Elder, and Co.

IN Friendship's Offering for this year we find several prose contributions of a class worthy of ranking with the best periodical literature of the day. Among papers deserving of distinction, the tale of the "Wizard Guest," by the clever editor, Mr. Harrison, we consider remarkable for its liveliness and talent. Leitch Ritchie has written a tale in his

best style, called the Great Great Grandfather, which, by the way, bears the

same title with a series of contribu

tions which appeared some months ago in our Magazine, and gave so much delight to our readers. The Place of the Pious, by St. John, is beautifully done, it carries a strong concentrative interest; the scenes descriptive of the Catanian eruption of Etna bear all the earnestness of true resemblance we expect from the pen of one who has seen the spot described. The Two Lighthouses, though in places a little tortuous and confused, is on the whole powerfully written. Torcello, in Mr. Croly's style, has fewer of Mr. Croly's faults than we have of late seen in his annual fictions; the scene of the French corvette engaging the Venetian batteries is a very good one. For the second time, Miss Agnes Strickland has taken one of our portraits of celebrated women as the subject of an historical tale. Last year her tale was founded on the memoir of Queen Louise of Lorraine, and this year on that of Charlotte de Montmorenci; to blend fiction with real history, so as to violate neither character nor truth, and yet fling the lively prismatic light of imagination on reality, is, we assert, the work of genius united with judgment. Whether this point has been effected, our readers are fully enabled to decide, as they have before them in a former number the portrait and memoir of Charlotte de Montmorenci *; and in the present †, Miss Agnes Strickland's

* See this Portrait and Memoir in Dec., 1836. This is deferred until Jauuary, 1838.

Friendship's Offering for this year.

lishments in Friendship's Offering this half-finished portraits of two charming year; among them we perceive the ugly contributors of our own, the Hon. Miss Caroline and the Hon. Miss Henrietta Beauclerk. The portrait of Miss Louisa Sheridan, very highly finished, and, as a work of art, most beautifully finished, is in the same volume. We can hardly pretend to say whether it is a good like

There are the usual number of embel

ness or not.

the most beautiful embellishments which The Forget-me-not displays this year have adorned its pages. English artists are unrivalled in the working of these delicate steel plates, of which Ackermann's annual produces some of the best specimens. The head, called Sevillana, which forms the frontispiece to the present volume, is an instance of this assertion, the publication of such an engraving is an epoch in the arts, and must prove a powerful refresher and We stimulus to artists who look at it. cannot praise Thomson too highly for the work, fine in touch and bold in general effect; but our admiration is wholly confined to the head; we do not complain of the unfinished state of bust and drapery, that belongs to the peculiar style of the drawing, but we blame

the taste that copied the distorted scratches of the arm; it ought to have been copied no further than the shoulder, as the arm looks broken. Sir Thomas certainly left it accidentally, but it is a false veneration to copy faults. If a white paper frame be cut out so as to exclude this ragged arm, our fair friends will see how much this exquisite head is improved; it is a first-rate drawing lesson, and as such we recommend it. We find a plate of great merit from the pencil of Prout, engraved by Carter, the Church of Santo Paolo ; the effect of perspective is almost magical. The best group is from the pencil of a lady; it represents a pretty girl under the hands of a phrenologist; her aspect is very meek, which is the more to be commended, since our worthy contributor, Dr. Shelton Mackenzie, assures us that her lover is finding much destructiveness and combativeness in her composition; the askance of the maid at the skull on the table is admirably depicted. Mrs. Scyffarth is taking a high place among artists. The plate of the next degree of merit is likewise engraved from the design of a lady, Mrs. M'Ian; this is a little injured by the peculiar costume, the hoop petticoat being an ungraceful garb for a reclining figure, otherwise the engraving and drawing of Coralie are both excellent. Mr. Stocks handles the burin better than the pencil; his lady in the flower-garden would be a giantess if she were to rise from the kneeling posture. Jenkins must banish the contortions of affectation from his ladies' faces before we can admire his productions; let him look abroad and sketch at least a dozen handsome faces from life, or he will for ever fasten on himself the fetters of very ugly mannerisms; this is the more to be regretted, as he seems to meet with great encouragement. The Christening Party, beautifully worked by Greatbach, is a little out of drawing in the principal figure; but the baby is a perfect little beauty. Earl Warwick's Seal Ring is better engraved than grouped, it wants a central interest, which certainly does not belong to the petit monstre with the dog.

