JOHN MYTTON, ESQ.

March 29. In the King's Bench prison, aged 37, John Mytton, Esq., of Halston, co. Salop.

Mr. Mytton was descended from a very ancient Shropshire family, connected from a remote period with the local and public transactions of Shrewsbury and North Wales. He was the only son of John Mytton, esq., by Harriet, daughter of the late William Owen, esq., of Woodhouse, co. Salop, and was born September 30th, 1796. His father dying when he was only eighteen months old, he was brought up with little restraint on his conduct, and educated partly at Westminster School, from whence he entered the 7th Hussars, and was for several years Major in the Oswestry division of the North Shropshire Yeomanry Cavalry.

On attaining his Majority in 1817, he became possessed of a noble fortune, beside inheriting large estates in Shropshire and Merionethshire, for both which counties he served the office of High Sheriff.

He represented the Borough of Shrewsbury during the closing six months of the last Parliament of George the Third, but declined offering himself for the new one in 1820. At the general election in 1831 he was a candidate for the representation of the county of Salop, but after five days polling he was unsuccessful.

Mr. Mytton was endowed with a good natural intellect, which by due cultivation might have shone forth in a superior light; his manners were courteous and affable, but his disposition was marked with traits of eccentricities and irregularities which greatly impaired his ample fortune. He was an enthusiast in the sports of the field, and passionately fond of hunting and racing, which rendered him well known throughout the fashionable and sporting circles of England and the Continent.

A delirium tremens was the immediate cause of his death; previous to which we have the satisfaction of knowing that he embraced the consolations of religion. He was anxiously attended during his illness by his most affectionate mother; and a few friends also, who, in despite of the pecuniary difficulties into which he had plunged himself, remained true unto the last, though it is to be feared he experienced from others, who had largely shared his bounty and hospitality while in the zenith of prosperity, the coldest ingratitude when the clouds of misfortune hung heavily around him.

Mr. Mytton married, first, May 21st, 1818, Harriet Emma, daughter of Sir Thomas Jones, Bart., by whom he had issue, one daughter; secondly, 29th of October, 1821, Caroline, daughter of Thomas Giffard, of Chillington, co. Staf. ford, and had issue four sons and one daughter.

GENT. MAG. VOL. 1.

It is a singular circumstance that for several generations the heir to the Halston estate has had a long minority. The present heir (presuming his life) will be a minor nearly eleven years; the late Mr. Mytton was a minor almost twenty years; and the same circumstance also attended his father and his grandfather when they respectively succeeded to the family estates.

As

The mortal remains of Mr. Mytton were conveyed from London for interment in the private extra-parochial chapel adjoining the mansion of Halston. While passing through the town of Shrewsbury, many of the shops were closed, and the bells of the several churches tolled. the procession approached Halston, it was joined by twelve carriages of the neighbouring gentry, and about 150 of the tenantry and friends on horseback, together with two troops of the Oswestry Yeomanry Cavalry; and at the interment a great concourse of spectators assembled, anxious to pay the passing tribute of a sigh to his memory. H. P.

JOHN PHELIPS, ESQ.

April 20. At Montacute House, Somersetshire, after a few days illness, aged 51, John Phelips, Esq., an acting Magistrate for the counties of Somerset and Dorset.

The representative of an ancient and honourable family, he, by the excellence of his many public and private virtues, fully repaid to society the value of the adventitious claim which is uniformly conceded to a dignified line of ancestry. Having for many years presided as Chairman of the Criminal Court of Quarter Sessions in his native county, he had, by the integrity of his principles and the mildness of his judgment, advanced its judicial character to a degree of estimation rarely acquired under such circumstances. The Bar and the Bench, by whom he was equally beloved and respected, hailed him as their friend and their guide; and, as was well and truly said on a public occasion, immediately after his decease, (by one who knew him thoroughly, and was as thoroughly competent to give an opinion) "in his decisions he was not always equalled by our Judges, and rarely surpassed by them." In all the local charities and meetings held in his own neighbourhood, his purse and his personal services were tendered with readiness and without ostentation. kind and judicious benefactor to the poor, a considerate and liberal landlord to his tenants, he fulfilled the more immediate and secondary duties of an English country Gentleman, in a manner which, it is hoped, blesseth him that giveth, as well as him that receiveth. In the wide circle of his personal friends and acquaintances, his hospitality was unbounded as his

