we may ask our author if Britain has ever received any surplus revenue from her Indian possessions ? Has it not, on the contrary, been a standing complaint of the directors, that, knowing their Indian revenues might increase, some mode of expending them in India was invariably fallen upon by the resident government; so that though it was expected, when these distant dominions were acquired, that they would furnish large annual remittances of treasure to the Directors in Europe; and though this expectation instantly raised, and to a great amount, the value of India stock, yet not one shilling of this surplus treasure has ever yet been received. The revenues, though they have greatly increased, have been swallowed up by the increasing expenses by which they have been invariably followed, and a large debt has been besides accumulated in India, which in 1798 amounted to 5,33,68,683 sicca rupees, equal to L. 6,671,085 Sterling, and which in 1816 was raised to 23,15,86,634 sicca rupees, or L.29,000,000 Sterling, and by the late wars was still farther raised to between 27 or 28 crore of sicca rupees, equal to about L. 35,000,000 Sterling, its amount, according to the last accounts. To these facts, and to past experience, Mr. Prinsep opposes expectations. The money spent in the late wars, and the addition to the Indian debt have greatly improved, according to his view of the matter, the value of our Indian farm, which, since peace has been established, our expenses have been reduced, and great additions made to our territorial revenues, will now begin to yield the long-looked-for surplus. All this is, no doubt, possible. But the data on which Mr. Prinsep founds his conclusions, appear extremely doubtful, and they are, besides, at variance with all former experience of Indian affairs.

It is not, then, we apprehend, in any surplus revenue which we can ever expect from our Indian possessions, that their utility consists. They open a wide field for European adventure, and provide many honourable and profitable occupations for a considerable portion of our countrymen, who could not be employed at home. India is an outlet to the better class of our population. America, Canada, or other unsettled countries, afford an asylum to those who emigrate in quest of a humble competence; but to India resort those more ambitious spirits who leave their homes in pursuit of fortune. It is a splendid lottery, in which the higher classes largely adventure; among them all the richest prizes are divided; and it is in this form that the surplus revenues of India are received, and that they benefit the country, forming, as they do, a clear addition to the national stock.

ART. IV.-Illustrations of the Novels and Tales entitled, Waverley, Guy Mannering, The Antiquary, Rob Roy, the Black Dwarf, Old Mortality, the Heart of Mid Lothian, the Bride of Lammermoor, and a Legend of Montrose. Engraved after Original Designs of William Allan. By Heath, Warren, Engleheart, Romney, Meyer, Lizars, &c. Edinburgh. Constable & Co.

As the fine arts have recently become objects of very general interest in Scotland, and as the work before us, by advancing a just and powerful claim on our attention, as we hope we shall be able to show, presents us with an opportunity we have not previously enjoyed, we propose to offer a slight sketch of their history in this country, which may serve as a companion or supplement to our article on their progress in England, in the preceding number of our journal. We confess we think we have some information to communicate on the subject that is worthy of being recorded; but, lest any one should censure the nationality of such an undertaking, we may assure him, that, unfortunately, we feel it quite enough punished by the exposure of poverty which it compels us to make; and if by some we are considered unnecessarily minute on certain topics, we have to apologize for ourselves, that, as the statements respecting them, by the writers on the arts in the sister kingdom, are generally scanty and frequently erroneous, we conceive it to be our duty to record what we happen to have had it in our power to acquire on the subject.

George Jamesone, born at Aberdeen in 1586, is the first painter mentioned in the annals of Scottish art. Visiting the continent, he resided sometime at Antwerp, and had the advantage of studying in the school of Rubens, at the time when Vandyke was his disciple. On his return to his native country, he was employed in painting portraits both in oil and miniature, and occasionally history and landscape. His works, though little known out of Scotland, are numerous in the mansions of the Scottish nobility; but the greatest collection of them is at Taymouth, the seat of the Earl of Breadalbane, whose ancestor, Sir Colin Campbell of Glenorchy, had been his chief and earliest patron. The style of Jamesone is soft and delicate, with great clearness and brilliancy of colour. died in 1644, in easy circumstances, although the remuneration he received for his works was very moderate, as, from a memorandum preserved by Walpole, it appears that he received only L.20 Scots, or L.1, 13s. 4d. Sterling, for each of his heads. Jamesone had

He

many pupils, but none of them attained respectability, except, according to Walpole, M. Wright, of whom we know nothing. Jamesone has received the appellation of the Scotch Vandyke, and his

portrait, painted by himself, is in the Florentine gallery of Paint

ers.

From the death of Jamesone till the arrival of Sir John Medina in Scotland, about 1701, no painter worthy of notice is mentioned. Medina was son of a captain in the Spanish service, but born at Brussels. His style was formed on that of Rubens; and he was an excellent colourist. He was much employed by the nobility, and was knighted by the Duke of Queensberry, when Lord HighCommissioner. He died at Edinburgh in 1711 *.

William Aikman, a disciple of Sir John Medina, became a respectable artist. He travelled to Italy, visited Turkey, and, on his return to Scotland, met with great encouragement; he was afterwards induced to settle in London, where he died in 1731.

John Alexander, a great-grandson of Jamesone, was a portraitpainter of some note in Edinburgh. He visited Italy, and etched some plates after Raffaelle. In 1721 he painted a staircase at Gordon Castle; and the subject he chose for it was the Rape of Proserpine.

Alexander Jamesone, a descendant of the painter, appears to have been an engraver at Edinburgh; but nothing is known of his history, except that in 1728 he engraved a family group of his ancestor with his wife and son.

