vestigation, and in the mere necessity for the terms the first time in 1824, he remarked in the cavity twelve needful to describe phenomena, that meet us almost on distinct places covered with red-hot lava, and three or the surface of the earth. Nearly the whole table lands, four from which it spouted to the height of thirty or and gentle acclivities of the mountains, are covered with forty feet. deposits of gravel and loam, to the production of which But besides this, every other volcano of importance, no cause now seen in action is adequate, and which can and its phenomena, whence issue lava or steam, as in therefore be referred only to the waters of a sudden and the Geysers of Iceland, is adverted to, if we except an transient deluge. This deposit is hence called diluvium extraordinary one of mud in the island of Java, which by geologists. In it, the pebbles and loam are always might have been noticed. This forms a chapter as inpromiscuously blended, whereas, among the regular se- teresting, and even thrilling, as the finest romance we condary and tertiary strata, they occur separate in alter. ever read. As to the causes of volcanic action, parti. nate beds. The term alluvium is bestowed on the marl, cularly of the formation of lava, Dr Ure agrees with the sand, and gravel, deposited by existing rivers and lakes, learned Sir H. Davy, whose admirable speculationsor on planes exposed to occasional inundation. The confirmed by still more admirable experiments-he ex. ablest writers, Cuvier, Buckland, Brogniart, Conybeare, plains and illustrates; and with him regards the causes &c. now adopt these distinctions.

assigned in older times, as the combustion of coal strata, With these distinctive appellatives in view, our author &c. &c. as quite inadequate. With this we think it proceeds to the proofs, collected with astonishing re- impossible not to agree, since the only objection to the search, and arranged with much skill, of the diluvian, present theory of the eruption of water can thus be obor flooding, action of water having reached the summits viated. of the loftiest mountains; and, as concatenated by him, The second cause is, they form the most interesting and irresistible chain of II. BASALTIC ERUPTION-in treating of which, a evidence we have ever seen in science, or even in juris- survey of the whole trap districts of this country is ad. prudence or metaphysics. Among them it is remarked, mirably given. The account of the Campsie range of —“In central Asia, bones of horses and deer, which were hills is full of interest and beauty. The igneous origin found at a height of 16,000 feet above the sea, in the of basalt we think he convincingly proves-negatively, Himmala mountains, are now deposited at the Royal from the existence of whindykes, traversing all rocks College of Surgeons in London. They were got by the indifferently—and positively, from, 1. The identity of Chinese Tartars of Duba, in the north face of the snowy chemical composition in basalt and lava ; and, 2. The ridge of Kylas, in lat. 32° N., out of the masses of ice constant occurrence of trap rocks in volcanic districts. that fall with the avalanches, from the regions of per.

( To be concluded in our next.)
petual snow. The preceding facts attest, that all the
high hills that were under the whole heavens were co-
vered' by the waters of the deluge."

FINE ARTS.
Another species of proof is that afforded by what
Hutchinson and Catcott showed long ago, that the sur.
face of the earth in many places, where it is at present

SCULPTURE. furrowed by valleys, must have been formerly conti- History of Sculpture, Painting, and Architecture. nuous: and this in innumerable instances, where By J. S. Memes, LL.D. Constable's Miscellany. streams do not exist at all ; in many chalk downs, for Vol. XXXIX. Edinburgh. 1829. example, or where the existing streams, as has been de monstrated already, are quite inadequate to the effectis To produce a condensed and able history of the Fine thus powerfully clenched, by reference to a familiar il- Arts requires a highly cultivated taste, a vivid imagilustration. But, besides all these, the saline impregna. nation, an intellectual refinement free from the tram. tion of many of our plains furnishes an overwhelming mels of any particular school, and a judgment almost proof of the present land being once submerged by the mathematically true. We feel no hesitation in saying, ocean.

