demands great efforts, have of late much improved in this highly necessary branch of the elements of art. And for this, the country is indebted to the indefatigable and zealous exertions of Mr. Fuseli, the present keeper, and eminent lecturer on painting. At the time of his coming into his present situation in the academy, these same artists were daily losing ground in the elements of drawing the human figure. But duly impressed with his invaluable precepts, no less than by his example, they are daily improving themselves by study after the antique, and the great model of the antique and all excellency, NATURE. Mr. West, the worthy and excellent president, who is undoubtedly at the head of our national school of arts, has contributed three pictures to the present exhibition. Milton's Messiah (No. 68,) Gray's Bard (No. 119,) and Narcissus in love with his own Image, which he sees in the Water (No. 502). They are in the usual animated style of this excellent master; the figure of the bard is particularly fine and energetic, and possesses a singular freshness of colouring. De Loutherbourg's Landscapes, are such uncommon productions of art, that no praise can fairly be adequate to their merits. Of the same rank are Turner's, possessing indeed very different characteristics. No. 105, Tabley, the seat of Sir John F. Leicester, bart. Windy Day, has an effect that ravishes as much by the novelty of its effect, as by its genuine representation of truth. In landscape painters we stand pre-eminent. To the former artists we may add, as particularly excelling in this department, Callcott Arnald, whose Rosslyn Castle, by moonlight, has such a calin and true effect, which has seldom been excelled-Anderson. The best and most prominent portraits this year are, Lady Kensington (No. 8) by Owen; the Bishop of Salisbury (No. 38) by Northcote; Mrs. and Miss Wetherell (No. 62), by Sir William Beechey; the Dowager Lady Beaumont (No. 78) by Owen; Wilkie, the Painter (No. 93) by Sir William Beechy; Sir Joseph Banks, bart. K.B. (No. 154) by Phillips; Mrs. Whitmore (No. 176) by the saine artist, possessing such beauty and truth of colouring, correct drawing, and verisimilitude of character, of one of the most lovely women in the creation; that it would be as dangerous to the repose of the spectator to behold this charming portrait too long or too often, as the statue of Prometheus was to its maker. Mr. Blagdon (No. 178) by Daive, a young artist of most promising abilities, and of rising reputa tion; also a lady (No. 218) by the same artist, that is hardly inferior to any whole length in the exhibition. Mrs. Evans (No. 233) as Cowslip, by Allen. Madame Cata→ lani in the character of La Didone Abandonnata (No. 216) by Lonsdale; which is unfortunately hung in such a shameful dark corner of the anti-room, that it can hardly be seen,and is a question of every one, why so good a picture has received so bad a place:-a question, that the hanging committee are best qualified to answer; for a better picture there is not in any of the rooms; and there are at least twenty of inferior merit, even in the great room. It looks at present, while unexplained, too much like private pique. (To be continued.) Intelligence relative to the Fine Arts, Announcements, &c, The work that was announced in this Magazine a few months ago, called the Fine Arts of the English School, is in a state of forwardness. Report speaks highly of the engravings of the first 'number, which are: 1. A Portrait of John Dunning Lord Ashburton, engraved by Bond, from a picture by Sir Joshua Reynolds, accompanied by a biographical memoir by Mr. Adolphus. 2. An historical composition, representing Thetis bearing the armour to Achilles; engraved by Bond, from the well-known picture by the President West. 3. A view of Lord Mansfield's monument in Westminster-Abbey church, by Flaxman. 4. An elevation of the West Front of St. Paul's Cathedral church, London. 5. A plan of the substructure of the same building; Sir Christopher Wren; both drawn from actual measurement, and accompanied by an essay towards an history and description of the edifice, by Mr. James Eimes, architect. Mr. Dawe has issued proposals for publishing a print in mezzotinto, from his picture now exhibiting (No. 89) in the present exhibition at the British Gallery, Pall Mall, and which obtain ed the premium in the class of lustorical and poetical subjects given by the British Institution 1809. This excellent picture was reviewed in this Magazine for last March, and has since become the property of H. P. Hope, esq. The subject is from Shakespeare's Cymbeline: Imogen found at the Cave of Belarius. It will be about 26 inches by 22, and the price to subscribers, prints 11. 