About this time flourished Richard Cooper, an engraver, of whose talents we are inclined to think favourably; but, in doing so, we must make a liberal allowance for the low state of the arts in Scotland, and the nature of the employment to which he was obliged to descend, that of book-cuts, and such miscellaneous subjects as usually fall to the lot of a provincial engraver. Cooper had a son, also an engraver, who executed several large acquatinta plates, views in Rome, from his own designs, which are correctly delineated. We believe he had the honour to be drawing master to her late Majesty.

Sir Robert Strange, a native of Orkney, who afterwards became one of the greatest engravers that has yet appeared, was originally a disciple of Cooper. He had been destined for the Scottish bar, but exhibiting great predilection and talent for the art, was persuaded by Cooper to devote himself to it as a profession. He had settled in London, where he died in 1792; we have therefore classed him with the English artists.

Allan Ramsay, son of the Scottish poet of that name, was born

* He had a grandson of the same name, who died at Edinburgh, about the year .1795, at a very advanced age. He professed portrait-painting, but the little employment he had consisted principally in repairing old pictures. The portraits of the kings of Scotland, in the gallery of Holyroodhouse, that had been much injured by the Highlanders in the rebellion of 1745, when the city of Edinburgh was occupied by the Pretender's army, were repaired by him.

about the year 1709. He was probably a disciple of Aikman, and afterwards visited Italy. On his return he was much employed in portrait-painting in Edinburgh, but finally settled in London, where, being appointed portrait-painter to the king, he continued till his death, which happened in the year 1784. Ramsay had considerable abilities as an artist; he was a correct designer, and his likenesses were reckoned faithful representations of the originals; but his colouring and management of light and shadow are not entitled to any commendation.

Alexander Runciman, born about the year 1736, was an artist of great versatility of talent, and devoted himself chiefly to history painting. He was originally a coach-painter; but having acquir ed the patronage of Sir John Clerk of Pennycuick, a gentleman of great taste in the fine arts, he was maintained for some time in Italy, during his residence in which he painted a picture of "Ulysses surprizing Nausicea at Play with her Maids." This is said to have "united the defects and manner of Julio Romano to a tone and "breadth of colour resembling Tintoretto." On his return he was employed by his patron in painting a series of pictures for the hall of Pennycuik House, the subjects taken from the poems of Ossian. In this work he displays great power of imagination and an agreeable style of colouring, but his drawing is deficient in correctness; and his colouring, in most other specimens that we have seen, is crude and disagreeable. We cannot but consider Runciman a man of great talent; but in judging of him by his works, a considerable allowance must be made for the scanty encouragement of the fine arts in Scotland at the time in which he lived. He painted some landscapes, in which he seems to have imitated the style of Domenichino; and he etched several of his own historical compositions, which are executed in a spirited and masterly manner. He was also employed as scene-painter at the Edinburgh theatre; and his productions, in this capacity, display great variety of accomplishment as an artist, and are executed with correctness of drawing and intelligence of perspective. He died in 1785 *.

John Runciman, a younger brother of the preceding artist, in his youth gave promise of great excellence. He went early to Rome, but, being of a delicate constitution, died in a short time, in consequence of close application to his studies. We are not aware that any of his pictures, executed in Italy, ever reached this country; but those painted before he left Scotland shew a fine

*The altar-piece of the Episcopal chapel in the Cowgate at Edinburgh, is by his hand, and is a very respectable production. We have understood that it was executed by him a little time before his death; and that, contemplating the probable nearness of that event, he conditioned, as remuneration for his labour, that a certain annuity should be paid his mother.

natural feeling for the art, and an excellent tone of colour, although very defective in point of composition, expression, and drawing.

Gavin Hamilton holds a distinguished rank amongst the artists of Scotland. He was descended from an ancient Scottish family, and was born early in the eighteenth century. Having received a liberal education, he went to Rome, where he continued to reside till his death. Although he possessed little imagination or originality of thought, and shewed the most perfect disregard of the principles of colouring and chiaroscuro, his works always command our respect, by the learning and taste they display in the distribution of his groupes, the arrangement of his draperies, and the propriety of the costume. He died about the year 1775.

very

Seton, a portrait-painter of considerable note, flourished about the year 1780. His works evince great taste and feeling, and are in a much higher style of art than might be looked for from the general state of painting at that time in Scotland. To correctness of drawing, he added a fine manner of disposing his figures; and without violent contrast of light and shadow, he gave great relief and fine effect of chiaroscuro, which prove his knowledge of the principles of the art, and his acquaintance with the works of the best masters. David Martin for a long series of years had the principal employment in the Scottish metropolis as a portrait painter. He was born in the year 1730, and was originally a disciple of Ramsay. His works possess no very striking excellencies, except the fidelity of his resemblances. He drew with tolerable correctness, but in the composition, colouring, effect, and handling of his pictures, he is deficient. He also executed several plates in various manners, particularly a whole length portrait of the late Lord Mansfield, of the folio size, from a picture by himself. Considerable doubt has been expressed as to this engraving being really the work of Martin. The following we believe to be the true state of the case. ing to publish a portrait from the picture, he engaged a French artist to execute it under his own eye, who carried on the work for a considerable time, but who, being a person of dissipated habits, was probably deprived of his employment, when the plate was considerably advanced. Martin then began to work upon it himself, and after two years finished it with his own hand. An examination of the plate confirms the accuracy of our information on this point. The lines of all the principal masses have been laid by an experienced hand, and these have been harmonized, and the more delicate tints thrown in with good effect, but without the clearness of cutting which distinguish the rest. Martin also executed a few portraits in mezzotinto; amongst others that of David Hume, and that of Rousseau after Ramsay, and he etched a pair of landscapes after G. Poussin.

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