never seen either at Seville, where these disgusting sports are given in the primitive style of the country, or in any other part of Spain. The ring is spacious, say two

GENT. MAG. VOL. V.

hundred and fifty feet in diameter or thereabouts, whereas, in Mr. Lewis's drawing, it would appear to be scarcely a tenth of that extent. The bull, moreover, does not seem to us to answer the description of an Andalusian bull, which we have understood to be somewhat large, and with a considerable length of horn. Mr. Lewis's bull resembles a small Indian buffalo, and scarcely exceeds the size of his human assailants. The picture has evidently been painted in haste, and from rapidly executed sketches. The contrabandistas and other subjects exhibited by the same gentleman, notwithstanding that they are little else than repetitions of his former works, and, in point of texture, somewhat hard and slaty, are more to our satisfaction. Mr. Lewis has selected his models exclusively from among the Moorish and Gipsy tribes, and they therefore afford the spectator but a very inadequate idea of genuine Spanish beauty.

No. 146. Winter Morning Scene-W. TURNER. We have here so vivid a representation of a December day, with snow on the ground, and the farmer's man staggering beneath a truss of fodder in the distance, that it positively chills us to look upon it. We could almost persuade ourselves that it must be from the pencil of the artist's namesake of the Academy, who used to do these things so exquisitely in oils. Nothing can be better. Mr. Turner's View near the Observatory in Greenwich Park, is a correct, though somewhat sombre transcript of the site referred to, which, however, does not appear to us to be particularly captivating. The masses of foliage introduced into the foreground seem to want loosening and breaking to pieces. They have certainly much too formal a character in their present state.

BARTHOLOMEW has several of his very delightful specimens of birds, fruit, and flowers; and CRISTALL, STEPHANOFF, Cox, HARDING, HILLS, and GASTINEAU, each in his particular walk, are all as unexceptionable as usual.

It affords us much gratification to be able to state, in conclusion, that this interesting branch of the fine arts continues to be liberally patronised. The rooms of the society are every day numerously and fashionably attended, more especially by ladies; and a very large proportion of the works exhibited have already found purchasers.

We hope, next month, by which time the galleries will have become less crowded with visitors than at present, to give some account of the pictures at SomersetHouse.

6 N

New Works announced for Publication.

A very splendid prospectus of a new HISTORY OF KENT has been lately issued by the Rev. THOMAS STREATFEILD, F.S. A. of Chart's Edge, Westerham. It contains several beautiful specimens of engravings, both on copperplate and wood; as well as an ample display of the author's stores of information, and is so much in the nature of a book, that we intend to notice it again more fully.

Aphthonii Theonisque Progymnasmata, Studiosis Rhetorica Opuscula apprime utilia, Versione Latina, et notis, exercitationumque exemplis instructa.

Mr. HALLAM'S Introduction to the Literary History of the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries.

Outlines of a Journey through ArabiaPetræa to Mount Sinai and the Excavated City of Petra-the Edom of the Prophecies. By M. LEON De Laborde.

LORD MAHON'S History of England, from the Peace of Utrecht to the Peace of Aix-la-Chapelle. (1712-1748).

History of the Fall of Poland, from the German of FREDERICK VON RAU

A Classical Tour in Attica, and Residence in Athens. By the Rev. CHRISTOPHER WORDSWORTH.

Essays towards the History of Painting, by Ms. CALCOTT.

Histoire de France du Petit Louis, par M. CALCOTT.

An Architectural Tour in Normandy, with some Remarks on Norman Architecture. By HENRY GALLY KNIGHT, esq. M.P.

The Reliquary. By BERNARD and LUCY BARTON, with an Introductory appeal for Poetry and Poets.

British Song Birds; being Popular Descriptions and Anecdotes of the British Choristers of the Groves. By NEVILLE WOOD, esq. Also, by the same Author, The Ornithologist's Text Book.

An Analysis of the Civil Law, in which a Comparison is occasionally made between the Roman Laws and those of England; by the late Bishop Hallifax. By J. W. GELDART. LL.D. the King's Professor of the Civil Law in the University of Cambridge.

Four Discourses on Repentance. By the Rev. T. AINGER, M.A. Assistant Minister of St. Mary's, Greenwich.

BRIAND.

A new work by Miss LANDON, entitled, Traits and Trials of Early Life.

Alfred the Great, a Poem, in Nine Books, By NEWNHAM COLLINGWOOD, author of Life and Correspondence of Admiral Lord Collingwood.

