we

3, Lays and Legends of Ireland,” must be allowed to express our satisfaction at a sentence which caught our eye in the introduction :-"We are happy to acknowledge, that the collections and individuals connected with Ireland to whom we have access, as will be obvious from the contents of the present number of our work, prevents any fear on our part of a speedy want of material for the continua tion, and the names of some of these individuals will prove, at a glance, how completely the fierce spirit of Irish political agitation is soothed and stilled while roaming along the flowery paths of olden romance, and dwelling on the legendary tale."

When we mention that the name of Mr. Thomas Steele, the friend of the 86 great Agitator," is attached to some of the most interesting legends in the number, we have said enough in the way of comment on these words. All that our

space allows beyond what we have already said, is to point out one or two of the most striking legends in No. 3. We would recommend their attention to the "Palatine stories," which relate to the German colony settled in the neighbourhood of Rathkeale about the beginning of the 18th century. The German character of their superstitions may be readily traced; for instance, the "Cat-wife," is clearly akin to the "Wehr Wolf." The "Story-teller's Tale," from a manuscript of the late member for Clare, Lucius O'Brien, Esq., is worthy of especial attention, illustrated as it is by an exceedingly curious introductory note by Crofton Croker. Let no admirer of true pathos fail to read "The Changeling," a ballad full of the deepest feeling, expressed in the simplest, and therefore most touching language.

EXHIBITION OF THE SOCIETY OF BRITISH
ARTISTS.

The Gallery of this Society in Suffolkstreet, Pall-mall east, was opened to the public on Monday, the 24th of March, with a collection of the works in painting, sculpture, and engraving, of living British Artists; not a collection of the old and the new combined, as is usually the case at the British Institution, but of exclusively new, and till then, unexhibited productions, a difference we think it but fair to notice, as the effect of the exhibitions of the latter establishment has always appeared to us to be considerably injured by their partial, nay, their general want of novelty. We are aware that one of the primary objects of the directors of the British Institution is, that of affording the exhibitors at Somerset House another chance of finding purchasers for their unsold stock; but much as we are disposed to applaud the intention, we cannot but feel that the expedient is cne eminently calculated to defeat its own aim. As a general principle, we may take it for granted, that of the contributions annually exhibited at the Royal Academy, those that do not go off during the season, are the least attractive, if not the least meritorious; but whether they be so or not, the public are naturally unwilling to have imposed upon them, as new, a commodity so notoriously old or second-hand; and when the evil prevails, as in the season just concluded, to a very great extent, many quit the gallery, it is to be apprehended, with feelings somewhat akin to disappointment, if not to actual displea

sure. With this society the intrusion of a work that can be recognised as an old acquaintance is uniformly resisted, and we trust a regulation so salutary will not be speedily abandoned.

Having indulged in these few introductory observations, we now proceed to our analysis of this, the Society's eleventh annual exhibition, premising, however, that as in a budget of so miscellaneous a character, there will always be less to praise than to condemn, our silence in any case need not be attributed to an uncharitable motive.

De

No. 8. Caius Marius sitting among the Ruins of Carthage.-W. LINTON. prived of his popularity and power, the ex-Consul flew to the shores of Africa, and having in his "high and palmy state" been instrumental in the reduction of Carthage-the most dangerous enemy of his country-he sought consolation, as his historian informs us, in the contemplation of the wreck. Mr. Linton has accordingly represented the fallen despot in the midst of it, so engaged. Floods of light and sunshine, with a certain haziness of effect in the way of Turner's noontide subjects, pervade the composition, and the fragments of columns are scattered over certain parts of it, so as to convey an idea of the former extent and magnificence of the city, which is at once poetical and just; and if there be any one point about it more liable to objection than another, it will be found in the figure of Marius, which, considering the importance of the part he has to sustain in the piece, should have been in a more prominent situation, much larger in

stature, more positively defined, and above all, more dignified than he is, for a hero who had a voice so stern, and a countenance so austere, as to stay the uplifted hand of his executioner, is not likely at such a moment, though banished from the presence of mankind, and with the curse of poverty upon him, to have adjusted himself to the most convenient seat in the manner of a little drawing-master catering for his pupils.

