It policy of building ships in India are much more convincing, if not absolutely conclusive on that point; which is certainly of "Let sons of sloth and discord fret, Because despised and poor; struction of the walls, the author strongly Prevention is always better than the cure, recommends the advice of Vitruvius and and particularly where cure is very diffiAlberti, that there should be an open space cilt, doubtful, or expensive. The proper from the top to the bottom, through which seasoning of timber is of the greatest in-great importance. any vapour that could collect, might pass portance. Small young timber is very subThe style of a work of this description is without damaging the works. Such a plan ject to infection. Mr. M William strongly an inferior consideration, on which account possesses the additional recommendation recommends felling timber in winter before we have omitted to point out various bleof interposing a column of air, the best the rise of the sap. In the summer, after mishes and provincialisms which have ocnonconductor of heat, consequently like the the sap has risen, if the tree be cut down,curred to us in reading it. In quoting double windows in Russia, and in the West its tubes are full of the juices not yet con- poetry the author is not very happy in his Indics, favourable to coolness, by not in-verted into timber. The consequence, if taste; for instance, page 306 : troducing the external heat in summer; it be exposed to wet, is, that a fermentaand in winter promoting warmth, by not tion takes place, and dry rot ensues. carrying off the heat from the internal of was formerly the practice to fell wood in the building. One of the most remarkable winter, and it is only since the use of oak examples of this principle, is the celebrated bark in tanning, that wood has been cut boundary-wall of China. Whilst the free down in the spring, when the bark is more admission of fresh air is of the utmost im- easily stripped off. After timber is felled portance, particularly in drying the walls it ought to be plunged in water, and remain of a new building, and is often success- for a length of time, that all the juices not ful in eradicating dry-rot after it has converted into timber, may be drawn out. commenced; yet, whoever takes upon This mode is usual in Italy, Sweden, and himself the responsibility of remedy- Norway. ing this disease, ought to ascertain the general state of the building, and the means of communication from one part to another. When air is improperly administered to vegetable dry rot, it has a similar effect as when applied to fire; it invigorates its powers. By admitting air injudiciously, many princely mansions have been de stroyed. Timber most liable to decay is that which is alternately wet and dry. Hence those parts of a wooden bridge immediately above the surface of the low-water mark, are found to rot; whilst those constantly above water, and those constantly im mersed, continue sound. It is astonishing how long wood will last when constantly below water. The piles supposed to have been driven into the Thames by Julius Cæsar, near Shepperton, were taken up a few years ago, and found free from decay. The piles on which London Bridge is supported, have remained uninjured for 600 years. A.still more remarkable instance is that of the Bridge built by Trajan over the Danube. About the middle of the last century, the Emperor of Germany obtained permission of the Turkish Government to draw out one of the piles, and it was found as sound and complete as when first driven, although it had been in the Danube 1600 years. Salt water is not so beneficial as fresh in extracting the juices, and is attended with this serious disadvantage, that the salt left in the timber attracts moisture, and renders the wood ever after damp. The animal dry-rot occasioned by worins of disproportionate length, being 200 pages, And for misfortunes blame the State, Which they themselves procure." The importance of the subject will excuse the length of our remarks, and we dismiss the work with hearty wishes, that it may prove of use in eradicating so great an evil as that on which it treats. VOYAGE TO THE CONGO. (Captain Tuckey's Narrative continued.) On the 28th of August, Captain T. was diverted from his purpose of proceeding to Mavoonda to purchase canoes to ascend the river, by an assurance of the Macayo, that instead of beobstructed at a day's journey by a fall ing free above that place, it was again named Sangalla. To ascertain the truth of this intelligence, he set out from Inga, taking only Mr. Galwey and four men, with a short day's provisions, the cases of preserved meat being now their only resource. Passing the valley of Bemba, they ascended some steep hills totally composed of broken pieces of quartz, fatiguing, and resembling a newly made limestone road. At sunset they reached Sangalla, which is