acres; but now it has not quite four | thoughts! to cast a gloom, where all hundred, Kensington Gardens being around is sunshine? No! There is a separated from it. The Serpentine time to be merry, as well as to be sad. River, as it is called, which adorns the Happiness is a costly thing, and where place, is as straight as if drawn with a it is not purchased at the expense of rule and compasses: great is the num- others, when it is not indulged in by ber of persons who have therein met with leaving duties unperformed, why, let it a watery grave. There will always be be enjoyed. Had I, at this moment, a found, among bathers and skaters, many sunnier glow at my disposal, than that of a daring, and others of an inconsider- which is now beaming in the bosoms ate disposition, so that accidents are sure around me, I would fling it at once into to take place. The Humane Society has their hearts. Oh that all could be abida receiving house on the bank of the ingly happy, and animated with the deriver, with every convenience for the sire of making others happy also! restoration, if life be not extinct, of such sufferers as are taken there; and men provided with life preservers, may always be seen walking by the sides of the river to prevent, as far as possible, the loss of life. How few of the names of those who are in the habit of driving round Hyde Park in carriages, or promenading there daily, are to be found among the supporters of the Humane Society ! The cloistered abbots and canons of Westminster Abbey, who owned the park in the time of Henry VIII. would hardly be able, could they revisit the place, to identify their old property. In the reign of Charles I., Hyde Park, with its then capital stock of timber trees and deer, was sold by the Parliament for little more than seventeen thousand pounds. In the reign of Charles II., it was again resumed by the crown. I have walked westward, and here is quite another scene! I have spread my handkerchief on the summit of the low wall of Kensington Gardens, and am sitting thereon at my ease. The band, from the neighbouring barrack, is playing most admirably, while a goodly group of two or three thousand people are assembled around. Rank, fashion, and beauty in every direction meet the eye, and the "concord of sweet sounds" and the stormy clangour of martial music alternately regale the ear. I have left the gardens of Kensington, and am again in Hyde Park, sitting on a bench under the spreading branches of an elm. Yesterday I was in Regent's Park. At present, the trees there are but young, but every year they are adding to the beauty of the walks and drives. The noble ranges of buildings around, the commodious drives, together with the neighbouring attractions of the Diorama, the Colosseum, and the Zoological Gardens, cannot fail to make the park popular. This noble elm, under which I am seated, reminds me of some of the glorious biblical descriptions that are given of trees. How striking is the description of that prophetic tree, given in the fourth chapter of Daniel. "I saw, and behold a tree in the midst of the earth, and the height thereof was great. The tree grew, and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth: the leaves thereof were fair, and the fruit thereof much, and in it was meat for all: the beasts of the field had shadow under it, and the fowls of the heaven dwelt in the boughs thereof, and all flesh was fed of it. I saw in the visions of my head upon my bed, and, behold, a watcher and an holy one came down from heaven; he cried aloud, and said thus, Hew down the tree, and cut off his branches, shake off his leaves, and scatter his fruit." On the opposite side the wall in Hyde The parks, as I have already obPark, with only a dry ditch between us, served, as breathing places to the inare ranged in rows, ladies on noble pal-habitants, are indeed important appenfreys, and gentlemen mounted on fiery, yet tractable steeds, that snort and paw the ground. The trees are in their freshest verdure, the sun is in the sky, gay dresses, sparkling eyes, smiling faces, and happy hearts abound. And yet happy as they now may be, perhaps-perhaps what! Will it become me, in a moment like this, to encourage shadowy dages to the metropolis; but it must be admitted, that in a city park, even under the most favourable circumstances, there is a want of that privacy and seclusion, which constitutes one of the great charms of rural scenery. Here, in Hyde Park, you have ample space, goodly trees, resting places, pure air, and an unbroken view of the glorious canopy of the skies; but you are either in a throng, or within the view of others continually, and solitude and abstraction cannot be enjoyed, as it may be in country places. Give me the mountain and the wide-spread moor, A buoyant spirit and a grateful heart, however, will make even the desert to blossom as the rose, so that the parks of London are not likely to be undervalued. DRAWING AMONG THE CHINESE. WHEN any allusion is made to the art of drawing as understood and practised by the Chinese, it is at once met by the remark, that they "know