478 



Fine Arts' Publications. 



[OCT. 



in the fore-ground, look like a hall of 

 enchantment. We almost envy the 

 happy negro, standing in the smooth 

 water filling his jars, as if he had never 

 heard of Abolition. But the succeeding 

 view of Tiger Island, forms a striking 

 set-off to the placidity of its predecessor. 

 The boats seem struggling in the water. 

 It is an admirable engraving. The his- 

 torical and traditionary accounts of the 

 country and its productions, combine 

 information with brevity; and the en- 

 tire work, published in monthly parts, 

 will form a series of illustrations of 

 Heber's, Monro's, and other works re- 

 lating to the East. We desire no better 

 or more beautiful illustrations than this 

 first number contains. 



A very different but scarcely less 

 lovely set of landscapes, is presented to 

 us in the fifth part of the Illustrations 

 of the Waverley Novels. It contains 

 from the Abbot, " St. Mary's," by 

 Prout; from the Heart of Mid Lothian, 

 " Holy Loch," by Harding ; from Old 

 Mortality, " Bothwell Castle," by Rein- 

 agle ; and from Peveril of the Peak, 

 u Peel Castle," by Gastineau. We say 

 much, when we express our conviction 

 that they will not disappoint the expec- 

 tations which the excellence of the 

 preceding views has excited. 



The three portraits forming the se- 

 venteenth Number of the National Por- 

 trait Gallery, are those of Sir Abraham 

 Hume, extremely well engraved, but 

 not strikingly like; the Archbishop of 

 Canterbury, from a painting of Owen's, 

 by Holl, an engraving of great merit ; 

 and the gallant Sir Thomas Picton, 

 from a picture by Sir W. Beechy, of the 

 soldierly or intellectual dignity of which, 

 we can say but little. 



Panorama of Switzerland, from the 

 Summit of Mont Rigli, with a Circular 

 View of the Country. For this useful, 

 and we may add, entertaining produc- 

 tion, we are indebted to Mr. Leigh, 

 whose list of topographical attractions 

 of a similar kind is already so extensive. 

 We obtain by a single glance along this 

 unprecedented fly-leaf, an adequate no- 

 tion of the whole extent of the country 

 which it embraces ; and as the eye tra- 

 vels on from lake to lake, and from 

 summit to summit, we gather more in- 

 formation than could be gleaned from 

 whole pages of description, or from anv 

 thing indeed, short of an actual visit 

 to the country. Those who do, and 

 those who do not visit Switzerland, 

 should possess this panoramic view of 

 it ; in the account of its various remark- 

 able objects, they will find, in a compact 

 form, all the information they will re- 

 quire upon the subject. 



We mention the publication of the 

 first part of The History and Topography 

 of the United States of North America, 



edited by John Howard Hilton, A.M., 

 and illustrated with a series of views, 

 with the purpose of returning to it at 

 a future time, when the plan of it shall 

 be more clearly developed, and when 

 we shall be better enabled to decide 

 upon its pretensions. The present 

 number affords promise of a work of 

 great utility and interest. The series 

 of views will exhibit " the most splen- 

 did and majestic scenery that nature 

 ever produced, and some of the most 

 elegant and Chaste specimens of civic 

 architecture that any nation can boast. 

 Here," say the projectors, " our path 

 is wholly untrodden." We shall ac- 

 company them upon it with pleasure, 

 and hope to see an infinite variety of the 

 same neatly executed and interesting 

 plates that decorate the number before 

 us. The work is dedicated to Washing- 

 ton Irving. 



One of the finest engravings that we 

 have for some time seen, is now upon our 

 table a Portrait of Earl Grey, by Cou- 

 sins. It is from the likeness by Sir 

 Thomas Lawrence, and forms a picture 

 which any nobleman might be proud 

 to be the subject of. The attitude is 

 easy, simple, and natural; one of those, 

 in which the painter always succeeded 

 in turning the common-place to ele- 

 gance. The expression is a fine one ; 

 the intellect is brought out, and the 

 hauteur kept in the back-ground ; there, 

 is something of an aristocratic tinge 

 in its character but the artist has skil* 

 fully thrown over it a suaviter in modo 

 that entirely redeems it. The plate is 

 executed in the first style of art. No 

 painter could have found a more effi- 

 cient and faithful interpreter of his 

 design, than Mr. Cousins has proved 

 himself to be, in transferring the soft- 

 ness and brilliancy of Lawrence to the 

 print before us. 



We are compelled to regard the ap- 

 pearance of the " Annuals" as an an- 

 nouncement that winter is at hand. 

 Here are the plates of the Winter's 

 Wreath for the ensuing year already 

 before us, spreading a dullness over our 

 senses. But their beauty atone for 

 this unwelcome announcement ; never 

 did ill-news find fairer messengers. The 

 Winter's Wreath is first in the field ; 

 and if we are to Judge of the volume by 

 the splendour of its embellishments, it 

 bids fair, notwithstanding the increased 

 number of its competitors, to come in 

 for a slice of the golden apple for which 

 the race is run. The plates are twelve 

 in number, besides a decorated page for 

 inscriptions. Of these we particularly 

 admire " St. Cecilia, the English Flower, 

 Dove Dale, the Cottage Farm-vard, 

 A Pass of the Abruzzi, and Cologne 

 on the Rhine ;" the remaining six are 

 scarcely inferior to them, and all are 



