Strult’s Deliciee Sylvarum. 381 
work in twelve numbers, and he judged that he should not be 
fulfilling his engagements and keeping faith with the public, 
if he exceeded that quantity. Thus finding himself, there- 
fore, ** spatiis exclusus iniquis *,” he declined complying with 
the urgent solicitations of some, at the risk of offending other: 
We are the more inclined to attribute his refusal to some 
such honourable motives, from the very handsome manner in 
which the work was conducted throughout from the beginning, 
and finally brought to a close. AY progressive improvement 
in the plates was visible in each succeeding number. ‘There 
was more of finish in the execution, more labour expended, 
more light and shade, more pictorial effect, in the latter 
than in the earlier etchings. And, to the credit of Mr. Strutt, 
it ought not to be forgotten that, when the concluding number 
came forth, each subscriber was presented with two extra- 
plates, a frontispiece and tailpiece, of equal size with the 
rest, without any additional charge being made for the over- 
weight. ‘This certainly was making his bow in the most 
handsome way to those who had encouraged his undertaking. 
By such liberal conduct we hope and trust he will be no loser ; 
as it may serve as a pledge and earnest to the public, that 
they are safe in his hands, and run no risk of being shabbily 
treated by him in his present or any future publication. 
We now turn to the work more immediately before us, the 
Delicia Sylvarum, or Grand and Romantic Forest Scenery in 
England and Scotland. ‘The contents of the two numbers 
already published do not disappoint the expectations raised 
by this imposing title. In the Sylva Britannica, from the very 
nature of the undertaking, the portraits of single trees now 
and then presented rather stiff and formal subjects, and were 
in some few instances unavoidably deficient in picturesque 
beauty. The plates in the present work are not liable to the 
same objection, being all of them in perfect accordance with 
the best taste of the landscape-painter, and in point of execu- 
tion equal or superior to the very best etchings in the former 
work. ‘The frontispiece, which is extremely appropriate, is a 
plate of great merit. Mr. Strutt has not thought well to tell 
us where the scene is to be met with, or whether it has any 
existence in reality; we presume, therefore, that it is a com- 
position, At the same time, we could almost fancy that we 
had, during our summer rambles a a midland county, our- 
selves seen the identical old oak (fg. 100.), with its dragon 
claws casting anchor in the rock Mea which forms the more 
prominent object in the plate. Be this as it may, however, 
* © In narrow bounds confined.” 
fa) 
Cc vo 