about ten miles above Mavoonda. Here the river is crossed by a ledge of slate rocks, leaving only a passage on the left bank about fifty yards wide, through which the stream pours at the rate of It does not appear evident, froin the reasoning employed, that it would be advanta- at least eight miles an hour, forming geous to convert valuable land into forests whirlpools in the middle, whose vortices of trees; and it is very questionable, if the occupy half the breadth, and must be fair promises of profit held out by our an- fatal to any canoe. Two miles lower thor's calculations, would be realized in the river breaks quite across over anoplanting the barren hills and moors. however, employing the poor and indus-wide expanse east and west, but filled Still, ther sunken ledge. Abore, it forms a with rocky islets. Its breadth, however, noderates the velocity of the current, so that it is navigable for canoes, as is testified by a ferry two miles higher up. In fact, whatever renders the parts of the wood compact and solid, and prevents the circulation or fermentation of its juices, preserves it. Hence impregnating wood with oil or with salt, metallic oxyds, parti-trious in this manner, may be commendable, cularly of iron, is found very beneficial. Charring timber for piles, in preventing external infection, is extremely serviceable: though not applicable in many cases, yet in piles driven into the ground, or the ends of joists, girders or bond timbers, it has a good effect. The charred part of the wood is not subject to decomposition, and being interposed between the rest of the wood and wet, keeps it uninjured. Paint operates in the same way. where more profitable einployment cannot Our little party marched on in quest of a banza, through a dark wood, the haunt of buffaloes. The guide lost his way; and, choked with thirst, and sinking under privations, they were com naturally conjecture, arises from the Portu- The creeping plants serve for cordage; pelled to crawl through a thick under-pean in their features. This, one would They were now convinced of the impracticability of penetrating with any number of men by land along the sides of the river with its deep ravines and torrents, and without the possibility of procuring provisions. On the 30th and 31st, an attempt was made to procure canoes at Voonda, but in vain. Captain T. was therefore compelled to send to Cooloo, with an order to Mr. Fitzmaurice to return to the ship with fifteen men, who could not be fed there any longer; and with his party thus reduced, the persevering Commander,resolved to proceed to Bamba Yanzy, three days journey up the river, where report said it ceased to be obstructed with rocks or cataracts. All the following Journal consists of mere short notices; previous to abridg ing which, we copy some general remarks on the Empire of Congo. Where there are neither written annals, legends, nor ancient national songs, nor chronology beyond a month, the history of a nation must be very vague and confined. The only idea I have been able to obtain of the Congoese history, is, that Congo once formed a mighty Empire, the chief of which had three sons, between whom he divided his dominions at his death, giving to one the upper part of the river on both sides as far as Sangalla; to a second, the left bank of the river (the Blandy N'Congo) and to the third, the right bank, Banzy N'Yonga. The Congoese are evidently a mixed nation, having no national physiognomy, and many of them perfectly South-Euro The mornings are calm. The breeze ANALYSIS OF THE JOURNAL DES SAVANS Art. IV. The Olympian Jupiter. By M. (Second and concluding Article on that interesting We hasten to the fourth part, which treats of Chryselephantine Statuary in the time of Pericles; that ever memorable period, which gave birth to the noblest masterpieces of every kind. By a happy chance, this period, which was to become so remarkable in the annals of sculpture, was precisely that in which the most famous temples in Greece were rebuilt on a larger scale, and in the bold and simple style which characterizes the DoricOrder without base, which was employed in the temples of that epoch. There were of Minerva at Athens; of Ceres at Eleusis; built almost at the same time, the temples of Juno at Argos; of Apollo Epicurus at Phigalia; those of Syracuse, Selinuntium, and Agrigentum, in Sicily. At the same time also built of more costly materials; stone that the temples were enlarged, they were and marble succeeded to wood. When ar of fresh water would have in the ocean. This is African dandyism. The in The palm-wine is obtained by incision a little above the insertion of the lowest branch or leaf. Their calabashes for this liquid, for the dust of dried tobacco leaves, and for all household purposes, are cut in rude relief. The canoes are made high up the country, and are not very dear, though they cost a