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means were ample and his heart was open. In the narrower sphere, within which his domestic affections were much centered, much more, if it were allowable to lift the sacred veil thrown by common consent around the privacy of family sorrow, might be said to the honour of one so universally lamented. His heraldic motto was not merely a vain appendage to his armorial bearings; the words, "Pro Aris et Focis" were enshrined within his heart.

M. VENTOUILLAC. March 2. In Bedford street, of pulmonary consumption, aged 36, Mr. L. T. Ventouillac, Professor of the French language and literature in King's College, London.

M. Ventouillac was a native of Calais; he had resided for eighteen years in England; and was appointed Professor at King's College in 1830. For that post he was qualified in an extraordinary degree; since his perfect.command of the English language, and his critical acquaintance with our classical writers, enabled him to communicate the delicacies of his own tongue with peculiar facility and grace. He himself attributed the rapid progress he had made in acquiring a proficiency in the English language, to the delight he experienced in perusing the works of Shakspeare, following the poet in all his puns and conceits with a spirit which partook of a kindred affection for wit and repartee. He was also well read in the other classical authors of this country, and could comment upon them with much taste and discrimination. His behaviour and conversation were amiable and unaffected. He spoke our language with such vernacular fluency that he could address extempore even a polished assembly, in a manner very pleasing to his hearers. He wrote a neat and idiomatic English style; and though his literary labours were chiefly confined to elementary books, yet his several prefaces and introductions indicate abilities of a superior order.

His principal publications are a series of French Classics in twelve volumes 18mo; the French Librarian, in one volume octavo; Rudiments of the French Language; Morceaux d'Histoire, consisting of specimens of the best French historians; French Poetry, with English notes; Livre de Class, lately published; and a masterly translation into French of Bishop Watson's Apology for the Bible.

Soon after his arrival in England, he embraced the Protestant faith; and he died, with exemplary fortitude and resig

nation, in the communion of the Church of England.

MR. GEORGE COOKE.

Feb. 27. At Barnes, aged 53, Mr. George Cooke, the eminent engraver.

He was born in London, Jan. 22, 1781. His father was a native of Frankfort on the Maine, who settled in England early in life, as a confectioner, and having realized a moderate competency, retired from business about thirty years ago.

George Cooke, at the age of fourteen, was apprenticed to Mr. James Basire, the engraver, influenced probably by the example of his elder brother William, who had previously become the pupil of Angus, the publisher of a set of "Noblemen's and Gentlemen's Seats." His family retain but little evidence of his early predilections for the Arts; but the active energies of his mind would have ensured him distinction in any scientific or intellectual pursuit. Amongst a quantity of work belonging to the House of Commons, the Royal and Antiquarian So. cieties, and other matter displaying no great artistic skill, which Mr. Basire was accustomed to execute, one drawing by Turner came annually to be translated to copper, as an appendage to the Oxford Almanack. From this source may be dated George Cooke's confirmed devotion to his profession, and that ardent admiration of the works of our great Painter, which afterwards produced such extensive results.

When emancipated from the trammels of apprenticeship, his zeal and industry soon opened to him an animating prospect. About that time commenced the publication of the Beauties of England and Wales, which introduced to public notice several names destined to rank amongst the most eminent in the art of engraving, as the brothers Cooke, Burnet, Pye, and the Le Keux's. In conjunction with Mr. William Cooke, and also separately, George Cooke executed many plates for that work, which are marked with strong indications of a sedulous care and eagerness to excel, the characteristics in all his productions. Of his earliest works, some allegorical designs with portraits of German authors, and a small book plate entitled "Edward and Annette," illustrating a novel translated from the German, are creditable to his self-educated powers in engraving the human figure. Shortly after, jointly with his brother, were produced two highly wrought large plates of celebrated race-horses, Haphazard and Muly Moloch. The painter was Marshall of Newmarket, between whom and the owner of the horses, Lord

