and the anthers are oblong; the female flower buds on the same plant; and their calyx has the perianth one leafed, four toothed, acute, and erect; like the male flower they have no corolla, and the pistil has the germ covered with the calyx; the styles, which are three in number, are all subulate, and one is trifid, whilst the stigmas are simple and reflex. It is the female flower, only which bears the pericarp, consisting of capsule which was the calyx, and which is roundish, very large, and covered with soft spines; this is what is commonly called the beech mast, and if opened will be found to be one celled, and two to four valved; its seeds form a kind of nut, and one or two always ovate, three valved and acuminate. In essential character, the male has the calyx bell shaped and five cleft; the female four toothed; neither of them has a corolla; the male has twelve stamens, and the famale three styles. Botanists in general reckon five species; these they call the Castanea, or common chesnut; the Pumila, or dwarf chesnut, or Cinquapin, as it is called in America; the Sylvetica, or common beech; the Ferruginea, or American beech; and the Cochin Chinese; prefixing to them all the generic name of Fagus. Besides these, our nurserymen attempt to preserve the varieties of the broad leaved, purple, &c.; and some talk of the mountain and wild species; but these are nothing more than casual varieties arising from soil and exposure. Every body has observed that the beech is often of an extraordinary size; its leaves too must have been noticed to be smooth and glossy, and waved at the edges; in the approaching spring those who have hitherto paid little attention to the beauties of mature, may observe that the male catkins come out in bunches from the ends of the branches; and the female aments may be seen springing from the same part of the branch; and even at the present season, those who have not changed their rural residences for the noisy metropolis, may observe it retaining the leaves during greatest part of the winter, though not an ever-gen. Though Mr. Gilpin denies it the meed of picturesque beauty, yet we cannot avoid recommending it to fair botanists as worthy of their attention, as some of the finest oppositions in tint arise from the grouping of this tree with the oak; whilst in clumps in new improved grounds, it answers extremely well, when the light airy young plants spread their spiry branches, and hang in easy forms in contrast to the stiff formality of the Lombardy poplar. But, like the fair ones who may be disposed to patronize it, it is not remarkable for beauty alone; as it may be usefully employed in forming lofty hedges, where necessary, and has a fine effect in belts round plantations and large wildernesses, and where screens are required, it answers extremely well. As we observed before, this tree is highly worthy of a planter's notice, as it will thrive where many others will not; on the declivities of the wildest hills it will take root, and bide the pelting of the bitterest winter's gale; and to all places where shade is necessary, or beneficial, it extends its um. brageous protection. When grown up, its wood is much used by turners, and most of our finest ornamental toys are composed of it; its bark may be worked up into the most elegant baskets; and in many parts of the Continent, its leaves afford a most excellent succedaneum for straw, in the filling of mattrasses; its nuts, or mast, are well known to be fattening food for bogs; nay, they may even be applied to domestic purposes, being often used for bread, when dried and ground; and, indeed, with the addition of sugar, they will furnish out a coffee-table; for when roasted they produce something similar to that grateful berry, and in some parts of Germany, their expressed oil is used for butter. If any thing more was wanting to recommend the cultivation of the beech, it only remains to say, that at the commencement of the last century, the well known Aaron Hill actually proposed, by means of beech mast, to pay off the national debt! Rr 2 .FINE ARTS. Illustrations of the Graphic Art; EXEMPLIFIED BY SKETCHES FROM THE NATIONAL MUSEUM AT PARIS, INTERIOR OF A COTTAGE. THIS Concludes our view of the works of Van Ostade, and will, of itself, require but little illustration; for as the French critic observes, "its intention is written upon the canvas." In this piece, the painter's object seems principally to have been to produce all possible effect from a ray of light entering into a place otherwise shut up, which should commonly strike upon the floor, and be thence reflected upon all the interior space : an effect produced as well as art can possibly do in imitating nature, that is by lowering the general tone of the colouring. All the objects participate in this reflected light, and all of them are in part in the shade; but then the gradual diminution of the tone is so well managed as to harmonize completely, and every thing is exactly in its place, according to its gradation of tint. In spite of the great number of objects all at once presented to the eye, and in spite of their apparent disorder, yet nothing is confused, and the only circumstance attendant is, what must happen always from any point of view taken from the interior of a crowded place, that the point of view being fixed too near, the objects in the foreground occupy, or rather convey the idea of a greater space than exists in reality. This Cottage, indeed, seems as if it were the inside of a church; for from its horizontal extent, and particularly from its height, it must at least be considered as an immense barn; but then the variety of objects in detail guards against this impression, and the illusion is complete, because that every thing is touched with a delicate finesse. The scene, or action, which animates this picture, is truth itself; a woman is engaged in one of the most homely occupations of a nurse-this, indeed, is rather too much in the style of Dutch delicacy; but then, says the Parisian critic, "here we have neither romance nor pastoral, nothing but simple nature, for this is quite natural." The old peasant looks at the woman and warms himself; behind them is their bed in a nook near the fire-place, and kept half shut up by a kind of curtain; behind which if he had placed the good woman