that an author possessing these requisites in no slight The fact, then, of a universal deluge being demon- degree has been at work on the present instructive and strated, an inductive enquiry into its causes naturally delightful volume. Easy and perspicuous in its arfollows. These are eruptive powers, similar to those rangement, faithfully historical in its statements, vigo. which raised the primordial land, acting under the bot- rous and animated in its style, and often enthusiastic and tom of the primeval ocean, rolled its waters orer the an. eloquent in its descriptions, this work is entitled to a cient continents, many of which were broken down and high rank among the elegant literature of the day; and sunk in the sea, whilst new territories were upheaved we hail it as, in a particular manner, calculated to enand laid bare, and are thus arranged :

courage and hasten the revival of that pure and clas. 1. VOLCANIC Action--in treating of which, the sical taste which is alone able to secure great improveaccount of Mouna Roa, in the island of Owhyhce, just- ment in any department of art. Intellectual refinement ly termed the most remarkable volcano ever described, is the very element upon which the Fine Arts feed ;forms a singular and novel feature. It is estimated to they were never the slaves of mere power, never helped rise to the prodigious height of 15,000 feet, contains an to swell the pageant of tyrannical triumph, nor were enormous crater, eight miles in circumference, and in- ever dragged captive at the chariot wheels of ostentation cludes a vast lake of molten lava, subject to horrific ex- and pride. They sprang into celebrity in the free and plosions and undulations. The crater, instead of being intellectual country of Greece, where genius expanded all the truncated top of a mountain, distinguishable at a her prismatic colours, and where the more sturdy and distance in every direction, is an immense chasm in an heroic virtues walked hand in hand with all the gentler upland country, near the base of the mountain, and is sensibilities of our nature. But if the public taste be approached, not by ascending a cone, but by descending vitiated, it is in vain to look for purity of design from two vast terraces. It is not visible from any point, at the artist. There will always be found minds, and a greater distance than half a mile. The whole summit minds too of considerable power, willing enough to pan. of its ancient cone secms to have fallen in, and formed der to public appetite. That this has been the case, the precipitous ruins which encircle the crater to a dis- alike in architecture, painting, and sculpture, we have tance of from fifteen to twenty miles. The bottom of more than sufficient melancholy proofs presented to us the gulf within has a circumference of five or six miles, in our streets and exhibition rooms Dr Memes has reand a depth of 1500 feet, the descent being in general solutely gone to the root of the evil, forcibly addressing practicable. When Mr Goodrich visited this crater for himself to the public, that the artist may profit by their

improvement. He has not stopped to delineate all the ing, from the press, we are inclined to be even more petty and scholastic differences of art, but he has given sceptical than Dr Memes, as to the actual position it is a broad and intellectual coup d'ail of his subject; and entitled to hold on the graduated scale of art. That the we will venture to affirm, that most men who read the Egyptians had many difficulties to contend with, no one work candidly and attentively will perceive a new light will deny :-the very spirit of their laws and religious breaking in upon what they had previously been plea- opinions were directly opposed to improvement of any sed to denominate their taste ; and, as one symptom sort, which they considered as only another term for of its amelioration, will become much more, diffident innovation. Their gods, (unlike those of the Greeks,) regarding matters, concerning whose principles they will instead of being embodied representations of ideal ex. be forced to confess that, but yesterday, they knew no- cellence, collected and arranged from the finest examthing.