Darlington, a misunderstanding arose before the plates were completed, and that nobleman withdrawing his patronage from the enterprize, the consequences fell heavily upon the young engravers, who saw the fruits of much time, anxiety, and labour, destroyed at a blow. Views of Ouse Bridge, York, for Dayes's works, and Thorney Abbey, after Alexander, for Lysons's Britannia Depicta, evidence rapid improvement in their department; while some outlined divinities for Hort's Pantheon, and a series of heads of mere mortals, with some statues and historical groups, also in outline, for the " Historic Gallery," are publication from the French, account for the employment of his time down to the beginning of 1808, when the extensive series of plates illustrating Pinkerton's "Collection of Voyages and Travels" absorbed, for several successive years, the greater part of his time and attention. An adequate idea of his powers might well be formed from the conduct of this work, could the difficulties encountered and surmounted in its progress be known; but the public see only the result, and something more is often necessary to appreciate individual exertion. Much of his valuable time was absorbed by barren and unprofitable matters, many of the plates were engraven from mere tracings, many were remodelled, but there is scarcely one in the multitudinous collection, amounting to one hundred and sixty, that does not testify to the engraver's pains-taking exertions.

During the progress of this publication, Mr. William Cooke had projected and commenced the first edition of "The Thames," to which George Cooke contributed only three plates, Monkey Island, Temple House, and the Gateway at Tilbury Fort. The "Thames" was the precursor of the "Southern Coast of England," a work memorable on many accounts, and of incalculable importance for its action both on the public taste and the art of engraving. Early impressed with an unbounded admiration of the works of Turner, and sharing in a deep and well-founded conviction of the advantages likely to accrue from any plan which should place those wonders of the pencil more immediately within the scope of public attention, the brothers seldom met without discussing their favorite topic, and many a scheme was formed and abandoned, before their wishes could be achieved. At length, perseverance and industry having vanquished all obstacles, the first number came out Jan. 1, 1814, and continued at intervals until the appearance of the sixteenth and last, in the

spring of 1826. Of this series of plates, George Cooke engraved fifteen, one third of the whole, together with eight vignettes. The success of this splendid and original work was commensurate with its merit. An improved edition of the "Thames" followed, containing some tasteful and elaborate specimens of graphic skill from his hand; amongst these "The Launch of the Nelson," and "The Fair on the Thames," after Clennell, and "The opening of Waterloo Bridge," after Reinagle, are deserving of particular notice. He had previously executed fourteen small views in the Scandinavian peninsula, after sketches by Sir T. D. Acland, Bart., as well as some ten or dozen miniature views for Pinkerton's "Petralogy;" and he completed an extensive series on a larger scale, of which a few had been finished by his brother, for Sir Henry Englefield's work on the Geological features of the Isle of Wight, and the neighbouring coast of Dorset. This engagement, united to a fondness for and knowledge of the science, led to his engraving, for several years, the plates affixed to the Transactions of the Geological Society; but that learned body finally disused calcographic, and adopted lithographic, illustrations.

Three plates of higher pretensions, and in different walks of Art, next claim our attention: one, the Iron Bridge at Sunderland, from an outline by Blore, with a vigourous effect of light and shade thrown in by Francia, for Surtees's History of Durham; the second after a drawing by Alexander, of the great Bacon's statue at St. Alban's, for Clutterbuck's Hertfordshire; and the last a view of Gledhouse in Yorkshire, after Turner; each is excellent in its kind, but the statue is the greater effort, and warrants the justice of the inference, in which he has occasionally acquiesced, that, bad he devoted his time to the historical line of Art, he would have acquired equal celebrity. From those highly-wrought productions, such was the comprehensive versatility of his talents, we trace him proceeding with the same facility and success to works of a slight and sketchy description: into the Peak scenery of Derbyshire, published by Mr. Rhodes of Sheffield, he transfused all the grace, spirit, and expression, of Chantrey's originals.