nothing of perspective." Screens and lacquered boxes might be easily cited to show that this remark is well founded; but as the men who are occupied in drawing the outlines of the landscapes, which glitter upon such performances, never consult nature, but servilely copy some hackneyed design, their handy works are not fair specimens of what the natives can do now, or have done, in times when their minds were less shackled by the ascendency of old custom. The writer has seen landscapes wherein the artist evinced that he was not a stranger to some general notions of linear perspective, though in all likelihood he might be utterly unable to develope his ideas with any regard to axioms and first principles. Nature herself, or to speak more practically, necessity teaches a man perspective. If he sits down, indeed, in his museum or study, and etches out a view from memory or imagination, it will not be difficult to make the cottage as high as the spire of the country church, or to draw a man taller than either of them. It will be easy to render an object as visible behind the house as if it stood in front of it. But if one takes his station, and stedfastly beholds a piece of natural scenery, till he has determined with himself the breadth of his picture, and then commences by sketching the nearest objects for a foreground, after any size he pleases; he will find himself compelled to diminish the magnitude of the remoter objects in order to get room for them upon his paper. A draught from nature, destitute of perspective truth, is almost an impossibility in practice, as any one may prove to himself by experiment. A quarto volume on agriculture, in the possession of the writer, contains a variety of views, which not only give a very excellent idea of the country with its rural inhabitants, but shows very clearly, that the artist was no stranger to the general laws of linear perspective. Necessity, the inventrix of many useful arts, was his tutoress. These views were taken from designs, which were executed before the Tartar invasion, about two hundred years ago, since the characters wear their hair in a knot upon the crown of the head, as the Chinese did before that period, and the people of Lewchew do to the present day. But these views, and those examined by the writer, when at Canton, are all deficient in what is called aerial perspective, or the art of rendering distant objects less distinct in outline and effect as they recede from the point of view. In the Chinese landscape, the objects in the distance are small; but the touches are as hard and as emphatic as any in the foreground. The writer has about fourteen views of gentlemen's seats, or villas, and landscapes, which were done in colours upon rice paper by an artist at Canton. These are beautiful performances, and afford an admirable hint as to the style of architecture, gardening, pleasure grounds, etc., in China. There is little doubt, that with a few hints from Europeans, and a study of their models, the Chinese would excel in landscapes, not because they have more genius than the people from the west, but because they have a stock of patient assiduity, which is rarely equalled. In virtue of this habit, they would finish single parts with a truth and fidelity, which would render their productions invaluable for the purposes of instruction. Several of the Chinese, especially Lamqua, succeed very well in portraits, and as the natives manifest great acuteness in detecting the peculiar lineaments of a face, and the conjectural inferences they afford as to the character of the individual, there is reason for believing that they will excel in this department of the art. A Chinese, in his intercourse with his friends, is very apt to load them with praises and compliments; but when he addresses himself to the labour of taking a likeness, treated one by one. The young aspirant after pictorial excellence is thus presented with all the elements with which he has to work, in a distinct, pleasing, and instructive manner. He becomes a botanist in some of the most recondite and delicate parts of the science. Those technical and learned descriptions, which are called the generic and specific characters, are highly useful in the way of arrangement and recognition, but they fail to convey oftentimes that impression which the plants make upon the eye of the beholder. Language was not capable of depicting certain nice and curious features, which the anatomical draughtsman would have hit with life and beauty. If the reader has a taste for drawing, and a desire to be deeply read in the laws by which nature's forms are regulated, he should not despise the hint suggested by the doings of a Chinese. he seems to be very much disposed to tell the truth. China abounds with works that treat upon the art of drawing. A volume of the san tsae huuy too, or Chinese Encyclopedia, is devoted to this subject, and presents some curious specimens as models for imitating the lighter passions, and the more pleasing scenes of life. Wrath, envy, fright, and other unsightly passions, which deform the countenance and