ples of human formation, more generally partook of the Our author commences his labours with an “Intro- character of brutified monsters; which, whether merely duction," in which he shortly considers the theories that symbolical or not, in no small degree assisted in retard. have been advanced regarding the existence of a standing the progress of sculpture. In the nursery days of ard of taste, and the nature of beauty. We are much all countries, religion will be found to be the heart pleased with the concise, clear, yet comprebensive man- whence flow the arteries that feed aud nourish them. Upon ner, in which these points are treated. Intricate dis- the character which religion first assumes depends a cussions on such subjects are too metaphysical to be thousand circumstances; but none more than the pro-, useful ; and, by attempting to carry the reader too far, gress and improvement of the Fine Arts. Sculpture they resemble rivers which have overflowed their bound may be said to have had its origin in Polytheism. Had aries, seldom retaining permanent possession of any por. the early inhabitants of Egyp:, Greece, and Italy, ention of the ground they have usurped. Since the time tertained the religious opinions of the Corenanters, it is when Aristotle wrote, “ Tògàę xuñò év fesyeðsı xào tábor noi probable that either sculpture, architecture, or paintése," hundreds have attempted comments on a texting, would ever have arrived at much perfection amongst so vague; and so many have been baffled in its in- them. But even had the Egyptians been willing to terpretation, that the interest may be said to gather model their sculpture after the best examples of the hustrength with the difficulty. The notions which Burke man form, they would have failed to arrive at a good promulgates in his Essay on the Sublime and Beautiful conclusion ; because their own thick lips, and heavy show, better than any other, to what unphilosophical contours, were immeasurably removed from grace or conclusions we must come, when we attempt to discover beauty. Their statues, possessing no indications of general principles and fixed statutes, for the regulation anatomical knowledge, and but little appearance of es. of what must ever depend on such an endless variety of pression, sentiment, or feeling, derive their sole interest unconventional causes. of the seven elementary prin- from their antiquity, their position, their magnitude, ciples, laid down by that writer, as the indispensable -and, in some few instances, the mysterious uncertain requisites of beauty in general, not one will be found ty with regard to the use and end of their formation. applicable to Architectural beauty. Nay, sometimes There may frequently be scen, in some of the wilder they are at open variance with its most efficient causes. mountain passes of our own country, masses of detached A ware of the danger of either generalizing too much, or rock playfully fashioned, by the hand of nature, into a reof dwelling too long on painful and hazardous minu- semblance of humanity, which will producequite as much tiæ, Dr Memes has first carefully cleared away all the cffect upon our sympathies as the Sphynx and many unnecessary verbiage which has attached itself to the other of the graceless Egyptian relics." The uniformity subject, and which, like the ivy, often totally obscures of stiff and awkward attitudes, as if a common mould what it was at first only intended to adorn ; and he then had been used for them all, shows great ignorance of boldly and lucidly proceeds to the statement of his own drawing ; and Dr Memes has very felicitously supposed opinions, which put the matter in its true light, clear that, in many cases, the outline was first traced from a ly proving, that if by a standard be meant " a perma. | body laid prostrate upon the block, and then finished af. nent rule of taste, beyond which human invention or terwards with a vacillating and uncertain hand. genius shall never pass,” there is no such thing ; but, We turn with pleasure from this infantine appearance on the other hand, that, “as in every species of ex- of the art, to its full power and thorough developement perimental science, those researches, in their practice in Greece. There sculpture attained the greatest perfecthe most carefully conducted, and in their inferences tion of which it is capable ; for its capacity of improvethe most consistent, are regarded as the canons of sci. ment is much more limited than that of painting. The entific truth ; so, in the liberal arts, those noble munu- range which it possesses, however, is quite large enough ments which, during the longest period, and to the to allow sufficient elbow-room for genius of the most greatest number of competent judges, have yielded the aspiring nature. Even the fiery and enthusiastic spirit most satisfaction, are justly esteemed standards of taste of Buonarotti had taken flight before he approximated -rules by which all other works are to be tried.” to the sober majesty and exquisite finish which charac.

Dr Memes discusses, as best illustrating the history terise the works of the Grecian masters. Of their standand common principles of all, Sculpture, before either ard of beauty, as displayed in the representation of their Architecture or Painting, and to a short consideration Divinities, much has been written ; and some disciples of this division of his work we at present intend to con- of the school of Michael Angelo have even gone the fine ourselves ; but shall also proceed with him, in due length of denying that it is one which should regulate time, to the two other interesting heads.

other artists, alleging that it is deficient in expression. In Egypt--that mysterious country, that Cheops of It may, however, be almost demonstrated, that the standthe earth, concerning which such mighty things are conjectured, and so very little really known, whence

