336 
_ the paintings’ which were recently dif 
covered in St. Stephen’s Chapel, we 
have already fpoken in the manner they 
deferve. He is now engraving them, 
and they are to be accompanied by an 
hiftorical account of the antiquities, com- 
prifng an hiftory of Gothic architec- 
ture, and antient {culpture and painting, 
from the earlieft period, with a chapter 
on ftained glals ; the whole to be writ- 
ten by John Sydpcy Hawkins, Efq. 
F.S. A. whofe learhing and knowledge of 
the fubjec&t bave been difplayed im fe- 
veral pree€ding publications on Gothic 
Argbtectore, Painting, &c. 
/On the 25th of Margh, the Lords of 
the Yreafury appointed Mr. George 
Frederick Pidgeon, affiftant to N. Mar- 
chant, Efq. R.A. engraver to his Ma- 
jefty’s Stamp office. Mr. Pidgeon’s abi- 
lities as an engraver of medals are very 
diftinguifhed : in animals he particularly 
excels. He has juit completed a very 
fine medal, about the fize of a crown- 
piece; on one fide, a lion and a lionefs, 
in a mot fpirited ftyle; and on the 
other, an inicription in commemoration 
of our late naval victories. 
Mr. J. R. Smith, engraver in mezzo- 
tinte to the Prince of Wales, has: in- 
vented a method of colouring impref- 
fions of his plates in oil, to refemble 
paintings cf a fuperior kind, poffeffing 
that peculiar brightnefs fo much ad- 
mired in the pictures of the Venetian 
{choo], to which they bear fo gieat a re- 
femblance, that they are not. eafily dif- 
tincuifued from them even by Connoi- 
feurss Among many other advantages 
which may be reaped from this inven- 
ticn, it may not be deemed improper 
to fuggeft, that it faves the expence of 
glais, which is both expenfive and fran- 
gible; and. fhould they by any accident 
be toiled, the application of a fponge 
Literary anid Philofophical Intelligence. 
; {May Ty 
and clean. water will reftore them to 
their-original brightnefs. To all this 
may be added, that, as- they are really. 
executed in cil, they will Rand. as well . 
as oi]-paintings, and the additional ex- 
pence is very trifling. 
Mr. Howitt has juf completed his 
work of the Byiti/b Sporif/man, one vol. 
quarto, price in boards, gl. 15s. ‘Te 
contains 73 plates, deferiptive of hunf- 
ing, fifhing, and fowling, all from na- 
ture, drawn and etched by the ariift in 
a fpirited ftyle. ‘They are the bef things » 
of the kind that have been publifhed in 
this country, and equal to many of thofe 
on fimilar -fubjeé&ts by Ridinger, whofe 
work artifts have fo long looked up 
to with well-placed admiration. 
The mezzotintos engraved by S. W. 
Reynolds we have had frequent occa- 
fion to praife: he has a number of very 
fine things. now in great forwardnefs. 
The portraits of the Princefs of Wales 
and Princefs Charlotte, from Maria Cof- 
way, are nearly finifhed, and do great 
credit to the pi€ture ;-it unites with the 
foftnefs of a miniature. the force of a 
fketch. The Confeffion, from a picture 
painted by Opie, and exhibited lait year at 
_the Royal Academy, is ina very fuperior 
ftyleof engraving. The portrait of Sir R. 
Abercrombie, from Hoppner, is a ftrong 
likenefs, and a fine print. The piéture 
of-J. T. Jones, Efg. M. Bs is a fime 
manly portrait, with features that difplay 
ftrong marks of a firm and benevolent 
mind. , 
The exhibition at the Royal Academy 
was opened to the public on Monday,. 
and, as ufual, abounds in portraits. 
There are fome fine pictures, and many 
admirable drawings, which with other 
performances, of which the lefs is faid 
the better, we fhall notice next month. 
VARIETIES, Lirzerary: anp PHILOSOPHICAL. 
Including Notices of Werksin Hand, Domeftic and Foreign. 
% *, Authentic Communications for this Article will always be thankfully received. ~ 
eae 
HE Eaft India Company has» pre- 
wk = fented Sir JosePH BaNKs with one 
of the bricks which are to be found in fuch 
great quantities near Hilla, on the Eu- 
phrates, the fpot whereon, according to 
Major RenNew and the ancient geogra- 
phers, Babylon was fituated. On_ thefe 
bricks chaveéters are engraved perfectly f- 
milar to thefe commonly called Per/epoli- 
tan, and defcribed by Chardin, Cor- 
neille le Brun, Kemfer, Niebuhr, and 
others. ‘This is one of the moft cu- 
rious difcoveries, as it appears that 
thefe arrow-headed characters are real 
letters, and that they were common, not 
only in Perfia, but alfoin the ancient eapi- 
tal of Chaldea. The literati of London 
are undecided, whether thefe characters; fe- 
parated 