No. 9. Children. A. MORTON. Sir Joshua Reynolds, in his studies of children, as of every thing else, always referred to nature, and it were needless to say with what success. Mr. Morton, content with the view he took of her, refers to Sir Joshua; but we would beg to remind him that one who can read an author in the original, will seldom have recourse to a translation, and had Reynolds satisfied himself with the examples-great as they were-of Correggio and Titian, he never could have taken his station on that proud pedestal

-"monumentum ære perennius," which has elevated him so far above every other of his name.

No. 17. Coast Scene.-J. TENNANT. A small picture of prominent merit, though a little injured by the opacity of the black cloud gathering in the distance. The pencilling in the foreground constitutes its chief attraction.

No. 18. Coast of Calais.-J. B. PYNE. Also good. The artist has another and a larger painting in the gallery, but not a better. He exhibits a couple of drawings which are among the best in the

room.

No. 28. Landscape-Evening.-T. C. HOFLAND. A very pleasing composition. We have looked attentively at No. 216, Nightingale-lane-a scene which we think more agreeable still, but why we can hardly tell, unless that the locale be more inviting.

No. 41. Don Pedro content.-R. B. FAULKNER. Of the three or four specimens exhibited by Mr. Faulkner, this, a simple portrait under a fantastic title, is the best; but they are all clever.

No. 59. The Lace-maker, and No. 248, The last of his name.-J. ÍNSKIPP. The critics are in ecstacies with the first of these pictures, conceiving it the best-the most finished the artist ever painted, but they are noodles. Let them look again at the second, and if they will lay aside their prejudices, and allow themselves to be regulated by the standard of nature, rather than the false medium of academic smoothness, they will perceive their error. In the latter there is more poetry, and in

finitely more art, yet, unable to appreciate a certain smartness of pencilling by which so close an approximation to nature has been effected, those who know no better, would limit its pretensions to the modesty of a sketch,

No. 86. Diligence. No. 436. Come away to the Masquerade.- H. WYATT. In these two small pictures, we have ample evidence of a practised hand, but none whatever of an inventive mind. There is good pencilling, but a total absence of originality.

No. 142. Stags alarmed at the distant sight of Hunters.-R. B. DAVIS. Mr. Davis appears to have been unusually industrious during the recess. He has no less than thirteen subjects of various interest, and although some of them are slight and sketchy, they establish upon the whole a considerable improvement upon his former achievements. He has a clever little picture which he calls a Smith's shop (No. 239), and several groups of cattle much to our taste; but his chefd'œuvre is, we think, the one to which we now more pointedly refer. The stags in this performance are grouped with freedom, and finished with character and spirit, while the heathery site from whence the affrighted animals are escaping, is light and effective, and consistent with the text marked for illustration-a passage from the Lady of the Lake.

No. 162. The Moorish Tower at Seville, called the Giralda, painted in that city.D. ROBERTS. As the portrait of an edifice, to which attention is frequently directed by the pen of the tourist, we deem this authentic view of the Giralda of Seville, with a portion of the Cathedral to which it is attached in the distance, one of more than ordinary interest. It has been painted upon a liberal scale of canvas, so that the ornamental details of the work, which are curious, may be nearly as well understood by the spectator, as if be were examining them upon the spot. To say nothing of its extraordinary height, the colour of the tower,-which is of red brick,-contrasted with that of the adjacent houses, which are also lofty, but perfectly white, is not favourable to the composition; yet the general tone of it being, with the exception perhaps of the sky, mellow and agreeable, we greatly prefer it to the interior of the Cathedral lately exhibited at the British Gallery, a work noticed by us in a former number. In subjects of this class, we are aware that little importance is commonly attached to the quality of the figures, yet with the examples of Canaletti, Guardi, and others strong in our recollection, we cannot but wish to see Mr. Roberts a

little more effective in this particular. We perceive that he takes abundance of pains in their execution, but we would remark of the figures of the masters we have named, that their principal charm consists in a certain elegance of form and smartness of touch.

No. 196. Haidee aroused from her trance by the sound of music. F. Y. HURLSTONE. A picture of considerable merit, as far as regards colour and effect; but, as has been observed by others, it is Mr. Hurlstone's Haidee, not the beautiful creation of Lord Byron. We have a strong suspicion of the originality of the two Jews' heads, and moreover see nothing in the passage quoted in the catalogue to warrant the introduction of such figures. They look like a couple of old clothesmen.