The Tribunal of Manners, a Satirical Poem.

Lessing's Laöcoon. By Mr. W. Ross, late Professor of Painting and Sculpture in the Glasgow University.

The Opinions of the European Press on the Eastern Question. By DAVID Ross, of Bladensburg, esq.

A Selection of the most remarkable of the Tribe of Orchideous Plants, in folio Plates. By Dr. LINDLEY.

Report upon the Commerce of the Ports of New Russia, Moldavia, and Wallachia, made to the Russian Government in 1835.

The Harmony of Phrenology with the Doctrines of Christianity; being a refutation of the Errors contained in Mr. Combe's Constitution of Man, in relation to external objects. By Mr. Scorт, of Teviotbank.

The Posthumous Works of the late William Godwin, including an autobiography, correspondence, &c. Edited by his daughter Mrs. SHELLEY.

The Naturalist, illustrative of the Animal, Vegetable, and Mineral Kingdoms, to be continued monthly. By B. MAUND, F.L.S. and W. HOLL, F.G.S.

The Odes of Anacreon, from the original Greek. By JAMES FISHER.

On the Violin, by GEORGE Dubourg, with an account of its most eminent professors.

Fishing Anecdotes, with Hints for Anglers. By EDW. JESSE, Esq. author of Gleanings in Natural History.

Tales of Fashion and Reality. By the Daughters of Lord Frederick Beauclerk,

Mr. W. UPCOTT has drawn up and printed, for private circulation, a Catalogue of Original Letters, MSS. and State Papers, collected by him during the last twenty-five years. We fully believe that no private individual possesses so rich a treasure of literary and historical curiosities. After having succeeded in forming such a combination of valuable materials, it is natural to wish to see it preserved entire. This, we perceive, is Mr. Upcott's desire; and it would give us great pleasure to find that the Trustees of the British Museum had secured the whole for the gratification of the public. In this we are sure our readers will agree, when we state, that besides the larger articles, the collection consists of 32,000 letters, illustrated by 3000 portraits, classed in alphabetical or chronological order, not to mention the beauty with which the whole are arranged, interleaved, and superbly bound. The Clarendon Papers and Correspondence, the Thoresby Papers, the Dayrolles and Da Costa Correspondence, have proved, or are likely to prove when published, an inexhaustible source of information and amusement.

ROYAL SOCIETY.

March 24. F. Baily, esq. Treas. V. P. Richard Beamish, esq. was elected Fellow. The sequel of Professor Forbes's paper on the temperatures and geological relations of certain Hot Springs, particularly those of the Pyrennees, and on the verification of thermometers, was read. The Society adjourned, over Easter, to

April 14. Mr. Baily in the chair. Professor Forbes's paper was concluded. April 21. R. I. Murchison, esq. V.P. Read, additional Observations on Voltaic Combinations, by John Fred. Daniell, esq. Professor of Chemistry in King's College, London.

April 28. Davies Gilbert, esq. V.P. Capt. John James Chapman was elected Fellow. A paper on Railways, by the Rev. Dionysius Lardner, LL.D. was read; and a statement received of the observations of the Barometer and Thermometer kept at Tunis, during the years 18291832, by Sir Thomas Reade, Consulgeneral.

May 5. Mr. Baily in the chair. E. Burton, esq. W. S. Cox, esq. and Capt. T. L. Lewis, R. E. were elected Felłows. A paper, on the Optical Phenomena of certain Crystals, by H. F. Talbot, esq. was partly read.

May 12. Rev. W. Whewell, V.P. Mr. Talbot's paper was concluded; and part was read of another, On the applica

The noble President then delivered his annual address, in which, after alluding, in affecting language, to the associates and friends lost during the past year, he proceeded to take a general view of the present state of literature. Referring

then to recent contributions to our stock of authentic history, he noticed the con-tinuation of the great work of Sismondi, Colletta's History of Naples, and Von Hammer's excellent History of the Ottoman Empire; he made some remarkable remarks on the disgraceful class of fictitious Memoirs fabricated in France, and also on their debasing school of novels; and then referred, with striking effect, to the Dispatches and Correspondence of the Marquess Wellesley and the Duke of Wellington (recently published), and pointed out the benefits which ge. nuine history derived from such works. The Society having distinguished itself by the exertions of its members in the advancement of Egyptian literature, much information was brought together on this point, in the noble Lord's discourse; and

the results of the researches of Hoskins and Champollion, of Salvolini and Biot, of Leemans and Wilkinson, were candidly considered. The address will be printed for the members of the Society.

ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY,

May 7. The thirteenth anniversary meeting was held, the Rt. Hon. C. W. Williams Wynn, President, in the chair. The report stated that the accession of new members had been greater than ordinary; but the casualties had exceeded the elections by one. Well-merited tributes were paid to the memories of Major

Price, Colonel Tod, Colonel Broughton, and other members, of whom the Society had been recently deprived by death. Among other topics, the report alluded to the withdrawal by the Bengal govern. ment of the patronage and support it had previously extended to the publication of standard oriental works, under the auspices of the committee of public instruction in Calcutta; and stated, that a deputation had waited on the chairman and deputy chairman of the East India Company, and afterwards on the president of the Board of Control, to intercede for a reversal of this measure.

Sir A. Johnston, chairman to the committee of correspondence, in an able speech, gave a full detail of the various subjects connected with the East, that had engaged the attention of the committee during the preceding year; which he was requested to reduce to writing, that it might be published in the proceedings of the Society.

The Secretary read the minutes of a committee, appointed to consider the formation of a committee of trade and agriculture, in relation to the East. This report fully concurred in the desirability of adopting the plan proposed; but, as it would involve the necessity of an additional expenditure on the part of the Society, which the state of its funds would not permit, recommended a separate subscription, which was immediately commenced.

The President then rose, and delivered an able address on the prospects of the Society. He remarked that it was impossible not to perceive an increased interest in the proceedings of the Society; its sphere of usefulness was widely extended; and he felt particular gratification in congratulating the meeting on the proposal for establishing a committee of agriculture and trade. The manner in which the natives of India were now considered in this country was another source of gratification. Truer ideas were now formed of their capacity, disposition, and acquirements. He could not approve, however, of the discontinuance of printing standard oriental works under the patronage of the Indian government. He agreed in the views of the Bengal government, for spreading the English language among the natives; but he felt convinced that to attempt to force the natives to adopt it would produce a complete reaction, and defeat the plan. When he considered how warmly the people of India were attached to their own learning and literature, it was not probable that, out of compliment to their rulers, they would adopt all at once another language.

A striking example of the truth of his observations might be found in the case of his own country, Wales; and in Poland.

ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.

March 28. Read, 1. An account of the present state of the ruins of Berenice, by Lieut. Wellstead, I. N.; 2. A description of the trading boats in use among the Maldive Islands, illustrated by models, by Capt. Mansby, I. N.; 3. Major Mitchell's official letter, detailing the circumstances of his recent excursion to explore the course of the Darling, behind

New South Wales.

April 11. Letters were read from Mr. Becroft, reporting his voyage up the Quorra; from Mr. Davidson, at Morocco; also two papers on the physical geography of Labrador, from the official reports of Capt. James Hope, of his Majesty's sloop Racer; and on the province of Costa Rica, in Central America, by Col. Galindo.

April 25. Read, the principal circumstances in the life of Abu Bekr, a native of Timbuctoo, who accompanies Mr. Davidson into the interior of Africa.

May 9. Read, 1. Observations on the ancient intercourse between India and Europe, by Lieut. Dickinson, 14th reg. B.N.I.; 2. Account of the federation of Central America, by Col. Galindo.

May 16. The Anniversary Meeting took place when it was announced, that on account of the discoveries of Captain Back, in his recent expedition, a deputation from the Society, consisting of the Earl of Ripon, Sir John Franklin, and Captain Back, had waited upon the Lords of the Admiralty with the different views that had been given to the Society upon the subject. On their representation his Majesty's ship Terror has been placed under the command of Captain Back, to proceed to the Mayne River, on the western shore of North America, near Sir J. Ross's Welcome. His first directions were to ascertain the most convenient place for the transportation of boats and stores across the intervening isthmus, and, having placed his ship in security, he was to proceed with the resources placed at his command along the shores of Prince Regent's Inlet, and connect the point whence he will start, with Hecla and Fury Straits and Point Turnagain. The utmost exertion is being used in fitting out the expedition, which, it is expected, will sail early in June.

Captain Maconochie, secretary to the Geographical Society, is appointed secretary to Captain Sir John Franklin, the new Governor of Van Diemen's Land. His loss will be much felt by the Society.