1830.] 



Fine Arts Publications. 



711 



with people as pure, it seems, as her- 

 self. We select a specimen of refine- 

 ment from the " Miscellaneous Mise- 

 ries." 



Sigh XIV. Playing in concert on the Conti- 

 nent, when you arc not eminently gifted by nature 

 with a predilection in favour of garlic ; a grand 

 flute player stationed at your elbow, with the 

 open end of his flute close to your happy nose. 



Among the cleverest things in the 

 volume are the Chart of Celibacy 

 Large Development of the Musical 

 Organs Ball-Firing (very laughable, 

 but certainly unladylike) and the East 

 India Company, a gentleman receiving 

 visits from every inhabitant of the East : 

 an elephant entering by the door, a 

 tiger by the window, and a boa writhing 

 gracefully round him. The last embel- 

 lishment a livery-servant, prodigiously 

 bow-legged, saying, " Will you walk 

 this way, Sir ?" is also excellent. In 

 the literary department, Itural Felicity, 

 Married or Single, and Single and Mar- 

 ried, are by far the most conspicuous in 

 merit. Much most, we should say, 

 of the poetry is despicable; and for 

 the puns but they are too preposterous 

 even for puns. A few of them, how- 

 ever, are extravagantly comical. Tak- 

 ing the annual as it stands, it is a 

 singular compound of cleverness and 

 pretension. 



The Gardens and Menagerie of the Zoo- 

 logical Society Delineated ; Quadrupeds, 

 Vol. I. We must regard this work, 

 published with the sanction of the So- 

 ciety, and superintended by the secre- 

 tary and vice-secretary, as a substitute 

 for Transactions and a very pleasant 

 substitute it is. It contains all the in- 

 formation that the general reader can 

 desire quite as much as we are accus- 

 tomed to find in more elaborate publica- 

 tions and its facts have the rare advan- 

 tagein works of science, of being present- 

 ed in the most agreeable shape. We 

 must admit that had the Society expressly 

 issued this volume, instead of merely ex- 

 tending its sanction to it, we might have 

 had it at a much more moderate charge ; 

 but quartos alone are supposed to carry 

 dignity with them, and a light, elegant, 

 and popular book like this is considered 

 too trifling a vehicle for the grave com- 

 munications of science. Science too, 

 delights in technicality, and prefers a 

 language of its own ; but the editor of 

 the work before us, conceiving that the 

 first duty of a writer is to be intelligible, 

 uses only common phrases upon common 

 subjects ; and instead of wrapping up 

 his meaning in abstruse and mysterious 

 terms, leaves it as open to the appre- 

 hension of the reader as clear and simple 

 forms of expression can make it. The 

 editor has enjoyed one great advantage 



of collecting his facts and making his 

 descriptions from living and preserved 

 specimens in the Society's collection ; 

 where he has been obliged to follow the 

 track of others, to content himself with 

 the statements of previous writers, he 

 has equally evinced his taste and discri- 

 mination. He has not, of course, at- 

 tempted any thing like a system, such 

 a volume as this precluding the possibi- 

 lity of classification : a systematic index, 

 however, is appended to the work, ar- 

 ranged according to Cuvier. 



The illustrations, of course, form an 

 important feature. They are very nu- 

 merous, and are executed, from draw- 

 ings on wood, by Mr. Harvey, by 

 Branston, Wright, and others. We 

 must confess that the execution of them 

 is very unequal. There is too prevalent 

 a hardness in the various substances 

 forming the coverings of the animals, 

 and an un-artist-like monotony in the 

 outlines, as in the back of the chin- 

 chilla. We could wish to have seen 

 more of the feeling displayed in the grey 

 squirrel, the ratel, and the American 

 bison. What is called the cutting, is 

 throughout decidedly clever ; but truth 

 of appearance should never be sacrificed 

 to this mechanical dexterity. We 

 would instance the flying squirrel, 

 p. 185, where the soft fur of the ani- 

 mal, the hairy tail, the leaf behind and 

 the branch beneath, all seem composed 

 of the same material. This exhibits 

 want of feeling ; and in delineations of 

 animals, so distinguished for variety 

 of texture, is especially censurable. 

 Something, we think, has also been oc- 

 casionally sacrificed to elegance of atti- 

 tude. With all his genius, Mr. Harvey 

 has a taste for a superfluous refinement 

 that disposes him to regard nature as 

 invariably graceful ; some of his animals 

 remind us of the epithet in the " Tem- 

 pest," " a most exquisite monster." The 

 vignettes or tail-pieces are exceedingly 

 bright, picturesque, and fanciful. 



We have again to express our appro- 

 bation of the Landscape Illustrations of 

 the Waverley Novels. The Seventh Part 

 contains a view of Edinburgh Castle, 

 by Stanfield, very beautifully engraved 

 by William Finden ; the effect is as 

 poetical as a lover of the " auld town" 

 could desire. The others are St. An- 

 thony's Chapel, by Barret Loch Awe, 

 and Ben Cruachan, by Fraser and the 

 Hill of Hoy, by Copley Fielding, from 

 a sketch by the Marchioness of Stafford. 

 These are very tastefully executed by 

 Edward Finden. 



The nineteenth is one of the very 

 best numbers of the National Portrait 

 Gallery. Sir Thomas Lawrence's picture 

 of Lord Goderich, has been ably en- 

 graved by Jenkins, and is followed by 

 a portrait of Richard Person, by Kirby 



