dug Why, then, are the poor players" to be starved in body, and their admirers in yd Spirit Surely we ought either to rest from making money, or be allowed the site consolation of honestly, and rationally 38 spending it.

-il at What are we, then, to do in this emer-" agency? We might, indeed, give most enof tertaining accounts of new pieces which da never were contemplated, of revived plays 979 Which remain in unbroken slumber; or to we might shew the manager all he ought Buto do, and discuss the principles of his art: but in the first case we should lose our character for veracity, and in the second, we should be duly repressed as encroaching on the province of higher austathorities. We may nts will be, for fear anticipate what the Easter enchantments fis of the reader, who will, of course, witness bss them before the Magazine is publishSed; nor may we wait for them, for fear of the Printer's devil, who insists on receiving our humble contributions by the 19th at the latest, on account of the imle mense number of copies now required for the publisher a bad effect, but from a noble cause." Foreseeing, in some de1 gree, these difficulties, we announced our intention last month to discuss the point between the Licenser and the English

public!-But we are overstepping our province, which is purely critical. As

be expected from this antithesis of opinion in the principal characters, the interest is rather oratorical than dramatic; reason meets reason, prejudice is not feeling by opposed by prejudice feeling, or love by destiny. In the style, too, there is a strange intermixture of the stately and familiar; not qualifying, but opposing and setting off each other so that the very language, unless altered, would produce considerable danger. There is little of the truth of nature, little of the reality which makes the flesh creep and the blood tingle, though there are some striking situations, and many noble sentiments. On the whole, therefore, less than the insult; but the precedent is the injury of the sub-licenser's caprice was only the more alarming in proportion as the piece was less likely to stir men's bloods, or engage their affections.

At Drury Lane there has been absolutely no novelty this month, except the introduction of a pretty dance, called "Spanish Gallants, and the appearance of Mr. Kean as the Stranger, which he has twice performed for benefits. His outline of this fantastic part was not so striking as that of Kemble or Young but some little touches of feeling, where the author

has condescended to avail himself of the language of nature, redeemed it from utter dulness. Mrs. West was an inadequate representative of Mrs. Haller, and the other parts were poorly supported. Much censure has been lavished on the managers for the style in which this piece was decorated and dressed; but it is not usual or just to exercise this severity on occasional performances for benefits and besides, there was this propriety in the incongruous dresses, that they were not a whit more absurd or inconsistent than the sentiments and conduct attributed to their wearers.

At Covent Garden there has been nothing new, not even the revival of a play in the costume of its age. Mr. Croly's Comedy has continued to run, assisted partly, we expect, by the felicitous coincidence of some of its principal hits with the characteristics of a fashionable regiment recently exposed to the astonishment of the public. But Easter is coming -even while we write, the stage groans with glorious melo-drama ready for deliverance and the play-bills bend beneath the weight of names long as a procession or a suit in Chancery. Soon may the curtain rise and shew what Mr. Farley has done for us!

While the theatres have exhibited only the dull uniformity of success, Mr. Mathews has attracted much observation and more money by his rich exhibition of transatlantic manners. We scarcely thought he could have gathered so fair a harvest from the extensive field which he visited; for folly rarely grows romantic in a new country, and peculiarities of character have scarcely had time to spring up and to be rendered agreeable by association with amiable feelings and pleasant habits of life. He has, however, lightly skimmed the whole surface of the society, has caught all the finer shades which trembled over it, and has presented them freely, yet good-naturedly, to the public

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Society of British Artists.-This new society seems to have already established itself on a firm basis, so far as patronage and public attention are concerned. To secure its ultimate and permanent success, it need do nothing more than deserve it. On Tuesday the 13th inst. a grand dinner was given at the Rooms of the Society, in Suffolk-st. Pall Mall East; which was attended by the members and friends of the institution-several acknowledged patrons of Art and other distinguished characters being also present; and on Monday the 21st, the exhibition for the season opened to the VOL. XII. NO. XLI.

view. His entertainment has nearly as choice bits as any of his preceding exhibitions: the negro tragedy-the scene at the Boston Post-office-the dinner given to General Jackson-and the German Judge's charge to the Grand Jury, are among the chief. There is surely nothing in the whole performance to awaken unpleasant feelings among those who furnished its matter, and whose hospitality its author acknowledges, for they are both justly and gently treated. To know the peculiarities of a people is generally to like them better; and as America has great qualities, which will command esteem, it is well that we should become familiar with her foibles, which may conciliate affection while they provoke a smile.