destroy the heart of man, are passed by as subjects unfit for a picture. It is in fact much easier to delineate the strong features which characterize such passions, than it is to portray the feelings that play upon the visages of half a dozen persons as they are quietly seated by a fire side. A work, in several parts, contains a variety of rules and examples for executing, in a faithful and picturesque manner, the bamboo, the peach, and the chrysanthemum, with an assortment of orchideous, or parasitic plants. The bamboo, for its beauty The leaves of orchideous, or parasitic as well as its usefulness, is the ornament plants, are often narrow and resemble a and boast of China; it has been con- blade of grass. By means of the elastic sidered, therefore, as justly entitled to brush, for which the natives of China the best attention of the artist. It is, deserve so much credit, one of these like all other plants in a state of cul- leaves may be drawn by a single sweep; tivation, subject to many varieties; a the fine awl-like point and the broader circumstance which widens the field of base are quite within the powers of the artist, and gives him ampler space this instrument. The process is, therefor the display of ingenuity in imitating, fore, very simple; yet, as these leaves and penetration in tracing the diag- point in several directions, are bent, nostics and prime characteristics of na- misshapen, and modified in various ways, ture. The stem, and its leaves with it is deemed necessary to afford the their peculiar sheaths, scars, natural learner models and samples of all these marks, etc., are dissected, and the variations. Some of these plants grow methods by which they may be exe- upon the ground in situations accessible cuted in a summary manner, clearly to the wind; they are therefore liable to pointed out. This word summary is have their configuration altered by its intended to have a specific meaning breezes. The configuration assumed, here; for, from the unique excellence in consequence of the action of the of the Chinese pencil, and the com- wind upon the leaves and flowers, will manding attitude in which it is held, depend upon the stiffness or yielding the artist, when he has attained a per-pliancy of the several parts respectively, fect mastery of his business, is able to execute any of these essential proprieties with a single stroke of the pencil. A certain freedom and wildness are the necessary results of this method, and for this reason it is very much admired by the natives, who, though they are unacquainted with the bearings of true liberty, seem to be greatly in love with one of its humbler modifications in drawing. The flower of the peach, its stem, leaves, and leaf-buds, with all the varieties of inflorescence, are analyzed and and upon the velocity of the wind that is sweeping over them. These points are discussed, and illustrated in detail by the Chinese drawing master. In another volume, birds are dissected into nine or ten parts, commencing with the bill, and ending with the feet. The student is therefore made acquainted with the lines peculiar to each part, and at the same time is gaining an ornithological accuracy in the discrimination of forms and plumage. A variety of attitudes, corresponding to passions in man, are there given, so that the artist not only secures the true shape of a bird, but gets a glimpse of its character. The carriage, mode of flight, position at rest, or in pursuit of its food and amusement, are different in different birds. If this circumstance be faithfully attended to, a picture is made to tell its own story in brief. A very elegant work, in four volumes, treats of the human figure, and gives many highly graphic and most charming illustrations, with a large assortment of various costumes. In this work, the head and face are regarded under ten different aspects, and the bearing and curvature of the lines defined for each aspect respectively. The principal modifications of the eyes, nose, and mouth, are specified with their proper designations. The lines are few, thick, and bold; but truth with its own commendatory charms seems to accompany every trace of the graving tool. The common painters employ much of their skill in the excogitation of various idolatrous devices. Surely we may indulge a hope, that the night is far spent, the day is at hand, when gospel truth shall enlighten the hearts and purify the understandings of the Chinese, so that the humble artist, as well as the man of poetic genius, may content himself with the imitation of nature in her rich and manifold displays of wisdom and goodness. THE SAW. G. T. L. THE Greeks ascribe the invention of the saw to a person, who by some is called Talus, and by others Perdise. This Talus was the nephew of Dardalus, and first, it is said, took the hint of fabricating a saw by observing, that the jawbone of the snake answered the purpose of cutting through a piece of wood, when a smaller instrument was not at hand. If the story be true, we have another instance of the excellency of some lessons taught by that mistress of various