man three months labour. We have now arrived at the rough notes, which mark the fatal eighteen days of September, through which this unfortunate Expedition struggled; and as this affords us a fair opportunity of breaking off, we defer further observations till our next. the finest models. As a prelude to his great works, we see this artist execute the Minerva Alea of face, the feet, and the arms, which were of Platæa, a statue of wood gilt, except the Pentelic marble, and the Minerva of Pellene, of gold and ivory, which seems to have been of colossal size. The Minerva of the Parthenon, and the Olympian Jueach other. What is the precise date of piter, were made within a short time of each of those masterpieces, and which of the two preceded the other? These are two questions connected with some circumstances of the administration, or if we will, the reign of Pericles. M. Quatremere clears up this point of chronology, and proves, contrary to the opinion of Heyne, that the Minerva was executed between the 83d and 85th Olympiads; that Phidias Plutarch asserts, but that, being forced to did not die in the prison of Athens, as go into banishment in consequence of the accusation brought against him for having engraved his own portrait and that of Pericles on the shield of Minerva, he retired to Elis, where he executed the Jupiter at Olympia. Having settled this chronological point, M. Quatremere proceeds to examine and restore each of these two works. He employs the 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 9th paragraphs on the Minerva of the Parthenon, of which he examines the form, the dimensions, and the ornaments. The most remarkable circumstance is doubtless the arrangement of the gold drapery which covered the goddess. M. Quatremere is the first who has discovered this arrangement, and given us a clear idea of it. He moves corrects an evident error of the Abbé Barthelemy, who says, "Minerva was clothed in a tunic, which must have been of ivory." Our author proves, on the contrary, that the whole dress of the goddess was of gold, wrought to the thickness of half a line, or a line at the most, and having a surface of about 400 square feet. Thus it is explained how, according to the precise testimony of Thucydides (II. 13.) and of Plutarch (in Pericl. p. 169.) the drapery could be taken off at pleasure; how it could weigh from 40 to 44 talents, that is to say, about 2,200 pounds; lastly, how it was an object of such great intrinsic value, that Pericles reckoned it among the resources which the republic could make use of in critical circumstances, with the obligation of replacing it with a new dress of equal weight. This dress was therefore in fact only a disposable treasure, which had received a particular forin and destination. If, with the exception of this drapery and the helmet, the whole statue, that is, the face, the neck, the arms, and the feet, was of ivory, it was 25 feet in height, withont reckoning the pedestal, the height of which was ten feet the right hand of the goddess rested on her lance; in her left she held a Victory, six feet high. Here M. Quatremere de Quincy very happily rea very great difficulty. In fact, however light the wood, the ivory, and the internal parts of this Victory, may have been, even supposing the whole not to have weighed more than 2 or 30076s. it would be difficult to conceive how the figure could have been made so solid as not to have suffered any derangement in the time of Pausanias and Arrian, six centuries after Phidias. M. de Pauw has attempted to remove this difficulty; but his opinion is destitute of probability. M. Quatremere explains it by means of the shield fixed under the left arm of the goddess, and which. concealed in its thickness a support, extending to the center of gravity of the Victory. According to the account of the author of the treatise de Mundo, and of Apuleius, the portrait of Phidias engraved on this shield, was so connected with the statue, that if it had been removed, the whole mass would have fallen to pieces. M. Quatremere contends that the head of Phidias might have been the top of one of the screws of the support of the shield which went up into the arm of Minerva, and communicated by its ramifications with the divers parts of the inside of the statue. This is rendered very intelligible by plates 9 and 10, which shew the longitudinal section of the statue both ways, and explain the whole mystery of its combination; the 8th plate shews the statue in front, and entirely restored, so as to afford some idea of the effect which so striking a mass must have produced. (To be concluded in our next.) LEARNED SOCIETIES. OXFORD, April 4.-Wednesday last, the 1st of April, and of Easter Term, the following gentlemen were admitted to De grees: BACHELOR IN MEDICINE.