Mr. Thelwall has delivered his course of Lectures on Shakspeare and the Drama to elegant audiences on which he has often produced a great impression. His manner is so entirely new, that at first it excited apprehensions inconsistent with pleasurable listening, but these were soon succeeded by admiration and sympathy. Instead of reading from a written book, he poured out the treasures of his memory and thought in rich and spontaneous succession; marking out the channel only where his thoughts should flow, but leaving them to burst forth as the spirit of the moment called them. The long familiarity of the lecturer with the subjects of which he treated, and the stores of observation which were upturned by the excitement of the time, secured him against failure, while his enthusiastic manner gave a real and palpable interest to his topics rarely attached to mere literary criticism. His remarks were interspersed with recitations appropriate to his subjects, which were delivered with great vigour and discrimination, and were relieved by many agreeable anecdotes of the actors of other times, and happy illustrations of their style.

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public. We exceedingly regret that the late period of the month at which this exhibition has been placed before us, as well as the press of other matters connected with the Arts at this busy season of the year, prevent us from devoting (as we should at any other season have readily done) the whole space that we can allot to this department of our work, to a general notice of the views of this Society, as well as a detailed account of the many very interesting works which it has now offered to public attention. With respect, however, to the first part of this intention,

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we the less regret not being able to fulfil it; since the general public press has already disseminated the views in question pretty extensively, and they must by this time be fully known to all who interest themselves in the prospects and the progress of modern art. We have also ourselves alluded to them once or twice before. Suffice it to say, therefore, at present, that the objects of the new "Society of British Artists" are exactly similar, both generally and in detail, to those of the Royal Academy itself--or, at all events, to what those ought to be: and the means by which those objects are to be pursued, are, so far as they at present extend, the same. We, therefore, proceed at once to offer a slight account of the first Exhibition of this Society: for on that, and on the public attention which it excites, will mainly depend (as it in a great degree ought) the ultimate success of the new undertaking. The range of apartments devoted to the annual exhibition of this Society, consists of five rooms, leading out of each other, and comprising a great room and a secondary one for the display of paintings in oil; one for the reception of sculpture and models; one for water-colour and other drawings, miniatures, &c.; and a fifth devoted to specimens of English engraving. It is in the principal apartment of this suite, that we find what strikes us as being chiefly worthy of notice and approbation; and we do not hesitate for a moment in directing our first attention to the productions of Mr. Haydon's pencil. To glance our eye over a catalogue of a general exhibition of the works of British Artists, and find it rest no less than eight times on the name of Mr. Haydon, is no less novel to us than it is agreeable-to us in particular, who have so often hinted that this is what was expected of the artist in question, and that in the absence of this, nothing else could procure for him, because nothing else could prove that he deserves, that high rank in public estimation which he need only seek, to obtain. A great painter can no more prove himself to be such by a single work, than a great poet can by a single stanza, or an orator by a single speech. It is by continuous and often repeated efforts, that high talent not only evinces, but (so to speak) creates itself for the faculty to produce a thing is very different indeed from the power; and the former may exist without the latter, though the latter cannot exist without the former. Mr. Haydon always possessed the faculty of being a great painter: let him employ that faculty as he may and ought-and as he now seems to have made up his mind to do-and he will speedily possess the power, and cou

sequently the fame, which ever should accompany that faculty. Hitherto, his friends (and his enemies too) have been in the habit of exclaiming-What a painter Haydon might be! Let him now entitle the one, and compel the other, to sayWhat a painter Haydon is!

