they difplay a tafte, feeling, and knowledge of the art, which has not been the portion of very many of those who have past their lives in the profeffion.

Sir William Beechy has feven portraits, painted in a ftyle which entities him to retain that pre-eminent fituation in his profeffion, which was fo juftly allotted to him fome years ago.

Mr. Opie has feven, and they are all marked with his ufual force and vigour of pencil. His portrait of Mr. Holcroft is admirably drawn and coloured, Mr. Hoppner has one fine por rait; Mr. Shee has five.

Of Mr. Henry Thomfon, A. E. we had occafion to fpeak in high terms in our remarks on last year's exhibition. His pictures now exhibited are worthy of him self; i. e, they are very fine.

If any honour be attached to the title, Mr. Owen ought to be a R.A.-he is not even an affociate. His picture, No. 1, is admirably drawn; his Beggars, and Cottage Door, are each of them fo capitally painted, that we carce know which to prefer.

Drummond's Drowned Sailor, Gleaners, &c. difplay marks of mind and much improvement is his yle of painting. Mr. S. Phillips has fix characteristic portraits.

Mr. Buckler's drawings of Cathedrals are very well understood."

Mr. Bone's Miniatures are in the very firft ftyle of the art; and thofe by Mr. Eddridge difplay a correct eye, and skilful hand.

A miniature portrait of the Rev. R. Young, by WJ Thomfon is painted in a manner which led us to regret that it is the only picture this artist has in the exhibition.

No. 207. Narciffus and Echo--I. M. W. Turner, R. A.

So melts the youth, and languishes away, His beauty withers, and his limbs decay; And none of thofe attractive charms remain To which the flighted Echo fu'd in vain.

She faw him in his prefent mifery, Whom, fpite of all her wrongs, the griev'd to

fee:

This is a very claffical, and capital picture; the Echo behind the tree is poetically conceived, and correctly drawn, and the whole fcene peculiarly appropriate to the tubject, though the foreground is flovenly, which feems to arife from either affectation or negligence, and we are forry to fee any traces of either one or the other in the work of an artist who poffeffes fo many fuperior requifites for ranking fo high in his profeffion. If a little more brilliancy had been given to the foreground, it would have brought out the tints in the middle distance, which are very fine indeed.

Whoever has feen many of the works of Pouffin, will inftantly recognize the manner, and, in fome degree, the scenery of that great mafter, who studied the ancient ftatutes and bafo-relievos with fo much idolatry that his colouring borders on the marble; and it has been fometimes faid, he peopled his landscapes with the beings of another world. However, as his fubjects were frequently taken from Ovid and other poets, it was perhaps more than justifiable to introduce ideal figures. The fame reafoning will apply to this picture, it we confider that the characters are of the poet's creation; but in Mr. Turner's View of Edinburgh, from Caulton-hill, No. 373, he might as well have attended a little to common nature, and furely it is of infinitely too brown a tint. This, confidering the great merit of the picture in other par ticulars, is to be regretted: the burt of light beyond the bridge is magnificent; the group in Highland dreffes are picturefque; and the cattle in the foreground are truly Scotch-they are neither bred, nor fed, nor fatted, in England. But, to return to the Echo-the colouring is too chafte and fober for the common eye, which is invariably attracted by tinfel and glare, the mere fuftian and bombast of the art.

.

It is curious to confider the different medium through which very fuperior artists have feen and reprefented nature; but for one that admires the fevere and modeft colouring of Rafaelle, there are ten who àre dazzled by the forcible and luxuriant tints of Rubens; but when our modern painters attempt to imitate the former, we have fometimes feen figures refembling ftatues; and in the place of the fplendid brilliancy of the Fleming, they give us the gaudy glitter of a modern tea-board.

To contraft the manner of any of the common people of the palette with Mr. Turner, would not afford a fair example:

but

but Mr. Loutherbourg is a giant in his art: of his glowing and spirited style we think with high relpect; but his pictures have fometimes a tunult that more than bor ders on the extravaganza. In No. 116, he has chofen a fcene, which gives him full fcope for indulging his favourite manner in its fullest extent. It is

An Avalanche or Ice-fall, in the Alps, near the Scheideck, in the Valley of Louterbrunnen. P. I. De Loutberbourg, R. A.

