1805.] 
for fifteen hundred years by a regular fuc- 
cefiion of bifhops, whofe ordination (by 
the patriarch of Antioch,).is acknowledg= 
ed by the Church of England. Another 
fubjeét of literary refearch offers itfelf 
among thefe ancient Chriftians. When 
the Portuguefe firft arrived in India, they 
burned the writings and records found in 
the Chriftian churches, and amoneft them, 
fays a Romith author, fome apoftolical 
monuments, 10 order to dettroy the evi- 
dences of their antiquity, and force them 
toan union. But it has been ftated re- 
Monthly Retrofpelt of the Bine- Arts. 
cently, by a refpectable authority, that 
certain ancient Manu(cripts in the Chal- 
daic language aré yet preferved in the 
country of Travancore. 
The {ubject of the Effay propofed ta 
the ffudents of the College of Fort Wil- 
liam, for the fecond term of 1805, is the 
following :—** On the ultimate Improve. 
ment of the Natives of India, in the 
courfe of Ages, under the Influence of the 
Britifh Government, in Learning and the 
Arts, in Morals, Manners, and Religion.” 
MONTHLY RETROSPECT: OF THE FINE ARTS. 
The Loan of all new Prints and Communications of Articles of Intelligence are requefted. 
ew Bee 
HE Britify Gallery in Pallmall, 
though yet in its infancy, gives 
every promifé of anfwering the purpofes 
for which it was eftablifhed 5-in lefs than 
five weeks (fince the time of its being 
opened to the public) they have fold: pic- 
tures tothe amount of more than eleven 
hundred pounds: We havebeen inform- 
ed that the governors have it in contem- 
plation to purchafe fome noufes in King’s- 
place (now appropriated to‘very different 
purpefes), and place their ettablifhment 
on a {till more extenfive [cale. 
The Gallery was originally intended 
to have been clofed during the time of the 
annual exhibision atth. Royal Academy, 
becaufe, as they expreff.d in their own 
‘atcount, the Britifh Gallery did not with, 
in any refpeét, to interfere with it; but, 
ou re-confideration, it has been thought 
thar keeping both the exhibitions open at 
one time, may be of mutual advantage to 
each ; for when a party fet out on a@ pic- 
ture/que tour, they ufually vifit all the 
col.ections they can in one day. 
Cenfidered asa whole, thts Gallery has 
avery f{plendid appearance. ‘The {carlet- 
coloured paper with which it is covered 
gives, at firft fight, the idea of a mag- 
nificent fuite of rooms in a private man- 
fion, not originally intended for piétures, 
though recently decorated with them. 
One of the reaifons for adopting ‘this co- 
lour might poffibly be, that a fimilar tint 
forms the back-ground of the pidcture- 
rooms at Windicr Caftle ; and it muft be 
admiited, that the eye by being habituated 
toit, or indeed to any other fafhion, be 
it ever fo abfurd, becomes in a degree re- 
conciled to it. Notwithitanding all this, 
and more which might poffibly be faid in 
its favour, wwe cannot look it into liking, 
but after repeated infpeétions, retain the 
objections mentioned in laft month’s Re- 
trofpec. 
__ The piftures are, on’the whole, very 
| Montary Mac. Now t4t. 
judicioufly arranged. Appropriating one 
room to pictures from hiltory,, allegory, 
or mythology, another to land{capes, &c, 
&c. gives the young ftudent in each branch. 
a power of comparing the relative merit 
of painters in that particular province of 
att which he means to purfue, without’ 
his attention being taken cff by the inter. 
vention of pictures on fubjects about which 
he is Jefs folici:ous; and it will furely be 
more pleafing to the man of tafte than the 
plan which has been followed in fome pre. 
ceding exhibitions, where the chief point 
that fcems to have been attended to, in 
placing the pictures, has been the fize of 
the canvas. Yet ina few, though very 
few intances, we think the pictures are 
not placed in a proper point of view, 
Frecbairne’s pictures, though finifhed in 
the moft delicate fiyle, are hoifted to the’ 
top of the room, while others, painted 
merely for effect, are placed clofe to the. 
eye. Thefe little inattentions will, we 
dare fay, be avoided in the arrangements 
for future exhibitions ; for though no ar- 
tilt has a right even to hope that aif hig 
pictures fhould be placed in an advantage- 
ous fituation, yet he may fairly expedt 
that one, out of four or five, should be 
put in the light calculated to difplay-itin 
the view it was painted for; as. by that’ 
one fome judgment may be formed of the 
reft : 
One great objeétion to the exhibition at 
the Royal Academy, has been the. over- 
bearing majority of infpid-and uninteref= 
ing portraits of infipid and uninterefti 
individuals, which ufurp the bet: fit 
tionsin the rooms, Thefe miferable ane- 
motials of infignificance afford little that’ 
can lead to the improvement of the fiu- 
_ dent, and ftill lefs that can terd to the 
gratification of the connoifleur ; though 
trom the variety of individuals marching 
with fhoals of their friends to Somerfet . 
Houle, to try if they can find out the libene/; 
ng 
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