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I shall conclude this brief sketch with the names of Snyders 

 and Edwin Landseer. If the former is bold and spirited, with 

 wild and daring energy of pencil and composition, the latter 

 surpasses him in truth of colouring, equal freedom of pencil, 

 and a beautiful fidelity to nature ; he also carries the subject 

 matter of his pictures into a higher rank of art, and is not 

 dependent upon any other artist for his figures, which was the 

 case with Snyders, who was freemen tly assisted by Rubens. 

 Landseer's pictures are so well known that any attempt to 

 describe them will be useless, but the names I have brought 

 before you may be considered as some of the most remarkable ; 

 many others might be added ; the result, however, would be 

 the same. We must admit that the balance is decidedly in 

 favour of the older masters in historical painting ; but, in 

 common fairness, we must yield the palm of superior merit 

 in all the other departments to our own country ; and while 

 the Dutch School excelled in chiaro scuro, with great skill in 

 concealing the appearances of art, the French and Germans 

 (particularly of the present day) are correct, cold, and hard ; 

 the English Painter sees with equal truth, and with a mind 

 deeply imbued with the spirit of poetry ; his pictures convey 

 a moral lesson, with a train of ideas which carry the spec- 

 tator beyond the scene of action ; there is an indication cal- 

 culated to inspire thought, with a refinement of feeling 

 unknown in any other school ; he speaks rather to the mind 

 than the eye, and with this great advantage, nothing is neg- 

 lected, and while the eye is arrested it is made available to 

 the mind : and it is much to the credit of our country, that 

 while the schools of the Continent, during the war, had access 

 to nearly all the celebrated galleries of Europe, England was 

 debarred that advantage ; yet, her efforts as far surpassed those 

 of anv other modern nation as she has done in commerce and 