we should have been obliged to the painter-all this, concludes our critic, is poverty in true colours, sad and dirty, and every thing is as true as if the model had been taken from nature herself. Having thus gone through the criticisms on the pictures in Van Ostade, we now proceed to an artist, many of whose works form the embellishments of our English mansions; this is the celebrated VAN DYK. Before we commence, however, with his paintings, it is necessary to sketch out slightly some of the criticisms on his general subjects, as they have been treated of by the French critics, particularly on the subject of PORTRAIT. Every countenance, say they, has a characteristic trait which constitutes its physiognemy; and it is on the catching or missing this trait, that the resemblance depends. In examining a portrait one is sometimes surprized to find that it possesses all the various features, and even the expressive turn of each singly considered; yet that still the resemblance is not perfect; this, however, arises from this simple fact, that the characteristic trait is not peculiarly expressed, but remains confounded with the others. Physiognomy, without which there can be no perfect resemblance, is less connected with the form of each particular trait than with their proportional distance; thus the interval between the eyes is one of the most striking features in physiognomy, and if this interval be incorrect in a portrait, every thing is want-' ing, though the defect itself may not strike the eye of the spectator. This merit arising from resemblance, the first merit in portraiture, is completely lost to us with respect to old paintings, since the originals no longer remain to correct our judg ment: however a skilful eye is seldom deceiv ed. As one easily distinguishes an ideal head, gard to good likenesses," says this critic, "is from a real portrait, so a study, like a portrait,|| Latour; he made it a rule to study his subject which is in fact nothing more than a finished in the common habitudes of life; there he and more correct study, possesses sufficient studies hm in his gestures and in all his famarks from which we may decide that any parmiliar attitudes, and seizes upon those moticular portrait has been a good likeness; for ments when a man does not think of being example, the portrait of Pope Leo X. painted painted, when he is exempt from that cold by Raphael, leaves no doubt whatever respect- constraint which painters cannot be blamed ing the perfect resemblance, for there is no- for laying on their canvas, since sometimes thing there which one cannot suppose to have they can see nothing else in the constrained existed. But it is not the same with Rubens' position and formal arrangement of their subportraits; for, accustomed as he was to ro- jects. Latour learned also in these social mance a little in his figures, he seems also to communications to judge of moral character; have taken the same license with respect to and with all this acquired knowledge he dishis portraits. In short, we may judge by his posed the style of his picture. His single Henry IV. that he wished to elevate a little, white sketch occupied often more than one through which he has taken away all that exsitting; and then he threw in his sanguinepression of good nature which characterised tint with the same scrupulous care, not omithim through life, and was even preserved in ting the slightest or most trivial circumstance. the cast moulded, not indeed from but after After this he threw in his shadows with a light the life, for it was taken from nature after bis touch, working them in until the resemblance death in this portrait Rubens, in order to was as plain to the eyes of others as to his give him a martial air, has loaded bis features own and now he began to lay on his colourwith a false expression, and taken from them ing with his crayons, laying them in like hatchtheir native characteristic. ing, not suffering them to unite, but laying shade over shade, successively, and never making use of his finger to mellow the tints until the portrait appeared finished. He gave them the last finish with his crayons, and thus every part of his picture had all the vigour and freshness of a local colour. It must be confessed, however, that he required more sometimes than fifty sittings. It is said that Chardin's head, which was done by him, and is now at the Museum in Paris, required forty-eight! in fact, it is only such superior talent that could hope for such extreme compliance. The moral character ought also to be found in a portrait: this character consists not only in the momestary expression of the features, but, above all things, in the air and manner of the figure and in the particular attitude, for a lively and active person ought not to have a tranquil air, nor a phlegmatic man a lively movement or expression. The moral character is also painted in the eyes, and above all in the look, for the look or turn of attention will change even the character of the eyes themselves; even in the same individual, the look changes the expression according to the preponderating affection or passion, although the particular turn of the eyes does not alter. The talent of portrait, that is to say, the facility of catching a resemblance, is a rare talent; and is even innate; one may even say that it cannot be taught. "We learn to paint, it is true, but then we cau never learn to take a likeness; it is a tact, a natural sentiment, closely connected with the organs of sight, and those possessed of it have the talent of remembering physiognomies, and of applying to them the proper marks. One of the best portrait painters we have in France with re However different oil and crayon painting may be, yet the first and most essential principle of Latour will apply equally to both; that is, never to lay on the colours until the resemblance is ascertained by the sketch of the features, and by the mass of shades; in short, it is necessary that the portrait should be taken at the first colouring, and this, it appears, was always the practice of Van Dyk. Although his manner is not so soft as that of Raphael, yet it is but rarely that the strokes of his pencil can be perceived; the only supe riority of Raphael is, that his paintings will bear a close examination, whilst the portraits |