these painted symbols in my dreams, creaking on their rusty hinges, as they were wont to do some seventy or eighty years ago. If we proceed thus, Mr. Hardcastle, you and your correspondents will be likened, perchance, to old William Lily the astrologer, that learned expounder of signs,-only that he looked higher for his theme than you or I, or the worthy contributor who signs himself J. B. P. It would be idle waste of paper, pen, and ink, to ask,Did you know that strange mortal, John Julius Ibbetson ? for you know every painter, I should guess, as the Yankeys have it, from the time of old Jonathan Richardson, inclusive, to the close of the last exhibition. May you live a thousand years, and like another Wandering Jew, keep record of future centuries of art. What I may say touching the general history of Ibbetson, or Rathbone either, then, is not for your information, venerable Sir, but for the amusement of your gossip-loving readers-such of them, at least, as may have a stomach, as that Nestor of art, Mr. N*******e would say, for my plain cookery of such odd fish. Know then, gentle readers of Mr. Somerset House, that Ibbetson and Rathbone were two noted second-rate landscape painters, who flourished in the joyous days of the thoughtless George Morland, who formed the apex of that triumvirate of eccentricity, tom-foolery, and talent. Ibbetson was superior to Rathbone, and Master George much cleverer than both rolled into one. These frolicsome blades would paint together, drink together, smoke together, and when royally "how come you so?" strip and fight together, for pure love. They were inseparables, until separated by the ring, when they had beaten each other into a sort of half-sober reflection, suflicient to shake hands and take t'other magnum bonum. Their excesses got them fame, and as I said before, encreased their patrons. Reasonable enough with those who love all that is outre, such would reason thus, when they did reason:-He that could paint like this when drunk, what could he not do when sober! But as Bonnel Thornton truly observed, "The way to some men's patronage is not to deserve it." From London to Ambleside is nothing on the map; in the imagination it is still less; from Ambleside to Troutbeck is only a step. In this beautiful region of the picturesque-Ambleside-Ibbetson in his latter days took up his quarters. Once he sojourned in the little village of Troutbeck, and there he painted a sign. The little inn in this sequestered spot, so well known to artists, and so much noted by tourists, was kept by Thomas Burkett. These were days for living, and O! what nights for supping!-A roasted hare, a trout, pastry, good ale, and healthful homespun sheets, for eighteen pence; but these days and nights are clean worn out of date. How Ibbetson contrived it mine authority knoweth not, but that he did get scored upon the slate beneath the clock, to the tune of some four or five-and-twenty pounds, to the grief of mine host and his homely hostess, is as certain a fact as paying your shilling and kissing the book could make it. added the farrier. What was to be done? The village held conclave. "He is a genus," said the exciseman," and a mortal kind heart," "Dang it! I regard him too," said the landlord. "He brings custom to the house," said the landlady, and he will pay some time." "Ah! that he wool, I'll be bound," rejoined mine host, "and we must wait." "I'll paint you a sign," said Julius Ibbetson, and he kept his word like a Caesar, and there I saw it, and that with mine own two eyes, as the market folks say, about seven years ago. The Sign.-Two heads, very well painted, the one a slender, pale-faced, rather genteel subject, the other a jolly, ruby-faced, farmer-looking wight; beneath which was the following, contributed by the joint stock company of wit of the village of Troutbeck:-- "Thou mortal man, that liv'st by bread, What makes thy face to look so red? Thou silly fop, that looks so pale, 'Tis red with Tommy Burkett's ale." "Some men are better known than trusted," says the adage. Not so with John Julius Ibbetson.-Another story, to wit: He rented a house with a rural orchard and useful garden. I think there was a paddock too. It was just such a bargain as would suit a landscape painter who was philosopher enough not to covet a drawing-room. His landlord got no rent. So, said Mr. Otley, "paint me a picture annually, to the value thereof.", Agreed," said the painter. But that thief of time, old Procrastination, would call on Ibbetson, and sit in his chimney-nook, and they would smoke together from month to month, and when December came, The devil himself," said Ibbetson, "cannot hold his pencil with his fingers cold. I'll do it in the spring." To make an end of my story, the worthy landlord at length obtained somewhere about the average of three pictures for four year's rent, and both parties, saith my informant, were content. Ibbetson was a clever artist, and painted with a free touch; his palette was simple, and his colouring bright and fresh. I speak of his best pictures. He was expeditious, generally worked "from hand to mouth," and was much employed by the inferior class of