248 
MOBY DICK; OR 
cessive armed kings and emperors dash by, like a charge of crowded 
centaurs ? INTot wholly unworthy of a place in that gallery, are these 
sea battle-pieces of Garnery. 
The natural aptitude of the French for seizing the picturesqueness 
of things seems to be peculiarly evinced in what paintings and engrav- 
ings they have of their whaling scenes. With not one-tenth of Eng- 
land’s experience in the fishery, and not the thousandth part of that of 
the Americans, they have nevertheless furnished both nations with the 
only finished sketches at all capable of conveying the real spirit of the 
whale hunt. For the most part, the English and American whale 
draughtsmen seem entirely content with presenting the mechanical 
outline of things, such as the vacant profile of the whale ; which, so far 
as picturesqueness of effect is concerned, is about tantamount to sketch- 
ing the profile of a pyramid. Even Scoresby, the justly renowned 
‘Eight whaleman, after giving us a stiff full-length of the Greenland 
whale, and three or four delicate miniatures of narwhals and porpoises, 
treats us to a series of classical engravings of boat-hooks, chopping 
knives, and grapnels ; and with the microscopic diligence of a Leuwen- 
hoeck submits to the inspection of a shivering world ninety-six facsim- 
iles of magnified Arctic snow crystals. I mean no disparagement to 
the excellent voyager (I honour him for a veteran), but in so important 
a matter it was certainly an oversight not to have procured for every 
crystal a sworn affidavit taken before a Greenland Justice of the Peace. 
In addition to those fine engravings from Garnery, there are two 
other French engravings worthy of note, by some one who subscribes 
himself “H. Durand.” One of them, though not precisely adapted to 
our present purpose, nevertheless deserves mention on other accounts. 
It is a quiet noon scene among the isles of the Pacific; a French whaler 
anchored, inshore, in a calm, and lazily taking water on board; the 
loosened sails of the ship, and the long leaves of the palms in the back- 
ground, both drooping together in the breezeless air. The effect is very 
fine, when considered with reference to its presenting the hardy fisher- 
men under one of their few aspects of oriental repose. The other en- 
graving is quite a different affair: the ship hove-to upon the open sea, 
and in the very heart of the Leviathanic life, with a Eight Whale along- 
side; the vessel (in the act of cutting-in) hove over to the monster as if 
