FINE ARTS. Iby 



We have received the second part of the Illustrations of Scotland, 

 which rivals the first in beauty and interest ; but as our limits will 

 not allow us to do justice to the merits of this work in the present 

 number, we are reluctantly compelled to defer a notice until our 

 next publication. 



The Doctrine of Proportion, or geometrical admeasurement hy similar 

 triangles, practically applied to extending or diminishing drawings. 

 London : Ackermann. 



To the expert geometrician who is unacquainted with the art 

 of drawing, or has no " natural taste" for it, this work will prove 

 extremely serviceable, and enable him to use his scientific acquire- 

 ments very amusingly; but we think it is to geometricians alone that 

 it will render essential service. The author imagines his doctrine of 

 similar triangles will supersede the present very simple and suffici- 

 ent method, used by engravers, of reducing drawings by similar 

 squares. We cannot agree with him in this expectation, inasmuch 

 as it implies the study of an abstruse science as absolutely necessary, 

 before the principles of this new doctrine can be understood ; where- 

 as, the old system of squares is simple enough for a child's compre- 

 hension, and has certainly been found to answer every required 

 purpose with positive accuracy. The doctrine exemplified in the 

 handsome volume before us, is an admirable one for persons conver- 

 sant with geometry, and is illustrated by well-executed plates de- 

 monstrating the system ; but we must candidly confess we have 

 some doubts of the application of this principle being universally 

 adopted. 



Roscoe's Wanderings through North Wales. Parts X., XI., and 

 XII. London : Tilt. Birmingham : Wrightson and Webb. 



Mr. Roscoe's wanderings proceed very pleasantly to his readers, 

 and from the high interest and picturesque beauty of the scenes he 

 describes, the veritable tour must have been equally agreeable to 

 himself. His account of the beer-shop increase, and hints for a 

 temperance-society mission among the Welsh miners, should be se- 

 riously considered by some of the philanthropic tea-totalers of the 

 fraternity. But our Cambrian neighbours are notoriously addicted 

 to their libations of crrv, and the habit is of such ancient standing 

 that we fear it will be long ere the merry Welshmen consent to for- 

 swear their visits to the cottages whose " gaily bedaubed lures to 

 intemperance" gave such uneasiness to our kind-hearted wanderer. 

 He tells us that the public houses are " thick as autumnal leaves ;" 

 and that, " in some places, every other house boasts its sign, from 

 ' Uther's Dragon' and ' Prince Llewellyn,' to ' Glendower's Head' 

 and the ' IVIeredith Arms.* " He strenuously counsels an investiga- 

 tion, and consequent diminution, of these " painted sepulchres ;" in 

 fact, a Welsh beer-shop reform bill seems the grand desideratum 