The principal work which this artist has contributed to the present exhibition, is one, to the progress of which we alluded a short time ago, and from the subject of which we anticipated much-129," Silenus, intoxicated and moral, reproving (lecturing, it should have been) Bacchus and Ariadne on their lazy and irregular lives." There is infinite matter in this subject; and matter, to the treatment of which, if we are not greatly mistaken, Mr. Haydon's natural powers, both of mind and of hand, are better adapted than those to which he has hitherto almost exclusively applied them. In the work before us, if we are in some respects disappointed at the result of this application, our expectations are more than answered. in others. The figure of Silenus, propped up against the trunk of a great tree, and dealing out his "wise saws" to the halflaughing, half-listening Ariadne, who is crouching in conscious beauty at his feet, is full of a rich, and at the same time a refined and recondite humour; and the figure of Ariadne herself, almost in the attitude of the crouching Venus, is admirably conceived, and brilliantly executed : the rest of the figures are quite secondary to these two-and that of Bacchus is undoubtedly too much so,as well in regard to its execution, as its place and part in the composition, But it is impossible, with justice to the rest of the works claiming our attention here, to enter into that detailed criticism of Mr. Haydon's picture which its merits, as well as its defects, seem to call for; we will therefore add, generally, that, as a whole, it is by no means unworthy of his hand, and will unquestionably extend his reputation, by exhibiting his powers in a new and popular light. We can only say, that the colouring of this picture combines not a little of that richness, brilliancy, and solidity, which, in their united state, we have hitherto seen confined almost exclusively to the productions of the old masters. The only other work of Mr. Haydon's, that we can at prescut notice, (and indeed, the other six are chiefly studies,) is a Portrait, 204. About this, too, in addition to a fine verisimilitude of character, there is a tone of colouring, in portraits especially, of which the moderns, with the exception of Sir Joshua, seem to have had no conception, as a matter of practice. You shall hear them all admiring, to ec

stasy, the deep richness of Titian, and the "illustrious obscurity" of Rembrandt, and then paint their pictures as if such people had never been heard of.-The next picture we must notice, is one from the pencil of Mr. Martin, and combining much of that super-natural, and a little of that un, natural character, which are usually so conspicuous in this extraordinary artist's works. It represents "The Seventh Plague of Egypt," from the 9th chapter of Exodus; and the point of time is that at which Moses is stretching forth his hand. to heaven, and calling down the "hail, and fire mingled with hail," upon that devoted land. Undoubtedly the general effect of this work is painful, without combining, at the same time, that sentiment of awe which should accompany and reconcile that effect; but the various details of it are executed with a power of pencil no less conspicuous than original. The architectural effect of the Egyptian buildings in this picture is exceedingly good; and the various figures introduced into it, are much less faulty than this artist's usually are. It may be well, for the sake of contrast, to turn from this singular work, to one which strikes us as possessing a very remarkable degree of merit indeed; and we point it out the rather as it bears a name not at present conspicuously known to the public. We allude to 109,"Cattle and Figures," by J. Burnet. There can be no doubt that the style of this picture is modelled on that of Cuyp, and indeed it bears a striking general resemblance to some of his works; but there is as little doubt that it includes features of much originality, and is a production evincing very considerable talent, and that of a very valuable description. It is, in fact, executed with a deep feeling for the truth of natural appearances, and a very exact notion of the manner in which imitations of those appearances may be brought home to the imagination, and made to act upon it with the effect of reality. Our general feeling of this picture is, that, with reference to its power of producing the impressions which it is intended to produce, it is inferior to no one work in the gallery." The Widow," by H. Richter, 84, is another very charming work, full of taste, delicacy, and spirit. The unconscious satisfaction with which the young beauty is hearing, but not listening to, the admiring comments of her milliner, and the unrestrained gaiety of the maid at seeing her mistress once more herself, after having been so long disguised in "weeds," are delightfully expressed, and without any undue exaggeration. The little accessories of the scene,too, particularly the miniature of a young ofli

cer, peeping out of the half-open reticule on the floor-are very eloquent. The look of the milliner, however, is too piercing and intent, and it neither accords nor contrasts with the object of her attention, -We are reluctantly compelled to defer the rest of our notices of this exhibition till next month. But we regret this the less, because part of the novelty of plan belonging to the new Society, is that of keeping its rooms open during a longer, period than has hitherto been done by other societies of a similar nature, We perhaps give a more expressive proof of our regard for the merits of various other works in this exhibition, by determining to take a deliberate view of them, than if we paid them a more prompt and precipitate homage.