11s. 6d. 11. 11s. 6d. proofs 31. 3s. Subscriptions are received at the artist's house, No. 44, Wells-street, Oxford-street. A Continuation of Mr. Prince Hoare's excellent periodical paper, called the Artist, may be shortly expected. Mr. North cote has furnished a most excellent paper for the first number. Mr. Bissett, of Birmingham, has, with his accustomed activity and taste, produced an elegant medal of Mr. Wardie, with accompanying mottos. VARIETIES, LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL. R. PRATT is preparing, and about so that it may be practised without fur Mto publish, some specimens of Poe- ther difficulty by every printer, who may try by JOSEPH BLACKETT, a youth of extraordinary poetical promise; who, from an undistinguished situation, by no means favourable to-mental exertion, has just started up. A singular accident brought some of his productions under the inspection of several eminent literary characters; who have been unanimous in pronouncing him one of the most highlygifted individuals that has for many years claimed the notice of the Public. The strength of his genius is said to be Dramatic; a species of composition, for which it must be allowed there is, in the present state of the stage, or rather in the present viciated taste of the Public, a full and fair opportunity for the exertion of a natural and original genius. Mr.BowYER (who some time since published those parts of Sir Robert Ainslie's celebrated collection of Drawings which related to Egypt, Caramania, and Palessine,) has just issued a prospectus for publishing the remaining part of that collection. The new work will consist of Views in Turkey in Europe, and will include Bulgaria, Romania, Wallachia, Syria, the Islands in the Archipelago, &c. &c. Among them will be a correct representation of the celebrated Temple of Jupiter Ammon at Siwah, in the deserts of Libya, discovered in 1792; some curious and highly interesting delineations of the ruins of the Temple of Diana at Ephesus, and a large and accurate View of Constantinople and its environs. A considerable part of this work will consist of views in countries of which there are no other drawings extant. The present publication will include the whole of Sir Robert Ainslie's unpublished assemblage of drawings, and will be executed in the same style, and of the same size, as Mr. Bowyer's Views in Egypt. Mr. BRIGHTLEY, of Bungay, in Suffolk, is about to publish a full Account of the Art and Mystery of Stereotype Printing; find it adapted to the nature of his business. Mr. Brightley, it is well known, has greatly simplified the process, and has practised this art for several years with great success. The London Edition of Mr. BARLOW'Sfine Epic of the Columbiad, will be ready in a few days. Mr.FRANCIS BAILY, whose Treatise on the Doctrine of Interest and Annuities we announced in the course of last year, has in the press a continuation of that work, which will comprise the whole doctrine of Life Annuities and Assurances. The author proposes to exhibit a more complete analysis of this science than has ever yet been given. He has deduced a more correct set of formulæ, as well as more simple and easy rules for the solu tion of the various problems connected with this subject. An account of the several Insurance Companies now existing, with remarks on their comparative advantages, &c. will likewise appear in the course of the work. Dr. NEALE'S Account of the late Campaigns in Portugal and Spain, will be published about the middle of June. Mr. BEWICK'S Botany, containing nearly five hundred cuts, by that gentleman, and accompanied by descriptions by Dr. Thornton, is far advanced in the press. A new edition of Prince's Worthies of Devonshire, has been announced by Messrs. Rees and Curtis, booksellers, of Plymouth. The Public will learn with pleasure, that MISS STARKE's beautiful Translations from Carlo Maria Maggi will shortly be published in an elegant small volume. From the competition which has taken place in parliament during the progress of the hill for incorporating the Gas Light Company, it may be inferred, that gas lights will be generally substituted in London for the nuisance of lamps, within the next, or next following winter. We We are well pleased at being able to state, that the intended Monument to JOHN LOCKE, has met with competent encouragement; and particularly since the model has been in such forwardness as to be exhibited by Mr. Westmacott, at his house in Mount-street, Berkeleysquare. Every subscriber of two guineas and upwards will be presented with an engraving of the monument; and subscribers of five guineas will receive a medal with the head of Locke on one side, and