170 FINE ARTS. 



spirit we need not regret the delay. The style of engraving is of 

 the first degree of excellence, the drawings very beautiful, and em- 

 bracing the various aspects of our sea-beat shore ; five plates are 

 given in each number, and these of a much larger size than the ge- 

 nerality of such works admit. The descriptive letter-press, too, is 

 admirably written ; no flimsy, fictitious narratives, no nonsensical 

 bombast, or inflated antiquarianism, but all the interesting and im- 

 portant features of the respective scenes simply, clearly, and gra- 

 phically described ; the requisite information quoted from old au- 

 thorities, and the present state of things related from evident know- 

 ledge of facts : it is most sensibly edited. The views hitherto pub- 

 lished are, " Tynemouth Priory and Lighthouse," with the life-boat 

 putting off to the crew of a wrecked vessel ; in this plate, the ter- 

 rific characteristics of a sea-storm are depicted with fearful accu- 

 racy. The next plate shews a " View of Tynemouth Castle," with 

 the wreck on the rocks. ■" Cullercoats/' "Entrance to Shield's 

 Harbour," and " Berwick Bridge," are all beautiful pictures of a 

 quieter kind. In the second number is l< Holy Island Castle," a 

 magnificent sea and land view, with the old Abbey of Lindisfarne 

 standing in its mouldering desolation beside the ever-rolling ocean, 

 and the light fishing-vessels leaping over the foaming billows, or 

 scudding swiftly in-shore beneath the sheltering rocks. The view 

 of " Bamborough Castle" from the sea, with the heavy storm-clouds 

 gathering gloomily in the background, and the heaving waves 

 swelling around, is a grand scene, but, as a view of the castle itself, 

 we prefer the landward aspect of the ancient pile, with its turretted 

 donjon frowning portentously above the curtain-wall, and its formi- 

 dable round towers. Its rocky base and commanding position prove 

 how important a place this castle has been in times of yore ; those 

 fearful times of feudal power and feudal tyranny, now, happily for 

 us, passed never to return. This drawing has been invested with 

 the same character of gloomy magnificence as the former one, and 

 well does it suit our feelings while contemplating the subject. The 

 foreground and the beautiful group of resting wayfarers is exqui- 

 sitely engraved. " Newcastle-upon-Tyne" is a busy, bustling pic- 

 ture of a busy, bustling town, and accordingly a very correct por- 

 trait. Boats and shipping of all degrees, and houses and other 

 buildings of every age and style, make up a very clever and ani- 

 mated sketch. The " Entrance to the Port of Berwick" is equally 

 good with the plates already noticed, except that the artist has in- 

 troduced the chimney of a steam-packet without in any satisfactory 

 manner accounting for the rest of its corpus. On the whole, this is 

 a most truly interesting, English, and beautiful work. 