No.213. Mouth of the Rother, Sussex.J. WILSON. In the composition of a picture, the artist, instead of allowing himself to be regulated by the sober impressions of the mind which, properly exercised, adjusts and accommodates the hand to the particular circumstances under which it may be employed, often abandons himself to the almost exclusive influence of the eye; and the consequence is, that unless he have nature perpetually before him, he falls into the most egregious inconsistencies and errors imaginable. Such, however, is not the case with Wilson, whose productions are ever the result of profound and ample thinking. He is familiar with external nature in all her forms and phases, and reduces her to canvas with a precision that all must acknowledge and admire. Of the works he sends this season, which are no less than nine in number, and all fine, his Mouth of the Rother, or Rye Harbour, is the most imposing. The sea, and sky, and earth, and air, as seen in these watery situations, are described in the composition with inimitable truth and power; and although pictures painted on so considerable a scale are often inconvenient to the collector, we do trust that an example of native talent so complete and unexceptionable in all its details, will not be overlooked,and returned upon the hands of the intelligent artist.

No. 232. Sketch of the Interior of the Church at Calais. No. 373. Interior of St. Eustache, Paris. No. 408. The Altar

in the Church of St. Sulpice, Paris.-S. DAVIS. Much as we are in the habit of deriding the bigotry (or "exclusiveness of principle," as Mr. O'Connell paraphrases the term in courtesy to Sir Robert Inglis) of every religion but our own, we cannot at all events justly plume ourselves on the sumptuousness of our

worship. The superior magnificence and solemnity of the Churches of France, Italy, Spain, and other superstitious countries, are quite humiliating to the English traveller, who cannot, on touching a foreign shore, but feel the contrast they present to the mean and unworthy structures in which he has all his life been offering up his devotions at home. These remarks have been suggested by the several very able and beautiful representations of the interiors of Churches painted at Calais and Paris, and now first exhibited by Mr. Scarlett Davis. They place the reality of the scenes they embody vividly before us, and though we cannot enter minutely into the respective merits of each, we will briefly recommend them one and all to the attentive consideration of our readers.

No. 277. The Water Mill.-C. R. STANLEY. A piece of commonplace nature an overshot mill-but in the artist's most effective manner, which, however, is rather heavy in colour, and coarse in execution.

No. 285. The Mill.-F. C. Lewis. A similar subject, but treated with a lighter, and livelier hand. It is altogether more like nature, having less of what artists call the receipt about it than its companion.

No. 286. Lear and Cordelia.-H. E. DAWE. Mr. Dawe engraves. His plates, entitled, "My Child, my Child," and "He's saved, he's saved"-a pair-have long been before the public; and as that of Lear and Cordelia, another touch of the same kind-the pathetic-will doubtless follow, we are spared the task of particularising their beauties. To be serious, we should have refrained from noticing so contemptible a work, but for the circumstance of its being the production of a member of the Society, and hence so ostentatiously thrust into a central situation.

No. 315. Interior of a Church.-D. ROBERTS. A scrap of Gothic architecture painted in the most elaborate and effective style. There is nothing in the same walk of art in the present exhibition that will bear a comparison with it.

No. 349. The Court Martial subsequent to the Bristol Riots.-Miss SHARPLES. We have seldom witnessed a feat of the multitudinous congregating of figures in a picture, equal to this. It comprehends finished miniatures of, we should think, half the respectability of Bristol. We can conceive the unwillingness of each individual to be put into shadow, and the reluctance of the fair artist, in any instance, to propose it; for the work ha evidently been undertaken with a view to

its publication in the form of an engraving. Every face is therefore brought prominently forward, and the consequence is, a total want of keeping and chiar-oscuro.

No. 361. A Sea View, and No. 398. A Storm at Sea.-A. PRIEST. Of the sea pieces exhibited, we can scarcely point out two more meritorious examples than these by Mr. Priest, a name hitherto but little known in the world of art. The first is a subject of comparative calm, but the second pourtrays the terrors of the deep with a degree of energy that makes the landsman, whom fortune has permitted to

"Live at home at ease,"

to hug himself in his security, and to thank his stars that he is "high and dry."