• We here more particularly allude to the statements made in science earliest began to dawn upon Europe, and the at. diverse letters recently published in the Gazette de France, tendant arts to show their hutnanizing faces, the first copied in the London Literary Gazette, Irom M. Champollion, approximation was made to what may legitimately be unwilling to doubt the accuracy of documents presented as it were

now forming part of the French expedition in Egypt. Though termed Sculpture. But, however costly, we doubt ex- in an official manner to our notice, we yet cannot help forcibly tremely thai Egyptian Sculpture was ever possessed of recollecting the erroneous opinions and strained embellishinents

with which M. Denon and others have already found it profitable much beauty. In spite of all the extravagant com. to feed the public taste. If the discoveries asserted to have taken mendation that has been heaped upon it-in spite of place, are truly of the nature described in M. Champollion's all the overdrawn descriptions of the emotions it excites epistles, especially as respects the columns alleged to be the true in the beholder, which have issued, and are still issu. position than she has yet done in the history of the Fine Arts.

ard is a good one. Professor Camper, after measuring « These fish are iv'ry--but by Phidias made: and comparing, with a laborious minuteness peculiarly

From want of water only—seem they dead.' Dutch, an immense variety of skulls, concludes his la- “ Of the works belonging to the first division, the bours by triumphantly exclaiming, “ Ifit now be asked, Olympian Jupiter, and the Minerva of the Parthenon, what is meant by a fine countenance, we may answer, colossal statues composed of gold and ivory, were the that in which the facial line makes an angle of 100 de- most wonderful productions of ancient art. The formgrees with the horizon. The ancient Greeks have, con- er, placed in the Temple at Elis, was sixty feet high, sequently, chosen this angle.” This is going a certain in a reposing attitude, the body naked to the cincture, length, but not far; for the question still remains un- the lower limbs clothed in a robe gemmed with golden answered, Why does the facial line, when at such an flowers; the hair also was of gold, bound with an enaangle, appear more agrecable than any other ? Sir melled crown; the eyes of precious stones ; the rest of Joshua Reynolds has attempted to get rid of the difi. ivory. Notwithstanding the gigantic proportions, every culty in a very ingenious manner. According to him, part was wrought with the most scrupulous delicacy ; "beauty is the medium or centre of the various forms even the splendid throne was carved with exquisite of the individual ;-every species of animal has a fixed nicety. The whole was finished before the artist had and determinate form, towards which nature is conti. obtained the direction of the public works of the Athe. nually inclining, like various lines terminating in a nians, in the 83d Olympiad, after a labour of ten years ; centre, or like pendulums vibrating in different direc- the same date in which Herodotus read the second part tions over one central point ; and as they all cross the of his history, the first regular prose composition that centre, though only one passes through any other point, had been heard at Athens. so it will be found, that perfect beauty is oftener pro- “ About twelve years later was executed the Miner. duced than any one kind of deformity.” “ But,” justly va, of inferior dimensions, being only forty feet in altiremarks Charles Bell, in his second Essay on the Anatomy tude, but equal, if not superior, in beauty of workmanof Expression, “ how shall we reconcile this with the ship and richness of material, the nude being of ivory, form of the antique ? Though this theory may account the ornaments of gold. A flowing tunic added grace for the straight line of the ridge of the nose being more to the erect attitude of the goddess ; in one hand was a beautiful than that which is concave or convex, because spear, upon the head a casque ; on the ground a buckit is the central form, it will not explain the peculiar. ler, exquisitely carved, the concave representing the ity of the form of the nose, brow, and eye, of the an-giants' war, the convex a conflict with the Amazons, tique.” “ The true cause of beauty in the antique," portraits of the artist and of his patron being introduced proceeds the same author, " is the ennobling the form of among the Athenian combatants-one cause of the futhe head, by increasing those peculiarities of character, ture misfortunes which envy brought upon the author. --the indication of intellect and the powers of expres. On the golden sandals was also sculptured another fasion, which distinguish the human form, and by care- vourite subject, the battle of the Centaurs, praised by fully reversing those proportions which produce a re- historians as a perfect gem of minute art. semblance to the physiognomy of hrutes." Completely “ Such admiration attached to these two works, that coinciding with this view of the case, we at once dis- they were regarded as having added majesty to the recover one of the greatest causes of our admiration of the ceived religion,' and it was esteemed a misfortune not Greeks, namely, the originality of thought, and scienti. to have been able, once in a lifetime, to behold them. fic research, thus exhibited by them ; and, even were Yet judged according to the true principles of genuine their brightest efforts to be equalled by modern artists, art, theirs was not a legitimate beauty. It does not ex. still the grand source of our respect and reverence would cité surprise, then, to learn that Phidias himself disremain for the minds that first conceived, and the hands approved of the mixed effect produced by such a comwhich first palpably gave being to, an entirely new ar- bination of different substances, nor will it appear prerangement of forms, yet so aptly mingled, that they may sumption here to condemn these splendid representations. be said to hover betwixt heaven and earth.