Meanwhile the influence of the "Southern Coast" was powerfully acting on public taste. Some of its earliest effects were Hakewill's "Italy," and the "Provincial Antiquities and Picturesque Scenery of Scotland." For each of these

works he executed some interesting plates: in the former two of Naples, the Campo Vaccino of Rome, and Florence; in the latter, Edinburgh from the Calton Hill after Turner, Edinburgh from St. Anthony's Chapel, and Edinburgh from the Braid Hills, both after Calcott, rank with the happiest efforts of Art: and of the Edinburgh Views in particular, it is not too much to assert that at the time of their appearance they were unequalled.

In 1819, appeared Allason's Pola with thirteen plates, of which the frontispiece, a magnificent architectural composition after Turner, and five others, are from George Cooke's accomplished graver. Some clever plates executed for the Society of Dilettanti, should likewise be here enumerated. Mr. Stanhope's Topography of Olympia contains seven of his productions; and a few occur in the engraved Marbles and Terra Cottas published by the Trustees of the British Museum.

Contemporaneously with several of the later productions here cited, were a series of scriptural subjects etched in shaded outline, which, along with others by Mr. Moses, were affixed to the handsome Bible of the Cambridge University Press, edited by D'Oyly and Mant.

On the first of May 1817, appeared the first number of the Botanical Cabinet, undertaken by him in combination with the Messrs. Loddiges of Hackney. This scientific work displays, in the details of its execution, the same active taste and judgment that pervades all his performances: it originated in a friendship which its progress cemented and confirmed, and which was only to terminate with life. For many years he resided at Hackney, in front of Loddiges' garden. Ten plates, small indeed and slight, but full of accurate and tasteful discrimination, were supplied monthly by his indefatigable hand, for nearly seventeen years; the last number, completing the twentieth volume, appearing in December 1833.

The pro

gress of this publication may be adduced as a rare instance of exemplary regularity, that, in an undertaking depending wholly for its illustrations on a single individual, has few parallels.

In 1825, he finished his engraving of Rotterdam, from Calcott's fine picture belonging to the Earl of Essex, and shortly afterwards he issued a prospectus announcing a series of Plates from the same eminent painter; of which two, Antwerp, and Dover, were began and considerably advanced. But his Rotterdam was destined to be the origin of vexation and disappointment; the returns from its sale having been left for accumu

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lation and security in the hands of agents who became insolvent, the hard earnings of his skill and industry were irretrievably lost. This event had an unfavourable influence on his plan, and he found himself compelled to suspend his operations on those plates, the rather that he was fairly embarked in the development of a long cherished and favorite idea, of which the British metropolis was the theme. His "London and its Vicinity" was now in progress, and at its outset there appeared sufficient reason to hope that industry and perseverance, guided by talents like his, might ensure success. But he was again to drink of the cup of disappointment; the adaptation of steel plates to the purposes of book illustration, effected such extensive changes in the arcana of publishing, that one pair of hands was not equal to the contest. a work of this class the "London" of George Cooke was opposed, and the usual machinery of puffs and advertisements set in motion; and, vastly inferior in every other requisite attraction or claim to public notice, his adversary's punctuality, and above all, his cheapness, turned the balance. Although George Cooke was not without a latent expectation that the public would do tardy justice to its merits, he bad resolved to suspend this publication at the twelfth number, leaving it open to be continued to twenty numbers, as covenanted in the original prospectus, should circumstances hereafter justify his proceeding; but with the completion of the plates for the twelfth number his life attained its limit. The plates were augmented progressively as the work advanced, to nearly double the size of those in the first number; while the most anxious care was exercised to include all that was striking, peculiar, and attractive, and the transcendant abilities of Calcott, Stanfield, and other artists of celebrity, lent their aid to adorn a work continued till death intervened without the usual incentives to exertion.