This is a fpirited, ftriking, and moft forcible pi&ure. It reprefents a torrent of now and ice rolling from the adjacent heights with fuch impetuofity as to destroy a bridge, on which were two men, one of whom is plunged, with the fragments of the arches, into the cataract, and the other is delineated in the act of endeavouring to efcape to the land, which exhibits every mark of devaftation: trees torn up by the violence of the tempeft, and peasants dif. playing every poffible mark of terror and difmay. When we fay every poffible mark, we mean to include the ftudied attitude and start of the heroes and heroines that firut and fret their hour upon the flage, in which thefe good people feem better verfed than one would expect from either their habits or infulated fituation; for they do not appear to be travellers but natives. This gives it rather a theatrical air, and by a natural coincidence leads the mind to an admirably conceived, and inimitably well executed, icene, painted for a playhoufe, rather than to what the children call right earnest tempest, in a mountainous country. From this and fome other circumitances, a worshipper of Rafaelle or Pouffin would fay, the picture is rather overcharged; be that as it may, if taken as a whole, it is fuch a picture as no other artist in this country could paint.

No. 150. A Summer Evening. P. I. De Loutberbourg, R. A.

The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd winds flowly o'er the lea.

Of the picturefque Elegy, from which the quotation informs us this picture is painted, Dr. Johnson truly fays" It abounds with images which find a mirror in every mind; and with fentiments to which every bolom returns an echo."The confequence of this univerfal admiration is, that the ftanzas with which the poem opens, are impreft on the memory of every one who fees the picture, and the lines which follow in the poem occur to every leader of thofe quoted in the Catalogue. Now, unluckily, there are scarcely

any two fcenes that can be imagined more oppofite to each other, than Mr. De Loutherbourg's red-hot landscape, and the following picture drawn by the poet The ploughman homeward plods his weary

way,

And leaves the world to darkness and to me. Now fades the glimmering landscape on the fight,

And all the air a folemn illness holds;
Save where the beetle wheels his droning
fight,

And drowly tinklings lull the diftant folds;
Save that from yonder ivy mantled tower,
The moping owl does to the moon complain.

The mouldings on the tower, in this twilight feene, are to highly coloured that they look like gilt picture-frames. The ploughmen of this country, we believe, ufually bring honte the horfee withe out the plough, which they leave in the field, u til they return to their labour on the following morning. On the whole, this picture would have past mußter much better without the infcription from Gray's Elegy, than it will with it.

No. 183. Boats carrying out Anchors and Cable, to Dutch Men of War, in 1665. I.M.W. Turner, R. A.

We were at firft at a lofs to conceive what could be Mr. Turner's motive for dating the performance of fo common a thing as carrying out anchors and cables,

150 years ago, when it occured to us that he

might poffibly not be very converfant with the naval architecture of the present day, and therefore dated fo far back upon the fame ground" that Toby Shandy recommended to Corporal Trim, that when he was telling a story in which giants were the principal performers, he should date his tory at an early period, to keep his giants out of the way of the critics."-Yet though it is rather dangerous to paint a fubject after Vandevelde, this is a very good picture.

The portrait of Mr. Fox, by Mr. I. R. Smith of King Street, we noticed in a former Retrospect, with the praise to which it was justly entitled. In this year's exhibition, there are fix by the fame artift, and they are all in a very fuperior style. No. 382. The Portrait of Sir W. Milner, Bart. M. P. for York,

Is of the fame fize with that of Mr. Fox, and bears as ftrong a refemblance to the criginal; and to point out a more charac teriftic likeness than that would not be an eafy tafk. Sir William's portrait has been engraved by Mr. Reynolds, the fame excellent artist that engraved Mr. Fox.

No. 424

No. 424. Portrait of S. Atharves, Efq. This portraiture does Mr. Smith very high honour: is is not a mere map of the countenance, but a most spirited and forcible reprefentation of the mind, delineated and coloured in a broad and mafterly ftyle: the whole beams with fimplicity and nature, and produces an effect that we do not recollect to have ever feen transferred in an equal degree to a small whole length. The thadow given to the face from the hat is peculiarly picturefque, and the background &c, is in perfect harmony with the rest of the picture, in which the dog is marked in a manner that would not have been furpaffed, if it had been equalled, by many artists, who, without ever attempting to draw the image of man, have devoted their whole lives to painting quadrupeds.

In the next picture Mr. Smith has quitted the path in which he has fo much deferved celebrity, and, in No. 442, given a delineation from Burn's very beautiful defcription of

The Cotter's Saturday Night. "But hark! a rap comes gently to the door; Jenny, wha kens the meaning of the fame, Tells how a neebor lad came o'er the moor

To do fome errands, and convoy her hame. The wily mother fees the confcious flame Sparkle in Jenny's ee, an' flush her cheek: Wi' heart-ftruck anxious care, enquires his name;

While Jenny haflins is afraid to speak; Weel pleas'd the mother hears it's nae wild worthless rake.

Wi' kindly welcome Jenny brings him ben, A trappan youth; he takes the mother's

eye;

Blythe Jenny fees the vifit's no ill tae'n ; The father cracks o' horfes, ploughs, and kye."