picture-dealers, who like himself were sots, and pot companions with him, Morland, and their aforenamed cronie, Rathbone. Some of the specimens of his best day are now in the possession of Mr. Edward Wyatt, carver to his Majesty, for whose father they were painted. The elder Mr. Wyatt was one of the most liberal encouragers of the eccentric artist. GEORGE MORLAND. I have said before of this genius, that his grovelling associates would swear that all art centred in their idol George. This erroneous opinion, however, was not confined to the mercenary connoisseurs who surrounded his easel. About the year 1790, at the memorable epoch for the English historical painters, when the Shakspeare gallery was in its zenith of attraction, Mr. W*******n, a great commercialist, was so possessed with this notion, that he engaged Morland to paint a Shakspeare Gallery, which was to be exhibited in Ireland. George touched a good round sum, by way of ernest, made his convives drunk with the cash, and laughed at the egregious gullibility of his patron. I saw his sketch from As You Like It, the only one he designed for his employer, and it was, as you may suppose, far below criticism. RICHARD EARLOM. One of the tip-top class of mezzotintoists. What a delightful set of plates are his fish, flesh, and fowl from Rubens and Snyders! His flowers too from Van Huysum very touch of painting! His Liber Veritatis, from Claude, how masterly! ous hand. He also worked for Hudson, the master of The finest bit extant, of this art perhaps, is the background to the Enraged Elephant. It is a master-piece of texture, touch, and high finishing. ZOFFANY. M'Ardell, was a publisher as well as engraver, and lived in Henrietta-street, Covent Garden. He was a jolly comEarlom's print of Colonel Mordaunt's Cock Match at panion at the artists' clubs, and well known in the Green Luchnow, from the famed picture by Zoffany, is also Room. Quin and he were sworn brothers. Mac some-worthy a notice in your page, good sir, because, as a wit times took up the pallette. He painted Quin in his hath said, "it is a peg to hang a tale upon," touching the favourite character of Falstaff, a whole length, with sword composition. and buckler, from which there is a print engraved by himself. The subject was originally painted in the East, by commission for Governor Hastings, and shipped for England. The ship was wrecked and the picture was lost. Zoffany, or Zoffanii, which you will, fortunately took his passage in another vessel. He arrived safe, and heard, with the phi He also engraved a head of Garrick, which was painted at Paris, by Liotard, that eccentric, so well known among the cognoscenti for his humourous designs, and by the world at large, for his own strange humour in walking Lon-losophy of a stoic, that his labour was gone to the gallery don streets with a yard of beard, and attired as a "turban'd Turk." RICHARD PURCELL, A mezzotinto engraver, was one of the old school of wags. He was an angler and fresh water fisherman, well skilled in the drawing of the finny tribe. Not only with the net, but with the three chalks, black, white, and red. Dick would scrape away hard and fasting with the graving tool the six days, keep it up all night on Saturday, and early on Sunday morning, might be seen surrounded by a crowd of astonished gazers, sketching pike, carp, mullet, and tench, on shop shutters, with the spirit and truth of a boosing Brawer, or a muddling Morland. of that ancient collector, but sorry connoisseur, old Neptune, to whom, I verily believe, such ware is of no more actual value, consideration, or use, than the Bourgeois gallery to the comfortable fraternity at Dulwich. Zoffany, luckily, had got his original sketches and studies on board his own captain. A painter should live and die in such company. He set to work again, made out a second picture, with all the grouping, portraits of Hindoos and Gentoos, Rajahs and Nabobs, of all casts and colours, that choice spirit Jack Mordaunt, and his game cocks into the bargain, and behold another composition, a fac-simile of the first. The painter kept his own council, as the story goes, and Governor Hastings was never let into the secret. In the picture of the Tiger Hunt, also engraved by Earlom, on one of the elephants, Zoffany has represented Purcell engraved from Sir Joshua. So did Houston, himself in the houder, with a musket: it was he who shot James Watson, J. Dixon, Finlayson, J. Pott, John Dean, the tiger. I relate this, con amore, Mr. Hardcastle, as it Charles Corbutt, Wilson, Hudson, Spilsbury, Faber, and is a feather in the cap of a painter. Wherefore should not I think so did Humphrey, Greenwood, Spooner, Blackyour men of genius do every thing well! All the fine moor, Elizabeth Judkins, and Edward Fisher. Most of fellows in the East, the military eleves of 66 JOHN COMthese, with the exception of the lady, were characters, in PANY," swore the painter was a d-d good shot. our sense of the word, Mr. Editor, of whom your readers Doctor Johnson, during his mortal career, never felt so may perchance learn something more in a future contri-proudly elate as when in the chace, on a huge horse