-William Dansey, M.A. of Exeter College, with a licence to practise in Medicine. changes, and pointed out the different qualities of solar and terrestrial light and heat, and exhibited, by the aid of plain mirrors, that singular property of light which has been called its polarisation. When a ray of light is reflected from glass at a certain angle, it is said to be polarised, that is, when received upon a second plate of glass properly inclined, instead of being thrown off or reflected, it now enjoys the property of passing through it, and may be absorbed entirely by a black medium placed behind it. Mr. Brande then demonstrated, that when this polarised ray is made to pass through certain transparent crystallized bodies, it becomes depolarised, or receives again the ordinary properties. MASTERS OF ARTS.-The Hon. and Rev. Edw. Wingfield, and Rev. Fowler Hickes, of Brasennose College, grand compounders; Rev. Samuel Sheen, of Balliol College, grand compounder; Rev. Thomas Davies, of Magdalen Hall; Mr. Jonathan Peters, of Queen's College; Mr. Francis Mills, Fellow, and Rev. Richard Moore Boultbee, of Merton College; Rev. Edward MereThe constitution of the prismatic specdith, Chaplain of Christ Church; Rev. trum was the next object of inquiry; and Horatio Beevor Batchelor, and Rev. Richard its powers of producing colour, heat, and Lynch Cotton, Fellow, of Worcester College; chemical changes, were explained and ilRev. William Evans, Fellow of Jesus Col-lustrated. The Professor dwelt at some lege; Mr. Francis Gregg, of Brasennose length upon the analogies between the College; Rev. Henry Crowe, of Wadhamn phenomena of the spectrum, and those College; Rev. Robert Mosley Master, and exhibited by the Voltaic apparatus, and adRev. John Lucas Sutton, of Balliol College; duced several instances to shew that the Mr. Augustus William Hare, Fellow, Rev. positive pole had properties analogous to Thomas Forster, and Rev. John Wood- the least refrangible rays, and the negative cock, Chaplains, of New College; Mr. pole to those which are most so, and ocJoseph Smith, Scholar, of Trinity College. cupy the violet end of the spectrum. He BACHELORS OF ARTS.-Mr. Thomas also touched upon the Huygenian and NewLawes Shapcott, of St. Alban Hall; Mr. tonian hypotheses as to the cause of light, Rowland Cooper, of St. Edmund Hall; observing, that each might be plausibly Mr. Robert Gordon, Fellow of New Coll. defended, and that the former, which regards the phenomena as resulting from a subtile undulatory medium diffused through space, was perhaps on the whole the least objectionable. A number of experiments were next shewn, illustrative of the phenomena of terrestrial radiation; and after referring to the probable nature of radiant matter, and to the probable transfer or conversion of ponderable into ethereal matter, the Lecturer concluded with adducing some of the most striking effects of ethereal matter in the living kingdoms of nature, dwelling upon the change of colour, form, and flavour, which plants undergo when deprived of light, and alluding to the difference between tropical and polar animals, and to its influence upon the human species, in which we observe singular gradations of colour and character, apparently resulting from the same cause. The same day in Convocation, the Rev. Yesterday the Rev. Andrew Tucker, B.A ARTS AND SCIENCES. THE ROYAL INSTITUTION. Professor Brande delivered the introductory discourse to the second part of his lectures on Experimental and Theoretical Chemistry on Saturday last. He observed, that the discussions previously entered into respecting the active powers of matter, might be regarded as furnishing an extended definition of chemical science, and as a foundation upon which he was now to raise a superstructure. He adverted to the general forms and qualities of matter, which he said required to be considered under the two general divisions of imponderable and ponderable bodies. In the present lecture he should endeavour to define and to illustrate the properties of the former. He considered imponderable, radiant, or ethereal matter, as connected with chemical | THE NEW COMET. Bremen, March 17. In the accounts given in several journals, of the observations of the new Comet by M. Stark of Augsburg, there seem to be for one another. As this must render it some errata, or the stars have been changed difficult for those to find the Comet, who have not yet seen it, it may not be amiss to point out its apparent path in the heavens, according to some observations made here. On the 3d of March, at 14 hours 35 min. mean time at Bremen, Dr. Olbers found the right ascension of the Comet to be 302° 36', and the north declination 24° 38'. On the 13th of March, at 14 hours 35 minutes, the right ascension was 302o 16, and the north declension 21° 38'. The Comet resembles a small, pale, ill-defined misty spot, rather brighter in the middle, without any perceptible nucleus, entirely without a tail, and not to