on the reverse an exact representation of the monument. To subscribers of ten guineas, a similar medal will be presented in silver. It is intended shortly to republish Fuller's Worthies, Purchase's Pilgrims, and Hakluyt's Voyages. This undertaking forms part of the plan of those booksellers who are reprinting the Chronicles of Holinshed, Hall, Grafton, &c. Splendid editions of Mr. SCOTT's Poems of Marmion, and the Lay of the Last Minstrel, with embellishments from the pencil of Westall, will be published in a few weeks. A Practical Treatise on the Merino and Anglo-Merino Breeds of Sheep is in its progress through the press, and will be ready for publication in a few days. The object of this Treatise is to demonstrate to the practical farmer the peculiar advantages attending, the above breeds, and to prove that the Spanish manner of treating the Merino sheep is not indispensable in this country to the production of fine clothing wool. New editions, with considerable and important additions, of Mr. LAWRENCE'S Philosophical and Practical Treatise on Horses, and of his General Treatise on Cattle, the ox, the sheep, and the swine, are in their course through the press. Sir JONAH BARRINGTON, judge of the high court of admiralty of Ireland, &c. has begun to print, Historic Anecdotes and Secret Memoirs of the Legislative Union between Great Britain and Ire land. They will comprise a view of Irish affairs from the year 1780, particularly of the Union, traced from its most remote causes to those of its final completion; the interesting era of the volunteers; the declaration of independence hy the Irish parliament in 1782; the regency; and the rebellion interspersed with characters and anecdotes never yet published. The work, which is to be dedicated by permission to, the Prince of Wales, will be embellished with a great number of portraits of the distinguished characters both of England and Ireland, all engraved by Heath, from original paintings or drawings, with many fac-similes of letters, and other curious documents. The whole will form an interesting collection of po litical transactions, in many of which the author bore a considerable part; and will make known to posterity the characters and persons of the most remarkable political actors during those eventful periods. cluding his letters, illustrations of his A new Life of Torquato Tasso; inwritings, and memoirs of some of his literary contemporaries, is in forwardness. Dr. IRELAND will speedily publish, Christianity, in a course of lectures to A Comparison between Paganism and the King's scholars, at Westminster, in the years 1806, 7, and 8. An edition of the Novels and Miscellaneous Works of DANIEL DE FOE, is printing in 10 vols. foolscap 8vo. Dr. BURNEY is engaged in a System of Nautical Education; intended principally for young officers entering the navy. Mrs. DORSET is printing her popular work the Peacock at Home, and other Poems, in small 8vo. with vignette plates. Mr. FENTON'S Tour through Pembroke shire, is in the press, and will soon appear in a quarto volume, embellished with views of all the principal seats and ruins; chiefly drawn by Sir R. C. Hoare. This tour is intended as the first of a series of tours through North and South Wales, which will be conducted on the same plan. Mr. FRANCIS HARDY is engaged upon a Life of the late classical and patriotie Earl of Charlemont; including a view of the affairs of Ireland during a very inte resting and important period. Mr. DREW, author of an Essay on the Soul, has in the press, in an octavo Immateriality and Immortality of the volume, an Essay, the object of which is to prove the Identity and General Re surrection of the Human Body. a Collection of Designs, representing the Mr. THOMAS HOPE will shortly publish costume of the ancients. It will consist of about 160 outline engravings, with an introduction, and form two volumes in quarto and octavo. edition of the Ionic Lexicon of EmiliusThe Clarendon press is engaged on an Portus, designed to accompany the cdition of Herodotus, lately published by Mr. Cook. The Rev. JOSEPH SAMUEL C. F. FREY, minister of the gospel to the Jews, will speedily publish a Narrative, containing an an account of his descent and education, his offices among the Jews, the occasion of his entering the missionary seminary at Berlin, his design in coming to this country, and his labours under the patronage of the Missionary Society; together with an explanation of the circumstances which led to his separation from that society, and to his union with the London Society for promoting Christianity among the Jews. Mr. Frey has also prepared an English-Hebrew Grammar. Mr. BELFOUR has in the press a metrical romance