1827.] 



Bdmestic and Foreign. 



541 



good taste, and engf aved in the most spirited 

 and beautiful manner. 



Drawing is, of course, the painter's abe- 

 cedario ; having acquired that, his studies 

 may be divided into three parts compo- 

 sition, light and shade, and colour wanting 

 any one of these, he will never excel, but 

 being master of them, he must be respec- 

 table. We remember to have seen Mr. Bur- 

 net's ' Hints' on composition, which pre- 

 ceded the work before us ; he has now but 

 to give us an equally useful compendium on 

 colour, which, by the way, is already an- 

 nounced, and a work will be in the hands of 

 the public, capable of forming a correct 

 taste, and teaching judicious discrimination. 



Of the present work, we cannot convey a 

 better idea than the following extract from 

 the preface will give, it is a pleasing speci- 

 men of the author's manner, and, as far as it 

 goes, will bear us out in the character we 

 gave of it in the first paragraph : 



I have endeavoured to trace the effects, as much 

 as possible, to their first causes, operatinginvarious 

 ways on the minds of the different artists who have 

 adopted them. Whether they were guided by rules, 

 or imitative instinct, we cannot now determine ; 

 nor is it my wish to inculcate any doctrine when 

 the student has a better mode of his own to serve 

 as a guide. Let him, however, always bear in 

 mind, that in painting, as in other things, to uee 

 the words of Dr. Johnson, " The accidental com- 

 positions of heterogeneous modes are dissolved by 

 the chance which combined them ; but the uniform 

 simplicity of primitive qualities neither admits in- 

 crease, nor suffers decay." 



Picturesque Views of the English Cities ; 

 from Drawings, lv G. F. Robson. Edited 

 by J. Britton. To Mr. Britton the public 

 are already indebted for his numerous series 

 of beautiful engravings of our different ca- 

 thedrals and abbeys however, he now pro- 

 duces another work, which is to consist of 

 four parts two are already published : the 

 first contains views of York, Litchfield, Wor- 

 cester, Norwich, Rochester, Canterbury, 

 Chichester, Bristol ; and the second, which 

 has just appeared, views of Winchester, 

 Hereford, Salisbury, Chester, Carlisle, Wells, 

 and Lincoln and a different view of Nor- 

 wich : they are all beautifully executed, and 

 reflect great credit on all parties concerned. 

 The value of these would have been mate- 

 rially enhanced if accompanied by a letter- 

 press description, which, we perceive, the 

 editor promises to give separately, when the 

 engravings are completed ; he is compelled, 

 he says, to this arrangement, to avoid the 

 operation of a most absurd and oppressive 

 act of parliament, which forces the pub- 

 lishers of all works, in which letter-press 

 is used, to give eleven copies to as many 

 wealthy institutions ; all of which, being 

 amply endowed with the necessary funds, 

 ought to foster and encourage rather than 

 tax and depress literature in all its branches. 

 None know the inconvenient effect of this 

 shameful tax better than Mr. Britton : no 



individual having smarted more under ife 

 application. 



A Discourse of the Objects, Advantages* 

 and Pleasures of Science; 1827. A so- 

 ciety, consisting of persons well known in 

 the literary, political, and scientific world 

 of men distinguished alike for public spirit 

 and tried ability have undertaken the super- 

 intendence of a series of treatises on every 

 subject that can be brought within the pre- 

 cincts of useful knowledge, under the title 

 of a LIBRARY of useful knowledge. The 

 very purpose of the publication of them, is 

 to circulate the ready means of gaining in- 

 formation among the more uneducated classes 

 of society ; plainness and cheapness there- 

 fore are indispensable qualities, and effectual 

 measures have been adopted to secure bot&. 

 The series will commence with subjects 

 of science. The discourse before us is the 

 preliminary treatise, professing to exhibit 

 the objects, advantages, and pleasures of 

 science ; and well does the execution cor- 

 respond with its profession. It is the pro- 

 duction of an indefatigable member of the 

 society Mr. Brougham and presents, at 

 once, a proof of his persevering zeal for the 

 diffusion of knowledge, and another speci- 

 men of his powerful ability to assist in the 

 actual communication of it. It is, in our 

 opinion, the very best and most distinct the 

 most connected and complete view of the 

 matter numerous as similar views have 

 been we have ever read. 



Take a sample of the familiar and happy 

 style of the introduction. There is some- 

 thing positively agreeable, says he, in gain- 

 ing knowledge for its own sake: 



When you see any thing for the first time, you 

 at once derive some gratification from the sight 

 being new ; your attention is awakened, and you 

 desire to know more about it. If it is a piece of 

 workmanship, as an instrument, a machine of any 

 kind, you wish to know how it is made, how it 

 works, and what use it is of. If it is an animal, 

 you desire to know where it comes from, how it 

 lives, what are its dispositions, and, generally, its 

 nature and habits. This desire is felt, too, without 

 at all considering that the machine or the animal 

 may ever be of the least use to yourself practically ; 

 for, in all probability, you may never see them 

 again. But you feel a curiosity to learn all about 

 them, because they are new and unknown to you. 

 You accordingly make inquiries ; you feel a gra- 

 tification in getting answers to your questions 

 that is, in receiving information, and in knowing 

 more i n being better informed than you were 

 before. If you ever happen again to see the same 

 instrument or animal, you find it agreeable to 

 recollect having seen it before, and to think that 

 you know something about it. If you see another 

 instrument, or animal, in some respects like, but 

 differing in other particulars, you find it pleasing 

 to compare them together, and to note in what 

 they agree, and in what they differ. Now, all this 

 kind of gratification is of a pure and disinterested 

 nature, and has no reference to any of the common 

 purposes of life ; yet it is a pleasure an enjoy- 

 ment. You are nothing the richer for it; you 



