1825, 
very reverse of the being hostile to any of 
those previously established—that it is an 
auxiliary, not a rival, to those exhibitions 
by which the progress of the Fine Arts 
has hitherto been encouraged and _ pro- 
moted: and the most powerful auxiliary 
it has already proved itself to be; since, by 
laying open a free channel at once to gene- 
rous emulation and public patronage, it 
stimulates exertion by the fair prospect of 
commensurate reward ; and the rapid im- 
provement in several branches of the art 
eyinced in the great superiority of the pre- 
sent oyer the former exhibition, may be well 
accounted for when we record, that Mr. 
Linton, the Secretary, with honest frankness, 
avowing that the exertions in establishing 
the Society, for which he had been thanked, 
were, like those of his associates—exertions 
to serve themselves; concluded by stating, 
that since his return to England to the time 
of opening the Gallery for the previous ex- 
hibition, all his professional fees had amount- 
ed only to 35 guineas; but that, in con- 
sequence of that exhibition, he had received 
a thousand. This it is, for genius in an 
opulent country to have an open and public 
mart: talent will be sure to develope 
itself where encouragement is thus liberal. 
Of the proper point of view in which the 
Society is regarded by the British Institu- 
tion, there is reputable evidence in the 
enumeration we have given of the distin- 
guished persons present ; and the fine picture 
of the R. A., Northcote, which adorns the 
walls, and a second, donation of twenty- 
five guineas from Mr. Soane, Architectural 
Professor of the R. A., accompanied by a 
very handsome letter (he had previously 
made a donation of 50 guineas), evinced a 
like cordiality of feeling among the artists 
of Somerset House. A second donation 
Theatrical Review ; and Music. 
So on, 
265 
(30 guineas) from Sir Gerard Noel, who 
had formerly given 100, and. a further 
donation of 10 guineas from Baring Wall, 
Esq., were also announced. The Duke of 
Bedford had recently, again, sent a donation 
of 100 guineas. And we are happy to add, 
that on the day of the private view. con- 
siderable purchases were made (26 pictures, 
mostly of the cabinet class), to an amount 
of not less than £700. 
BRITISH MUSEUM. 
Smr R. C. Hoare, Bart., has recently 
given to the British Museum: his splendid 
collection of books, relating -to the history 
and topography of Italy, collected between 
the years 1785 and 1791, during two ex- 
cursions into that country. It consists of 
1733 articles, arranged according to the 
ancient divisions of Italy. Two other do- 
nations of the highest tmportance have 
lately been made to the British \iuseum.; 
a collection of coins, medals, bronzes, gems 
and drawings, worth more than £50,000, 
from Mr. R. P. Knight. Anda collection 
of pictures. of extraordinary value, from 
Sir George Beaumont. There were admitted 
into this national establishment last-year,, 
112,480 persons. 
Mr. Green, Lecturer to the College. of 
Surgeons, &c., has been chosen successor 
to Sir A. Carlisle, as Anatomical,.Lecturer 
to the Royai Academy. _ His competitors 
were Messrs. C. Bell, Brooks, and Carpue. 
The Diorama—The . celebrated painters 
of the Diorama are preparing a piece, which 
they expect will eclipse their former per- 
formances ; it is a view of Rouen, and they 
haye imagined a storm—which. abates—a 
rainbow appears—the.storm returns, and 
The illusion, if the execution should 
equal the design, will be beyond any thing 
that has yet been produced. 
THEATRICAL REVIEW; AND MUSIC. 
—E=—— 
rise '__ DRURY LANE. 
S Fee novelty has occurred during 
the preceding month at either house. 
At this, Mr. Kean has repeated his usual 
routine of characters, upon which it is pro- 
bable we shall speak more at large hereafter. 
On the 17th, he appeared in his much less 
accustomed part of Hamlet, in the pro- 
foundly moral and mysteriously interesting 
tragedy of that name. With reference to 
him, however, on this occasion, we shall 
just observe, that the character, of the Prince 
of Denmark, dignified at once, and familiar, 
_** The courtier’s, soldier's, scholar’s eye, tongue, 
word : 
: he eioachaley and rose of the fair state, 
_ The glass of fashion, and the mould of. form,” 
_ (with its indefinite admixture of assumed 
_and real derangement, its philosophic melan- 
,choly and irresolute irritation, its contemp- 
lative strength and efficient weakness—its 
infinite and eccentric versatility!) was never 
_ MontuLy Macaziwe, No. 408- 
one of the happiest efforts of Mr. Kean’: 
though ‘there were some few points in his 
conception of that character, which bore the 
stamp, at once, of original thinking and correct 
discrimination, and which ought to be held 
in remembrance inall future representations 
of the part. Of the instance immediately 
under review, however, impartial ‘criticism 
must acknowledge that it was far from an 
improvement on his former attempts ; that 
his deportment was still less princely than 
heretofore ; and his manner in general; whe- 
ther in tone, enunciation, or gesture, still 
less in unison with the temperament of the 
character. The. sarcastic, the cynically 
irrascible (we might even say the sullen and 
the surly), superseded the inherently be- 
nignant, though supernaturally perturbed, 
pensiveness of the iHamlet‘of Shakspeare ; 
and Massinger’s Str Giles, and Mr. Xvan’s 
io’ ster, “occasionally "broke ‘forth through 
that “ noble mind,” which, however “‘over- 
2 ™M P ; thrown,’ 
