REVIEWS OF PRINTS AND ILLUSTRATED WORKS. 47 



T>pinion— « work which honorable in its design and fulfilment, presents claims (rffer 

 Inore flian ordinary magnitude to the patronage of the public. Its extensive diffu- 

 sion leads us to presume that few Englishmen, proud of their country and its pre- 

 eminence, are not possessors of " the National Portrait Gallery" 



** Gallery of Portraits." (Under the superintendence of the Society for the 

 Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.) No. XXV., June. London, Charles Knight, 

 22, Ludgate Street. 



This is an admirable number of a most admirable work, not strictly national 

 like Fisher's, but universally interesting. The portraits are the Chancellor 

 Daguesseau, finely engraved by J. Mollison, from Mignard ; Cromwell, that 

 daring spirit among men, superbly engraved by E. Scriven ; and the musician, 

 poet, painter, sculptor and engineer, the immortal Da Vinci, by J. Posjelwhite, 

 from the print by Raffaelle Morghen. An outline group, from the " Battle of 

 the Standard," the celebrated transcript of which, by Girard Edelinck, is well 

 known to connoisseurs, and two or three clever little vignettes, are interspers- 

 ed. Twenty-eight pages of letter-press, in the shape of memoirs accompany 

 the plates. No. XXVI. of this highly attractive and really valuable series, con- 

 tains very noble heads of Vauban ; William III. ; and Goethe ; from Le Brun, 

 Netscher, and Dawe, the Academician ; beautifully engraved by W. Fry, W, 

 Holl, and J. Fosselwhite. The memoirs are of striking interest. This 

 ** Gallery" is invaluable, and in point of cheapness not to be surpassed. 



" Fishers' Picturesque Illustrations." 4th Series. Lake Scenery, Seats, &c., of 

 Westmoreland, Cumberland, Durham, and Northumberland, from original Drawings 

 by Thomas Alton, with Historical and Topographical notices, by T. Rose. 4to. 

 (Monthly.) 



Of these exquisite illustrations it is indeed difficult to speak in terms of adequate 

 eulogium. The scenery is not more enchanting than the execution is admirable ; 

 many of the plates exhibit all that the graver can effect in sparkle, delicacy, breadth, 

 richness aud harmony. Air and earth, wood and water ; the multitudinous changes 

 of atmosphere consequent upon difference of time and season, the picturesque inci- 

 dents of light and shade, the hurried shower, the sudden beam, the vacillations of an 

 April day, the gloom and menace of the mountain storm, all the adjuncts of scenery 

 in which the poet and the painter find inspiration and loveliness, are discriminated 

 with a truth and sentiment perfectly beyond praise. Middiman never produced any 

 thing more fascinating or more elaborate than some of the gems before us ; the spirit 

 of the foregrounds, the lightness, beauty, and freedom of the foliage, the transparency 

 of the water, the broad masses of the hills and wild uplands, the airy tenderness of 

 the skies ; the fleeciness of the clouds rolled together as a scroll by the strong breath 

 of the hurricane, or floating tranquilly in the still air, are features of excellence in 

 which these prints are not to be surpassed. The ''finish" is the glitter of the 

 diamond, yet there is nothing tame, cold or metallic in the effect, nothing of the mere 

 mechanical excellence which a successful apprenticeship may acquire, and which is 

 often substituted for the higher requisites of the art. The figures and animals are 

 judiciously introduced, full of fire and attraction ; the cattle and sheep are bijoux, 

 pourtrayed with a fidelity of detail not only as to the general form but as to the indi- 

 vidual species. Landscape figures, even among the first masters, are often either 

 slight indications negligently thrown in, or laboured, ill-drawn and imagined : these 

 are the reverse, and harmonize with their relative situations. The sportsman making 

 his way through the heather ; the angler by the deep stream ; the shepherd driving 

 his -flock through the vale ; the mariner, the gleaner, the fruit-picker, all have their 

 appropriate place. The feudal fray, the sortie, the knightly gathering animate the 

 mountain pass like the figires of Salvator, or appear to challenge the time-worn for- 

 talice : again we have the bridal of olden times, the son of chivalry and the flower 

 of loveliness escorted by a gallant retinue through the castle yard to the chapel ; 

 and, contrasting with these, we have the belles and beaux of modern days 

 assembled in joyous groups at the spa, or regatta, or exploring some noble park 

 or pleasure ground. Chalon need not disdain to countenance these little knots 

 of fashionables. We may say without hesitation that a more captivating series 