be seen but by the aid of a good telescope. Its apparent magnitude is on the increase, because the Earth and the Comet are approaching nearer to each other; but it is not likely that it will be visible to the naked eye even at the end of April, when its light will be the strongest. We shall be able to follow its course, till in the month of May its South declination hinders it from appearing above our horizon. It will proceed in its course between the Eagle and the Dolphin, through Antinous to the Archer. THE FINE ARTS. SIR J. FLEMING LEICESTER'S There was, we believe, a Mr. Steers, in the Temple, who a good many years since attempted something like the present idea of Sir John Leicester; but he had neither so patriotic a collection, nor the means of acting upon so grand a scale. Nevertheless, his aim deserves honourable record, and we trust it will not be so long between, before we have to add several instances of the admirers of British Art, having followed the example of the worthy Baronet, to whose hitherto singular encouragement of native talent we have most cheerfully paid the tribute of this impartial and independent notice. by the dearest efforts of tapestry or gold. In conclusion, returning to the general It was charming to look around, and say, view of this handsome Exhibition, we need internally, These are all native productions. hardly remark upon the results which we There is no freak of ancient, nor gaud of have a right to anticipate from it, nor upon foreign art, among these beautiful pictures. the novelty, liberality, and beneficial tenThis mansion is indebted for its exquisite dency of the plan. It is obvious that no attractions to our own countrymen; to the greater stimulus can be suggested to emudead, who have left us these imperishable fous artists, than to behold their predecesmonuments; to the living, our contempo- sors and compatriots thus splendidly held raries, who if thus rewarded, will produce up to admiration, unmixed with the ancient many more such subjects for our intellectual masters (fearless as some of them, we say enjoyment and delight. This mass of it proudly, may be of the competition,) and glowing colour, fresh as from his casel, is at once recompensed for their toils, and the work of Reynolds; that fascinating gratified in their ambition, by private munigroup is Romney's; that lovely and grace-ficence and public celebrity. It is equally ful form is recent from the pencil of Law-clear, that even the foremost of our living rence; that Venetian looking Bacchante is painters may enrich and invigorate their a fine variety of the venerable West; these minds by the contemplation of so much vaare excellent proofs, not only of the extent riety and excellence, thus concentrated but of the versatility of Turner's powers; and spread before them: indeed, rather this is one of poor Opie's last and best pro- than think him superior to all others, we ductions; here are cattle, the chefs d'aurre should hold that artist low in estimation, of Ward, and equal to Paul Potter himself; whom the study of this Gallery did not this delicious poetic vision is Howard's; improve. this sweet piece of nature is Thomson's; We are indebted to the politeness of Sir J. this grand avalanche is one of the highest Leicester, for a view of his Gallery of Pic-flights of De Loutherbourg's mind; this is tures by British painters, which he has Hoppner's masterpiece; this pure and nathrown open to the lovers of the arts and tural scene is fame, even to Callcott; this, to artists, at his house in Hill Street, for full of the truth of domestic story, is every Monday during the present and en- Owen's; Shee never painted a finer head suing month. Entirely unbiassed by any than this; this is Northcote in his prime; personal acquaintance with this gentleman, in whichever of Gainsborough's manners and viewing him merely in the light of a this is, it is admirable. And so we might stranger, whose object in encouraging the go on with each particular in a collection, native Fine Arts is similar to that of the where, besides those we have already Literary Gazette, we are sure we shall not named, Wilson and Morland, Bourgeois, be thought guilty of offering an undeserved Beechey, Atkinson, B. Barker, Devis, Garcompliment, when we declare that to us rard, Harlowe, B. Hoppner, Leslie, and the whole course adopted by Sir John Lei- Williamson, contribute to form a Gallery cester in regard to the British School, ap- which most decidedly proves, that Great pears to be not only the most liberal, but Britain has risen to so high an eminence in the best calculated to accomplish the pur- every branch of the art, that there is no pose intended, of any which has been, or need to seek out of her own school for the is pursued by other of the distinguished most enchanting efforts of the pallet. patrons of art in the kingdom. Far are we from questioning