of bution. Meanwhile the best engraved portrait of our worthy old friend, Paul Sandby, is a mezzotinto by this said Fisher, from a picture painted from the heart, by his (Paul's) friend, Francis Cotes, the prince of Crayon painters. Sandby, then in his prime, is seated at an open window, with a sheet of paper upon the back of a book, sketching the adjacent landscape. He is a manly, good looking, gentlemanly figure, with a countenance beaming spirit and intelligence; with a lace frill and ruffles, and his hair touched off a la mode 1763. No portrait painter, not even Reynolds himself, had, for a time, so great a run as Cotes. He was followed from London to Bath, and back again, with the ebb and flow of fashion. He never could have done what he did but for poor Peter Toms, the last of the ingenious and useful fraternity of drapery painters, who worked alternately for him, and other fashionable limners. Toms, was the most fastidious settler of drapery upon record: he would waste as it might seem, one, two, even three hours in arranging the folds of a robe; but, when he had satisfied his eye, he would take his palette, or crayons, and dash away with such spirit and correctness, with such delectable freedom, as would make the sons of St. Luke elevate the frowning brow of study, and smile benignant on the handy labours of their ingenious hireling. Thrale's, on the Brighton downs, and spanking away, he heard a sportsman exclaim, "Zounds! Thrale, your learned friend dashes on as boldly as the most illiterate fellow in the field!" Postscript. I cannot endure to behold a fellow of genius out-done in any thing. Z. TO MAN. PROUD, Scornful man! thy soaring wing And yet the vilest, meanest thing Lost in the smallest speck we see. Who worlds created, form'd the worm: See not and hear not-but adore; BOWRING. Just published in demy 8vo. price 128.-royal Svo. 188.-and ditto with proofs on India paper, 248. Dedicated by permission to the Right Hon. the Earl of Chichester. THE HISTORY and ANTIQUITIES of the TOWN and PORT of HASTINGS. Illustrated with 20 Engravings from original Drawings, by W. G. Moss, Draughtsman to His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge. Published by W. G. Moss, Kennington; West, Bookseller, Hastinga; Simpkin and Marshall, Stationers Court, Ludgate-street, and sold by all Booksellers. This day is published, with a frontispiece, in 12mo. price 68, a popular and highly interesting work, entitled PICTURESQUE TOUR OF THE GANGES AND JUMNA. THIS day is published, by R. ACKERMANN, and may be had of all the Booksellers in the United Kingdom, in E'eph. THE CONCHOLOGIST'S COMPANION; comprising 4to. Part II. price 14s. (to be continued Monthly, and completed in the instincts and constructions of Testaceous Animals; with a general sketch of those extraordinary productions which connect the Vegetable and Animal Kingdoms. Printed for G. and W. B. Whittaker, Ave Maria Lane, of whom may be had, by the same author, a second edition of "THE WONDERS of the VEGETABLE KINGDOM DISPLAYED." 12mo. price 68. and a CATECHISM OF CONCHOLOGY, price 9d. IMPORTANT WORKS, Printed for Harding, Triphook, and Lepard, Finsbury-square. 1. In 1 very large octavo volume, to be divided into Two at the Purchaser's Option, for which purpose Two Sets of Title-pages will be delivered. THE LIBRARY COMPANION; or, the Young Man's Guide and the Old Man's Comfort in the Choice of a Library. In this Work the Author has endeavoured to furnish his Countrymen with a Manual towards the Acquisition of useful and valuable, as well as rare and curious Works in the several Departments of Divinity, History, Biography, Voyages and Travels, the Belles Letters, Poetry, and the English Drama. Prices of the more valuable and uncommon Works are noticed for the convenience of Purchasers; there is also a Synoptical Table of Contents, and a General Index. A few Copies are struck off on large Paper, to arrange with the other Works of the Author. 2. Dedicated, by Permission to His Majesty. ORIGINAL LETTERS, illustrative of ENGLISH HIS TORY. Including numerous Royal Letters, from Autographs in the British Museum, and one or two other Collections. With Notes and Illustrations. BY HENRY ELLIS, F. R. S. SEC. S. A. Keeper of the Manuscripts in the British Museum. This Work contains Portraits of King Henry the Eighth and bis Jester, Will Somers, from an Illumination in that Monarch's own Psalter, still preserved among the Royal Manuscripts in the British Museum; a Fac-simile of the Plan drawn by Lord Burghley's own Hand, for the Arrangement of the Trial of Mary Queen of Scots ; and a fac-simile of the Seal and Signature to the Carte-blanche which Prince Charles sent to the Parliament to save his Father's Life; also from Autographs in the British Museum. 3. In 2 vols. 8vo, with a Fac-simile of the rare whole length Portrait of Henry, by Gaultier, 1. 