It is not sufficient that a work of art does produce a Here it is, luxuriating amongst the immortal produc- powerful impression-it is indispensable to its excel. tions of an immortal people, that Dr Memes' pen seems lence that the means employed be in accordance with to bound under bis hand like a “steed that knows his the principles and the mode of imitation. Now, in the rider.” Dr Memes has himself visited the country of compositions just described, exposed as they were to the glorious reminiscences, and he speaks with all the ar- dim light of the ancient temple, and from very magnidour and enthusiasm of one who had lingered amongst tude imperfecily comprehended, the effects of variously its ruins, and, in the inspiration of the moment, had reflecting surfaces, now gloom, now glowing of uncalled forth the mighty from their tumbling sepulchres, earthly lustre, must have been rendered doubly impoto pass in bright review before him. We cannot follow sing. But this influence, though well calculated to in. him through all his descriptions; but we must give one crease superstitious devotion, or to impress mysterious portrait :

terror on the bewildered sense, was meretricious, altogether diverse from the solemn repose, the simple ma

jesty of form and expression, which constitute the true “This great master, the son of Charmidas, an Athenian citizen, was born about the 720 Olympiad, or

sublimity of sculptural representation.

“ Statuary, or the art of casting in bronze, as the nearly 500 years before our era, and studied under Ela term was used by the ancients, Phidias carried to undas. His numerous works belonged to three distinct rivalled perfection. The Amazon, the Minerva, at Lemclasses : Toreutic, or statues of mixed materials, ivory nos, and in the Acropolis, were considered as the masbeing the chief,-statues of bronze,-sculptures in mar. ble. In this enumeration are included only capital per- nerva Polias, was of such majestic proportions, that the

terpieces in this department. The last, called the Mi. formances, for exercises in wood, plaster, clay, and minute labours in carving, are recorded occasionally to ments of the citadel at a distance of twenty-five miles,

crest and helmet might be discerned above the battlebare occupied his attention. The beauty of these mi pointing home to the Athenian mariner, as he rounded niatures was not inferior to the excellence of his greater the promontory of Sunium. Of these and other works, works;

at once sublime and ingenious, he executed grand descriptions alone remain ; we are consequently indebtundertakings with majesty and force, and the most mied for our positive knowledge of his style and principles nute with simplicity and truth.

to the marble sculptures of Phidias, in which departArtis Phidiacæ toreuma durum

ment numerous admirable performances of his hand Pisces adspicis; adde aquam, natabunt.' have also perished ; but we have here an advantage in

PHIDIAS

the possession of undoubted originals denied in every first impressions created by these works are thus irre other instance."

sistibly powerful; but they startle, surprise, astonish

do not soothe, delight, and satisfy the mind. An influ. The Romans were to the Greeks in sculpture and are ence originating solely in the imagination, and in which chitecture what bad engravers are to good painters; they the sensibilities of the heart have little interest, cannot served to multiply heavy and bungled copies of their long retain its power ; the ordinary tone of feeling reworks. There is nothing interesting in the review of turns, and amid the unquiet and aspiring composition Roman art. There is no originality of thought, no ex. seeks for nature and repose. pansion of soul.