In the spring of 1833, was produced & separate work drawn from the teeming metropolis; the subjects" Old and New London Bridges," executed conjointly with his son Edward W. Cooke, who also made the drawings. In a suite of twelve plates, the aspect of the Old and New Bridges, the demolition of the one, and the gradual advancement of the other, are rendered with a masterly fidelity of drawing, light and shade, and execution, that stamp these admirable plates the perfection of architectural engraving. Among his single plates those in Nash's "Views in Paris," Colonel Batty's "Views of

European Cities," Baron Taylor's Spain," and more recently several in Starke's "Norfolk Rivers," and one of Southampton after Copley Fielding, for the "Gallery of Painters in Water Colours," must not be forgotten: neither can this notice of his works be closed without reference to the exquisite figures etched by him in certain plates by Henry Le Keux, in the Scotch work before cited.

This enumeration of his works, if not quite complete, tells more forcibly than words could describe, of his invincible application, and entire devotion to his profession; the hour had now arrived when those labours were to terminate, and to terminate with little previous warning. At the close of 1833, in speaking of his uninterrupted health, he observed that his sight was as strong as it had ever been, and that he only knew the tooth-ache and the head-ache by name. In the month of January, he experienced two slight indispositions from colds; from those he apparently recovered, and on Wednesday the thirteenth of February, he came to town from Barnes where he resided, and visited the British Institution, the Exhibition of Bonington's works, and in the evening attended the Graphic Conversazione; and his friends were delighted to see him apparently in the full enjoyment of vigorous health, and the perfection of his faculties: in a fortnight he was no more, having sunk under a violent attack of brain fever. He was interred at Barnes, on the 6th of March, and was followed to the grave by a numerous train of friends anxious to pay the last sad tribute to departed worth.

Mr. Cooke was one of the founders of 'the Artists' Joint Stock Fund, a member of the Calcographic Society, and one of the nine engravers united for the purpose of engraving and publishing the pictures in the National Gallery; in furtherance of that design, he had selected for his first plate, and made some progress in etching from the picture, Rubens' admirable landscape. In the practice of his profession he deemed himself peculiarly fortunate, inasmuch as it fell to his lot to produce some of the earliest plates engraven from the works of Turner, Calcott, and Stanfield, respectively; the first in the "Southern Coast," 1814, the second in the Provincial Antiquities of Scotland, 1819, and the third in his own "London" in 1827. He strongly participated in the dislike entertained by nearly all the eminent engravers to the introduction of steel plates, and, as he conscientiously believed that the consequences would be disastrous to an Art which he loved above all things beside,

he, in common with the seniors of the profession, openly proclaimed his determination never to work on the hated metal. This is not the place to discuss either the policy of such a resolution, or the worldly wisdom of those who both made it and broke it; our attention is solely required to the conduct of the individual, who, resisting firmly all temptations to the contrary, and they were many and powerful, strictly adhered to his word.

To this brief sketch of a life actively employed in the culture and improvement of an honourable profession, a few words may be added, to mark the character and record the virtues of the man. A buoyancy of spirit was one of the most striking points in his character, accompanied by a well-regulated cheerfulness, a kindliness of manner, and a prepossessing address, that won the good-will of all who approached him. His virtues were those which place their owner among the most estimable of human beings; industry, perseverance, temperance, and unsullied integrity; he may be said to have worn his heart on his lips, and it was a heart overflowing with good-will to all mankind. He has left a widow and six children to mourn his loss: five others had preceded him to the tomb.

MR. W. F. SMALLWOOD. April 22. Aged 27, Mr. William Frome Smallwood.

This rising young artist, whose name is mentioned with honour by the Director of the Society of Antiquities in the 24th vol. of the Archeologia, was known comparatively to few; but from his merit deserved to be known to all who make the fine arts the subject of attention. He was born at Peasemarsh, in Surrey, on the 24th of June, 1806. His father was the proprietor of, and for many years resided in, the Grand Hotel, Covent Garden. He was brought up under Mr. Cottingham as an architect, but never followed that profession, preferring that of an artist. His education naturally led him to architectural drawing, which he practised with unusual skill, both as to feeling and facility of execution, but perhaps his natural inclination was for figures, in sketching which he appeared to take a particular pleasure. He was known, however, as an architectural draughtsman only, and more than thirty subjects engraved in the Penny Magazine were taken from his drawings. He also occasionally exhibited his sketches at Somerset House, and there are now a few in the Suffolkstreet Exhibition. He had been much abroad, and has left a considerable number