1831.] 



of Claude, Wilson, and Gainsborough, 

 in contradistinction to what is called 

 " high finish :" and observes that having 

 adopted a similar style, the most effi- 

 cient means are afforded of imitating his 

 sketches, by drawing in lines mi stone 

 with the lithographic chalk. This plan 

 he has rendered to a considerable extent 

 successful ; though we fear that there 

 are many even among those who are not 

 infected with a false taste for finish, that 

 will think these sketches somewhat too 

 slight or too coarse to admit of the re- 

 quisite effect. Mr. Linton's observa- 

 tions are worth looking at but we must 

 look to his drawings. The views, we 

 have no doubt, are well selected, and are 

 in detail faithful copies of what the art- 

 ist saw and admired in nature ; but ta- 

 ken as a whole, they do not convey to 

 our minds an adequate idea of the va- 

 riety, loveliness, and luxuriance of 

 Italian scenery. They are in parts bold 

 and characteristic but the effect is not 

 entire. They are too cold in short too 

 sketchy. We like Lugano, San Mar- 

 tino, Tivoli, and Subiaco, in preference 

 to one or two of the others rather per- 

 haps with reference to the scenes them- 

 selves than to any superiority iu point of 

 execution, which is throughout clever ; 

 but, as we have hinted, calculated ra- 

 ther to please the lover of this species 

 of art, than to delight the enamoured 

 eye of the student of nature. 



What a ludicrous contrast to these 

 sketches are Mr. Cruikshank's new ones 

 twelve of them illustrative of Sir 

 Walter Scott's Demonology and Witch- 

 craft. Cruikshank's store of extrava- 

 gance is inexhaustible; he never fails 

 to throw his humour into some new 

 shape or situation, whatever his subject 

 may be. His last sketches are thus as 

 original as the first. Whatever he sends 

 forth, we despair of ever again seeing 

 anything so irresistible and we never 

 do, till he publishes something else. 

 These are excellent, and are worthy ac- 

 companiments for Sir Walter. The 

 " Corps de Ballet" a gentleman haunt- 

 ed by his furniture, the backs of his 

 fashionable chairs taking the semblance 

 of heads, the chairs themselves dancing 

 about, and the whole room rolling in a 

 superabundance of horrors this is su- 

 perb. The Spectre Skeleton looking 

 over the doctor's shoulder, at the foot of 

 the sick man's bed, comes up to the sub- 

 ject. Elfin Tricks, and the Persecuted 

 Butler, are as good. Black John and 

 the Witches is even better ; the group 

 of hags is appallingly ludicrous. And 

 the Witches' Frolic is equal to it, with 

 the huge undefined figure of the fiend 

 rolling in the water, and the witches 

 sailing in their sieves, some on the 

 waves, some in the air. The book is al- 



Fine Arts 1 Publications. 



103 



most too cheap ; it is an amusement for 

 a long Christmas evening. 



One of the most interesting ornitho- 

 logical works that have hitherto appear- 

 ea to illustrate a most important depart- 

 ment of zoological science a publica- 

 tion which promises to become as valu- 

 able in science as it is beautiful in art 

 is A Century of Birds from the Himalaya 

 Mountains* hitherto unfigured, by John 

 Gould, A.L.S. The work will comprise 

 twenty folio numbers, each of these num- 

 bers containing four or five plates, but 

 invariably five birds in most instances, 

 the size of life. Here, then, are a hun- 

 dred birds, inhabitants of the unexplored 

 districts of the great mountain-chain of 

 Central Asia, all of them probably in- 

 troduced for the first time into this 

 country, certainly for the first time fi- 

 gured, and many of them interesting as 

 connecting groups, or exhibiting affini- 

 ties where none have hitherto existed. 

 Such a circumstance as this must tend 

 to make the work valuable in a scientific 

 point of view ; and as productions of 

 art, these drawings equal, perhaps ex- 

 ceed, all ornithological illustrations that 

 we have yet seen. It is remarkable in- 

 deed how little, until within these few 

 years, science has been indebted to art. 

 In these figures upon stone, brilliantly 

 coloured, we find the two excellences 

 combined accuracy and fidelity in pre- 

 serving not only the general character 

 of the bird, but its more minute though 

 not less important characteristics ; and, 

 united to this, all the beauty, freedom, 

 and finish of drawing that are indispen- 

 sable to an adequate and satisfactory 

 representation of nature. Of the five 

 figures that compose the first number, 

 the Tragopan Hastingsii named after 

 Lord Hastings is unquestionably the 

 most splendid in point of colouring; but 

 it will scarcely be found more attractive 

 than the delicate plumage of the beauti- 

 ful jay, or the quiet dignity of the owl 

 who is sitting, enveloped in his soft 

 feathery robe, with a gravity worthy of 

 his wisdom, and looks as much like a 

 Lord High Chancellor as if the branch 

 that supports him were the woolsack. 

 The white-crested pheasant (Phasianus 

 albo cristatus}, of which we have been 

 favoured with a specimen, intended for 

 the ensuing number, seems almost supe- 

 rior to these. They are drawn, of course 

 from nature, by E. Gould. Descriptions 

 of the subjects illustrated will be sup- 

 plied by Mr. Vigors, the Secretary of 

 the Zoological Society. 



The twentieth number of the Spirit of 

 the Plays of Shakspeare is devoted to the 

 second and third parts of Henry the 

 Sixth ; the second affording eleven, and 

 the third eight subjects for illustration. 

 They evince the same degree of spirit, 