“ If the productions and style of Michael Angelo be We pass in silence over the long slumber of art, du- compared with the great standards of excellence and of ring what may well be termed the dark ages, and has- truth in sculpture nature, and the remains of ancient ten to a period when returning genius began to brighten art, he will be found to have deviated widely from both, the horizon of art. Michael Angelo Buonarotti, in him- or rather, perhaps, he has rendered both subservient to self a constellation, rose in 1474 and set in 1564. In his own particular views of each. He has created to whatever light we consider this man, his name has a himself modes of imitation, which should in themselves right to a high place amongst the mighty of the earth ; claim a paramount importance, independent of all ar. but we shall not presume to enter the lists with such a chetypes ; while thesc latter are connected with the ori. description as the following:

ginals of reality, only as an intermediate step to the

realms of fancy. Hence, round a false, though gorgeMICHAEL ANGELO BUONAROTTI.

ous and imposing art, his genius has swept a magic « For three-fourths of the sixteenth century, this ex- circle, within whose perilous bound no inferior spirit traordinary man presided in the schools, and by his has dared with impunity to tread. Unfortunately, howstyle influenced much longer the principles of modern ever, such was the fascination produced in his own age, art. To him, therefore, during the most brilliant pe. when the forcible and imaginative were admired above riod in the annals which we are now feebly endeavour- the simple and the true, that his works became a stand. ing to trace, is the attention chiefly directed. Nor only ard by which the past was to be tried, and the future in one point of view is his genius to be contemplated directed. As a necessary consequence, a prodigious and He has extended the grasp of a mighty though irregu- irreparable lapse was prepared for the art. The imitalar spirit over our whole subject. Sculptor of the Moses, tion of a natural style will ever be productive of good ; painter of the Last Judgment, architect of the Cupola it will ultimately lead to no imitation, by conducting to we behold him in the greatest of the works of art. It the primeval source. The very reverse is the effect of is this, more than any other circumstance, which has in- following a guide such as Buonarotti, who has depart. vested the character of his genius with a species of aw. ed from naturc farther, we will venture to say, than any ful supremacy not to be enquired into : discrimination great name on record, whether in literature or in art. is losi in general admiration ; and to him who thus Irregularities and imperfections in almost every other seems to bear away the palm of universal talent, we are instance of lofty genius, are forgotten amid the deepinclined to concede the foremost rank in each separate thrilling pathos, or soothing loveliness, of natural es. pursuit. His productions, thus dominating among the pression ; but amid the awe-inspiring, the command. labours of man, bewilder the judgment both by their ing, the overpowering representations of the Tuscan, the real and their apparent magnitude. Thus some giant soul languishes for nature. His creations are not of this cliff, rising far above minor elevations, while it serves world, nor does feeling voluntarily respond to the mysas a landmark to the traveller, misleads his conceptions , terious and uncontrollable mastery wbich they exert of its own distance and immediate relations of site. over it. The cause and progress of this dereliction of

Here it appears the proper, or at least simplest me. nature can also be traced. He had marked the perplexi. thod, to present such gradual unfolding of the subject ties and constraint under which his predecessors had la. as each branch separately may seem to require, reser- | boured, in their endeavours to unite the forms and ex. ving a general view for such place as shall give the pressions of living nature with images of idcal beauty, reader full command of the joint influences, bearings, overlooking the productions of classic sculpture, in and consequences of these details.

which this union is so happily accomplished : because “In sculpture, the works of Michael Angelo are di- to his vigorous, rather than refined perceptions, its sim. vided between Rome and Florence. They are not nu- plicity appeared poverty, he fearlessly struck into a line merous, and few are even finished. Impatience of slow. of art, where all was to be new-vehement-wonder. ly progressive labour, united with indomitable activity ful.” and unwearied industryfastidiousness of fancy, and exalted perceptions of excellence, joined with a reckless

