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REVIEWS OF PRINTS AND ILLUSTRATED WORKS. 



" Forsret-me-not ; a Chrislmas, New Year's, and Birth-day Present, for 

 MDCCCXXXV." Ackennann & Co., Strand. 



Ten plates, exclusive of a "graceful inscription-piece, embellish the present volume 

 of this favourite annual. They are executed with extreme elaboration and delicacy, 

 though we .can, scarcely, place them on a footing with some of the productions of 

 former years. We are inclined to apprehend that the passion for exquisitely-wrought 

 engravings of album-size, which sprung up with the Annuals and grew with their 

 growth, has deteriorated the general excellence of these very charming bijoux, not 

 merely by giving rise to showy and inferior imitations, the offspring of the black- 

 and-white school, but by raising beyond the power of supply, the demand for the 

 works of the select few whose burins have, fortunately, attained a fashionable 

 notoriety. A popular engraver, overloaded with commissions, has but one resource, 

 and that is to avail himself of the talent of his assistants ; a few brilliant strokes of 

 his own are imparted to the plate in its latest stage, and it is given to the world with 

 tliat sure passport to the admiration of the multitude, the signature of an admired 

 artist. This practice, enforced by the blind veneration for " name" which is ever 

 paramount with the million, accounts for the striking variety in style and execution 

 obvious in the plates ostensibly from the same hand : this variety is apparent in all 

 series of prints by very favorite engravers, and is, therefore, evident in the embeUish- 

 ments of the Annuals. The " Forget-me-not" has, usually, been conspicuous for 

 its graphic excellence, an excellence commanded by the liberal spirit of its projector, 

 and the happy emulation created by rivalry — that keen spur to improvement. The 

 volume before us is highly attractive both in the designs with which it is enriched, 

 and the literary portion of its contents ; prose and poetry are, as ever, judiciously 

 and pleasingly intermingled, and many bright and rare gems glitter in the fair 

 chaplet which the talented editor has interwoven for the gift of affection : here it is, 

 however, our province to refer to the prints only. The })resentation plate represents 

 a starry corruscation, surrounded with a garland of flowers ; the luminous place in 

 the centre is devoted to the inscription ; the idea is graceful and charming, and the 

 effect is extremely fortunate. *' Diana and Etidymion" form the subject of the 

 first plate ; it is painted by J. Wood, and ably engraved by C. Rolls ; the design is 

 pleasing, but a little stiffness in the attitude of the hunter-goddess, and a lack of that 

 divine beauty in Endymion which, breathing of immortality, allured from her 

 celestial abode the fair Queen of Night, take something from the spell of the scene ; 

 we might also suergest a degree of heaviness in the figure, and of constraint in the 

 position of Endymion ; the grace, the youthful majesty, and the impassioned loveli- 

 ness which ought to distinguish this favorite of Jupiter, did not, apparently, beam 

 on the canvass of the painter. There is much elegance in the group of little loves 

 who, attending the enamoured Selene, gaze with smiles upon the sleeping youth. 

 A slight want of vigour and brilliancy is perceptible in the print. The second plate 

 olfers a scene in the beautiful isle of Madeira; it is most felicitously executed by E. 

 Goodall, from a drawing by W. Westall, A. R. A., and abounds in picturesque 

 features. "Aunt Lucy" — a courtly and bewitching belle of the last century, 

 attired in masquerade robes, with a vizard in her right hand ; the figure is finely 

 drawn by H. Wyatt, and most exquisitely engraved with a fine and brilliant line, by 

 C. Rolls : unquestionably " Aunt Lucy" is " the flower of them a'." " Mabel 

 Grey" from a picture by that original-minded artist Cattermole ; this interesting 

 little scene represents a gallant soldier wooing his fair cousin, an artless, handsome 

 village maiden, in a romantic spot sheltered from unfriendly eyes : the girl appears 

 to listen well-pleased to her lover's suit, her head is half averted, and her pitcher, 

 brought to the mill-stream, stands neglected by her side ; one objection we find to 

 the sentiment of this simple courtship— can Mr. Cattermole inform us why he has 

 stationed the soldier-lover on a bench while the damsel stands before him — surely a 

 gallant wooer would have sprung forward to meet his mistress on her appearance, 

 or had she risen from the seat would have disdained to recline thus indolently upon 