No. 379. Hyde Park Corner.-J. HOLLAND. A view, embracing the new gateways leading to Buckingham Palace on the one hand, and Hyde Park on the other; a very masterly performance, and one upon which we could scarcely bestow adequate commendation, had it more originality and less of poor Bonington in its composition.

No. 495. Charles Cotton, the Author of the Second Part of the Complete Angler, with his fishing-house on the Banks of the Dove, Beresford Dale, Staffordshire, in the back ground.-J. INSKIPP. Cotton, in his treatise on fly-fishing, proclaims himself the adopted son of Izaak Walton, a fiction which his illustrator had, we suppose, no alternative but to sanction and confirm. He was coeval with Charles the Second, and under other circumstances should have been attired in the costume of the reign of the "merry monarch," rather than that of his predecessor, having been but some ten years of age at the time of his death. This conccit of the author must have thrown considerable difficulty in the way of the artist, for in the only authentic portrait extant of him, he is represented as a much older man, and in the court dress of the later period. This departure from historical truth has suggested a necessity which we should have feared would be fatal to the identity of the head-the necessity of discarding that enormous peruke with which our recollections of Cotton are so inveterately associated, and of introducing the natural hair in its stead: still the resemblance has been preserved, and we must, in candour, give the artist credit for his good management in this respect, particularly as the prototype upon whose authority he must have exclusively depended, has been further shorn of a moiety of his years. The fishing-house standing on the marge of the Dove, contributes to the interest of the scene, for GENT. MAG. VOL I.

Dovedale is a spot that every lover of polite literature and the picturesque, especially if he have a taste for the angle also, must contemplate with feelings of delight, whether in nature itself, or through the medium of art; and those who have seen the original of the present work, through the former, cannot fail to recognise the fidelity of the transcript in the latter.

We would also call attention to No. 16, Spring Flowers, by A. RIPPINGILLE. No. 65, Scene near Yarmouth, by J. STARK. No. 78, A Venetian Water Girl, by R. EDMONSTONE. No. 84, Thoughts on Flowers, by F. CORBAUX. No. 105, The Happy Gardener, by A. FRASER. No. 107, View in Athens, by E. F. GREEN. No. 121, Interview between Cromwell and his Daughter, by W. FISK. No. 203, Portrait of Lady Mostyn, by Mrs. C. PEARSON. No. 221, Boys at a Rabbit, Hole, by J. W. ALLEN. No. 243, Moonlight, by E. CHILDE No. 253, The Higgler, by W. SHAYER. No. 282, Portrait of Sir Edward Banks, by Mrs. C. PEARSON. No. 306, Monument of Sir Richard Stapilton, by S. A. HART. No. 340, Portrait of Sir John Hobhouse, by J. LONSDALE. No. 350, A Brig on the Margate Sand, by A. G. VICKERS. No. 411, The Old Squire bartering with Gipzeys for a Dog, by C. HANCOCK. No. 440, The Dying Patriot, by J. M. LEIGH. No. 443, Portrait, by S. LAURENCE. 449, A Native, by H. PIDDING. No. 463, Boats, by G. CHAMBERS. No. 471. Timber Ship on Shore, by W. R. EARLF, No. 485, Horses, by C. HANCOCK. No. 505, Shirking the Plate, by R. W. Buss. No. 544, The Waggoner, by G. SIMS. No. 552, The Alchymist's Study, by R. T. LONSDALE.

No.

In the water colour room, besides the one or two which we have incidentally noticed, there are several very pleasing performances by J. M. INCE: his views of Clovelly, in Devon (No. 631 and 711), of a Street in Bristol (No. 690), and of Clifton (No. 718), are all delightful: there is a frame of miniatures by Mrs. JAMES ROBERTSON, admirably executed; a figure piece by T. S. CAFE (No. 637), which, though cold in tone, has the merit of originality. Two or three little sketches by C. R. STANLEY, which are even better, we think, than any thing he does in oils. Two inimitable studies, No. 660, Mill at Windermere, and No. 668, Scene on Conistone Water-the same to which we have already alluded, by J. B. PYNE. splendid group of flowers (No. 676), by V. BARTHOLOMEW; a figure subject, representing the Entry of Bolingbroke into London (No. 701), by H. MARTENS, and

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a fine view of Rue St. Honoré, Paris, by S. DAVIS.