48. boards. MEMOIRS of the COURT of HENRY the GREAT. No Epoch in the History of Europe is so pregnant with events of consequence to subsequent Relations of Society, as the reigns of Elizabeth of England and of Henry the Great of France, contemporaneous in Period and Rivals in the Splendour and Genius of their respective Courts. Miss Aikin's elegant volumes have introduced us to a close Acquaintance with the Policy and Intrigues of the great Officers who directed the Councils of Elizabeth, and those of the Court of France during the same Period, are recorded only in the Works of Sully, Perefixe, and in the lighter Productions which develope the Memoires Secrets during the Reign of Henry the Great, and which form the Basis of the present History of his Reign. "That the present work is ably written, and exhibits a spirited narrative of facts, will be manifest from the extracts which follow. The account of the massacre of St. Bartholomew is the fullest in our language, and so curious, that we have judged it proper to transfer the entire article for its own sake, as well as to exhibit the talents of the Author."-Monthly Magazine. Six Parts), A PICTURESQUE TOUR OF THE RIVERS GANGES AND JUMNA, in India: containing bighly finished and coloured Engravings of the most remarkable Objects and magnificent Scenery on those Rivers, from drawings taken on the spot; with Illustrations Historical and Descriptive, by Lieut-Col. FORREST.Each Part will contain 4 Views, besides which, several Vignettes and a Map will be given; and the vol. when complete, will form a companion to ACKERMANN'S " Tours of the Rivers Rhine and Seine." THE SOUTH SEA ISLANDS: being a Description of the Manners, Customs, &c. of their Inhabitants; and containing, among the rest, an interesting Account of the SANDWICH ISLANDERS, 2 vols. with 23 coloured Engravings, price 12s. LETTERS BETWEEN AMELIA IN LONDON AND HER MOTHER IN THE COUNTRY, written by the late WILLIAM COMBE, Esq. embellished with a Frontispiece, and printed uniformly with the Miniature TOURS OF DR. SYNTAX, by the same Author, one volume, price 58. PARABLES, Moral and Instructive, particularly calculated for the Youth of both Sexes, half-bound and lettered, price 6s. Just Published, No. 1, Price 10s. 6d. of the CARICATURES of GILLRAY; with Historical and Po litical Illustrations, and Compendious Biographical Anecdotes and Notices, To expatiate upon the originality of style, the fertility of ima gination, the fidelity of character, the force of expression, or the endless variety displayed in the unique designs of his Artist, would be needless; for the political works of Gillray are almost as generally known, not only in England, but on the Continent, and other foreign parts, as the events that gave them birth. Even the bu morous designs of his prolific pencil, though characteristic of English manners, contain so much of "graphic point," that like the humour of his great predecessor Hogarth, they speak a language intelligible to the whole world-hence, these are equally, with his political subjects, sought by the foreign collector. By the English people then, a republication from the choicest plates, designed by their ingenious countryman, of sufficient dinensions to convey the entire spirit of the originals, cannot, we presume, be received with indifference. Many of the plates of G-LLRAY are become scarce, some are worn out or destroyed, and the expence of making even a selection from his best designs, amounts to a sum, which but a small proportion of the admirers of his talent and humour could conveniently spare. The work proposed, will comprise enough of the POLITICAL, to form a connecting chain of history, during the administration of the illustrious PITT, and his able compeers: and of the HUMOUROUS, sufficient to prove that to genius, every epoch affords enough of absurdity, inconsistency, and folly, to excite the laughter, pity, or contempt of mankind. This work will contain all the best designs of this celebrated Caricaturist; and will be published in Monthly Parts, each part to contain Nine Coloured Plates, printed on Imperial Quarto, with descriptive letter-press, price 10s, 6d, each Part: and will, it is expected, be completed in Nine or Ten Parts-London: Published by John Miller, 5, New Bridge-street; William Blackwood, Edinburgh; and Sold by all Booksellers. The Publishers respectfully inform the Subscribers, that, from unexpected circumstances, the present Number has been delayed. To secure a punctual delivery of the succeeding Numbers, Part 11. will not appear until September 1, after which, each part will be regularly published on the first of every succeeding month. And Literary Museum: OR, WEEKLY MISCELLANY OF FINE ARTS, ANTIQUITIES, AND LITERARY CHIT CHAT. No. XLVII.] By Ephraim Hardcastle. A stamped Edition for Country Circulation, postage free, Price Tenpence. Rural Architecture: or, a Series of Designs for Ornamental Cottages. By P. F. ROBINSON, Architect. London: Messrs. Carpenter and Son. IT has been remarked, that in proportion as the love of the PICTURESQUE has encreased, the objects which constitute its most engaging features have decreased. What has been lost in pictorial effect, however, we must admit, in justice to the present improved state of domestic architecture, has been amply compensated by elegance and convenience. There is a characteristic fitness according with some buildings at the same time, which prejudice or perhaps even