in five cantos, entitled Spanish Heroism, or the Battles of Ronce of Potatoes. "Workington-Hall, April 9, 1809. "SIR,-The improvement of our agricul ture appears to me to be the most certain means of advancing the prosperity and happiness of the United Empire, and preserving to us the blessings we enjoy. I may be deemed visionary, but I cannot disguise my opinion, that Great Britain, under a system of good agriculture, would be capable of supporting thirty millions of inhabitants. Nothing can contribute more to this desirable object than the general culture and use of Potatoes. The population of Workington is estimated at eight thousand, the weekly sale of potatoes during ten months of the year, exceeds four thousand stone per week; to supply this consumption requires nearly an liundred acres ; 1 am inclined to believe five times the number of acres would not, in any other mode of cropping, produce an equal quantity of food. In corroboration of this opinion, let us suppose five hundred acres of wheat, yielding twenty-four Winchesters, per acre, of 60lbs. or six hundred thousand pounds of bread, equal to supplying four thousand persons with half a pound of bread for three hundred days. The consumption then would be half a pound of bread to four pounds of potatoes. The comfort derived from the use of potatoes by the working classes, affords a most power'ul argument in favour of their general introduction-no food is more nutritious, none so universally palatable. The philanthropist and politician will equally promote their views, by extending the use and culture of the potatve. For eight years past I have fed all my working horses upon steam potatoes, mixed with cut straw, and latterly I have with equal success given them to oxen. They would answer for milch cows, and fattening cattle, if they could be raised at less expence. My consumption for eight months in the year is a ton and a half per day, or about three hundred and sixty tons annually-the saving in land, in feeding with potatoes as a substitute for hay, is between a sixth and a seventh-fifty acres of potatoes will furnish above the quantity required, whilst three hundred and fifty acres of hay would most frequently fall short of supporting the same number of working horses and oxen the advantage of this system extends beyond the individual, and is felt both immediately and remotely by the mass of the community. In the first place, the ground heretofore indispensably requisite for the growth of hay, for horses is now applied to 507,024 quarts of milk were sold, whereas in the purposes of a dairy, and in the last year 1804, only 222,755. In years of scarcity the food of horses can be applied to the use J. C. CURWEN." of man. Butter. Several specimens of Swedish Turnip Butter, from the dairy of Mr. Ives, of Catton, were exhibited at the principal inns in Norwich, on the 15th of April; and being placed on the dinnertables at each house, gentlemen had a fair opportunity afforded them of pronouncing a decided opinion upon its quality. It has afforded a convincing proof, that turnips of all descriptions, do not universally, in a greater or less degree, injure the flavour of our milk and butter: to this assertion, the Swedish turnip is an exception, in a most decided point of view. It appears, that the management of these cows is most simple and easy-they are fed on hay, good oat-straw, and Swedish turnips; but it ought to be observed, that a degree of care and neatness is nethem. In the first place, they are drawa cessary in preparing these turnips for about the end of February or beginning of March, laid in ridges or heaps of a load or two each, and left on the land for two or three weeks; they are then carted away to some convenient place, their tops and tails cut off clean, and piled on a heap, where they are kept as free from soil or dirt as possible. It is adviseable also, that the operation of topping mud tailing be done in a yard apart from that where the cows are fed; for should they eat any of the tops, this excellence of flavour in the milk and butter will be deteriorated considerably. The mode of preparing these turnips deserves particular attention. The drawing them from the land at the time they are in their most compact state, then depriving them them of the absorption, if it may be so called, of the new or vernal sap of the soil, a diminution of that important matter does not take place, as from an opposite course of management would be the result, to the no small injury of the following crop. In this state too, they keep much longer; and, moreover, which is of no less importance, the turnips are, in themselves, more nutritive, as would appear from the superior quality of the