the great effects produced by the princely munificence of such men as the Marquis of Stafford, nay we will name our illustrious Prince Regent himself; but what we approve so highly in Sir John Leicester is the peculiarity with which he has devoted no mean feeling of taste, and no mean portion of a noble fortune, to the ex clusive cultivation of British talent and generous encouragement of native genius. In our intercourse with the arts, we have ever encountered him among the earliest of those who stood forward to take struggling merit by the hand, and lift it into that warm sphere where, if perseverance was united to skill, and the bud of promise was not cankered by some radical defect, it might expand, and blossom, and fructify to the delight of those who first perceived its excellence, and to the ornament and honour of the country. THE BRITISH INSTITUTION. No. 10. In our remarks on the talents displayed by one of the Female contributors to this It may perhaps be proper to notice, that Gallery, we congratulated our fair country-the works of several of the artists in the ca- women on their practice and success in the talogue are not in London, but at Tabley delightful art of Painting. Before we come House, Cheshire, the seat of their owner. to the end of our remarks, it would not Yet that our panegyric upon those which only be ungallant, but unjust, to omit a are in Hill Street is not unmerited, will be particular mention of several ladies whose acknowledged when we state, that among efforts adorn these walls. These are, Miss them, independent of what we have already H. Gouldsmith, Mrs. Johnston, Miss Laalluded to and some which we cannot enu- porte, and Miss Willis.-Miss Gouldsmith merate, are the Girl and Kitten (Desen- has, besides some small sketches immefan's,) Boy reading (Judge Hardinge's,) diately from nature, Views near Harrow and Boy and Grapes (Mr. Shelly's,) by Sir and on the Avon, which do great credit_to Joshua-Blacksmith's Shop, Pope's Villa, her talents. We think, however, that and other fine landscapes, by Turner- further practice will give her more breadth Girl crossing the Brook, by Thomson- as well as more light in her pictures, which Titania, the Changeling, and Puck, the un- appear too much divided into small parts, finished but truly Corregiesque work of and the skies in general not sufficiently seRomney-the Sleeping Nymph, by Hopp-parated from the objects or foliage against ner-the Girl at the Spring, and Fortune which they are placed. Mrs. JohnstonTeller, by Owen-Little Hampton Pier, a View of Greenwich, which, from its ele by Callcott-the Cottage Door, by Gains-vated situation, seems to belong to a vivid, borough Lady Leicester, by Lawrence, clear, and pleasing style of painting. Miss The opening of the present Gallery is and the Pleiades disappearing, by Howard; Laporte, from the specimen she has given, but a part of this admirable system. On the former exhibited about three years since, will undoubtedly make such further adMonday we entered a fine suite of rooms, and the latter painted after the beautiful vance as will do credit to the name she magnificently fitted up, but far more splen-production of the same hand, purchased bears.-Miss Willis, No. CCXCVIH. View didly adorned by the specimens of British from the British Gallery by the Marquis of Chepstow Castle, though last not least: art, which were hung upon the walls, than of Stafford about two years ago. the choice is remarkably good, the pen cilling clear and firm, without being at all heavy, while the light and shadow are disposed with the skill and judgment of a veteran artist. Upon the whole, we are happy to give her a distinguished place in our remarks, and we should have been glad to see her better placed in this gallery. We have now finished our course of critical disquisition on the works of British Painters in the British Institution, and whatever may be the opinion of individuals whose productions we have canvassed, we are conscious of having endeavoured to fulfil a public duty, as well as to direct the public attention to whatever appeared to constitute the basis of good taste. To do this, not only the approbation of merit is necessary, but also to guard against those errors which grow out of the prematurity or exuberance of art. If the arts are to be encouraged, it must be by discrimination. They must be weeded as well as cherished; or they will perish by their own fertility. Enough has been done to establish the credit of native talent, and the desideratum of an English school of painting has now been accomplished. Every thing conspires to improve it. The most sublime of the ancient pictures are within the reach of study; the public mind has got a direction towards the Fine Arts, they have become an object of national emulation;-nothing is wanting but a distinguishing talent in the patrons of the arts, and unanimity