The poet has painted this fcene with moft interesting fimplicity, and the painter has transferred his ideas to the canvas, in a characteristic and attractive compofition, marked with truth and narrative. The figure of Jenny is modest and attractive, and beams with rural beauty, unalloyed by meretricious ornaments. The parents have that fober, prudent, and ferious caft, which marks a large portion of the peafantry of North-Britain; the young man has a modest consciousness, and the colouring of the whole is natural and pleafing.

No. 553. Mr. Swen and Family. The figures are well drawn and skilfully grouped: of the likeness we cannot judge, having never feen any of this family;

but a portait of any one that we knew, by Mr. Smith, has always been a ftrong refemblance.

No. 585. Dr. Hunter of York.

This is a moft refpectable looking portrait, and we believe the face is the mirror of the mind of the original, whofe medical talents need not be recorded in this page; they are recorded in a better place-the hearts of very many whom his profeffional attentions have raised from the bed of fick nefs. His literary reputation is founded on works that will long furvive the author; and his benevolence has been exerted on many occafions. The exertions that he made for the establishment of the Lunatic Afylum at York are the more honourable, as the objects relieved are not generally capable of expreffing, or even feeling, gratitude to their benefactors.

No. 587. T. Hartley, Efq. as the R. Hon. the Lord Mayor of York.

the undrefs of the office. A very fine head, painted, we believe, in

The uncommon abilities of Mifs Emma Smith we have had frequent occasion to mention, and regret that he has only two miniatures in this Exhibition ; but we lock forward to another year, in the hope that The will not be tardy in her purfuit of that fame and distinction in the arts, which he gave fuch early promife of becoming qualified to obtain.

No. 23. Henry III. replying to the Bishots, who, deputed by the Ecclefiaftical Order, bed remonfirated with him on his frequent Violations of the Privileges of his Subjects, and the uncano】 nical and forced Elections which were made to vacant Dignities. R. Weftall, R. A.

"It is true (replied the king) I have been somewhat faulty in this particular : I obtruded you, my Lord of Salisbury, upon your fee; I was obliged to employ botn entreaties and menaces, my Lord of Wir. chefter, to have you elected: my proceedings I confefs were very irregular, ny Lords of Salisbury and Carlile, when I raifed you from the loweft ftations to your forth to correct thefe abuses; and it will prefent dignities: I am determined hencealfo become you, in order to make a therough reformation, to refign your prefent benefices, and try to enter again in a more regular and canonical manner."-Hume, Vol. 2. Chap xii.

Of Mr. Weftall's tafte and talents, we have always thought very highly, and we think his manner is materially improved; he paints in a broader and better style than that which marked his early productions. The very animated fpeech which Hume

has

A picture of the Liboya Serpent feizing its prey was painted by Mr. James Ward, fent for exhibition to the Royal Academy, and rejected! To fhew that it was worthy of being admitted, Mr. Ward is now exhibiting it with fifty-nine other paintings (among which is a moft capital landfcape in the manner of Rubens) at No. 26, Newman-freet.-The Serpent &c. is a grand and terrific picture.

for the appearance of which all the friends of the late compofer, and the musical public in general, will think themselves obliged to Mr. Page's laudable zeal and induf. try.

No. 1. Of Love and Loyalty, a Mufical Olio; confifting of Original Songs, Duerts, Glees, &c. &c. Jung by the most celebrated Performers; compofed and now first published by James Hook, Efq. 35.

The fit number of this ufeful and pleafing work, contains "Little Sailor Joe," fung by Mafter Kelner; " If you love me as I love you," fung by Mrs. Second; and "The Kifs," a favourite glee. Each of thefe pieces is ftrongTy ftamped with the well-known merit of its author; and Mr. Hook, we truft, will feel this public acknowledgment of his undecaying talent in the fale of the work. War Anthem; "a Sound of Battle is in the Land;" camp fed by Jofeph Kemp, Organist of the Cathedral Church of Brifiol; dedicated to his Royal Highness the 'Duke of Cumberland. 6s. This Anthem, which is prefaced by an

addrefs of thanks fo the Duke of Cumber land for his approbation of the compofition, exhibits coni derable genius, a refpectable portion of fcience, and much knowledge of effect, The words are felected with judgment, and in feveral inftances feliciexpreffed, while the harmony and

modulation are calculated to greatly raile Mr. Kemp's reputation as a found and experienced musician.

The Duffield March and Quick Step; composed,
and dedicated to Captain Balguy and the other
Officers of the Duffield, Eaton, and Breadfall
United Volunteers, by I. C. Start.
Is. 6d.
We have peruled this little produ&ion
The ideas are in
with much pleasure.

many instances original, and the general tyle is martial and fpirited. With the fubject of the Quick Step, we are particularly pleated; as allo with the digreffion in the mirror of the original key. The whole is fkilfully adapted for the pianoforte, and will be found useful as an exercife for that inftrument.