We have bestowed too close a survey on the plates, to have much to say of the literature; and truth to tell, as a whole, it is not worthy of the embellish

ments. The poetry is spiritless and lifeless, below the usual grade of annual verses; though our American favourites, Mrs. Sigourney and Miss Gould, are among the contributors; but whether they suppose they must write verses to annual pattern we know not, but their productions are nearly as flat and insipid as the rest. Captain C. Campbell has some pretty sonnets, and Mary Howitt a well-meaning poem on the factory children; but when we have mentioned these, the whole merit of the poetry of the volume is summed up. Had we read the American Indians, by Mrs. Sigourney, previous to Bryant's poems on the same subject, we should have admired it in the place of deeming it a skilful imitation. As to the poem called the Widow's Song, by Mr. T. K. Harvey, whatever be its poetical worth, it has placed two annuals in the situation of the two kings of Brentford smelling at one nosegay, for it adorns the pages both of the Forget-me-not and the Friendship's Offering.

The binding is of puce leather, very brilliant in gold ornament, and durable in quality.

Finden's Tableaux of National Character, Beauty, and Costume, 1838. Edited by Mary Russell Mitford. Tilt.

FINDEN'S Tableaux is an annual of magnificent dimensions, quite a portfolio of itself. The plan is an excellent one; the groups, principally of females, are meant to illustrate the peculiar state of beauty in various countries. Some of the designs are most elegant and characteristic. Among these we must mention with deserved admiration Mrs. Scyffarth's beautiful group called Scotland; this lady has the happy talent of depicting the loveliest female faces with the most charming expression; can any thing be more natural and engaging than the face and attitude of her Agnes? Andalusia, a scene in the Spanish Arena, by Browne, is good and characteristic. America from Perring, Florence from Stephanoff, are well toned fine engravings. The Sale of the Circassians by Unwins is poetically told, and though the girls want beauty, still the very style of their persons is national; it is a

truly interesting picture. In the other designs by Stephanoff we do not see merit; Venice is a contorted and affected drawing, and what the nondescript creature in the boat may be, whether human or animal, we have not yet made out. We think our artists are as yet somewhat embarrassed by the large space they have to cover, and greater force and sharp drawing in the foreground would do none of these plates any harm. While our artists nearly approach perfection in portraits and landscapes that illustrate the quarto annuals, the groups are as yet capable of much improvement.

She

Miss Mitford is the editress of the letter-press, and we think that an admired writer is more at home in her own woods and downs than fettered and trammelled in annual literature; we think from her preface that the same notion has crossed her own mind. claims the indulgence that has been extended to her own charming productions, only, unfortunately, there is no trace of her own talent in its pages. The letter-press is precisely in the common-place taste of the smaller annuals, and we do feel a little impatient at seeing these beautiful vellum pages spread over with this species of useless literature, when so much genuine information might have been imparted relative to the customs and usages of the fair sex in the various countries which the plates portray. We do not seek to depress or destroy these beautiful but we wish to see a supublications; perior tone imparted to their literature; there is no reason why it should not be so, excepting that most of their editors have got on a very bad road, which is acknowledged by every one, and yet each follows the other in the same unprofitable track.

The exterior of the book is truly splendid and durable, it is of rich green morocco, well tooled and gilt.

The Child's Fairy Library.-Thomas. LOVERS of the free fantastic pencil, no less than children, will be charmed by the possession of this little book. We cannot, however, conscientiously

recommend it for the perusal of children. Fairy tales we would not withhold from young people, but they must be naively and harmlessly told, and chosen with tact and judgment; the present collection consists of French fairy tales written in the coquettish and ironical style of the models furnished by the witty Antoine Count Hamilton. Children do not relish coquetry, nor do they understand irony; adults will be well pleased with the clever sharp style and the spirited way in which the original is rendered by the translator, who has done every thing for the book that the materials would admit; but he cannot make a proper one for children from such materials.

