MONTHLY REVIEW OF LITERATURE AND ART. 479 



must needs operate beneficially for the public ; and, at the same time that it 

 may control the mischievous influence of one or two predominant publishers, 

 open a fair and legitimate source for such men of talent as are unwilling to 

 degrade themselves and modern literature by succumbing to a system which 

 must, in the long run, prove fatal to all parties. 



It is with much pain, therefore, that we find ourselves under the necessity 

 of withholding from the present volume that degree of praise which we were 

 happy to award to its predecessors. At the same time, we are very far from 

 asserting that Waltham is without merit. 



The chief objection that can be brought against it is, that it is not equally 

 well adapted with its predecessors to propitiate the inveterate novel reader, 

 eager for excitement, and all agog for a sensation. Certain we are, that very 

 few of our modern novels can produce a character more admirably drawn 

 than that of Murdoch Macara ; and Jonhston the quondam tutor, Mr. 

 Bolton, and Hulson, are sketches that no one but a man of talent could have 

 conceived, and none but a master could have filled up. Unfortunately, they 

 are not finished, and our author is no master. We look forward with plea- 

 sure to the forthcoming number of the series from the pen of Mr. Gait ; 

 hoping, as we do, that it will fully atone for the last. 



GEMS OF BRITISH LANDSCAPE. LONDON : H. GIBBS. 



WE recommend these mezzotint plates to all who, being possessed of some- 

 thing more than " eyes without feeling," desire the addition of picturesque 

 effect to clothe the correct outline of a topographical view. The taste of a 

 painter sometimes appears to disguise a familiar scene, by throwing over it 

 colouring or chiaroscuro, whose counterpart exists no where but in his own 

 fancy. Nature, however, in the work before us is not sacrificed to any coin- 

 age of the artist's brain, but is exhibited without the vices of formality or ex- 

 travagance. Of the three scenes in this number, viz. Warwick Castle, 

 Stonehen^e, and Snowdon, we prefer, on the whole, the wild moonlight effect 

 of Stonehenge. The Engravers, Messrs. LUCAS, EVERY, and QUILLEY, ap- 

 pear to have made every effort to do justice to the drawings of Mr. MAR- 

 SHALL. There might be more clearness in the half tints, which would pre- 

 vent a certain spottiness at present interfering with the repose of the pictures. 



- -i5 aioYOiq ol isifc'J 



. 'i-.f-ji onus nofrear&MPii 

 THE GRAND CANAL, VENICE. ENGRAVED BY C. LEWIS, AFTER A PAINT- 



ING BY R. P. BONNINGTON. - LONDON : C. TlLT. 



THE light elegant style of the painter is most successfully imitated in this 

 plate. The shadows are transparent, the half tint and masses of light sil- 

 very. The sky is somewhat objectionable, not from its effect, which is ex- 

 tremely clear, but that there exists a certain appearance of mechanism in the 

 execution. The figures in the foreground, boats, buildings, &c. contrast 

 richly with the gradually receding water, and distant line of palaces. On 

 the whole, it is a very fine work of art. 



; _ ;"-UtOi% 



jJIOJ.-i 



FINDEN'S GALLERY OF THE GRACES. PART III. LONDON : C. TILT. 



THIS work does not appear to diminish in its good qualities. There is a 

 mingled tenderness and vivacity in the engravings ; the lights are clear, and 

 the dark touches introduced produce a brilliant effect. Mr. STONE'S female 

 heads are designed with much taste. The girl reading is a pretty specimen 

 of the young, artless sort of being intended to be pourtrayed. The head, 

 by BOXALL, is not so good as its companions: the eyes being destitute of 



