StrutfsDeliciceSi/lvdrum, 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 others. 

 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. A 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 

 DelicicB Sylvdrum^ 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 Britdnnica, 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 in a midland county, our- 

 selves seen the identical old oak (fig. 100.), with its dragon 

 claws casting anchor in the rock below, which forms the more 

 prominent object in the plate. Be this as it may, however, 



* " In narrow bounds confined." 

 C C 3 



