In these remarks, although the intention has been to exhibit etching as a primary object, many of the masters whose works have been alluded to, hardly, properly speaking, come under the character of etchers; but as their performances are so frequently classed as etchings, it became necessary to adopt them as such. At all events, whether little or much of this practice prevailed in their works, what has been brought forward may serve as a contrast to the more perfect and free character of etching.

The free or sketchy style of etching is that in which the artist and amateur may be said to delight, and where the imagination, as well as the lines, take a freer and a wider range; and it belongs to the practice of etching alone to give ease, and to facilitate the means of accomplishing its end, that of showing the hand of the master and the readiness of his pencil. There is in this, as well as in every other style of art, a variety of character, according to the sketch, and the different way in which the subject may have been treated by the painter, to make it resemble on copper what his drawing would do on paper. In this class of art may be found examples from the hand of every artist of eminence from the time of Raphael to the present day. They have formed, and still continue to form, the choicest part of connoisseur collections, though sometimes the value and estimation of them is more for their scarcity than for the merit they possess. It is for the artist and for the intelligent amateur to appreciate their worth, and to derive that satisfaction that belongs to a cultivated taste; which, regardless of names and dates, seeks and finds enjoyment in every variety of style that exhibits the hand of the master.

In the Italian school will be found the etchings of Parmegiano, Correggio, Annibale, and Ludovico Carracci, Canterini, Guido, Claude Lorraine, Guercino, Castiglione, Salvator Rosa, &c. To these may be added the works of Jac. Frey, Wagner, and Bartolozzi.

All or most of these partake of the character of pen drawings hastily thrown off, but still exhibiting the skill of the master, even in the slightest touch, or, as it should seem, the accidents of his pencil. Piranesi may almost be said to have invented a style chiefly applicable to buildings and ruins; the lines are parallel to each other, but bold, free, and forcible.

Under a less elevated character of subject, the Flemish school presents an equal, perhaps a greater, variety of the loose and masterly; and of this class Rembrandt may justly be placed at the head. His style of etching was closer and more sketchy than that of the Italian masters, and has given rise to many imitators, as in the etchings of Bossi, Worlidge, Captain Baillie, and others. By these he has been imitated princi

pally in his subjects of heads and figures. De Hooge's works, if less sketchy than those of Rembrandt, equal them in brilliancy and force, and many of them are little inferior in effect :-to his landscapes, those of Waterloo and Weeroteer, bear some resemblance in their manner of execution, though with less of that concentrated light than what that master of effect so happily produced. P. Potter, Berghem, Ostade and Vischer, have also greatly enriched the Flemish school in the free and loose style of etching.

This classification will bring into view the works of the different artists whose varied styles comprehend every species of engraving and etching from the earliest period to the present time, with the exception of mezzotinto, aquatinto, chalk, and engraving on wood; to which may be added the recent discovery of lithography, or drawing on stone.

The French school has produced artists whose works as etchings rank high, though in a style apart from the loose and sketchy. The lines in this style are parallel to each other, but full of spirit and character. Among the best examples are those of Seb Le Clerc, Picart, Callot, Della Bella, and Israel's works. They are principally to be found in vignettes and small book-plates, though Callot has extended his practice to works of larger dimensions, and his spirited manner may serve to distinguish this style of etching. La Fage has also contributed no inconsiderable eclat to the free and loose style of etching.

The following will exhibit the names of the masters whose styles bear a resemblance to each other, though varying in degree of excellence :

OBSERVATIONS ON THE FLEMISHI SCHOOL OF ART.
[Continued from p. 193.]

WHAT has been said of Terburgh as regards the character of his subjects will apply to Metzu. In his pictures there is no offensive vulgarity, though his pencil often exhibits scenes of familiar life; yet the generality of his works show the manners and customs of what is called the better sort. His style of execution is no degree inferior to that of Terburgh; and if he does not surprise by the deceptive representation of satin, silks, or the texture of his draperies,—the higher qualities of art, in colouring, expression, and chiar'oscuro, are eminently conspicuous in all his performances: in the latter quality more especially, as appears in a picture painted by him of a young man writing, (in the possession of the late Mr. Hope,) which may be considered as the finest example of Metzu's pencil.