wisdom, necessity. The saws used by the Grecian carpenters were like our modern frame saws. This appears from a painting preserved among the ruins of Herculaneum. Two genii are represented at the end of a bench, consist ing of a long table resting upon two four-footed stools, or trestles; while the piece of wood to be sawn through is secured by cramps. It consists of a square frame, having a blade in the middle, which is perpendicular to the plane of the frame. The piece of wood to be sawn extends beyond the end of the bench, and one of the workmen appears standing, the other sitting upon the ground. The arms in which the blade is secured have the same form as with us. In the bench are seen holes, in which the cramps, holding the timber, are stuck. In Isaiah x. 15, it is asked, Shall the saw magnify itself against him that moveth it backward and forward. Our translation has, shaketh it, which is a singular expression for the act of sawing. We know from this and other passages, where the word which is translated "shake," properly denotes the alternate motion produced by action and reaction, effort and remission, or waving anything (as the wave shoulder, for example) backward and forward in the air. WHITE STONES. usual number of white stones cover the In the vicinity of Pergamus, an unground in every direction; and the traveller can hardly fail to be struck with the local applicability of the words in which the scriptural promise to this church is couched: "To him that overcometh will I give a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knoweth, saving he that receiveth it." The metaphor doubtless refers to the well-known custom, prevalent among the early Christians, of presenting a piece of lead or stone, as a token of friendship to every brother disciple entertained in his travels: this was divided in half, and one piece was kept by the host, the other by the guest, in order that, if the latter repassed that way, he might show it as a guarantee for a kind reception by the family of his original host. Sometimes a name was written on the stone, known only to the giver and receiver. In an age when writing was so little in vogue, such pledges were useful substitutes; and the abundance of white stones, in this neighbourhood, makes it more than probable that, among the Christians of Pergamus, these were the significant pledges in common use. If so, the scriptural allusion is as appropriate as it is beautiful.-Rev. C. B. Elliot. RUINS OF BABYLON. The Birs Nemroud. BABYLON, the most celebrated city of Assyria, has fallen. The predictions of its total ruin have been fulfilled. Its remains consist of mounds of earth, formed by the decomposition of buildings, channelled and furrowed by the weather. Their surface is strewed with pieces of brick, bitumen, and pottery. rhomboids. The fine burnt bricks of which it is built, have inscriptions on them; and so excellent is the cement, which appears to be lime mortar, that it is nearly impossible to extract one whole. The other parts of the summit of this hill are occupied by immense fragments of brickwork of no determinate figure, tumbled together, and converted into Beyond the modern village of Tahmasia solid vitrified masses, the layers of bricks is the great ruin, supposed to be the being perfectly discernible. These ruins tower of Belus; by far the most stu- stand on a prodigious mound, the whole pendous and surprising mass of all the of which is itself a ruin channelled by remains of Babylon. It is situated about the weather, and strewed with fragments six miles to the south-west of Hillah, of black stone, sandstone, and marble. In and is called, by the Arabs, Birs Nem- the eastern part, layers of unburnt brick, roud, and by the Jews, Nebuchadnez- but no reeds, are to be seen. In the north zar's Prison. Mr. Rich describes it in side, may be seen traces of building exthe following terms: "The Birs Nem-actly similar to the brick pile. At the roud is a mound of an oblong form, the total circumference of which is seven hundred and sixty-two yards. At the eastern side, it is closed by a deep furrow, and is not more than fifty or sixty feet high; but at the western side, it rises, in a conical figure, to the elevation of one hundred and ninety-eight feet, and on its summit is a solid pile of bricks, thirty-seven feet high, by twenty-eight feet in breadth, diminishing in thickness to the top, which is broken and irregular, and rent by a large fissure, extending through a third of its height. It is perforated by small square holes disposed in foot of the mound, a step may be traced scarcely elevated above the plain, exceeding in extent, by several feet each way, the true or measured base; and there is a quadrangular inclosure round the whole, as at the Mujelibe; but much more perfect and of greater dimensions. At a trifling distance, and parallel with its eastern face, is a mound not inferior to that of the Kasr in elevation, but much longer than broad; on the top of it are two koubbes, or oratories; round the Birs are traces of ruins to a considerable extent." We wish our readers to be not merely |