710 



Fine Arts' Publications. 



[DEC. 



to it ; two pieces by the editor are also 

 to be seen glittering among the gems of 

 the volume. 



Another young candidate, the New 

 Year's Gift, edited by Mrs. Alaric 

 Watts, invites us to glance at its pre- 

 tensions. We open it with timid ringers, 

 for we fear to leave a stain upon its deli- 

 cacy. It commences with the Wooden 

 Leg, engraved by Chevalier, from a pic- 

 ture by Farrier. It is full of that 

 artist's quaint humour, and makes the 

 frontispiece really fascinating. The 

 Boat-Launch, M. Guet and W7 Rivers, 

 is a pleasing group, but the little nau- 

 ticals do not seem interested in their 

 sport. The Little Savoyards, Edmon- 

 stone and Greatbach, is much better : 

 the figures are well relieved ; the ex- 

 pression of the young musicians, quite 

 foreign and characteristic, is properly 

 contrasted with the infant who is 

 rewarding their melody. An Indian 

 Scene, by Wm. Westall, though a beau- 

 tiful design, looks somewhat faded. A 

 Soldier's Widow is a clever engraving, 

 by Baker ; considering her height, how- 

 ever, she should have been called the 

 Grenadier's Widow. The Sanctuary, 

 by 11. Westall and Rolls, is an effective 

 composition, and forms an interesting 

 termination to the list of embellishments, 

 which, with slight exceptions, are worthy 

 of a high rank in this class of the an- 

 nuals. The editor observes in her pre- 

 face, that " those who cater for the 

 amusement or instruction of the juve- 

 nile public must be content to sacrifice 

 all ambitious notions of authorship ; and 

 to study rather todevelope the intellects 

 of their readers than to display their 

 own." Some of the contributors to the 

 New Year's Gift have done both ; it 

 contains many pleasing papers such as 

 Tonina, by Mr. M'Farlane the Bro- 

 ken Vase, the Cock, the Fox and the 

 Farm-Yard Dog, by Cornelius Webbe 

 the Jungle, by Miss Roberts Con- 

 stantine and Giovanni and a very neat 

 little Sketch -How Disagreeable! Of 

 the poetry we prefer Miss Jewsbury's 

 Far, far from Home, and some clever 

 stanzas, illustrating the Soldier's Wi- 

 dow, by N. P. Willis which have, it 

 appears, been published before 



The Comic Offering, or Lady's Melange 

 of lAlcrary Mirth. Here is a new comic 

 offering, the production of a lady 

 Louisa Henrietta Sheridan. A better 

 name than Sheridan could scarcely have 

 been associated with such a book the 

 " Louisa Henrietta" could have been 

 dispensed with. Such elegant vulgari- 

 ties as we find here are not fit themes 

 for ladies, who can seldom be very deli- 

 cate and very droll at the same time. 

 Of the numerous subjects of merriment 

 in this rich and tasteful looking volume, 

 many are decidedly unladylike, and some 



positively vulgar. This, which must 

 be regarded as a conspicuous blemish 

 upon its beauty, is the more remarkable 

 from the note of refinement with which 

 Miss Sheridan commences her perform- 

 ance. Her work, she says, is expresslv 

 intended for " female perusal ;" Mr. 

 Hood may say the same thing. The 

 lady's subjects are as little circum- 

 scribed, and her humour takes as many 

 licences. Her annual, in short, except 

 as regards originality an important item 

 in works of this class is an exact coun- 

 terpart of that by the author of " Whims 

 and Oddities ;" and we see no reason, 

 therefore, why sire should ask in her 

 prospectus " Shall a clown be admitted 

 to the drawing-room, or pantaloon enter 

 the boudoir ?" and still less, why she 

 should answer it by saying " No, not 

 even under a Hood." One thing the 

 lady and gentleman seem to share 

 in common a propensity to confound 

 the painful with the pleasurable, to look 

 for the elements of mirth in the dis- 

 agreeable and the afflicting. One of the 

 polished pleasantries of this volume is 

 called " A Beam on the Face" the 

 head of an unfortunate fish- woman com- 

 ing in contact with a plank borne on the 

 shoulder of a passenger. Now we can- 

 not see why fish-women, more than 

 clowns, should be admitted into bou- 

 doirs ; in addition to which, fish-women 

 are, we presume, females ; and we per- 

 ceive, therefore, not the slightest drol- 

 lery in fracturing their skulls for the 

 sake of a poor pun. There are two or 

 three jokes the humour of which con- 

 sists in people falling into wells this 

 is for the sake of saying, *' Let well 

 alone !" and another called " Going it 

 in high style," represents two ladies 

 tumbling over a stile into a pond, a 

 mishap which seems to be a source of 

 amusement to two gentlemen who are 

 peeping over the pales. The book is 

 full of these delicate jocularities 

 things, be it understood, which we chief- 

 ly stop to cavil at, because they are the 

 ideas of a lady who pronounces herself 

 " best qualified to decide on the strict 

 boundaries of delicacy and refinement." 

 An allusion is made in the preface to 

 her " own feelings," her " youth and 

 sex ;" which she hopes will " point out 

 the proper course to pursue ;" these we 

 should regard as satisfactory apologies 

 for a want of wit and talent, but they 

 form the very reasons why we think the 

 " course" Miss Sheridan has pursued 

 any thing but a graceful one. What 

 would be a mere speck in Mr. Hood is a 

 blot in a lady. We should have regarded 

 such little freedoms as those we have 

 noticed as perfectly innocent in anv 

 other writer; but they certainly indi- 

 cate bad taste in a lady who writes a 

 chapter upon refinement, and finds fault 