In the Sculpture Room we observed well-executed busts by Messrs. S. SMITH, J. HEFFERNAN, R. C. LUCAS, R. W. SIEVIER, and T. SMITH; a pair of beautiful little models in clay of David Gelatly and Edie Ochiltree, by E. COTTRILL, and The Shield of Eneas-a most elaborate and classical performance in wax-by W. PITTS.

The works exhibited in the various branches of study count eight hundred and sixty-nine, and the exhibitors three hundred and ninety-six.

EXHIBITION OF THE NEW SOCIETY OF

PAINTERS IN WATER COLOURS.

ON Monday, the 7th of April, the Public were admitted to the rooms of this, the Minor Association of Painters in Water Colours, at No. 16, Old Bondstreet. The establishment is in its infancy, this being but the third year of its existence; and having in the elder society a powerful rival to contend with, we are disposed to speak of it with more than ordinary indulgence; not that our forbearance will be partially exercised in its behalf, for, although the display of the present season comprehends little short of four hundred contributions, consisting of original drawings and miniatures, and doubtless contains its full proportion of mediocrity, yet it is upon the whole very 'creditable to the talents of the exhibitors at large. Its strength appears to lie principally in its marine views and landscapes; but as the powers of an artist are more severely tested in the execution of the figure, we shall begin our commentary with the very few who appear to us, upon a somewhat cursory glance, to have signalized themselves in that department of the art, taking them in the numerical order in which they are inserted in the catalogue.

No. 6. The Visionary, No. 7, Sketch of a Lady in an antique dress-No. 107, Coast Scene with Figures, and No. 205, The Gleaner returning, by W. N. HARDWICK, are among the most pleasing specimens, particularly the first, a wild flower culled from the bye-ways of rural life. Mr. H. has several landscapes which are handled with great facility, though we are of opinion that they are all more or less deficient in warmth.

No. 28. Jeanie Deans and her Sister, Miss S. SETCHEL. Good in expression, but susceptible of some improvement in the drawing.

No. 96. Landscape with figures.-H. PLATT. Studies of Children, conceived

with the feeling of a poet, and executed with the skill of an artist.

No. 115. Castle of Braemar, taken during a Highland Gathering.-G. B. CAMPION. We are astonished that, with all the resources they have at home, our artists should look to Scotland for their scenery, seeing that nothing ever attempted in that quarter has succeeded, except what has been done by Landseer, and not even that but in violation of local truth, and through the co-operation of an advantage shared equally by ourselves— we allude to the animal world. In this gathering of a clan of Highlanders around the little top-heavy castle of Braemar, we find nothing either poetical or picturesque.

No. 188 to No. 191. Studies from nature.-R. W. Buss. Four single figures of rustics, painted with considerable freedom and power.

No. 203. An Interior.-T. Woop. A scene of rural simplicity and repose, executed with great skill. The artist has a View of Lynmouth (No. 127), a spot of great beauty accurately and ably delineated, and several other pieces which, though less interesting in subject, are perhaps equally clever as pictures.

No. 263. Scene at Bruges.-A. G. VICKERS. A group of Dutch frows, slight, but broad and spirited. This gentleman has some sea pieces of great merit, particularly No. 70, The passage boat on the Scheldt, near Antwerp, No. 81, Sandown Castle, Kent, and No. 99, Margate Pier from the Beach; but the sky of the first is extravagant.

No. 270. Village Sportsmen.-R. T. LONGBOTTOM. A little scene of vulgar recreation in the way of Kidd and Buss.

No. 285. Portrait of the Hon. Mrs. Stanhope, after Sir Joshua.-GEORge R. WARD. An excellent copy of a very beautiful original.

No. 287. The Lesson. No. 295. Halt of Dutch Peasants, and No. 296, Dutch Cart on the Road.-J. L. COLLIGNON. Three pictures of very great beauty; but we must now make our selections a little more general.

J. M. BURBANK has numerous studies of the heads of animals, which are good as portraits, but appear to us to want refinement as pictures. G. S. SHEPHERD has succeeded best in his specimens of still life; for instance, No. 76, A group of jars and other domestic utensils. H. P. RIVIERE is more at home in No. 29, Coast Scene with figures, than in No. 24, At the Nativity of our Saviour, where

Shepherds watched their flocks by night,"

a subject which calls for a better know