in the professors of the art itself. We are convinced that the desire to encourage genius is sufficiently strong, and the wealth of England is ready of application where the taste of its owners is won over to the cause, and it is only necessary not to be misdirected; but with regard to the arts and its professors, we lament to say that we are equally convinced of the prevalence of petty passions, which are little calculated to promote either individual or general success. We have now critic artists, or artist critics, whose envy and malignity not only defame their rivals, but whose candour and modesty, prescribe to the public what ought to be thought of their own productions. With such lights, discrimination is not easy; but there is a degree of knowledge and of fine perception in many of our most exalted connoisseurs which will, we trust, in the end prevail over selfishness, party, and cabal, and raise the arts to that purity, both in execution and encouragement, which can alone render them worthy of a great nation. With respect to the British Institution, we began our notice of its present Exhibition by observing on the number of landscapes of mere local character, which, however various their styles, and meritorious as works of art, are rather an encroachment upon the specific object of the Institution: we now repeat that remark, and would recommend that, without excluding them from their fair proportion of place, it would be desirable to throw the weight into the scale of design. But instead of this, we see six or eight landscapes by one hand, and very few works of higher character; this is to convert the Exhibition into a Sale-room, which is not, need we say? the avowed purpose of the Directors. That it has greatly succeeded this year, is a subject of congratulation. Above sixty pictures have been sold; and certainly though some we think remain, which ought not to remain, undisposed of, the selection of purchasers appears to be intelligent and liberal. The Institution has bought Mr. Allston's Uriel, and presented a hundred pounds to Mr. Brockedon. The reward is justifiable for the attempt. May we be allowed a few lines to speak of ourselves. In reviewing this Gallery, we have gone into a minuteness of detail and criticism, not hitherto seen in any periodical publication. It would be impossible to particularize every picture; but we do not think we have omitted any of a character deserving of notice, either for their faults or beauties; and it must always happen that Too good for blame, not good enough for praise." "Some works there are which no emotions raise, We rejoice to notice one proof of the independence of our artists. Anxious to give as high an excitement as this Journal could give to their pursuits, we directed our publisher to present every artist noticed, either with commendation or censure, a copy of the Gazette in which they were mentioned; and it is but justice to remark, that so regardless are they of critic favour, and so fearless of critic frown, that not above six (certainly of the most distinguished) have had even the condescension to acknowledge the receipt of the communication!! ORIGINAL POETRY. NATURE. I love to set me on some steep I love to see the big waves fly, I love, when seated on its brow, And eye the distant vale; I love far downward to behold I love to range the vallies too, I love to see, at close of day, MARRIAGE CUSTOMS OF THE ARRONDISSEMENT REMIREMONT, IN LORRAINE. (Concluded from our last.) In the commune of Bresse* the girls accompany the bride, eight days before her marriage, to the altar of the blessed Virgin, and sing hymns. But this favour is not granted unless the bride has an unspotted reputation. In the same commune, on the evening before the weddingday, the mother and the godmothers, or in case there are none, the two nearest female relations, bring the effects of the bride to the house of her future husband, and prepare the bridal bed. This evening is concluded with a supper, at which the bride is not present. She must remain at her father's. But her bridegroom brings her a plate with rice and milk. Formerly they used to carry a white hen before the marriage procession, if the bride had an unsullied character. But since The village La Bresse, in the Arrondissement of Remiremont, is one of the most considerable in the Vosges Mountains. The inhabitants were formerly governed by their own laws. Judgment was pronounced under an elm tree. + In the opposite case nothing could induce the young people to carry the white hen. This white hen was the greatest honour that a girl could receive. It was tied to a long pole: on both sides two distaffs were fastened with coloured ribbons; they were a proof of the industry of the bride. She knew not before the procession began, whether they would carry the white hen before her or not; this depended entirely on the public opinion. |