470 



Monthly Review of Literature. 



[APRIL, 



every place mentioned in the volume, the 

 amount of population, from the last census, 

 and that of many towns in foreign countries, 

 the course of rivers, the altitude of moun- 

 tains, &c. The work seems scarcely sus- 

 ceptible of further improvement in the same 

 bulk. We can no longer talk of the quarters 

 of the world the grand divisions of the 

 globe are now, it seems, among all geo- 

 graphers, sevenths. 



Companion to the Globes, $c. by R. T. 

 Linnington This is a third edition of a 

 very well arranged book. Its chief value 

 arises from compression we do not observe 

 any material deficiencies, compared with 

 similar " Companions," of double the num- 

 ber of pages. Ccet. par. this is one good, 

 and the lower price is another. 



Gorton's Topographical Dictionary, 

 Part I. If this work be executed in the 

 manner which its importance demands, it 

 will be an acceptable publication ; but more, 

 much more local inquiry, instituted for the 

 occasion, is requisite than is likely to be 

 made. Advantage will be taken, we doubt 

 not, of the latest printed information, and 



the specimen before us is a very favourable 

 one. A number of particulars not usually 

 introduced into our common gazetteers, are 

 attended to, population, post-towns of 

 every village, the bearings and distances, 

 with the whole contents of the Liber Regis, 

 corrected down to the period of publication, 

 where the facts can readily be got at, that 

 most mean. A more rapid publication 

 would surely be desirable ; three years and 

 a half is a long period to wait for its com- 

 pletion. The two sheets and a half might 

 appear once a fortnight, or double the quan- 

 tity once a month. Alderney, we observe, 

 is stated to be only thirty miles from the 

 nearest point of the English shore. The 

 editor must keep his eyes open. 



Easy Rhymes for Children from Five 

 to Ten Years of Age, by the Author of 

 Cato, or the Adventures of a Dog, fyc. 

 This is a well written little work, and one 

 that we strongly recommend to be put into 

 the hands of children, as being likely to 

 produce much benefit from the cautionary 

 as well as moral and entertaining tendency 

 of the tales. 



FINE ARTS' EXHIBITIONS. 



SOCIETY OF BRITISH ARTISTS. 



THE seventh annual exhibition of this 

 Society, which has just been opened to the 

 public at the rooms in Suffolk-street, is very 

 far, indeed, from supporting those favour- 

 rable hopes which we have lately been in- 

 duced to entertain, relative to the progress 

 and prospect of art among us. It would 

 do but little credit to the least refined of 

 continental capitals ; to the capital of (say 

 what we will) the most refined nation in 

 the world. Of the four hundred and 

 seventy-nine paintings in oil, which form 

 the staple of the exhibition, and by which 

 alone the condition of art may be judged 

 and estimated, it is not too much to say, 

 that nine-tenths are many degrees below 

 mediocrity ; and that at least half of these 

 are so utterly worthless as to make it almost 

 ludicrous (if it were not lamentable) to 

 look upon them as candidates for public 

 favour. We are at all times extremely loth 

 to point out particular objects of art for 

 dislike or reprobation, because we may give 

 pain, by so doing, with little chance of 

 benefitting either the sufferers or any one 

 else ; for people are not to be criticised, 

 still less shamed or abused, out of their 

 self-love. And if we were to attempt the 

 task of pointing out all the instances of failure 

 in the case before us, we should have little 

 else to do but reprint the catalogue of the 

 collection. In order, therefore, to avoid the 

 charge of being either tedious in referring 

 to many, or invidious in selecting a few, 

 we shall merely ask the spectator to enter 

 the great room, and commence his inspec- 

 tion with the commencement of his cata- 



logue ; and if he can proceed but two steps 

 in his examination without twice turning 

 aside, with feelings of mingled sorrow and 

 contempt, then we shall see more occasion 

 than we do at present, for descending to 

 individual censure. In the mean time, we 

 shall address ourselves, as usual, to the 

 more useful and agreeable task of pointing 

 out to public notice the few objects in this 

 exhibition which claim that distinction at 

 our hands ; and we cannot do even this^ 

 without premising, that it is only by com- 

 parison with their wretched rivals, that even 

 the greater part of these acquire a title to 

 distinct notice. 



A 7 o. 5. A Caravan at Rest. R. B. Da- 

 vis. This is the largest and most conspi- 

 cuous work in the room ; and, with many 

 grievous faults and deficiencies, it is among 

 the best. The scene represented is that of 

 a party of Bedouin Arabs, selling horses; 

 and the life and action of the picture arise 

 out of the various points of view in which 

 the animals and their owners are exhibited. 

 The tone of this picture is glaring, and, we 

 must think, false, and many of its details 

 are feeble and inappropriate ; but the com- 

 position is good, and the general effect is 

 lively and striking. 



No. 15. Interior of a Highland Cottage* 

 A. Fraser. This is one of the best of seve- 

 ral of those pleasing little scenes of domes-, 

 tic life and nature, with which our exhi- 

 bitions have lately abounded, and in which 

 we succeed better than in any other depart- 

 ment of the art. 



No. 22. Portrait of a Lady. S. Howell. 

 Among the many portraits in this collec- 