taste looks for, and which cannot be dispensed with as long as we derive pleasure from the indulgence of such notions. That form has a powerful charm over the sensible mind, is a a truth as old as the first efforts of architecture; and || as that noble science improved, so has the charm encreased. That age, then, can have little feeling for art,|| indeed, that can endure to behold the destruction of every vestige of the ancient style of building, whether of the gothic cathedral, or the pictorial manor-house or farm, without a sentiment of regret; for many of the best and most agreeable associations are united with these remnants of the ingenuity of the ages that are gone. It is true that many inconveniences are removed at the expence of the picturesque. The painter delights in deep ruts, hollow trees. and houses hoary with age. | The farmer, on the contrary, finds the superior convenience of the turnpike road, his advantage in growing timber, and encreased comfort in the modern dwelling. The author of this work regrets with regard to designs for ornamental cottages, that "in the most beautiful parts of this country, the scenery is disfigured by the most impotent attempts of the workman, unaided by the pencil of the artist; and that, even among the English and Scotch lakes, the square, spruce, brick house and tiled roof obtrudes itself at every turn, and carries back the ideas of the wanderer to the metropolis and its environs ;" and adds, “ cottage architecture has so material an effect among the features of a country, and occupies so conspicuous a place in the picture, that it is well to consider what forms are most pleasing and least obtrusive. The landscape draughtsman complains with great reason that the gabled roof and ornamental chimney, the mullioned window and thatched penthouse are daily giving place to the Italian VOL. II. [SIXPENCE. form and crude verandah, features incompatible with the humble and retired residence of the cottager." With a view to restore a style peculiar perhaps to this country, Mr. Robinson has addressed this volume to the public. Many of the designs which it contains have been erected, and the author observes, that "his attempt has been to unite economy with elegance, from a persuasion that effect may be produced even with the rudest materials, without increasing the expendi ture.' We accord with the author in his sentiments upon this subject, applauding every thing in architecture that is addressed to the approbation of the painter. In saying this, we do not set up the painter as the director of the architect; far from this, for it is to him alone that the painter is to look for examples in that art which is to adorn his picture. It is a curious fact, that in those ages when the art had the greatest claims to the admiration of the painter in this country at least, that there were no professors of his art to benefit by the superior taste of the builder; and that in the present age, when topographical painting is pursued with that ardour and superior excellence which it had never attained in any age or country, that scarcely any structure has been raised which could be selected as an object for pictorial representation. Hence, the architectural works that have been published of late, will become an invaluable legacy to future generations of painters, who, in personifying the scenery of the ages past, must have recourse to these works, as the far greater part of the structures themselves will have been destroyed either by time, or by that rage for pulling down such monuments of ancient art, which has prevailed in latter times, and which is still the order of the day, with too many projectors and modern improvers. We here point to the ecclesiastical style of building, with reference to the domnestic architecture of olden times. A few years hence, scarcely a specimen will be left for the study of future topographical painters; for the modern farm house, the barn, the stable, and all the surrounding buildings, however better constructed for the purposes intended, will never by age or accident, become picturesque: convenience, with the least possible expense, being the first and last consideration with the employer and the employed. This work on rural architecture, then, is principally addressed to persons of fortune and superior mental culture. To such, who having a demesne, which they || would render delightful to the eye of taste, will sacrifice LONDON, AUGUST 28, 1824. something to that superior sentiment, which is wrapped in the charm of the picturesque. pendants and ornamental barge boards. The leanto is supported by rude uprights of oak, placed on stone plinths. having branches in short lengths nailed against them; creepers are trained to the posts." The first elements of the style of the English ornamental cottage, were given, we believe, by Mr. Thomas Malton, the author of the celebrated work on perspec- that by these ingenious methods of imitation, the most We give this description from the book, to show tive. Certain architects, and many improperly so denominated, have attempted treatises, with designs all the agreeable characteristics of age, may be