If our limits allowed us, we should feel pleasure in daring in execution, form singular distinctions of intel. presenting our readers with several other passages, lectual temperament Hence have sprung the charac. equally powerful; but we have rooin for only one_a teristic beauties and the besetting errors of his style in descriptive sketch of Thorwaldsen, the most successful sculpture—a style discovering much that is derived and celebrated of all living sculptors : from liberal and enlightened study of the sublime and

THORWALDSEN. graceful in nature, but still more of those qualities which arise from the peculiarities of an individual and “ Since the death of his illustrious contemporary, Ca. erratic, though rich and powerful, imagination. Rarely nova, Thorwaldsen, born at Copenhagen in 1771-2, do his statues exhibit that simplicity and repose essen- bas occupied the public eye as head of the modern tial to beauty in an art-grave, dignified, or even au. school. The character and powers of this master are stere, and possessing means comparatively limited and doubtless of a very elevated rank ; but neither in the uniform. Forced and constrained attitude, proportions extent nor excellence of his works, do we apprehend his exaggerated, expression awful, gloomy, and unearthly, station to be so high as sometimes placed. The genius forms of unnatural, of superhuman energy_these con of the Danish sculptor is forcible, yet is its energy de. stitute the ideal of his composition. In giving visible rived more from peculiarity than from real excellence. existence to these ideas, his execution is most wonder. His ideal springs less from imitation of the antique, or ful. A force, a fire, an enthusiasm, elsewhere unfelt, of nature, than from the workings of his own individual unknown, give to every limb and lineament a vitality, mind—it is the creation of a fancy seeking forcible efa movement, resembling more the sudden mandate of fect in singular combinations, rather than in general inspiration, than a laborious and retarded effort. The principles ; therefore hardly fitted to excite lasting or

a

beneficial influence upon the age. Simplicity and im- denying precepts ? if I am told, “ 'Twere to consider posing expression seem to have hitherto formed the too curiously to consider so," I answer, “ Not a jot.” principal objects of his pursuit ; but the distinction be. Easter-Monday sent forth its crowds, anxious for iween the simple and rude, the powerful and the exag- amusement, and the theatres put forth their dazzling gerated, is not always observed in the labours of the announcements to attract them. Covent Garden speDane. His simplicity is sometimes without grace ; the culated upon the popular taste for horrors, and “ The impressive_austere, and without due refinement. The Devil's Elixir, or the Shadowless Man," seemed to lend air and contours of his heads, except, as in the Mer- an appearance of unwonted gloom and grandeur 10 its cury-an excellent example both of the beauties and de. bills. Drury-Lane resorted to the treasures of fairy fects of the artist's style when immediately derived legend, and " Thierne-na-Oge, or the Prince of the from antiquity, though grand and vigorous, seldom har. Lakes,” operated powerfully upon the wondering optics monize in the principles of these efforts with the majes- of the sight-seeking spectators. Astley's proclaimed tic regularity of general nature. The forms, again, are 66 The Storming of Seringapatam." The Surrey minnot unfrequently poor, without vigorous rendering of gled“ John Orery the Miser," and a pantomime called, the parts, and destitute at times of their just roundness. * Love in a Humble Shed ;" and the renowned Coburg These defects may in some measure have arisen from the turned “ The Money Diggers," a story of Washington early and more frequent practice of the artist in relievos. Irving's, into minor theatre dialogue, and managed to In this department, Thorwaldsen is unexceptionably to give the audience terrible satisfaction. It is unnecesbe admired. The Triumph of Alexander, originally in- sary to spend much critical gravity upon these sublime tended for the frieze of the government palace at Milan, doings. The Covent-Garden novelty was good in little notwithstanding an occasional poverty in the materials except its scenery. A disobedient shadow occasioned of thought, is, as a whole, one of the grandest compo- much mirth, by obstinately persisting in its determinasitions in the world ; - while the delicacy of execution, tion to act independently of the substance. Weekes and poetic feeling, in the two exquisite pieces of Night played Dan O'Reilly, the chief acting part in the Druryand Aurora, leave scarcely a wish here ungratified. But Lane piece, and acquitted himself greatly to the satisin statues, Thorwaldsen excels only where the forms and faction of the audience. sentiment admit of uncontrolled imagination, or in which I have visited Pandemonium, as represented in Mr no immediate recourse can be had to fixed standards of Burford's panorama in Leicester-square. The subject taste, and to the simple effects of nature. Hence, of all of the painting is taken from Milton's description of the his works, as admiting of unconfined expression, infernal empire, as embellished by the agency of Satan and grand peculiarity of composition, the statues and his angels. Martin is palpably imitated in every of the Apostles, considered in themselves, are the part of the piece.' The exhibition is certainly worth most excellent. Thorwaldsen, in fine, possesscs singu- inspection, and the cits scem wondrously delighted with lar, but in some respects erratic genius. His ideas of it. But a view of Sydney in the same building detain. composition are irregular ; bis powers of fancy surpassed me much longer, and gratified me much more. It those of execution ; his conceptions seem to lose a por. is executed with great delicacy ; and the romantic cha. tion of their value and freshness in the act of realize-racter of the scenery almost made me wish myself of the ment. As an individual artist, he will command deser- number of those vedly a high rank among the names that shall go down “ Doom'd the far isles of Sydney Cove to see." to posterity. As a sculptor, who will influence, or has Tam O'Shanter and Souter Johnny have arrived here, extended the principles of the art, his pretensions are not and have received the approbation of some highly com. great ; or, should this influence and these clațms not be petent metropolitan authorities. A group of statues in thus limited, the standard of genuine and universal ex- marble by Mr Carew, who is patronised by the Earl of cellence must be depreciated in a like degree."

