mindful of his own safety, returns home, and day after day awaits the hour when he may wander out safely in search of his flock; whilst they, in the mean time, sickening with hunger and perishing with cold, are at last relieved by death from their long protracted misery. Thus have perished during the last winter many thousand sheep in Northumberland, and other northern parts of our island. The owner, whilst he wanders over these wild and melancholy wastes, and observes his thinly scattered flocks, may perhaps murmur at the order of nature: let him rather accuse his own supineness, and learn at length to profit by the lessons of a dearly purchased experience." r. 143. It is not a little extraordinary that a "a race of black sheep should be suffered to exist among any of our Merino flocks;" and Mr. Bakewell very properly and learnedly remonstrates against it. Here our author brings the pastoral pipe of Virgil and the battering ram of Pliny, to aid in abolishing such a pernicious custom. Considering the slow progress of knowledge among farmers, the general ignorance of the nature and properties of wool, and the great national importance of the subject, we cannot hesitate to recommend these "Observations" to the attention of all persons interested in agriculture. Every new volume on wool, although more expensive than necessary, must still contribute something to the diffusion of useful knowledge; and as the principle plan here recommended deserves the highest approbation, it should be generally and immediately adopted by all the sheep-farmers of the United Kingdom. Picturesque Views and Antiquities of Great Britain, engraved by S. Middiman, from Drawings by the most eminent Artists; with Descriptions, in English and French, by E. W. Brayley. Nos. I. II. III, and IV. Long 4to. 10s. 6d. each, on French Paper; Proof Impressions, 11. 18. Clarke. 1808. THE cultivation and spread of the Fine Arts are intimately connected with the best interests of the human race; and those countries where they most flourish must ever be regarded as pre-eminently adapted to increase the enjoyments and forward the happiness of mankind. In proportion as the higher faculties of the mind are brought into action, the sensations become more delicate; the grossness of the passions is chastened by an enlightened understanding; and the heart best preserves its virtues when both the taste and the judgment are improved together. The day-spring of the arts, which beamed upon Great Britain under the patronage of Charles the First, was long over-clouded from the effects of the disastrous Civil War, which puritanical zeal, and a too vehement maintenance of kingly prerogative, combined to produce in the time of that sovereign. During the succeeding reigns, till about the middle of the last century, the light still shone with a sickly ray; but, after the accession of his present majesty, and through a happy combination of events, partly fortuitous, the feeble lustre of the dawn was changed into the blaze of day, and the sun of British art is now advancing with a steady, perhaps rapid, pace, towards the full radiance of meridian splendour. The very general diffusion of the love of the fine arts in this country, is strongly marked by that fondness for pictorial embellishment which pervades all ranks. Scarcely a book of whatever kind can now offer itself for general circulation, without illustrative or ornamental engravings; and though we readily admit, that mediocrity alone is attended to in the majority of these productions, yet we cannot help regarding even that feeling, as the undoubted. harbinger of a far better taste. We can perfectly remember the time when the ill-drawn and badly engraved representations in Grose's Antiquities of England and Wales, were considered as valuable specimens of art; yet were such views to be published in these days, they would never obtain purchasers. With society in the aggregate, indeed, it is the same as with the individual. Knowledge can be acquired only by degrees, and from experience; the man rejects the toys of his childhood, and the community of an improved age contemns the things which gave pleasure in a less civilised state. In this country engraving was but of late introduction, and it has not yet arrived at its zenith. The work before us appears to have a two-fold object; that is, to unite picturesque effect and scenery with architectural accompaniments. As an engraver of landscape, Mr. Middiman has long held a distinguished rank; and the present undertaking does by no means detract from his acknowledged merit. Every number contains four engravings, with a page of letter-press to each, on which the descriptions are printed in double columns. A professional analysis of the engravings themselves will not be expected from us: indeed, it could convey but little information to any except those who had the work before them, and in that case would hardly be necessary. Generally speaking, they possess considerable beauty, and have all the richness of Vivares, combined with the clearness and precision of Brown and Woollett. In some few instances, we think, the brightness is too vivid and snow-like. The descriptions that accompany them possess considerable neatness of style, and have all the characteristic energy and good sense which distinguishes the writings of their author, Mr. Brayley. The French descriptions are correctly translated from the English, without any further alterations than what the different idioms of the language require. The first number contains views of Arundel Castle, Lanercost Priory, Kirkstall Abbey, and Eggleston Abbey; the three former from drawings by P. S. Munn, the latter from a drawing by the late T. Girtin. Eggleston Abbey is thus described. "Eggleston Abbey, Yorkshire. "The ruins of Eggleston Abbey occupy a beautiful and elevated spot, on the southern bank of the river Tees, which separates the counties of York and Durham, and through a great part of its course unites in the composition of some of the most wild and romantic scenes in England. Its interesting character is particularly apparent in the vicinity of the abbey, where the rocks are bold, and the current rough and impetuous; the bed of the river being full of massive fragments and ledges of rock, over which the water foams with tumultuous rapidity. The contiguous banks are, in many parts, covered with rich hanging woods, whose pendant branches, as if in respectful homage to the Naïades of the stream, wave over the circling eddies with inexpressible grandeur. In the Saxon times, Eggleston formed part of the possessions of the brave Earl