erected rural and pictorial structure may be copied, and with and plans of the cottage orné, since his time; the far greater part of which are too contemptible to deserve with cheapness and dispatch. Upon a newly enclosed the name of art. Mongrel structures, devoid of charac-estate, then, the tasteful possessor may now delight himter, fitness, or any single quality, to spare their designers from even a portion of the disgrace of having spread far and wide such examples of ignorance and corrupt taste. self in creating as it were a scene possessing all the to select the rural imagery for a picture or a poem. amenities which might arrest the painter and the poet The volume contains elevations, ground plans, and perspective views of the various buildings which pro perly constitute the leading character of an old English estate; namely, the gamekeeper's cottage, the bailiff's cottage, the farm-house, the gate-cottage, the parsonage, the boat-house and fishing cottage, alms houses, a Swiss farm house, &c. &c., the whole of which furthe chimneys, porches, casements, and other parts are nish practical specimens of these structures, in which The work published by Mr. Ackermann, of ornamental Rural Architecture, from the designs and plans by Mr. J. B. Papworth, rescued the profession from the universal censure which followed these aberrations from letigimate art. In this work, in many of the examples, the principles of taste were developed, as united with the domestic arrangements of the class of buildings proposed, many of which have been adopted, wherein convenience, elegance, and comfort have been emi-designed with characteristic fitness and true pictorial nently combined, without the sacrifice of one of the genuine traits of the picturesque. Many of the designs in this work, indeed, might well be designated Rural Villas, a term which, derived from the structures themselves, might be said to originate with Mr. Papworth, || Tales of a Traveller. By GEOFFREY CRAYON, Gent. Lonand consequently belong peculiarly to the present age. taste. REVIEWS. don: Murray. 2 vols. 8vo. Mr. Robinson has taken somewhat of a new ground, WHY does Mr. Irving continue to write "Geoffrey or at least, he has confined his designs more particu| Crayon, Gent." in the title pages of his books?-It is larly to the old English village style. His subjects are a species of incognito which keeps nothing unknown, truly fitting to the object proposed-they are in the and at this time of day savours largely of affectation. pure sense of the word, elucidations of Rural Architec-But that is not the only quarrel we shall have to pick ture, in almost every example practicable, and efficient to all the purposes assigned to each. We may add, that we should feel gratification in seeing many of his designs adopted; and if we were rich in territory, our villages and farms should certainly owe additional interest to his picturesque structures. The designs for this work printed from stone, are agreeable specimens of that new style of art. Indeed some of the subjects are so well composed, and drawn with so much taste, that we should suppose they were picturesque sketches from old buildings, rather than new structures to create a love for the picturesque. We know not the extent of Mr. Robinson's graphic powers, but we cannot help suspecting that the tasteful and very characteristic back grounds and landscape accessoires, owe something to the pencil of Mr. Harding, whose skilful execution on stone we have long admired. "Plate I.-A very picturesque structure, and No. 2, of a similar character, are designed for a gate lodge, has been erected. It consists of an entrance porch, a parlour, kitchen, out-house, and cellar, with three rooms above. It was built of brick, roughcasted, and coloured; with stone quoins, and dressings to the windows and doorways. The external timbers are painted in imitation of oak, and the roof is thatched with reed. The gables are enriched with with Mr. Irving. Why has he not written something a great deal superior to the general character of these volumes? With occasional excellence they are nevertheless greatly beneath all their predecessors. They are for the most part heavy, longwinded, and uninteresting. Mr. Irving is manifestly going down hill. We speak it advisedly-that "The Tales of a Traveller" will not add to his reputation. The Quarterly may praise him, because it praises all Mr. Murray's books: the Edinburgh will do the same, because Mr Irving is an American; that is, not an Englishman. But as to the praise of any other respectable literary journal we very much question whether it will be given. For ourselves, we never expected much from them. Mr. Irving is a person of no originality. He invents nothing. All his merit is in style. This has become mannerism, and lost its charm. His sentiment is full of sameness, his descriptions are quite fade, and the humour which once delighted us, palls by repetition. We are speaking both positively and comparatively. The present volumes are below their brethren, and yet they have some merit; but their merit is precisely of the same sort which belongs to their predeces sors. |