Egremont, is now open to the public. In my opinion, We shall proceed to the consideration of Painting they indicate an acquaintance with art more than the next week.

possession of genius,

LETTERS FROM LONDON.

AN ESKDALE ANECDOTE.

E.clract of a letter from the Ettrick Shepherd. Yo. IX.

Another time I chanced to be on a week's visit to In these “ No Popery and Pro-Popery" days, I a kind friend, a farmer in Eskdale-muir, who thought marvel that the adherents of the Catholic Church omit. meet to have a party every day at dinner, and mostly ted one argument, which could not fail of operating the same party. Our libations were certainly carried powerfully on the motley citizenship of this overgrown rather to an extremity, but our merriment corresponded metropolis. The argument I refer to is comprised in therewith. There was one morning, indeed, that sevethe astonishing pantomimes, gorgeous spectacles, and ral of the gentlemen were considerably hurt, and there unaccountable sights, that surprise the eyes and glad were marks of blood on the plaster, but no one could den the hearts of all the men, women, and children, tell what had happened. It appeared that there had who sally forth in quest of civic entertainment during been a quarrel, but none of us knew what about, or who the holidays. For these we are indubitably indebted to it was that fought. the Lady of Babylon ; and were the fact generally un. But the most amusing part of the ploy (and a very derstood, it would serve her cause better in London than amusing part it was) regarded a half hogshead of ale, all the bulls, brazen or golden, that ever left their pad that was standing in the lobby to clear for bottling. On dock in the Vatican. Had it not been for the attach the very first forenoon, our thirst was so excessive, that ment of Old Mother Church to fasts and festivals, the farmer contrived to insert a spigot into this huge cask, saints and sain:-days, and her diligent housewifery and really such a treasure I think was hardly ever open. touching the outside of her cups and platters, the Cocked to a set of poor thirsty spirits. Morcing, noon, and ney fry, young and old, might have sighed in vain for night, we were running with jugs to this rich fountain, a pantomime at Christmas, or a melodramatic spectacle and handing the delicious beverage about to lips that at Easter. And “why might not the imagination trace" glowed with fervour and delight. In a few days, how. the agile Harlequin to a monk of the order of St Domi. ever, it wore so low, that before any would come, one nic, and his faithful Columbine to the secluded sister of was always obliged to bold it up behind ; and, finally, it a convent, matchless in the exact observance of self can dry.