THE Penny Almanac is the best extant for that price. It contains the lists of the House of Lords and the new House of Commons, besides as much information as we have seen sold for halfa-crown. This is a general almanac for the British empire.

The Threepenny companion is a Scotch almanac, thrice as large as the other; it embraces every local information relative to Scotland, and is a capital little work of the kind.

The Comic Almanac for 1838 is more richly embellished than any preceding number; and, independently of its utility as an almanac, must be highly attractive to the lovers of illustrated fun.

BRIGHTON, October 28.-A little after 3 o'clock, three royal carriages and four unexpectedly made their appearance on the cliffs. In the first was Her Majesty and H. R. H. the Duchess of Kent; in the second, the Countess of Mulgrave and Lady Mary Stopford; and in the third, Lady Gardener, Baroness Lehzen, and Miss Paget. Her Majesty's carriage was preceded by outriders in scarlet liveries, and Colonel Cavendish rode beside it on horseback. The royal cortége proceeded to the extremity of the town westward round the Old Steine; and notwithstanding the strong gale which was blowing at the time, repeated the drive along the cliffs. Her Majesty appeared to take great pleasure in her ride, for we never saw her look better, or in higher spirits. The royal dinner party by invitation comprised Sir Horace Seymour, Lady Clinton, Lord and Lady Martham, Lord and Lady John Russell, Hon. W. Cooper, Hon. Colonel Armstrong, and the Earl of Surrey.

October 29. Her Majesty and the Duchess of Kent, and most of the royal suite and household, attended divine worship in the Palace Chapel. The Countess of Mulgrave, Lady Mary Stopford, Lord Melbourne, Lord Lilford, and Colonel Armstrong were in the royal pew with Her Majesty and her illustrious mother. The Rev. J. O. M. Anderson read prayers, and the Rev. Dr. Dodd assisted at the Communion. A very excellent Sermon was preached by the Rev. Mr. Anderson from St. Luke xv. 10. The choir sang Boyce's service in A, Jomelli's Responses, and an anthem by Mr. Gutteridge, the Organist. Notwithstanding the unsettled state of the weather, the Queen, accompanied by the

Countess of Mulgrave, drove out in the afternoon, followed by Baroness Lehzen and Miss Dillon in a second carriage; the royal ride was shortened by the approaching rain.

October 30.-Her Majesty the Queen rode out this afternoon in a pony phaeton, although the weather was boisterous. Her Majesty this morning received a deputation from the Chain Pier company, consisting of Captain Brown, R. N., Mr. L. D. Smith and Mr. Thomas West, and was most graciously pleased to make the following reply:-"I thank you for this loyal address. I much admire the work which has been projected and finished by your energy and perseverance. I am sensible of the difficulties which have attended its completion, and of the advantages which it has conferred upon this town and the adjacent country." The royal dinner party consisted of the Duchess of Kent, Baroness Lehzen, Lady Mary Stopford, Lady Gardener, Miss Dillon, Miss Paget, Lord Melbourne, Lord Lilford, Colonel Cavendish, Sir George Quentin, Hon. A. Murray, Hon. W. Cooper, and Colonel Armstrong. In the evening, a selection of sacred music was performed on the organ by Mr. Gutteridge before her Majesty, in the music room.

October 31.-The Queen honoured Sir David Wilkie with another sitting, and at a quarter before three drove out in a pony phaeton along the cliffs, accompanied by Countess Mulgrave, and Lady Gardener and Miss Dillon in another carriage; Colonel Cavendish rode by the side of the royal carriage on horseback. The royal party returned at four o'clock. Her Majesty entertained at dinner the following distinguished personages, ex

clusive of the royal suite, Lord Melbourne, Lord and Lady Ashley, Hon. W. Cooper, Lady Frances Cooper, Colonel Jodrell, Hon. C. A. Murray, and Admiral Otway. Dr. Clarke arrived at the Palace in the evening.

