318 
found in perfect preservation covered with 
hieroglyphics, and bearing several figures, 
one of which resembles the Sagittarius of 
our Zodiac, and is represented drawing his 
bow at two individuals, who appear chained 
together or holding each other by the hand. 
These figures resemble those found in Egypt. 
The vase has been presented to the city of 
Orleans. 
The Italian Language.—Prizes are con- 
tinually offered in Italy for discoveries re- 
garding the formation of the Italian tongue ; 
hjtherto but imperfect success has attended 
the inquiry ; but one point appears to be un- 
questionably settled, namely, that the Sici- 
lians were the first who wrote Italian, and 
no compositions remain of a date anterior to 
Frederic II. who was Emperor in 1230. 
Russian Trophies.—Among the trophies 
brought by the Russians from Persia, is the 
library of Ardebihl, which fell into the hands 
of General Count Suchteleu. This library 
was founded in the year 1013 of the hegira, 
1635 of our own. Shah Abbas I. who reign- 
ed at that time, deposited the manuscripts 
which he had collected in the mosque erected 
in memory of his ancestor Sheikh Sofi, on 
the very spot where that founder of the dy- 
nasty was buried. 
New Carronade.—A deputation from the 
navy board, with several officers of the 
royal artillery, lately inspected a sixty-eight 
pounder carronade, fitted on a new principle, 
on board the Blenheim, at Woolwich. It 
is placed on the poop, and the carriage is so 
constructed as to allow the gun to traverse 
Varieélies. 
[ Marcu, 
both sides, and to fire down upon any object 
along side the ship. 
Oriental Antiquities.—An eminent Ori- 
entalist, Mr. Wilson, of Calcutta, speaking 
of the carved temples of the Indian penin- 
sula, considers the fact as nearly established, 
that these excavations, which are in general 
Saiva and Bauddha are comparatively recent, 
or that none of them bear a high an- 
tiquity. There is nothing in their construc- 
tion which Hindu architects of the present 
day would not be as well qualified as ever to 
accomplish. The sculptured works are 
equally destitute of pretensions to antiquity 
as well as many of the great temples of 
Southern India, which, though genuine 
Hindoo monuments, and probably of the 
same style of architecture as when first 
erected, are modern constructions, in spite of 
the testimony of the local Puranas, which 
are impudent fabrications. 
Schools in the State of New York.— 
There are in the State of New York, 50 
incorporated academies, numerous private 
schools, and between 8 and 9,000 school 
districts, in which, last year, instruction was 
given regularly to 441,850 children, besides 
9 or 10,000 more in the higher seminaries, 
without including the colleges; so that the 
whole number of young persons at this 
moment under instruction in that State 
probably falls little short of half a million, 
which is between a fourth and a third of the 
whole population of the State.—Public Re- 
port, Dec. 1828. 
FINE ARTS’ EXHIBITIONS. 
British Institution.—Ovur limits cau- 
tion us to avoid all introductory matter under 
the above head, and proceed at once to the 
immediate subject of our notice—the Exhi- 
bition of the Works of Living Artists, at the 
rooms of the British Institution. The col- 
lection of this year is, generally speaking, a 
good one; but in the highest department of 
the art—that which takes a poetical charac- 
ter, by blending the ideal with the historical 
—we find a marked deficiency. In fact, we 
do not observe in this department a single 
work calling for high or unqualified com- 
mendation; and only two or three that 
merit a detailed notice at all. These latter 
are all on scriptural subjects ; and the best is 
the veteran Northcote’s Adoration of the 
Shepherds, (No. 1 in the North Room). 
The subject is treated with that simplicity, 
both in the composition and the expres- 
sions, which is the best characteristic of this 
painter ; and which, while it is the source of 
much merit in his works, is also not free 
from the charge of originating some of their 
faults. In the present picture, for example, 
the desire to be natural and simple, has led 
to what we cannot but look upon as the 
error of being common-place, and conse- 
quently unimpressive. Surely, if we have 2 
right to demand an ¢deal character any 
where, it is in the virgin mother of the Sa- 
viour of the world; and yet in this picture 
she is a mother merely—a sweet and touch- 
ing one, but no more so than may be seen 
every day among ourselves. It is the same 
with all the other persons in the picture. 
Moreover, they are all English, which we 
cannot but look upon as another fault, in a 
work of this class. Nevertheless, the pic-~ 
ture is a pure, and, upon the whole, a very 
meritorious one. The colouring of it, in 
particular, is more to our taste than this 
artist’s usually is. The two other historical 
attempts are, The Deluge, by W. Bracxr- 
DON, (251); and Satan, by S. Par- 
TRIDGE, (474). The first of these is dark, 
dreary, and desolate, without being either 
mysterious, fearful, or impressive ; and the 
second is ambitious and conspicuous, with- 
out being either grand, striking, or original. 
Among what may perhaps be called the 
second class of historical composition—that 
which has for its object simply to illustrate 
or commemorate known events, in connec- 
tion with which (on account of their proxi- 
mity to our own times, and the exact know- 
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