Mr. W. B. Cooke's Exhibition of Ancient and Modern Drawings, &c.-Mr. Cooke's annual display of objects in the above classes of Fine Art has just opened; and we are disposed to think it the best he has hitherto presented to the public, chiefly, on account of its great riches in drawings and sketches by the old painters. This is a class of work which must always be re-, garded as one of extreme interest, on account of its permitting us to approach more nearly to the first conceptions of the, artist, than in any of his finished and elaborate productions we can. As a matter of mere study, we conceive (in opposition to the proverb) that a great artist's first thoughts are best; and an off-hand drawing from his pen or pencil are sure to supply us with these: for a drawing cannot be materially altered; and in fact, the drawings of the old masters (unlike the more finished and substantive productions of the modern water-colour school) were never executed with any view but that of their serving as a sort of note or memorandum, either to refresh the memory of the artist himself, or to fix the fugitive, thoughts and images of the moment. it were possible to collect a complete set,or chronological series of all the drawings that any one great master ever executed-Raphael, for instance-from the first rude produce of his unsteady hand and undecided mind, to the most refined, offspring of his latest thoughts and his most practised pencil-we should have a school of study, not to be procured in any other manner or from any other source whatever, and in practical value and effect not to be paralleled. In this point of view, imperfect and inefficient as it necessarily is, this exhibition is not without value; and as a source of amusement to the mere, amateur, it is highly interesting.

If

If it were necessary to particularize any of the above works, we should name, 211,

"A Sketch of an Old Woman," by Rem brandt-exceedingly slight, but of great and singular merit: 228, A Drawing, in body colours, a Female Figure, by Parmegiano; and 229, one in pen and ink, by the same artist both admirable the first for a rich dignity, and the second, for a a fine blending together of grandeur and grace: 244, A highly spirited Cruci fixion," by Rubens: 248, An “ Entomb ment of Christ," by Raphael, consisting of merely a few waving lines, but every one of which is the line of beauty," and forming together a kind of visionary scene, full of a certain mysterious grace. In short, without being permitted by our space to proceed further in detail, we must be content to mention, that here are numerous other sketches, by most of the distinguished old masters, many of which are worthy of a particular examination. Besides the drawings of the old masters, and intermediate between them and those of the living ones, are a few by English artists of the last age. The principal of these are three very singular and effective pieces by Gainsborough; they seem to be executed on glass, and are shewn at a distance, and by an artificial

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light; and the impression produced by them is extremely good. The subjects represented are two moonlight landscapes, and one morning scene; and all three are executed with that strong and vivid feeling for natural appearances, which was Gainsborough's best characteristic, next to his unaffected mode of delineating those ap pearances. The remaining portion of this collection, and that which will certainly be the most popular portion, consists of drawings, by living artists, and by others lately deceased, but belonging strictly to the modern English School. Of these, pleasing and various as they are, we have left ourselves but little space to speaks in detail. We cannot, however, pass over Sir Thomas Lawrence's delightful ** Heads of Children,” 26, and his lovely portrait of A Young Lady of Rank," B; a most clever and spirited portrait of “ A Gentleman," by Wilkie,119; two exquisite mistwrapped scenes, by Turner, 155 and 164; two of Westall's elegant inventions, with nothing of nature about them, but with something almost as good, 14 and 46 and finally, for our space is exhausted, “A Chief of German Banditti," &c. aby Dighton, 52.

Cambridge, March 26.-The Chancelblor's gold medals for the two best proficients in classical learning among the commencing Bachelors of Arts, were on Saturday last adjudged to Messrs. Frederic Malkin and Wm, Barham, both of Trinity College.

tions independent of the action of the magnet, and that the appearances were owing to a composition of forces. The form of the last experiment was inverted, by passing two copper wires through two holes, three inches apart, in the bottom of a glass basin; the basin was then filled with mercury, which stood about the tenth of an inch above Upon making of communication through this arrangement, with a powerful "voltaic circuit, the mercury was immediately seen in violent agitation; its surface became elevated into a small cone above each of the wires; waves flowed off in all directions from these cones, and the only point of rest was apparently where they met in the centre of the mercury, between the two wires. On holding the pole of a powerful magnet at a considerable distance above one of the cones, its apex was diminished and its base extended. At a smaller distance, the surface of the mercury became plane, and rotation slowly began round the wire. As the magnet approached, the rotation became more rapid; and when it was about half an inch above the mercury, a great depression of it was observed above the wire, and a vortex which reached almost to the surface of the wire. Sir H. D. thinks that these