Twelve Waltzes for the Grand Piano-forte, with an Accompaniment for a Flute or Viclin, Obli gato and a Violoncello; compofed and dedicated to Mifs Elizabeth De Lambe, of Mounts field Lodge, Suffex, by an Amateur, Scholar of Mr. Diettenhofer. 55.

Tiefe Walizes are written with an ease

and freedom, that not only befpeak much facility of fancy, but that allo exhibit a more intimate acquaintance with the fecrets of good compofition, than we generally find in the productions of amateurs; and Mr. Diettenhofer has great reafon to be proud of a pupil who can give the the public fuch proots of his own genius and his tutor's profeffional skill. Three Favourite Arietts, and a Duett, for two Voices, with an Accompaniment for the Pianoforte or Harp; compofed and injcribed to Mifs Richardfon, by Theodore Smith, Ffq. 35. Mr. Smith has produced in his present publication, fome very pleafing specimens of that talent we have to often acknowledged.

The

The melodies of thefe fongs are smooth, graceful and expreffive; and the duett is conftructed with that ingenuity and skill, which enfure a sweet and interefting effect. Six Ballads, compofed and infcribed to Mrs. Sheridan by Mrs. Bland. 55.

The perufal of this little collection of ballads has afforded us, much pleature. They are marked by an eafy flow of fancy, and, in fome inftances, a felicity of expreffion, not common to those who tep out of their own profeffional tract, in order to become compofers. The airs, "The ftreams of day forfook the fky," "Ah! he's dead, and do not hear;" and "To other shades my Delia flies;" would not difgrace the pens of fome who rank high in the lift of our mufical authors. No. 2 of Original Airs in various and familiar Styles for the Piano-forte; compofed by John and William Crotch.

2s. 6d.

We find in this collection, thirty-four - little airs; most of which are pleafing trifles, and fo fimple and eafy in their conftruction, as to form a good fequel to the number which has already appeared, and of which we fpoke in the commendatory terms it merited.

Suzette of Savoy, Conzonette Ala Villageoife, written by F. Bryan; compofed by Auguft. Voiut. 1s. 6d.

We admire the appropriate fimplicity of this ballad. Mr. Voiut, who we understand is a foreigner lately arrived in this country, has caught the plain natural English style, with an exactnefs that furprizes us; and has conveyed the fenfe of his author with an accuracy that would do credit to a native compofer.

The Thrufh. The words by Z. W. Vincent; the Mufic compofed with an Accompaniment for the Piano-forte, by John Banner.

IS.

This little ballad is by no means without merit ; nor is it wholly free from faults. The former, however, is fufficient to evince confiderable talent, while the latter are only to be charged to inexperience; aided, perhaps, by too great an avidity to publish.

Enquiry after Happiness ;" composed by I.
Tenail. IS.

This is an engaging little ballad. The melody, we are obliged in candour to fay, is not fo ftriking as we would wish; yet, we must allow that it is eafy, fmooth, and unaffected; and by no means unfuitable to the fubject of the words.

The British Volunteers, a Patriotic Glee and Chorus; fet to Mufic by I. Marfb, Efq. 1s. 6d. Mr. Marth has acquitted himself in, this laudable attempt, in a ftyle worthy the fubject he has adopted. The melody, is broad, bold, and fpirited; and the combinations ingenious and correct. Mr. Ruffell is printing Proposals for publishing by fubfcription; Twelve Voluntane's for the Organ. The Merits of which, we have no Doubt, will confer much Honour on the ingenious Author. The Compofitions are to appear immediately. Price to Subfcribers, 10s. 6d. to Nen-fubfcribers,

125.

Thofe of our musical readers who are fond of scientific information, found criticifm, and interefting anecdote, will be glad to hear that Dr. Bufby's claffical pen is now employed on a Hiftory of Mufic, from the earliest period of harmonical intelligence to the prefent time.

"An Act for repealing the feveral duties, under the management of the commiffioners for the affairs of taxes, and granting new duties in lieu thereof; for granting

new duties in certain cafes therein mentioned; for repealing the duties of excife on licences, and on carriages conftructed by coachmakers, and granting new duties thereon, under the management of the faid commiffioners for the affairs of taxes; and alfo new duties on perfons felling carriages by auction or on commiffion." 434 Geo. III. Cap. clxi. Paffed August 12, 1803.

Tis enacted, "that from and after the 5th of April, 1804, throughout England, Wales, and Berwick-uponMONTHLY MAG, No. 115.