butter produced; for, by being thus exposed to the air, and detached from the soil, a considerable portion of aqueous moisture is carried off by natural evaporation, which would otherwise add to the quantity of our dairies, but not the quality, as we find to be the case in feeding cows with those which have been recently drawn. The following cautions have been recommended by the Physicians and Surgeons of the Bath Hospital, to those who have received benefit by the use of the Bath Waters, in cases where the poison of lead is concerned, as Plumbers, Glaziers, Painters, and other artificers, who work in trades which expose them to similar hazards, from the same cause; to be observed by them at their return to the exercise of their former occupa tions: "To maintain the frictest temperance, particularly respecting distilled spirits, which had better be altogether forborne.-To pay the strictest attention to cleanliness; and never, when it can be avoided, to daub their hands with paint; and particularly never to eat their meals, or go to rest, without washing their hands and face. Not to eat or drink in the room or place wherein they work, and much less to suffer any food or drink to remain exposed to the fumes or dust of the metal, in the workshops or warehouses. As the clothes of persons in this line (painters particularly) are generally observed to be much soiled with the colours they use, it is recommended to them to perform their work in frocks of ticking, which may be frequently washed, and conveniently laid aside, when the workmen go to their meals; and again put on when they resume their work. Every business which can, in these branches, should be performed with gloves on the hands, and woollen or worsted gloves are recommended; as they may be often washed as they should always be after being soiled with paint, or even by rubbing against the metal-Caution is necessary in mixing, or even in unpacking, the dry colours, that the hae powder does not get into their mouths, or be drawn in by the breath. A crape covering over the face might be of service; but care should be taken to tuin always the same VidONTHLY Mas. No. 135. side towards the face, and to clean or wash it frequently. All artificers should avoid touching lead when hot; and this caution is espe cially necessary for printers or compositors, who have often lost the use of their limbs by handling the types when drying by the fire, after being washed-Glaziers' putty should never be made or moulded by the hand. An iron pestle and mortar would work the ingredients together, at least equally well, and without hazard. If any person, in any of the above employments, should feel pain in the bowels, with costiveness, they should imme diately take twenty drops of laudanum, and when the pain is abated, two table spoonfuls of castor oil, or an ounce of the bitter purging salt, dissolved in warm camomile tea. If this does not succeed, a pint or two pints of warm soap suds should be thrown up as a clyster. As a preventive, two or three teaspoonfuls of salad-oil, taken in a small cup daily, and steadily pursued." of gruel, are likely to be of service, if taken A series of portraits of political characters are engraving upon gems, by Mr. BROWN, gem-sculptor to the late Catharine II. and Paul of Russia. This artist has already commenced his collection with the portraits of Colonel Wardle, and Mr. Whitbread, who have honoured him with sittings for that purlic with impressions, by means of Mr. pose. It is intended to furnish the pubTassie's curious imitations of cameus and intaglios, in enamel and paste. A silver medal, in commemoration of the abolition of the slave-trade, designed and executed by eminent artists, has been presented to the British Museum by some gentlemen who have had a quantity struck for that purpose, in silver and bronze. On one side is a portrait of Mr. Wilberforce, surrounded with the words: William Wilberforce, M.P. the Friend of Africa. The reverse represents Britannia holding a scroll, the solemn act of her legislature, attended by Wisdom and Justice. Beby which the slave-trade was abolished, fore her stands commerce, who receives her commands to terminate that traffic; while an angel holds over her head a celestial crown, in token of her conduct being approved by Heaven. At the bottom are the words: I have heard their cry-Slave-trade abolished, 1807. mg ** To extend the utility of the LITERARY FUND, and to impress the public mind with just sentiments of its importance, it has been proposed, by the council and committee, to interest the clergy in its behalf. To contribute every thing in the power of the Society towards the attainment of this object, it is resolved. that |