244 Monthly Review of Literature. [FEB. 



compelled to omit it. The embellishments are of a more tasteful character, in 

 this instance, than in many of the preceding volumes of this series. 



TWELVE SELECT ORATIONS OF M. TULLIUS CICERO, WITH ENGLISH NOTES. 



WE have here a new edition of the principal orations of Cicero that are gene- 

 rally read ; the text of the Zurich edition is selected, and the whole accompanied 

 with brief English commentations that cannot fail to be useful to the young 

 student. 



DAVID. A POEM. 



MUCH more time, we fear, is lost in versifying the Bible than reading it ; and 

 the story of David is much better in prose than as a poem, without making any 

 exceptions in favour of Cowley's Davideis, or the volume before us. 



FINE ARTS. 



THE celebrated exclamation of a lover in one of Dryden's dramas 



" Ye Gods, annihilate both time and space, 

 And make two lovers happy," 



is reiterated every now and then by several of our friends, artists and amateurs, 

 in wishes that we should exclude all mention of several very important topics, 

 and devote our space and attention to the arts. We have made arrangements, 

 however, that will enable us to attend to their suggestions, without incurring 

 any sacrifice at all. In the meantime, we have a considerable accumulation of 

 subjects of interest, scattered through several portfolios, that we shall notice as 

 rapidly as possible. One, that has just caught our eye, has been long a popular 

 favourite ; but at this moment we may be excused, however late, for referring to 

 it. It is Bromley's splendid engraving, from Lawrence's equestrian portrait of the 

 Duke of Wellington. The recent illness of the modern Alexander, and unrivalled 

 anti-reformer, induces us to look at it with feelings of unusual interest ; for the 

 Duke is a person that we cannot after all be indifferent about he is one of those 

 whom we must either reverence or execrate. Without declaring our own ten- 

 dencies, we may honestly confess to an admiration of the engraving. It is just 

 the position in which the great Captain should be seen, and the plate has been 

 executed by Mr. Bromley, with a corresponding magnificence of effect. 



The next is, The Enthusiast engraved by Robert Graves, from a picture of 

 Theodore Lane's. There is a little extravagance and affectation in the design ; 

 yet it is full of comic effect ; and the force and fidelity of the engraving have 

 done entire justice to it. The picture is well-known, so that it requires no 

 description beyond that which is conveyed, by a mere testimony as to the truth 

 and skilfulness of the engraver. 



By way of contrast, we turn to The Bride, by Mr. Leslie a most tasteful, 

 elegant, and touching composition. The face presents a loveliness of sentiment 

 and of feature, and the soft shadow thrown over it, gives a peculiar effect to the 

 expression. We have again to commend the engraver (Mr. Thomson), who 

 has treated his subject with exceeding grace and delicacy. While Brides are to 

 be had, even half as seducing as this picture, Mr. Malthus must be contented to 

 theorize in vain. 



Frame Tablets Vizetelly and Branston. We have seen some extremely pretty 

 specimens of the above. They are for the purpose of mounting drawings, &c., 

 and the objects aimed at are ; to give them the effect of projection, without a 

 raised surface, and that the tablet should so blend with the drawing, that it 

 should seem to form a part of it. Compared with what has usually been applied 

 to the same purpose, they have the extra advantage of lying flat in the port- 

 folio or album, and are not so liable to soil. 