"The Trooper,' by Cuyp. It is impossible to look upon the picture of the trooper and his horse, without adverting to subjects of a similar kind in the treatment of this noble animal, where, in the ordinary and common course of representation, is seen the portrait of a horse with a jockey at its head, as stiff, formal and hard, as a profile shade. It was reserved for the late S. Gilpin to throw off the trammels of jockey portraiture, and to exhibit the horse in its better form and character, investing it with almost human intelligence, as may be seen in his picture of 'Gulliver and the Hounhyms.' In something of the same spirit Stubbs laboured to give expression and action to his horses, in which he has been eminently successful, especially in the subject of Phaeton Driving the Chariot of the Sun,' and also in that of his Horse and Lion.' A picture by this artist at Wentworth House, Yorkshire, is the portrait of a famous racer, called (we believe) Whistle Jacket,' which belonged to the late Marquis of Rockingham. It is painted the size of life, in the

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act of rearing, and is without bridle or saddle, occupying the whole space at one end of the room, and without other background than the colour of the apartment; so that to those who are not apprised of its deceptive appearance, it occasions on their entering, as may be imagined, a momentary alarm.

The good sense of modern artists has led them to similar results in their practice; and we find action, character and expression combined with picturesque composition, suitable accessories, and other qualities of art. There is still, however, a portion of the old leaven to be seen; and in the individual portrait, the 'Chase', and the 'Race', there is more attention paid to the jockeyship of the subject than to the beauty and grace of the horse.

The late George Morland gave to the character of his horses all that belonged to individual resemblance, and also accompanied them with scenery and accessories which gave value to them as subjects. But Morland appears to have confined himself almost exclusively in the painting of his horses to those of the hack, the butcher's and the cart horse,-in fine, with such as agreed with the character of his pencil, that of low and rustic life; it should seem that he could no more introduce a horse of condition, than a person of condition, into any of his pictures.

It may be observed, that the beautiful painting which gave rise to these remarks is equally simple in its character with those of the stiff and formal already alluded to; but from its picturesque costume, background, and other accessories, it is anything but stiff, formal, or hard: yet it is still a question whether a student of the stable or a frequenter of the race-course would find the charms which belong either to the horses of Wouvermans or Cuyp, which in their judgements might fare like Gil Blas's mule, and have every fault in the dealer's catalogue.

Jan Steen, with a pencil in many instances as mellow and fascinating as any in the Flemish school of Art, was so frequently employed on subjects of a gross and vulgar character, as in many instances to exclude his works from the cabinets and collections of those who considered the destination of art in a more exalted and moral point of view. It should, however, be remembered, that the age which tolerated subjects of a gross and vulgar character, such as Jan Steen's frequently exhibit, would not be one of great refinement, any more than a period still more recent, when productions of the pen as well as of the pencil were of a character that would not in the present day be allowed. Even the works of our inimitable Hogarth in many instances partake of the license of his times, and are only collected for the sake of his name, and the qualities and skill with which his pencil has invested them.

Artists of the present day are not always happy in the choice of their subjects: though they seldom offend in a similar way to many of the Dutch painters, yet are they by no means free from the fault of abusing their talents in pictures of bull-baiting, fighting-dogs, broken-down hacks, and others equally offensive to good feeling as to good taste. The Flemish Art has the advantage of years; and time, while it harmonizes the colours and tones-down what may have been crude, gives also value to the performance.

The dispositions of a people may be known as well by their pictorial as by their anecdotal records; and judging from the former, the number of fêtes and merry-makings of which the greater part of their paintings are composed, the Flemings and Hollanders must have been a holiday people, at least in the times when Teniers, Brower, Ostade, and others of that school, flourished. There is, however, in their subjects of mirth and jollity an occasional broil, the consequence of anger or drunkenness ; and where this appears, madness and rage are most powerfully depicted.

The costume of the Low Countries was also highly favourable to Art from its picturesque character. In the higher circles it partook of the Spanish dress, where the large hat and plume, the cloak and cuirass, gave a variety and grandeur less seen in their more civilized neighbours. Neither was the dress of their peasantry, though simple in its form, less calculated for pictorial representation, and it was well suited to contrast that of the higher order. D. Teniers was fond of bringing the two classes together, as his pictures often exhibit the romping freedom of a boor who is pulling a female of condition to join in the dance that is going forward.

Brower, Adrian, and Isaac Ostade threw more of varied expression into their characters than Teniers. Then the cottage scenes of the latter, with their picturesque occupiers, are beyond measure captivating: his cottage doors have a warmth and glow of colour, a snugness and apparent security in their aspect and situation, something that looks so like content and comfort, that it is impossible not to partake in some degree a feeling in accordance with the repose they exhibit.

Those who consider the destination of Art to belong exclusively to subjects and characters of an elevated kind, know little of the power of contrast, or the emotions of a kindly nature which spring from the contemplation of rustic life and pastoral objects, brought into view through the medium of Art. What would the high and the exalted in station or rank know of common life and manners, but for these pictured representations? And it may in some instances give an importance in their