November 1.--The Queen sat again this morning to Mr. George Hayter. The weather being too wet and boisterous, Her Majesty remained at home. H. R. H. the Duchess of Kent, accompanied by Lady Mary Stopford, took a short turn up the Marine Parade, but were soon compelled to return, on account of the bad weather. At twelve p. m., Sir J. Clarke returned to town. The court were making preparations for departing on the following Saturday.

November 2.-The weather being very boisterous, Her Majesty and H. R. H. the Duchess of Kent remained in the Palace the whole day. The calls at the Palace this morning included General Sir J. Wetherall, Hon. Captain Paulet, Lieut.-Colonel Sir F. Smith and Lady Smith, Lieut.-Colonel Edward Angelo, Earl and Countess Beauchamp, Captain and Mrs. Pechell, Hon. Mrs. Stapleton, Lieut.-Colonel Edward Wildman, and Marquis and Marchioness of Thomond. In addition to the royal suite, the dinner party then were the Earl of Chichester, Lady and Miss Foley, Earl of Surrey, Earl and Countess Beauchamp, Lady John Russell, and Colonel Wildman.

The Queen was graciously pleased to give 507. towards the erection of a new church in the Montpelier Road, to be called Christ Church.

November 3.-The Queen, accompanied by the Countess of Mulgrave, rode out in her pony phaeton in the afternoon, on the cliffs, attended by the Earl of Surrey and Colonel Cavendish on horseback. H. R. H. the Duchess of Kent, accompanied by Lady Mary Stopford, drove out at two o'clock; her Royal Highness alighted at the toll-gate, and walked for some time on the Pier. The royal dinner party comprised by invitation, Lord and Lady Ashley, Lady John Russell, Colonel Davis, Colonel Harcourt, Admiral Sir Byam Martin, Mr. and Mrs. Vernon Smith, and the Hon. Mrs. Campbell.

November 4.-Her Majesty and the Duchess of Kent, attended by the Countess of Mulgrave, arrived in an

open carriage and four, escorted by a party of lancers, at the New Palace in St. James's Park, at three o'clock in the afternoon, from the Pavilion at Brighton. As Her Majesty was driving through the gate from the Birdcage Walk to Buckingham Palace, Capt. John Goode, of 118, Oxford-street, stationed himself at the gate, and made use of the most disgusting and revolting language, thrusting his fists almost into the royal carriage as Her Majesty passed, and immediately made off as quick as possible; and upon Her Majesty's alighting from her carriage, the Queen herself gave Colonel Cavendish orders for the person in question to be taken into custody; and by the activity of Inspector Pierce, and Sherlock and Harris, of the police, the prisoner was taken the same evening at his lodgings, and safely lodged in Tothillfields prison. On his way there the prisoner broke all the windows of the hackney coach; but the truth is, that he is afflicted with a mental disorder.

November 5.-Her Majesty did not leave the palace this day. Their Royal Highnesses the Duke of Sussex, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Prince George, Princesses Augusta and Mary of Cambridge, the Duchess of Gloucester, and the Princess Sophia, visited Her Majesty. Her Majesty gave an audience to the Earl of Albemarle. In the evening a small party, including Lord Melbourne, Hon. W. Cooper, and Hon. C. Murray, had the honour of dining with Her Majesty.

November 6.-Monday. The Queen gave audience to the Earl of Albemarle, the Earl of Minto, and Lord Hill. Her Majesty had a dinner party at the New Palace in St. James's Park. Among the company were their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, Duchess of Gloucester, Prince George and the Princess Augusta of Cambridge, the Marchioness of Lansdowne, Lord Melbourne, Lord Duncannon, Lord John Russell, Lord Palmerston, the Chancellor of the Excequer, Countess of Mulgrave, the Lord Steward, the Master of Horse, the Treasurer of the Household, Lord Lilford, the Baroness Lehzen, Mr. Robert Otley, Miss Spring Rice, the Hon. Colonel Cavendish, and Colonel Wemyss.