r 
L 
VARIETIES, LITERARY 
i Sel {Feb.1, 
AND MISCELLANEOUS ; 
Including Notices of Works in hand, Domestic and Foreign. 
FINE ARTS. 
HE British Institution, in Pall-Mall, 
is about to open its annual exhibition 
to the public, and, so far as we can learn, 
with eyen more than its usual claims to 
attention. The directors of this national 
school having offered premiums to those 
painters who shoud produce the best 
sketch of the “ Battle of the Nile,” or the 
“ Battle of Trafalgar ;” many candidates 
have entered the lists, it being understood, 
also, that the fortunate victor, in this ho- 
nourable contest, will be further rewarded 
by a commission for a large picture to be 
hereafter presented to Greenwich Hos- 
pital. 
Several of these works have, in their 
progress, been contemplated by us with 
great pleasure, for though generally adverse 
to war, and all its pomp and circumstance, 
we have yet that love of glory and national 
pride inherent in man, and cannot read 
such a dazzling page’in our national history, 
without feeling that glow of the heart, that 
quick throbbing’ of the pulse, which indi- 
cates the pride of triumph, the solicitude 
of a moment big with the fate of nations, 
and deciding that of so many dear and va- 
luable individuals. 
Of these pictures, the most brillant, 
finely coloured, and magnificently effective, 
is that of the Bay of Aboukir, by. Mr. 
Sharpe—the last man from whom we ex- 
pected such a painting, not from supposed 
deficiency of power, for we knew him to be 
a good sailor and a charming colourist ; but 
from the circumstance of his scenes being 
hitherto, with little exception, chosen from 
familiar life. 
’ Mr. Cartwright, professionally a marine 
painter, and personally acquainted with the 
awful front of naval warfare (we believe at 
Trafalgar), offers two pictures, exquisitely 
drawn, ‘and full of nautical knowledge. 
Mr. Daniel, Rk. A., an experienced painter 
of great powers in the department called 
for, will, undoubtedly, be a very strong 
competitor. We will not presume to vati- 
einate farther than to suppose that one of / 
these three are likely to succeed; but it is 
certain several other meritorious works have 
been some time on the easel. 
Many other works of merit are, also, said 
to be sent to the gallery, in different lines 
of art, and we may, therefore, expect to be 
highly amused at a season of the year, 
when this charming mode of delighting the 
eye, and gratifying the mind, boasts of 
more than common attraction. In the 
gloomy days of winter, the artificial world, 
created by the landscape painter, the social 
or heroic group, offered by the poetic pen- 
cil, breathes enchantment over the “dull 
realities of life,’ and renders the hand 
which can cheat us into a new existence, 
and bid us live in summer scenes, and with 
beloved, though imaginary beings, not less 
potent as a benignant magician, than dear as 
a friend. 
Of the engravings which have lately ap- 
peared, none haxe excited such high in- 
terest as those of Lord Byron. Of these, 
we have been most pleased with that en- 
graved by H. Meyer, from a picture by 
Holmes, for which the great poet sat imme- 
diately before leaving England. It is ex- 
quisitely beautiful, and the expression pen- 
sive, thoughtful, and therefore, interesting. 
The head, by Lupton, from the well-known 
admirable portrait by Philips, r.a., is also 
finely engraved, and of great merit. 
We have lately seen drawings on stone, 
from two pictures of G. S. Newton’s, a 
“‘ Girl at her Devotions,” anda ‘“ Girl 
with a Falcon,’’ so beautiful as to outgo 
all we expected from lithography. They 
are by Mr. R. Lane, a young gentleman, 
whom we understand to be a relation to 
Gamsborough, and whose high talent proves 
that his genius has descended without de- 
terioration. He has been lately employed 
in a very fine engraving, in the line manner, 
of Sir T. Lawrence’s “ Little Red Riding 
Hood,” and only adopted these drawings 
on stone, as a species of relief from the sight- 
wearing efforts called for, by his exquisite 
burin, in works. of this highly-finished 
character. B. 
A literary treasure of no common value, 
and of most singular rarity, which is likely 
to excite a strong interest in. the minds of 
all well-read lovers of the ancient English 
drama, and will awaken the hopes and 
fears of every ambitious and jealous collec- 
tor of scarce books, has, within the last few 
days, been brought to light, and is now in 
the hands of an experienced dealer. This 
exhumated curiosity is a book in small 
quarto, said to be once possessed by Sir 
Thomas Hanmer, but not alluded to by 
him, containing the scarce editions of eleven ° 
of Shakspeare’s plays, among which is 
Hamlet. The perusal of the whole of these 
must highly gratify a qualified reader, but 
a careful collation of the latter tragedy will 
bestow a greater reward on the diligence of 
the critical examiner than any or all of the 
others can give: it is, in fact, the principal 
feature of the volume; it is of the date of 
1603. Of this edition not the slightest men- 
tion has ever been made, it is therefore fair 
to conclude that, to the various, able and 
laborious commentators on Shakespeare, it 
was utterly unknown; the earliest which 
has eyer obtained notice being that of 1604, 
of which Mr. Malone gives the title, though 
it is quite clear that he had no other know- 
ledge of it: a copy of this edition of 1604 
was, however, in Mr. Kemble’s cole 
an 
— 
“Sipe: 