Edwin; but after the Norman invasion, it was granted, with the whole of Richmondshire, and the Earldom of Richmond, to Alan, Earl of Bretagne, nephew to the Conqueror, and commander of the rear guard of his army at the battle of Hastings. Conan, fifth Earl of Richmond (a descendant from the Earl of Bretagne), who died in the year 1171, is recorded by Camden and Speed to have been the founder of Eggleston Abbey: but Tanner, on the authority of a manuscript in the Ashmolean Museum, gives that honour to Robert de Multon, whose family held their lands under the Earls of Richmond. This latter statement appears to be the most correct, as the Lord Dacre, who married the heiress of the Multons, was patron of this house at the time of the Dissolution. Dugdale has arranged this foundation among those of the Augustine order; but it seems to have actually been founded for Premonstratensian canons, about the latter end of the reign of Henry the Second, and to them the manor of Eggleston was given by Gilbert de Leya, by a grant, wherein the name of Ralph de Multon occurs as witness. On the surrender of the abbey possessions, in the reign of Henry the Eighth, the revenues of the canons were estimated, according to Speed, at 651. 5s. 6d. annually; but Dugdale records them at 361. 8s. 3d. only. In the third of Edward the Sixth, the site of the abbey was granted to Robert Strelly, who alienated it by license to the Saville family, in the fifth year of Queen Elizabeth. How it descended from them is uncertain but in the year 1672 it became the property of Sir John Lowther, of Lowther, Bart. Henry, third Lord Lonsdale, grandson to Sir John Lowther, sold the abbey, in the year 1740, to the late Sir Thomas Robinson, of Rokeby; and of him it was purchased, in 1769, by John Sawrey Morritt, esq. the present possessor. "The principal feature in the ruins of the abbey, is the church, which was built in the pointed style of architecture, and still displays many traces of elegance. An ancient tomb of grey marble, yet preserved here, is supposed to be the same mentioned by Leland, as containing the remains of Sir Ralph Bowes." In Number II. are views of Conway Castle, Dover Castle, Byland Abbey, and Bethgelert Bridge, all from drawings by Mr. Munn; whose excellencies in landscape consist principally in the striking effect which he contrives to introduce by the breadth and brilliancy of his lights, and in the general felicity of his choice. His detail, however, is not unfrequently inaccurate, as we could evince by several instances from the subjects before us. In the view of Conway Castle, the relative situation of that noble building with the surrounding country is better displayed than in almost any other representation of the same object that we have seen. Dover Castle is not so good: its towering sublimity and stupendous character are partly lost, through the point of view being too contiguous to the fortress itself: it seems to have been taken about midway up the hill, on the road to Deal. We shall insert the description accompanying it, as we can vouch for its accuracy. "Dover Castle, Kent. The white cliffs of Dover have been celebrated from the earliest period of our annals; their extent, magnitude, and stupendous grandeur, exciting the admiration of all who view them. On the summit of one of these tremendous heights, of steep and difficult access, stands Dover Castle, an immense congeries of every kind of fortification which the art of war has contrived to render a station impregnable. So highly important, indeed, was this fortress for merly considered, that Matthew Paris calls it, Clavis et Repagulum totius Regni; the lock and key of the whole kingdom! And other writers have not been deficient in recording the distinguished superiority that was thought to be attached to its possession. Though still of vast strength, and additionally secured by entrenchments and out works of more recent date, its consequence has been much lessened since the invention of cannon, the eminences to the northwest by west and south west being considerably higher than the site even of the citadel itself. "The foundation of Dover Castle is generally attributed to the Romans; yet as the natural strength of the situation must have rendered it a very obvious post for defence, and as its contiguity to an enemy's shore must have pointed it out as very necessary to be defended, probability cannot be violated by assigning it to the Britons. That the Romans greatly increased and improved the fortifications, there is no doubt; and part of the Roman buildings is yet distinguishable in the remains of a pharos, or light-house, within an advanced circular work in the southern division of the castle. This was originally much higher than at present; and is built with Roman tiles intermixed with flints; its outward form is octagonal, but the interior is square. Adjoining to it is the shell of an ancient church, in which also are evident remains of Roman workmanship: this is said to have been the first Christian church in Britain. 66 The buildings of the castle are very extensive, and of almost every age from that of the Romans to the present. Within the outer walls is included an area of thirty-five acres; and of these about six are taken up by the more ancient parts; in the midst of which, proudly pre-eminent, rises the keep, or citadel. The views from the north turret are almost unequalled both for extent and beauty. The whole breadth of the channel is distinctly beheld, together with the coast of France, including Dunkirk, Calais, and the hills between Calais and Boulogue. The most remarkable objects on the English side, are the town and singularly situated harbour of Dover, the North- Foreland light-house, the towns of Ramsgate and Sandwich, Richborough Castle, and Reculver and Minster churches: these are beautifully intermingled with a wide extent of country; and the interest is still increased by the vicinity of the sea, though, to use the language of the immortal Shakspeare, The murmuring surge, That on th' unnumber'd idle pebbles chafes, • Cannot be heard so high.—I'll look no more Lest my brain turn, and the deficient sight "To describe, or even to name, all the numerous works included by the extensive limits of this castle, within the compass of a page, is impossible. They comprehend a most interesting variety of specimens of the styles of fortification adopted for defence in anciem and modern warfare, and are now garrisoned by a strong force. The distant parts of the works are connected with each other by subterranean passages and covered ways, cut through the solid rock. The |
